The Game Is Over

Soprano's: "We were a very successful, critically acclaimed series on HBO."
Game of Thrones: "So were we."
Soprano's: "We had the most controversial ending of any television series ever."
Game of Thrones: "Hold our beer."

Or, if you'd rather, a cup of coffee from Starbuck's. 

(Rim shot)

HBO's juggernaut series Game of Thrones has ended after eight seasons and the show's ending may just be one of the most controversial endings of a series in television history. 

Needless to say, die hard, and, maybe even casual, fans of the series were not happy. One fan even raised over a thousand signatures on a petition to have Season 8 reshot. 

Most, when asked, would probably wish that the scripts for Season 8 were piled in front of them so they could snarl and say, Dracarys! 

At which point a dragon would unleash a fireball and incinerate the scripts. Just in case you didn't know what dracarys meant. 

Nobody ever wants to see their favorite show end, especially after investing so much time and emotion into eight seasons. When a show ends with a resounding thud as opposed to thunderous applause though, fans become even more emotional.

Season Eight of Game of Thrones was a confused, poorly written six episodes which raised too many questions to list here and sadly left a lot twice as many questions unanswered.

There were continuity errors and plot holes and when the series finally ended on Sunday, May 19, 2019, the phrase What the fuck just happened? could be heard across the universe. 

Why did such a good show end so badly? 
How could this happen? Surely we were all dreaming a very bad dream and this isn't really how Game of Thrones ended? 

Nope. It wasn't a dream. It ended exactly the way we saw it and we just have to move on. There are going to be no reshoots. The show ended. The sets were dismantled. The actors shaved beards and cut their hair and said goodbye to their characters...for...(gulp) ever. 

How did it all go so badly?

In my opinion, the answer is simple: lazy writing. 

HBO originally wanted Season 8 to be ten episodes long but series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss wanted to do less. The compromise was six episodes and, to be honest, when I heard they were going to attempt to wrap up seven seasons, all those storylines, in just six episodes, I said they'd never pull it off. Not successfully, anyway. 

There was no way Benioff and Weiss could tie up all the storylines created in seven seasons. Not in any way fans would satisfied or make sense. You can't shorthand an ending to a show like Game of Thrones. It does nothing but slap the history and legacy of the show right in the face. 

But shorthand it they did. They slapped together a season which ignored a lot of the mythology of the show. They rushed and the result was confusing and sloppy. 

SPOILERS AHEAD!

We've waited eight seasons to find out what the Night King wanted. I don't think any of us are clear about his intentions and the ending to that storyline came and went before we really knew what happened and then the world of Game of Thrones brushed away the debris and broken pieces of ice and snow and moved on without so much as a "And that's who he was and why he was doing what he was doing." 

The Battle of Winterfell was no Battle of the Bastards but it could have been. Especially considering the same director shot both episodes. 

The show's main villain Cersei Lannister, brilliantly performed by Lena Headey, was essentially wasted in Season 8 and that is a sin that can't be forgiven. She was reduced to standing on a balcony and glaring outwards. Ugh. She deserved better than that. 

Some battles which should have lasted entire episodes were concluded in minutes. 
Dragons died. Boo.
Some well-loved and well-hated characters lived. Some died. 

In regards to good storytelling, some of them who lived should have died. Not that you want to see any of your favorite characters die, but warriors need to die like warriors. Sometimes our favorite characters need to die. 

Hello? Red Wedding anyone? 

Game of Thrones has never been about happily ever after and I think the ending of what had been an amazing series was just too nice.  

You can't blame it on the acting. The performances on Game of Thrones have always been incredible. It is truly one of the best casts in television history. The principle ensemble is a talented and charismatic group of actors. 

You can't blame the production team or the thousands of craftspeople who worked on the show. Once again, this is a group of talented, passionate artists and designers and builders, special effects, wardrobe, costume, horse wrangling, sword builders, composers, musicians, set painters, and so on and so on and so on. 

Sidenote: I don't know how waters bottles and coffee cups were left in shots. There are a lot of people on a set and it someone's job to make sure things like that don't happen. Chalk it up as a symptom of a season plagued with problems.

The crew of GOT worked tirelessly and their work should never be diminished because of the way the show was written.

The fault lies with the writers who, in my opinion, had already checked out. 
Blame it on senioritis. 

Benioff and Weiss saw the end was near. 

I think they also saw their future as the creative forces behind the new Star Wars franchise. The first movie they will be behind is slated for release in December 2022. 

They checked out. They rushed. You don't have to take my word on that. You just need to watch Season 8. 

There are hints the cast wasn't happy with how things ended. Some have been more vocals than others. They are a classy bunch and will probably keep most of their opinions to themselves. 

Was there anything good about Season 8 of Game of Thrones?
Yes. Of course. 

SPOILERS AHEAD

The final battle between The Mountain and The Hound was seven seasons in the making and it did not disappoint. 

Two words: Arya Stark. Just an awesome character and performance from Maisie Williams. She absolutely crushed it this last season. She had one of the best moments from any episode, any season during Episode 3 of Season 8. 

Two more words: Lyanna Mormont. This little pint-sized, bad-ass, so perfectly portrayed by 12 year old Bella Ramsay was one of the most popular characters on the show. Her death, although tragic, was the perfect ending to her character arc. She took out a giant! A fucking giant! That's how you put a period on a character's story!

The music was beautiful and haunting. 
Here's an example. 
This is The Night King composed by Ramin Djawadi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1frgt0D_f4

Everything else has a big question mark dangling over it. 
Fans will continue to discuss their theories for years to come. They will mull over what went wrong and how they would have ended Game of Thrones and none of those theories matter. 

It's done, folks. It's over. We have to move on.

Winter came. 
Winter went. 

The story deserved better. 
The actors and characters deserved better. 
The production team and thousands of artisans deserved better.

The fans deserved better. 


just keeping it reel
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