Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Based on the series "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin
If there was one word to describe the fourth season of Game of Thrones it would be "eventful." By far this season had the most big moments, with at least four episodes that could be considered to be the "big" episode of the season. As such, this was definitely the most exciting season of the series, especially for those who had not read the books and did not know what was coming. Although, this season had a few surprises for those who had read the books as well.
Those surprises may have led to a few book fans getting disappointed or frustrated with the show, if not just plain confused. Each season the showrunners move farther away from the books, but this season was especially far. While the major moments were all there, the smaller moments changed quite a bit. A lot of this is due to the fact that book three was 2/3rds of the way completed last season, with a lot of characters already done with their arcs. as such, many characters arcs had to be brought from a future book or just plain made up this season. We even got a scene that took us farther north than any of the books have as of yet.
That said, many of these changes were for the better. While it certainly felt like a distraction for the night's watch storyline, the craster's keep arc with the mutineers at least gave Bran something to do besides walk around endlessly. As well, this season gave the viewers character meetups such as Brienne and the Hound which greatly increased the dramatic weight of certain sequences.
What everybody will remember about this season were the events. The Hound's tavern brawl, Joffrey's wedding, the trial by combat, the battle at the wall, Tyrion's detour. All of these moments came interspersed throughout the season and led to it a general sense that a major, game changing moment could come at any time, not just in the 9th episode. That made this one of the most shocking and exciting season's of television ever.
What people are less likely to remember about this season are the arcs. Season 3 was brilliant in this regard. There was a real feeling that each storyline built itself to come to a narrative head in the 8th and 9th episodes. Though the early episodes had a few climaxes, it really felt like each character had their own film in which they grew and learned from their experiences, especially Jaime, who retains the greatest single-season arc in the show yet. This season had less of that. While certain events, such as the battle at the wall and the trial by combat were definitely built up, they suffer a bit from the fact that this was a season full of climaxes. There were so many game changing moments to adapt and not as much character development, as evidenced by the fact that some main characters would disappear for up to four episodes in a row at times.
That said, all of that can go out the window when one begins to talk of Tyrion Lannister. Given by far his meatiest work to date, including an impassioned speech that's very likely to result in an emmy, Dinklage kills it this season as he has never done before. His story shows him gradually coming to terms with the senselessness of the violence and death that surrounds him, and does build up beautifully to his confrontation in the finale. This was Dinklage's best season yet, and he deserves every accolade he is getting.
Also experiencing his greatest season yet was Kit Harrington's Jon Snow. Though the Night's Watch arc has not always been the most interesting, this season raised the stakes and thus made it one of the more interesting storylines. Part of this was that it really did have a huge climactic moment to build to, in the form of the battle at the wall. This battle is a massive action sequence, one with exciting, versatile action, the best of the series, as well as shocking and emotional moments. Unfortunately, though the battle itself is better, the episode falls just short of "Blackwater," the show's other battle episode, which featured better buildup and writing to accompany the action.
This season's suffering storyline, however, was that of Daenerys Targaryen. After an exciting plotline last season, which led to an Emmy nomination for Emilia Clarke, Daenerys finds herself without a true goal only halfway into the season. coupled with a first half that is not as exciting as it should be, this season was easily the weakest for the Mother of Dragons, if not also the weakest storyline of the season.
It seems every year that Game of Thrones adds a multitude of new characters, but comparatively this season did not, as there were fewer new faces and they mostly played very small roles. The exception to this is Oberyn Martell, played by Pedro Pascal. Oberyn shows up in King's Landing in the season premiere and then proceeds to steal every single scene in which he is present. Most of the credit here has to go to actor Pedro Pascal, who took an already exciting character from the books, and added a huge spark of charisma and life to him. His Oberyn is charming, mysterious, and very unpredictable, and he proves an exciting wildcard, leading up to his climactic moment that might just be the most memorable scene in a season full of them.
In the end the season's structure was what led to some strange feelings. Easily starting off the strongest of any season, the first two episodes of the season rival even some of the all-time best episodes of the show. That said, episodes 3-5 occupy a sort of weird lull which doesn't seem to progress the plot too much further, before episode 6 takes over and moves things forward again. It is a strange structure, one which is a major factor in this season falling slightly short of the last one.
Overall this was a season of change. Last season ended the primary story of the show in a brutal and horrifying fashion, creating a strange peace which wound up claiming the lives of more major characters than the war did. What this season did was transition from the first phase of the story to the second and final phase. The board is now set, and Westeros is a very different place than it was at the beginning of the season.
In the end, this season contained all of the complex politics, character dynamics, philosophy and death that viewers of Game of Thrones have come to expect. All of this doesn't even mention that they also manage to fit a murder mystery and courtroom sequence into the proceedings. Even with its flaws, and throwing book readers for a loop, this season showed that Game of Thrones is not slowing down, and is, in fact, still keeping up its pace as one of the strongest shows on television. This may not be the best season of the show, but it certainly will not deter fans in any way from continuing to watch for as long as the show is on air.
Season Grade: A-
Best Episode: The Lion and the Rose (Episode 2)
This was a tough choice, as episodes 8 and 10 were very close in quality as well. Though occurring very early in the season, this episode, featuring the wedding of king Joffrey Baratheon, was filled with all of the tension, character pairings and brilliant visuals that a Game of Thrones wedding has come to be known for. ANd the final moments of the episode are some that no viewer will ever forget.
Weakest Episode: Breaker of CHains (Episode 3)
Yup. The one with the "Is it a rape" scene? Dealing with the aftermath of the royal wedding, this was the start of the three episode period of filler. Unlike the episodes that follow it, however, this episode did not feature a surprisingly exciting action sequence or a mind-blowing revelation north of the wall. As such, it just kind of exists, an uneventful episode in the most eventful season yet.
