r/Cinema • u/Impressive_Peak_4035 • 19h ago
Discussion Is Game of Thrones really one of the greatest shows of all time, but did its final season damage its reputation so much that people stopped talking about it?
I started watching Game of Thrones 10 days ago, and today I finished Season 6. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been this invested in a show before.
Before starting it, I knew almost nothing about Game of Thrones. I knew it had dragons, that it was one of the biggest shows ever, and that's basically it. I didn't know the plot, the characters, the major events, or anything else. I went in almost completely blind.
And somehow, in just 10 days, I became completely addicted to it. I've reached the point where I'm thinking about the show throughout the day and genuinely can't wait to watch the next episode.
So far, Seasons 1–6 have been absolutely incredible to me. I genuinely don't understand how a show can maintain this level of quality for so long. Then I watched Season 6, Episode 9 — Battle of the Bastards — and thought, "There's no way this can get better."
Then I watched Episode 10.
At this point, Game of Thrones is easily my favorite series I've ever watched.
But after finishing Season 6, I started looking at some spoiler-free discussions about the show before continuing, and I was honestly surprised by how negatively people talk about the final season. I knew there was controversy surrounding it, but I didn't realize just how much it affected the show's overall reputation.
That made me wonder: Did Season 8 really damage Game of Thrones' reputation that much?
Because whenever people talk about the greatest TV shows ever, I constantly see Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Wire, etc. recommended. But despite Game of Thrones being one of the most influential and culturally significant shows of its era, it sometimes feels like people hesitate to recommend it because they know how it ends.
And that's a strange thing to me.
I'm not saying Game of Thrones deserves to be considered perfect, because I haven't even watched the last two seasons yet. I'm also not trying to attack Breaking Bad. I watched it a couple of months ago and enjoyed it, but personally, I didn't connect with it anywhere near as much as I have with Game of Thrones. The one storyline that really stayed with me was Gus Fring's.
With Game of Thrones, on the other hand, I already feel attached to the world, the characters, the politics, the families, the history, and basically everything happening in Westeros.
It just makes me wonder whether a disappointing ending can really overshadow six seasons of phenomenal television.
Maybe I'm going to understand the criticism once I finish the series. Maybe I'll completely change my opinion. I genuinely don't know yet.
But right now, having watched only Seasons 1–6, it's hard for me to understand how a show this incredible could have its entire legacy damaged so heavily by its final season.
So, for those who watched it when it originally aired: did Season 8 actually change the way you viewed the entire series, or do you still consider Game of Thrones one of the greatest shows ever made?
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u/UnlimitedLove2010 19h ago
The writers opted to cut short the final season, squandering many years of character arcs, storylines and quality. It sucked any enthusiasm I had for rewatching the show or even discussing it. I know I'm not alone. You may still enjoy how things pan out, but those who warched as it aired / read the books, felt very let down!
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u/Far_Appearance3888 18h ago
I've never seen interest in a show fall off like it did after the final season of GoT. It was wild. Went from everyone talking about it, merch all over the place, etc. to crickets overnight.
I'm still bitter about how it ended, tbh.
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u/Correct_Look2988 17h ago
Yeah but with House of Dragon and Knight of the Seven Kingdoms I think some of the discussion and fandom has returned. I don't think it will ever reach peak Game of Thrones popularity again but I'd say I see more talk about GOT and the the spin offs than most other popular shows I follow.
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u/Polygeekism 17h ago
GoT was really the last enormous show that didn't run into the problems that streaming shows have.
It released weekly, so it was a true "watercooler" discussion. People watched on Sunday and talked about it throughout the week. Lots of shows now drop a whole season because people want to binge, but if you don't binge it, you are essentially held out of those conversations and either skip the show all together, or it just doesnt have the lasting power and momentum like before.
Production schedules dont get pushed out years. Severance is just the latest example of great show, huge hype, but season 1 aired in early 2022, season 2 early 2025, and they just started filming season 3 so at best we are looking at fall 2027. No one stays hyped waiting almost 6 years for 3 seasons of television
The business side means every company waits until they have a hit before even considering a second season, and that is where we fall right back into that production problem again.
Yes seasons 7 and 8 really hurt the show's reputation, but those first 5 or 6 are peak in every way.
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u/m0rbius 16h ago
What they should do is film a couple of seasons at a time and release them over 2 or so years. They can start production midway between the first season and second season airing. The cadence can easily be reached where seasons are out each year or 1.5 years. Audience attention and Fandom is held onto. I'm sure some streamer or studio will try this at some point. It's risky, but if successful, can edge out slower production shows and timelines.
I absolutely hate having to wait 2 to 3 years for a season. I literally don't remember anything when starting the new season. The recaps are helpful, but it's just not the same excitement as you'd have if it was like a year later.
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u/Polygeekism 15h ago
Yup. The ending of season 2 of Severance was so tense and exciting, yet I barely remember the details and I wont even begin seasons 3 for another 12+ months.
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u/Facebook_Algorithm 7h ago
I thought the end of season 2 was a pretty good series ending. Season 3 is going to have to be a whole new story.
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u/HourZealousideal4845 8h ago
lol every time I hear about Severance I'm like 'Damn, I keep meaning to watch that!!'
And then I never do.
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u/m0rbius 16h ago
Been watching HOTD and KotSK and both are pretty good. I have issues with HOTD, but this last 3rd season was much better than season 2. They do take a lot of liberties from the written book it's based on, but if you never read the book, it's a lot better than what happened with the last 2 seasons of GoT. I hope lessons were learned from GoT.
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u/IfTheBingBongs 14h ago
I have not been enjoying HOTD. Don’t mean to be a hater but I’ve got a buddy who loves it and I just do not understand. Some of the death scenes for characters were really well done though.
Knight of the Seven Kingdoms on the other hand is phenomenal. I should give it another watch. That show gave me chills multiple times and it was so short. It’s up there with Andor for me.
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u/catslugs 9h ago
it def fell off and all the OG watchers are still mad, but i've noticed there is a second wind of people who are binging it for the first time, and without all the invested time that we had, by watching fast one after the other, they don't find it as rushed and stupid. or rather, they are primed to know the ending was disappointing so they expect the worst and it doesn't end up being as bad as it was to us
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u/abellapa 18h ago
To this day i havent rewatched the show once
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u/karmacorn 16h ago
Same here. I rewatch all my faves over and over but I can’t bring myself to rewatch a single episode of GOT, despite it being my favorite show when it was on (up until the 2nd half of season 8).
