![]() ![]() If it was to follow this season’s template, it would’ve ended with Gregor and Sandor hugging it out and grabbing a drink together at the tavern. Why? Because it was set up in the very first season and teased over and over again. It’s no surprise given all that, that the most satisfying moment in the episode was Cleganebowl (insert airhorn here). It’s like they’re writing the show just to watch the reaction videos posted on YouTube afterwards. ![]() But they weren’t earned because the writing duo has an obsession with surprising audiences. ![]() They could’ve been earned, had D&D opted for a longer season to flesh out these characters’ motivations, but they prefered to get rid of thrones from their agenda so that they can work on Star Wars, turning Game of Thrones into a dumpster fire. Suddenly, Dany just straight up goes insane.Īll of these moments feel absolutely unearned. Suddenly, Jon doesn’t pet ghost, because wrecking an entire f***king city with CGI fire was more important than petting a good boy. Suddenly, Cersei doesn’t kill her enemies when she has them at point blank range. Suddenly, Jaime just stands up and leaves Brienne, throwing his character arc down the dumpster. Suddenly, Daenerys doesn’t see an entire fleet. Suddenly, Tyrion’s being a massive dunce again. Suddenly, Arya Stark becomes the Night-King-slayer, although I’ll give them some props for trying to earn that moment by using Arya’s conversation with Melisandre from an earlier season. Suddenly, in a battle against the dead, nobody of real importance to the plot dies. But, they forgot about these actions and consequences. Sure, they got the family part right, as they did with power. The problem is, of course, that two people who have enjoyed the books well enough to figure out Lyanna Stark is Jon Snow’s mother, failed to analyze the books to realize some of their primary themes. The characters were vulnerable, actions had consequences and a noble attitude seemed like the first thing to get you killed in the cutthroat world of Westeros. Martin due respect) apart from other fantasy works. These two events set Thrones (and A Song of Ice and Fire to give George R. ![]() We didn’t expect the two protagonists to die so soon, yet the reasoning was clear, both from an in-story and meta perspective. Ned’s death was an excellent example, as was the Red Wedding. Our expectations are completely subverted, but we are left satisfied due to the excellent setup we weren’t able to notice. There was a sense of his win making absolute sense. Destiny still arrives.” The Russo’s actually framed Thanos as the protagonist in the movie, which is something you don’t realize until you watch it again. It was against all we’ve come to expect, yet it was earned by the writing. That’s what made the moment Thanos snapped his fingers in Infinity War so powerful. So, when Thor swings his axe at Thanos, we’re kinda ready to go “oh, another one bites the dust”, wait for the two post-credits scenes and leave the cinema. To use wrestling terminology, both sides kick out at two a few times before the heel finally getting pinned for the three-count. We’ve been conditioned to see what was going to happen. We’ve been trained over our lives that superheroes always win in their movies. In the movie, we get an amazing setup for a gutwrenching punchline. My favourite recent example of this is Avengers: Infinity War. It’s actually probably one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s arsenal when used correctly. Mind you, subversion is not a bad thing at all. Did it make you enjoy it any better? Probably not. Just like you probably didn’t expect a paragraph about pancakes in an essay about television, you probably didn’t expect a show about consequences of actions to do a 180 and totally forget about that fact. You see, essays have a structure, just like stories. Seriously though, the level of that dumb joke is about the level of subversion introduced by Weiss and Benioff in the final season of Game of Thrones. Subvert expectations how to#I’ll make sure that no expectation goes unsubverted, no mind unblown, no script unsoiled! Seriously, DM me, I have some great ideas on how to ruin ALL the lore! ROBOT SEASON 1, WESTWORLD SEASON 1 AND AVENGERS: ENDGAME WILL FOLLOWĪnd now I’ll tell you all about how to make the best bearded-style pancakes! All you need to do is get yourself a pan, get yourself some flour and go ham!ĪHA! Didn’t expect that, did you?! Your expectations were just subverted! I am a master subverter! Please hire me for your new Star Wars trilogy, D&D. ![]()
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