I haven't blogged about Game of Thrones the past 6 seasons, but that's no reason not to start now. (Actually I did include some thoughts back in 2013, but that doesn't really count because that was just a round-up of everything I've been watching, and not a dedicated blog post).
The series has had some high points, and some low points over the past 7 years. But when it's been good, it's been very very good.
It's also been interesting to watch just as a cultural phenomenon-- as something which completely revolutionized what we thought television was capable of.
I know that fandom of the show is polarizing. (People who love it really really love it, and people who hate it really really hate it).
But I think it's uncontroversial to say that the show has done a lot of completely new things. Never before have these kind of epic battles and special effects been filmed for the television screen. Never before has a storyline this complicated been attempted for television.
And, call me biased on this last one if you will, but the acting and directing has all been top-notch. (It amazes me all the top level actors this show has been able to recruit--even if they have killed off several of their best characters now.)
Anyway, about Season 7 specifically:
Like most of the rest of the world, I noticed a tonal shift in this season. People say this is because the show is no longer relying on George R. R. Martin's books. And I'll take their word for it. (Although I've never gotten around to reading the books myself).
Also the fantastical was pushed more to the forefront this season. In the past, dragons battling ice zombies had only been teased, but now it was fully featured. And it felt in some ways like a different show.
But we all knew it had to come to this eventually. These elements which were teased from the beginning had to find a pay-off sometime.
And the show's infamously convoluted plotline had to wrap-up at some point.
In other words, we all knew these types of episodes were coming eventually.
But despite the inevitability of this ending, it still cheapens the show. Game of Thrones was at its best when it was a human drama with the fantastical in the background.
Although I spent the last 7 seasons thinking I wanted to see more dragons and ice-zombies, it turns out that actually I didn't. Dragons and ice-zombies are inherently boring. (A zombie doesn't have much of a personality or character to get invested in. Nor does a dragon really). The real appeal of the show was always its complex human characters.
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