@@johntencate4781 I guess it's just my own way of categorising GOT. Season two and three comprise the time between Ned Starks beheading and the Red Wedding and that section seems seamlessly connected to me.
Bran being king because "he has a good story" is the biggest slap in the face to the audience you could possibly have. They literally cut him from an entire season because his story was so boring and they think everyone forgets this lmao
@@WWESVRGAMER But how can it be the best story when literally nobody can even explain what his powers are? As far as Tyrion can tell, he's just some kid who got crippled, went north, and got zonked out of his mind, and that's it.
@@domskillet5744 its mostly about the rejection of war, birthright and conquest. Making Bran King is the step into the right direction because of this. Once he dies, another one will be chosen and not just born into it like joffrey or because he killed everyone like dany. He is a broken King for a broken Kingdom.
No but the worst part about brans storyline is that in the books it is sooooo cool , the whole magical arc of bran was basically cut because the show runners said they wanted the show to appeal to a larger audience so that’s why they cut the fantasy elements of the show … the children of the forest + blood raven + weirwood paste dreams were all basically cut out … it would have been amazing to see if the show was abit longer
Instead of bran not being in season 5, they should’ve had him training to become the 3 eyed raven by showing flashbacks to roberts rebellion which would make sense cus by the time we’re in season 6 they are showing flashbacks of Ned getting to the tower of joy to rescue his sister.
They should have just followed the books and made a feast for crows one season(it's missing a lot of characters but has a ton of good setup) and a dance with dragons two seasons and followed the storylines in there
Season 2 really suffered from a small budget. If they had an extra few million to pad out Qaarth with the more fantastical elements from the book and Battle of the 5 Kings, it would have been a top contender.
imagine if house of the dragon came first & got was the spinoff & started out season with the 20 million pero episode 1 imagine what those first few seasons would’ve looked like
I really agree with how season 5 was generally mediocre while season 6 was a mix of extreme highs and extreme lows. Quality-wise they are around the same level, but season 6 definitely stands above 5 in terms of entertainment. I find it really hard to compare HotD with the seasons of GoT. Looking strictly at the writing and story, it would probably be placed just below the first four seasons of GoT even though there are some big weaknesses (mostly as a result of the time jumps and pacing being all over the place). If I instead just focused on how much I enjoyed watching the season, I might rank season 6 above it
Let's be honest, almost the only enjoyment to be had from season 6 are in the final 2 episodes, and even Battle of the Bastards is unbelievably flawed (they didn't give the giant a weapon ffs). Nearly every storyline is just painful to watch like Arya in Braavos, Dany with the Dothraki, Tyrion in Mereen, the High Sparrow. Jon v Ramsay is the only interesting storyline but even that is a consistent trainwreck (with the whole nonsensical Sansa being too proud to tell Jon about the Vale and the Manderlys not even showing up despite having one of the biggest armies in the north and being staunchly loyal to the Starks). If you're looking at a season in its entirety, I can't put season 6 anywhere near HOTD.
@@sanjaykarthicks1226 Nah the door makes literally no sense when you think about it and it's a cheap development for shock value. Somehow Bran both impacts the past but the past already happened to set up the present so it's perpetually in a paradox (which is the same issue with the time turner in Harry Potter). Beyond that, Bran does literally nothing and his powers are barely touched on if at all after this moment of supposed revelation, so any impact is immediately lost. Beyond beyond that, why did they feel the need to give Hodor a supernatural backstory and cram it into one episode when he's such a minor character? Nobody was dying to find out why Hodor is Hodor and the fact it's not touched on ever again (neither is Hodor) makes it even more clear it's just there for shock value and because Hodor is a fan favorite, instead of it being there for a narrative purpose.
I'm glad S1 is getting some love. Some people don't like it that much because it is the "set up" season, but I think it is underrated how difficult that set up must have been. With so many elements presented so smoothly and in such an entertaining way (with half the budget of other seasons)
I love the world building and set up of season 1. It gives an introduction to what kind of world we’re going to be in during the show and what’s at stake
I think season 1 is by far the best. It had an incredible pacing, was faithfull to the books but also created good Show only scenes and Most Main characters were Well written (accept for Daenaerys and sansa they didnt really understood those characters from the beginning)
Really glad you're still uploading consistently while there is no new HOTD/GOT content. S4 Tyrion trial, Watchers on the Wall & Joffrey's death were great
Glad most of the fanbase agrees that season 4 was the best season. Every…single…episode was banger after banger after banger. It has absolute PEAK rewatchability.
It is in fact extremely boring. The original Game of Thrones is my favorite series, and I have watched a lot of historical drama series and movies, but HOTD was definitely the most boring out off all of them
Great list. Season 1-4 are really close, so you could switch them in any way and i would still agree, but i think you found pretty much the perfect order.
@DareDevil Karl Tanner drinking out of a skull. Cringe and impossible. Bran etc hiding between a twig and expecting not to be seen by Karl etc. The Hound openly telling people he was with Arya Stark. The Hound robbing the farmer that helped them and leaving him and his daughter to starve. Book Hound wouldn't have done this. Brienne and The Hound just so happening to bump into each other. Bran and Jon being at the same place at the same time. This season was when Westeros became incredibly small. Also killing off Jojen seemed to be done for shock valve. Cutting Lady Stoneheart was a huge mistake too. As was dropping Tysha from Tyrions plot.
@@hayleyb2254 oh yeah The Last Battle with Wights seemed wonky all the way Jojen dying was rushed, lol. Didnt feel anything the Whole Time. But everything else? Nah. Drinking from Mormont's skull was what made me Hate him So much more. Dude's a shit. And Hound with that family was Harsh but within his Character those Seasons. So, anything else doesnt stand. But definitely that Shirless Ramsay scene and Jojen and Wights part tacked on for Action Sake.
The only change I would make is that I would put season 2 over season 3 because Tyrion and Stannis have much better storylines in season 2, and Blackwater is my favorite episode
Nah, season 2 has a lot of problems. That's when they started to deviate massively from the books and it showed. It was a handful of great episodes (2x6, 2x9 and 2x10), and a lot of really mediocre ones. For instance, it took a while to get going, and episodes 7 & 8 were really meh. Season 3, on the other hand, was quite consistent throughout, and it had a lot more shocking moments. Season 3 is also a lot prettier for some reason. The cinematography went up a notch from S2.
@@Al-ji4gd honestly after reading clash is when you realise how much d&d wasted by not including magic. House of the undying, patchface and also reek storyline were missing
I like how that you put HOTD Season 1 behind the first 4 seasons of GOT but ahead of the rest of the reasons, you have Corlys saying "This is an equitable compromise" lol completely agree with your rankings
In terms of what HoTD S1 had to accomplish (condense 20 years of simmering conflict into 10 hours while also establishing characters, setting, themes, conflict, etc.) it did a very good job. Hopefully now, the speed can come down several levels and we can enjoy the Dance of the Dragons in near real time
HotD might not be the 'best' season but it's my favourite if that makes sense. The deep connection with the characters and the exploration of the grey area hits me like no season of GoT ever did. Every character's actions are justified, whereas in GoT there are clear villains and heroes for us to root for. In HotD I still can't decide who I want to sit the throne.
this exactly. (i mean except the not deciding part im team black all the way) but the best thing about HotD is that you understand every single character and why they do what they do as opposed to GoT where you dont get to see the motives of alot the main players.
I was going to be mad about where you put season 3, but that's only because I forgot about season 4 somehow. And I definitely agree with your placement of HotD season 1. It had to do a whole "introducing the new characters" again and the time jumps did make it a little weird sometimes. And it had a lot of set up to do for the Dance. I'm hoping the next season ranks even higher on a list like this, and that it's up there with the first four seasons of GoT. I imagine there will be far less time skips now that we're up to the main story line.
Really great list. Mine goes something like this : 4>>2=3>HOTD>1>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>6>>>5>>>>7>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>8. I hope the next HOTD seasons can go on to have a similar growth to the one GOT had from seasons 1 to 4.
Yeah. Imo, the only reason it ranks "middle" currently is simply because the first 4 seasons of GoT were that spectacular (even though I'd be in the camp that HotD S1 is better than GoT S2).
@@youtube-kit9450, The only thing that puts GoT S2 above HoTD season 1 for me is Blackwater. If Blackwater didn’t exist HoTD would be for sure above it for me.
I went into season8 thinking “you know, that Brand character arc was so good. He truly was the most interesting character in this series. I hope he becomes king” And they did it! Greatest season ever!!!