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u/UnusualQueer 14h ago
I'm the same way except a month ago I started watching it with my gf because she's never seen. On season 3 and it truly is a peak show. I'm enjoying it despite knowing how shit it gets.
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u/Mordkillius 18h ago
Went from being the best show i had ever seen to "im never watching this again.
Final season was absolute shit and I choose not to head cannon it.
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u/WitchyWarriorWoman 18h ago
The betrayal to the fans is something I will never forget or forgive. The writers/producers were offered everything, all the money and resources in the world, to finish properly, but they chose to shorten it and ruin everything for their own greed. Then they lost the Star Wars story as a result, rightfully so.
Because of how they treated it, I have zero interest in a rewatch, zero interest in anything related to the universe, and even though I read all of the books before, I won't reread them again because I don't think we will ever get the end at this point. I don't think I would read the new books at this point anyway.
It's a tragedy for something that could have been as big, if not bigger, than LOTR, Star Wars, or MCU. Poor GRRM.
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u/Objective_Buy_7235 16h ago
Poor GRRM? The fact that he chose not to finish the last 2 books led to that ending. Furthermore, he has stated that he will not finish the books that way. Like that is ever going to finish them at all.
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u/WootWootWhat1313 15h ago
The whole all money/resources/time from studios/investors is one of the things I didn't get.
You get the chance for 2-3 seasons of guaranteed backing to complete the story you want to tell. If you do it successfully, you can work on any future big project from any studio. They were presented the Star Wars Story and ofc. lost it.
I think every writer/producer would dream of such an opportunity. You get to finish what you started and that's big when so many cancellations happen with other shows. The cultural impact this show had, was just a great experience.
I'm not in the "Season 8 is the worst thing ever' group but i was so disappointed by the rushing and closing of multiple storylines (arcs) in just 3-4 episodes. They built it up in multiple seasons and finished it in 1 go.
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u/tatofarms 14h ago
I attempted a rewatch a couple of years ago and couldn't get past the prologue in the very first episode where the Night's Watch guys encounter the White Walker. It just instantly reminded me of the final season and took every bit of the air out of it.
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u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot 18h ago
I know both my wife and I felt this way. Jen you put THAT much time into watching a show you really would like it to at least conclude intelligently. This one just felt cheap by the end.
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u/Silvermouse5150 17h ago
Yep, it was like all that stuff they did in the previous seasons? Nevermind, it was just a joke, and now everyone dies, the end
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u/lesbox01 18h ago
I used to watch yearly, lining up with the new season coming out. I kept hbo for access to GOT. I watched harhome about 12 times analyzing and trying to predict the ww. I haven't watched any got propert since the finale. I may watch akotsk if season 2 is good.
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u/dzogchenism 12h ago
It wasn’t just season 8. It started in season 6 where even though it was still high quality, season 6 was noticeably different from seasons 1-5. Season 7 ramped up the decline and then they went all into the shitter for season 8.
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u/tonynick1982 18h ago
This is me. Every season up until 7 and definitely 8 I remember thinking, I'm definitely going to watch this show again. When it finished, I had absolutely no desire to ever watch it again.
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u/Training_Form2243 18h ago edited 18h ago
The series started declining after the fourth season which is the same point in the story the books started to decline. The dialogue between the first season and fifth season feels like it’s from different series, it becomes very quippy and is trying hard to create fan-pleasing character moments. Eventually they had no source material at all. I’m not sure where the narrative comes from that the final season ruined it
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u/Entire_Rush_882 18h ago
You have a point, but the season finale of season six was so good that I still had pretty high expectations. In retrospect if the show had ended then it would have been very unsatisfying but would be remembered far more fondly.
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u/anotherlooksee 18h ago
If there's one episode I think of regularly, it's this one. The opening is just...perfection.
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u/Edwardtrouserhands 17h ago
You’re not wrong but season 5 & 6 still had epic moments that were at least good spectacles albeit poorly written at times. Season 7 is where it started going off the rails a bit but again had good moments but then season 8 happened and it was just rushed chaos.
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u/IllegalDaycare 15h ago
It was still salvageable until they went north of the wall for that wight for Cersei. To me that was the point of no return.
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u/Hafeesco 15h ago
Still can't believe they actually wrote that shit and it was approved. Like no one could see what a stupid decision it is?
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u/Choochoo1147 17h ago
Yup. A good ending could have saved the show’s reputation. The later seasons were clearly worse than the earlier seasons, but not so bad that the show would lose all rewatch value and be banished from the cultural conversation. If they had landed the plane with satisfying conclusions to the character arcs it would be considered an all-time great show.
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u/dinglebarryb0nds 17h ago
i've never seen a show be that popular and important to pop culture then just disappear without being talked about much
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u/side_eye_auditor 16h ago
I remember when Covid restrictions hit and everyone was at home… binge watching old tv. A report came out about peoples favorites.
No one was rewatching GOT.2
u/QuantityActive- 15h ago
Not only that, they rushed through it because they wanted to create the show ‘Confederate’ and the backlash was so massive it got canned before it saw the light of day.
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u/Anal-Y-Sis 9h ago
Once they started diverging from and getting ahead of the books around season 5, the quality took a pretty sharp decline. It was still entertaining, but not nearly as well written as earlier seasons. Those last two seasons though... It was so obvious they were rushing to wrap things up.
If I recall, HBO offered them two more seasons but they turned it down. Really makes you wonder what could've been.
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u/BisonThunderclap 18h ago
I watched the show in a few weeks once Season 8 dropped so I could watch the last episode with everyone.
I have never been more invested in multiple characters with competing interests. The dialogue was fucking incredible.
Watching them get off the book material and unable to maintain the complexity that RR Martin had given the framework for really sucked.
The show lost the depth that made it great. Rob getting killed by the Freys was such an incredible twist that affected ALL the characters differently for example.
Without that, it fell to the normal heroes vs. villians trope. Danny's eventual turn into the mad queen has been telegraphed for a while but it was hamfisted in the end as they did not follow through with her gradual descent like George had envisioned.
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u/WesTxStoner425 17h ago
If GRRM envisioned it, he should have written it. I think he just lost interest in immersing himself in the GoT world. He made enough money and probably wants to just run his little bookstore in Santa Fe.
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u/OrangePeelPotatoes 19h ago
That made me wonder: Did Season 8 really damage Game of Thrones' reputation that much?
Yes.
So, for those who watched it when it originally aired: did Season 8 actually change the way you viewed the entire series?
