Brace yourselves. A rare and extremely vitriolic opinion is coming.
I think—and have thought since its premiere in 2011—that HBO’s exceedingly popular and critically acclaimed show Game of Thrones is, in a word, shitty. I am (or at least have been made to feel) very much alone in this opinion. I am on the opposite side of the Wall while seemingly everyone else in society who doesn’t live under a pop culture-shaped rock chills at Castle Black and drinks some ale out of a goblet.
Y’all can chill up there with your opinions (which you’re entitled to) and your ale and your rickety ass castle, as far as I’m concerned. I’ll be over here with the Wildlings wylin’ out and knowing what’s really up in the world. Because listen: I have read the books. And by “the books,” I mean the first three books, which is about 2,000 pages of my life I can never get back. I won’t go full Don Draper and pitch you on this opinion so you ultimately agree with me, I’m just trying to elevate the critical discussion about a show that I feel is too readily praised by viewers and pretty much critic-proof.
So why do I even watch the show each week (and I do) if I purportedly hate it so much? Honestly, I sort of just inexplicably find myself frantically connecting to HBOGo every Sunday mostly due to muscle memory and habit, but partially because the show is, on a technical and aesthetic level, superb. The cinematography, locations, set design, costumes, and even the wacky alt-universe Byzantium hairstyles are some special kind of visual porn (though the show lacks for nothing in actual porn). I also suffer from a raging case of pop culture FOMO. But for me, this is where the show’s merits stop. Let’s dive in:
The Opening Credits
Let’s start at the beginning, with literally the beginning of the show: those opening credits. Here are some things I/you could do instead of sit through 1:42 of the Leading Contender in New Songs Guantanamo Bay Could Use as Torture Devices:
- Fast forward through it, but we all know the struggle too well of getting the timing just right and not missing some vital dialogue or beloved character being slaughtered.
- Microwave a personal mini-bag of popcorn.
- Call your mom to let her know you’re alive after that morning’s brunch.
- Become thoroughly confused when a new place shows up on the map in the credits and search Google frantically for the meaning of it.
The Acting
The acting is subpar. Every single actor (and therefore every single character) on this show is good at one thing (I call this the “Hodor Effect”). If they happen to be blessed by both the Old Gods and the New, they might be good at two things.
- Kit Harington/Jon Snow: mopes. Alternatively: shivers. Alternatively alternatively: knows nothing, which isn’t really a narrative or personal asset.
- Maisie Williams/Arya: asks annoying questions that somehow have managed to go unanswered while aggressively grows her hair out from that super awk bowlcut.
- Lena Headey/Cersei: throws shade/bitches about bitches.
- Sophie Turner/Sansa: floats through her admittedly very hard life with doe eyes and a long-expired naïveté.
- Peter Dinklage/Tyrion: drinks. Alternatively: complains about being a dwarf.
- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau/Jaime: Pre-handlessness: patronizes. Post-handlessness: bumbles.
- Gwendoline Christie/Brienne: is so earnest it physically hurts to watch.
- Daniel Portman/Pod: is so earnest it physically hurts to watch.
- Aidan Gillen/Littlefinger: schemes/plots.
- Alfie Allen/Theon: human personification of the World’s Smallest Violin.
- Conleth Hill/Varys: drops knowledge.
- Iain Glen/Jorah: pines for Daenerys.
- Emilia Clarke/Daenerys: she don’t need no man because she’s an independent ass woman but also she can’t control her children/dragons and is really clueless about how the world works but has great intentions!
- Michiel Huisman/Daario: pines for Daenerys while looking hot.
- Natalie Dormer/Margaery: snatches weaves.
- Dean-Charles Chapman/Tommen: plays with Ser Pounce.
- Kristian Nairn/Hodor: Hodors.
- Iwan Rheon/Ramsay Bolton: rapes, murders, tortures, you know. Just your garden variety sociopath.
The list above doesn’t do the full cast or character list even close to justice, because there are squillions of people on this show and none of them make wise decisions or are remotely compelling in a narrative sense. Even the Watch the Thrones podcast has a weekly segment dedicated to figuring out just who the hell that one character was that you couldn’t recognize or remember. Lastly, and really think about this: do you actually care about any of those squillions of characters? Like, would you be devastated if one of them died, or would you be all, “Oh, GRRM. You dog, you!” Let that percolate and get back to me.
Everyone on #GameOfThrones has a bad idea, and every week we get to watch those ideas prove themselves to be bad. Riveting television.
