It’s been over ten months but the long wait for something new from George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones franchise and Sunday was the start of Season Six of HBO’s Game of Thrones. This also marked the start of brand new material for the franchise. The five books were exhausted in the last season so this episode was the first look at A Song of Ice and Fire for everyone.
Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones – Episode Six Review: Next Time on Game of Thrones
It’s interesting how well-received that Game of Thrones is in print and on TV but the ASOIAF/GOT franchise has never been well-received in the gaming world. Unfortunately for Telltale Games, so far, the critics have said the same about their take on a Game of Thrones game.
Telltale’s Game of Thrones series came to an end with the sixth episode. Perhaps the extra length beyond the standard Telltale fare was unnecessary. The series had been good but not the greatness that we were used to from Telltale. Unfortunately, Episode Six: The Ice Dragon did nothing to change that perception.
Game of Thrones – Episode Five Review: The George R. R. Martin Special
What’s the old George R. R. Martin special? Political intrigue mixed with copious amounts of violence, death and destruction. Sure, that’s probably over simplifying the books and TV show but that’s what keeps people coming back every time.
It was only a matter of time before Telltale Games’ Game of Thrones series also started to get closer to resembling a video game version of Game of Thrones rather than a Telltale game with a Game of Thrones coat of paint. That doesn’t mean that Episode Five – A Nest of Vipers was the best episode of Telltale’s Game of Thrones this season.
Game of Thrones – Episode Four Review: Old Wounds
After the last episode of Game of Thrones (A Telltale Game Series), I lamented the fact that it felt like the story was far too on-rails for my liking and that the Forrester clan were getting no hope spots in their continuing battle to save their House from being crushed by the combined forces of House Whitehill and the various Bolton and Lannister forces. While the latter doesn’t really change that much (it is a Telltale game after all), we finally see a glimmer of hope and a little comeback from Team Ironrath.
Given that we’ve been beaten down emotionally by Game of Thrones on TV and in the game, it was nice to have that little bit of hope.
Game of Thrones: Mother’s Mercy Review
After last season and this week’s episode, I’m not sure that the hype over Episode Nines shouldn’t be replaced with hype over Episode Tens. While some big things might happen in Episode Nine, for the second year in a row, it was the season finale that was the best episode of the season. Now that the TV show has reached the end of the books, the story has run out on a number of characters.
Game of Thrones: The Dance of Dragons Review
There are two types of Episode Nines in Game of Thrones. The first is the big plot-heavy episodes that bring us to the climax of many of the show’s big stories throughout the season. The other are the more tightly focused big budget battle episodes. The Dance of Dragons was definitely more the former but the ending certainly had the spectacle of the latter.
Game of Thrones: Hardhome Review
If you gave up on Game of Thrones two weeks ago, I feel bad for you son. You’ve got 99 problems but one of the best episodes in the show’s history ain’t one.
In the run up to this week’s episode, I was mentioning to my show watching friends that I wasn’t really sure what big events we had to look forward to heading into the final three episodes of the season. I wasn’t expecting the big blowouts we got in seasons two and four but maybe some big events scattered about Westeros like in season three. While I’m still not sure we’ll even get that in episode nine, Hardhome certainly brought the spectacle.
Game of Thrones: The Gift Review
According to Rotten Tomatoes, last week’s episode of Game of Thrones was the lowest rated among critics in the show’s history. The final scene was that controversial, apparently. I guess people who watched all 46 episodes of the show are few and far between. Actually, that makes sense given viewership has grown with each season.
This week’s episode was a lot less controversial but did nothing less to move the plot forward. As the show moves toward this season’s conclusion, The Gift certainly gave us a sharp push towards a thrilling conclusion to stories in King’s Landing and Winterfell.
Game of Thrones – Episode Three Review: Words are Wind
One criticism that Telltale has faced since their renaissance with The Walking Dead is that their games have become quite formulaic. There’s a lot of talking, some needless quick-time events and a helix story structure that only diverges based on your choices for a short period before following the intended plot. But even with those complaints, Telltale is very good at telling their story.
The problem is that when you release games episodically, there’s an expectation for the climax inside the episode and to build the “season”-long story at the same time. The first two episodes of Telltale’s Game of Thrones have been serviceable as their own episodes but they haven’t rushed to build a story going forward. With Episode Three: The Sword in the Darkness, Game of Thrones properly drives us forward in the season-long narrative.
Game of Thrones: The Musical
So if what we do on Fridays is what we call Fridays of Ice and Fire, then you could call Tuesday posts about Game of Thrones something like Tuesdays of Thrones.
Anyway, in an effort to boost sagging ratings, NBC borrowed the British charity fundraiser Red Nose Day to bring together some much needed star power to get people to watch the network. One of the skits for Red Nose Day was combining the forces of Coldplay and Game of Thrones to create Game of Thrones: The Musical.
Whether you like Coldplay or not, it’s a pretty good skit. A bunch of cast members show up and are pretty hard to recognize out of costume, including Mark Addy and Alfie Allen. It also has some random cameos including Addy (who is awesome in this), Charlotte Hope and Thomas Brodie-Sangster. And that doesn’t even mention narration by Liam Neeson. Sadly, no Team Dragonstone.
The Lowdown 