Game of Thrones: The Complete Fifth Season

The fifth season of HBO's sprawling fantasy epic—adapted from A Song of Ice and Fire, the acclaimed series of novels by George R.R. Martin (who is also a writer and producer on the show)—features an ever-more complex web of alliances, betrayals, conspiracies, loyalties, and odysseys. Tyrion Lannister (Emmy winner Peter Dinklage) escapes from King's Landing and finds the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), whose own rule is threatened by an underground rebellion. Meanwhile, Stannis (Stephen Dillane) sacrifices family in his effort to take the Iron Throne from the Lannister dynasty, and remaining members of the Starks struggle to survive the power shifts and political winds. And Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) battles both the new queen (Natalie Dormer) and a priest (Jonathan Pryce) she tries to manipulate for her own purposes, which comes at a great cost. This season was especially controversial for the sexual assault and degradation of major female characters, spurring some viewers to call it quits. But it remains HBO's most popular series, a big-budget fantasy epic with giant dragons and zombie warriors, but one that plays like a medieval historical drama spread out across a huge fictional world (represented by shooting locations in Ireland, Iceland, Morocco, Malta, and Croatia). Presenting all 10 episodes from the 2015 fifth season, extras include episode commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and deleted scenes (the Blu-ray release includes additional featurettes and supplements). Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)