If You’re Unhappy with Game of Thrones, You’re Missing The Best Part
If you are unhappy with the last season of Game of Thrones, you’re missing what made Game of Thrones so good to begin with.
What we loved about GOT was that it wasn’t like any other show we had ever seen. It played with our emotions. It killed off our favorite characters without warning. It didn’t even care if we walked away from the show.
Game of Thrones didn’t give us what we wanted and that is what made us keep coming back.
8 years and 200–300 hours of invested time, when you include re-watching episodes, reading every GOT episode analysis, and discussing show rumors at great lengths with anyone who would listen, we are finally at the end. So, we are looking for a major payoff. We need something to show for it. Something to explains why this show was worth all of our time and energy.
But that was never the intent of the show. It never claimed that it was going to answer all of our questions about White Walkers, Azor Ahai, or address any of the prophecies. It never promised us a satisfying ending where our favorite character gets to sit on the Iron Throne, while the characters we hate receive a gory justice. The show didn’t guarantee any type of closure.
We are angry at the show for the same reasons we enjoyed it in the first place. It didn’t give us what we wanted.
So why do we expect anything different now?
It’s like a long term relationship you have been in where you are angry at the person for revealing their true self and their response is, “I’ve been the same person the entire time. You are only realizing it now!”
The goal of the GOT was to entertain and keep us questioning. Nothing more. The show had 15 to 20 main characters. A main reason why George R.R. Martin may have held off finishing up the books is because it is extremely hard to provide a satisfying ending to that many characters. So the show runners did the best they could to land this massive Game of Thrones Multiple Plot Plane.
We aren’t happy because the last season felt rushed. Would we have been happier if there were more episodes and they were forced to provide filler scenes to stretch out the season?
There wasn’t enough character development in the end. Are eight seasons enough time for character development or would we be unhappy regardless because some of our heroes turned out to be villains?
It’s in our nature, especially nowadays to look cynically at everything, even the things we love.
We look for all the faults (I.e. Starbucks cups, water bottles, and manicured nails) and criticize works of art because they didn’t reach some unrealistic standard that we can’t even conceive. What ending would have satisfied us? And if it did satisfy us would it not be pandering, which goes against all of what Game of Thrones stands for? GOT not giving us what we want.
Whether you liked or loathed this last season, we all experienced some of the best television ever created and that should be celebrated.
Just admit it. Part of the reason why we may be angry is because it is over and we have to say goodbye. Maybe we wanted to experience some revelation that would move us in a compelling way. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a television show.
It is worth exploring what we exactly wanted from GOT that it didn’t give us.
I understand this mourning stage. Like a long-term relationship that you put your heart and soul into that has now finally come to an end, you question whether it was worth investing all the time and effort. Eventually though, we realize we are better for it and that we wouldn’t give up all those great memories that we had, even if it has to come to an end.
My simple play challenge is that we appreciate and celebrate what we did have with Game of Thrones, as we may not experience a show like this ever again.
I appreciate how GOT brought us together. I could have a random conversation with a complete stranger and get deep discussion about dragons and houses. I love that GOT challenged my perception of morality, that it went against the hero’s journey trope, and made me question everything that I thought a show was supposed to be. That’s far more than most TV shows, movies, or other forms of entertainment ever accomplish.
We can now carry on with the rest of our lives and spend all our extra time trying to figure why we put so much meaning behind this particular show and what does that mean about our own search for meaning in life.
