Game of Thrones TV Series - A Rant
If anyone reads this: it's riddled with spoilers if you haven't watched the show yet.
Isaac Wright has played Brandon Stark, a character from the Game of Thrones TV series, since he was 10 years old. Isaac is now 20. For half his life, he has portrayed this character in a fictional world. A world of fantasy, which at first glance for an outsider of GoT may look like period drama, until they see the dragons.
As a watcher of this show, (and a reader of all the current books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin), in its latest incarnation I have to remind myself its by HBO. The same company that gave us The Wire, Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, Oz, Band of Brothers, and Rome. All great shows and the very upper echelons of drama and character development.
When the show was first in my radar, I knew it was going to be more than some fantasy trope. It's HBO! The first 4 seasons were based on the author's work - intelligent writing - and for the most part, quite well (and loyally) adapted. I didn't even mind some of the changes or combining characters into one. The sets were great, the characters were fully fleshed out, believable, the costumes looked the part. The production value was high enough. What really got me interested was the drama and the political scheming and the backstabbing. It wasn't for the sake of it, either. It's all inspired by medival-type history such of Wars of the Roses (Starks vs Lannisters), Alexander the Great (Danaerys), the Glencoe Massacare (Red WeddinG), Genghis Khan (Dothraki), etc.
As I write this, there are currently 4 episodes of this show left. I can't believe the popularity this show has garnered. To see how many people enjoy it, to see how much of a household name. It's even the most pirated 'thing' in Intenert history. It screams money. So why the hell are we having it butchered?
I understand that they have overtaken the author. Go and consult him for your writing. GRRM used to write an episode per season back in the day: I'm sure he can give you something to work with. He's even said he believes HBO needed at least 13 seasons to truly capture his story, not 8, with the last one cut short to 6 episodes.
The show ultimately failed to give us the Dorne storyline we deserved. Oberyn was adepted well to screen, and yes, the actress from Rome playing Elaria Sand is a good actress, who, after attending the trial in King's Landing, failed to be in any storyline that matted and was merely involved with sub-sub-sub plots that the show writers have fabricated. Arianne Martell. Give us Arianne Martell or don't give us anyone. Either way, aside from Oberyn they made the entire Dorne storyline up. The sandsnakes felt like I was watching Xena Warrior Princess. And not in a good way. You can't switch to 80s Hollywood corny fight scenes with people throwing one liners. You've already set the tone and standard for this show. They quickly learnt their lesson, and wiped out anyone from Dorne. They originally weren't even going to bother with Dorne.
I understand that they have overtaken the author. Go and consult him for your writing. GRRM used to write an episode per season back in the day: I'm sure he can give you something to work with. He's even said he believes HBO needed at least 13 seasons to truly capture his story, not 8, with the last one cut short to 6 episodes.
The show ultimately failed to give us the Dorne storyline we deserved. Oberyn was adepted well to screen, and yes, the actress from Rome playing Elaria Sand is a good actress, who, after attending the trial in King's Landing, failed to be in any storyline that matted and was merely involved with sub-sub-sub plots that the show writers have fabricated. Arianne Martell. Give us Arianne Martell or don't give us anyone. Either way, aside from Oberyn they made the entire Dorne storyline up. The sandsnakes felt like I was watching Xena Warrior Princess. And not in a good way. You can't switch to 80s Hollywood corny fight scenes with people throwing one liners. You've already set the tone and standard for this show. They quickly learnt their lesson, and wiped out anyone from Dorne. They originally weren't even going to bother with Dorne.
Stannis. Shireen story. Terrible, made up. Fabricated. That's his fucking heir. Sigh. This is actually another character that exists in the books, and this didn't even happen to them. You gave us Stannis, you made up some bullshit, then you discarded him. The latter two are your own creation.We deserved so much more.
Littlefinger. Fantastic actor, but again, that's all these show runners really care about. Can they act? Can they emote? Great! Write their story to convience us. Littlefinger is meant to be charming. That's how he wins people around. The writers fabricated a terrible storyline with off-screen logic to it anyway.
Remember the Tyrells, back in season 5? Are we just expected to believe an entire house is eliminated? It's all very convienient.
The Greyjoys! No Victarion, no Damphair. And the cherry on top - Euron! Abomination of character portrayal. The writing is already done for you. What you have put on screen, is not only terrible, but has no justification. Euron has sailed around the known world. He has gone into the ruins of Valeria, and made it out alive. He drinks essense of nightshade, and is evil, yes, and twisted, yes, but he's also got intelligence. He doesn't come across as some fratboy prat making sexual jokes. Who the hell is this on screen - it's not Euron is any shape or form... and for *no* apparent reason I can think of. There's no quick win or advantage to be found butchering a character.
Arya being shanked multiple times in the gut, yet is running around the next episode. Intelligent tevevision and writing there, from the same show that brought us the Red Wedding. You can guess which the author of the books wrote...
What really irritates me about a lot of these mistakes is that they have characters that we've seen on screen for so long act out of character. Jaime's redemption arc, Theon's collapse, Sansa's maturity - all handled really well - believable.
The reason I write this blog post is because I wanted to say I'm calling it here: I think Game of Thrones is going to be hailed, after it's finished, as the best show that ended the worst. Season 5 onwards gave us sloppy writing, bad decisions, fabricated plots, and kept the casual watchers coming back for more as they'd give us an action-heavy episode per season, a lá "Battle of the Bastards" or "The Spoils of War".
We aren't getting the supposed extended episodes. We are getting fan service. The pacing... it's so completely rushed and force. Remember the Ygritte and Jon romance? A little bit more believable, isn't it? Watching Danny and Jon fly around on dragons is like I'm watching Aladin - some Disney cartoon. It's also like watching forced breeding. Why are we having this show rushed again? Do you think GRRM is rushing his books despite all the pressure upon him? If they went at a slower pace and built up the world and characters more they could have done the series the justice it deserved. They have betrayed the fans by basically finishing off the series, as they are sick of trying to write episodes when they have no source material. It's as simple as that. More importantly, they're terrible writers.
In 4 hours of screen time, that's in 4 weeks, this entire mess will be concluded. The mess they created since season 5. I'm sure we'll get some big-budget action scenes, because that's been the redeeming quality of this show now. Write a bunch of crap, give the idiots a big action episode, and keep them coming back for more, just like the same audience is perfectly happy attending the latest Marvel superhero movies. Nothing wrong with superhero movies, just something very wrong when a show dealing with great characters and writing turns into one.
