Game of Thrones (Season 4)

Zach Goodier

Another season of my favorite show just ended its run on HBO, so it’s time to give it a review.  Did season 4 keep the awesomeness that is Game of Thrones at its well-deserved place as my #1 favorite show on TV?  Let’s discuss that…  **SPOILERS** (Obviously).

Season 4 starts out with one of the saddest scenes I have ever watched.  Tywin Lannister is having Ice, Eddard Stark’s ancestral sword, a blade that has served the Starks for 1,000’s of years, melted down and reforged into two separate blades.  The music, the lighting, everything just reflects the tragedy, and reminds the audience of the end of an era.  With the loss of Robb Stark, and the end of the Northern Rebellion, it seems the Lannisters have secured their hold on the Iron Throne, with Stannis still trying to recover from the Blackwater, there is nobody left militarily to oppose them.  However, the Game of Thrones never truly ends, and it’s never over until it’s over, and this season drives that point home more than any other.

 

This whole scene gave me feels... bad feels.

In the north, Roose Bolton has secured the title of Warden of the North, but he has almost no actual control over the North.  The Greyjoys hold Moat Cailin, and in doing so, are keeping Roose’s army trapped below the Neck, and unable to actually  enter the lands he supposedly holds.  The rest of the North is in disarray, between the loss of Robb and the invasion of the Ironborn, the North faces aggression on multiple fronts without a Stark to lead them for the first time in recorded history.  Theon Greyjoy (AKA “Reek) is now a member of the Bolton household, and his tragic loss of identity is truly complete this season, as he shows his Stockholm-driven loyalty to his captors.

Yup. Dany still has dragons.

For Dany, this season is a test of her ability to rule, as she attempts to settle down in Meereen and truly rule for the first time.  She will finally start to understand that ruling is not as easy as it seems, with difficult decisions and realizing that her conquest, even in the best of hopes, has a lot of collateral damage, not only to the city itself, but to the lives of the people who live there, both during and after the conquest.  Dany’s always been a character I found to be a rather naïve one, but this season really addresses that, and challenges her convictions to their very core, much like Robb in season 3.  Her relationship with her oldest friend, Jorah Mormont, will also be pushed to the limit as old allegiances are revealed.

Meereen, Dany's next challenge.

Arya is another interesting character this season, as you start to see her transition into a true killer.  Her first kill at the end of last season, but it’s this season that you start to see Arya truly become a killer.  Her relationship with the Hound is also brilliant, providing a nice dynamic between the relatively innocent girl, and the heartless beast, but all the while they almost share a disgust with everyone else, and a melancholy that really brings the two closer together, even if Arya still wants the Hound dead.

Meet Oberyn, one of the best characters of the season.

Jaime and Tyrion really knock it out of the park this season, but perhaps one of the greatest characters in King’s Landing is a new face: Oberyn Martel.  Prince Oberyn is on a quest to exact vengeance for his sister’s murder at the hands of the Mountain, under orders of Tywin Lannister.  Oberyn is an exciting character, giving the Lannisters a dangerous foe who walks beside them in King’s Landing.  While his role wasn’t all it could be, it gives us a reminder that there are still other powerful people in Westeros, and many of them are opposed to the Lannisters who many see as usurpers.

This is where I saw Peter win another Emmy. True story.

One of the biggest highlights this season is another full-episode battle at the Wall, with the Night’s Watch fighting off the Wildling army.  In many ways, this battle really outdoes the Blackwater, with hordes of on-screen fighting with relatively little CGI, aside from the Wall itself.  Many characters really stand out, and while not all of them are still standing by the end, many go out in the right fashion to make you proud.

Bravos, we expect to see more of this city next season, but we get a brilliant intro this season.

The finale is one that is going to be talked about for a long time.  While it might not have the impact of the now infamous Red Wedding, this is in many ways the twist that we all have wished for.  Not going to go into specifics, but it was definitely a twist that will define the entire show from here onward.  Like the Red Wedding, the finale redefined Westeros, and left a void in the series that seems almost impossible to fill.  Even so, the story will keep us coming back, eager to experience more of this epic story of deception, betrayal, survival, and the desperate pursuit of justice.

Arya and the Hound need their own spin-off series.

Season 4 is in many ways a reminder that this series is far from over.  While season 3 ended things in a way that felt like the end of an era, this season really reminded us that this is far from over, and even the strongest house in Westeros is by no means untouchable.   The only real disappointment for me was the lack of Lady Stoneheart, which I won’t delve into very much here, other than saying her inclusion in the finale would, like the books, add a very jaw-dropping moment to top off everything that happened, and it would really help validate that whole “The North Remembers” thing that many of us (myself included) have been whispering under our breath.  Still, this season continues to turn up the heat, and keep us all guessing which characters are destined to die, and which will advance in their quests.

Good:

-Epic story keeps on being epic.

-Lot of standout moments for several characters.

-Unpredictable, edge-of-your-seat action, with lots of twists and turns to keep the story engaging

-Brilliant combat scenes, particularly the Mountain and the Viper.

Bad:

-Just for the sake of having some geniune criticism, this season really deviates from the source material in certain areas.  While it usually works just fine with the story, it does create some conspicuous moments that might challenge the loyalty of books fans.

Scully Rating: 9.9 out of 10