Hey Wisecrack, real life Jared here.
I know you got used to only Rick and Morty quick takes, but the BIGGEST SHOW ON EARTH
just wrapped its seventh season and man, were there were some amazing moments: The Jaime/Tyrion
reunion, the incredible battles, Lady Olenna’s death scene, Arya murdering the Frays, the
zombie dragon goin HAM,
plenty of awesome stuff, but … to be honest, in our humble opinion, the show just doesn’t
feel as magical anymore,
and of course we had to ask ourselves: Why?
Game of Thrones, by virtue of adapting George R.R. Martin’s revolutionary series, got
us all hooked by refusing to play by the rules of the fantasy genre, or even normal TV.
It took turns we never saw coming, killed characters we were sure would be around for
the endgame, and turned the tropes of the fantasy genre inside out.
It was that willingness to show the ugly side of the lords and ladies that made us fall
in love.
These days, It’s feeling a little "Eagles Rescue The Boys from Mt. Doom"
Why?
Maybe it’s because Game of Thrones set up the unique, specific rules for its world,
made promises about what we could expect (or not expect) and now that it’s time to pay
off those ideas … well it just feels like a different show.
So let’s talk about whether or not Deanerys and friends have lost their edge in today’s
quick take on Game of Thrones season 7, and as always … Spoilers ahead.
Before we can explain what’s going on with Game of Thrones, we need to talk about story
structure; three act structure to be specific.
Even if you’ve never heard that phrase before, you’ve seen it in action, because almost
every story in the world follows it.
Without getting into too much detail we can describe three act structure like this:
In Act 1, the major players and central conflicts are introduced.
In Act 2, events complicate those conflicts,
and finally in Act 3, these conflicts are resolved.
These categories are used to describe parts of a story, so while they may seem like arbitrary
cutoff points, they are indicative of patterns we see in almost every story.
So let’s take that basic structure and apply it to Game of Thrones.
Act 1 is the first two seasons. We meet the Lannisters, the Starks, Daenerys, and the
whole gang.
We also learn about the Iron Throne, and how everybody wants it.
We even see the White Walkers.
The first act culminates with each side taking positions and making their moves.
Act 2 is the war itself.
We see the costs, Robb at the red wedding, Stannis burning his daughter, Joffrey getting
poisoned, all with the undead threat looming in the background.
These days, we’re firmly in Act 3.
Jon and Dany are preparing to face off with the white walkers, while Cersei is going crazy
trying to hang on to her newfound power.
The show pretty much nailed acts one and two.
Not only did they establish characters and conflict, they did so in a creative way that
challenged our expectations.
After season one, who really thought we’d all grow a soft spot for Jaime f**king Lannister?
The thing is, all these twists and turns set us up to expect an ending that would follow
the same, unpredictable pattern. Sounds weird I know, but that’s what made it so great!
In Season 7, that’s turning into a bit of a challenge, so let’s see how it happened.
The show made two MAJOR promises early on.
First, it was a dedication to breaking down the attractiveness of the fantasy world.
It’s not all gowns and gallantry.
Instead it showed us the dark underbelly and the cruelty that infects every inch of Westeros.
The knights aren’t paragons of justice.
They’re rapists and murderers.
The beautiful prince isn’t kind, he’s a spoiled monster.
Honor doesn’t help you reach new heights, it puts you in jail.
Magic isn’t something friendly, it involves sacrifices and shadow monsters.
The “good guys” who fight for justice, don’t always win - in fact they usually
die, because everyone else is playing dirty.
The Lancelot Guinevere style forbidden love between a knight and his queen …
In Game of Thrones, that's incest!
This is the show that killed Robb Stark, who would be the hero in any other fantasy story,
at his uncle’s dang wedding.
A double subversion, since Robb was living out the narrative of love overcoming all … only
it didn’t.
The Lannisters cut off Ned’s head, because he was too loyal.
They shoved a kid out a window for seeing something he shouldn’t have.
These moments were more than just cool bits of TV.
They were signals that Game of Thrones was NOT business as usual.
That brings us to the second major promise.
The show promised us that actions would have consequences.
Sh*t we see this in Episode One.
A man shirks his Night’s Watch duties and Ned decapitates him, no questions asked.
That’s the world of the show.
Nothing comes without a cost, and even the greatest victories can have ramifications
the characters never expected.
There’s a storytelling value at play here.
It means that everything matters.
That’s why this is the show that launched a million conspiracy theories.
For several seasons, consequences were the law of the land.
For example,
Why is no one mad at Cersei for blowing up the sept and killing Margarey Tyrell?
Someone we know was hugely popular.
Do they just not know?
Maybe it’s because they’re mad at Cersei, or afraid of her, but these folks seem like
they’re doing just fine.
We can also see this in how the show handles travel.
These days the logistics push the limits of plausibility.
For instance, Gendry turns into Usain Bolt and sends a raven, at a speed far greater
than an unladen swallow, which crosses Westeros, a continent described as the size of South
America, to Daenerys who flies her dragons back across the continent all before the magnificent
seven can even get frost in their beards.
It’s not just that fast travel strains credulity.
It actively harms the dramatic action of the show.
When travel stops being a factor, so does the danger of traveling.
One huge element of the travel times in Thrones’ early storytelling is the implication that
something could go wrong on any trip, bandits, stone men, slavers, whatever.
That risk means that we can imagine a huge number of possible outcomes, but in fast
travel world that’s not really on the table.
All of that nuance, the repercussions, the sense that anything can happen any moment
is now gone.
It got traded for expedited plotting.
And, well, It’s a trade that makes sense.
There were only 13 episodes left when the season started, but it’s changed the nature
of the show.
Game of Thrones was so interesting for the first 5 seasons in change because it was
decidedly NOT your daddy’s fantasy story.
Now … this is something that any parent could recognize.
All the tired and familiar tropes that Game of Thrones was deconstructing are back in
full force.
Unambiguous evil?
Check.
Unkillable chosen ones?
Check.
Deus ex Machina rescues?
Check.
This isn’t the show heading in new, different directions.
This is a show that is checking third act boxes.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s checking them in a way that defies
the narrative framework we spent five years internalizing.
Even the finale, which was pretty dang good, showed off all these problems.
As the season came to a close we got clear sides, something Game of Thrones has been
reluctant to offer us.
Now all of the characters we like are on one side, there’s no more room for ethical ambiguity.
So why is this happening?
Well it goes back to that three act structure.
Thousands of years of storytelling indicate that to create a satisfying narrative, the
show needs to have all the work that Dany, Jon and others have put in to change the world
actually pay off.
Unfortunately, that’s how all fantasy stories end.
The good guys ALWAYS win against incredible odds.
The subversion doesn’t work anymore when it comes to the endgame.
Even the craziest "Bran is the Night King" type ending, doesn’t really subvert anything.
An ending where, this was all inevitable because of magic, or time travel, undermines the theme
of agency in the show, and is just another fantasy trope for the show to fall back on.
Unfortunately, it seems the show can’t get to the ending it wants while still distrupting
the fantasy narrative space.
From the beginning, Game of Thrones has told us that we’re getting a different kind of
fantasy story, but this past season it’s felt more Lord of the Rings than The Sopranos,
and honestly … it’s a bit disappointing.
Look at the end of the day, It’s still a GOOD show, but it’s an action fantasy story,
and that’s not what they promised us.
Thanks for watching guys! Peace!