— Nick Bachan (@nickbachan) May 18, 2015
The Execution
This Talking TV with Ryan and Ryan podcast episode made the point that Game of Thrones is the Lazy Susan of television shows. As Ryan McGee so astutely asserts (43:25), it’s just a “bunch of five minute scenes that rarely are interconnected.” This show is exhausting. Westeros is, for all intents and purposes, Medieval/Renaissance Europe in a parallel universe. What this adds to the world—a rustic frame of reference and lots and lots of mud and petticoats—is far surpassed by what it detracts—expediency and efficiency. Everything takes three times the effort and infinity times the time to accomplish. This means several things: characters are separated by hundreds of miles with no means of communication except trusty ravens, plotlines are molasses slow, and the audience doesn’t get to know anything unless a character actually witnesses it themselves.1 Even if Benioff and Weiss have done an admirable job (sometimes to the dismay of avid book fans) of condensing and yadda-yaddaing GRRM’s meandering tomes, there are still entire episodes where literally nothing of importance happens (yet someone still manages to die and/or rape and/or fuck something up).
The Tone
Maybe it’s just me, but this show feels almost completely devoid of joy. Every time I watch it, I find myself sitting and staring at the screen and questioning why I just subjected myself to such misery. No one ever wins in this show. There are no triumphant booyahs or quiet fist pumps. Every single character is sad, either because the world they live in has made them that way or because they themselves are living the consequences of their shitty choices. The kingdom of the Iron Throne is a bleak, bitter, and hateful place where, personally, I find the people to be of commensurate character. Crime in HBO’s Westeros is, as they say, on fleek. Women (and men) are raped and objectified, children are manipulated and traumatized, and innocent bystanders are murdered. I understand this is a fictional world with an ethos and zeitgeist that GRRM has labored over (which I respect very much), but I as a viewer prefer my TV shows to be in some way rewarding. But this show? This show leaves me cold and unfeeling and like I might want to castrate someone.
My favorite is that this is just Westeros. Well. Westeros maybe sucks?
— roxane gay (@rgay) May 18, 2015
And yet. There I am, each and every Sunday night, watching the same depressing, one-dimensional characters slog through the same undignified world, each fervently hoping in their own way that their toils will somehow make an impact. Maybe I am the same way. Maybe each Sunday I am hoping that my singular viewership will karmically ripple out and make this show better; maybe I am really hopewatching instead of hatewatching. I can’t ever be sure. I was watching each week to accrue reasons to hate it, which I think I’ve enumerated here in full. So maybe this is my catharsis—my version of eating a horse heart or becoming no one—and my interests will finally die. Because, as they say, valar morghulis.
“Throws shade” “Bitches about bitches”
That’s spot on, along with the rest of this piece.
While ultimately I disagree because I am an emotionally invovled fanboy, I totally liked this piece!
I think Andy Greenwald at Grantland kinda has a like-minded thought process towards the show, we get it, Westeros sucks, but there needs to be some satisfaction or else the show just feels masochistic. Specifically the last few episodes, Sansa, like what happened to this agency that she was developing from Littlefinger.
Though the Stannis as grammar police of Castle Black bit did make my week, reminded me of someone we both know heh
Alas I LOVEd the character snippets, Hodor def gonna Hodor and the Brienne/Pod ones. (insert hands-up praise emoji)
I really enjoyed reading your article.
My sister had the first and second season, and binge watched them for months on the only television we had. I really can’t understand how anyone can actually like such garbage.
Aside from all the disgusting crap in it, the bad story line/telling, etc., etc., the acting is so bad it belongs in some b-rate straight to dvd movie. How can anyone enjoy it whatsoever?
My friends have tried to tell me the books are better, they would have to be even if it’s just because you don’t have to sit through the awful forced accents.
Glad others out there share the opinion that this show is incredibly overrated. I do not watch and do not fear of missing out on anything.
This article actually captures what I’m thinking really nicely. Especially about the part on no one ever wins.
I’m into the mid season of season 2 and it feels like I already had to watch my favorite basketball team lose 15 years in a row in the playoffs and never win a championship. Part of the fantasy of these shows and movies is all about having your favorite go on to win and accomplish great things. Instead, watching this show is like committing myself to watch the Utah jazz lose every game in a season. Where’s the fun in that? Just miserable
Thank you! I no longer feel alone in the world
I agree. I’ve never read the books, but I think the show is terrible. It would have probably been better if it were on the SyFy channel. It seems like everything HBO does is pornography. I watch TV to watch a good show. When I want to watch porn, I’ll watch porn. All the characters seem to run together too. I have a hard time sitting through it because I either can’t tell them apart, or they are just plain stupid. There are also so many stories, that I can’t understand what the hell is going on most of the time.