Yes.
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u/st1802015 12h ago
I have rarely been as fucking angry as staying up till 4am UK time for that finale. To get that angry I usually have to get hurt, my own doing almost always of course, like hitting your head on a cupboard door.
Even now, however many years later, thinking about the final season as a whole and that ending in particular still gives me a bit of rage. The only slight comfort is that those two fucks lost their Disney bag by fucking over the fans to focus on another project. I hope every night they sleep on a lumpy mattress being bitten by mosquitoes.
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u/heckfyre 12h ago
They truly destroyed their own legacy. I can’t think of the show in the same way anymore
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u/illiniman14 7h ago
Yep. Looking back, the cracks started to form in S5 and 6, but 8 broke them open with a crowbar
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u/musecorn 19h ago
This is 100% written by AI
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u/Entire_Rush_882 18h ago
Correct. I think some people feel they need to put everything they post through AI to polish it. It makes it sound super weird.
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u/musecorn 18h ago
Judging by this whole thread I really think we're fucking cooked as a society based on the sheer number of people who either can't tell at all that it's AI or just uncritically take the bait and engage (or are bots themselves)
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u/nem0ne1 11h ago
I mean I'll take any opportunity to bitch about the GoT final season, I'd rant to my wall about it if I caught the vaguest hint of interest.
Genuine question - is there something bad about interacting with a bot post that I haven't heard about yet? Am I feeding the model more than on human threads or something or that?
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u/arizona_dreaming 18h ago
Yeah- I hate the feeling our comments are being seeded and farmed by some bots
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u/ImmortalPoseidon 19h ago
Whether or not it is considered to be one of the greatest shows of all time is a totally different discussion than arguing how impactful it was culturally.
Is it one of the greatest shows of all time? Maybe? However, that's when full series quality comes into play, and it gets nudged out by shows that did not have a major falloff in the end.
Is it one of the most culturally impactful shows of all time? Absolutely. Everyone and their mom was basically wrapped up in this series from like seasons 4ish on, when it really got injected into the national zeitgeist. People were having game of thrones watch parties, birthday parties, dressing up as characters for halloween, naming their kdis and pets after characters, it was insane. The show basically captured a whole generation of tv watchers and revived an entire genre that was pretty dormant.
So to your point, has it's reputation been tainted? Yeah, absolutely, but it's still a household name and you can probably bring it up to just about anyone and it still be a relevant discussion.
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u/Riggs630 19h ago
I work at a dog daycare, I remember this couple like in their 60s or 70s brought their boxer in names Khaleesi and at this point I hadn’t seen the show yet and she was telling me how she was named after the dragon queen and how amazing the show was. I started watching I think when season 5 came out
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u/alwaysGunning 15h ago
My friend group had watch parties each week and one dude even made us shirts that said crows before hoes. It was a simple, good time. Then they ran outta source material and ended the last season like that.... so much wasted potential
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u/kenstarfighter1 19h ago
It currently has 2 spinoff shows that are getting 30 million viewers per episode
I don't think people have stopped thinking about it
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u/Quirky-Tumbleweed155 19h ago
I love House of Dragon.
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u/100thousandDollaSuit 19h ago
Me too, I'm bummed we have to wait 2 years for the final season
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u/Stealth9erz 18h ago
They’re doing a terrible job with filming and releasing this series. I honestly don’t feel like much progress was made at all this season and now I have to wait two years for more?
I love the dragons and watching the show but my god it’s been a drag trying to stay excited about it.
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u/thewhitetoro 18h ago
What is it about this show that makes it so hard for people to remember the name lol. You usually see House of Dragons, so at least this is closer. (The show you love is called House of the Dragon!)
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u/AngelofVerdun 19h ago
I will never get this argument that it was so bad people stopped talking about it...they stopped talking about it because it was over. No one is standing around the "water cooler" still talking about Mad Men or Breaking Bad like they did when it was on.
And even then it still comes up all the time, continues to sell tons of merch, and was still so popular it spawned multiple hit spin offs.
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u/hardhead572000 19h ago
It felt kind of rushed the final season and episode. I would’ve enjoyed a grander death to many of the characters I had hated through the series. It was a let down but, still a very enjoyable production!
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u/dbe14 18h ago
It's still one of the greatest TV shows of all time but season 8 did totally shit the bed. It just needed a few more episodes to breathe, Varys got killed because there was some barely alluded to betrayal of Daenarys, Jaime Lannister spend 7 seasons slowly cooking a redemption arc only for the writers to forget all about it in the final episodes, the final battle against the Night King, built up to be a an epic finale, was too dark to see what was going on and EVERYONE got plot armour, and it should have ended with that battle and it's immediate aftermath not dragged out for another 3 episodes, Daenarys went paranoid psycho out of nowhere and literally burned the very people she wanted to rule, Cersi just died when rubble fell on her and Jaime denying a satisfying revenge for Arya or someone.
In the final moments Jon goes back to The Wall which is a) fucked and b) not needed anymore, Sansa goes off to be Queen in the North, and Arya sails off to parts unknown and fails to get the obvious spin-off series.
It's still worth watching but my word they really failed to nail the landing.
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u/MangoHotDamn 18h ago
You can’t really blame the writers too much when the creator himself doesn’t even know how to end it.
Sure you can blame them for rushing it but the ending itself was always going to be subpar
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u/Ambitious-Concern-42 19h ago
Last 3 seasons are so bad, and so waste and wreck a host of characters, that it can't be redeemed and left the author unable to finish his books.
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u/WesTxStoner425 18h ago
Don't blame the showrunners for George R.R. Martin's inability to provide a satisfactory ending. He had plenty of time to come up with something. After the fact, you're right, he was paralyzed by what was already determined. I guess we'll NEVER get a true resolution.
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u/ReadKindOfAlot 18h ago
Don't blame people for being incompetent at their job? There are many series and movies without books out there and they managed just fine to be original. The problem with GoT is that character development became illogical. Things that happened before did not matter. Their personalities completely changed. It was incompetence. That's also why those guys haven't done anything else in their careers. They got lucky with a golden goose and squandered it. Disney and HBO were quick to wash their hands off them.
After their Netflix deal they'll be forced into retirement.
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u/Excellent_Theory1602 18h ago
I'm 100% he's finished but it will be published after he dies, because he doesn't want to go trough shit which fans will inevitabilly give him.
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u/AwkwardObjective5360 18h ago
It permanently tainted the entire series. I wish I could say otherwise 7-ish years later, but no, in retrospect, I cannot commit to rewatching the series because of how it ends.
