What can I say about Game of Thrones that hasn't already been said or written? The characters are rich, deep and they seem to be real flesh and blood people. The numerous storylines run concurrently and intersect seamlessly. The imaginative settings seem to be real places. Even the names appear to be authentic. And what about the plot twists? There are more surprises in this HBO series than one would find in a lifetime of Christmases.
But I think there is one thing that has been rarely said or written about Game of Thrones. And that one thing can be summarized in a single word...disappointment.
What is that? Did I dare say I was disappointed in Game of Thrones? With the popularity of this show, it seems almost blasphemous to utter such a statement. But at the risk of being haunted by all the Stark spirits, I said it (actually, I wrote it...but who wants to be technical?). I was disappointed when the credits finally rolled on tonight's season finale.
But before you summon your dragons to smash me upon Casterly Rock, let me explain. I'm not saying I'm disappointed in the show or this entire season. I'm simply talking about tonight's finale.
What does it mean to be disappointed? It means that you were expecting...nay, anticipating a certain outcome, and you did not receive it. And what was I expecting from the season finale of Game of Thrones? To be honest, I'm not really sure...but I thought I'd be treated to a season climax on par with the shocking season 1 finale. Short of that, I thought I'd be treated to an episode that grabbed me by the...ahem, uh collar...as much as the previous episode did. Remember the previous episode? It's the one everyone was talking about. It's the episode that ended with the Red Wedding and the slaughter of the majority of the Stark family. It was the shock of shocks that no one expected (unless of course you read the books and already knew what was going to happen). It was epic storytelling that blew me away. And I LOVED IT! It was imaginative and it flew in the face of conventionality. It shattered the myth of the happy ending. In a word, it was brilliant.
But that was the previous episode, not tonight's season finale. Tonight's episode was a story building episode...the valley that comes between emotional peaks. I imagine in a book it would fit nicely. After a powerful scene as gut-wrenching at the Red Wedding, it would be necessary to give the reader a moment to catch their breath with the events that transpired in tonight's episode. But let's not forget that tonight's episode was a season finale. With season finales audiences have certain expectations. In the case of Game of Thrones, the bar of expectation had been set so high that audiences (myself included) thought they would be treated to something that would just blow their minds. No one was sure what a mind exploding episode would look like...perhaps Daenerys Targaryen's dragons might turn and kill her in the most heinous of ways...I don't know. But we were sure...I was sure...something big would happen in tonight's season finale.
Alas, it did not happen. Arya Stark killed her first man. Tywin Lannister continued to plot. Jaime Lannister returned to the love of his life, his sister Cersei. Oh, and Theon Greyjoy's favorite appendage was put in a box and shipped to his father. No big deal, right? In any other series, these events would be pretty big...but in the world of Game of Thrones, they ranked low on the excitement scale.
So what are we to make of an anti-climactic season finale? Precisely what George R.R. Martin and the show's creators wanted...more expectation. Martin and the filmmakers deliberately created a series that would keep audiences guessing. And in order to do that, you must NOT give the audience what they expect. If we expected a finale bigger than the episode that came before it, they would give us one that was smaller.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the beauty of Game of Thrones...unpredictability. So am I really disappointed? Only in myself for believing I could predict the unpredictable.
Nice work Game of Thrones. You surprised me yet again. See you next season.
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