Love this article. You are not alone! I’m so glad I’m not alone in this! The show seems to think the misery is its own porn. Maybe I’m just not masochistic enough.
One thing missing from this article: How utterly rambling and meaningless the storylines are. Like “the golden age of television” ie – Gilligan’s Island – the show resets itself right back to the beginning on every story over and again. Arya: learns to fight, loses her home, tortured and abused, finds new home, learns to kill, kicked out, tortured and abused. Tyrion: Drinks. Now he’s risen to power. Now he’s lost it. Now he’s risen to power. More drinking. Ramsay: sees a chance for more power, tortures people, sees a chance for more power, tortures people. Most frustratingly: the Khaleesi. Sold into slavery, rises to power, raises dragons, loses dragons, returns to being a slave. Ugh. I think I really am going to stop watching this meaningless and empty period soap opera.
Yeah that show sucks.
There’s always a TV show that’s “important television” and “must see TV.” I can’t count how many times someone has said “YOU don’t watch Game of Thrones? What’s wrong with you?!” Hyped crap. I’d rather stare at the ceiling than subject myself to this garbage.
it’s ok to have a bleak show with a lot of sorrow but if every thing is low then the really important low moments don’t stand out. A lot of the problems would be forgivable if the show it’s self wasn’t so bad. And people keep mentioned the sex and nudity. soft core porn with a bad story. or worse yet a chick flick. that is what this show is. But it has dragons and swords and fighting..yes and the movie sucker punch had that too but anyone who saw it knows that movie was a piece of trash. game of thrones is a sappy melodramatic soap opera set in a medieval landscape. some hippy gal who thinks her name is zelda likes it because it’s her wet dream. that’s fine, just don’t act surprised when i say it’s to girly.
I, like you am in the minority. This show blows. It is Cinemax after dark meets Dungeons and Dragons. People like it not because it is a good show but because it mixes sex, fantasy, and masochiatic violence at the same time. People can’t stop watching not because they like it but almost as a train-wreck-can’t-help-but-stare-what-happens-next morbibid cuiousity. Thank you for saying what so many of us think
It’s a sad testament to the state of entertainment these days that people go so apesh*t over such crap. I think half the fascination here is all the nudity. I didn’t read the books (after the shows and some research into what they’re about, I’ll won’t waste my time), but only got about halfway through season 2 before I said “this is garbage, boring, and celebrates the disgusting things in human nature.” It’s like the story tries to force you into accepting and bowing before mighty Cynicism as your all-indifferent God and anti-discipline. Glad to find others that found Game of Thrones as pushing lackluster and low-quality literature.
In a word, the only thing celebrated in GRRM’s world is power. Power, power, power, power. Seek it, lie for it, worship/envy those with it, kill for it, rape for it etc etc etc. Power is a end of itself rather than a tool to get something done, good or evil. That’s what makes the stories so pointless. Anybody showing a shred of inner character (by that I mean they refrain from raping, killing, lying, stealing, cheating) is uncerimoniously slaughtered by those with no character and the point is that character doesn’t matter and makes one a naive sheep, unfit for power among the properly uncivilized wolves. Then those that do gain power simply use it for self-indulgence. I mean, don’t you think the peasants in Westeros might get sick of being constantly ruled by such a string of douchebags/baggetts?
GRRM is raging against a world (the real world) in which many to most people think character and self-control is important on some level, probably because he’s semi-aware that the myopic way he’s lived his own life falls short. I certainly don’t think he’s an admirable person in any way, and after investigating his life story I’m willing to bet he is a miserable, untrustworthy “man” to know personally. And his hat is stupid.
I’ve read many different books in many different genres. Some are idealistic, some are cynical, that in of itself doesn’t necessarily make a story good or bad IMHO. Quality of writing, mastery of language, these are important too but cannot make a work memorable by themselves. In solid works there is some kind of journey for the reader/viewer, some sense of accomplishment or at least arrival in a different place than you started, and the stories that accomplish this resonate with people and continue to resonate over time. I think in 50 years, absolutely nobody will give a crap about GRRM’s books, they will be as fleeting as the hype around Game of Thrones.