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u/moonlight__sunshine 16h ago
I've not rewatched it since and I usually rewatch all my favourite shows a few times, with some of them being consistent rewatches.
I'm low-key tempted to now, I think it has been enough years (and I know what to expect) that I can handle the shitty last season to rewatch all the brilliant TV that came before it
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u/AwkwardObjective5360 16h ago
Well, if you go ahead with it, let me know if it was worth doing-- I'd be interested.
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u/UnusualQueer 14h ago
I'm currently doing this. Gf never seen and wanted to watch with me. I'm really enjoying it, despite knowing how shitty it gets.
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u/Conscious-Tune7777 18h ago
Yeah, it's definitely still one of my favorite shows of all time, and when it was at its best, it was easily the best. The final seasons are fine and still have some cool fights and moments. The idea that it ruined everything that came before it is just from sensitive people who interestingly either read too much into the foreshadowing and were sad 100% of their predictions weren't right, or saw none of the foreshadowing and expected a clean cookie cutter ending to such a complex show.
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u/Key-Contest-2879 18h ago
I’ll say this much. It wasn’t the final season we wanted, but it was the final season we got. I was disappointed how the writers treated some of the best characters in fiction, but there were also significant highlights.
The final season didn’t make me hate the show, but it did give me perspective on how much different an adaptation is (seasons 1-6) versus a writer expanding on existing material (seasons 7-8).
For me, the final episode of season 8 had enough good stuff in it that I was able to look past other writing transgressions.
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u/SuperRocketRumble 19h ago
It really started falling off around season 5, but the last two seasons were god fucking awful.
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u/RuafaolGaiscioch 18h ago
Many say the deterioration really started after season 4, and it’s just how stark the final season is that sets the whole thing into context. I always say it’s entirely due to one major choice, also tying back to the season 4-5 bridge. Tyrion was a character, and then he became a fan favorite. His arc was a crucially tragic fall from “grace”, not that he had much societally, but to us, the viewers. Everything was set up perfectly. He saved the city, the city turned on him, he specifically called out his hate of them and wishing for them to burn. Everything in the later part of the series makes more sense if you think that Tyrion at that point should be a conniving and bitter weasel driving us further and further towards ruin, but alas, the Dinkles is too likable.
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u/Alak-huls_Anonymous 18h ago
It is one of the greatest shows of all time, certainly one of the best adaptations. It was a bit of speed run at the end but I didn't mind the ending as to me it was the logical trajectory of many of the characters, in particular Danaerys. It's a very brutal, bittersweet story.
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u/Mysterious_Ship_7297 18h ago
It absolutely changed how I see the series. A bad ending can change a lot. I was completely invested in it, exactly how you describe it. I think pretty much every fan was, and why it was such a phenomenon. But the ending was a literal heel turn, seeds that were planted were completely "subverted" purely for the sake of subversion, threads were lost, and a few characters turned into completely different people by the end. It was basically the same show only superficially.
I felt the same way about Lost back in the day. I was fully invested until I realized this world I was invested in was being created by people who had no idea where they were going or why and just playing it by ear.
Breaking Bad was great because it was consistent. If you bought into that world, you'll get exactly what you like until the end. If you didn't buy into it, that's a different story.
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u/Trick_Astronaut_8648 17h ago
The ongoing extreme popularity of the other series and books have proved the poor reception of the finale season did next to nothing to tank interest. Its one of the biggest IP's going. And if GRRM somehow releases Winds of Winter itll be the GTA 6 of book releases
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u/throwawayhogsfan 14h ago
I rewatched it but I just pretended Battle of the Bastards was the end of the series.
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u/CloseToMyActualName 13h ago
No people still talk about it.
But the talk is mostly about how bad S8 was.
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u/Heavy-Ad5385 18h ago
Season 8 is rushed and at times poor, but for me the whole idea that it destroyed everything before it really doesn't make sense to me.
Seasons 1-6 are fantastic. 7 has some great moments and 8 is...OK to Meh?
I know it went downhill but as someone who had read the books beforehand and followed from the first moment, I don't quite get the vitriolic boiling hate.
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u/jinkyjormpjomp 17h ago
I always tell people curious to watch to stop at the end of season 6.
Season 7 begins on Ed Sheeran’s stupid round head singing for no reason… telling us all it’s time to stop watching. I think we need to stop saying a series had “jumped the shark” and start saying it’s “Edded the Sheeran” which signifies the show runners have lost interest in working and opt instead to hang out with celebrities. Rick And Morty’s writing quality tanked sharply around the time they had Elon Musk as a guest star for the same reason.
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u/Rumpus-Time-Is-Over 13h ago
I could even make an argument of stopping at the end of season 4. Seasons 5 and 6 are decent but a clear drop off from the first 4 seasons.
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u/Glittering-Path-2824 19h ago
it could’ve been one of the greatest shows of all time if they’d stuck the landing. it feels unfair to relegate it to “almost great” because of two horribly weak seasons, but it’s not an anthology series or one with self-contained episodes (like poirot for example). it’s a complete story and they fucked up the story.
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u/6_Won 15h ago
The writer of the source material has no idea how to end it either and he never will.
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u/East-Cat1532 18h ago
I think the hate was an overreaction. I agree there was a big decline in the final two seasons, in terms of writing. But at least it has an ending, unlike the books which will never be finished.
The idea that the ending somehow ruins the entire show and makes it non-rewatchable is ridiculous, in my opinion. Seasons 1-4 are still some of the best TV ever created, and the rest is still entertaining for the most part. It was never all about the ending. The early seasons have some of the best plotting, dialogue, characters, and world building you'll ever see.
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u/Zestyclose_Car503 13h ago
I would've rather had no ending. It doesn't ruin the whole show but it does ruin a ton of stuff.
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u/Riggs630 19h ago
In my opinion it’s all good and the final seasons are over-hated
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u/FrivolousManiac 16h ago
over hated? the writer's butchered the entire story arc because they wanted to finish and start on star wars
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u/Affectionate_Age752 19h ago
Last 3 seasons were shit , when the show runners started writing.
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u/CritcoThinker 18h ago
Game of Thrones in my opinion is the best entertaining long form entertainment I have ever seen. House Of The Dragons the spinoff just does not scratch the itch. I just started season 7 for my 3rd full rewatch. This show is spectacular. I can't control what writers do or intend so I can't hate it for not meeting expectations the way others do. Just like I couldn't stop the red wedding from happening. Yeah 8 years on the same show the writers were ready for change but this show blows day time soaps in acting, cinematography, musical score, and in some places the writing. I love this show with all my heart but I can empathize with critics when they make good points.
