Game of Thrones Season 1 Was Never Good

It may be hard to believe, but when HBO's Game of Thrones first came out, it wasn't exactly popular. Critics were mixed on the story, and most people weren't really tuning in. When I revisited the show last year for the first time since 2019, it became pretty clear that maybe the only reason people began looking favorably on this famous first season was because of the cynicism, "mature" vibe, plot twists, and cliffhangers.

Ned Stark sits on the Iron Throne in Game of Thrones Season 1 promotional banner.

Game of Thrones was unarguably the biggest cultural phenomenon in the 2010s TV space, becoming the most watched, talked about, acclaimed, and anticipated drama to come out of Hollywood at the time. The infamous final season completely shattered the show's reputation and had fans longing for the old days, but in all honesty, the show was never set up for success.

When I first watched the show in 2016, I remember seeing opinions about how the show became unwatchable after season 4, but by the time season 8 rolled around, people claimed the show was good up until that point. It's a fascinating case study in how hype can influence perspectives, but that's not why we're here today.

Instead, I'm going to break down season 1 episode by episode based on my 2024 rewatch, diving into the poor (and sometimes not-so-poor) writing along with an overall look at the season afterwards. So if you're looking for a quick analysis of the full season plus some broader series reflections and misconceptions, feel free to skip to the end and save the breakdown for later!

Episode-by-Episode Breakdown

Episode 1: "Winter Is Coming"

The pilot kicks off with a teaser revealing the White Walkers, then introduces us to the Starks and the Lannister-Baratheon clan. Robert pushes Ned to become his Hand, Viserys pushes Daenerys to marry Khal Drogo, and Jaime pushes Bran out of a window.

• The first issue is that it's really quite boring. Most of the characters aren't introduced in compelling or even vaguely memorable ways. Not much really happens, and there's no narrative focus beyond checking off a massive list of introductions and set-ups for the following episode.

• As a result, the episode pacing is really off and feels incredibly long. We don’t care about anything that’s going on, and the only catalyst to keep people watching is from the curiosity instilled by the White Walkers at the beginning, and the fact that a child gets pushed off a tower at the end.

• There’s so much badly written exposition, inorganic ways of giving character backstory/worldbuilding and telling us the same thing multiple times rather than building out the characters’ stories through well-written scenes. For example, we're told three separate times that deserters get beheaded when not a single instance was necessary — the beheading itself would've connected the dots.

• Several things established here, such as Bran and Arya's brief sibling rivalry, don't really go anywhere later on, whether it's seasons down the road or even just a few episodes later, and that's a pattern that crops up often throughout this show.

• Daenerys actually has one of the better written storylines this season (at least through episode 7) but the way it kicks off is incredibly problematic. GRRM claims he based the Dothraki off a variety of real world nomadic tribes, but he only based them off stereotypes of savagery, ignoring the vast cultural depth and intellectual prowess that the groups had and reducing them to “scary horse-obsessed violence doers.” You can learn more about that here.

• Also having Dany’s story start with her being raped by a man she will later fall in love with, I can’t even begin to explain how problematic this is.

• Overall, the pilot isn't very good, and yet because it introduces three crazy elements, (White Walkers, Jon Arryn murder mystery, Bran pushed by incestuous twins), it had people hooked.

Episode 2: "The Kingsroad"

Jon and Tyrion head to the Wall, Arya and Sansa head south with Ned and the Lannisters, which gets them into some trouble with Joffrey, and Catelyn discovers Cersei's hair at the scene of the crime. Dany learns seduction, The Hound kills a kid, and Bran wakes up.

• Besides the the Arya-Sansa-Joffrey fight, the Dany storyline, and Catelyn finding Cersei's hair, this episode is just boring, empty conversations between the others meant to establish backstory and character before we're even curious about it.

• Because this episode gives us a scene each between Jon and Bran/Ned/Arya/Robb which are relationships that mostly go nowhere, it feels like the episode wasn't really thought out in terms of contributing to a longer overall story, but rather just adapting the next set of chapters from the book. Also, having rewatched season 2 as of writing this, season 1 really didn't establish Robb's relationships with any family besides Jon (a bit) and Bran and Catelyn. Even Jon and Jaime get a conversation and for what?

• The character writing gets questionable sometimes:

  • Sansa and Arya are only two years apart but turned out so differently, and because of that it feels like they purposely made Sansa way too meek and naive and stupid. Obviously she’ll grow over the rest of the show, and it's fine for them to be fairly different, but there’s no need to make her so stupid to the point of trying to comfort Joffrey after he attacked her sister and her friend.

  • Joffrey may have two really bad parents, but he’s not isolated when other people like Tyrion are around, so the fact that he seems to be completely uninfluenced by his uncle is weird. While the relationship he has with each parent is depicted in the scene with Ned and the girls, his development is still severely lacking. Over the whole show, he mainly exists to be antagonistic and feels really inconsequential overall despite technically doing some stuff.

  • Dany doesn’t need to go through assault and abuse to become who she was meant to be, and neither do the other women in this show, but unfortunately this is a trend that GRRM and the showrunners had. Showing her flipping the script on an assault situation is severely problematic, both in terms of writing women and writing the Dothraki.

• Overall, it was better paced than the previous episode, but still kinda meh and boring. We just haven’t been given a reason to care about anything that’s going on beyond who attacked Bran and whatever's going on with Dany. The scene featuring Ned and his daughters versus Robert and his family does do a great job building characters and relationships, but that's as good as it gets.