I was excited about GoT after the first seaon, but stopped watching after the fourth. Never read the books, but my wife did and kept telling me how much better they were than the HBO version. What always irked me was how Benioff and Weiss waste so much time with minor/uninteresting characters and situations, while leaving out important battles and developments. If you have only 10 episodes in which to cover more than 1000 book pages, then it would seem that showrunners should make the most of every scene, not waste time with trifles, such as Pod’s sexual initiation, or characters telling their whole life stories 5 minutes before being murdered.
Another major issue for me is that they killed of so many key characters that we’re left with no one to root for or even care about. Jon Snow is just too bland and expressionless for me. Danaerys became an insufferable bore after rising to power and making such poor use of her dragons. Tyrion was clever and interesting in at first, but later became increasingly less so, ending up as a wniny drunk with daddy issues. The rest are either too dumb or too pointless to care about.
The pacing is awful. Things take forever to happen, and the outcome is almost always disappointing to say the least. Sometimes it feels like theatre, with people standng in place and delivering speeches, instead of actually DOING things. Usually very little happens during a season, until we reach the final 2 episodes; then everythign kind of happens at once. That’s lousy(or lazy) storytelling at best…
It’s not that there should be more action, battles, etc. People talk about the intrigue, politics, etc., but to me none of that is very interesting or elaborate in GoT. It’s all too predictable, dull, lacking in complexity or cleverness. It boils down to run-of-the-mill backstabbing, little else.
That said, the fight scenes aren’t really that memorable. With few exceptions, they are clumsy and slow, as in the colosseum scene with Ser Jorah moving as if in slow motion, his opponents patiently awaiting his fatal blow. Compare that to ANY scene in the Spartacus series to see what I mean. The apparently unbeatable(!) Brienne wouldn’t stand a chance in a fight with the likes of Gannicus or Crixus…
In a nutshell: Game of Thrones is the most overrated show on TV.
Agreed. And now each major character makes $500,000 an episode! Ridiculous.
Totally, totally, totally, but I gotta say, the cinematography blows and is entirely static. No visual dynamic whatsoever.
AND what’s up with the choreography!?! No attempt at all to create something visually appealing.
Game of Thrones sucks. It is a miserable pile of misery, where the good guys almost always lose and caring about anything is mocked or punished.
It pretty much teaches it’s viewers that being a sociopath is the way to succeed.
Honestly, the FOMO sheep syndrome is its biggest draw. Some days I feel as though people rarely truly have a personal opinion about anything anymore. People opinions seem to be a soundboard of the opinions around them, all bouncing off each other infinitely. Any independent thought is drowned out, and no one seems to be able to take even a moment to process why the hell they even like a thing in the first place.
Everyone could use a vacation for a week or two in a remote location, disconnected and surrounded by little but their thoughts and nature. I think many would be surprised at how much of their life they spend on automatic pilot just responding to stimuli around them.
A bunch of people ignoring the possibility of being happy in life because they like the idea of having something that won’t make them happy, all while hurting each other, living in constant fear and discontent. Truly hamsters on a wheel, you’d have to be a sadomasochist to enjoy this show. There’s is no happiness anywhere to be found in the world of game of thrones, because there is none in the mind of the guy who wrote it. The world of game of thrones doesn’t actually make sense to anyone that isn’t seriously emotionally damaged, like borderline sociopath. They waste their whole live’s being unhappy as slaves to power, but by being slaves to power they don’t understand they will never have any power at all, even if they become king they will be the biggest slave of all, so what’s the point of anything that happens in this show?
During the time I tried to watch this show, I never smiled or felt happy once. And feeling good about myself for liking something dark and full of crappy feelings is something I moved on from when I was like 13.
If you are impressed by the kind of pursuit of power that takes place on this show, you will never have actual power, other people will not have any respect and they will sense you have no power.you are a joke in a sense, because you believe your power comes from outside things, you are an empty weak thing. Nobody on the show can be in life with normal emotions and a sense of lightheartedness, there are no han solos or madmardigans on the show, just a bunch of stiff weak men, and by watching it you become weaker yourself.
Everything is dark and grey, because that’s how life looks to the guy who wrote it, he thinks that’s how life looks, but it doesn’t, that’s how his mind changes it to look because of his sense of fear, that comes from the scary way he looks at like, because of ego, what a joke. You see by looking at life in this scary power struggle way(which is all in your mind), your emotions shut down and make everything look more grey, and it makes everyone seem scary, but it’s all in your mind, and in the mind of the people who watch this show.
