Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/09/chart-reveals-that-the-final-s.html
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Horrible reviews. I believe the ratings are quite good.
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I’m definitely less enthusiastic about this season. I’m watching because I want to know what happens, but I feel like the whole series just a giant torture fest of the audience that teaches you not to invest at all in anything.
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Yeah, no real surprise here. It’s pretty obvious they’re rushing through this season, for unknown reasons. They blow past what should be major plot points/revelations, linger on storylines that are at best ancillary to the main plot, and have inexplicable plot holes (huge freaking battle with none of the major characters killed? A whole fleet sneaks up on a character who’s up in the air an can presumably see for miles?). One would think that George R. R. Martin doesn’t have any input into this season.
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I can only think of a handful of shows in the last 20-30 years of TV that knowingly were ending and the ratings were excellent through their last season and it was received positively.
Most shows get cancelled rather abruptly, or limp through to the finish line. I would leave sitcoms out of this as they generally do not have long standing character arcs or story-lines to try and close off - they tend to be one off or short arc stories that are easily closed off prior to ending the show (Frasier, Cheers, BBT, Sienfeld, Friends are all simple examples).
Many drama series tend to run a story arc along a single season to avoid issues with “what if this ends up being our last season unexpectedly?”. Great example of this was Justified. They rather easily closed off the final season (s6) by tying in the long standing story line into that season’s arc.
Game of Thrones is a lot like LOST…massive story arcs spanning multiple seasons or even the entire series. It was never going to be a crowd pleasing end to this show, much like LOST was an utter disappointment.
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Could not agree more - it feels like they’re shooting the outline instead of the script.
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As someone who only started watching the series last year, I can attest that the overall quality has steadily diminished over the last 3 seasons, at least.
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Not everybody is as good as storytelling as George “The Railroad” Martin. Nearly every piece of dialogue he wrote had several layers to it that would resurface later on.
Now it feels like two middle aged fanboys playing with their GoT action figures and filming it.
Still can’t wait to see Sunday!
David Benioff works on an initial draft of Season 8 Episode 5
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I’m not sure where this random Reddit thread is getting their data, but the first four episodes of the series supposedly had the highest ratings of the entire series.
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This graph doesn’t show viewership: it shows how each episode is rated on Rotten Tomatoes.
It took a little bit before I figured that out. It’s very unclear. The graph maker probably shouldn’t have used the word “ratings”.
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I would argue it is totally unfair and unrealistic to compare the two. A book series can span far more time and take its time tip-toeing through those fields…TV/FILM has a limited space and much greater constraints on it.
Even the arguably best translation of book to screen (LOTR) had to cut some things out and embellish some other areas to appeal to visual media. Some of the Harry Potter movies butchered the books, while others were incredibly faithful (not surprisingly the shorter early books were the later).
Only these last couple of seasons have been rushed and things gone down hill…Benioff and Weiss get credit for the good seasons but also can be criticized for the bad ones, but what they do and what a book writer do are just so different.
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This is my biggest WTF. Like, c’mon, you ain’t scouting, with a goddamn dragon? No.
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Yet I know each one of those haters will be sitting in front of their TVs on sunday night eagerly awaiting to see what happens next.
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I’m not all caught up with it, but it seemed like a decent story with gratuitous sex and violence sprinkled in liberally, in other words what the Japanese call fanservice. I am not a prude, but it’s like “Oh, they’re having sex again. Or, here’s some naked boobies. Does this relate to the plot in any way? Well, no, but hey, it’s cable, you can do that!”
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Agreed, “Critical Reception” or even just “Rotten Tomatoes Score” would probably be a better term to use for the Y-axis. Given a choice, TV networks are going to back a show with high viewership but poor reviews over a show with low viewership but good reviews.
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After having already been ambushed twice.
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I dont think long arcs are the problem.
The remake of Battle Star Galactica relied on mysteries and each reveal included new mysteries. Eventually the show needed to end and an awkward explanation for everything was tossed on screen and made for a disappointing ending to a great series. It was my impression that this layered mystery writing is a fantastic way to add and revive intrigue and excitement, but it also leaves the writers without a plausible and dramatic ending. I didnt watch LOST, but from remarks I heard it sounded like the same mystery formula with no real ending planned. Alternatively, Sherlock does a great job of adding intrigue, arcs travel over long periods, but yet they manage to make the surprise climax just as satisfying as the journey.
I think what is missing from GoT is subtle context. Some of the “bad decisions” are actually character flaws being exposed and not just bad writing. I think more reveals are coming that will help explain some of this season better, but I think it is already too late to cool off the more spirited critics.
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In fairness, ending a story satisfactorily is the hardest part. Especially when you consider the scope of this one. I am dissatisfied with what they did with the Night King, and not sure how the last 2 episodes can bring this ship into port, but I will be watching to see. I will also be reading the books (should GRRM ever finish them) to see how he meant for it to end.
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