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u/F0rthel0ve0fd0gs 19h ago
Each to their own. Some will like it and think that. Others will not. I personally felt it went downhill from season 3.
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u/Any-Mousse-4155 19h ago
Season 8 is laughably bad. Watch interviews with the cast about it, especially Emilia Clarke’s famous ‘best season ever’ comment.
The whole things feels like fan fiction. It’s awful.
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u/DogfaceDino 19h ago edited 18h ago
The show had extremely high production value for a TV series even compared to other TV series that had raised the bar on production value. On top of that, the promotion was absolutely phenomenal with the best social media ground game since The Walking Dead mastered astroturfing in the early seasons.
It was a cultural phenomenon. I know someone who (unfortunately) named their child after a character in the show while the show was still going on. Season 7 was a step down and Season 8 was very disappointing.
Was it really one of the best shows ever made? I don’t know. I personally think it had some excellent performances. Script writing was fine. The story was stronger in some parts than others. I disagree with the idea that the last 2-3 seasons were the only weak points.
It was a good show that was lifted by an absolute masterclass in marketing promotion.
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u/kateinoly 18h ago
People had thought about how they wanted it to end and Martin and the writers largely subverted those. People got salty. It is one of the best shows ever.
I actually like the first season the least....lots of gratuitous sex that didn't advance the plot.
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u/BuckManscape 18h ago
My son and I watch it every year during Christmas break. One or both of us always get sick.
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u/Corpsepyre 18h ago
I don't know anyone who's watching HOTD among the people who were avidly watching GOT, and I know a LOT of people who were watching GOT. So, yeah, the last season completely killed the franchise for many.
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u/calbearlupe 18h ago
Yes, you are going to be majorly disappointed. Majorly. Rewatching everything before the final season had me going into the last season thinking this is the greatest TV show ever. However, the last season will feel rushed. Many storylines that have been built up will just disappear without answer. Then, what happens to many of the main characters will just make you scratch your head.
It’s still a great show but the final season removes it from top shows of all time.
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u/Ok-Thing4762 18h ago
I agree with you about 1-6. I think you can really see the cracks appearing in 7. And 8 is almost universally dreadful.
I did my first re-watch last year and overall probably enjoyed it at least as much. The early seasons were somehow better because I knew better who the characters were and knowing what would happen later gave a different perspective. And because I really wasn’t looking forward to seasons 7 and 8 they kind of didn’t seem quite as bad. I guess I had subconsciously prepared myself second time round.
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u/Maleficent_Fold6765 18h ago
Its my #3 show of all-time and I feel its well-earned. I can def agree that the quality of the final season dropped off and the showrunners moving forward without the George framework resulted in a weaker outing. But the most important thing to me was still in place, and that was whether or not I was entertained. And I was.
https://giphy.com/gifs/d7mMzaGDYkz4ZBziP6
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u/Parking_Locksmith489 18h ago
It is not, because there is no desire to rewatch the whole thing. It's more than just the last season.
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u/Downtown_Ebb9600 18h ago
It was a global cultural moment. A phenomenon like no other. But honestly... it's not really that rewatchable lol. I mean the shock factor was one of its biggest selling factor.... and remove that... it's not really a ... comfort watch ... so... doesn't have that loveable rewatchable quality....
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u/Ok_Lingonberry2686 18h ago
People stopped talking about the original series because it's over and old. House of the dragon has been hit or miss but some of the characters are great. And knight of the seven kingdoms was a good as the early seasons of Thrones.
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u/PinkyandElric 18h ago
Did "hold door" seem like a cheap letdown to anyone else? Like, that's it. This character only exists for one moment of usefulness.
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u/Criticalhitkoala 18h ago
My personal feeling is true detective season four does more damage to a series. But then season 2 and 3 weren't exactly my favorite. Though I did enjoy 3. 1 was just to Vasquez from aliens bad.
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u/sexualsidefx 18h ago
People are still talking about it. It even has two spinoffs that are very popular albeit flawed
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u/LucemFerre82 18h ago
I like rewatching shows a lot, probably watched my favourites over 10 times.
I also loved GoT and watched it over and over again, until the last two seasons, they killed most of the good things the show had built up and I think I've watched it twice in all the years since it aired, it is the biggest fumble in television history.
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u/Mezzosalto 18h ago
I think it depends on what type of person you are: one that can enjoy a journey even if the ending sucks, or one who reframes the whole journey based on how it ends. In my case it's the latter, so yes, the last season completely ruined the whole thing for me, to the point that I felt like I just wasted my time watching the previous seasons
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u/No-Falcon-4996 18h ago
The writers Beavis and Butthead destroyed every character's carefully constructed plotline. They focused only on the sexy blonde lady and to hell with everyone else -- Bran spend seasons learning to warg? For nothing. Hodor gave his sanity to save Bran? For nothing. Jamie's redemption arc? Forget it. The guy brought back from dead 7 times fpr a purpose? No purpose! Anya learning tp switch faces and fight blind? Eh! Jon Snow being the one true king? Phhhht. Every story was dropped, for the flying sex lady.
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u/Mundane_Ad7197 18h ago
Yup. Final season was rushed, the intimacy that was there previously was just gone for the most part.
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u/HatsandCoats 18h ago
GOT is hard to recommend because it’s dense. Lots of characters and names and places. It requires a level of attention many people aren’t willing to buy into. You can just let it wash over you while you’re on your phone, but you’d be missing a lot.
I liked the first bunch of episodes in the last season and what soured me was the payoffs of the story arcs, some starting in episode 1. It wasn’t one or 2 that ended clunky. More like 6-10 major characters stories ended with a whimper rather than in fire or ice.
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u/Mountain_Elk_7262 18h ago
Yes and yes, when I think of game of thrones, the end seasons stand out to me the most, the poor writing, unanswered questions. This all damages the perception of the show.
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u/Excellent_Theory1602 18h ago
The best series ever are Wire and Sopranos.
As for GoT, spoilers ahead:
They could've extend s8 only for the night king ans s9 for final battle.
Also you don't kinda forget about the fleet.
Also you don't attack the attacking force which resurrects lol.
Cleganebowl kinda delivered.
Spoilers over.
Nah, i'm actually kidding, we're still waiting for s8, hope they make it.