All the men on the show have tight faces all the time, they always seem angry, because they tighten up, because they can’t handle their emotions, because they are weak. They are weak because they see life in a silly way. They are scared of all the other men because they are in competition with them, and because they don’t trust them, if they didn’t do those 2 things they wouldn’t be afraid of anyone, and they would always feel infinitely more happy than however they would feel after becoming king. And also everyone else would be cool with them, they could sense it. I just don’t get anything out of this show because A:it doesnt make sense to anyone with any wisdom whatsoever, and B:It fails to in any way generate any type of emotion I am interested in purposely seeking out and immersing myself in.
So if you’re watching this show because you thing big powerful men are cool and you’d like to be one, I’d suggest to you that you are actually drastically weakening your mind by putting this kind of stuff in your head.
I agree with you on every point you’ve made. Game of Thrones is garbage and has absolutely no redeeming value whatsoever. I’m terrified by it’s popularity… in that I am evidently surrounded by people stupid enough to think it is quality entertainment.
I think personally that Game of Thrones is quite possibly one of the WORST tv shows. It just worries me that something so violent and full of so much sex can be allowed to get so big and popular so quickly. I started to watch it in 2014 and thought that it was good and I quite liked Jon Snow, but when it started being more political, violent and full of sex I just thought no I’m not going to waste my time on this rubbish, as of today I bid goodbye to Game of Thrones.
What’s worse…
GOT or TBBT?
i don’t even watch tbbt so i would say just it’s worse just based on that.
It’s basically just the Lannisters winning every week. They kill everyone and win. I’m 6 seasons in and it’s ridiculous.
Sorry mam, this is a dumb opinion. Everything you said is the opposite.
1. The Opening Credits.
The opening credits are great. They actually set up the show by defining where everything is taking place. The music also gives you a sense of the epic-ness of it all too. It’s simple, it’s effective, and it’s only about a minute and 30 seconds long.
2. The Acting.
The acting is perfect. In pretty much every scene, each performance makes perfect sense for who these characters are and what is happening. The characters act as they should and show dimension. They put on their battle faces for the outside world, but often drop their guards around allies in private and reveal their insecurities. Most have shown that they can each be diplomatic, ruthless, conniving, hateful, loving, selfless, selfish, light-hearted, comedic, saddened, optimistic and jaded depending on the situation and their needs. I could go through each of the characters you listed and show you how you’re wrong but I won’t because you’re not worth the energy. Here’s just one example. Jamie & Cersei.
Jamie Lannister pushed a child out of a window, murdered a distant cousin, and ruthlessly looks out for his & his sister’s interests. He’s a real confident & selfish scumbag who only knows how to do scummy scum things for himself & his scummy scum sister…. except when he’s saving his unwanted little brother, saving an acquaintance from a bear, offering words of wisdom to people who hate him, being respectful of his enemies, working with a rival army to reduce casualties, contemplating on what it means to be a solider, ruminating on the costs of legacy and appearance, and not foaming at the mouth to avenge his dead children because he is a world weary warrior who understands the geopolitics of his world and the complex nature of life and human beings.
And Cersei is just a shade-throwing bitch 24/7; except when she is expressing love for her children and family, offering wisdom to them and her allies, working with government bodies to keep the proletariat happy to preserve peace amongst the kingdoms, trying to discern the proper methods to handle her greater enemies, ruminating on the actual extent of her power, and expressing her wisdom & insecurity about how fleeting life is, how no one has any real claim to the throne & how you must enjoy what you have as much as you can because it can disappear at any moment.
One-dimensional villains are not shown to want to appease many people, are not shown to understand the nature of the world and be accepting of it, are not shown to have love for their family and allies, are not shown to have respect for their enemies and are not shown exposing their insecurities. These are dimensions mam and they are multiple.
3. The Execution.
Everything is connected. We are watching a power play unfold in different parts of this world. Each action effects everything else. Sometimes the action in one part of the world effects the rest of the world immediately, other times it is latent. So everything is connected to the plot.
Everything that is happening is also important to the plot because the plot is about who is in power and who isn’t. Every action is weakening or empowering a character in one way or another. By being so expansive, we don’t have to focus on a few characters to fill up the hour, we can jump around to many of them and focus on what is really important. It is primarily a plot-based show that is designed to focus on the most important events.
The end result we are given is an expansive power play that focuses on what’s most important, in which sometimes the action is slowly building and setting things up and at other times it can be fast or somewhere in the middle. This kind of connectivity in structure and versatility in pacing is what keeps it unpredictable & efficiently entertaining.
