A Comprehensive Defence of Show Criticism

Hey there everyone, you all know me, love or hate my views and temperament, you know my views and who I am. Hereby I shall address an issue that's been on my mind more pressingly as of late, following a recent blog telling people like me to, in the least subtle manner possible, and I quote, to 'STFU'. Hereby I shall defend my views, discuss the deterioration in quality of Game of Thrones, and how Game of Thrones has fallen in a fashion comparable to Lucifer. I shall defend each and every 'point' brought up in the aforementioned blog, and counter as best I can.

Firstly; don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't dare tell me nor anybody else that they are inherently wrong, based on your own biased and perverted opinion.

Secondly; everybody has their own subjective opinions, so don't tell somebody to stop thinking the way they are thinking.

Your opinions on the show are your own, and unfortunately for you, not everybody shares it. GoT in MY opinion, and the opinions of MANY others, is not 'the greatest show'.

Shall we talk facts? The fact that it has objectively dropped in quality both in writing and in plot. The fact that plot holes have increased at an exponential rate (that is NOT a subjective opinion as logic is set in stone), I won't question the intellect of show watchers by suggesting that the drop in quality is unnoticeable, but know that to any avid book fan, they truly are unforgivable.

Yes, they are two different mediums, and so you can build an argument that they are not comparable, yet when they are the same franchise and the same plot (to a certain point) then they are, in fact, comparable. The show made the conscious decision to diverge from the books, from the source material, to diverge from the main plot, from the fundamental point of the story; is the show anti-war? Is it all a fantastical elaborate message for peace and social justice? Of course it's not, it's cheap, Hollywood-esque entertainment with cheap plots for 'shock' value and effect on your average television watcher who has no real interest in the series past "violence and boobs".

Don't tell me, nor anybody else how our opinions are wrong because they differ from your own subjective ideology. Many plot lines were completely stamped out in place of lesser storylines (Stannis swapped out for Jon's excuse for a battle in Battle of the Bastards for instance).

So, as many of you are aware, I'm a fan of the books in a way that I have never before been a fan of anything else. It was the show that introduced me to Game of Thrones, watching it with my previous girlfriend, until the point that I decided to pick up the books post season 4. Which means that in no way did I come into the show with a predisposition biased against the show, in the early days, I was its biggest fan.

It is my belief that the show has severely dropped in quality, this is not purely subjective, as from an objective standpoint, there are aspects now that are illogical, the writing and dialogue has noticeably decreased in quality, all as the visuals have increased. But the plot, the very sole of any story, is now at a point whereby I believe it unreconcilably atrocious.

Hereby, I shall outline why Season 6 was not only the worst Season thus far, but how the show went wrong, and why Season 6 actually did nought to advance the plot of the overarching story whatsoever.

Season 6; a re-run of Season 5.

The Battle of Ice - again

Within Season 5, there exists the first bs Battle of Ice involving the book players, Stannis and his army of Southern Knights and Sellswords, and Roose and his combined Northern-Frey host. Within the books, this is a matter that shall be decided in the early stages of TWoW with the Battle at the Crofter's Village, whereby Stannis will, without question, come out on top to then subsequently take Winterfell. In the show, we have bs event after bs event that I won't get into, but as you all know, it culminated in Bolton cavalry riding through the best battle commander in Westeros' forces, by an inexperienced and intellectually inferior Ramsey.

This event then happens again in Season 6, with Jon and his army or Northern loyalists and Wildlings against Ramsay and his army of Bolton and Northern turncloaks, culminating in Jon's unseemly victory.

This is just a direct re-run of events only with the second culminating with what should have been the outcome of the first. And where do we end up? With a plot that has not much advanced past the closing episode of Season 5. There is a battle for Meereen, again. There is a battle for the North, again. Jaime wonders aimlessly, again. Brienne...does Brienne things, again. Few people die, no major characters perish, and the only advancements, such as Jon's rise to 'King of the North' are achieved through illogical means.

Deterioration in quality.

