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Why the Game of Thrones Finale was so Bad - Spoilers

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  • JFoster
    06-04-2019 06:47:21 PM
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    I never saw this coming, also never thought I'd write a title like that. The show may be over, but the hale storm of criticism is still raging. One main reason was because it started off and continued strong, without any hiccups or boring seasons. Everyone seemed to put it up on a pedestal, a very much deserved pedestal though. It seemed untouchable. Great writers, and wonderful actors. Then it was like the producers stopped caring in 4 episodes, ending with what is arguably the biggest let-down in tv history. It's pretty close to when the TV show Dallas negated an entire season by making it all a dream in the end.

    So why was Game of Thrones' finale so bad?

    1. Pointless details and buildup

    The build up was great at first, many characters and details saw a lot of screen time only to fall into obscurity by the end. A dramatic principle called Chekhov's Gun states: "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." Jon Snow turning out to be a Targaryen pretty much went nowhere and he ended up at the wall where he started.

    2. Character arcs that went in reverse

    Think of it, Tyrion was the smartest one in the story, only to end up being the dumbest one in the end. The last two episodes had him walking around in a daze after making awful decisions that the Tyrion a season ago wouldn't have made. Jaime Lannister's arc was a mess as well.

    3. The final scene where choose Bran as king.

    So Tyrion is a prisoner, Grey worm demands his head, yet Tyrion chooses Bran as King and everyone follows. It was as if every character sitting there became NPCs, and lost their opinions and personality, only to make the person who did nothing but make people uncomfortable for the entire season king. It came out of nowhere.

    Does anyone else agree with me? Look at it this way, it's not like its just the GOT nerds complaining, it's pretty much everyone. You either thought it was ok, or didn't like it. If you agree with me, are there any other reasons? If you don't, would like to hear those too.

  • Heisenberg
    06-05-2019 01:40:23 PM
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    I agree in general the story archs were not good. But not necessarily because of how they ended. Jaime going back to Cersei does make sense for his character. It's just the arch they were building up to and the break neck turn they took in the last 2-3 episodes for him didn't make any sense. We should have seen that play out over a much longer time frame.

    Jaime could have stayed with Brienne for a while but through many episodes and clever writing he could have been slowly pulled back into Cersei. They needed more episodes to build it up and make it feel earned and make cinematic sense.

    Same issue with Daenerys. Her turn into madness wasn't a bad ending arch. It's actually really good. But the execution and how fast it happened, and how little they allowed her character to explain herself made it unsatisfying when it could have been awesome.

    Same for Jon Snow. And on down the line. Archs were fine in my opinion. They just needed much more time on the screen to play out.

    Even Bran becoming the King at the end is fine with me, IF they would have explained more about his abilities and motives. But the way they executed that round table like scene was really haphazard and not logically sound.

    A good video a ton of people watched gives what I would call a much more satisfying ending to the show, and even does it in a way that doesn't call for more episodes. I think that's the main grip here - the show deserved either more episodes or just better writing.

  • JFoster
    06-05-2019 07:14:38 PM
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    Agreed. It was the speed at which they did everything. The archs could have been more believable if they had time or had taken the time to flesh them out. That's why I think the characters towards the end felt so out of place and off.
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