Thank you for saying “Watchers on the Wall” is your favorite episode. I think it was initially seen as the weakest penultimate episode of the first four seasons but it’s my favorite to rewatch and seems to have grown in critics’ estimation with time. Also great video overall - I don’t know if I’d change a single spot, except that I never know what to do with Season 6.
In my opinion: 1. Season 4, it's just perfect in my eyes 2. Season 3, consistently great but less highlights than in season 4 3. Season 2, mostly fantastic (except for the majority of Qarth) with Blackwater as the highlight 4. Season 1, great start to the series 5. HotD S1, great first season, a bit inconsistent but overall great and shows great promise 6. Season 6, flawed but still good and entertaining with great highs 7. Season 5, quite boring but it has Hardhome 8. Season 7, flawed and rushed, but I could still find enjoyment 9. Season 8, the greatest disappointment of all time for me
Completely agree with this list. The only disagreement I have is with your description of s7. I don't think it was just "flawed and rushed", I think it was a disaster very much on par with s8. If season 8 is a 1/10, season 7 is a 2/10 or 3/10, not more than that.
As soon as you gave #3…I was about to say “I agree with your list except that I would switch 3 & 4. #3 S4 #2 S1 #1 S3”…but…I agree with your analysis and commentary and I now agree with your list 100%
This I one of the first rankings of any kind I would totally agree with. Even with the arguments for and against each season. The only thing I might change, is to switch season 5 and 6 but I basically view them as even. Overall great ranking and video
Season 5-6 had the most potential to be the greatest by far, a feast for crows and dance feast for crows were what these seasons were based off and I loved these books the most when combined
I pure loved season 6 - I think it's such a good build of the season and the final 2 eps... also make 7 and 8 worse because i think that's where all the plot points climax
I agree, season 6 was great but it just gets overshadowed by the fact that season 7 and 8 ruin everything it built. Jon becoming king in the north for example, just to leave the north straight away and ditch his crown without doing any ruling pretty much.
@@Howlingburd19 I disagree. They're entertaining TV with a handful of good moments. The writing and everything else, however, sucks. What's so masterful about that?
@@Al-ji4gd you think so? A lot of people consider both them so be some of the greatest GOT episodes. As for BotB, it needs to be acknowledged that the episode isn’t as drama-based as many others (but even then, there was some good drama between Jon and Sansa), it’s one of the “battle” episode, which I believe is not a bad thing (and only a “handful of good moments” is absolutely ridiculous. There’s so many ferocious moments). It has a lot of strengths. Ones that I hope you can agree on is the size, scale, cinematography, choreography, sequences, visuals (it is literally one of the greatest visual spectacles put on television), music, and performances by Kit Harington and Iwan Rheon. At the very very least you have to agree that all of those are phenomenal, no? The pacing is also pretty good, and there were a mix of emotions like fear, stress, anxiety, tension, and satisfaction. The buildup to the episode show sets it up the very well. I can understand the dislike, though. As for me, I honestly enjoy almost all of the episodes from seasons 1-6. Season 7 and 8 I don’t give a shit about and don’t consider them canon for me :P
Great list and I actually agree with all placements! The only thing I disagree with is cercei's wild fire explosion being one of the best moments. To me it felt like such a cheap way to end a plotline they didn't know what to do with, killing so many major characters (although the suicide part was actually really good way to kill him off). Unlike the red Wedding where it was Robb's nurse fetish and bad choices leading him to that result, the explosion seems so unearned for Cercei. Whatever happened it would always end up that way , however smart the Tyrells played it Cercei just had wildlife. And the population of king's landing, known for rioting and overthrowing bad queens and kings (hotd? 😉) left Cercei on the throne after she blew up their sparrow ,their beloved queen and probably many houses. For me that explosion was when GOT died ,I know many were just happy to see the religious idiots gone ,but it was so cheap.
I really liked the Sparrows. If you're going to create a world with religions and beliefs, then you have to have groups of people more dedicated to their faiths or extreme for it to have substance and for the world building to be believable. Also the fact that there was rampant poverty in Kings Landing and such neglect from Cersei makes it a realistic option for the common folk to gravitate towards a religious cult that offers them a distraction from life. You're right though, it was such a cheap shot to remove them in one fell swoop with the beloved queen and somehow noone revolted. That was the death of GoT and the rest that came after was just beating the corpse lol
I didn't like how they went from hating Cercei to loving her overnight. I agree about the explosion. It felt cheap and made me dislike the charachter even more. Not to mention why nobody ever removed the wild fire from below kings landing after the mad king was killed. If I understand correctly, it was known about.
The explosion was cool looking and unexpected. But looking back, it was the first sign that d&d were in a clear path to kill off or dummify all the cunning or smart characters. I don't exactly hate the decision of cersei doing a move like that but as shown in the previous seasons you will expect heavy consequences for that, and it doesn't really happen. For me, what really killed the series was the death of little finger. Obviously the pointless plan to capture a zombie was another good nail in the coffin but killing the character that pretty much started the entire series. Why did he spend the entire season trying to make starks sister fight with each other!? What was actually he's end goal!? Not to mention that the entire trial before his execution is really questionable, i know that little finger is a pretty bad dude and the starks are good, but the basis of his trial are completely circunstancial. It's basically like the starks decided to kill someone just because. Im talking from the outside look, the people of winterfell and the soldiers from the valley should have to at least be convinced with something more. But in the show, from one day to another everyone hates little finger just because. What really infuriates of the scene is that basically that it shows how anything can happen without any previous stablish logic or reasoning. Moments like Ned's death, the red wedding or the purple wedding can't happen if the writers have zero idea of how to set up a plot with multiple parties involved, besides bad vs good. Thinking about the show makes me mad so that's it for my unnecessary tiny rant.
My biggest problem with the explosion was with came afterwards. 1. How the F*ck did Cersie become Queen afterwards? She had no claim to the throne. She was not from the Royal bloodline. And House Lannister wasn't even at the Peak of it's power. So why would so many Houses agree to put a Lannister WOMAN on the Throne? 2. As you've said she blew up the center of Kings Landing. How did that not incite a riot in Kings Landing? 3. Was the religion of Faith of the Seven only limited to that one Sept in King's Landing? Because if it was a Nation wide religion I would assume destroying what is perhaps the central and most Important Building for said faith would create a lot of problems for you. No Ruler in History has ever destroyed A Major Place of Worship of the Majority Religion of his Country. 4. Cersie just genocided House Tyrell one of the biggest Houses in Westeros and a House that was Allied to them through marriage. And that too during Peace Time. How did the other Houses see this and did not immediately get disgusted by Cersie's actions. How did they not immediately revolt against the Lannister Rule in Kings Landing.
Bro literally did a mind read on me and made it into this list. I have exactly the same opinion for this list down to every single season(even the top 3). Crazy.
I like Season 4 but it's a bit overrated. In retrospect, you start to see some of the issues that plagued the later seasons of GoT. D&D started overreaching on changing source material (there were some great changes like the Oberyn scenes but also some really dumb changes like the circumstances of Tyrion's escape) and the show-only scenes started to decline in quality. But the source material was so strong it's nearly impossible to mess it up.
Season 4 was the climax of a ton of storylines so it has the most interesting subject material to go off of. But the writing was by far the worst of the first 4 seasons. I'd put it at the bottom of seasons 1-4 personally
It's no coincidence since DnD admitted that they're main purpose with making GOT was to put the red wedding on screen. After that they brought the quality down slowly but safely. Not to mention cut storylines
I agree. Outside of the iconic memorable moments, there is a lot of dumb stuff, like the Jaime rape scene and Yara’s dumb rescue plot. Locke’s side quest doesn’t make sense (I.e. just happening to find Bran and Rickon north of the wall). Plus we can’t forget possibly the worst line in the first four seasons: “Sansa’s not a killer…not yet anyway.”
@@olofacosta3192 It's such a shame because GOT could've been the greatest show of all time if it had been given the proper respect in its entirety instead of a single scene
I really rate season 6 higher, nice video :) (edit) I really didn't agree with season 1 being top, but watching those clips and what you had to say convinced me 100%, what a season.
I completely agree with your ranking (and your comparison of Got seasons 5 & 6), although I have a hard time where to rank HotD season 1. On the one hand I feel it should be higher, at least ahead of GoT season 2, then again I remember some of the greatness in the first 4 seasons of GoT. For me the ranking of GoT 1-4 & HotD 1 is really extremely close... 😂😅
To be honest, each season should be evaluated individually, but people the to think of the first 4 collectively. Season 1 of HoTD is better than Season 2 of GOT and, at least, slightly below Season 1.
