Heel-o, Friends. Because college basketball is over and one of the biggest shows on television, "Game of Thrones," returns in two weeks, I’ve decided to give a quick review and get excited about the new season. This will be split up into portions for:
1. everyone who has a vague interest/maybe thinking about starting to watch it and or has seen bits and pieces who hasn’t seen all 5 previous seasons.
AND 2. those who have seen all five previous seasons and are gearing up for the newest season/those who don't care about spoilers at all.
The road ahead will be well-marked, but please keep all hands, arms and feet inside the emotional roller coaster at all times. Thank you.
Music while you read:
First: Game of Thrones Starter Pack
Source: Gad.Net/ Bednquilt.com
Tissues to lament all of your favorite characters and a blanket to hide your sadness/ anger from the world.
Based on the books by George R.R. Martin
Time commitment: High. Each episode is roughly an hour, and I mean the entirety of 60 minutes not 43. With 10 episodes per season, it’s roughly a 50-hour commitment. *I strongly recommend not watching all 50 hours in one sitting. You need food and water and human interaction.*
Is it inappropriate? Yes. Not a show I would recommend for the faint of heart or the extremely sheltered. If you’re uncomfortable with mature content/graphic fighting just get on The Daily Tar Heel's website and read a totally bomb article/blog, and it’ll pass. Or don’t watch it. I recommend the former.
Accolades: The show has been nominated for over 280 awards in the past five years and has won 174 of them. Full list of nominations and wins here.
Where can you watch it? It’s streamed on HBO Go (provided to UNC Students), regular ol’ HBO, Xfinity.Com and on Amazon.
Brief review:
One of the strongest features of the show, in my opinion, is its character development.
From season one to season five or simply the end of season one, the characters are extremely dynamic and flawed. These flaws helps the audience to identify with the characters, but simultaneously despise them, keeping a viewer curious and interested in each next episode.
The show revolves around various kingdoms in the land of Westeros and beyond, and the episodes transition to different families and storylines three to four times throughout each episode. The number of characters can cause confusion, and unique names make character identification somewhat difficult for the first few episodes, but numerous inter-family connections and connected plot lines serve to simplify the viewing experience.
But don’t get too attached to characters. There’s a popular saying that goes “There are only three guarantees in life; death, taxes and one of your favorite characters dying in Game of Thrones.” So take solace in the inevitability of demise. RIP Rains of Castamere. *crying emoji*. And also, just because someone is a main character does not mean they are immune to death.
Unexpected character deaths are emotionally terrible, though. So don't go alone — bring a friend.
Pro Tips: Watch with a friend. Emotional investment in the show won’t let you watch an entire season in one day if they’re not with you, and you can cry about/celebrate major events in the plot line together and not feel totally crazy.
And now.
Season Six is coming.
****OKAY SO MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD ALERT****
If you plan on watching it and you haven’t yet plz stop now
Not kidding
Source: Clipartpanda.Com
Okay, so if you haven’t watched any of the show, then I’m sorry. I warned you. The trailers will give away bits from plotline thus far and living characters.
SO DID YOU WATCH THE TRAILERS??? OMG
Alright, so a quick review from where we left off:
— Season five ended with Jon Snow’s tragic cliffhanger of a demise (HE’S NOT DEAD BTW)*
Source: TechInsider.Io
— Arya Stark killing the wrong guy and being punished for it by the Many Faced God
— Sansa and Reek-formerly-known-as-Theon escape from the Boltons.
Source: Bustle.Com
— King Tommen is just a giant baby per- the- usual and Margaery and Loras are still in jail (lame).
— Queen Cersei just shamed her way out of prison and returned to discover that the Mountain was alive-ish and well enough to do her bidding.
— And let’s just talk about how much we’re going to love Davos in this next season. He has to avenge Princess Shireen’s death and DESTROY Melisandre amiright?! YES.
Source: Mirror.co.uk
And golly jeez. He’s in the promo picture to start off with. I mean. Come on. You can’t be dead. Nah.
Until April 23, I’ll see you later. GET SO HYPE.
Source: Moviepilot.com
*My own conjecture
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