I won't insult ones intelligence by suggesting that one has failed to notice the obvious deterioration of quality within the writing of Game of Thrones, however I shall still justify this claim.

We move from a complex, intertwined and brilliant story, into several disconnected, illogical, fantastical and nonsensical stories culminating in cheap Hollywood-esc conclusions steeped in egregious storytelling and logical abominations.

Perhaps the biggest exemplification of the noticeable drop in quality is Season 5 Dorne. Don't try to excuse it. It is arguably the worst plot line put to television. A story which has its premise built on the primitive and illogical doctrine of "let's exterminate House Martell to avenge House Martell." This isn't mentioning a line that has been mercilessly mocked since it's release, and for good reason. "You want a good girl but you need a bad pussy." Is a line which is still a punch in the gut to those loyal book fans, without whom the show would not exist, who were excepting the marvellous Dorne of the books. A story of betrayal, mystique, depth, a story that amplifies the entire damn message of the books.

Feudal succession has also been thrown out of the window, within feudal succession, of a ruler dies, the seat will not to the ruler's younger brother's bastard girlfriend, and the house or Dorne would not accept being ruled by a bastard with a worse claim that Jon Snow. Within the Reach the seat should not to the Lord's mother. We know there are other Tyrell branches and families with marital connections who would gain the seat. Within Kings Landing, the Throne should not to the Kings mother, it would instead go through the fathers line, to the oldest living blood relative, in this case, Robert Baratheon's father was married to Lady Estermont, meaning that the Throne should, by rights, to the oldest living male Estermont. As for Jon Snow 'The King in the North', he should not inherit as he is a bastard Nights Watch deserter literally seated next to a trueborn Stark.

ANTI-WAR is the message of the books, Dorne shows shows this by having characters who have lost so much, still want nothing more than to go to war, and commit others to misery and despair, a story that amplifies the endless cycle of violence, and what is the message of the show? It is not clear. There is no underlying and overarching message of the show. Is it anti-war? There is nothing to suggest this. Ask a show only fan the message of the story, and they will be left bewildered more like than not.

Why, you may ask, did Season 6 not really advance the plot? My answer would be that it is because D&D were awaiting the release of The Winds of Winter, so that they could harbour the storylines of it, however GRRM has neglected to publish this book yet, as you all know, and is quite clearly withholding information from D&D regarding the series. A Song of Ice and Fire is GRRMs magnum opus, the story he will forever be ed for, it is his child, and it had been besmirched and despoiled by D&D, of course he's unwilling to help them further, after their butchery of his story, and hence, we for Season 6, a Season purely from the minds of D&D.

D&Ds biggest sin.

The leaving out of Aegon. The most important storyline of the books. The following is an extract form BryndenBfish's conclusion to his magnificent Blood of the Conqueror series.

What is the point of Aegon?

Aegon’s entry into the narrative in A Dance with Dragons has caused considerable consternation for fans of A Song of Ice and Fire. Many wonder what was Martin’s point in introducing such a pivotal character as late as he did. Others believe that Aegon’s story arc in A Dance with Dragons and The Winds of Winter is an example of the narrative bloat that crept into the Martin’s storytelling. While I understand these critiques and believe that individual readers’ enjoyment or non-enjoyment of any given art is entirely subjective, I wanted to conclude Blood of the Conqueror by offering my own defense of Aegon’s inclusion into A Song of Ice and Fire.

From a meta level, Aegon is not a primary character and especially not a primary protagonist of the story. He’s not one of the “big 3” POV Characters (Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister) who will likely be involved in the endgame of A Dream of Spring. Aegon isn’t even a Bran, Sansa or Arya. Aegon is a decidedly secondary character. However, in GRRM’s universe, secondary characters’ lives matter. As ASOIAF blogger PoorQuentyn recently put it in his essay regarding Quentyn Martell:

"Every fantasy saga has a Quentyn Martell, usually reduced to a punchline; what GRRM is saying is that redshirts are people too. They have their own dreams and fears and loves, every bit as much as your Jons and Danys and Tyrions. They, too, think of themselves as the heroes of a given fairy tale. And fairy tales have rules: if you’re the prince, and turn into a frog, and you find the beautiful princess, she’s supposed to kiss you and turn you back into yourself and make everything better, including all you’ve lost and done along the way." - PoorQuentyn, Men’s Lives Have Meaning, Part 4: The Prince Who Came Too Late

In a way, I think that Aegon’s importance is similar to that of the Quentyns and Stanniss of A Song of Ice and Fire: doomed characters that exist with their own dreams, fears and loves. Instead of Aegon existing on the periphery or in caricature, GRRM gives Aegon a significant narrative berth. Aegon’s role in the story then can be regarded as a sort of false-savior archetype: to play the part of the popular hero and protagonist of the story when he truly isn’t. For its part, Westeros will almost certainly believe in the optics of Aegon as a savior figure. Displacing the hated Lannisters, allying with the popular High Sparrow, marrying a beautiful woman and looking all the part of the king, Aegon will gain the acclamation of the masses. However, how much of these advantages has Aegon truly earned?

From our first introduction to Aegon to our last glimpses of him in A Dance with Dragons, Aegon’s persona has been carefully constructed by his handlers in a sterile, safe environment. While Varys crowed about Aegon’s “hardships” and training in the A Dance with Dragons Epilogue, these “hardships” were all structured and supervised without real danger and cost to the boy himself. In contrast, Daenerys and Jon had faced very real struggles with real stakes in learning how to rule wisely and well in Meereen and the Wall.

Meanwhile, Aegon’s successes as seen in A Dance with Dragons and likely to be seen in The Winds of Winter have also been gifted to him. Griffin’s Roost and Storm’s End fell due to Jon Connington’s cunning and military acumen. The rise of the sparrows movement had been created by Cersei Lannister’s foolish policies. The crumbling of the Tyrell-Lannister alliance had been caused by Tyrion Lannister’s murder of his father, Tywin. Doran Martell had lost hope that his son had survived his journey to Meereen. Mace Tyrell’s grasp for royal power had likely alienated his banner lords. Aegon could claim credit for none of these incredibly fortunate circumstances leading to his ascension to the Iron Throne. All the same, he’ll temporarily reap the rewards of those who paved the path for him to the Iron Throne.

Aegon is a character who will, almost certainly, be the one to dethrone Cersei. The man to act as a "saviour" of sorts to Westeros. The man who will forever cost Daenerys the of the people. A man who partially amplified the fundamental message of the story. The very notion that he is of little importance is delusional. He is the epitome of GRRM's second wave of characters.

This all begs the question: if Aegon is so important, what is the point of his omittance from the show? It is because D&D, in all their divine ignorance, fail to see his importance. Fail to see how his inclusion is crucial to the story. It is because they have cut the plots they deem unimportant. And why is this? It is because it is apparent that long ago, D&D lost interest in the series. This factor, along with corporate pressure and the desire for profits, is why I believe the show omitted not only the Aegon plot, but essentially the entire combined plots of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons.

Predictability.

Name one thing post Season 4 that truly shocked you. One event that you failed entirely to foresee. For any avid watcher, the predictability of the plot has been almost laughable since Season 5 began, and none more so than in Season 6. I would even go as far as to say that the things purposefully put in for shock value, Sansa's rape for example, are the most predictable things.

Since Season 3, the only memorable episodes, or episodes considered 'good' by the majority are those which culminate in a fight/battle or in a major event, Watchers on the Wall, Hardhome, Battle of the Bastards etc. All the writing, budget, and plots are supposed to culminate in a final epic deciding battle, and they only ever seem to be let downs. Personally I thought that Battle of the Bastards was one of the worst episodes in the show's history, on a par with the Season 6 finale, The Winds of Winter. It was an embodiment of where the show went wrong, putting fan service and (ittedly stunning) visuals above the logic and flow of the plot. I won't go into the nitty gritty details of just how Battle of the Bastards was an illogical and irrational excuse for excrement, as I feel that would only serve to insult one's intelligence.

