Day 13: Play the Game

There are things about the final season of Game of Thrones that I'm enjoying, but there are things about it -- as well as the previous one -- that just haven't worked. Both people all over the internet and the people in my daily world who watch it are having some real problems with the way this show is going out. Today I'm going to explain what the problems are.

I'm fully aware that not everyone watches Game of Thrones, even though a whole bunch of millions of people do. I didn't follow it until maybe the fifth season or so. It's a good show, albeit a brutal one when it comes to violence and a complete disregard for life. There is only one more episode remaining as I write this.

This final season only has six episodes to it, which didn't seem like much when they announced it, and it really isn't. Sure, they're longer episodes, but that isn't really the point. The point is there are only six of them. And that's the problem.

Episodic television, especially in a show like GoT that jumps between so many concurrent storylines, has limits on what can be accomplished regarding story advancement or character development in any one episode. These past two seasons have seen the show runners trying to bring big fireworks in every episode. That could mean a huge battle, a significant death, a revealed secret, a meeting of characters meant to pay off fandom hopes. This is not how the show has worked in the six previous seasons. Character arcs were given time to evolve. Plots were given time to ebb and flow and breathe before reaching a story climax. Tyrion's arc from killing his father to becoming the Hand of the Queen took forever in timeline, and because of that it felt authentic. Theon's arc from lying about killing Bran to becoming Ramsey Bolton's torture pet to being the man willing to give his life to defend Bran happened throughout the course of most of the show. These last two seasons? "Uh oh, white walkers! Better send a bird to the other side of the continent to the dragon queen so she can be here with her dragons before dark." Then "Yay! We just killed the Night King! Now, instead of taking time to recuperate and strategize like sensible warriors might, let's go dive into another battle of equal measure next Tuesday?"

A story that has been told over tens of thousands of pages and years of television shouldn't be abbreviated. It doesn't do the stories or the characters justice, or at least that's what it seems like is happening.

One episode to go. We'll find out how it all resolves itself next week.