the best written season of television ever, simply because it adapted the absolute masterpiece that is the book nearly completely accurately. While GoT season 3 is my favorite, I’m pretty sure this might just be the best season of television there ever was. Because the writing simply is the most important aspect. That is what the later seasons of this show didn’t understand. Of course, battles are cool, but they are not the heart of this show, they should only be the cherry on top, not its bases. Season 7 has only battles and nothing that even deserves to be called writing, and it’s god-awful. Meanwhile, Season 1 doesn’t show us a single battle, and it’s perfect nonetheless. It is so good, it does not even need spectacle to get the attention of the viewer. Nearly every dialogue scene in here is more exciting than most of the greatest battles mainstream cinema or television have ever shown to us. THIS is the magic of writing. The characters, the story, the dialogue, the creativity and complexity, the mysterys, the twists, the turns, the tragedies, the moral complexities … everything great writing can accomplish is accomplished here on a spectacular level. While the writing is the main reason this is so fucking good, it’s far from the only one. This is just one of these instances where all the most talented people came together and gave their best. The actors are FANTASTIC, GoT might genuinely be the show with the best cast of all time - these actors are impersonating Martin’s characters so insanely well that I will never be abled to imagine them any different. Ramin Djawadi’s score is an absolute masterpiece that brought the feeling of this world to life in a way only comparable to fucking Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings soundtrack, and dear god believe me that is not a comparison I make lightly. And while this season may have no big battles in it, the production is still incredible. The costumes, the places, the sets, the practical effects, the fight choreographies and the cinematics - all of it looks fucking amazing. Simply EVERYTHING works, EVERYTHING is fantastic. The only points of criticism I could pull out of my ass if I tried really hard would be that the book did some things even better (like Ned’s and Robert’s final talk or Jon being a way smarter character) but these are not actually flaws, they are only “ways they could have improved it” and things like that always exist. This season is truly worth it to be called a masterpiece. Literally half of the episodes in here I rated a perfect 10/10, a rating I only give to the absolute peaks of television which are usually the result of multiple season long build-up, but in here, the FIRST season of a show, there are FIVE. And all the other episodes were an easy 4.5. Like, there is not a single episode in here that does not stand above 99.9999% of TV. It’s unreal how good this show was in its first season, and continued to be in the next three. If GoT had stayed that good all the way to the end, I think it being the best show of all time wouldn’t even be considered an opinion anymore, but a fact. Sadly it eventually turned out as the biggest disaster of television and therefore all the praise you give the early seasons of GoT is always accompanied by the overwhelming feeling of sadness, frustration and anger over where it all leads. But now, lets just enjoy the moment, look at this masterful season of TV on its own and forget all the rest for a while