GAME OF THRONES? MORE LIKE GAME OF GROANS

It’s 2019 and barely five months in, pop culture history is already being made.

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Two of the biggest cinematic icons of the last decade have met their finales in theaters and on TV.

With “Avengers: Endgame” making way for the start of a multi-year sabbatical for Disney’s box office juggernaut, and “Game of Thrones” reaching its series finale this month, these cultural cornerstones mark the end of an era for this chapter in media history.

It’s just a shame David Benioff and D.B. Weiss couldn’t exit gracefully alongside everyone’s favorite Disney property.

If you’ve been on the internet in any capacity in the last four weeks, it’s no secret that everyone seems to be upset over this final season of HBO’s hit GOT series, but are things really as bad as Twitter seems to think they are?

The answer isn’t quite as clear-cut as you may believe, but in short, Game of Thrones, Season 8, has been a series of blunders and half-baked ideas from the start.

With the final books in the original literary series still being written, Benioff and Weiss had very little to base their final seasons on, and unfortunately, the true quality of their writing shines through with a guide no longer in place. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, as Benioff was the writer for the notorious flop “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

The pacing of this final season is truly its downfall, however.

In Season 7, the pace of the plot began to speed up dramatically compared to previous years, but for the most part, people were happy to see more story development and character payoffs. But Season 8 left so little time for cohesive storytelling that every major event of the final six episodes of this series felt unearned and unnecessarily rushed.    

Character turns and plot twists meant to be tragic and impactful came across as unjustified and poorly executed. Even the production crew suffered as a result of this rapid conclusion to the show. Not one, but two contemporary items (a coffee cup, then a water bottle) somehow made it onto our TVs in the background during some of the biggest episodes of the season, including the finale.

What’s most unfortunate however is that not even the big faceless corporation can be blamed this time, because Benioff and Weiss are nearly the sole cause of this botched ending. When HBO offered them the series, 10 seasons were initially pitched, but whether arrogance or the desire for a more varied career took precedence in their decision making, David and Dan claimed they could do the job in six.

Seeing the density of the material they had to somehow bring to a conclusion, they eventually renegotiated to produce eight seasons (the last two being much shorter), but in the end that choice has proven to be the biggest hindrance.

Not everything was awful, however. The production quality continued to be better than anything else on television, with stunning camera work and epic, sweeping battles worthy of the big screen, and there were several fun and satisfying character moments smattered throughout the last few episodes.

Ultimately, the finale ended on somewhat of a bittersweet whimper. Most characters saw a fairly satisfying end, but there were plenty of nitpickable moments that littered the final episode.

No matter the case, Game of Thrones will still go down as one of the greatest shows of all time. The first four to seven seasons, depending on who you ask, are still excellent television that outclasses 95% of what else is broadcast. 

But with HBO’s biggest property finally concluded, it’s uncertain what will take its place, as the corporation’s new president has set sights on delivering more content and moving away from big blockbuster productions –like George R. R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire,” the novel series on which GOT was based.