First, I would like to say that, unlike the masses, I actually enjoyed this season. I like the ending. And let me explain why. You see, I learned early on in the series that Game of Thrones is not your typical story. Despite the rare fantasy/magical moments, there's a lot more realism to the tale. You can't have favorite characters because, just like real life, anyone can die. The "heroes" don't necessarily fight their way to victory every time, and the "villains" sometimes get away without seeing justice for their actions.
As a matter of fact, the realest detail in this series was the fact that generally bad people tend to have a better survival rate than those who were honorable and brave. If you lie, cheat, and steal, you just might be able to navigate the precarious political and social setting. But if you declare yourself honest and true to a fault, you're at the mercy of the corrupt political structure.
As such, the entire series has been a constant let-down for me. Every time I think someone's brave enough and skilled enough to survive to the end, they find themselves at the end... of a blade. I learned to live with disappointment while watching the show. I learned to enjoy the series as more of a realistic story than a fantasy story. No one was safe, anyone can die. And I learned not to have favorite characters.
By the start of season 6, the show had mostly caught up with the books, minus some minor character subplots which continued in that season. The book series is incomplete; there are no more books from which to pull material from, and it shows. The relentless and pointless murdering of well-established characters appeared to stop almost immediately, with only a few major deaths throughout the season. And this trend continued up through season 8. It was a very noticeable difference between George R. R. Martin's novels and the live action TV series; the show creators were less inclined to murder people randomly as the original author was. Granted, GRRM has stayed on as an executive producer of the show, helping to guide them toward his ultimate end goal for the story. So while the details appear to be left to the creators of the show, the overall story arc was still being told by the original author.
All of this means that, due to the disappointment I felt toward a lot of the show and its characters, I fully expected it to be a letdown ending, with absolutely anyone having a decent chance at taking the throne at the last minute. So I was actually quite surprised to find it had a pretty decent and solid ending. I wouldn't necessarily call it a twist ending, but it was not the scenario I expected. And like the rest of the series, it was real. Not everyone saw justice, not everyone got their reward for good deeds, and some good people got the shit end of the stick for doing the right thing. That's real life. And I think it was incredibly brave of the show to stick to that ending, even though it would piss off long-time fans.
The other major complaint people had was the pacing of season 8. At 6 episodes, it was a very short season, even with a couple hour-and-a-half long episodes mixed in. But I personally felt the show took too long to get to the point each season. And being a continuous tale with no solid breaks in story, I felt it was an extremely long 8 seasons. So I actually enjoyed a succinct storyline in season 8, wrapping up the major conflicts left in the series. To me, it was the perfect end to an epic (long) tale. And I'm glad the producers (and GRRM) decided to go against what would be popular and told a gruesome story with a... different ending. Regardless, it struck people emotionally and has brought about a lot of heated discussion about the series. And that's how you can tell it's a captivating tale; when people get passionate about the story and their expectations for it. Congrats for subverting expectations, GRRM and studio execs!
You may debate whether it was a happy or sad (or bad) ending in the comments below. Or you can call me names for liking a mostly-hated ending. But I stand by my opinion.
No comments:
Post a Comment