I only remember clegane bowl from season 8 as being the best part also i binged the show with my dad he tried to warn me when we finished season 7 about season 8 and when danyerys went off my only word over and over hauntingly was "what is this whats happening!" After that game of thrones flew out of my mind until now recently when i finished a storm of swords i decided to give house of the dragon a chance and it succeded in my eyes and brought my love of a song of ice and fire back
you keep saying D&D can’t write dialogue but didn’t they write tywin’s introduction scene with him skinning the deer? and the scenes with tywin / arya and the varys/littlefinger “chaos is a ladder” scene? and maybe even the tyrion + cersei scene from s2 you mentioned tho i’m not sure about that one. they’re good writers they just stopped caring
I think you completely hit the nail on the head here. Pretty much everything that needed to be said was said, the only thing I disagree with was putting season 2 and 3 at the lower end of the list but obviously everyone's opinions are different. For me, season 3 was easily the second best just for "The Rains of castamere" alone and season 2 for "Blackwater" but to be fair I think you and I can both agree that the first four seasons are all close to, if not completely perfect.
1-Season 4: Best season because of multiple reasons. War at the walls and Tyrion's trial are my favorites. 2-Season 3: Political phases at best, many brilliant moments and of course Red Wedding 3-Season 2: I actually like this season more than first because characters got more fleshed out and Battle of Blackwater has much more better character moments. 4-Season 1: Good start but it was mostly a Sean Bean show, after that it step up. 5-Season 5: Despite all the flaws, the parts come from books are redeeming factors. Of course it is start of downfall 6-Season 6: I facepalmed so much in this season, I liked Battle of Bastards but once you think more about it later it was stupidest battle ever to this point and has so many strategic mistakes. I'm not counting later battles because GOT ended in this season. 7-Season 7: Absolute shit show. Zombie Dragon is only interesting thing. 8-Season 8: It already ended in previous season, there was just one redeeming quality left (Night King) and it killed pathetically Haven't watched HOTD yet.
@@gfilmer7150 I'm not saying it was faithful. Parts like High Sparrow taking power, Sons of Harpy (excluding death of Barristan), Jon's assasination, there are core parts for exploring but ruined later. Season 6 has more action but everything is insultingly stupid.
@@nemesis3587 But that stuff in Season 5 was also ruined. The arcs were poorly adapted. Where is Dany’s foreshadowing for the mad Queen? Season 6 had action while Season 5 had nothing. Just filler.
To be fair, the battle of the bastards was kind of intentionally a mess. The whole point was that ramsay provoked jon into falling into his trap, thus depriving his army of effective leadership. On ramsay's part, he did lead the battle quite well with his only real mistake being not scouting for reinforcements for jons side, which how could he predict littlefinger would randomly help jon all of the sudden?
As a book lover, i don't think season 4 is the best one, although, it has two of the best episode of the hole show, the Lion and the Rose and The Watchers on the Wall
This is part of why I didn't read the books while watching the show. The season 4 finale is my favorite episode in the series but I know book readers despise it.
@@tahireed And once you see Tyrion's journey Season 5 onwards it's easy to understand why. That change really messed up Tyrion's characterization going forward.
I think that Jon should receive a dream to save Bran, that’s why he goes over the wall. More of the characters get injured or killed during a daring escape. During this entire episode, Bran is stuck green seeing through time and space, so he is unconscious. At the very end of the episode, he wakes up and shouts “what have you done?” Bran crossing back over the Wall should break the magic allowing the Others to cross. Either that, or something along D&D fan service, Daenerys flies over the wall thinking fire dragons are perfect for killing ice zombies in exchange for Jon and the North swearing fealty. In her arrogance, Viseryon is killed by ice magic. It’s not the best choice, but still a character choice,
I would put HotD a little bit higher. Sure, it dumps a lot of exposition on you and the time jumps make it a bit difficult to follow upon first viewing (due to having to "catch up" between the time jumps and figuring out which kid actors have been replaced with which adult ones and whatnot), but the way I see it, it's very, very tight. Every scene has a purpose and you just gotta love all the deep cuts throughout. As a bonus, HotD makes a few adjustments that were missing from GoT, like the dreamers ("He'll have to close one eye" gave me goosebumps) or making the Iron Throne a bit grander in scale (still nothing like the book, but I appreciate what they've done).
I think my ranking would be 8, 7, 5, 6, hotds1, 2,3,4,1. Season 1 is just a perfect retelling of book1 and it just works so well. Season 4 on the other hand you can already start to see some of the cracks come through where they're adding in a lot more action and stuff. Those scenes are generally good, but it's just sort of a bad omen especially seeing how the show basically ignores all of books 4 and 5.
Great list mate, here's my ranking from best to worst! 1. Season 4: Pure televisual gold. 2. Season 1: Pure televisual gold. 3. Season 3: Pure televisual gold. 4. Season 2: A couple of slow plot-lines make this the worst of the show's golden era but yes, still pure televisual gold. 5. House of the Dragon: A rich, endlessly compelling and characterful piece that, while slower than Game of Thrones, is still incredibly entertaining and addictive and really makes you care so damn much about every single little thing that's happening. 6. Season 6: Underrated. Aside from a couple of faulty storylines, this is another beautifully acted and (mostly) smartly written gem with several of the show's finest episodes. 7. Season 5: A fairly mediocre season, but it has its moments and the final three episodes are very good. 8. Season 7: I actually (mostly) like all seven of these episodes, but it doesn't work as a season at all and there's a sense that D and D were unsure of what they were doing at this point. 9. Season 8: A harrowingly dreadful storytelling disaster that's more painful than one of Ramsay Bolton's torture sessions.
A lot of people don't understand what Sansa was doing in The Battle of the Bastards. Why didn't she tell Jon about the army of the Vale? Simple put: The only chance Jon and Sansa had of winning was to draw Ramsey out from behind the walls of Winterfell. Otherwise, he just sits behind the walls until Winter is done. Siege was impossible due to Winter. So it was of the utmost importance that Ramsey believed he had an overwhelming advantage to come out and meet Jon and that means the army of the Vale must remain a secret. We already know that Ramsey can slip spies and saboteurs into his enemy's camp because he did it to Stannis so the only way to keep the army of the Vale secret is to never talk about it. Not even to Jon. Jon behaved exactly as someone who knew nothing about the army because he really didn't know. This also means that Sansa was setting Jon up big time. She knew Ramsey would bait him and the Jon's honor would not permit him to ignore it and sure enough, Jon fell for Ramsey's trap, which almost cost him his life. Sansa showed herself willing to sacrifice Jon to assure victory, something that Jon would never do to her.
Decent take but do you realise that when an army of thousands of men and horses travel for hundreds of kilometres it's not exactly easy to keep that a secret.
@@o.nshome677 It's possible though. Ever heard the battle of Manzikert? Then again, the Vale army have to literally march through Bolton territory to reach Winterfell. As naval invasions are impossible to keep secret.
This entire excuse is nonsense and completely falls apart when you watch the episode and realize there is an entire scene before the battle where Sansa *BEGS* Jon to delay the battle, not to rush in, and to wait for more men. She absolutely did *not* want to use him as "bait" or as a sacrifice or whatever, she was pleading with him to wait for reinforcements. He asked her point blank when reinforcements were coming, and she refused to answer. This makes zero sense as she has no reason to withhold that info after begging him to wait. Well, the reason is simply that D&D are morons and they wanted the Vale's arrival to be a "surprise" for the audience (as if we'd forget about that set up) and so they didn't want Sansa mentioning the Vale on screen in that episode because it would "ruin" the surprise. So they had to contrive this idiotic scenario where Sansa keeps quiet for no reason. But it made zero sense from a story or character perspective and went directly against Sansa's openly stated goal of trying to get Jon to delay. If she really wanted to use him as bait she would never have told him to postpone the battle, and she certainly wouldn't have been begging him to wait for an entire scene. So I'm sorry, but your explanation doesn't work on any level, is directly contradicted by the episode, and honestly just shows that you need to rewatch the show before attempting to make excuses for terrible writing. Somehow everyone who uses this excuse conveniently forgets the scene where Sansa furiously pleads with Jon to wait. How on Earth is that compatible with Sansa wanting Jon to act as bait to draw Ramsay out ? It's not. Watch the show.
