Continuing to blow ahead on this. In the middle of s6e2 ("Home") right now.
it's interesting to watch it all in one fell swoop (i.e., over a period of a few weeks) rather than on a weekly and then seasonal basis, as I get the sense of the story in a continuing stream rather than with all the delays. As one aspect of this, it kind of shocked me that so much of an individual storyline can happen over a relatively short period of time within the story itself.
(For example, Jon's trip to Hardhome and back to his eventual fate took half a season but in terms of plot events, he leaves Castle Black, reaches Hardhome, comes back with Wildlings, and then well, we all know what happens -- it's really not much plot there even though it took 5 episodes. The same goes for Stannis' army -- he gets this huge army, and his first real fight which isn't much of a fight happens at the wall against the wildings, resulting in the capture of Mance. Then all he basically gets to do is ride south, get stuck in the snow, then there's the big plot blowout -- then the fight at Winterfell which isn't even really shown on screen, we catch the aftermath. But it takes an ENTIRE SEASON for this to play out. So it felt a lot longer than it was in terms of plot.)
Some shifting impressions, for example I remember despising Cersei through much of the initial watch as the series unfolded over time. Watching it in one stream, though, and especially knowing where she ends up -- I felt far more sympathy for her now / she didn't bother me nearly as much. I understand her, even if I could not act the way she acts. Tyrion comes off less warm in the first season or two; he's still a 'decent' person in terms of his ability to empathize, but he's rather jaded, detached, and unnecessarily blunt in a way that can come off as either mean or indifferent; this is more of a nuance of perception, though.
Season 4 ends with a few key deaths but feels hopeful; Season 5 ends similarly with a few key deaths but feels laden with despair and "what the hell happens next."
My biggest gripes about a season were mainly about Season 5 -- in my head it had been the "worst" season. This is primarily for (1) Dorne, which is just a shitshow of terrible plotting, wasted characters, overhype, etc. and (2) the Meereen stuff wasn't that exciting, and it also involves a huge book deviation that seems solely to simplify plotting for the writers but does a huge injustice towards one character in particular. But there's still a lot of good stuff in Season 5 aside from the gaffs. And I really think it was a great idea to show Cersei again trying to weaponize something in the social order of things, that ends up biting her badly on the ass. ("When I voted for the Face-Eating Leopard party, I didn't know they were going to eat my face too!")
I would consider "Hardhome" one of the best episodes of the series. Not only are there some memorable sideplots (like where Dani talks about "Breaking the wheel") but the last half hour was an unexpected gift. Jon reaches Hardhome and this entire sequence is "off-book" and actually something that is on par with or better than much of the book stuff. The way it's shot, the way it builds dread, the interactions leading up to it -- it's really like a horror action sequence, it uses conventions of both genres and it knows exactly how to build tension. It's just crazy good and contributes to our understanding of the series' central approaching conflict. And best of all, IT WAS NOT ANNOUNCED -- it came totally out of the blue ("Jon goes traveling" is the summary, and it wasn't promo'ed as something great, it just... aired). It's one of those things that will stick in my head regardless of how the series plays out, as an example of a great unnerving action plot point.
But Dorne, well... Dorne. Just awful. About the only good thing is the bit in the finale between Jaime and Myrcella, it was touching and Jaime needed something good in his life. (So we know how that works out for people in this series.)
There's still some dumb shit that creeps in. Like when a weakened Theon stabs (STABS) a guy in chainmail ( am pretty sure it was chain) with a longsword (which is a slashing weapon mostly) in the back WHILE the guy is wearing a shield covering almost all of his back and drops him in one shot... MAYBE he could have driven a poniard through the links, but a longsword? and the shield covered anything really that would allowed for a one-shot drop. But it's followed by this extremely touching moment with Brienne and Sansa (where Sansa needs help for her part from Podrick), so it compensates a bit.
It's also chilling to see Cersei threaten the septa, knowing what's going to happen in the end.
(Typically the acting is great as well as directing, but there's occasionally a gaff -- like the response of Stannis' wife in the climactic scene of s5e9.... where she seems one way, then flips, and it just emotionally doesn't feel warranted. They really needed to write/direct that better. )
Anyway, I guess now it's basically watching s6 and s7 to see if overall either is worse in my head compared to s5, which for long stuck in my head as a dark spot. I think it's because they just really bombed Dorne.
side note about Shireen
