The Children

Game of Thrones closes out this season with a stellar episode, but like any good finale leaves some massive plots unresolved and teases us with whole new mysteries.

The Children does a great job tying up some loose ends left in the previous episodes and sets up the fifth season perfectly. There's nothing I have to fault this episode since I have so much to praise about it.

The storyline/script continues to be well-written, the performances are great and makes the characters even more relatable including Tyrion, Sansa, and Arya who set off on separate paths to different directions to see what's in store for them. The directing and editing are smooth, the pacing, once again, never drags and the relationships continue to be interesting. The scenery, sets, and costumes are still fabulous and the music score from Ramin Djawadi continues to be beautiful.

The scene where Arya leaves the Hound to die after he got wounded was nice since in the previous episodes, they started to bond with another, but it doesn't change the fact that they're different people since the Hound was a complete jerk to her and Arya wanted revenge on King Joffrey for what happened to her father. So, Arya heading off on her own was really cool.

So, overall, another masterpiece of an episode and a great set-up for the fifth season. :)

This is how you do a season finale! It started off good, but only got better and better as the episode went along!

To me season four is the best season from begining to end, in terms of storytelling! There is not a single bad episode, amd the amount of great moments are insane!

This season was the pay off of rvery storyline we have seen so far! Everything has been building towards this! Therefore it was not just a season four finale, but a finale to storylines set up all the way back in season two or maybe even one!

This was an emotional rollercoaster! I was either on the edge or felt with tears! The actors did an outstanding job, and the visuals and directing was on another level!

This was when the excitement for this show reached a new level!

Came to 'Game of Thrones' fairly late in the game and due to being so busy the binge-watching was gradual. Have found myself truly loving the show, very quickly becoming one of my favourites. It totally lives up to the hype and not only does it do the brilliant source material justice (a rarity in television) it is on its own merits one of the finest, most addictive and consistently compelling shows in recent years and quality-wise it puts a lot of films in recent years to shame.

"The Children" is for me alongside "The Lion and the Rose" and "The Laws of Gods and Men", one of the best episodes of a consistently great to brilliant Season 4 (yes, even "Oathkeeper" which is not liked by some book fans). It is also one of the best 'Games of Thrones' season finales, whereas a couple of the season finales have been cases of the penultimate episodes making more of an impression (Season 3 being especially notable in this regard) and one of the show's most thrilling, in drama and action, episodes.

Action-wise, "The Children" rouses and excites in its intensity and its insane physical action dexterity, The Hound fight especially. "The Children" not just an action-packed episode. It is very much emotionally charged all the way through, with a lot of intimate character development, plot advancements, introduction of new ideas that one cannot wait to be developed and unexpected twists.

Constantly, the acting cannot be faulted. It is not an exception with "The Children". Peter Dinklage, Kit Harrington and Charles Dance are standouts.

Visually, "The Children" looks amazing, as one would expect for 'Game of Thrones'. The scenery is throughout spectacular, the sets are hugely atmospheric and beautiful on the eyes with a real meticulous eye for detail and the costumes suit the characters to a tee. The make-up is beautifully done. The visual effects are some of the best of any television programme and are not overused or abused, the scale, the detail and how they actually have character and soul are better than those in a lot of the big-budget blockbusters. As well the cinematography and editing, which are cinematic quality as well.

One cannot talk about "The Children" without mentioning the thematically, orchestrally and atmospherically multi-layered music scoring and the unforgettable main theme. Again, worthy of a high-budget fantasy/action/drama film.

It is hard not to be bowled over by the quality of the writing, outstanding isn't a strong enough adjective to describe how good the writing is once again. It always has a natural flow, is layered and thought-provoking and demonstrates a wide range of emotions such as suspenseful tension, poignant pathos and witty humour. The story is paced beautifully, structured with such nuance and attention to coherence, a high emotional level and is done with intelligence, passion and sensitivity.

All in all, barnstorming season finale. 10/10 Bethany Cox

All expectations met: Just brilliant! The presentation of season 4 was more than nice - it never could have been done better than this in any movies (trilogy or similar). The development of the new core characters is pictured in a very nice manner - the acting was more than fantastic - looking so forward for season 5 and beyond. I would wish the world of Ice and Fire would not end at all! The atmosphere in all circumstances was great. I just would wish we would have seen more details rather than going a little rushed through the book(s). Anyway hands down it was the most amazing season so far, very close to GRRM's Song of Ice and Fire. If you'd say Season 1-3 was good - season 4 will just amaze you - especially with "The Children" as its final. Keep up the good work HBO and the GOT team!