Game Of Thrones: 7 Big Problems With Season 5

For the last half of the season, the show was getting viewers ready for the Battle of Winterfell, an epic confrontation between Stannis and the Boltons. This was going to be a defining moment for both sides of the war, and given how great Stannis’ siege on King’s Landing was back in Season 2, this would surely be an awesome battle.

And then just as the two sides are about to start fighting, the show immediately cuts to the aftermath, with Stannis' entire army wiped out. That's it?

This is somewhat understandable considering the show only has so much money in the budget, and the showrunners decided to spend most of that on Hardhome. But this still felt really anticlimactic, and in fact the editing almost seemed like it was intended to be comedic, cutting from the excitement of the battle starting right to the brutal aftermath. It was like when a sitcom cuts from a character saying “I’ll never do that” to a scene of them doing it. Not exactly a great way for Stannis to go out.

The show didn’t need to provide another full battle episode, but to cut around this massive conflict which had been building for several episodes was a big disappointment.