@@MarkHogan994 So you think Sansa was being honest with Jon? Everything she was doing with him was a deception for the benefit of Ramsey's spies. She knew damn well that there were no more men and then gets Jon to say as much, all to make their cause appear hopeless to Ramsey. She even sweetens the pot by "warning" Jon that Ramsey is sure to set a trap and not to fall for it. All of this is for Ramsey's ears. Again, the only way Ramsey comes out from behind the walls of Winterfell is if he thinks it's going to be a very lopsided fight in his favor. Otherwise he just waits it out and wins by default because of Winter. Early Sansa could not tell a lie convincingly but by the end of Season 4 after her time with Littlefinger, she's lying openly to all the lords of the Vale and has them right where she wants them. By the end of the show, she even fools Littlefinger himself. The student becomes the master. That's her character arc. I guess she fooled you too!
Imagine if all seasons whas in near quality of season 4, and there where 10-13 seasons with 10 episodes in all of them. What could've been.. One word - perfection.
This is pretty much my ranking, though I think I’d have s1 a bit higher. I love Ned, and it’s incredibly consistent with the episode quality. The Wolf and the Lion, A Golden Crown, You Win or You Die, Baelor, Fire and Blood. All phenomenal episodes for me, and I appreciate how book faithful the season is.
1. Season 4 2. Season 6 (This is the hardest season to rank, because its such a mixed bag. But at its peak, its excellent). 3. Seasons 1, 2 and 3 6. House Of The Dragon 7. Season 5 8. Season 8 9. Season 7
It's not just "some aspects" about season 6, season 6 literally has 2 of the top 4 most beloved episodes of the series. It may not have the consistency of 1-4, but it's peaks are very high.
I mostly agree with this list It's not an opinion, it's a fact that Season 4 is the best Game of Thrones season. For me, Game of Thrones was something incredible work from Season 1 to 4, they are without a doubt the top 4 best seasons of the show When I started Season 5, I started to feel the show is becoming a regular fantasy series like other shows, not forgetting the Dany and Tyrion meeting, the Hardhome and Daenerys fight scene. And also that's Sansa's wedding scene, just because it was ambient and beautiful. While I liked Season 6, I cannot forget the errors like, "Were the Vale hiding during Jon Snow risking his life?" or "How did Jon survive so many arrows?" .... The lows are extreme lows but the highs are extreme highs. BOTB is my most fav episode of GOT but that doesn't make the entire season good. Also I'm not a critic, and it's a hot take but I enjoyed Season 7, it did have some pretty cool moments but the logic was missing. Don't even want to start about Season 8. Season 8 physically hurt me! My ranking would be 1. S4 2. S2 3. S1 4. S3 5. S6 6. S5 7. S7 8. S8 I'm from a different country so it was hard for me to connect with the series so I enjoyed S1 enough but I'm placing it 3rd just because now that I understand the show, I'm loving it more constantly.
Seasons 1-3 were really good Season 4 was pretty much flawless HoTD season 1 did everything right Seasons 5&6 has enough gore and character dynamics to satisfy Seasons 7-8 suffered with low episode count, but honestly if season 7 had 10 episodes it could have possibly been a hit IMO.
ending of season 6 had literally the highest peaks of the entire universe. I understand that it had lows as well but this season def had the best peaks of the entire show along with the latter half of season 4.
I LOVE season 2. Who cares about Jon and Dany. My favorite are Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion, Arya, Tywin, Little Finger, Varys and Sandor and they all have a great story in the season 2. I love see Tyrion rule Kings Landing. And the battle is fantastic
Season one is great but I think the show really found it footing by season 3 and some of the best acting performances were in season 3 which is why I have it above 1
But yeah otherwise I completely agree. I forgot how much I didn't like season 5 until I tried to rewatch this summer and was legitimately bored while watching season 5 and gave up there
Season 2 is the season I’m most nostalgic for. I loved the aspect of the war and the characters. I was rooting for the Starks, I was interested in Renly and Stannis, and I loved the Battle of the Blackwater I think I was less interested in Seasons 3 and 4 because I was invested in the war of 5 kings and that war lost all of its momentum in season 3. Renly was dad, Stannis was beaten and broken, Robb didn’t have the means to go on the attack and was just forced to camp at Riverrun until his story abruptly ended at the Red Wedding, and the Greyjoys realized they didn’t have the means to take the North so the war was effectively ended.
I categorize GOT seasons 2 and 3 as being like a long single season. The two seasons fit together so seamlessly.
interesting, because season 3 and 4 come from the same book, ASOS, whereas season 2 covers a whole novel itself.
@@johntencate4781 I guess it's just my own way of categorising GOT. Season two and three comprise the time between Ned Starks beheading and the Red Wedding and that section seems seamlessly connected to me.
Season 3 is my favorite season. Just banger after banger to the point where you forget some amazing that happened in episodes
You could say that for seasons 1-4
I only play back those episodes
@@johntencate4781 Books 2 and the first half of 3. So Season 2 and 3 take place in the same year tho
Bran being king because "he has a good story" is the biggest slap in the face to the audience you could possibly have. They literally cut him from an entire season because his story was so boring and they think everyone forgets this lmao
He has a good story for the realm. The characters dont care about viewers. Bran was also cut from an entire book... to get 3 chapters in the next lol
@@WWESVRGAMER But how can it be the best story when literally nobody can even explain what his powers are? As far as Tyrion can tell, he's just some kid who got crippled, went north, and got zonked out of his mind, and that's it.
@@domskillet5744 its mostly about the rejection of war, birthright and conquest. Making Bran King is the step into the right direction because of this. Once he dies, another one will be chosen and not just born into it like joffrey or because he killed everyone like dany.
He is a broken King for a broken Kingdom.
Now I don’t think in the books he’s gonna be the king of the seven kingdoms but maybe the king of weirwood or the next bloodraven
No but the worst part about brans storyline is that in the books it is sooooo cool , the whole magical arc of bran was basically cut because the show runners said they wanted the show to appeal to a larger audience so that’s why they cut the fantasy elements of the show … the children of the forest + blood raven + weirwood paste dreams were all basically cut out … it would have been amazing to see if the show was abit longer
Instead of bran not being in season 5, they should’ve had him training to become the 3 eyed raven by showing flashbacks to roberts rebellion which would make sense cus by the time we’re in season 6 they are showing flashbacks of Ned getting to the tower of joy to rescue his sister.
They should have just followed the books and made a feast for crows one season(it's missing a lot of characters but has a ton of good setup) and a dance with dragons two seasons and followed the storylines in there
@@olofacosta3192 well they didn't know what to do with most of these set up characters so they just omitted them and went for their own thinf
@@mohamedelhediissa289 yup which is why I'm almost equally angry at GRRM for being so lazy
@@mohamedelhediissa289 You do what any writer does, take the clues left there and move forward where they naturally and logically should go.
I disagree. Bran not being around is the best thing about season 5
Season 2 really suffered from a small budget. If they had an extra few million to pad out Qaarth with the more fantastical elements from the book and Battle of the 5 Kings, it would have been a top contender.
Book 2 was fantastic and my favorite of the books. The season was also great, I just thought they could have done more.
imagine if house of the dragon came first & got was the spinoff & started out season with the 20 million pero episode 1 imagine what those first few seasons would’ve looked like
@@ngin98 just more battles
tf why are the game of thrones comments in a fortnite video
@@BreydanArchibald You're on the wrong video mate
I really agree with how season 5 was generally mediocre while season 6 was a mix of extreme highs and extreme lows. Quality-wise they are around the same level, but season 6 definitely stands above 5 in terms of entertainment. I find it really hard to compare HotD with the seasons of GoT. Looking strictly at the writing and story, it would probably be placed just below the first four seasons of GoT even though there are some big weaknesses (mostly as a result of the time jumps and pacing being all over the place). If I instead just focused on how much I enjoyed watching the season, I might rank season 6 above it
Let's be honest, almost the only enjoyment to be had from season 6 are in the final 2 episodes, and even Battle of the Bastards is unbelievably flawed (they didn't give the giant a weapon ffs). Nearly every storyline is just painful to watch like Arya in Braavos, Dany with the Dothraki, Tyrion in Mereen, the High Sparrow. Jon v Ramsay is the only interesting storyline but even that is a consistent trainwreck (with the whole nonsensical Sansa being too proud to tell Jon about the Vale and the Manderlys not even showing up despite having one of the biggest armies in the north and being staunchly loyal to the Starks). If you're looking at a season in its entirety, I can't put season 6 anywhere near HOTD.
