Game Of Thrones: 7 Big Problems With Season 5

This was a problem with A Dance With Dragons that unfortunately carried over into the show as well. George R.R. Martin has generally never been a writer who relies on too many lame cliffhangers to keep you reading, and the show has been the same way. You get the Red Wedding, but that’s not actually how the season ends: viewers get a sense of resolution in the following episode, and generally every finale has left you with a good sense of closure.

Then this one comes along and it seems practically designed to be as frustrating as possible, resolving absolutely nothing. One major cliffhanger is fine, but looking back on this finale, just about every single plot thread is left completely unresolved in a way that Game of Thrones has never resorted to before. Did Sansa and Theon survive the fall? Did Brienne kill Stannis? Is Arya permanently blind? Is Myrcella dead? What’s going to happen to Dany? Is Jon gone for good?

Past finales have always ended with some sense of certainty, but this one just cuts you off over and over to get people talking for the next few months. Viewers are left with almost nothing that feels remotely wrapped up, and that leads to a pretty unsatisfying final episode.