Can Game of Thrones improve?

In my opinion, the show has been irreconcilably ruined, and can never regain its heights of Season 3. The leaked plot, as for which I have read in depth, can only be described as lamentable, in the politest of , and I would even go as far to say that if the leaks are true, Season 7 will not only be reaching a new low for Game of Thrones, but will in fact be reaching a new low for pop-culture. Utterly predictable, utterly illogical, fundamentally opposed to the message of the story, and utterly deplorable, of course all in my own, heavily subjective opinion.

The following is an exert from the forums in a discussion on the show.

The problem the show has run into is that the showrunners are approaching it from the wrong angle. What made the show popular, in their minds, is its plot twists. Game of Thrones was all about the Shocking Moments. The show became famous for killing characters. So the showrunners assumed that’s what people wanted: shocking moments and killing characters.

The problem is, that is NOT what makes Game of Thrones or A Song of Ice and Fire a good show or book. George RR Martin doesn’t sit there thinking of how he can shock the most people. He’s telling a story that revolves around characters, and oftentimes the story doesn’t go in the direction we think it’s going, and that results in a shock.

George RR Martin said in an interview recently: “It’s easy to do things that are shocking or unexpected, but they have to grow out of characters. They have to grow out of situations. Otherwise, it’s just being shocking for being shocking.”

This may or may not have been a subtle dig at Benioff and Weiss, the Game of Thrones showrunners. The show has done a very poor job at making their Shocking Moments grow organically out of characters. They’re being shocking just to be shocking, because that’s what they think drives people to watch the show.

I’ll give two examples of Shocking Moments from the show: one from Season Three that’s an example of how a twist is supposed to happen, and one from Season Five that is how a twist is NOT supposed to happen. Obviously, SPOILERS below.

The first is in Season 3, which I consider to be the high point of the series. In Episode 3, Jaime has his hand cut off by Locke, one of Roose Bolton’s men (it’s cut off by the Brave Companions in the books, but the effect is the same). This is the pivotal moment in Jaime’s character arc. Before this, he is arrogant and entitled. He knows he is one of the best swordsmen in Westeros and is the son of the wealthiest and most powerful man in Westeros. Even as Robb Stark’s captive, he believes he’ll get out of it due to his importance.

Locke (or the Brave Companions) see(s) this. They are fed up with his arrogance, and want to teach him a lesson. They cut his hand off. As a result, he has to rethink his entire identity. He can no longer be the warrior he was. For all his family’s wealth and power, he was unable to stop this from happening.

The twist was a reaction to Jaime’s personality, and its aftermath fundamentally alter Jaime’s character - in the books mostly, but also in the show. In both, he starts to rethink his relationship with Brienne, in part because of losing his hand, and thus his identity and sense of purpose. In the books, and briefly in the show, he tries to distance himself from Cersei, because Cersei no longer values him and thinks he is lesser. He reforges his identity separate from Cersei. (Sidenote: this is another problem I have with the show: inconsistent characterization and erratic character development. The show starts to head down this road, but then…completely subverts it, as Jaime is now Cersei’s pawn again in Season 6.)

Now, for the example of a bad twist. In Season 5, Sansa leaves the Vale, goes to Winterfell, and marries…Ramsay Bolton. In the books, Jeyne Poole, Sansa’s friend from the early days of the series, is purported to be Arya and sent to Winterfell to marry Ramsay. She is horribly raped, and Theon helps her escape. Sansa stays in the Vale. In the show, they replaced Fake Arya with Real Sansa.

Why did they do this? For the Shocking Moment. It happens ONLY for its shocking value. In fact, the writers defied logic and characterization to make it happen. Why does Sansa agree to marry into the family that murdered her brother? Because Petyr tells her to “Make them yours?” What does that mean? What does she expect to accomplish? Somewhat a sidenote, why does Petyr want this to happen? What does he gain by marrying Sansa to the Boltons? He says a few episodes later he expects Stannis to win. What was the point of putting Sansa there? Now his plan is to send a Vale army to the north to fight the Boltons. He put Sansa there to have a casus belli? He sacrificed a Stark, far and away the most valuable bargaining chip in claiming the north, to do this?

