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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday June 16 2015, @06:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the got-books? dept.

Mike Hale writes in the NYT that after Sunday night's Season 5 finale the wildly popular show seems to have lost its way, and to be losing faith with a growing number of its viewers. After two or three seasons of coherent and satisfying action, the show is spinning in place, stalling for time as it crawls toward an ending that will be more disappointing the longer it's delayed. Sound familiar? As with "Lost," there may be a blueprint, but it's not looking very sound. According to Hale, the escalating series of shocks in the season finale was a prime example of substituting sensation for imagination, busyness for drama. "Not content to kill off a mid-major character, the episode moved on to whipping girls, putting a major female character through an excruciatingly long, nude walk of shame and, in its closing seconds, assassinating a fan favorite who was one of the few wholly sympathetic figures in the show."

Amy Sullivan says that the problem is that it's incredibly hard to craft a epic series without getting necessarily bogged down in the middle installments. "Your protagonists are usually in some long-term predicament or up against an enemy who will keep winning until some resolution is reached in the finale," says Sullivan. "So the need to throw in a few shocking moments for the sake of surprise and to keep readers/audiences off-balance is understandable." According to Hale when you look at the overall framework, nearly all the characters are where they were when the season began. "The usurping Boltons are still in Winterfell; Sansa is still on the run; Arya is still hiding in Braavos; the dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen and the sly dwarf, Tyrion, are still marooned in Essos; the Lannisters still occupy the castle in King's Landing," concludes Hale. "This can be blamed on the show's semidependent relationship with Mr. Martin's novels, but viewers (like me) who haven't read the books don't care about that. The question is how much longer we'll care at all."

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Wednesday June 17 2015, @03:49AM

    by Fluffeh (954) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 17 2015, @03:49AM (#197130) Journal

    and best automobile analogy

    Okay, imagine as TV shows being cars.

    When we are young, we have matchbox cars. That's your run of the mill reality TV show, your cooking show, your talk show, comedy crap.

    Then, when we get into adolescence we move to a remote controlled car. There's more stuff here in these, it's your science fiction shows, drama shows - there are real parts/characters. Things can go wrong, but generally fixable, either by replacing a part or putting new batteries in.

    Now, we get to a real car. This is the really real thing. GoT is basically a real car compared to matchbox cars or even remote controlled toys. Sometimes in a car, a tyre blows or there is a drunk driver and accidents are caused. This is akin to some of the plots on "really real" shows. Sometimes good people do bad things, sometimes bad people change. Sometimes, a brake pedal fails and the most wonderful family in the world all dies driving off a cliff.

    While reading a lot of the comments here, a few people have said "Why build them up only to kill them off meaninglessly?" and I actually have to say that while I often wish that some of the characters hadn't been killed off, at the same time it brings a certain sense of realism. People die. A lot of people die quietly and alone, others die needlessly and yet others, who barely deserve life continue on for years and years spreading their misery.

    A real automobile is much more complex than a toy - even if it's a complex toy. GoT is much more complex than reality TV or most TV shows.

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday June 17 2015, @11:42AM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 17 2015, @11:42AM (#197214)

    So the general theme I'm getting from many posters is its pretty much "The Sims" but non-interactive with human actors and medieval theme.

    I've read a lot of comments along the line of not having a plot, its just a snapshot of famous and dramatic lives. If there is an overall plot no one is talking about it.

    • (Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Wednesday June 17 2015, @12:15PM

      by Fluffeh (954) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday June 17 2015, @12:15PM (#197221) Journal

      I think/hope there is a plot - and actually I sort of enjoy the fact that I am seeing it as it is happening, somethings thinking that I know what is going on, what is going to happen - and at other times not having a clue as to how things will unravel. I would be surprised if the outcome didn't make the entire storyline make sense, but I do like the fact that there are possibilities that sometimes do not come to be just because they weren't lucky enough to end up being - no matter how much I would have liked them.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2015, @03:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2015, @03:48PM (#197339)

    "Why build them up only to kill them off meaninglessly?"

    Because the story isn't about the characters, they're just a plot device used to tell the story. There is no protagonist character, the world is the protagonist.