Episode 3: "Lord Snow"

Catelyn journeys south to warn Ned about Cersei and learns about the dagger from Littlefinger. Ned learns about Robert's debt to the Lannisters. Arya meets Syrio, Tyrion learns about Night's Watch, Jon teaches sword skills, and the Dothraki defend Dany to Viserys.

• The episode feels largely like filler, with many scenes dragging on and random conversations nobody asked for, though we do get a few sparing bits of interesting character development here and there (Cersei, Joffrey, Ned, Arya, Bran, Dany).

• Wall scenes are simultaneously boring and rushed: the EXTREMELY long conversation between Tyrion and Yoren (made worse when Benjen shows up) and Jon suddenly becoming a leader after one talk with Tyrion felt like they just needed to check off some boxes of Wall related topics to cover this episode.

• The show's dependence on stereotype continues as Arya learning sword fighting is considered "unladylike" in this medieval period, but historically that's inaccurate. See Lady Æthelflæd, the daughter of real life King Alfred, for example.

• A lot of character writing this season is based on plot necessities. For one, Catelyn immediately takes Littlefinger at his word despite not seeing him in years, but even if we give her the benefit of the doubt, why on earth did Ned start to trust him next episode? In this episode he literally points out Baelish isn't trustworthy because of his feelings for Cat.

• As of the first three episodes, Ned is actually very wary of the Lannisters. He has a couple conversations with Jaime in which he shows he doesn't trust or like him. He saw the way Cersei treated Arya in the last episode, and how the Hound killed Arya's friend on her behalf. In this episode he even learns about Robert's debt to them, and later warns Arya that they have to play carefully with the Lannisters. Yet from the next episode, he'll behave as if none of this ever happened.

• We get parenting scenes with Cersei/Joffrey and Ned/Arya, and while they're not bad, they're not really crafted as parallels — just random scenes plopped in to show aftermath from the last episode. There's no intentional structural choices here. These could've even been developed thematically in tandem with Bran at Winterfell or Jon at the Wall (same with Arya learning sword skills while Jon teaches these) but this show is crafted around plot, so none of these are woven together.

• Dany's storyline remains the only one that is mostly well crafted, showing her growing Dothraki roots while Viserys is increasingly ostracized.

• Even immediately after watching, I forgot most of what happened, which is never a good sign for an episode of TV. The first episode could've shared some introductory load with episodes 2 and 3 to avoid so much filler and improve pacing. While the show gives us information we need (and lots we don't), there's no craft to it.

• For instance, we shouldn't be learning all about the Night's Watch from two guys telling Tyrion about it. Don't give us a scene of Robert, Barristan Selmy, and Jaime just yapping about war stuff for no reason other than to introduce Barristan and Lancel Lannister in unmemorable ways. Show us why we need to see these people together. Craft the scenes so they're actually compelling and impactful.

• This episode especially feels like they're just carelessly throwing in whatever's next up in the book for the sake of setting up future plot points.

Episode 4: "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"

Tyrion gets Bran into a saddle, Ned openly retraces Jon Arryn's steps, Dany stands up to Viserys, the Night's Watch meets Sam, the King's tournament begins, and Catelyn captures Tyrion, owner of the dagger.

• While this episode marks significant progress for Ned in the Jon Arryn investigation, the overall writing leaves much to be desired. Thank goodness for Dany's storyline, which has now taken another step forward with Dany standing up to Viserys as she has grown to really embrace her husband's culture, while also lamenting that her brother can never take them home.

• Outside of Dany though, there is so much bad character writing:

  • Tyrion manages to prove himself to Bran and Robb, but this is merely treated like a plot point without meaningful character development. Instead of building these relationships, we just hear repeatedly about his father hating him.

  • Then there's more bad exposition as Tyrion simply tells the audience I mean Theon his own backstory, prematurely shoehorned in to supplement next season's betrayal plotline. Why not create a conversation for Tyrion with Theon, Robb, and Bran, so that it actually builds on these relationships?

  • Littlefinger randomly tells us I mean Sansa about the Hound and the Mountain for no reason other than to set us up for the next episode. Sure, this shows him glomming onto Catelyn's daughter, but there's no actual development of that through the dialogue and the content of what he says. Once again, just checking off boxes that say "Littlefinger bonds with Sansa" and "Hound/Mountain backstory."

  • Jon's leadership grows twofold with Sam's introduction to the Night's Watch to the point where he's threatening people on Sam's behalf? This leadership came completely out of nowhere.

  • Every scene at the Wall is horrendous, and they're trying so hard to make it seem like these guys are bonding, but they're really not, and this is especially emphasized when you see later episodes actually able to pull off the natural camaraderie.

• Then we get into the Stark parents. Ned completely abandons his established caution, openly sharing everything he knows, everything he's doing, everything he's looking into, as if he hasn't known to be careful of the Lannisters since episode 1.

• On top of that Catelyn utilizes her resources and clout in an extremely badass way FOR THE WRONG REASONS, thereby undermining her own actions. Arresting Tyrion on nothing more than the word of one person in a very public manner, knowing it'll get back to the city where she was afraid to send her husband and daughters in the first place, is an act that would've been unrivaled if not for Ned later this season.

• Overall, this episode is a masterclass on how NOT to write characters. When plot drives the story, characters are easily sacrificed, and themes become nonexistent.

  
  

Episode 5: "The Wolf and the Lion"

Catelyn takes Tyrion to the Eyrie where her sister locks him up, The Hound fights the Mountain, Varys and Littlefinger discuss politics, Ned stands up to Robert, who wants to kill Dany, and prepares to leave town, Littlefinger makes him stay, and Jaime attacks him for Tyrion.

