My Review of "Game of Thrones: Season 5"

Game of Thrones: Season 5 was released back in 2015. It came off one of the best seasons yet. Just when I didn't think it would get any crazier it brings in some new characters and scenarios that would keep me intrigued as to what would happen next.

I remember when this came out. It was the time when I was really getting into this show. I had just caught up with everything and the episodes were coming out episodically. It was a great time to have those watercooler talks with your friends about what we expected to happen next.

The season starts off with a bang. So much had happened in the last season that kept us in such suspense. Tyrion had just left Westeros with Varys as Tyrion has murdered his father. Once again he had escaped death. This guy is like a cat he's got nine lives! Though he has to start life from scratch. Well not exactly from scratch since he's still wanted and everyone knows about him. It's not like he's not hard to find since he sticks out like a sore thumb.

Meanwhile everyone is now having their own full blown adventures. Jon is in the north and he is now the lord commander of the knight's watch. A fairly big promotion but with that promotion he has to deal with a whole slew of new problems. There's Mance Rayder, also known as the leader of the Wildlings and then there's Stannis Baratheon. Stannis is now in the north after his humiliating loss at Kings Landing.

Arya is now in Braavos trying to seek help with Jaqen. What she will learn will blow her mind. Her tale is somewhat closer to Alice in Wonderland. She has to relinquish herself of her identity to learn more but that would mean her quest for vengeance would be over. This will create a whole slew of battles in her own mind while she has to navigate this mind trip of a cult she's about to join.

With the death of Oberyn last season, Cersei now fears the life of her daughter Marcellus in Dorne. She sends Jaime to the mysterious land to save their daughter. Jaime brings along Bronn as he's the best sell sword that can help him. They're going to find themselves in a heap of trouble and cause some as well.

This season also introduces us to the High Sparrow. He's the leader of a growing religious group in Kings Landing. Cersei being the jealous, petty person that she is tries to leverage this individual to knock down the Tyrells. Afterall, she doesn't marry Loras. This is the easiest way she can get out of her arranged marriage and cause some grief for Margaery. This of course backfires in a huge way. Boy was that last episode a doozy!

In a way we get a lot of resolutions to smaller storylines in this season but they create new ones as well. We have Sansa moving back to Winterfell but only to become Ramsay's new bride. This was a bit of a heartbreaker. There were a lot of hard scenes to watch. It's also a turning point for Theon as he finally meets someone from his past that he grew up with. He has to see her suffer and the last episode gives us some hope for his character.

One of the big things that happened was the big fight for power in Yukai. They want this traditional fighting pit but she's totally against violence and slavery. She has to do a whole slew of big decisions that don't always pan out for her. On top of that she's lost one of her most faithful fighters in Jorah. Yukai has erupted in chaos and she's got to fix this. The final episode makes us wonder what is next for our queen of dragons. Her biggest dragon comes back but is injured during a great battle but she's taken by Dothraki warriors yet again.

The writing of this season is again so well done. The dialogue has me at the edge of my seat waiting to hear how they dig at each other with backhanded insults. There's a little less dialogue and a lot more journey sequences and set ups. You can tell they're brewing something for the next season. There are even more big fight scenes in this season than the last. The budget is definitely getting much bigger.

I think this is the season that is starting to bring this series to begin to make the show into an action movie TV series. There's still lots of elements from the first 4 seasons but they do show their budget in a lot of the bigger sequences.

Overall, I had a really good time with this one. I still loved the last season the best but the quality of this season is still up there and has me salivating for more. I have to give this one an 8 out of 10. Make sure you watch this in 4k along with Atmos surround sound. It really does make a difference in your viewing pleasure.