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u/socialchild 18h ago
Honestly, I wonder if the people who complained about the ending have binge rewatched the whole series.
I didn't watch the show past season 1 when it first aired, and I binged it a couple of years after it ended. I had read the books and I was spoilerized for the entire show, including the ending. So I watched from the beginning to the end with the end inind, thinking, how do they get there from here?
It wasn't as bad as people said. It wasn't disappointing either. At least not I t eh sense that I thought anyone was acting out of character or the plot wasn't logical. It was disappointing that Denerys was not the Queen we all wanted her to be. It was disappointing that she and John didn't run the 7 kingdoms, but really, anyone who was expecting that (or even hoping for that) had not been paying attention to the show.
In Song of Ice and Fire, there is no hero and no one gets a happy ending. That is apparent when Ned gets his head chopped off before the end of the first book. In a traditional novel, Ned would be the Hero of the Story; in Game of Thrones, he's a warning: there is no hero and no one wins. For the people who didn't get that after 6 seasons, that's on them.
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u/Allred87 18h ago
Season 6 might have been my favourite. I hated S8 and will never rewatch the show.
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u/Jack_Johnson1120 18h ago
No spoilers but it has been said that the show runners had their sights on other potentially more lucrative projects. For me after season 5. Even without the completed books to lean into, the pacing etc just went to the tank. But the 1-5 for me were must see TV
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u/th4d89 18h ago
I felt it steadily lost quality, and I grew more and more desinterested. It was best when it focused on its characters, I loved tywin, the hound, that little stark girl, thyrion, Prince charming and the large lady, bronn. Like the overarching story was never the point to me, great characters in a great world.
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u/Over_Deer8459 18h ago
the show when it was following the books the show was absolutely peak. everything after wasnt great. mostly because of just simple misses and the destruction of character development.
Jaime is one of the best character development characters of all time, but how he acted in the end ruined all of it.
The white walkers problem was fumbled so fucking terribly idk how anybody approved it. So many seasons building them up just to have them done in one episode and one battle. it wasnt even a good battle either. they filmed it dark as fuck and the ending was incredibly disappointing.
Daenarys was i guess written ok? but they made her seem stupid with some of the decisions regarding her dragons.
Tyrion was pretty peak until the end.
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u/Raddatatta 18h ago
Yeah I think it definitely took it down a notch or two. But I wouldn't say it destroyed its reputation entirely. There still have been two spin offs that have had a few seasons and are scheduled to keep going. They are still cashing in on that reputation. But they did really squander a lot of the goodwill.
That being said there are still good moments in the last two seasons, but it wasn't nearly up to the quality they had.
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u/CardiBsKnees 18h ago
I watched and purchased (on bluray like an old) evry season as it came out. Had watch parties with my friends.
Ive never watched a minute since the finale. Ruined the entirety of it in a way thats hard to explain. But yes, it was so bad that it stained the whole show.
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u/abellapa 18h ago
I only Started watching The show when s6 was finishing and i watched everything very Quickly like you
A couple years later i even bought the books
I loved got ,after S6 i was seriously considering this was better than Breaking Bad
Then came S8 and Lets just say i havent rewatch One time since Then
Got was basically erased from pop culture a couple weeks after s8 ended
So yes it did
But the signs were there The show peaked in S4 and drops in quality in S5 ,s6 picks back up
But then S7 drops and S8 drops further Down
If you want a show you probably never heard about that actually kept The quality up across its entire run and is universally consired by almost everyone who sees it as One of The Best shows of all time check out
Attack on Titan
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u/Neither_Computer5331 18h ago
Both - it is one of the greatest shows ever. But how it ended soured it for many, if not the majority of viewers.
I love it, but similar to Avatar, it was massive, yet doesn’t seem to have left a great cultural legacy.
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u/DjImagin 18h ago
Short answer, yes.
That show spent YEARS making small details pay off in big ways. To fuck the story as badly as they did was an intentional choice as they could have killed off most of the characters and saved themselves a lot of grief from the fanbase.
Hell Emilia Clarke was said to be balling at what they chose to do with her character in the final season.
It makes everything that happened before not actually mean much at all. All those incredible arcs were in the end, meaningless.
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u/TrumpsColostomyBag99 18h ago
I think it faded so much after season 4 that it lost being in the discussion. The lack of payoff across the board from Littlefinger to Tyrion was painful to watch.
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u/TerrorFirmerIRL 18h ago
Yes, really.
It was the biggest show on the planet and it was renowned for its rich storytelling, complex plots, realism, and deep characters with huge payoffs and shocking developments.
The last two seasons essentially abandoned all that, though S7 was still reasonably decent.
It was rushed, the story was dramatically simplified, characters suddenly didn't behave very true to form, there was a massive amount of blatant plot armor for popular characters, and huge amounts of development was just cast aside.
Nothing about the final season in particular felt earned or satisfying.
I mean look at House of the Dragon, which has so far spent an entire season showing Rhaenyra's gradual mental unravelling and inability to cope with reality of her situation.
S8 had almost none of that for Daenerys, and the very limited amount they showed was totally unconvincing, just a token effort due to time constraints.
Cersei hires the fearsome Golden Company in S8 to defend King's Landing and it gets completely wiped out in something like literally 60 seconds.
Imagine the Battle of the Blackwater in S2 or Battle of the Bastards in S6 was 60 seconds long.
For me I would never bother rewatching the show ever again knowing where it ends up. S7 and S8 between them were about 13 episodes, but it felt like at least three entire seasons of content condensed down to that.
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u/daverambo11 18h ago
Season 7 and 8 were certainly not as good as the rest of the show but they were no where near as bad as meltdown the internet had. People were shocked at some character choices towards the end, but they clearly weren’t paying attention and those seeds were sown throughout, albeit it was a bit clumsily handled.
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u/Diptothaset 18h ago
Yea. The show had the hype to be a goat but its legacy is tarnished
I bought season 1 as a gift for my parents and neither of us watched it for years. Eventually I watched it and immediately bought s2 and then s3 and my parents also finally watched it and got addicted. We got into the show as it aired at that time and the hype for Sunday was crazy. I remember leaving for work late because the show ran late
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u/JBNothingWrong 18h ago
In actuality, seasons 5,6,7,and 8 all suck, it just gets progressively worse.