@@domskillet5744 the funny part is that almost all of those problems would have been fixed if DND followed the source material
Nonsense
@@domskillet5744 "The door" (S6 E5) was good
It has a good payoff to Hodor's arc
@@sanjaykarthicks1226 Nah the door makes literally no sense when you think about it and it's a cheap development for shock value. Somehow Bran both impacts the past but the past already happened to set up the present so it's perpetually in a paradox (which is the same issue with the time turner in Harry Potter).
Beyond that, Bran does literally nothing and his powers are barely touched on if at all after this moment of supposed revelation, so any impact is immediately lost.
Beyond beyond that, why did they feel the need to give Hodor a supernatural backstory and cram it into one episode when he's such a minor character? Nobody was dying to find out why Hodor is Hodor and the fact it's not touched on ever again (neither is Hodor) makes it even more clear it's just there for shock value and because Hodor is a fan favorite, instead of it being there for a narrative purpose.
I'm glad S1 is getting some love. Some people don't like it that much because it is the "set up" season, but I think it is underrated how difficult that set up must have been. With so many elements presented so smoothly and in such an entertaining way (with half the budget of other seasons)
I love the world building and set up of season 1. It gives an introduction to what kind of world we’re going to be in during the show and what’s at stake
I think season 1 is by far the best. It had an incredible pacing, was faithfull to the books but also created good Show only scenes and Most Main characters were Well written (accept for Daenaerys and sansa they didnt really understood those characters from the beginning)
imo it’s the best
GoT was only good when GRRM was doing the writing.
Season 6 had some good moments aswell but mostly agreed
“The show died with Tywin”
@@tbrown5836 indeed..... Indeed....
Cap
I liked it up to season 6.
Really glad you're still uploading consistently while there is no new HOTD/GOT content. S4 Tyrion trial, Watchers on the Wall & Joffrey's death were great
Glad most of the fanbase agrees that season 4 was the best season. Every…single…episode was banger after banger after banger. It has absolute PEAK rewatchability.
Pov: you know the ranking already
People who say HOTD is boring probably dont watch any historical dramas and think the fast and the furious movies are the hight of cinema.
It is in fact extremely boring. The original Game of Thrones is my favorite series, and I have watched a lot of historical drama series and movies, but HOTD was definitely the most boring out off all of them
@@Itza-Me incorrect answer :/
@@Itza-Mehow was it boring?
Or what about it didn’t you like?
Funny how everyone who thinks it’s boring has no idea whats coming ahah
It is boring imo . The dialogue are just exposition and the character dont feel real .
Great list. Season 1-4 are really close, so you could switch them in any way and i would still agree, but i think you found pretty much the perfect order.
Season 4 i think is better sligtly better but 1-3 could be switched in any order. Season 4 is just perfect tv
Season 4 is so good.
Season 4 was when the silly writing started.
@@hayleyb2254 *Ramsay* shirt scene...
and another?
@DareDevil
Karl Tanner drinking out of a skull. Cringe and impossible.
Bran etc hiding between a twig and expecting not to be seen by Karl etc.
The Hound openly telling people he was with Arya Stark.
The Hound robbing the farmer that helped them and leaving him and his daughter to starve. Book Hound wouldn't have done this.
Brienne and The Hound just so happening to bump into each other. Bran and Jon being at the same place at the same time. This season was when Westeros became incredibly small.
Also killing off Jojen seemed to be done for shock valve. Cutting Lady Stoneheart was a huge mistake too. As was dropping Tysha from Tyrions plot.
@@hayleyb2254 oh yeah
The Last Battle with Wights seemed wonky all the way
Jojen dying was rushed, lol. Didnt feel anything the Whole Time. But everything else? Nah.
Drinking from Mormont's skull was what made me Hate him So much more. Dude's a shit. And Hound with that family was Harsh but within his Character those Seasons. So, anything else doesnt stand.
But definitely that Shirless Ramsay scene and Jojen and Wights part tacked on for Action Sake.
@@hayleyb2254no, season 5
The only change I would make is that I would put season 2 over season 3 because Tyrion and Stannis have much better storylines in season 2, and Blackwater is my favorite episode
Somewhat agree. Only thing season 2 was missing is the fantastical elements from the books. But budget and DnDs idiotic asses prevented that
Nah, season 2 has a lot of problems. That's when they started to deviate massively from the books and it showed. It was a handful of great episodes (2x6, 2x9 and 2x10), and a lot of really mediocre ones. For instance, it took a while to get going, and episodes 7 & 8 were really meh. Season 3, on the other hand, was quite consistent throughout, and it had a lot more shocking moments. Season 3 is also a lot prettier for some reason. The cinematography went up a notch from S2.
@@Al-ji4gd honestly after reading clash is when you realise how much d&d wasted by not including magic. House of the undying, patchface and also reek storyline were missing
I would agree if it weren’t for Daenerys’s story. I found it very boring and underwhelming in all honesty.
Watching SD’s videos throughout the years, I instantly knew the exact ranking without even watching the video.
I like how that you put HOTD Season 1 behind the first 4 seasons of GOT but ahead of the rest of the reasons, you have Corlys saying "This is an equitable compromise"
lol completely agree with your rankings
My rankings are identical, except I’d swap 1 and 3 around.
So it’s 8
Agh just when I needed a video from this channel, thanks mate for keeping us entertained
In terms of what HoTD S1 had to accomplish (condense 20 years of simmering conflict into 10 hours while also establishing characters, setting, themes, conflict, etc.) it did a very good job. Hopefully now, the speed can come down several levels and we can enjoy the Dance of the Dragons in near real time
HotD might not be the 'best' season but it's my favourite if that makes sense. The deep connection with the characters and the exploration of the grey area hits me like no season of GoT ever did. Every character's actions are justified, whereas in GoT there are clear villains and heroes for us to root for. In HotD I still can't decide who I want to sit the throne.
this exactly. (i mean except the not deciding part im team black all the way) but the best thing about HotD is that you understand every single character and why they do what they do as opposed to GoT where you dont get to see the motives of alot the main players.
@@Alexwright12 the problem is they don't actually do anything tho
HotD is just so boring to me . I dont care who sit on the iron throne .
@@Alexwright12 team black is hyper cringe
@@Itza-Me I mean they don’t have to it’s a build up…idk why y’all like rushed shows
High key love that you use Skyrim music for your vids keep up the great work
Lets gooo always excited for your new videos!!
W
I was going to be mad about where you put season 3, but that's only because I forgot about season 4 somehow. And I definitely agree with your placement of HotD season 1. It had to do a whole "introducing the new characters" again and the time jumps did make it a little weird sometimes. And it had a lot of set up to do for the Dance. I'm hoping the next season ranks even higher on a list like this, and that it's up there with the first four seasons of GoT. I imagine there will be far less time skips now that we're up to the main story line.
I’ve always had issues with people taking issues with the time jumps as they were completely unavoidable
@roronoalaw7772 yeah are but we're done very poorly
Season 4 will always be the best! Glad to see these comments.
9:07 The first season of hotd was good, but I don't think anything can or will match the first 4 seasons of GOT.
Really great list.
Mine goes something like this :
4>>2=3>HOTD>1>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>6>>>5>>>>7>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>8.
I hope the next HOTD seasons can go on to have a similar growth to the one GOT had from seasons 1 to 4.
I agree season 4 has always been my favorite. Never dull.
Boromirs death still gets me
Love the choice of using the Skyrim music!!
I was really Hoping that "House of the Dragon" don't disappoint me and it didn't such an incredible first season.
Yeah. Imo, the only reason it ranks "middle" currently is simply because the first 4 seasons of GoT were that spectacular (even though I'd be in the camp that HotD S1 is better than GoT S2).
@@youtube-kit9450 yes
@@youtube-kit9450, The only thing that puts GoT S2 above HoTD season 1 for me is Blackwater. If Blackwater didn’t exist HoTD would be for sure above it for me.
@@drphilsranch6782Well maybe Rooke's Rest will do that for you in HotD Season 2.
I don’t often agree with youtube tier list so much, but I whole heartily agree with your opinions
I went into season8 thinking “you know, that Brand character arc was so good. He truly was the most interesting character in this series. I hope he becomes king”
And they did it! Greatest season ever!!!
Your video essays are some of my favorites! You have a nice voice :)
Thank you for saying “Watchers on the Wall” is your favorite episode. I think it was initially seen as the weakest penultimate episode of the first four seasons but it’s my favorite to rewatch and seems to have grown in critics’ estimation with time. Also great video overall - I don’t know if I’d change a single spot, except that I never know what to do with Season 6.
