I'm genuinely surprised by how much of a step up this season is compared to the earlier ones.
For the first time in the series, there's a clear sense of narrative causality and coherence. Characters act according to their personalities, knowledge, and circumstances. Most events feel motivated, grounded in logic and built upon prior developments, rather than emerging randomly at the writer's whim.
It almost feels like a different writer took over. The first two arcs in particular enter a territory I can confidently call great. They’re well-constructed, narratively driven, and offer a sense of logical progression that’s been sorely missing in past seasons.
The non-linear time jumps can be a bit confusing at times. They're not incomprehensible, but they occasionally disrupt the flow and require the viewer to piece things together more actively.
The biggest improvement, without question, is the characters. They finally display agency. They're no longer just tools (literal or metaphorical) but individuals with goals, doubts, and actual thought processes.
The season isn’t flawless, though. The final episodes unfortunately drop the ball. The story slips back into predictability, culminating in possibly the most underwhelming fight sequence I've ever seen. The characters' plans are either nonexistent or so impractical that it becomes hard to care. They don’t win through strategy or strength, but seemingly through the writer’s will alone.
When a viewer can pause and sketch out a staggeringly more coherent plan in three minutes, that's not a good sign.
Still, the good far outweighs the bad, especially since these issues only surface in the last tenth of the season.
7.6/10