I just rewatched season 1 for the first time and I liked it significantly more than my first watch. Being familiar with all of the characters and plot lines really helps appreciate everything more.
Going to be honest, season 8 didn't sting as much after this rewatch. It was my first time watching since release, and I feel like a combination of knowing what was coming and not having all the expectations, theories, and build-up of the first time around, kind of lessened the blow. Still not great though.
I'm looking forward to getting to season 8 because I feel like I enjoyed it more than most of the internet but maybe after rewatching the rest the difference in quality will seem more severe. Or maybe ill just continue to be confused at how much people hate it. Also my wife's never watched the show so I'm curious whether she'll hate it or not.
Even going as far back as season 5, there are parts that really aren't that great, but I think everyone (myself included) thought more of that stuff would pay off or be explained by the end and gave them a pass. When the last season just rushed through everything to wrap it up, people claimed "season 8 was garbage", but I mean, I thought the decline in quality was there for a long time. I remember feeling like I was in a small minority while voicing my complaints during season 7, and it still feels weird that so much of the hate gets directed solely towards the final season.
IMO it goes like this 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6=All fantastic, top notch seasons. Even Arya's Braavos story is better this season than it was in season 5. And I don't blame Season 6 for what they did with Dorne to start it off, considering that was all set up in Season 5. 7, 8, 5=A mixture of some good events and stories, and some bad ones, and of course the often talked about pacing. Season 7 is the strongest out of these three IMO. The pacing picked up a bit which was disappointing as they coulda spent more time fleshing out these stores, but a lot of the moments we got and meetings between characters were so good. Bran/Sansa, Sansa/Arya, Jon/Dany, Jon/Tyrion, Davos/Tyrion, Davos and his little pirate man of the world crush on Missandei, and all the big spectacle scenes. 5 would be better if not for the butchering of the Dorne storyline, and the kinda shitty (but at least I understand why they did it) Sansa storyline...well her whole storyline wasn't bad, just the one particular thing. Other than those two things and the kinda "meh" of the Sparrows in Kings Landing, I really enjoyed a lot of the rest of it. 8 we've talked about to death. Great big popcorn spectacle moments, but lacking too much of all the other stuff that made GOT great.
rewatching this for the first time since it ended, just finished S4. my god. when this show was good, it was fucking GOOD.
S4 is my favourite season to rewatch. Oberyn Martell, the pairing of Arya & the Hound, and the battle at Castle Black are the highlights for me.
That single 360 degree long shot during the battle at Castle Black is so ridiculously good. I still love all the piece moving and intrigue of 1 and 2. 3 is of course devastating and 4 has all good storylines. Hard to pick a favorite between them all tbh. 6 is almost definitely my favorite of the back half. 5 jacked up Dorne too much, and we all know the 7-8 pacing issues. 7 is probably closest to 6 for me. 5 has some of the best moments of the series, it's a shame it's dragged down by some of the other stories.
I don’t know if anyone suffered more from them deciding to shorten the show and abandon storylines from the books more than Euron (and I guess Victarion) and Dorne
Yeah there were definitely some changes they made that were awesome. The Arya/Tywin pairing always comes to mind. But not fleshing out the Dorne and Iron Islands storylines and making this a full 10 season show will always feel like a gut punch whenever I think about it. Obviously there are some issues there as even GRRM is having trouble untangling that knot. But man....what could have been.