Be Reel Podcast- Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones: Mind Boggling Masterpiece or Hot Mess?


No one can argue that HBO's Game of Thrones has and continues to be a massive success. Originally adapted from author George R.R Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, the seemingly "b-roll" show quickly transformed to one of the most easily recognizable and undoubtedly loved shows currently on television. The show gets it's name from the first book in GRRM's series, A Game of Thrones. Unfortunately, that is about all the show really decided to take from the books, once it hit it's multi million dollar budget and gargantuan fan base.

George R.R Martin is very well known for the meticulous, almost insane amount of detail in his novels. And as a result, each novel has taken even longer than the last to create. His original AGOT came out in 1996, and his next novel, A clash of Kings, released in 1998. Not so bad, right? The third novel, A Storm of Swords, came out in 2000. A somewhat consistent release period, no? A Feast for Crows is where it gets worse. Releasing in 2005, the series goes from 2 years per book to 5 years, and it isn't getting any better. A Dance with Dragons comes crawling onto the shelves in 2011. His sixth book The Winds of Winter has yet to be released. This means we, as fans, have had 7 years to reread all 5 books over and over, and his projected 2015 release date isnt exactly sitting well in late 2017. But the focus of this piece isn't to trash GRRM for writing like a snail with Alzheimer's. Far from it, actually. The reason we, as fans, put up with the wait is because of the near perfect, meticulous level of detail that he puts in his novels, plots are so intricately woven, hints dropped in the most seemingly pointless scenes, the mere descriptions of meals take up over a page or two. The characters are developed so well, and motivations are so impossible to really determine, that it establishes a sense of wonder in the reading of these books. So, when, in 2011, we were told that the books were getting a show adaptation, the hype train was bigger and faster than the internet had yet ever seen. Unbeknownst to us, the train would go off the rails into a ridiculous and entertaining mess.

Originally, before Game of Thrones had a fan-base bigger than the universe itself, their job was to adapt a book to the silver screen. And they did just that. The first season was almost verbatim to the books, and ignoring some small, completely forgivable changes to setting of scenes for film purposes, the show was on track to create a near perfect representation of what the books were. No longer were the days of these niche books bieng overlooked by the public: HBO had a show about them. But as the seasons progressed, the show began to expand on the aforementioned "liberties". For example, in season 3, Robb Stark was supposed to marry a girl named Jeyne Westerling, a nurse from the Lannister army. The idea was, that after crushing Jaime Lannister in the Whispering Wood, the King in the North manages to fall for a girl working for the enemy. Thier relationship is the fatal flaw of Robb Stark, and shows that he was willing to cross enemy lines for love. The show, however, decided they wanted some exotic eye candy. So instead of creating Jeyne Westerling, they have a girl named "Talisa", a Volantene girl who had recently moved to westeros and happened to be at the whispering wood. Her character, while interesting, made the whole "Robb falls in love with the enemy" sub plot completely moot. It degrades his character, and somewhat takes away the sting of his betrayal of Walder Frey. These little changes dont seem all that huge. However, when the show does this hundreds of times, it begins to snowball in some major character flaws. Ayra Stark, for example, was a character with wonderful traits and motivations. D&D, however, decided that being a bad-ass killing machine was more important than being a decent human being, so they decided to make her into a psychopath. As recently as season 7, we see arya, in a closed room, threaten to skin her only sister alive so that she can rule winterfell. The same sister who is one of 3 siblings still left alive, after the death of her mother, father, brother, and other brother. One would imagine that she would be protective of Sansa, which would fit the character of Arya. This scene can be seen here if you are not familiar with it. Unless you believe that the skinning comment, in a closed, door locked room, was meant for Littlefinger to somehow hear and believe that they were enemies, then the comment makes no sense in any way shape or form. These issues are only the tip of the iceberg. Entire books could be written about the mess that is the Dornish plot, or the cruelty of Dany, or how Sam cured an ancient, Black Death esque disease by just picking at the scabs carefully. But the main point is already apparent; D&D are good adapters, not writers.

While content wise the show may be lacking, in the entertainment department, it still flourishes. As a book fan, i still enjoy watching the show every sunday, even if it means uncomfortable fan service sex scenes between major characters. The visual effects in this show are out of the park. The level of CGI that is used is unmatched by any other show out there, and the show never skimps on costume design. Sure, they seem to ignore castles occasionally and skip entire battles, but realistically, they have a budget, and must make the show in a relatively timely manner. Character relationships with good actors, like Lena Headey and Nikolai Caster Waldeau, are thoroughly enjoyable and uplift the show to their level. Even Peter Dinklage, with the purely awful character script he is given, is able to make some of his scenes work. And of course, there wouldn't be half the number of viewers without the dragons. They are a treat to watch burn through battles, even with one of the worst actors of the show on top of them, I find it enjoyable nonetheless. The show is overall enjoyable, and I look forward to the final season, whenever that may be.

With these gripes in mind, The show is still fun to watch. Therefore, it earns a score of bad-good. The show has seriously deteriorated in the quality department, earning a bad there, but has stayed thoroughly entertaining, scoring a good in the enjoyment department. Hopefully, D&D try and tie up the mess of loose ends and unanswered questions they they have made, and the final season will be enjoyable and even high quality.