Small Screen Favorites: Game of Thrones Season 7

If there was ever a show with its work cut out for it, it would have to be Game of Thrones. Having surpassed the book series several seasons ago, creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff have the unenviable task of bringing this sprawling, complex story to an end with few details to go off of. And so far they have mostly succeeded in this task, stumbling in quality with Season 5 but rebounding with the stellar Season 6. But have they continued to succeed with the penultimate season of the show? Season 7, battling against both a shortened episode count and the high expectations of fans, managed to bring us a mostly satisfying storyline with plenty of spectacle and great character moments but also some pacing issues.

The area where the show continues to shine is with its large (though significantly trimmed down from early seasons) cast, and the ways that they intersect as all of the various storylines converge. Characters who you would have never expected to meet share scenes in some of the most random yet satisfying team-ups the show has offered. In all cases, the show takes perfect advantage of the differing personalities of some of the most beloved characters; everyone from Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow to more minor characters such as Bronn are given their due and a chance to interact with fresh faces.

Season 6 set the show's bar for battle scenes even higher with the critically acclaimed "Battle of the Bastards", and this season does not disappoint in living up to that standard. Although I did not think any of the major action scenes necessarily topped Bastards, there were some that came very close, particularly a skirmish midway through the season that works doubly well because there are likable characters on both sides of the fight. It is impressive to see how far this show has come on a technical level since the first season; one can only imagine the epic scenes we will be treated to in the show's final season.

Unfortunately, the shortened episode count of the season (going from the show's usual ten per season to a mere seven) hurts the writing to an extent. There are bizarre moments throughout the season where characters have a tendency to "teleport" from one location to another, whereas earlier seasons would have taken at least some time to show the journey and passage of time. This becomes even more noticeable during a large action sequence near the end of the season, where the leaps in logic taken to justify moving the story forward become too much to ignore. This certainly did not detract from my enjoyment of the season as a whole, but it is a shame to think that an already great season could have been made even better if the normal episode count of ten was kept.

Game of Thrones Season 7 was not perfect, but it did offer enough stellar content to leave me satisfied and excited for the final season. The character interactions and amazing visual work was enough to overcome some of my issues with the uneven pacing. I would give this season 4 stars out of 5.