• The first episode of this season that was actually mostly good, but even it comes across some glaring issues. However, it finally feels like some thought went into crafting an episode. As suggested by the title, this is very much about the Starks and the Lannisters shifting into oppositional forces. Catelyn versus Tyrion, Ned navigating Robert and the twins, Varys and Littlefinger circling, Renly's shifting ideas, Bran's isolation, and everything is underpinned by the Jon Arryn mystery.

• Character relationships are finally well-written. Ned and Robert's tournament conversation gives us backstory in a meaningful and natural manner as it relates to Jon Arryn and Cersei, and later Ned finally stands up to Robert in a conversation about Dany that showcases both their characters. Though it's not ideal for this to happen in front of others, it does fit his character to do so.

• Robert and Cersei's conversation is also very compelling and revealing, a complete contrast to the terrible dialogue between Robert and others in episode 3.

• The tournament itself continued from last episode which was weird structuring, but this episode introduces us to Loras, as well as his relationship with Renly, which is further developed later on in a mostly meaningful way to set up for Renly leaving.

• Catelyn, Tyrion, and Bronn also have some outstanding development. Tyrion and Bronn develop a bond as they help each other fight. Meanwhile Catelyn and Tyrion have to sort of work together when they're attacked on the road, and it's quite interesting how Tyrion, instead of running away, literally comes back to save Catelyn. Yet as you'll see, none of this has any impact going forward.

• Finally, we get a lot more from Varys. There's an excellent dialogue between him and Littlefinger which reveals both their characters in a genuinely compelling manner. The scene even builds some tension as each tries to undercut the other with insinuations based on secret information they've discovered, but unfortunately Renly randomly cuts them off, and the conversation is further undermined by Varys implying the king already knows what Littlefinger thinks he has on him as they head to council rather than saving this reveal for later.

• Varys also gets two scenes related to Ned, which is interesting given that he will be the only one in his corner by the end. He provides a contrast to the way Littlefinger "helped" Ned last episode, but at this point Ned already has everything he needs and still doesn't figure it out.

• The second scene involves Arya catching Varys' secret meeting with Illyrio, after which she warns her father and seeks assurance from Jory, but these scenes aren't really the best they could be and only serve to sow some doubt regarding Varys (I guess to make him look less trustworthy than Littlefinger?) and to set up Jory's death at the end of the episode. Again, just more boxes to check off.

• And now we get to the bad stuff:

  • Yet another scene in which someone (Ros) simply tells us I mean Theon his own backstory. Why was this necessary when Maester Luwin has a perfectly sufficient line about "failed rebellions" literally in the same episode?

  • Lysa Arryn seems to have transformed completely into a crazy old bat without Cat realizing within the last five years since she saw her, and this feels like it only exists for plot purposes because otherwise, Catelyn wouldn't come here.

  • Ned's about to leave and Littlefinger shows up trying to get him to stay at all costs, which isn't the least bit suspicious at all, but Ned listens anyway.

  • Although I buy that Jaime would rashly attack Ned, the scene itself feels like it's meant to keep Ned from leaving but also keep him alive for now.

• Overall however, it feels like this episode finally managed to juggle its multiple storylines. Leaving out Dany and Jon allowed the show to focus on exploring the precursor to the changing landscape of Westeros, and this helped massively with dialogue, pacing, character development, and structure.

Episode 6: "A Golden Crown"

An injured Ned resumes being Hand, puts out a notice for Tywin, and discovers Joffrey's true parentage. Tyrion faces a trial and wins, courtesy of Bronn. Robb and Theon save Bran from Osha & the Wildlings' attack. Dany allows Drogo to kill Viserys after he insults them all.

• This has got to be one of the worst episodes of the season, and its one saving grace is Dany's storyline. With hints about Dany having the dragon blood and Viserys growing more isolated, the episode culminates in a powerful moment in which Dany watches her abusive brother die by an intense heat only a dragon could bear.

• After Ned's leg injury, Robert again expresses his debt to the Lannisters cripples him from doing anything, yet Ned still underestimates them just because he sees Robert slap Cersei. He actually goes after Tywin when Robert's gone! It's mind-blowingly idiotic how the guy from episodes 1-3 is suddenly acting like this.

• To make matters worse, Ned finally learns about Joffrey's parentage because of Sansa babbling about Joffrey's hair? Not only do we have to put up with Sansa acting like a total child, while the younger Arya exhibits so much more intuition than her, but Ned already had ALL the information he needed to figure this out. The only thing stopping him was the writers — more manufactured plotting.

• Tyrion's storyline is also really bad. We get TWO nearly identical scenes with the guard because he's so bad at convincing the guy in the first. Then instead of actually defending himself to Lysa, he just spouts nonsense that's supposed to be amusing? And despite everything from the previous episode, Catelyn just stands there doing nothing. She literally has zero agency in the whole episode.

• All this to set up a trial by combat so Tyrion and Bronn can leave together while Catelyn stays here doing nothing, because the show can't possibly let any Starks and Lannisters have any sort of mutual understanding or reconciliation ever.

• And finally, more forced writer manipulation up north, when the wildings attack Bran. In the last episode, we established that Theon never misses a shot, which Robb should know having grown up with him. And yet he's now mad that Theon saved his brother because what if he missed? On top of that, just earlier in the scene, Theon was advising Robb about the Stark-Lannister stuff and instead of using this as an opportunity for Robb to think through a complex situation as acting leader with no clear cut answer, the writers have him chastise Theon, saying it's not his house. This is literally so forced.