4. The Tone.
It’s real. In this world, they’re a lot of “bad” people and they’re often stronger and smarter than the “good” people. That is why so much rape and murder occurs. That is why most of the “good guys” aren’t really safe, they don’t always win and when they do win it’s a true triumph. This makes their stories more interesting and compelling as opposed to if they lived in a world where the stakes weren’t as high and the threats weren’t as powerful. This is the opposite of cliche. The show knows how to portray the true severity of what it would be like to exist in medieval fantasy and is honest in its depictions of both the luxury and the brutality of it. When life is good, it is sunny, beautiful and very hedonistic, and when it’s bad it is dark, gritty and utterly savage. It doesn’t rely on cliches of the genre to soften the world & give the viewer what they would expect or as you said you would like… “rewarding”. It is instead logical and realistic. Again, the tone is real.
I think the show’s ok and to not rave about it is fine; but to say it sucks is ridiculous. This is a show about 3-dimensional characters searching for power and purpose in a world of luxury, magic, savageness and wonder, during a tumultuous time of changing orders. We’re watching to see who wins and where they all end up, and so far their narratives have been honest and it’s been thoroughly entertaining.
But I guess you want something more “rewarding.”
I definitely think you’d like the show if it was a one-hour character study about some fugly feminist blogger who bitches and moans on the internet and in the end gets what she wants in life simply because she feels like she “deserved” it. Well just so you know mam, that kind of story is not realistic, interesting, insightful, or at the very least, entertaining. That’s a worthless, mediocre, cliched story that we’ve all seen before and needs to kill itself for the public good.
I couldn’t agree more that this show sucks. My wife is watching it as I sit here and work from home. I now wish I’d gone in to the office. I don’t even need to see it, hearing it on in the background is hard enough. The redeeming part of the popularity of this show is that I no longer have to hear so much about how great “the walking dead” is.
Marry me.
Popular opinion incoming, and spoiler alert:
Yeahh, this writing misses the mark on a lot of its so-called “criticisms”, though it’s admittedly not as bad as some other articles I’ve read. First of all, to call the acting on the show sub-par and then immediately state right after that every character on the show is good at 1 or 2 things seems pretty contradictory. Your mileage may vary and all, but to me, sub-par actors wouldn’t be good at anything, and wouldn’t resonate strongly with people who watch the show, which the characters on this show obviously do, otherwise your opinion wouldn’t be unpopular. On top of that, saying Tyrion, Theon, Jaime, Cersei, and Littlefinger are only good at 1 or 2 things is selling them a bit short, plus The Hound, Tywin, Oberyn, and Olenna don’t even get mentioned with the others? Come on.
In a show with this many characters, obviously some are going to be more developed than others, and some actors are going to stand out more than others, so the fact that this show has so many main (and minor) characters which have a strong following among viewers is a testament to how well-done the characters actually are. To answer your question about whether I and other people really care about the characters, well…judging by how much of an impact Ned’s beheading, the Red Wedding, and the duel between Oberyn and the Mountain had on viewers, I’d say yeah, people care.
As for nobody ever winning and the tone of the show being miserable and depressing, well the first part is simply untrue and the second is maybe half true. People do “win”, just not always who you want to win, and some victories are Pyrrhic victories that have serious consequences. But I’ll be damned if Daenerys destroying her captors, Joffrey being poisoned, Ramsay’s defeat and demise, and Arya getting revenge on Walder Frey weren’t utterly satisfying, rewarding moments, and I expect more to come. This is a bittersweet show though, and it’ll likely have a bittersweet ending where everybody who isn’t dead comes away with battle scars. I would be disappointed at anything less, because I embrace the fact that it’s not a predictable, sappy happy show where all the good guys always overcome the odds. I don’t honestly know who’s going to survive til the bitter end, or who, if any, the real winners will be. Neither do you. We’ll have to keep watching to find out, and I think that’s a sign of a pretty good show.
This show is a piece of shit. I don’t care who gets the big pointy throne, everyone in Westeros sucks. It’s Lord of the Rings with the likable characters taken out, and gore and sex scenes put in that serve no purpose other than give fanboys something to gawk at. It’s juvenile, morally vacant, titillating trash, nothing more.
I think its the time we’re living in, look at the music thats popular today. HBO wants to make money, thats all.
Agreed! Its a glorification of sex and violence without any redeeming qualities.
fuckin awesome. I knew I wasn’t the only one left alive that thinks our pop culture absolutely sucks these past few years (most of it, anyway)