Those surprises may have led to a few book fans getting disappointed or frustrated with the show, if not just plain confused. Each season the showrunners move farther away from the books, but this season was especially far. While the major moments were all there, the smaller moments changed quite a bit. A lot of this is due to the fact that book three was 2/3rds of the way completed last season, with a lot of characters already done with their arcs. as such, many characters arcs had to be brought from a future book or just plain made up this season. We even got a scene that took us farther north than any of the books have as of yet.
That said, many of these changes were for the better. While it certainly felt like a distraction for the night's watch storyline, the craster's keep arc with the mutineers at least gave Bran something to do besides walk around endlessly. As well, this season gave the viewers character meetups such as Brienne and the Hound which greatly increased the dramatic weight of certain sequences.
What everybody will remember about this season were the events. The Hound's tavern brawl, Joffrey's wedding, the trial by combat, the battle at the wall, Tyrion's detour. All of these moments came interspersed throughout the season and led to it a general sense that a major, game changing moment could come at any time, not just in the 9th episode. That made this one of the most shocking and exciting season's of television ever.
What people are less likely to remember about this season are the arcs. Season 3 was brilliant in this regard. There was a real feeling that each storyline built itself to come to a narrative head in the 8th and 9th episodes. Though the early episodes had a few climaxes, it really felt like each character had their own film in which they grew and learned from their experiences, especially Jaime, who retains the greatest single-season arc in the show yet. This season had less of that. While certain events, such as the battle at the wall and the trial by combat were definitely built up, they suffer a bit from the fact that this was a season full of climaxes. There were so many game changing moments to adapt and not as much character development, as evidenced by the fact that some main characters would disappear for up to four episodes in a row at times.
That said, all of that can go out the window when one begins to talk of Tyrion Lannister. Given by far his meatiest work to date, including an impassioned speech that's very likely to result in an emmy, Dinklage kills it this season as he has never done before. His story shows him gradually coming to terms with the senselessness of the violence and death that surrounds him, and does build up beautifully to his confrontation in the finale. This was Dinklage's best season yet, and he deserves every accolade he is getting.
Also experiencing his greatest season yet was Kit Harrington's Jon Snow. Though the Night's Watch arc has not always been the most interesting, this season raised the stakes and thus made it one of the more interesting storylines. Part of this was that it really did have a huge climactic moment to build to, in the form of the battle at the wall. This battle is a massive action sequence, one with exciting, versatile action, the best of the series, as well as shocking and emotional moments. Unfortunately, though the battle itself is better, the episode falls just short of "Blackwater," the show's other battle episode, which featured better buildup and writing to accompany the action.
This season's suffering storyline, however, was that of Daenerys Targaryen. After an exciting plotline last season, which led to an Emmy nomination for Emilia Clarke, Daenerys finds herself without a true goal only halfway into the season. coupled with a first half that is not as exciting as it should be, this season was easily the weakest for the Mother of Dragons, if not also the weakest storyline of the season.
It seems every year that Game of Thrones adds a multitude of new characters, but comparatively this season did not, as there were fewer new faces and they mostly played very small roles. The exception to this is Oberyn Martell, played by Pedro Pascal. Oberyn shows up in King's Landing in the season premiere and then proceeds to steal every single scene in which he is present. Most of the credit here has to go to actor Pedro Pascal, who took an already exciting character from the books, and added a huge spark of charisma and life to him. His Oberyn is charming, mysterious, and very unpredictable, and he proves an exciting wildcard, leading up to his climactic moment that might just be the most memorable scene in a season full of them.
In the end the season's structure was what led to some strange feelings. Easily starting off the strongest of any season, the first two episodes of the season rival even some of the all-time best episodes of the show. That said, episodes 3-5 occupy a sort of weird lull which doesn't seem to progress the plot too much further, before episode 6 takes over and moves things forward again. It is a strange structure, one which is a major factor in this season falling slightly short of the last one.
Overall this was a season of change. Last season ended the primary story of the show in a brutal and horrifying fashion, creating a strange peace which wound up claiming the lives of more major characters than the war did. What this season did was transition from the first phase of the story to the second and final phase. The board is now set, and Westeros is a very different place than it was at the beginning of the season.
In the end, this season contained all of the complex politics, character dynamics, philosophy and death that viewers of Game of Thrones have come to expect. All of this doesn't even mention that they also manage to fit a murder mystery and courtroom sequence into the proceedings. Even with its flaws, and throwing book readers for a loop, this season showed that Game of Thrones is not slowing down, and is, in fact, still keeping up its pace as one of the strongest shows on television. This may not be the best season of the show, but it certainly will not deter fans in any way from continuing to watch for as long as the show is on air.
Season Grade: A-
Best Episode: The Lion and the Rose (Episode 2)
This was a tough choice, as episodes 8 and 10 were very close in quality as well. Though occurring very early in the season, this episode, featuring the wedding of king Joffrey Baratheon, was filled with all of the tension, character pairings and brilliant visuals that a Game of Thrones wedding has come to be known for. ANd the final moments of the episode are some that no viewer will ever forget.
Weakest Episode: Breaker of CHains (Episode 3)
Yup. The one with the "Is it a rape" scene? Dealing with the aftermath of the royal wedding, this was the start of the three episode period of filler. Unlike the episodes that follow it, however, this episode did not feature a surprisingly exciting action sequence or a mind-blowing revelation north of the wall. As such, it just kind of exists, an uneventful episode in the most eventful season yet.
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