Game of Thrones season 5: news and episode reviews

When President Obama met the director of Game of Thrones‘ shocking season five finale recently, he had a very important question: “You didn’t kill Jon Snow, did you?’”

According to the director himself, David Nutter, Nutter responded by telling the president, “Jon Snow is deader than dead.” Obama griped, “You keep killing off my favorite characters.”

Will Jon Snow return to Game of Thrones? I have argued that he will, and now Vanity Fair’s Joanna Robinson has rounded up various tidbits from recent interviews and news stories that point toward Jon’s reappearance, including actor Kit Harington’s still-long hair. Yet the best evidence, to me, lies in this comment from showrunner D. B. Weiss:

However, a week and a half after the season five finale, Jon’s apparent death clearly is an “Oh what just happened?” scene. So if, as Weiss claims, he wants what happened to be unambiguous, he could pretty easily clear it up with a simple statement. And Weiss’s statement that “dead is dead” and Benioff’s reference to “the death of Jon Snow” don’t qualify, since this is a show where characters can come back from the dead. If either had said, “Sorry, fans, Jon Snow is unequivocally dead and isn’t coming back, ever,” that would’ve been pretty conclusive — but Weiss and his co-showrunner, David Benioff, distinctly aren’t going that far.

Every week throughout Game of Thrones’ fifth season, a handful of Vox’s writers have gathered to discuss the latest episode. We’ll conclude our discussions for 2015 today. You can check out our recap of the season finale, as well the archive of our entire discussion to date.

Andrew Prokop: Jen, this season has definitely stirred some intense debate. But in the words of Petyr Baelish, “The past is the past. The future is all that’s worth discussing.” So I’m going to close this year’s chat with some speculation on what we might see next time around. And for the first time, book readers like me will be just as in the dark as everyone else.

Every week throughout Game of Thrones’ fifth season, a handful of Vox’s writers have gathered to discuss the latest episode. Before we wrap things up for 2015, check out our recap of the season finale, as well the archive of our entire discussion to date.

It’s been nearly a week since Game of Thrones’ fifth season came to a close with a controversial and overstuffed finale, which means now’s the perfect time to look back on all 10 episodes and name the best — and worst — moments. Below, several Vox staffers reveal their picks for highest highs and lowest lows.

Every week throughout season five, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Before you dig in, check out our recap of the season finale, as well the archive of our entire discussion to date. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, deputy culture editor Jen Trolio, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and executive editor Matthew Yglesias. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Andrew Prokop: Matt, after Game of Thrones’ season five finale, I kept thinking of Todd’s criticism from a few weeks back — that showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss have become increasingly reliant on delivering shocking “moments,” but are failing to properly set them up or explore their aftermaths. This, I think, perfectly describes why I was so underwhelmed by the finale’s most shocking moment of all: the killing of Jon Snow.

Every week throughout season five, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Before we begin, check out our recap of the season finale, as well the archive of our entire discussion to date. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, deputy culture editor Jen Trolio, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and executive editor Matthew Yglesias. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Matthew Yglesias: Jen, I endorse basically everything you have to say about Game of Thrones’ overstuffed finale, except to note (and here comes another book/show comparison) that the source material for this season is much worse in terms of feeling overstuffed and tedious. Despite some misjudgments (Dorne), David Benioff and D. B. Weiss did an overall stellar job of streamlining a messy plot and getting us from point A to point B with a reasonably compelling rhythm.

Every week throughout season five, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Before we begin, check out our recap of the season finale, as well the archive of our entire discussion to date. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, deputy culture editor Jen Trolio, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and executive editor Matthew Yglesias. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Jen Trolio: Alas, Todd, my status as a non-reader (of A Song of Ice and Fire; not, like, all books ever, your assumptions of illiteracy be damned) wasn’t enough to endear me to the way this season finale was structured as a veritable cliffhanger parade.

Every week throughout season five, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Before we begin, check out our recap of the season finale, as well the archive of our entire discussion to date. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, deputy culture editor Jen Trolio, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and executive editor Matthew Yglesias. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Todd VanDerWerff: As a conversation piece, “Mother’s Mercy” is pretty great. It’s an hour of cliffhangers, with basically every scene leaving some character or another’s life in mortal peril. It’s also an episode that heavily suggests Stannis and Jon are dead. I have trouble believing that both of them are, but Game of Thrones’ publicity machine is working overtime to convince me that’s the case. (Can you imagine if Stannis lived but Jon died? I think the internet would burn down.)

Game of Thrones’ season five finale was made up entirely of cliffhangers. As an episode of television, “Mother’s Mercy” was disjointed and largely unsatisfying, part of a season that has been exhilarating at some turns and a complete downer at others.

But as an hour intended to keep people talking about the show until season six debuts in 2016, it was a raging success. So much happened that we’re expanding on our usual five-moments format with a special lightning round of cliffhangers.

Major spoilers follow for episode 10 of the fifth season of Game of Thrones.

“Mother’s Mercy,” the finale of Game of Thrones’ fifth season, tossed many shocking curveballs to readers of George R. R. Martin’s books.

MAJOR SPOILERS for the season finale of Game of Thrones follow. You have been warned!

Since A Dance With Dragons was published in July 2011, hundreds of thousands of readers have been in suspense about whether Jon Snow was alive, or whether he had been killed.

Every week, several of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for “The Dance with Dragons” here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, deputy culture editor Jen Trolio, executive editor Matt Yglesias, climate change writer David Roberts, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and more.