Season 6 for me is fantastic and probably my second favourite to s4
In my opinion:
1. Season 4, it's just perfect in my eyes
2. Season 3, consistently great but less highlights than in season 4
3. Season 2, mostly fantastic (except for the majority of Qarth) with Blackwater as the highlight
4. Season 1, great start to the series
5. HotD S1, great first season, a bit inconsistent but overall great and shows great promise
6. Season 6, flawed but still good and entertaining with great highs
7. Season 5, quite boring but it has Hardhome
8. Season 7, flawed and rushed, but I could still find enjoyment
9. Season 8, the greatest disappointment of all time for me
Completely agree with this list. The only disagreement I have is with your description of s7. I don't think it was just "flawed and rushed", I think it was a disaster very much on par with s8. If season 8 is a 1/10, season 7 is a 2/10 or 3/10, not more than that.
season 8 truly is so bad that the list should have hundreds of empty placement spots just so that season 8 could be even lower down
We have the exact same ranking :)
my exact list except GOT 2 and 1 are flipped
season 4 was great but they really fucked up the part with Tyrion and Jaime after the former killed Tywin.
As soon as you gave #3…I was about to say “I agree with your list except that I would switch 3 & 4. #3 S4 #2 S1 #1 S3”…but…I agree with your analysis and commentary and I now agree with your list 100%
Great list! I love your picks!
This I one of the first rankings of any kind I would totally agree with. Even with the arguments for and against each season. The only thing I might change, is to switch season 5 and 6 but I basically view them as even. Overall great ranking and video
Season 5-6 had the most potential to be the greatest by far, a feast for crows and dance feast for crows were what these seasons were based off and I loved these books the most when combined
Skyrim music in the background and GoT tier list. Doesn't get much better
Currently rewatching this series and it’s still my favorite series of all time
My exact ranking too, personally. Well said!
Couldn't agree more. If I had to make my own list without watching this video probably it would be the same. Perfect ranking.
6:59 the death of Shireen is a "high-light" indeed.
I pure loved season 6 - I think it's such a good build of the season and the final 2 eps... also make 7 and 8 worse because i think that's where all the plot points climax
I agree, season 6 was great but it just gets overshadowed by the fact that season 7 and 8 ruin everything it built. Jon becoming king in the north for example, just to leave the north straight away and ditch his crown without doing any ruling pretty much.
Nah, season 6 was mostly trash.
@@Al-ji4gdBattle of the Bastards and The Winds of Winter are masterful television, though.
@@Howlingburd19 I disagree. They're entertaining TV with a handful of good moments. The writing and everything else, however, sucks. What's so masterful about that?
@@Al-ji4gd you think so? A lot of people consider both them so be some of the greatest GOT episodes. As for BotB, it needs to be acknowledged that the episode isn’t as drama-based as many others (but even then, there was some good drama between Jon and Sansa), it’s one of the “battle” episode, which I believe is not a bad thing (and only a “handful of good moments” is absolutely ridiculous. There’s so many ferocious moments). It has a lot of strengths. Ones that I hope you can agree on is the size, scale, cinematography, choreography, sequences, visuals (it is literally one of the greatest visual spectacles put on television), music, and performances by Kit Harington and Iwan Rheon. At the very very least you have to agree that all of those are phenomenal, no? The pacing is also pretty good, and there were a mix of emotions like fear, stress, anxiety, tension, and satisfaction. The buildup to the episode show sets it up the very well.
I can understand the dislike, though. As for me, I honestly enjoy almost all of the episodes from seasons 1-6. Season 7 and 8 I don’t give a shit about and don’t consider them canon for me :P
Great list and I actually agree with all placements!
The only thing I disagree with is cercei's wild fire explosion being one of the best moments. To me it felt like such a cheap way to end a plotline they didn't know what to do with, killing so many major characters (although the suicide part was actually really good way to kill him off). Unlike the red Wedding where it was Robb's nurse fetish and bad choices leading him to that result, the explosion seems so unearned for Cercei. Whatever happened it would always end up that way , however smart the Tyrells played it Cercei just had wildlife. And the population of king's landing, known for rioting and overthrowing bad queens and kings (hotd? 😉) left Cercei on the throne after she blew up their sparrow ,their beloved queen and probably many houses. For me that explosion was when GOT died ,I know many were just happy to see the religious idiots gone ,but it was so cheap.
I really liked the Sparrows. If you're going to create a world with religions and beliefs, then you have to have groups of people more dedicated to their faiths or extreme for it to have substance and for the world building to be believable. Also the fact that there was rampant poverty in Kings Landing and such neglect from Cersei makes it a realistic option for the common folk to gravitate towards a religious cult that offers them a distraction from life. You're right though, it was such a cheap shot to remove them in one fell swoop with the beloved queen and somehow noone revolted. That was the death of GoT and the rest that came after was just beating the corpse lol
I didn't like how they went from hating Cercei to loving her overnight. I agree about the explosion. It felt cheap and made me dislike the charachter even more. Not to mention why nobody ever removed the wild fire from below kings landing after the mad king was killed. If I understand correctly, it was known about.
The explosion was cool looking and unexpected.
But looking back, it was the first sign that d&d were in a clear path to kill off or dummify all the cunning or smart characters.
I don't exactly hate the decision of cersei doing a move like that but as shown in the previous seasons you will expect heavy consequences for that, and it doesn't really happen.
For me, what really killed the series was the death of little finger. Obviously the pointless plan to capture a zombie was another good nail in the coffin but killing the character that pretty much started the entire series.
Why did he spend the entire season trying to make starks sister fight with each other!? What was actually he's end goal!?
Not to mention that the entire trial before his execution is really questionable, i know that little finger is a pretty bad dude and the starks are good, but the basis of his trial are completely circunstancial. It's basically like the starks decided to kill someone just because. Im talking from the outside look, the people of winterfell and the soldiers from the valley should have to at least be convinced with something more. But in the show, from one day to another everyone hates little finger just because.
What really infuriates of the scene is that basically that it shows how anything can happen without any previous stablish logic or reasoning. Moments like Ned's death, the red wedding or the purple wedding can't happen if the writers have zero idea of how to set up a plot with multiple parties involved, besides bad vs good. Thinking about the show makes me mad so that's it for my unnecessary tiny rant.
The city not protesting is a flaw with season 7 not 6
My biggest problem with the explosion was with came afterwards.
1. How the F*ck did Cersie become Queen afterwards?
She had no claim to the throne.
She was not from the Royal bloodline.
And House Lannister wasn't even at the Peak of it's power.
So why would so many Houses agree to put a Lannister WOMAN on the Throne?
2. As you've said she blew up the center of Kings Landing. How did that not incite a riot in Kings Landing?
3. Was the religion of Faith of the Seven only limited to that one Sept in King's Landing?
Because if it was a Nation wide religion I would assume destroying what is perhaps the central and most Important Building for said faith would create a lot of problems for you.
No Ruler in History has ever destroyed A Major Place of Worship of the Majority Religion of his Country.
4. Cersie just genocided House Tyrell one of the biggest Houses in Westeros and a House that was Allied to them through marriage.
And that too during Peace Time.
How did the other Houses see this and did not immediately get disgusted by Cersie's actions.
How did they not immediately revolt against the Lannister Rule in Kings Landing.
Bro literally did a mind read on me and made it into this list. I have exactly the same opinion for this list down to every single season(even the top 3). Crazy.
I like Season 4 but it's a bit overrated. In retrospect, you start to see some of the issues that plagued the later seasons of GoT. D&D started overreaching on changing source material (there were some great changes like the Oberyn scenes but also some really dumb changes like the circumstances of Tyrion's escape) and the show-only scenes started to decline in quality. But the source material was so strong it's nearly impossible to mess it up.
Season 4 was the climax of a ton of storylines so it has the most interesting subject material to go off of. But the writing was by far the worst of the first 4 seasons. I'd put it at the bottom of seasons 1-4 personally
It's no coincidence since DnD admitted that they're main purpose with making GOT was to put the red wedding on screen. After that they brought the quality down slowly but safely. Not to mention cut storylines
I agree. Outside of the iconic memorable moments, there is a lot of dumb stuff, like the Jaime rape scene and Yara’s dumb rescue plot. Locke’s side quest doesn’t make sense (I.e. just happening to find Bran and Rickon north of the wall). Plus we can’t forget possibly the worst line in the first four seasons: “Sansa’s not a killer…not yet anyway.”
