What's going on guys Carmine here and yes I know I'm incredibly late on this and I've
got some explaining to do as to why I've been absent for so long.
I'll be doing a separate video on that in case you're curious and of course, because
I do Game of Thrones content, it's only fitting that it would involve someone trying to blackmail
me...yeah.
But that aside I do apologize for being gone for so long.
It warms my heart to know that some of you have missed me and have actively expressed
your concerns.
Once again I'll address that in a separate video.
Now....Game of Thrones Season 6 has been a....rather weird and less fulfilling season than it's
predecessors and judging by that statement this is going to be one of those videos where
I need to set aside the fanboy feelings and look at it with neutrality and critique it
like any other movie or show.
My episode reviews were just my opinions based on each individual episode and in this video
we will focus on the entire season as a whole and that is what I'm judging it on.
With that out of the way lets get to it.
First lets start with what I disliked about this season.
For one the opening episode was absolutely awful in terms of story progression or impact.
In previous seasons the opening episode offered an insight into what is to be expected and
generally hyped us up for whats to come but this episode failed to deliver that all together.
There were a few tidbits that were cool like Melisandre's magic wearing off, Theon and
Sansa's escape and thats about it.
Each segment offered so little that it didn't really do much for me at all.
I understand that with so many story lines it was hard to show what everybody was up
to since last season and how they've progressed since then but you'd have to look at another
issue I'll get to in about a minute.
My main problem with season 6's episode 1 is that it felt like deleted scenes from season
5.
While generally I enjoy when they do start off right from last season's final episode
to keep us informed on what's going on?
it only works best when there is enough of an opening to set the stage right and they
didn't do that.
If Game of Thrones is good at one thing then it's keeping us wanting more but in a good
way and this kept us wanting more in an "that's it?"
kind of way.
Another major issue I had with this season is how short each episode was.
Now granted I would have never noticed this if my buddy down the street hadn't pirated
the show.
I watch it on HBOGO and it normally says each episode is around 56 minutes or more but that
isn't the case because when I went over his house and he was watching it, it showed a
much different time for the episode because when people put it up for download online
they never really include ending credits or behind the scenes footage.
If you take out the opening intro, the ending credits and the behind the scenes stuff its
all really less than 48 minutes of content which is weird because in previous seasons
the episodes extended beyond 55 minutes.
While I understand you guys enjoy those things, and I do too, I would rather have more content
and then behind the scenes footage added on instead of them trying to pass off like the
season is longer than it actually is.
So why is this important?
well because the less time in each episode is given its less time we get with our characters
and storylines and it comes off being a bit hollow with almost nothing to really show.
It really did feel like the writers ran out of book material and they had to fill in the
gaps between the opening and closing episodes with as much crap as they could and it really
felt unfulfilling.
One example of this is the King's Landing stuff.
The opening and closing episodes were great had so much tension and I was generally excited
about them.
Jaime's confrontation with the High Sparrow in episode 2 was good and Cersei ultimately
taking him out by wildfire in the finale was great but then the in between episodes where
they all sit around discussing how much of a jerk he is and the cock tease scenes from
the trailer just left us feeling really disappointed with how little came of them.
I thought Jaime and the Tyrell soldiers storming in there would lead to some awesome action
and cool twists but no.
Cersei and the Mountain's confrontation with the Sparrows and her epic line "I choose violence"
was just a let down because all he did was kill one guy, granted it was a nice kill,
but both scenes felt like they were only written into the show to hype us up in the trailers.
In short they had no substance.
It's starting to feel as though the show doesn't know what to do with these characters without
George guiding them.
One example of this is how they completely ruined the tension in the Mereen siege by
having Dany show up in the same episode and that pretty much removed any momentum the
attack had put on the audience in terms of suspense.
Game of Thrones is known for its unpredictability and the moment we're able to know what's about
to happen just from a character showing up then it loses its steam.
It's bad writing.
Another example of this is with the characters I was hoping to get back into this season,
to see what's been going on with them...well They either died too quickly or were just
boring.
I wanted to see more of Rickon, more of Roose Bolton, Brynden Tully, also known as the blackfish
and maybe even Doran Martell coming into his own but they were all a big let down.
