GOT is the best show on TV and is telling a story that has obviously captivated millions but I don't understand why people think the show is above criticism. Especially when the criticism is all relative to the standards the show has set. The finale was pretty damn great but there were elements of the season that certainly warranted criticism. I agree that the travel complaints are easy and almost silly but I do think the show has sacrificed nuance in order to speed up the pace of the story. My issues aren't with some of the plot points that ultimately proved to be pointless (Jorah and greyscale), the speed in which ravens or dragons travel, or Gendry running miles in freezing temperature, or the surprise attacks by large-scale armies, or even characters traveling across Westeros within an episode... Imo those are pretty mild issues that should be forgiven and some are almost necessary in order to advance the plot.
My concerns lie with the actions of characters: this season was fraught with characters acting against their nature for faux suspense (Tyrion devising a suicide mission in order to convince Cersei to end the war with the queen that is attempting to take her throne) and characters surviving deadly scenarios in ways that are just far too unrealistic (Jaime and Bronn swimming to shore despite Jaime wearing full armor and Danerys/Tyrion recognizing that it was him charging at her. Could have easily had him pulled up as a prisoner. The six men fighting against 100,000 wights, and Jon surviving being pulled into an Ice lake by three or four wights just so uncle Benjen can serve his purpose as a deus ex machina.)
Good season, great show but not above criticism.
The funny thing to me is when I criticize the show, I'm not arbitrarily applying impossible standards to it. I'm applying the same standards the show itself set in the first four seasons. When I complain about them ignoring the internal consistency of the world, I'm doing that because the earlier seasons prided themselves on having an internally consistent world, where location and character motivations guided the plot. So it trips me out that people that somehow became a fan of the show in the earlier seasons, are now saying to not compare the show to itself or judge it by the standards it created for itself. fukk that.
I'll criticize the show when it appears spies no longer exist, and everyone is always being ambushed.
I'll criticize the show when battles have artificial stakes, and they keep having last minute Hollywood style saves. Whether it's Jon falling in ice water for Benjen to come, or Jamie being pushed into a river and winding up a mile away with full armor on.
I'll criticize the show when the script have glaring plot holes, and characters make baffling decisions that aren't punished.
I'll criticize it because the show used to be above it, which is why GoT was always originally described as a show that was better than those other popular shows on TV. But now I have fans telling me to shut off my brain and not think about it. But that was never how I watched this show before, and I never would have started watching if this was going to be a show that asked it's audience to not engage and invest in the details. The details matter for this show, especially if it's asking to be a GOAT contender.
But beyond the show valuing spectacle over plot now, I also have an issue with a lot of the characterization. The character development of my favorite characters has been lacking severely since season 4. I still like a lot of characters, but I realize I like them mostly based on arcs from several seasons ago, rather than anything they have done recently.
Jaimie, Arya, Tyrion, Littlefinger, etc, felt like they were running on fumes from the momentum of past seasons, or either treading water as characters to use another analogy. I think it's worth pointing out that the showrunners have not been as strong with writing the characters.
I would be more forgiving if the show-runners themselves seemed to care about creating a logically consistent show, but they themselves have basically said "who cares, we have budget for dragons now"
which is really why I'm done giving them the benefit of the doubt. They can fukk all the way off with that, and honestly, so can fans that defend that.
So yeah. I realize I'm watching a different show now. It's not the tightly written, sometimes subversive, Machiavellian political drama. It's a spectacle-driven action adventure fantasy. The earlier seasons could be considered great seasons even without having one spectacle episode. The latter seasons have basically had to be saved by them because they couldn't claim greatness without them. And I've had to adapt and reset my expectations for that kind of storytelling.
I still enjoy the show. I fell in love with the characters and world building, so I'm fully invested in seeing it to the end. I spent $600 to enjoy the Game of Thrones concert with other fans and it was
I listen to the podcasts and watch youtube channels solely devoted to the series. I defend the show whenever it gets unfair criticism. I played the taletell games. I've gotten several friends and family members hooked on the show after always talking about it. Just because I will call out bullshyt, doesn't make me less of a fan. I want this show to be the best it can be, especially since I'm convinced I'm not going to get an ending to this story from the books. This is the only ending I'll ever get. So I'm like, please be well written and make the payoff good and satisfying
But there are just times where it's not well written and the payoff is not good or satisfying. That is what the penultimate episode was for me. Pretty, some funny moments, but terribly written and thus I couldn't find any satisfaction in the payoff. It felt hollow. And enough people felt the same way for me to know it isn't just me.
As far as season 7 as a whole, I think I only actually disliked one or two episodes this season. And even when I dislike the storytelling of an episode, I still can appreciate the production value and acting of individual scenes, and marvel at the next level shyt this show is doing for television. But I just don't understand the people that want to act like nothing has changed in regards to the kind of show you're watching, or that people that criticize the pacing, and plotting are being unreasonable, or that people that aren't just going to gush over dragons fighting monsters when they see writing issues are just "complaining just to complain" or whatever other agenda they want to assign their criticism.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think even most of the people defending the writing of these last few seasons will eventually come to see that the criticisms are valid once the show is over. We're so starved to see what is going to happen next, so focused on getting to the end, getting that next huge battle, huge moment, that the newness of the episode sometimes shields it from being examined too critically. We're too caught up in the fun of the spectacle and memes and to really even care about how we got there.
But 5 years from now, once the show is over, once you know how it all ended, once you're no longer theorizing who is the prince that was promised, or who will sit the iron throne, or what the end game is, you'll do a rewatch of the entire series ready to judge every bit of it on it's own merit, and find yourself appreciating the attention to detail, the character arcs, the dialogue, the foreshadowing, the build up, the payoff of seasons and episodes and certain problems you didn't care about before will become more glaring, when juxtaposed to other episodes....like, damn this really didn't make any sense
That's how it was for me when I defended a lot of season 5, then after some time passed went back and rewatched it like, shyt they were right