I have severely mixed feelings surrounding Season 5 of Game of Thrones. I’m really enjoying some storylines and I’m thoroughly intrigued as to what happens next, but others… not so much. I have finished reading the published novels in the main ASOIAF series (I’ve not had time to read the novellas) and have noticed some substantial differences between the books and the TV show. I am conscious of revealing spoilers, but I will do my best not to give anything major away.)
I just sort of want to share my thoughts on the season so far (up to episode 7), so let’s start with the positives.
First of all, I’m really excited about Arya’s storyline. I love Maisie Williams as a person, so it makes it really easy for me to invest myself in Arya’s character. Her storyline is pretty parallel with the one in the books; a few elements are missed out, but I understand why the show runners decided to leave them out, as they’re not exactly key to her development as a character. They’ve left her more defining moments in, such as burying Needle instead of dropping it in the water, which I’m glad about, because the audience still has something to connect with but we’re not bored by her. Arya’s character has really grown from Season 1, and I’m super excited to see what happens next for her.
Secondly, I’m becoming more and more absorbed by Petyr Baelish’s character. He has a rather different storyline from the one George R. R. Martin created in his books, but the show has maintained his distrustful demeanour. It is really unclear where his allegiances lie; does he truly love and care about Sansa, as an extension of his love for Catelyn? Or does he serve the Lannisters? Or does he only cater to his own interests, and the other characters are simply means of achieving his own goals? He is so deceitful and it’s made me really interested in his character, because he has the potential to affect so many people’s storylines due to his position of power as Lord Protector of the Vale.
My third and final positive point regards Ramsay, and the other characters in Winterfell. Ramsay Bolton, the newly legitimized bastard of Roose Bolton is a remarkable character. He’s completely twisted and psychotic, but I kind of love it. I’m not saying I condone his actions, both in this season and past seasons, but I think he’s brilliant. He’s one of the very few characters that actually makes me feel anything – in his case, sheer terror. Many people say that Ramsay is the new Joffrey, but Ramsay is so much worse. If you were locked in a room with just Joffrey, you wouldn’t be under that much of a threat, as Joffrey is just a coward with a powerful surname, but being in a room with Ramsay by yourself is a whole other story. Joffrey gets other people to do his dirty work for him, but Ramsay actually takes pleasure in carrying out his horrific acts. Iwan Rheon, the actor who plays Ramsay, is incredible at his job. He makes Ramsay’s character so convincing in every single episode he’s in. In the few episodes this season when Ramsay is being nice, almost normal, he’s even more terrifying, because you just know, in your gut, he’s got something terrible lined up. Iwan plays his character so well, and I’d happily argue he’s one of the best actors in the whole show.
Sophie Turner and Alfie Allen follow in Iwan’s footsteps as incredible actors. Sansa is a fan favourite, and she joins Ramsay as one of the few characters that draw emotion from me as we watch her mature from the feeble girl who believes in fairy tales into the young woman she is now. She doesn’t exactly stand up for herself (yet), but she’s relatable and likeable, and I kind of hope she turns evil and avenges her family. I can’t stand Theon, and I don’t really feel sorry for him as Reek, but Alfie is a fantastic actor, and I’m pretty impressed the actors inhabiting Winterfell overall.
Now, onto the negative things. I have to say, regretfully, that I have been rather disappointed with this season. There are so many storylines that have the potential to be really really good, but the show has just squashed them flat into something almost meaningless.
The first thing I want to mention is the differences from the books. I’m kind of going to gloss over this part as I don’t want to spoil the books for others, but there are so many really interesting storylines in the books!!! And they’ve just been completely ignored!!! There’s one new character who turns out to be another strong contender for the throne but has been completely replaced by an already existing character, and there are some new characters from the Iron Islands introduced in the books too, who I was really looking forward to seeing in the show whilst reading the books. I understand the show runners will have their reasons for leaving out the new characters and just continuing with the old ones, but I just think it’s a missed opportunity to create interest, which the show could do with at the moment. There are also huge differences in plot lines for existing characters. For example, Sansa never returns to Winterfell, but instead goes to the Eyrie with Petyr as Alayne Stone whilst Petyr wagers with lords and ladies to help Sansa return to Winterfell. Ramsay marries ‘Arya’ instead, who is actually Jeyne Poole, Sansa’s maid, as Arya is obviously in Braavos. I really don’t see why the producers have made this change, other than to add drama to Sansa’s storyline rather than Jeyne’s, who is a far less important player in this game of thrones.
I could go on about differences in plotlines, believe me, but I think I’ve already said enough. I understand that when you make adaptions from books to screen, changes have to be made. Fair enough. I just feel like so many characters have been left out and replaced for no real reason other than to save time, and in many cases cut out boring, yet important, parts of the book and replaced them with needlessly traumatic scenes – Ser Barristan’s death, and Sansa’s wedding night.
Lastly, I’m massively disappointed with Daenerys/Emilia. She was easily my favourite character in the earlier seasons, but both her character and the acting have just gone downhill. Emilia just really isn’t convincing as Daenerys, and I find myself wanting to see her on the Iron Throne less and less as the season continues on. She has so many rubbish, cheesy lines, and delivers them so blandly it’s almost embarrassing. Daenerys does have a sort of rubbish story line in the books; she just sits in her Meereenese pyramid for the rest of the published books, but the producers have changed so much other stuff, I was kind of expecting them to make her storm Westeros.
In summary, I’m half enjoying the new season, but I am quite disappointed about many elements. We’ve still got 3 episodes to go, however, we all know that a lot can change in that period of time.
(I didn’t proof read this, so I'm sorry for any mistakes/nonsensical sentences.)
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