• This episode really captures the season's main issues: characters acting unnaturally to serve the plot, scenes that straight up tell us what we need to know, and manufactured conflict that undermines the potential for genuine storytelling.

Episode 7: "You Win or You Die"

Ned confronts Cersei about her secret, Robert comes back from his hunt and dies, Tywin is introduced, Jon officially joins the Night's Watch, Dany survives an assassination attempt, Joffrey ascends the throne, Ned rejects Renly's help, and Littlefinger betrays Ned.

• Another episode where Dany is the only one with well-written scenes, though at least the pacing works much better as Robert's death and Ned's capture coincide with Dany's assassination attempt and the Night's Watch finding the dead hand —all hinting at the upcoming disruption of the world's status quo.

• The assassination attempt on Dany and Drogo's proclamation to support her conquest of Westeros are both well-crafted, though unfortunately her storyline writing will go downhill from here.

• Night's Watch scenes slightly improve with the oath ceremony showcasing genuine camaraderie, but still include horrible moments like Sam's massive info dumps about job types and his family's religious background. Plus, Jon once again flip flops between normal, then arrogant, then normal again after two seconds of Pip and Sam talking. Once again, more box-checking.

• However, the beyond the wall stuff is finally getting some traction after barely being touched on since episode 1. In addition to Ghost finding the hand, Osha (after another bad forced Theon backstory conversation) has an interesting discussion with Maester Luwin, warning him about dangers to come.

• Another conflicting moment is the introduction of Tywin Lannister, whose well crafted dialogue can't compete with the plot device that is his son Jaime. The scene really distinguishes how poorly developed Jaime has been this season because this same little exchange gives Tywin so much characterization and depth while Jaime is just there to whine and make ridiculous excuses about why he attacked Ned and didn't finish him (i.e. why he was operating under the writers' will).

• Ned's characterization hits a baffling new low after the already inexplicable previous episode. He tells Cersei he knows her secret because of ONE scene of Robert slapping her while forgetting the entire Arya-Micah-Joffrey incident, rejects Renly's free help because of "honor," yet asks Littlefinger to fund the exact same resources to do the exact same thing — somehow forgetting Littlefinger couldn't possibly control the Gold Cloaks without Lannister money.

• What's worse is, Littlefinger literally reveals to him the kind of political player he is as he suggests his own plan that Ned rejects. He wouldn't have betrayed Ned if the latter went along with the plan, but in telling him they should temporarily back Joffrey and hold onto the secret for now, he ultimately did reveal himself. At that point there's no way Ned can then expect Littlefinger to help him when he just exposed the way he thinks. Ned straight up disagrees with the plan and points out his lack of honor, but then asks for his help anyway.

• Of course, this inadvertently forces Littlefinger to choose a side, but now that he shows Ned a bit of who he is, it immediately should've set off some alarm bells in Ned regarding whether this man would truly back him if he was going against his plan. But the writers needed Ned to fail, so they forced him to ignore everything he's seen and learned and act against his established character.

• And it's not just Ned, which is how you know it's really off the rails. Robert inexplicably dismisses all witnesses so only Ned hears his succession plans, while Ned still doesn't tell anyone about the incest children despite them being safe with Robert dying. Why the need for this secrecy from either party?? This manufactured scenario exists purely to advance the story toward a pre-determined plot point rather than allowing for natural storytelling or character-driven decisions.

• But the worst part of this whole episode is a very lazy, contrived, super uncomfortable, and horrendously gratuitous sex scene between Ros and another girl while Littlefinger exposits about his life story. This is an obvious sign that the writers wanted to cram this information in right here, right now, in an ill-crafted manner catered to the lowest common denominator of viewers.

• It's quite irritating how much the Kings Landing storyline is dragging down the entire show right now. What could've been a pretty decent episode was instead an amalgam of horrible plotting and character writing, crafted not to tell a story but to check off boxes and reach certain plot points.

Episode 8: "The Pointy End"

Everyone finds out about Ned's capture. Arya escapes, Robb and Catelyn meet up and prepare for war, Sansa begs for mercy, Tyrion and Bronn meet the hill tribesmen, Dany tries to stop the Dothraki sacking cities, and a wight attacks Jon at the Wall.

• This episode fares best in the 6-9 chunk, but only by a margin. It massively benefits from coming in the aftermath of Ned's capture, which provides some narrative focus across the board — even up at the Wall as this news plays into complicated dynamics between Jon and the others, and across the sea as Drogo and Dany prepare to cross. All regions showcase some semblance of broken dynamics between groups while alluding to the idea of Westeros falling into disarray despite bigger threats on the horizon, though the lack of craft between these ideas suggests this wasn't intentional.

• Unfortunately, one of the worst aspects of this episode was, contrary to before, the Dany stuff. The Dothraki are once again depicted as violent and savage POC, and only Dany can stave them off. While this does lead to some further character development as Drogo's dedication to her alienates his followers, the continued one-dimensional portrayal really emphasizes harmful stereotypes about POC, especially given that this show pretends to have real historical influence.

• There's a cool sequence that transitions from Jon worrying about his sisters to Sansa writing a letter to Robb under Cersei's command, which then cuts to Robb reading it later, and then to Catelyn confronting Lysa about a message from Robb.

• In fact, Robb finally gets some spotlight as he's forced to counter the Lannisters. There's a great scene where his leadership is challenged by Lord Umber, and he displays conviction in dealing with a Lannister scout, which pays off next episode.

