{"id":4509,"date":"2016-03-22T23:25:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T17:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4509"},"modified":"2016-03-22T23:25:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T17:55:07","slug":"why-its-game-over-for-game-of-thrones-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4509","title":{"rendered":"Why it\u2019s Game Over for Game of Thrones and Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

N<\/span>ow that the series is finally coming to an end, I have a confession: I was a bandwagon fan of <\/p>Game of Thrones<\/span><\/i><\/a>. I came to the show back in 2014 when it was about to start its fifth season, succumbing to both peer pressure, and the massive hype it had received from every quarter. I hadn\u2019t read any of George RR Martin\u2019s endless tomes, but I did know that the story involved someone named <\/span>Khaleesi<\/span><\/a>, dragons, and the unpredictable death (until they cast Sean Bean) of Ned Stark. <\/span>\n\nArmed with this meagre intelligence and plenty of popcorn, I embarked on my <\/span>GoT <\/span><\/i>journey. My plan was to binge-watch the first four seasons in preparation for the fifth, which was set to release in only a few weeks. Sweet summer child that I was, little did I realise that I should instead have been strapping myself in for a rollercoaster ride. Even though the inescapable <\/span>GoT<\/span><\/i> memes had taught me that the <\/span>Red Wedding<\/span><\/a> was coming, and that Littlefinger was not to be trusted, each new twist came as a shock. <\/span>\n\nI cried along with Sansa Stark when her direwolf, Lady, was executed, and felt the pain of poor, know-nothing Jon Snow, the perpetual bastard. My heart was in my mouth as Daenerys Targaryen emerged from the ashes as Mother of <\/span>Dragons<\/span><\/a>, and when her husband Khal Drogo \u201ccrowned\u201d her creepy, abusive brother with molten gold, I leapt from my couch and whooped. I ached for the underdog Theon Greyjoy, only to find that he, like most of the characters who populate Martin\u2019s stories, was an awful human being \u2014 and then couldn\u2019t help feeling sorry for him again when even bigger sociopath Ramsay Bolton turned him into the pathetic, cringing Reek. And I learned that when I grew up, all I really wanted to be was Brienne of Tarth (even though, if I\u2019m honest with myself, I\u2019m just a Hot Pie at heart). <\/span>\n\nAny <\/span>Game of Thrones<\/span><\/i> fan will understand what it\u2019s like to be under the spell of one of the most finely crafted <\/span>TV shows<\/span><\/a> \u2014 and stories \u2014 in history. For nearly a month, I spent more time in the worlds of Essos and Westeros than my own reality, and my emotional attachment to all its people and happenings was bordering on the unhealthy. I was infatuated \u2014 no, I was head-over-heels in love. After all, why else would I have slogged through five seasons of gore and guts and two 700-page fantasy novels? <\/span>\n

Is it cynical to say that we now invest more of our time and emotions into TV shows than with people?<\/blockquote>\nWhich is why it hurts to say that, after nearly five magical years, I have officially broken up with <\/span>Game of Thrones<\/span><\/i>. I wish I could say that it\u2019s not the show, it\u2019s just me. But the truth is, since Season 6, <\/span>Thrones<\/span><\/i> has changed. Now, the once-ruthless show is rife with heroes who miraculously defy death, and <\/span>fanfiction-level<\/span><\/a> romances. What happened to the good old days, when main characters dropped dead like flies, and passionate love was between a twin brother and sister? <\/span>\n\nLook, I\u2019m not saying that <\/span>Game of Thrones<\/span><\/i> is not a great show. It\u2019s just not <\/span>my<\/span><\/i> show anymore \u2014 probably because since the <\/span>last season<\/span><\/a>, the show has gone off-piste. Martin hasn\u2019t yet finished his magnum opus, and although the series\u2019 creators know how the books will end, they have to figure out how to get there. As a result, <\/span>Game of Thrones<\/span><\/i>, with its reliance on CGI dragons and impending apocalypse, has become almost conventional, nearly predictable \u2014 and utterly disappointing. <\/span>\n\nIt\u2019s not unusual for great TV shows, from <\/span>Dexter<\/span><\/i> to <\/span>The X- Files<\/span><\/i>, to fall down in the last lap, causing betrayed fans to break up with them en masse. <\/span>Lost<\/span><\/i>, of course, is the patron saint of shows that fuck with your head as much as any relationship can, and the <\/span>non-fantasy<\/span><\/a> crowd still rains curses down on the finale of <\/span>How I Met Your Mother<\/span><\/i>, where after nine seasons of declining quality, they found that the titular mother had been dead all along. <\/span>\n\nIs it cynical to say that we now invest more of our time and emotions into TV shows than with people? Maybe, but members of the <\/span>die-hard<\/span><\/a> fandoms will know the feeling. No wonder breakups with TV shows, then, are such a wrench. The truth is, I know I won\u2019t be able to hold out against the lure of a final season of <\/span>GoT<\/span><\/i>. Maybe I\u2019m just trying to justify everything I\u2019ve given to the show over the years, hoping against hope that it won\u2019t let me down again. Still, once the winter storms clear, at least I have the comfort of knowing that in this golden age of TV, I\u2019ll find a rebound faster than you can say \u201cNetflix and chill\u201d.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It hurts to say that, as the show\u2019s final season finally arrives, I have officially broken up with Game of Thrones. With its reliance on CGI dragons and impending apocalypse, GoT has become almost conventional, nearly predictable \u2014 and utterly disappointing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":208,"featured_media":4510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[309,724,483,2213,7993,2956,1341,1970],"class_list":["post-4509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-game-of-thrones","tag-george-rr-martin","tag-got","tag-khaleesi","tag-mother-of-dragons","tag-ned-stark","tag-netflix","tag-ramsay-bolton"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy it\u2019s Game Over for Game of Thrones and Me<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It hurts to say that, as the show\u2019s final season finally arrives, I have officially broken up with Game of Thrones. 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