To me, Game of Thrones is starting to seem a little like Lost. Too many plot threads left unexplained or unexplored, too little characterization for the main figures as a result, and an increasingly contrived and confusing storyline that gets sillier and less satisfying with every passing episode. I honestly don\u2019t know how it got this way. As early as last season, I was still a full-on Game of Thrones<\/em> fan, waiting with baited breath for every new episode. And since I\u2019ve read the books and know most of what\u2019s coming before it actually happens, you can appreciate what a statement that is.<\/p>\n While I may have known the storyline in general, the show always kept me engrossed because it handled the massive plot twists spoiled by the books in slightly different and always visually impressive ways. You suspected what would happen, but you were never really sure up until the last second that it would. The surprise factor was what kept this show alive, and now it just seems like that\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n Just how did I not like this season, or this finale? Let me count the ways.<\/p>\n As I said before, I\u2019m a fan of the source material. So of course I knew Jon Snow was going to get stabbed. And I knew that Circe\u2019s public shaming and humiliation was coming. I really looked forward to the latter, but not so much to the former given my own personal feelings toward the characters. But what I hated about the show, especially in Jon\u2019s case, was how completely not subtle the writers were about it. In the books, you got a sense that there was maybe some possible dissent in the ranks of the Night\u2019s Watch, but their turning on Jon was still pretty shocking. In the show…not so much. With all those death glares Snow was getting, and all those talks Sam had with Olly, you pretty much knew Jon was going to die about three episodes ago. As a consequence, the moment itself, at least for a book reader like me who knew it was coming already, lost all the power it might have had.<\/p>\n Similarly, I know what happened to Stannis hasn\u2019t been in the books yet, but he totally deserved what happened to him, and what was worse, I couldn\u2019t even enjoy it. I was really starting to build some sympathy for Stannis in the past few seasons as he matured into more of a leader, but when he threw every single bit of development he had out the window to sacrifice his daughter (another horrible decision by the writing staff, by the way), I lost any kind of understanding I might have had for him. Not because I didn\u2019t think he would do it, but because they specifically spent the last several episodes building up how that was just a line he wouldn\u2019t cross. As such, Shireen\u2019s death was a cheap shot by the writers to try and shock the audience, and I didn\u2019t like it one bit. And then when Brienne finally tracked Stannis down after his routing by the Boltons, I thought at least I would be happy Stannis got what was coming to him for such a betrayal, but I wasn\u2019t. There just wasn\u2019t enough build-up either way to get me to care anymore.<\/p>\n As for Arya and Dorne\u2019s storylines this season, you could very well have just forgotten any of them even existed until this last episode and you\u2019d still probably like them better that way. By the way… Myrcella was poisoned? Huh? I\u2019m really, really hoping that was Doran Martell\u2019s endgame to get back at the Lannisters (as his awesome character has been terribly short-changed this season), because if it\u2019s just Ellaria\u2019s petty revenge, especially after her promise to be loyal to Doran, I\u2019m going to be pissed.<\/p>\n Finally, Danaerys. If you really think she\u2019s in any sort of danger from that Dothraki horde, you\u2019re kidding yourself. Yet another stale faux-cliffhanger just to keep the plot interesting. I get that the whole point of Game of Thrones<\/em> is that you never know who\u2019s going to die, but I\u2019d say Danaerys is a relatively safe bet, as is Tyrion, to survive to the end. I mean, it\u2019s called A Song of Ice and FIRE. Come on. Then again, I was pretty sure Jon Snow was the ice in that equation, and it\u2019s not really looking that way right now. In fact, if Jon Snow really is dead, then it\u2019s going to blow a lot of my theories about the story as a whole. But strangely enough, I just don\u2019t care that much anymore.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll admit there were some bright spots in the finale: Tyrion and Varys in charge of Meereen was pretty cool, as was our introduction to Qyburn\u2019s monstrous creation, Ser Robert Strong. Also, Myrcella\u2019s death does give Jamie Lannister another strong reason to build some character, as he\u2019s one of the best in the series right now in my view.<\/p>\n But those few shining moments were far outweighed, unfortunately, by just how forgettable and full of filler this season actually was. Seriously, if all you watched was the finale, you probably didn\u2019t miss much. And whenever the show attempted go off-book, from Sansa\u2019s assault by Ramsay to Stannis\u2019s fate or the overall horrendous Dorne storyline, it just seemed to lose direction even more and get that much worse. For you loyal book fans like myself, keep in mind that we haven\u2019t even talked about House Greyjoy recently (they\u2019ve got a pretty big part to play still as well, in the show at least), as well as the no-show of Ariane Martell as a TV character (someone I think the whole Dorne story was sorely lacking without). Also, is anyone else wondering where the heck Littlefinger got to? Like I said, bad writing.<\/p>\n But despite my cynical ways, I\u2019m still hoping Game of Thrones<\/em> isn\u2019t totally going \u201cLost\u201d on us. It\u2019s definitely fallen from my radar as the best show on TV because of this season, but it\u2019s still better than a lot of things. Additionally, one bad season out of five is a pretty good track record. But it\u2019s going to take a lot for Game of Thrones<\/em> get back on top of the pack after this mess of a year.<\/p>\n Channel Chaser is written by Kyle Robertson. You can check out more of his work on his\u00a0<\/span>website<\/a>. Check back every Wednesday\u00a0for new articles.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well…that was anticlimactic. Anyway, welcome to another edition of Channel Chaser. I just thought I\u2019d express my disappointment right away so there\u2019s no doubt in your minds as to how I felt about the end of this season of Game of Thrones. And it\u2019s not just that it wasn\u2019t a good finale episode, either: this [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1855"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1858,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855\/revisions\/1858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Game-Of-Thrones-2015-Season-5-Poster-Wallpaper-800x500\"](\"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Game-Of-Thrones-2015-Season-5-Poster-Wallpaper-800x500.jpg\")
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