• However, there's also an earlier scene where Umber challenges him only to immediately have Robb's wolf bite his fingers off, thereby feeling superfluous, poorly crafted, and taking the character moment away from Robb. Perhaps switching the two scenes and changing the bad one would improve this.

• Several other moments that highlight the season's inconsistent character writing:

  • Arya escapes and has her first kill immediately (and a fellow child, no less). It's extremely premature with a significant lack of development leading up to it.

  • The rest of the season showcases Theon as a genuinely valuable asset to Robb, and it feels natural, but it raises questions about the manufactured setups that came before and whether his next season arc was premature.

  • Catelyn only now leaves Lysa. It's shocking how she went from being an active player in the story to completely backseat for two episodes just because the show needed her to.

  • Tyrion has a pointless conversation with Bronn recapping things we already know, then later utilizes his intellect to hold off the Stone Crows despite not showing similar cunning during his trial — again operating based on the writers' needs rather than character consistency. But we do at least get insight into his relationship with Tywin based on how his father talks to him versus Jaime in the previous episode, organically setting up next episode's reversal.

• The Wall sequences ironically emerge as the strongest of the whole episode despite previously being so contrived and boring. Jon's camaraderie with the others develops through genuine shared experiences like the verbal attack from Alliser, and the physical attack from the wight, creating authentic character moments.

• The episode ends really abruptly, revealing its primary function as mere connective tissue between more significant events. Additionally, Ned has such a miniscule presence that it really begs the question why people thought he was the main character despite having a smaller overall presence than other members of the ensemble cast, especially at this stage in the season.

Episode 9: "Baelor"

Robb and Catelyn negotiate with Walder Frey. Tyrion meets meets Shae and prepares for battle. Robb defeats Jaime by tricking Tywin. Dany tries to save Drogo from succumbing to infection. Ned confesses to treason, Joffrey sentences him, Arya watches him die.

• This is the episode that kickstarted the show's reputation for "crazy" or "shocking" penultimate episodes, yet the episode itself doesn't carry the weight of that reputation because of how poorly Ned's storyline was crafted.

• In a reversal from the first half of the season, Jon's character development as a leader feels more natural and earned after his encounter with the wight, and it sets up for his internal conflict about leaving his new home to join with Robb. However, scenes like the one with Maester Aemon could have been much better written, especially given the later significance of Jon's true heritage.

• Meanwhile, Dany's storyline continues to feel needlessly drawn out and emotionally flat. It honestly feels ridiculous to even watch and it only exists to get us to the finale without any real character or thematic development.

• Robb's tactical victory over Jaime Lannister stands as one of the episode's stronger elements, though it's undermined by the show's earlier establishment that the Freys are untrustworthy. It really makes me wonder how did they get thrown so far into left field by the time we get to that episode.

• Tyrion's scenes aren't super well crafted either, including a super long and boring conversation with Shae and Bronn that functions only as a massive exposition dump for Tyrion. We do learn one interesting thing about Tyrion, which also highlights his relationship with Jaime and Tywin, but it's placed in a poor-context scene and written quite blandly. However, Tywin's reveal to Tyrion about Robb Stark's battle strategy was truly a moment for the books.

• Robb's tactical victory over Jaime, as well as his firm resolve when the latter tries to trick him into a one-on-one duel, stands as one of the episode's stronger elements. That's why it's even more baffling that he thought he could get away with going back on his word to the Freys in a later season.

• Episodes 8 and 9 both establish that nobody likes or trusts the Freys due to past experiences with them. Catelyn in particular has some great moments this episode explaining this to Robb and negotiating with Walder Frey, in a scene that finally connects the significance of the Westeros storyline with the White Walker threat. But again, none of this really carries forward in later seasons.

• Ned's characterization continues to unravel with his hostile attitude toward Varys, despite Varys being one of the few people who hasn't actually betrayed him. He criticizes Varys for playing along with the Lannisters despite telling Arya in episode 3 that they need to do the same.

• Joffrey's characterization has been disjointed and underdeveloped all season, with just a few scenes total. While his decision to execute Ned makes sense, this is only marginally so based on the fact that he's on a power trip as king. His relationship with Robert would have been instrumental in setting this up, and what little we got from Joffrey in episodes 2 and 3 wasn't enough to develop his need for approval from his father (which I only know from the book), lack of readiness for his new position, and associated power trip. Surely they were supposed to prepare him for leadership as Luwin was preparing Bran and no doubt prepared Robb who sat in charge of Winterfell for a bit, but even if Joffrey's preparation had been neglected, this would've been an interesting parallel to explore on screen.

• Despite this, Joffrey being the one to execute Ned was the one redeeming quality of Ned's ridiculously written downfall. The execution scene itself is shown primarily through Arya's perspective (as it is her chapter in the book), and even since his capture, there was such a massive shift to the kids that it was obvious the story itself was centering on them.

• However, it really rubs me the wrong way that somehow Ned is smart enough to understand how his children might be affected by his death, but isn't smart enough to, in his last moments, come up with literally anything that doesn't incriminate himself in something he didn't do BECAUSE THAT'S WORSE.

  • A quick and simple "Due to information from Maester Pycelle and Lord Baelish, I was under the impression that King Joffrey was not the true child of Robert Baratheon, but I understand now that my impression was false, and I should not have judged our new king based on the fact that he and his siblings have blonde hair while all Baratheons have always had black hair."

  • Maybe not that last part about the hair if he's trying to keep his word and not stir up the public, but despite whether this saves his life, in his mind it would at least shift Joffrey and Cersei's attention towards handling Pycelle and Littlefinger. Regardless, none of this would've happened had Ned not been stupid before. It took a lot of plot contrivances and contradictory character writing to get him here.