Ironically the people I found annoying or boring in previous seasons were actually entertaining
this time around.
Bran's adventures in seasons 3 and 4 weren't my cup of tea but he had some of the best
moments this season with his flashbacks.
Hell even Sam and Gilly, who I notoriously dislike, also had good moments between them
as well.
And I love how, right before they started getting interesting, I made an entire video
on why I didn't like them and how they were wasted and given way too many scenes and then
boom...I enjoy the hell out of them this season.
And in my defense I think a lot of the points I made in that video, looking back on it now,
were pretty good...as to why they kinda of sucked and then...HBO fixes that completely
in the new season.
They only appear in what?
maybe 3 to 4 episode and with the exception of the boat ride they were pretty entertaining.
Which brings me to what I did like about this season and like I said, certain characters
did surprise me with what they brought to the table.
Sam and Gilly had a rough start for me because I hate their whole "i love you, no I love
you" bullshit that they always go into but the was cut down and Sam actually did some
interesting things.
Heading over to his home of Horn Hill was great, stealing the Valyrian steel sword was
also cool and I really enjoyed him over at the Citadel.
James Faulkner who plays Sam's dad, Randyll Tarly, did a great job and certainly lives
up the reputation everybody has built for him in the past 5 seasons.
Gilly, as usual, was meh but Sam did a good job this time around keeping my attention
that she didn't bore me too much.
Another character I mentioned that I wasn't too keen on is Bran.
In the past his character has always been on this journey which seemed to take forever
to get to but the destination is definitely worth it.
It's through Bran that we finally get to see the infamous Tower of Joy battle and even
learn about Hodor's origins which were a great sad moment the show really needed and for
the right reasons.
Hell we even get uncle Benjen back with us, if only for a brief time.
Another thing I really enjoyed about this season was the fight choreography during the
Tower of Joy scene and even the battle of bastards.
This season everybody brought their A game when it came to sword combat and it shows.
Another thing I really enjoy but don't speak much of is the set pieces for a lot of the
scenes.
Riverrun looked pretty awesome and I always appreciate the attention to detail.
So did Pyke, over on the Iron Islands and even Sam's home of Horn Hill.
If there's one thing the show does right, its making us believe we're actually at these
fantasy locations and I always appreciate that.
Now I can't end this review without giving major appreciation to some of our newcomers
this season who really did a great job.
Bella Ramsay who plays the little lady of Bear Island, Lyanna Mormont, gained a cult
following after this season was done and for good reason.
She was a great actress and enjoyable in her performance.
Some of you were trying to petition the show to give her the three dragons and I couldn't
agree more.
It took Dany 5 seasons to begin her conquest of Westeros but it'd probably take Lyanna
Mormont 5 seconds.
Another character I really did enjoy is Ian McShane's brother Ray who appeared for one
episode but made an impact on me.
It's rare to see such a peaceful person with no hidden motives in a world of corrupt politicians,
blood and magic but and it's quite refreshing and I did enjoy the character for who he was.
Something you guys probably found me saying often this season is "I want to see more of..."
when it came to certain characters and there is good reason for it.
Whether it's Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or Game of Thrones I always love listening
to these old and experienced characters talk about the past and add to the lore of this
universe.
It really helps flesh out the story and it's always something I look forward to.
And now lets focus on some individual characters for a minute who're usually at the center
of our story.
Cersei, this season was for the most part quite boring.
The season finale aside, she was everybody's punching bag.
Despite having a huge bodyguard that can literally rip the heads off people who mess with her,
she didn't do much this season but stand around and try to look as uncomfortable as possible.
I get that her whole character is to try to be the female Tywin and fail at it but it
wasn't as enjoyable this time around.
With all that wealth and influence you would think she could hire some atheist assassins
to kill the High Sparrow but naaah....that would be way too interesting.
In fact, even her brothers this time around weren't doing much of anything compared to
previous seasons.
Jaime was on the sidelines for the most part, only getting good when he arrived at Riverrun
but even that was short lived.
And Tyrion, other than his interactions with Varys and the dragons, was quite useless.
The only time the Lannister storylines started picking up was towards the end when Cersei
goes all Bin Laden on the High Sparrow and Tyrion becomes Hand of the Queen.
