SPOILER ALERT FOR ALL OF GAME OF THRONES
April 15th is almost here. Everybody’s got their calendars marked. It’s Game of Thrones Season 8. The final season of the biggest show on TV. Fans around the world will gather to see what becomes of their favorite characters. And god knows, we’ve all got one. So before the anticipated day, let’s talk about season 7, what to expect from Season 8, and most importantly, what we don’t want the final season to be.
So, straight off the bat, I’m just gonna say, I’m not the biggest fan of Season 7. I know that many fans really liked it, and actually preferred it over most of the other seasons, but I think there was something missing. For a show like Game of Thrones, that has a special talent to make us go- “shittttttt.” Season 7 failed to deliver on those grounds. It’s arguable that the elements that set Game of Thrones apart from any other fantasy series are how political it is. How character-driven it is. Most of the greatest conflict was through words and I dug that. It left us guessing how a certain character would react to a given situation, and things always play out in a very interesting way.
Jon Snow in Game of Thrones
However, the jump to Season 7 changed the show from a genuine drama to hardcore, brutal action. There was some sort of war in every scene and relied heavily on its carnage. To be fair, the action sequences looked absolutely amazing. The folks at Game of Thrones were given a beefed-up budget, and they took full advantage of it, and I respect that. The final season will only have a bigger budget and from what we’ve seen in the trailers, it looks as if they’re intent on using it.
Another thing I found disturbing about Season 7 is the lack of a great antagonist. At the end of Season 7, it almost seems like it’s everybody in the world vs. The Night King vs. Cersei Lannister. All the interesting characters seem to have been completely wiped out. With Littlefinger’s untimely death (what even was that?) to Tyrion’s religious worship of Daenerys, it seems like everyone with any brains has been made inconsequential. Even Varys seems almost toothless compared to the previous seasons. One thing I liked about the earlier seasons of Game of Thrones was how often the smart characters would prevail. It was a testimony to the brain over brawn. It wasn’t the strongest fighters or the rulers with the biggest armies that got their way but rather the schemers and the players.
Cersei Lannister on the Throne
My third problem (last one, I swear) with Season 7 is the rushed plot points. Almost too many exciting things happened in such a short span, and the pacing didn’t really match that of the previous seasons. I get that they had to cram all of that into a single season to set us up for Game of Thrones Season 8, but the writing did seem kind of sloppy. From random jumps that will make you go, “How did those people get there so fast?”, to some pretty bad exposition. The scene where Bran tells Samwell about Jon’s lineage seems so rushed and it could have been executed so much better.
Despite all that, I am still incredibly hyped. I mean, who cares about plot holes when you get to see an army of ice-zombies (I know they’re called white-walkers, but still..) take on some of the greatest warriors ever put to screen. And not to mention, dragons. The finale to Game of Thrones just seems like the only thing in the world right now, and I honestly cannot wait. There is no doubt that the positives outweigh the negatives. Despite providing my expert opinion, I like everybody else, have absolutely no idea how the show is going to end. It has the ability to completely surprise us, and I pray to both the old gods and the new, that it does.
