So there we have it. After eight seasons of dragons, incest, battles and boobs, Game of Thrones is over. For those not up to date with the series I’d stop reading, it’ll have spoilers related to the most recent episodes. This blog will cover how the last episodes fared, where it went right, wrong, and how the show compares to others held in high esteem. Does the show finally surpass Pokemon? Is Game of Thrones the Best Show Ever Made?
A Solid Story Poorly Executed
The first four seasons of the show were excellent. Unexpected twists defied fantasy cliches. Rich characters were portrayed by a talented cast and dialogue was well constructed to delve into inner psyche. At that point the show began to overtake the books, and the quality dropped. Main characters with established morals and behaviours flipped in an instant for the sake of plot or shock. Dialogue, once layered, lost its subtly and became on the nose. Yet the show continued to gain momentum and fans across the world, the battle sequences matching Hollywood quality. Episodes like the ‘Battle of The Bastards’ went a long way for masking the dips in other areas.
The creators commissioned the last two seasons as shorter than the rest and ultimately is where I feel the show has suffered most. The two most recent seasons required time to flesh out the plots, raise the stakes and give characters the send off they deserved. This thirteen episode self-imposed deadline forced the story to hurtle at a pace that self destructed character arcs and subtlety. Nuance? Na mate. We’ll lock two characters in a room and have them explain all the required information to each other in a two-minute dialogue exchange.
Rather than scripts, the final two seasons have felt like bullet points and checkpoints to pass. A fair criticism of the last season has been in the transformation of certain characters. The issue is not with the destination. The issue is with the pace and bluntness it took to reach there.
Fans fumed that Daenerys, who had spent the show crucifying and burning people alive, turned out to have some villainous traits in her locker… From a story perspective it baffles me that fans of the character have long overlooked her brutality and this is George RR Martin’s greatest trick. The end always justified the means, namely Daenerys’ revolt against slavery. Then the arc stopped being against murderous slavers, but became about herself, the throne and her self-determined destiny. When finally faced with an end that challenged the viewer, the moral justification gone, those same means and methods proved jarring in the Westeros setting. The foreshadowing, violence and impulses have been there all along and the eventual switch should not be such a surprise. The main issue should be with the pace and bluntness of the story thread rather than the story itself.
How Does it Compare to Other Shows?
One of my close friends described the most recent series as tragic. While I am happy to admit the flaws in the execution, and in parts of the story, this summary feels unfair. I watched all four seasons of Heroes and all six seasons of Lost so stand confident I have witnessed enough shows with great promise topple into complete disaster. Game of Thrones suffered like many shows in the sense its last season did not live up to its original promise. But the last season was not a complete disaster. When given script to work with, from Jaime and Tyrion’s goodbye to Brienne’s knighting scene the acting talent could showcase why fans loved the show. The issue sits with the mad dash to finish and too few of these moments making it to the screen.
How many of the most revered shows have a strong ending? Testing only shows that have finished, let’s look using IMDB’s top ten. Breaking Bad‘s last season gripped me weekly as the show hurtled towards its close while House of Cards later seasons limped to an unfulfilling finish. The Wire’s last season became marred by funding issues, ultimately cutting the episodes from thirteen to ten and robbing the viewer of any end for long-established characters. The Sopranos, of which I’ll hold my hand up and admit I am yet to see, had an ending causing huge controversy. Of the top ten list on IMDB I can only vouch for Breaking Bad or Avatar: The Last Airbender having great closures.
Is Game of Thrones the Best Show Ever Made?
There is no doubt Game of Thrones has ended in a weaker fashion than its start. Yet if somebody were to ask me whether the show is worth watching, I would passionately recommend it. Shows like Prison Break, Sons of Anarchy, Lost, Heroes, Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, and Dexter all captured the imagination from the start. Yet each, and dozens more, ultimately limp to the finish or get forgotten entirely. Game of Thrones, even in its weakest moments, still tells a story and presents character arcs surpassing other show’s best output. Is Game of Thrones the Best Show Ever Made? No. But in its totality it is up there and, while not perfect, its ending left me satisfied. Beating Pokemon takes some doing, after all.
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