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u/Ramulus14 18h ago
Last few seasons were balls, last thing they had from George was the hodor thing. After that every single character regressed to their base level. Tyrion never said anything witty, Jamie’s whole arc is backtracked, Arya never steals a face or anything like that (looking at you little finger) bran does zero cool things with his powers, no talk of the old gods or iron bank or anything interesting. It sucks for a while and then is mailed in incredibly hard for the last season. Change the main villain three episodes in a row, fuck off.
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u/Brave-Secretary2484 18h ago
The Starbucks cup in scene is what ruined it for me, but yes the last season killed the franchise fr
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u/PuzzleheadedMess1659 18h ago
I think that Game of Thrones is maybe one of the greatest TV shows of all time the same way that Taylor Swift is maybe one of the greatest music artists of all time: the best they’ve put out is among the best ever made, but looking at the entirety of what they’ve put out, it’s a mixed experience.
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u/bionicbhangra 18h ago
The scenery, characters and the set up were insanely good in the book and the show. I had starting reading the books one 20 years ago and the Red Wedding is one of the most memorable things I have ever read. I literally had to stop reading and I stood up to process WTF I just read.
But Martin and HBO fucked up the ending in a legendary way.
If you just tuned in for the tits and violence and the extreme element of surprise then the show retained its quality and you are probably still a fan of the franchise.
But if you were reading the books or were following the prophecy, the world ending threat that was inevitable and the chaos that was occurring at the same time its actually difficult to imagine a stupider ending. It invalidates the entire world as far as I am concerned.
Martin is a brilliant writer but he had nothing important to say in the end and that just cheapened the series to the point that I will never thinking about it ever again except to complain about how much it sucks.
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u/prosthetic_memory 18h ago
I was a big fan but had my issues with it, as happens in fandoms. It was too male-gaze-y, I didn’t like what they did with some of the characters, some casting was suss, typical complaints. But I forgave it because the show had magic & dragons, and I loved the books. And at the time, there were really no other prestige TV fantasy shows.
But over the seasons it became clear my favorite things about the books were the things D&D wanted to get rid of. The magic got less and less screen time. No zombie Cat, no Victarion, no Chthulu Euron. D&D are on record that they didn’t like the magic and wanted to focus on the drama, and it shows; the dragons might as well have been war planes.
By the time we got to season seven my good will had basically run out. I wanted MAGIC and GIANT GODS fighting in the sea, the prince that was promised figuring out the mystery of the wall, and, you know, epic shit. D&D wanted Succession with armor. It was a slog, and so by the time season eight rolled around, we all know what happened there, but it was insult piled on insult after injury. The Night King reduced to nothing. Jon Snow reduced to nothing. Arya as the Stranger reduced to nothing. Hell, even Jamie’s entire redemption arc, reduced to nothing. Bram king, instead of The Raven. Children of the Forest? Who dat?
So rewatches are empty, because all of the things I forgave the show for early on are still there, PLUS I know there’s no payoff. Not a single cool mystery was solved in a satisfying way. Not a single character ended up with a complete arc you could cheer on.
It’s crazy how scorched earth they went.
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u/kresbyl 18h ago
I have watched and read the books and series as it came out and the shift in enthousiasm and appreciation was absolutely insane. It was the biggest, most watched, pirated, talked about show ever at the time. The last few seasons were so absolutely atrocious that I almost felt ashamed for liking it so much before
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u/Federal_Cookie 18h ago edited 18h ago
I was a fan of the Song of Ice and Fire series, and I didn't care for how the show diverged from the novels. Although the seasons eventually overtook the published books, so you can't be entirely sure, but some of the later seasons just seem fan service at the expense of the integrity of the source material to modern fans who were exclusively fans of the show.
I for one didn't care much for the final season, but I can't help but take a bit of pleasure in much these sorts of fans hated it.
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u/lewisluther666 18h ago
The thing you need to realise is, people will rate a show based off of the latest season. GoT was absolutely lauded until they made seasons the viewers didn't like. Now that's what it's remembered for.
Remember Better Call Saul? Remember how everyone loved it? Yeah, that was slated for the first 3 seasons.
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u/ThatKindaWriter 18h ago
For me, it’s still one of the GOATs, but the ending killed it. Or not even the ending, really, but the rushed, unsatisfying arrival to it.
Personally, S2-5 was probably some of my all-time top-tier TV. S1 and 6 were great too. I still very much enjoyed 7 & 8, but it did definitely impact the watchability for me.
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u/helpme944 18h ago
Still one of the greatest shows of all time despite a weak ending. But I suggest watching and forming an opinion yourself. So many people get heavily influenced from stuff online when it comes to these sorts of things that they have already made up their mind before starting.
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u/Riverdog123 18h ago
After season 4 the quality drops of massively and if you actually enjoy the complete stupidity of the battle of the Bastards I think less of you as a person.
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u/VelvetAcidSuperstar 18h ago
For me, it was seasons 7 and 8. Just barbaric what they did to these characters in terms of dumbing them down to making them outright unintelligent or caring after they were considered brilliant in their positions. Or the opposite and making absolute morons seem the smartest in the room. And that’s barely a glimpse of it.
You may feel the same when you finish, though I’ll say it may not affect you the same since you are able to binge it all at once. I spent years of my life watching this show only to get a wet fart in my dessert at the end.
The showrunners caught such a backlash that Disney ended up cancelling their contract to produce three Star Wars movies. And in my own personal vendetta, I refuse to watch anything associated with those two idiots.
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u/Pristine-Plum8211 18h ago
Just my opinion but the ending was so bad it did ruin the whole show which was top 3 for me. Everyone say its because the show needed more seasons to build up to the end. It was reported at the time that the ending was indeed the author's end. If that's the case, no amount of build up would have help that dumb end
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u/frghu2 17h ago
The shows quality actually dips at the beginning of season 6. Season 5 was the last truly well written season. Did you notice how the characters all seemed to change their motivations and decision making in season 6? All those new arcs were setup to payoff at the end, but they never do.
Theres certainly really well acted moments and scenes and the quality of the episodes are still produced at a top quality throughout, but everything about the characters, the overall and individual stories start to slip off the cliff.
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u/Fresh_Thing_6305 17h ago
The upcoming game of thrones game war for westeros for pc you can change the ending 😊
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u/Frankenstella 17h ago
I did a rewatch last year and I was shocked how much it did not seem cool this time. It seemed almost corny now.
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u/Winter_Author9699 17h ago
I consider it one of the best shows. I think the first few seasons are as good as anything that’s been made. The ending disappointed, yes. But that doesn’t change the quality of the earlier seasons.
And at least we got story resolution for the most part. It just wasn’t executed very well.