  • What's even weirder though is that the stage itself is set up like an execution already. Why is this out in public with Ilyn Payne on hand? Why didn't he get a private audience in the throne room? Joffrey still could've sentenced him in there, or he could've lied and let him go only to him him killed on his way out if the writers still wanted to keep that last minute shock. So that means the only reason they did it outside was so that Cersei wouldn't have time to stop him and talk him through the strategy behind keeping Ned alive for negotiations with Robb. Hell, why didn't he already know about that? Surely this could've been written in a way that made sense while still obtaining the same outcome.

• The crazy thing about Ned's death is somehow it revolutionized TV writers and audiences to prioritize supposed shock value over organic storytelling. People judge shows based on whether they randomly kill off characters, particularly main characters, and they strangely believe that other shows or even movies are bad and unrealistic if people aren't dying.

• It's such a shallow way to analyze storytelling and it's not even correct! Ned was NOT the main character, his death was not shocking but rather the result of a series of convoluted plot points, and almost the entire main cast survives through to the final season, which isn't a problem if that's what's best for the story.

• The truly significant aspect of this moment should have been Joffrey defying his mother rather than Ned's death itself, but again, the writers opted to skimp on Joffrey's development to try and shock the audience.

  
  

Episode 10: "Fire and Blood"

Jon debates joining Robb but chooses to head north with Mormont. Catelyn and Robb mourn Ned, and Robb becomes King in the North. Arya escapes the city while Sansa is trapped. Tywin sends Tyrion to be Hand. Dany loses Drogo and her child, then hatches the dragons.

• Easily the best episode of the season, the finale benefits from following Ned's death, which triggers responses across Westeros, and generally culminates in appropriate moments that round out each character's seasonal journey while setting up for the next.

• The emotional depth of the show improves significantly, with reactions to Ned's death, and a particularly powerful moment in which Dany has to suffocate Drogo's essentially lifeless form.

• We get another fantastic scene from Varys and Littlefinger which again reflects poorly on the episode 7 brothel scene monologue. Their conversations together really shine as their dialogue and carefulness around each other allows them to reveal backstory and character in a truly compelling manner.

• Robb Stark's title as "King in the North" feels considerably more earned than Jon Snow's later in the series. Especially as it's suggested by Umber, who questioned his leadership earlier. Plus, Ned and Robert's friendship was the only thing holding the North and the South together, so his death symbolically severs the tie, and Robb's ascension reflects that shifting political order.

• Jon heads south to join Robb, but is immediately called back by Sam and the crew with a quick speech. Not only is the sequence itself poorly crafted, but Jon's decision to come back would've carried a lot more weight if he hadn't yet sworn his vows. If he had gone and not come back, then yes, after the vows is better because there's a consequence riding on it. But the decision to come back when he hasn't yet sworn the vows would be more impactful because it would show that he is CHOOSING the Night's Watch over Robb after a season of finally finding somewhere he belongs.

• At the very least, Lord Mormont tells Jon they're finally heading out to learn more about what's going on out there, so despite the uneven writing of this storyline thus far, it's ending on a note that makes sense for the season finale.

• Joffrey's characterization continues to suffer as he's now just a crazy one-note ruler on a power trip. Strangely, we get almost nothing from Cersei in this episode, despite her importance in the King's Landing arc and in Joffrey's decision to kill Ned. Surely Pycelle's horribly written conversation with Ros could have been with Cersei instead, especially since we don't get any dialogue between her and her son.

• Tyrion and Tywin's conversation is mostly compelling but still suffers from lack of prior development. Tyrion has not really proven himself to his father in the manner suggested by the conversation, and Tywin has always been frank enough with Tyrion to not sugarcoat that he's the last remaining hope for the Lannisters.

• Finally with Dany's storyline, the witch's revenge again falls into problematic territory as the POC woman saved by white savior Dany inexplicably betrays her. Yes, she does point out that Dany's actions didn't magically un-rape her, but it's just so unreasonable to take that out on Dany, who she saw challenging the "Dothraki way," whose husband she saw agreeing with her, and who would no doubt raise her son differently. Plus, the way this is used to lead up to Dany's strong character moment really rubs me the wrong way.

• The plotting here is just so bad, and since it's pretty much just some short filler to get Dany to the end of the season and a plot device to make her lose everything, it isn't crafted with the complexity and nuance needed for any of it to work.

• Of course, it doesn't take away from Dany's powerful final scene, as she embraces her inner dragon and enters a fire, emerging unscathed with three children.

• But the show screws up one last time this season by ending on a random nondescript wide shot instead of a closer, more powerful shot.

  • Perhaps showing the group surrounding her, then moving in closer until we end with her and the dragons.

  • Or if they wanted to convey the power of the screeches, they could've still done a wide shot but closer, simply framed differently to showcase the expanse while still focusing on Dany and the dragons surrounded by the Dothraki.

• Ultimately, even the best episode of the season isn't without many faults, but having rewatched season 2 as of writing this, I can rest knowing it gets much better.

Overall Thoughts

Season 1 Issues

This season suffers from three main issues:

1. The character writing is largely inconsistent, often changing based on the writers' will rather than organic development.

2. Manufactured plotting drives that inconsistency and creates forced obstacles.

3. Simply telling viewers what we need to know, telling us that a character is like this or that characterization is happening, or this is the backstory, this is the plot, rather than revealing information through meaningful character moments and interactions. Yes, the season set up a lot in terms of plot details and characters, but most of it is just told via scenes that only exist to give us the information we need to know for plot points to come.

