The third season of Game of Thrones is ten episodes long with each episode being approximately 50-ish minutes in length. This season is based on the first half of the third novel in the series A Song of Ice and Fire. The season picks up directly after the end of the second season. Jon Snow is beyond the wall among the Wildlings. Tyrion is recovering from the battle of King's Landing, and Daenerys is continuing on her journey to gather an army to retake Westeros. The number of pieces at play seems to have shrunk due to the setback and losses from a few characters. This makes it easier to follow, which is also because you can see how each viewpoint relates to one another that it feels more focused. That being said, as the season progresses, more viewpoints ends up crowding each episode and it becomes a juggling act (which is done quite well to be frank).
A few new characters are introduced but we're still following the staples, from Arya to Sansa to Jaime to Robb to Bran. While not all the viewpoints are equally thrilling, each one holds promise of what is to come. Some of the characters are great at manipulating others, while you get to see how they are more powerful and dangerous than they first appear. These hidden moments are what make certain scenes so surprising and revealing. Then you get Joffrey who remains as cruel and petty as he ever was, too prideful and out of touch. Season 3 continues on with the shock factor as things happen to main characters that you do not expect. While there are no unexpected deaths to the degree of the first two seasons, things are always kept interesting and you always think what will happen to these characters since they are not immune to harm or maiming. The scenes involving tough decisions being forced upon the characters are great, and it is hard to decide what you would do if you were in their place.
In particular, despite Theon being cruel and fully deserving of the fate that he gets due to his behavior in the last season, it still feels his retribution goes a bit too far. You can't help but feel sympathy that he doesn't deserve all that torture. The same goes for a few other characters such as the trials that Jaime has to face and the hidden deaths behind that charming yet underhanded facade that he has had until now. We're shown a more human and caring side of him but this doesn't grant him forgiveness for his past actions. One thing that helps set apart this season are some of the epic moments such as Daenerys' viewpoint in Valyria and her negotiations for an army. After the betrayal in the last season, it's great to see her fight back against people who is trying to take advantage of her and her dragons (which have grown quite big now). On the other hand, she is starting to become arrogant and full of herself, and using her powers to basically overwhelm her opponents in order to get her way.
While the season seems to be somewhat slow at times, the penultimate episode is tense and has a massive shock ending. Granted, the character is reaping the rewards of their own decisions from the past and somewhat deserves it but it was nevertheless a surprise at how the events unfolded. You get the shock of betrayal along with the sudden ending of one of the plot threads. It truly changes thew hole dynamic of the war and is something you would not have expected, making you wonder what the future direction of the plot would be. Overall, the third season of Game of Thrones carries as much shock factor as the first two seasons, even if it took the better part of the season before it outdid itself. There are some odd choices and slow pacing, particularly in the first half when a lot of questions were raised. Thankfully, some of those are answered by the end of the season which was just enough to make it satisfying. While a lot of the characters are cruel and easy to hate, there are more than a few who remain charismatic that you would love to see more of.
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