Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 7, 2019

The now famous tag line “winter is coming” has morphed into “winter is here” on some of the press material accompanying the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, but one way or the other, audiences and critics alike, evidently affected by that kind of weather, seemed to have a perhaps appropriately cooler response to this much loved and talked about series during this wrap up collection of episodes. In a way, it’s perhaps completely predictable that Game of Thrones, having evaded the so-called “sophomore slump” that many shows seems to suffer, may have ultimately fallen prey to an analogous syndrome in the annals of series television, the “final season letdown”, as exemplified by such at least somewhat controversial wrap up years like Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season. Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season may therefore not completely satisfy each and every fan in each and every one of its six episodes this season (abbreviated compared to previous years, which may in fact be part of the problem). That said, there is still a wealth of material here that should at least occasionally and intermittently engage various longtime viewers of the series, even if there may be an undeniable feeling of things ending not with a veritable bang, but a snowbound whimper.

For our reviews of the previous seasons of Game of Thrones, please click on the following links:

Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review

Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray review

Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray review

Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season Blu-ray review

Game of Thrones: The Complete Fifth Season Blu-ray review

Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season Blu-ray review

Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray review

Even the relatively “minor” lack of an episode or two this season compared to previous seasons may prove to be one of the insurmountable obstacles Game of Thrones encounters as the writers attempt to deal with a vast array of characters and plot points. The season has two major objectives, establishing who will finally assume the duties of the Iron Throne, and also documenting the epochal battle of Winterfell between the armies of the living and dead. That may not sound like a lot of material, but as anyone who has watched even an isolated episode or two of the series may understand, there are so many strands of subplots woven into these two “basic” plotlines that it may have been a fool’s errand to attempt to knit them together with such a relatively few episodes.

Forces are assembled both literally and figuratively as the eighth season opens, with hordes of characters either arriving or meeting in Winterfell, including Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). By the end of the first episode of the season, a number of other notables are in Winterfell, including Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), and Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams). With other hordes of the undead variety due to arrive at Winterfell’s doorstep at any moment, there are somewhat panicked strategy meetings, some explicitly doubting whether the promises of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) to provide fighting forces can be believes. Cersei herself is given some time in this episode as her relationship with Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) enters new territory. (Another subplot involving other Greyjoys seems almost weirdly truncated, as if the writers decided “well, we have to do something with these characters.)

This season has a rather cheeky sense of humor at times which would seem to be an odd match for the overamped histrionics that also frequently take place. Suffice it to say that backstabbing and major character expirations continue to be the norm, but there are some arguably unexpected bits along the way, including what is obviously meant to be a mind blowing reveal about Jon in the first episode (but which may not come as that much of a surprise to some). Other interchanges, as in the “reunion” between Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright), may actually provoke eye rolling in some, with an “are you [inserted expletive here] kidding me?” response to a certain sanguine nature between the two. There are a number of other plot contrivances, including at least two moments when Jon Snow is seemingly fated to be killed (again, it might be added), but then just kind of miraculously escapes.

Kind of surprisingly, given the build up to the big battle with the Army of the Dead (one which gets started in earnest in the third episode), the series just kind of moves on willy nilly to other menaces, until things move inexorably to their bittersweet conclusion, where a ruler if not an “inhabitant” of the Iron Throne is revealed. It’s perhaps salient to point out that some may feel the most emotional moment in this entire season takes place between a dragon and human (more will not be said lest spoilers be inferred), even with a whole panoply of players strutting and fretting their hour on this particular stage.

Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray.

Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of HBO with a 2160p transfer in 1.78:1. As I indicated in our Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season Blu-ray review, I was frankly a little underwhelmed with the quality of the 1080p video, and perhaps because the underlying quality issues are at times arguably only exacerbated by the higher resolution of the 4K UHD discs, I have to say my "underwhelment" (and I'm insisting that's now a word) continues with this iteration, though there are still clear upticks in fine detail at times, and the palette does attain some interesting highlights courtesy of Dolby Vision. The kind of milky blacks I noticed in the 1080p version aren't significantly improved to my eyes in this version, though overall shadow detail is still at least marginally better here, helping at least a little in long dark scenes as are found in the third episode. Still, the jump in shadow detail is not huge by any stretch, and some may be disappointed by that lack. In the more brightly lit moments, or in many of the extreme close-ups, fine detail does take a notch or two of an upward leap, but at times again not in any huge way. The biggest differences I noticed were once again in some relatively subtle changes in highlights courtesy of HDR. Some of the frosty gray and blue scenes have just a hint toward green at times now, and several of the more sepia toned scenes featuring Cersei acquire an almost auburn tint at moments. Some of what to my eyes looked like less than believable compositing in the CGI that I mentioned in the review of the 1080p version probably looks even more unbelievable in this version.

Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season features another nicely rendered Dolby Atmos track, though once again HBO has kind of oddly authored these discs to default to the lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track that is also included (so make sure to check your audio settings if you're Atmos capable). A number of the big set pieces offer fantastic engagement of the Atmos channels, notably the huge battles that fill up a large part of Episode 3, but even relatively quieter moments in both Winterfell and King's Landing often offer nicely designed surround activity, with both washes of sound that waft between channels, and discrete placement of individual effects. Dynamic range is very wide throughout this season, and dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly. Bursts of LFE for effects like some dragons clearing their throats (so to speak) also provide quite a bit of sonic energy.

Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Some but not all of the supplements included on the 1080p Blu-ray discs have been included on the 4K UHD discs:

Disc One

• Audio Commentaries

  Episode One with commentary by Co-Producer / Writer Dave Hill and Production Designer Deborah Riley

  
  

  Episode Two with commentary by Co-Executive Producer / Writer Bryan Cogman and Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne)

  
  

  Episode Three with commentary by Director Miguel Sapochnik, Director of Photography Fabian Wagner and Camera Operator Sean Savage

  
  

  Episode Three with commentary by Executive Producer Bernadette Caulfield, Visual Effects Producer Steve Kullback, and Visual Effects Supervisor Joe Bauer

  
  

  Episode Three with commentary by Stunt Coordinator Rowley Irlam and Richard Dormer (Beric Dondarrion)

Disc Two

• Audio Commentaries

  Episode Four with commentary by Director of Photography David Franco, Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandel) and Pilou Absek (Euron Greyjoy)

  
  

  Episode Five with commentary by Director Miguel Sapochnik, Director of Photography Fabian Wagner and Conleth Hill (Varys)

  
  

  Episode Five with commentary by Producer Chris Newman, Special Effects Supervisor Sam Conway, and Visual Effects Supervisor Joe Bauer

Disc Three

• Audio Commentaries

  Episode Six with commentary by Executive Producers / Writers / Directors David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, and Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen)

  
  

  Episode Six with commentary by Director of Photography Jonathan Freeman and Camera Operator Ben Wilson

• When Winter Falls (1080p; 29:13) is a "making of" documentary providing copious background information on the Battle of Winterfell.


• Duty is the Death of Love (1080p; 31:36) does much the same duty for the series' final episode.


• Game of Thrones: The Last Watch (1080p; 1:52:58) is a nice in-depth piece offering tons of reminscences by principal cast and crew as they look over the long and winding road they've been on.


• Histories and Lore offers more animated background pieces:

  King's Landing (1080p; 2:55)

  
  

  The Greyjoy Rebellion (1080p; 5:31)

  
  

  The Blackfyres (1080p; 5:15)

  
  

  The South (1080p; 2:30)

  
  

  The Defiance of Duskendale (1080p; 5:17)

  
  

  Maegor the Cruel (1080p; 5:18)

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 8:28)

Additionally, this comes packaged in a rather attractive Steelbook with a magnetic Sigil much in keeping with some of the specialty packaging released for previous seasons. I have to say whoever designed the "disc management" on this release presents viewers with a challenge: the 3 1080p Blu-ray discs are stacked on one spindle, and the 3 4K UHD discs are stacked on another spindle, meaning that whichever version you want to watch, you will most likely have discs lying around somewhere until you've gotten through all three.

Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Was I completely thrilled with this final season of the much beloved Game of Thrones? No. Did I think it was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, as at least some other fans evidently did? No. I think things could have been smoothed out here with at least one or two more episodes, but there also is some unabashedly ham handed writing this season, with both silly soap operatic aspects and interpersonal relationships that just don't ring true all of the time. Still, I can't imagine anyone who has been following this show not finding something to like about this final season. I'm not sure this 4K UHD version provides enough of a video upgrade to warrant a purchase, especially since the 1080p Blu-ray has the same audio and more supplements.