Jen Trolio: And then we came to the end — the season five finale is upon us! Dave, even though I’m not familiar with the Arya of the books, I’m with you on wanting to see her be more of a badass or, at the very least, less of a befuddled klutz when it comes to stalking her prey. Based on her scenes in episode nine, I’m thinking you’re correct in believing she’ll kill Meryn Trant in the finale. My personal prediction is that she’ll crib a new look from the Hall o’ Faces at the House of Black and White, retrieve her trusty Needle from its waterfront hiding place, return to the brothel where Trant revealed his disturbing pedophiliac preferences, and use her youthful figure to get him alone and cross his name off her hit list.

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, executive editor Matt Yglesias, climate change writer David Roberts, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Dave Roberts: I’m coming in at the end here, and my illustrious colleagues have already hashed over the attention-grabbing scenes from last Sunday’s episode, “The Dance of Dragons.“ For the record, I’m with Jen on Stannis’s sacrifice of Shireen, with Todd on Game of Thrones’ larger aesthetic problems, and apparently the only one who thought the Meereen scene was a mini-masterpiece.

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, executive editor Matt Yglesias, climate change writer David Roberts, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Andrew Prokop: Todd, what I’m curious about regarding Shireen’s burning is whether it has any deeper thematic import for the show — or whether it is just an empty moment intended to shock and appall. Savvy viewers know that when looking for themes in prestige television, it’s typically useful to examine what’s being said in the seemingly ordinary conversations around the big marquee event of the week. So, what are our characters talking about before and after the bonfire?

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, executive editor Matt Yglesias, climate change writer David Roberts, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Todd VanDerWerff: Matt, I think you’re right about Shireen — in that the scene featuring her sacrifice was agonizing and awful but also extremely powerful in a way that Sansa’s rape was not — but wrong in some ways about its overall effect on the show.

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, executive editor Matt Yglesias, climate change writer David Roberts, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Matt Yglesias: Jen, I agree with you that the melee in Meereen didn’t really work, but I don’t think I endorse your larger diagnosis of the show, which seems to me to have more to do with events outside of Winterfell. So let’s address those separately.

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, executive editor Matt Yglesias, climate change writer David Roberts, politics writer Andrew Prokop, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Jen Trolio: Episodes like “The Dance of Dragons” are why I’m beginning to think about Game of Thrones as a collection of engineered moments, rather than as an ongoing epic. I’ll come right out and say it: I didn’t much care for this jam-packed penultimate installment of season five, and not just because of the Shireen stuff (which I’ll get to in a minute).

“The Dance of Dragons,“ the ninth episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones, was a fiery ordeal on all fronts. In true Game of Thrones fashion, some parts dramatically pushed the envelope.

It’s been frustrating in recent weeks how Daenerys hasn’t taken full advantage of her dragons as a source of hard-handed legitimacy to her rule. Even if roasting local elites at random wasn’t the best intimidation tactic, the Mother of Dragons still needs her namesake to lay down the rule of the law. We wanted dragons, and this week we got them.

Major spoilers follow for the ninth episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones.

When the most shocking (and fatal) twist of this week’s episode, “The Dance of Dragons,“ appeared on screen, readers of George R. R. Martin’s series probably screamed at their televisions worldwide — because it wasn’t from the published books.

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, politics writer Andrew Prokop, executive editor Matthew Yglesias, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Matthew Yglesias: I’m with you, Todd, that the lack of quantification on the show is sometimes frustrating. For me, the frustration is not so much in trying to understand the tactical military situation as in attempting to grasp the nature of this world’s society and economy. To my eyes, the encampment at Hardhome looked like it hosted an awfully large group of people for a pre-industrial civilization in an arctic climate:

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, politics writer Andrew Prokop, executive editor Matthew Yglesias, foreign policy writer Zack Beauchamp, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Jen Trolio: Matt, I’m of two minds when it comes to the current relevancy of Game of Thrones’ non–White Walker threats. While I’ll certainly never tire of watching a giant stomp wights to smithereens (someone give Wun Wun a spinoff!), one thing I really love about the show is its character interactions, which are frequently garnished with biting wit. Even if the ongoing political machinations will inevitably be overshadowed by the big picture and overarching “winter is coming” doomsday prophecy, I’ll still enjoy watching various character pairings trade barbs, taunt one another, join forces against common foes, etc.

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, politics writer Andrew Prokop, executive editor Matthew Yglesias, foreign policy writer Zack Beauchamp, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Matthew Yglesias: I’m going to offer a wise middle ground on the book vs. show debate — both are good and both are well-suited to their respective mediums.

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, politics writer Andrew Prokop, executive editor Matthew Yglesias, foreign policy writer Zack Beauchamp, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Andrew Prokop: Todd, I don’t agree at all that Game of Thrones has surpassed George R. R. Martin’s books in quality. While I like the show a lot, I don’t think it’s even come close.

Every week, a handful of Vox’s writers will discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Check out the recap for this episode here, and follow the whole discussion here. This week, we’ll be hearing from culture editor Todd VanDerWerff, politics writer Andrew Prokop, executive editor Matthew Yglesias, foreign policy writer Zack Beauchamp, and deputy culture editor Jen Trolio. Come back throughout the week for entries.

Todd VanDerWerff: At the end of the massively satisfying “Hardhome,“ I found myself wondering one simple thing: has this TV series surpassed the books it’s based on?