‘Game of Thrones’ Season 8: Not the show but we as the audience have perhaps failed the greatest TV show in history
Even when the story took an unusual in Episode 4, we are still expecting things that we are not even remotely aware of!
The much anticipated Season 8 of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ has been criticized by fans for not turning out what they had expected it to be. The Night King is certainly not the long-dead version of Bran Stark; neither was Jon Snow the Azor Ahai we wanted. Also, Daenerys Targaryen is no longer the beloved rebel queen who is expected to burn Cersei Lannister to death. Instead she is herself now behaving like the typical Mad Queen who is losing everyone she once loved. Finally, none of the pets on the show deserved the kind of cruelty that they are now being subjected to. However, the worst complaint regarding the David Benioff and D.B.Weiss created show is that Season 8 seems to be written in the laziest possible way.
Perhaps, this is a good time to really ponder upon why we started watching ‘Game of Thrones’ in the first place. When we were introduced to the show, it was nothing less than a fantasy fiction wrapped around a historic event as real as the War of the Roses with characters who were generic in their approach but interesting when it came to delivering the right kind of dialogues. However, what kept us hooked to the show was its tendency to not answer our questions. Who were those pale, blue-eyed men we saw in the opening scene of Season 1 Episode 1? Why is there this looming tension between the Starks and the rest of Westeros? Why is a girl so young being married off to a man who practically rapes on their wedding night? Is that golden haired girl really that stupid to be infatuated towards a cruel prince? What’s with all the wolves and dragons? What is really going on?
It is reaching a point where we can only await the end. (IMDb)
As the seasons went by and our characters parted ways only to reunite every now and then under the most unsuitable conditions, the questions gradually turned to statements. The blue-eyed men are the supernatural threat looming upon our world, which was quickly interpreted as the direct representation of climate change by several critics. On the other hand, male characters took the backseat and the show was hailed as the most feminist adaptation that television has ever seen. Similarly, nudity became a major factor for the show’s popularity and at the same time, violence and gore played an equally significant subject of discussion for the so-called film buffs. While all of this certainly added a perspective to the show, somewhere we as audience have failed ‘Game of Thrones’. Neither HBO nor George R.R.Martin wanted to create a show that would deal with the contemporary issue of our age, and it certainly was not the show’s motif to be the clarion call of feminism in an era where barely any one truly understands what the term stands for.
More than understanding what the story is trying to do, and how the characters are developing through the worst possible situations, viewers are now more concerned about fan theories. Many were upset to find out that Jon Snow, the man who gathered that entire army to fight the Night King, was stupid enough to not attack him when he had the time. Several criticized Melisandre’s death as an awfully clean one where she walks through a pile of bodies that seemed to have been swept aside to make way for her. After Episode 4 fans are now upset that Sansa had to mention about all the torture she went through in order to become the strong leader that she is. But let’s take a moment here, and consider the following few things about the show:
- Contorted character arcs: We never had a single character on the show (probably other than Missandei) who did not dwell in the grey zone. Every single one of them have been the worst villain and the best hero that any story can offer. Even when it comes to Cersei, we cannot look at her without considering the fact that here is a woman who was treated like a bait by her father and later lost all the children whom she loved the most. On the other hand, Daenerys is not supposed to be the perfect ruler with that quick temper. She went from rags to riches, and back to being a vulnerable woman who is now watching her kingdom shatter to dust. As for Sansa, imagine if she was married to Joffrey and he treated her like the queen that she is we would have never seen the worst aspects of characters like Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton who have acted as a foil to Sansa’s character. As for Jon Snow being absolutely numb in the times when the North needs him the most, he has been the only flat character among all the main leads on the show. This proves that ‘Game of Thrones’ is not here to give us characters and stories which go by the book, instead it gives us a picture so real that we are unable to fathom the actuality of the storyline.
The show has never been about keeping promises but not to promise at all. (IMDb)
- A tragic flaw: At its core, ‘Game of Thrones’ has always been a tragedy. Even at its happiest it has left us with inconsolable moments that once again establish the fact that it is nothing less than an Elizabethan tragedy. Moreover, it is not supposed to have characters who pet their animals, marry each other out of love, or even sit and have a dinner party without an enemy waiting to murder them the very next second. It is a tale as old as time when it comes to bringing the many bathetic aspects of life in the medieval era which, unfortunately, continued to reside within us even in the 21st century.
Finally, as everyone seems to have forgotten ‘Game of Thrones’ is after all a brilliant piece of art. In Episode 3 of Season 8 it managed to pull out our hearts, jerk it with vigour, and then leave it wounded all by the sheer power of music- credits to Ramin Djawadi. In Episode 4 in that single moment where the CGI dragon’s death left us awestruck, we saw the fall of a conqueror who is now left with a handful of the myriad army that she once hand. These are the subtle blow of excellence that ‘Game of Thrones’ has always given us. At this point on the show we do not need another ‘Battle of the Bastards’ or a ‘Red Wedding’ to keep us attached to it, instead now is the time to silently watch the fate of Westeros turn its wheels, and the only question that matters here is who is going to turn that wheel?
