What is Game of Thrones S5-6's IQ Score?

Game of Thrones S5-6 has an IQ Score of 126/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient framework, placing it in the Competent tier. The score breaks down to 32/50 Cognitive Stimulation, 26/50 Educational Value, and 38/50 Craft & Quality.

Is Game of Thrones S5-6 educational?

Game of Thrones S5-6 is moderate on educational value, 26/50 on TVI's rubric. Some learning happens, but it isn't the show's primary work.

How does TV Intelligentsia calculate IQ Score?

TV Intelligentsia's current published formula is round((Cognitive Stimulation × 0.4 + Educational Value × 0.35 + Craft & Quality × 0.25) × 4), scoring titles from 0 to 200 across five tiers. TVI publishes a three-dimension breakdown only when those values reproduce the displayed composite. The framework is published at tvintelligentsia.com/methodology/.

Game of Thrones S5-6 IQ Score 126/200

Game of Thrones S5-6 has an IQ Score of 126/200 on TV Intelligentsia's Intelligence Quotient rubric, placing it in the Competent tier.

By Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH·Updated 2026-09-07·Methodology

dramafantasy

126/ 200

Competent

Engages without demanding much, watchable and reasonably crafted

Score Breakdown

Legacy score. Published under our earlier workflow, before the current standard took effect in August 2026. A founder reviewed and approved it against our methodology, under a process that does not meet the standard we hold now. What this means →

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Cognitive Stimulation/50

Educational Value/50

Craft & Quality/50

IQ = round((Cognitive × 0.4 + Educational × 0.35 + Craft × 0.25) × 4) · How we score →

What these dimensions mean

Cognitive Stimulation: observable narrative complexity, conceptual density, ambiguity, inference, and sustained intellectual demands in the work.
Educational Value: the density and integration of substantive academic, historical, scientific, cultural, ethical, or practical information in the work.
Craft & Quality: production excellence in service of the work, its direction, writing, performance, and aesthetic intent.

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Why you should trust this score

Scored under Jordan Robinson, MD, MPH

Physician and founding editor. Maintains the adult catalog against the published rubric and reviews the rubric application.

Methodology

Published rubric, v1.3.1

Formula

round((C × 0.40 + E × 0.35 + Q × 0.25) × 4)

Database scale

2,607 titles, version-controlled

How we stay independent. Editorial scores are not for sale. TVI may take on paid advisory or research work, but no commercial relationship buys coverage, advance access to scores, favorable treatment, or a change to a published finding. We pay for our own streaming subscriptions, and no reviewer sees sponsor data or affiliate revenue tied to a score. More about how we work →

The TVI Take

The HBO adaptation enters Martin's unfinished material; Benioff and Weiss begin extrapolating from outlines rather than novels. Hardhome (S5E8) and Battle of the Bastards (S6E9) are still the show's most cinematic hours, but plot logic frays, Dorne collapses, Sansa's marriage arc invents its own ending, characters teleport between locations.

The decline is structural, not aesthetic: the show ran out of room to show how things happen and started showing only that they happened.

People & Production D. B. Weiss · HBO Entertainment · HBO 33 connections