Dany on the other hand was great up until she re-appeared and then she sucked.
What I mean by that is...the first four episodes with her storyline was great and then they
kind of included her in there again to give that cringe worthy speech on top of Drogon's
back which was really unnecessary.
I would've liked for her to have taken a break from episodes 5 to 9 and reappear on the dragon's
back kicking ass.
Do you guys remember a while back when I was wondering what made Dany so annoying to me?
I think I know what it is now: too much of her.
Yeah...I think that's what it is.
Do you guys have that one person in your life that is around way too much, to the point
where you know you like them but you'd like them a lot more if they were not around as
much?
Dany is that person for me in this show.
She's like wine...it's good in small doses but then when you have too much of it...then
it's a problem.
As for the Starks?
they were a bit of a mixed bag for me.
Jon had a lot of things going on and I can safely say we were all waiting for him in
every episode.
The audience was definitely focused on him this season and for good reason...he was really
entertaining, even when he wasn't on the front lines or trying to suppress his boner in episode
2.
Jon, for the most part, was the main character this season and I would go as far to saying
he even surpassed Dany for the title of MVP.
Arya is another one whose scenes were good, for the most part.
There were moments where I wasn't really feeling it and I do think her storyline with the Faceless
Men moved a little too fast towards its conclusion but I did enjoy her this season, especially
at the end.
Sansa on the other hand is still kind of "eh" for me.
I'm glad the writers stop doing terrible things to her because it was getting a little old
and at this point I was starting to think someone had it out for the actress or something.
I mean shes had to go through torture and rape and voting in this election oh god it's
just enough...you know?
but even though she is mainly a sidelines character, her interactions with Jon and everybody
else were pretty good.
Especially with Ramsay.
The other houses were okay for the most part.
House Tyrell barely saw any action, even though they do have a great scene with the soldiers,
most of their big players were away for most of the season.
House Arryn, despite having a big scene towards the end, was really sidelined which is understandable.
Out of all the houses, them and House Tully really don't need much screen time.
House Greyjoy....I need to save my thoughts on these guys for another video and...sigh...House
Martell....look my doctor says I really shouldn't talk about them because you know...blood pressure
and all so I'm just going to skip that tragedy.
House Mormont is a minor house that really pulls through in this show.
You have a mormont who gives Jon his magical zombie killing sword, then they declare some
crucial fighting men to the cause, who ultimately sacrifice themselves to get a shield inside
Winterfell that helps in defeating Ramsay.
THEN their leader ultimately declares Jon Snow, king in the north.
I wouldn't be surprised if that chair Jon is sitting in right now was somehow made by
a Mormont.
My god man...if I was Jon I would get a tattoo that said "I <3
Mormont" on my arm or something.
They're that important to him.
Now I'm sure we can all agree that the best episodes this season had to have been episodes
two, three, five, nine and ten.
Arguably episode four but the general favorites are the ones I mentioned and for good reason.
Those episodes had the most going on and they did a good job of moving the story along.
It's a far cry from season 1 in which every episode was good and I see this as a sign
of this show's mortality.
The longer anything continues the more we'll see a drop in quality.
Season 6 isn't the best season and it doesn't quite return the show to form but it did what
it could without more source material.
Whether or not that is an issue with George not finishing his books on time or the writers
not being able to make due is a topic for another time.
Overall season 6 had its moments.
Half of the time it was enjoyable and full of fun surprises and the other half well....it
was alright.
Game of Thrones is definitely starting to show a bit of wear and tear and I don't know
if that's the fault of the writers because they suck or if its due to lack of source
material.
Regardless this season wasn't as good as previous ones but it did give us some genuine moments
that we'll always remember.
While some moments were forgettable others were not.
If I had to give this season a rating?
it would be a 4 out of 5 and that's me being generous.
What we got was so good it manages to hold that rating just perfectly but unfortunately
so many characters, plotlines and even deaths were just mishandled this season and a lot
of those bad episodes really hold this from being a perfect 5.
Now I know this review seems incredibly short and that is mainly because I cut it down from
its original 1 hour and 42 minutes.
The season 6 review doesn't stop here so join me next time when I go into best and worst
characters this season and even best scenes.
Thanks for the love and support and I'll cya guys next time.
Baba Booey!