Going even further, this twist subverts Sansa’s characterization. At the end of Season 4, she (somewhat randomly) emerges strong and empowered with a new outfit. Then a few episodes later she’s crying, begging Petyr not to take her to Winterfell. But she does anyway. Then she gets raped. And she just sits around Winterfell crying and yelling at Theon the rest of the season. Then Theon, who has been thoroughly psychologically broken, helps her escape. But she’s afraid to cross a river. But then a few episodes later she meets Jon, and she’s now empowered again, demanding they go to war to take back the north. Where are these characterizations coming from? It also seems so random and disted.

So, summing up, Sansa’s rape was a twist that did not grow out of characters. It did not grow out of the situation. Her plotline was clumsily and inexplicably forced into another character’s plotline because the writers thought it would be more shocking.

That’s why the show has declined in quality. Now that it’s more successful and running out of source material, the writers think they can change it however they want in order to create their own shocking moments. This is happening even more in Season 6. The Martells are stabbed out of no where, because they’re “weak”. Roose Bolton, his wife, and his newborn child are killed. Osha is killed. None of these have any meaning anymore because they’re done so randomly. These twists are done for shock value and shock value alone, not to further the story.

I would argue that A Song of Ice and Fire is popular not because of its plot twists, but for its well developed characters. What made Ned’s death, or the Red Wedding so powerful wasn’t that they were unexpected. It was because we were made to care about the characters. And then, their deaths came from their own decisions, and their own characterizations. Ned was killed because he was honorable to a fault. Robb was killed because he fell in love. That’s infinitely more powerful than Sansa being raped because she decides to marry Ramsay for no discernible reason. That’s not a plot twist, that’s the show being sadistic because that’s what they think people want.

The problem with Game of Thrones

The following is not my own work, but an excellent summary of the problems I found in research.

When different writers on blogs and news websites are churning out articles trying to explain something “shocking” the writers did on TV, you know you have come to a dead end in decent writing let alone “emmy-award winning one”

bearing that in mind, I think the decline started after season 1 itself.

They have the problem never thinking anything through. first they never wanted any prophecy to “complicate” the plot and then they do. D&d cannot even their own notes when they included cersei’s prophecy and forget that she said she had 4 children not three.

They have no sense of respect for GRRM’s material and see what they want to see: as their infamous quote “themes are for 8-graders” suggest, D&D do not respect GRRM’s gardener style writing which means his characters , tight plot, and themes drive the epic fantasy rather than shock value. GRRM loves to lay bare the tired tropes of epic fantasy, such as say, “warrior women”, and play with the parts and deconstruct or revitalise where he can, example brienne’s arc and even sansa and arya’s arc can be said a deconstruction and revitalising of warrior women. it is all character driven whereas D&D take the material still make it tired cliche!! its is rare talent really- sansa is nothing more than a medieval regina george from season one and is not a “complete stark”( what the hell does that even mean????), arya is a child psychopath who is obsessed with her list and not trying to reach her family and find justice for the list’s victim, oh no! she is a “badass assassin”! littlefinger boasts of his cunning, tywin believes his own martial prowess and so does D&d when george r r martin all but told us they are piece hypocritical sh*** in the book and not too bright.

They use GRRM as straw whenever their shoddy writing starts showing through the cracks: - all of the above two points will eventually catch up when their writing decisions are questioned. they made jamie and cersei rape scene? they did a full on gratuitous theon torture montage? they made sansa-ramsay wedding and torture scene? they burned shireen? melisandre without necklace, once old and not so old in season 3? hodor and “hold the door”??why GRRM made this world!!!! they say they have immersed themselves in his imagination when they want to sound creative but complain they have difficult job as well and take credits when their idiotic ideas take praise.