The pacing and structure in particular reveals a lack of careful planning. Rather than developing the entire season arc before breaking it down into individual storylines and character journeys and weaving them together to craft each episode, the writers were instead thinking which book chapters can fit into which episodes sequentially until we get to the end. While there was opportunity for meaningful episode crafting — with the first episode set mainly in Winterfell, the second on the road, and the third at people's new homes for instance — each felt like just adapting the next set of chapters, though as noted in the breakdown, some latter episodes did improve a smidge.

Unfortunately many modern shows treat episodes as mere fragments of a whole and don't put much thought into the art of creating an episode beyond hitting plot points, character beats, and some crazy cliffhanger ending.

The pacing throughout the season was generally slow, with storylines dragged out to fill out the season. This would be unnecessary if they had just taken the time to showcase and develop character relationships and backstory over multiple scenes or even episodes rather than cramming in everything we need to know in a single scene. For a show that is so highly rated, it should not have the fundamental episodic and scene writing issues that it does.

In general, the season struggles to juggle its various storylines effectively, both within individual episodes and across the board, though it does improve somewhat later on. Still, character focus is distributed unevenly and thoughtlessly, and the various character journeys and plotlines aren't woven together cohesively.

Thematically, the season leaves a lot to be desired. So far, there's not much depth beyond "trusting people is dangerous," "power corrupts," and the tiniest bit of "internal fighting is foolish because of bigger threats on the horizon." From memory, later seasons do get more into ideas like power, religion, survival, etc, but it remains to be seen how well they’re explored since this season barely scratched the surface.

Even the White Walker threat established in the premiere isn't developed enough, though there are a couple hints at the "bigger threat" theme. While I think it's appropriate that they wait until the finale to have them set out beyond the wall, the issue lies more in the way the storyline was written — very weak in earlier episodes, loads of "telling" rather than coming up with meaningful scenes to convey the ideas, and not particularly well-woven into the overall season narrative.

Character development varies wildly in quality. Dany's overall character writing easily stands out as the strongest, even with problematic assault scenes and bad post-assassination plotting dampening an otherwise strong storyline. In contrast, other characters' writing is actually affected by poor plotting. Ned and Catelyn's actors give such convincing performances that you forget how unreasonable their actions are compared to how they were established before. Michelle Fairley in particular is so good that you almost don't remember the way she jumps to conclusions with no evidence and completely loses her agency when the plot calls for it.

Another major problem with the bad character writing is the box checking. This crops up a LOT with Jon as previously discussed, and particularly with Theon who falls victim to the writers forcefully planting seeds in advance of his season two storyline. Then there's Littlefinger, whose writing is so unremarkable and bland unless he's in a scene with Varys. The show is just in such a rush to tell you who these people are or bring about certain character changes or plot points that they don’t realize they can just let the characters naturally reveal themselves through interesting circumstances.

On the other hand, we have Bran. Most of his scenes have actually been pretty good with decent yet subtle characterization in the background regarding his curiosity, leadership lessons, and a quiet yearning for change. However, it's quite easy to forget or overlook since he takes a backseat to everything else going on despite essentially being the catalyst for all the conflict this season. I wonder if his scenes couldn't have been better packaged within carefully structured episodes so that they felt more meaningful, but regardless, none of this has any impact later on in his story.

The season also suffers from being written around plot and not character relationships. We do get some development between critical relationships like in Dany's storyline and the latter portion of Jon's storyline, as well as Ned-Robert-Cersei and a tiny bit of Tyrion-Jaime-Tywin. But otherwise, characters interact mostly for the sake of plot or revealing backstory. In particular, Jamie and Cersei's relationship feels like it exists solely to be the catalyst of the whole show, and it's hard to remember if their relationship is developed further later on since this season only gave us a few scenes, mostly all plot related.

There's some bonding between Osha and Bran, plus some very small development with the Osha-Bran-Rickon-Luwin crew that will come into play next season, but these relationships aren't really carried forward past that due to the writers' need for Bran to journey north alone. In fact, there is so much of this season that is so easily forgotten, partly because of how they're written, and partly because they lack significance later on.

Production is inconsistent as well. I've never seen a show where the editing was noticeably bad like this. It's not like every scene or episode was badly edited, but I shouldn't be noticing any issues at all because simple transitionary editing is one of the most bare minimum things every show should be able to do. The shot of Arya stabbing the kid in episode 8 is particularly memorable as the worst bit of editing.

Background acting is also distractingly amateur, with fake-sounding laughter and reactions from extras. Plus, there's moments of really bad fight choreography and a lot of very unintentional cinematography, though it must be said there are a couple good instances of these two as well.

Broader Series Issues

Rewatching this even when I don't remember most of the other seasons is still very insightful based on what I do remember. One thing I've noticed is how characters are already and will continue to be moved around just for the plot. People are paired together momentarily and then never cross paths again, or their interactions don't have future impact on the story or each other, and even more established relationships and plot threads don't really go anywhere.

There's a lot set up in season 1 that leads nowhere and at the same time, there's a lot NOT set up that could've been helpful for later on. For instance, after rewatching season 2, I really felt that this season's first two episodes should've given us some critical scenes between Robb and his family members, particularly Ned and Arya, that would've significantly improved his later storyline.

The problem stems from how the books were written. George R.R. Martin is a self-proclaimed "gardener," a type of author who makes things up as he goes along compared to the "architect" who thoroughly plans everything prior to writing. Neither is better than the other, but in Martin's case, he severely lacked the focus and purpose to be successful with his method. He cared more about adding in tons of characters and houses and random stuff rather than developing the story organically with a focus on character journeys and themes.