@@olofacosta3192 It's such a shame because GOT could've been the greatest show of all time if it had been given the proper respect in its entirety instead of a single scene
Idk, this guy just sound like he's smiling the whole time he speaks, in every video I watched on this channel haha
I really rate season 6 higher, nice video :)
(edit) I really didn't agree with season 1 being top, but watching those clips and what you had to say convinced me 100%, what a season.
I completely agree with your ranking (and your comparison of Got seasons 5 & 6), although I have a hard time where to rank HotD season 1.
On the one hand I feel it should be higher, at least ahead of GoT season 2, then again I remember some of the greatness in the first 4 seasons of GoT.
For me the ranking of GoT 1-4 & HotD 1 is really extremely close... 😂😅
To be honest, each season should be evaluated individually, but people the to think of the first 4 collectively. Season 1 of HoTD is better than Season 2 of GOT and, at least, slightly below Season 1.
HoTD is nowhere near season 1 and 4 of GoT. No way, at least not yet.
First 4 seasons of GOT are waaaaay ahead of HOTD
I only remember clegane bowl from season 8 as being the best part also i binged the show with my dad he tried to warn me when we finished season 7 about season 8 and when danyerys went off my only word over and over hauntingly was "what is this whats happening!" After that game of thrones flew out of my mind until now recently when i finished a storm of swords i decided to give house of the dragon a chance and it succeded in my eyes and brought my love of a song of ice and fire back
you keep saying D&D can’t write dialogue but didn’t they write tywin’s introduction scene with him skinning the deer? and the scenes with tywin / arya and the varys/littlefinger “chaos is a ladder” scene? and maybe even the tyrion + cersei scene from s2 you mentioned tho i’m not sure about that one. they’re good writers they just stopped caring
They had GRR Martin's help for those scenes. But you're right as the main reason in the decline in storytelling is that they stop caring.
I think you completely hit the nail on the head here. Pretty much everything that needed to be said was said, the only thing I disagree with was putting season 2 and 3 at the lower end of the list but obviously everyone's opinions are different. For me, season 3 was easily the second best just for "The Rains of castamere" alone and season 2 for "Blackwater" but to be fair I think you and I can both agree that the first four seasons are all close to, if not completely perfect.
17:25 so many people ignored that moment but for me. thats one of the top 3 moments evers
The wait is over
Jeyne poole being cut was a huge blunder
Finally someone who doesn‘t put season 7 over season 1
1-Season 4: Best season because of multiple reasons. War at the walls and Tyrion's trial are my favorites.
2-Season 3: Political phases at best, many brilliant moments and of course Red Wedding
3-Season 2: I actually like this season more than first because characters got more fleshed out and Battle of Blackwater has much more better character moments.
4-Season 1: Good start but it was mostly a Sean Bean show, after that it step up.
5-Season 5: Despite all the flaws, the parts come from books are redeeming factors. Of course it is start of downfall
6-Season 6: I facepalmed so much in this season, I liked Battle of Bastards but once you think more about it later it was stupidest battle ever to this point and has so many strategic mistakes. I'm not counting later battles because GOT ended in this season.
7-Season 7: Absolute shit show. Zombie Dragon is only interesting thing.
8-Season 8: It already ended in previous season, there was just one redeeming quality left (Night King) and it killed pathetically
Haven't watched HOTD yet.
Hotd so good
What parts from the book are faithfully adapted from the book? Everything in Season 5 squanders what GRRM laid out.
@@gfilmer7150 I'm not saying it was faithful. Parts like High Sparrow taking power, Sons of Harpy (excluding death of Barristan), Jon's assasination, there are core parts for exploring but ruined later. Season 6 has more action but everything is insultingly stupid.
@@nemesis3587 But that stuff in Season 5 was also ruined. The arcs were poorly adapted. Where is Dany’s foreshadowing for the mad Queen? Season 6 had action while Season 5 had nothing. Just filler.
To be fair, the battle of the bastards was kind of intentionally a mess. The whole point was that ramsay provoked jon into falling into his trap, thus depriving his army of effective leadership. On ramsay's part, he did lead the battle quite well with his only real mistake being not scouting for reinforcements for jons side, which how could he predict littlefinger would randomly help jon all of the sudden?
As a book lover, i don't think season 4 is the best one, although, it has two of the best episode of the hole show, the Lion and the Rose and The Watchers on the Wall
This is part of why I didn't read the books while watching the show. The season 4 finale is my favorite episode in the series but I know book readers despise it.
@@tahireed And once you see Tyrion's journey Season 5 onwards it's easy to understand why. That change really messed up Tyrion's characterization going forward.
@@tahireed the episode itself on its own is fine, the problem is that it ruins Tyrion's character for season 5 and after.
I agree tbh I liked season 4 but it was noticeably less consistent than 1-3 and had some changes that messed up the show in future seasons.
Season 4 is tbetter than the books.
For me:
1. GOT S4
2. GOT S3
3. GOT S2
4. GOT S1
5. GOT S6
6. HOTD S1
7. GOT S5
8. GOT S7
9. HOTD S2
10. GOT S8
I think that Jon should receive a dream to save Bran, that’s why he goes over the wall. More of the characters get injured or killed during a daring escape. During this entire episode, Bran is stuck green seeing through time and space, so he is unconscious. At the very end of the episode, he wakes up and shouts “what have you done?” Bran crossing back over the Wall should break the magic allowing the Others to cross.
Either that, or something along D&D fan service, Daenerys flies over the wall thinking fire dragons are perfect for killing ice zombies in exchange for Jon and the North swearing fealty. In her arrogance, Viseryon is killed by ice magic. It’s not the best choice, but still a character choice,
agree with your list.this is exactly my list too👌
When i was kid jon was my favorite character. but as a growned man tywin is by far my favorite character in the show lol
Love the skyrim background music
Finally someone who also agrees that The Watchers on the Wall is the best episode
Stellar analysis
I would put HotD a little bit higher. Sure, it dumps a lot of exposition on you and the time jumps make it a bit difficult to follow upon first viewing (due to having to "catch up" between the time jumps and figuring out which kid actors have been replaced with which adult ones and whatnot), but the way I see it, it's very, very tight. Every scene has a purpose and you just gotta love all the deep cuts throughout. As a bonus, HotD makes a few adjustments that were missing from GoT, like the dreamers ("He'll have to close one eye" gave me goosebumps) or making the Iron Throne a bit grander in scale (still nothing like the book, but I appreciate what they've done).
My personal list from worst to best:
Season 8,
Season 5/Season 7,
Season 6,
Season 1,
Season 2,
Hot D,
Season 4,
Season 3.
The red wedding was the most impactful scene imo
I think my ranking would be 8, 7, 5, 6, hotds1, 2,3,4,1. Season 1 is just a perfect retelling of book1 and it just works so well. Season 4 on the other hand you can already start to see some of the cracks come through where they're adding in a lot more action and stuff. Those scenes are generally good, but it's just sort of a bad omen especially seeing how the show basically ignores all of books 4 and 5.
Redeeming quality of s8- theon
Great list mate, here's my ranking from best to worst!
1. Season 4: Pure televisual gold.
2. Season 1: Pure televisual gold.
3. Season 3: Pure televisual gold.
4. Season 2: A couple of slow plot-lines make this the worst of the show's golden era but yes, still pure televisual gold.
5. House of the Dragon: A rich, endlessly compelling and characterful piece that, while slower than Game of Thrones, is still incredibly entertaining and addictive and really makes you care so damn much about every single little thing that's happening.
6. Season 6: Underrated. Aside from a couple of faulty storylines, this is another beautifully acted and (mostly) smartly written gem with several of the show's finest episodes.
7. Season 5: A fairly mediocre season, but it has its moments and the final three episodes are very good.
8. Season 7: I actually (mostly) like all seven of these episodes, but it doesn't work as a season at all and there's a sense that D and D were unsure of what they were doing at this point.
9. Season 8: A harrowingly dreadful storytelling disaster that's more painful than one of Ramsay Bolton's torture sessions.
I wouldn't go as far to say it has the worst ending in history. Lost kind of takes the cake for me in that regard.