"Hardhome” episode was a hit but logic wise it makes no sense for jon to be their so soon while gilly’s baby is still a baby and his assassination makes no sense and his silence after returning from Other’s attack to his brothers on the Wall make zero sense!!!!! …… “jon will be stabbed? check!”

their production and costume designs are ill using monetary budget: GoT has such an extensive budget of 10 million per episode average but they would rather waste it on 600 unique masks on the house of black and white where they could not bother to light it up rather than hire vital characters such arriane martell who could fill their female , sexist, nudity quota, diversify dorne and save that sub-plot all at once! sansa looks like a dowdy mother of two throughout her king’s landing plot where her “smile all the time even when you are beaten bloody” image is important but has sephora good looks after trudging through snow infested blizzard in winterfell at the Wall! tell me again why are the black brothers ugly there? they forgot they have sephora in winter town??

They are neglecting the burgeoning magic and Other’s threat in the universe but use it when they feel like: a useless euron, no glass candles, no bloody books on dragons, killing off direwolves, no kraken, no ice spiders( see point 4) , killing off children of the forest, no lady stoneheart, no varamyr, no warging, just Others and dragons to show magic and stuff once in awhile.

They have no ideas about rules of the universe they are writing: jon cannot and would not be king in the north knowing his brother Bran is alive ,his trueborn sister sitting right beside him—— “winterfell belongs to my sister sansa”- jon to stannis , A Dance with Dragons—. why would he do that?? it just goes to show catelyn was right all along. jon is a bastard whether R+L=J is there or not. He was never legitimised by any realm proclaimed king. Sansa cannot marry anyone until tyrion is proven dead but D&d were dying to do jeyne poole plot since back in 2011 and were waiting for sophie to turn biologically adult, they laughed at their own jokes on tommen and Margaery when Margaery statutory raped her minor husband and D&d aged Tommen( when gilly’s baby is still a baby) to get away with it when in books this never happens( where tommen is 8 and marg just 16–17). Yes people they made you laugh at rape.

Plot armour for their favourites( and compromising characters for those plot armours): Tyrion is the author’s favourite, writer’s favourite, audience’s favourite, reader’s favourite BUT! Tyrion is liked by the author for all the more different reasons than most of the latter. tyrion is pedophiliac( they compromised sansa so he could appreciate her “huge …..tracts of land”), rapist( prostitute with golden heart or some bull writing), spitefull , whorephobe( shae’s murder), and has a complicated relationship with ableism and his privilege( no penny in show :-( )but tyrion in GoT is a saint! he cannot be even burned by viserion and rhaegal when he visits them but Quentyn Martell burns and dies because hello! he ain’t their momma!

Their stupid “improvements” in writing: Talisa honeypotting before season 3 red wedding episode? i definitely do, even the show watchers couldn’t believe a chaperone-less, volantine foreign women, would go on unmolested, nursing her way through war-torn riverland and sass talk a king because they found jeyne westerling plain and typical. But a Volantene , rat gown wearing, slave-free and healing crusader who abandons her slave infested essos continent much more cool. Sothey invented the talisa as a spy from Jeyne's mother being one for Tywin theory ………and it was stabbed along with Robb, na? Even though arya is season 6 would not die with stabbing by waif , AFTER FALLING in a filthy canal but Talisa would!

Conclusion.

To conclude, I believe that Game of Thrones had been slowly dropping in quality since Season 3, that as of now, Game of Thrones is but a remnant of its former glory and shall never return, only getting worse and worse as we progress further and further into D&Ds fan fiction.

Do I hate the show? I believe that the show has stunning visuals, fantastic acting, and brilliant directing, the costumes, sets and cinematography is a masterpiece almost unparalleled by other film, however, this is all undermined by the story and plot, the heart of any show/film, and so I must conclude that yes, yes I do in fact despise the show. For what it has become compared to the potential it had. Had it stuck to the books, I would be the show's biggest fan, but as it is, I am it's biggest critic, and this is regrettably not subject to change. Game of Thrones is a mediocre television show, and an appalling adaptation.

Please feel to free to disagree - though please actually have a legitimate argument as opposed to telling me to STFU because I happen to disagree.

Let's discuss!

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