But there's a strange paradox here: while the overall story was largely directionless, there's an issue with forcing characters to act a certain way to achieve inorganic plot points that only exist to be "crazy." It seems like a contradictory criticism — how can writers be forcing plot points while also not knowing where the story is going? But while the series' overall direction from season to season (book to book) was essentially going nowhere, convoluted plotting could still exist within each season or book because authors must revise that book before publication.

The show, of course, had the benefit of several books being out when they started, but this still wasn't super helpful as they tried to navigate sticking to the season's associated book while also anticipating upcoming plotlines. This created a lot of problems such as character inconsistency or shoehorned setup. Throughout the series, characters often make decisions that contradict their established characters simply to advance the plot. On the other hand, they can go in a completely different direction entirely, discarding all prior characterization rather than building on it or showcasing transformation.

Endgames for characters like Bran, Dany, and Sansa are baffling given the way they're set up earlier on. Bran, for one, is characterized as somewhat inquisitive and contemplative. He also has some initial scenes related to the burden of responsibility and leadership, and yet all of this is tossed out on the way to the finale as he becomes a complete shell of a person for the plot nonsense that is the Three-Eyed Raven.

Other characters with questionable journeys include Jaime Lannister, for instance, who doesn't really seem to deserve a redemption arc. Some might argue otherwise, that his villainous actions this season would make such a journey interesting, but he's had such a small, one-dimensional presence this season (and next) that a journey of redemption doesn't feel worth it, especially given where he ends up in season 8.

Cersei ending up as the main villain also seems really strange and her so-called "villainy" seemed to lack the complexity and nuance it could otherwise have, especially given that she's already been presented to have at least some level of depth and complexity so far. Then there are characters like Robb Stark, who is initially depicted as too intelligent to make the catastrophic mistakes that later define his storyline. However, I won't be able to properly reflect on this until I've rewatched seasons 3-8.

The pacing of the major storylines also reveals structural planning problems with the overall series. There are essentially three main storylines we follow (Westeros politics, White Walkers, and Dany), but they all feel extremely dragged out. The Westeros stuff is driven by this constant game of keep the Starks away from the Lannisters, while Jon and Dany are up north and east forever and ever until the show has no choice but to bring them back to Westeros.

Another major series issue that stems from the source material is the world. Martin's worldbuilding was surface level with a focus on irrelevant details meant to convey a false sense of realism as a medieval allegory rather than a world explored through its society and its inhabitants' lives. As a result, the show's medieval-inspired world isn't actually very accurate to real medieval history and society, and for a show (and author) that constantly claims to tell it like it is, that's a problem.

Rather than conducting the appropriate research to learn about the way society worked at the time, the writers relied on stereotypes of "ye olden days" and projected modern day versions of various societal concerns onto the past. While yes, issues like misogyny existed, they didn't manifest in the ways the show suggests. For instance, the women are shown to not have any real power and not exist to be more than married off, but in truth, medieval women, especially noble ladies, had many responsibilities in order to keep things running.

Instead, the female characters are rooted in more modern archetypes: Arya is practically the medieval "not like other girls" trope, while Sansa is initially portrayed as the more feminine (and therefore naive) one. The show's idea of feminism is basically here's some women rejecting roles and characterizations that would be considered traditional by our modern era.

The Dothraki as a group is also a highly problematic aspect of this world. If the show had a European-adjacent group with a similar cultural practice to the way Dothraki are depicted, perhaps the stereotyping wouldn't seem this bad, but even so, the portrayal is so one-dimensional and doesn't think for once to incorporate the incredibly complex and diverse cultural aspects of the real-life groups being stereotyped.

People often point to how Westeros has bad people and every culture has bad people and therefore the portrayal is not problematic, but this entire culture is depicted as savage, that savagery is their way of life. There's no culture in Westeros like that, not even the lame iron islanders are depicted like that. This is just another case of weak worldbuilding with no depth that cares more about being crazy and graphic for plot.

Final Thoughts

Coming back to this season after years of discourse was really eye-opening because this show is not discussed accurately to how it actually is. One major misconception I see everywhere is that it's super complex and morally grey and there are no good guys and bad guys. That's literally false. Good guys are Starks plus Tyrion plus Dany; bad guys are Lannisters. And that's okay, they don't need to be super morally grey because good guys and bad guys can still be interesting, have flaws, struggles, depth, complexity. It depends on how the characters are written, not whether they're "good" or "bad."

Anyone who does want something more complex can check out Black Sails or The Last Kingdom. In Black Sails, the pirates are not exactly great people and do bad things, but the colonizers are worse, and it's a tale that explores the concepts of freedom, legitimacy, lawlessness, and who decides these things. Meanwhile The Last Kingdom explores how tribalism and group division and prejudice causes harm for generations, and as we follow the main character Uhtred, we're constantly in this push and pull between the Saxons and the Vikings, because neither side is truly better than the other, and there's no winning in this type of situation.

In fact, I couldn't help but keep thinking of TLK while watching this season because that show has some overlaps with GOT in terms of a couple similar plotlines and both medieval based, but TLK just does it so much better because they actually understand the historical time period and they focused on telling a story within that based on character journeys that reveal themes.

Nonetheless, despite the myriad of issues in GOT season 1, there were still some good moments and the show does manage to interest you in some of its characters, which is more than some other shows can say.

Episode ranking from best to worst: 10, 5, 2, 3, 8, 4, 9, 7, 1, 6