Personally I would have put HOTD before seasons 1 and 2 of GOT
Its funny how everything that was hated in season 4 just gets ignored lol
A lot of people don't understand what Sansa was doing in The Battle of the Bastards. Why didn't she tell Jon about the army of the Vale? Simple put: The only chance Jon and Sansa had of winning was to draw Ramsey out from behind the walls of Winterfell. Otherwise, he just sits behind the walls until Winter is done. Siege was impossible due to Winter. So it was of the utmost importance that Ramsey believed he had an overwhelming advantage to come out and meet Jon and that means the army of the Vale must remain a secret. We already know that Ramsey can slip spies and saboteurs into his enemy's camp because he did it to Stannis so the only way to keep the army of the Vale secret is to never talk about it. Not even to Jon. Jon behaved exactly as someone who knew nothing about the army because he really didn't know. This also means that Sansa was setting Jon up big time. She knew Ramsey would bait him and the Jon's honor would not permit him to ignore it and sure enough, Jon fell for Ramsey's trap, which almost cost him his life. Sansa showed herself willing to sacrifice Jon to assure victory, something that Jon would never do to her.
Decent take but do you realise that when an army of thousands of men and horses travel for hundreds of kilometres it's not exactly easy to keep that a secret.
@@o.nshome677 It's possible though. Ever heard the battle of Manzikert? Then again, the Vale army have to literally march through Bolton territory to reach Winterfell. As naval invasions are impossible to keep secret.
@@alejandromaldonado6159 what was the Battle of Manzikert?
This entire excuse is nonsense and completely falls apart when you watch the episode and realize there is an entire scene before the battle where Sansa *BEGS* Jon to delay the battle, not to rush in, and to wait for more men. She absolutely did *not* want to use him as "bait" or as a sacrifice or whatever, she was pleading with him to wait for reinforcements. He asked her point blank when reinforcements were coming, and she refused to answer.
This makes zero sense as she has no reason to withhold that info after begging him to wait. Well, the reason is simply that D&D are morons and they wanted the Vale's arrival to be a "surprise" for the audience (as if we'd forget about that set up) and so they didn't want Sansa mentioning the Vale on screen in that episode because it would "ruin" the surprise. So they had to contrive this idiotic scenario where Sansa keeps quiet for no reason.
But it made zero sense from a story or character perspective and went directly against Sansa's openly stated goal of trying to get Jon to delay. If she really wanted to use him as bait she would never have told him to postpone the battle, and she certainly wouldn't have been begging him to wait for an entire scene.
So I'm sorry, but your explanation doesn't work on any level, is directly contradicted by the episode, and honestly just shows that you need to rewatch the show before attempting to make excuses for terrible writing. Somehow everyone who uses this excuse conveniently forgets the scene where Sansa furiously pleads with Jon to wait. How on Earth is that compatible with Sansa wanting Jon to act as bait to draw Ramsay out ? It's not. Watch the show.
@@MarkHogan994 So you think Sansa was being honest with Jon? Everything she was doing with him was a deception for the benefit of Ramsey's spies. She knew damn well that there were no more men and then gets Jon to say as much, all to make their cause appear hopeless to Ramsey. She even sweetens the pot by "warning" Jon that Ramsey is sure to set a trap and not to fall for it. All of this is for Ramsey's ears. Again, the only way Ramsey comes out from behind the walls of Winterfell is if he thinks it's going to be a very lopsided fight in his favor. Otherwise he just waits it out and wins by default because of Winter.
Early Sansa could not tell a lie convincingly but by the end of Season 4 after her time with Littlefinger, she's lying openly to all the lords of the Vale and has them right where she wants them. By the end of the show, she even fools Littlefinger himself. The student becomes the master. That's her character arc. I guess she fooled you too!
I find GOT and HOTD S1 to be a different genre, so it's really hard to compare these shows. It has resurrected dead franchise and was great.
Imagine if all seasons whas in near quality of season 4, and there where 10-13 seasons with 10 episodes in all of them. What could've been.. One word - perfection.
Season 4 is the best and season 8 is the worst
4>3>2>1>hotd s1>>>s6>S5>>>>S7>s8
This is pretty much my ranking, though I think I’d have s1 a bit higher. I love Ned, and it’s incredibly consistent with the episode quality. The Wolf and the Lion, A Golden Crown, You Win or You Die, Baelor, Fire and Blood. All phenomenal episodes for me, and I appreciate how book faithful the season is.
Perfect list
I honestly agree with this list completely
15:18 "expertly executed"... very nice
1. Season 4
2. Season 6 (This is the hardest season to rank, because its such a mixed bag. But at its peak, its excellent).
3. Seasons 1, 2 and 3
6. House Of The Dragon
7. Season 5
8. Season 8
9. Season 7
Excellent list, the order of 1,2,3 is likely the most debatable. I would probably put Season 3 as 2nd best.
For me:
1.4
2.1 & 2
3.3
Same ranking, damn! I haven't seen HITD though. Now, I will.
Rewatching GOT is still fun
Just ignore season 7 and 8 and you’re good lol
Season 4 is peak television. The Episode “The children” has soooo much crazy shit from storm of swords, absolutely insane.
It's not just "some aspects" about season 6, season 6 literally has 2 of the top 4 most beloved episodes of the series. It may not have the consistency of 1-4, but it's peaks are very high.
Battle of the bastards is very flawed in terms of logic and plot armour, plus he is rating the entire season, not just winds of winter or door
I mostly agree with this list
It's not an opinion, it's a fact that Season 4 is the best Game of Thrones season.
For me, Game of Thrones was something incredible work from Season 1 to 4, they are without a doubt the top 4 best seasons of the show
When I started Season 5, I started to feel the show is becoming a regular fantasy series like other shows, not forgetting the Dany and Tyrion meeting, the Hardhome and Daenerys fight scene. And also that's Sansa's wedding scene, just because it was ambient and beautiful. While I liked Season 6, I cannot forget the errors like, "Were the Vale hiding during Jon Snow risking his life?" or "How did Jon survive so many arrows?" .... The lows are extreme lows but the highs are extreme highs. BOTB is my most fav episode of GOT but that doesn't make the entire season good.
Also I'm not a critic, and it's a hot take but I enjoyed Season 7, it did have some pretty cool moments but the logic was missing. Don't even want to start about Season 8. Season 8 physically hurt me!
My ranking would be
1. S4
2. S2
3. S1
4. S3
5. S6
6. S5
7. S7
8. S8
I'm from a different country so it was hard for me to connect with the series so I enjoyed S1 enough but I'm placing it 3rd just because now that I understand the show, I'm loving it more constantly.
Agree with your top however, the best episode for me is "blackwatter" & 1,2-S I would bet on one place
Season 1is better than Season 4. Every plot point is enjoyable and the dialogue is absolutely unmatched.
Tyrion going dumb is season fm5 actually lines up with how his chapters in A Dance with Dragons felt to me
Seasons 1-3 were really good
Season 4 was pretty much flawless
HoTD season 1 did everything right
Seasons 5&6 has enough gore and character dynamics to satisfy
Seasons 7-8 suffered with low episode count, but honestly if season 7 had 10 episodes it could have possibly been a hit IMO.
Season 7 is already pretty stupid with plot flaws like going north of the wall to capture an undead.
Way too nice to anything post GoT season 4.
@@Al-ji4gdthis comment is about his opinion, not yours
@@pele5004 And I gave mine, so what?
Can’t wait for the game of thrones reboot in the near future when the source material is complete
I hope you do this very same video when all episodes of HoTd season 2 are released
ending of season 6 had literally the highest peaks of the entire universe. I understand that it had lows as well but this season def had the best peaks of the entire show along with the latter half of season 4.
I LOVE season 2. Who cares about Jon and Dany. My favorite are Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion, Arya, Tywin, Little Finger, Varys and Sandor and they all have a great story in the season 2. I love see Tyrion rule Kings Landing. And the battle is fantastic
Season one is great but I think the show really found it footing by season 3 and some of the best acting performances were in season 3 which is why I have it above 1
But yeah otherwise I completely agree. I forgot how much I didn't like season 5 until I tried to rewatch this summer and was legitimately bored while watching season 5 and gave up there
Season 2 is the season I’m most nostalgic for. I loved the aspect of the war and the characters. I was rooting for the Starks, I was interested in Renly and Stannis, and I loved the Battle of the Blackwater
I think I was less interested in Seasons 3 and 4 because I was invested in the war of 5 kings and that war lost all of its momentum in season 3. Renly was dad, Stannis was beaten and broken, Robb didn’t have the means to go on the attack and was just forced to camp at Riverrun until his story abruptly ended at the Red Wedding, and the Greyjoys realized they didn’t have the means to take the North so the war was effectively ended.
Season 3-6 are pure gold