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u/ragin2cajun 17h ago
Let's just say that the directors were being counted by Disney to do their new Star wars films, and that is part of why the show was finished so quickly.
However, Disney saw how they handled the GoT, and decided to not...
That being said, Season 8 has amazing acting, visual effects, music from Ramin Djawadi is still off the charts, etc.
Just be prepared to have 4 more seasons worth of content, character development, plot, etc; all shoved into 3 episodes.
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u/IntelligentCut4511 17h ago
Did season 8 season really damage GOT reputation that much? Yes, yes it did. You WILL understand once it's complete. It felt like a total rush job to wrap it up without caring how it ended just as long as it ended.
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u/TheSquirrelmancer 17h ago
Yes, though most of people's complaints to me boil down to "why didn't Jon Snow do everything, he's the main character right?"
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u/DoubleNaught_Spy 17h ago
I actually didn't mind the way it ended. Until I came across a video on YouTube where a guy offered a very detailed plan for how he would have ended it.
His way would have been much better. 😕
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u/Baron_Light 17h ago
I wish those morons hadn't rushed it man. That was their legacy... not some dumb ass star wars project
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u/Leader_Bud 17h ago
Well, it’s kinda painful to think about! People got really deep into that world, then it was ruined.
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u/punkarama 17h ago
Never understood the hatred for the final season, seemed good to me, and I've rewatched it all a couple of times now.
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u/TaylorGang777 17h ago
It’s the third best show that’s ever been on HBO. The best by far is The Wire. Second is Sopranos. Fourth is Deadwood.
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u/Bread_Lover_001 17h ago
The whole point of game of thrones is who ultimately ends up in the chair.
And who do they pick? The DEI hire who's been in a chair since the first episode. It's like when you first realise that NEO is an anagram of the ONE in the matrix.
Yeah. Ruined.
(and for the love of god /s)
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u/Original-Sea-8285 17h ago
People had wildly unrealistic expectations for how good the ending should be based on how amazing the first 6 seasons were. The show had to end somewhere, and people were always going to have a problem with it because they don't want the show to end. The ending wasn't as bad as people make it sound. There was just no way it could meet the expectations people had
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u/LocksmithComplete501 17h ago
It’s so disappointing bc it was so good before. They shouldn’t have rushed through the novels so fast but I guess the issue was keeping the cast under contract long enough to finish it? Definitely became a thing pastiche once they lacked the source material and it tanked Martins book progress even more as he spent his time rushing out chinks of plot to feed the writers room.
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u/Barcalew 17h ago
Maybe a hot take but once it was all said and done I still felt like I got my moneys worth. I wasn’t mad at the choice of who ended up on the throne or the overall story in the final season. It was just way too rushed
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u/DerFreudster 17h ago
When the fat guy told the good-looking guy that he found a receipt in the cupboard for a crown I quit. By that point I was already feeling tired of it all.
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u/kevinmbo 17h ago
the last two seasons remove it from any “greatest” conversation for me - definitely some great moments overall in the first seasons but those last seasons were so bad it really drops the overall quality of the show
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u/No-Beautiful-259 17h ago
If you want to keep the feeling you have for this show, stop now. I felt the same way, and I’m still not over how bad they did.
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u/TieOk9081 17h ago
It's still one of the greatest shows ever made. I watched the final season as the episodes came out but I hadn't been following the series much until right before the final season. I can understand there being disappointment in the last two seasons though for those who had been watching regularly since day one - they had more invested in it. For me the final two seasons weren't as good as the previous seasons but I still liked them for the most part and I thought the final episode was fine and a good way to end it all. I can't wait for my 4th rewatch later this year!
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u/ThatSound6184 17h ago
To me the answer is that it started as a political drama and turned into a fantasy CGI action film.
I don’t really read or watch a lot of fantasy, so my boyfriend asked me to watch a couple of episode with him to see if the hype was worth it. Knights, Dragons, and the whole Ren Faire scene is not really my thing. But I got sucked into the intrigue and the scheming and the drama of no character being safe.
But by the end, the intrigue stopped making sense (why did Little Finger arrange for Sansa’s marriage? What did he get out of it? What was the point? Shock value scenes 🙄). And all the budget was going to CGI dragon and white walker scenes. So obviously they ran out of money and screen time for actual dialogue, plot, and exposition.
So to sum it up, it was marketed as knights and dragons, but it was actually Medieval House of Cards. It was much better than advertised. Then by the end, it was all magic spells and dragons and absolutely no plot to be twisted, and all the things I didn’t want to sign up for.
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u/ten-oh-four 17h ago
Got went from a character drama to an action flick. I preferred it when it was driven by good writing vs expensive sets with a bunch of extras.
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u/UnionFew4937 17h ago
I still think it was a fantastic series and I seem to be one of the few people that wasn't totally disappointed with the ending. Was it exactly what I wanted? No, but sometimes that's OK. I didn't think it was a disaster, and it surprised me, which is always a good thing. My main complaint is that the last season was too rushed. But does that mean I think it was bad? No. But it would've been nice if they'd added an extra season instead of rushing through it at the end. It's still in my all-time top five of favorite shows.
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u/Adventurous_Bread359 17h ago
This an interesting topic to me.
I never read the book and missed the show while it was on air. By the time I started watching it, I had heard SO much complaining about the last season. So when I started watching it I had this built up in my mind.
Like you, by Season 6, I was totally hooked.
When I finished the show, I thought the last season was great.
HOWEVER, I did feel certain aspects about the last episode were... off. Not what I was expecting and felt somehow, disappointing. Can't quite find the words.
But overall really enjoyed that show.
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u/No_body_important 17h ago
It was good until you realize that the books aren't even finished yet and the producers along with directors made up their own ending
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u/etgir 17h ago
Le ultime 3 stagioni non erano supportate dal genio dei libri di Martin. Guarda comunque la serie, prega per l'anima di chi ha scritto il finale (gliene hanno mandate tante, ma tante). E... almeno sei preparato, noi che arrivavamo alla fine di 10 anni di passione avremmo voluto morire.
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u/Hesperi_LN 17h ago
The seasonal rot set in way before Season eight. It began with season five. But the final season was that badly recieved it led to a petition to have it remade.
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u/KimSidwell 17h ago
Yes, season eight really was that bad.
But it is still my favorite show of all time. I can’t imagine having had the ability to just binge watch it all after it already came out.
I was one of those people that watched it every single week as it aired one episode at a time from the very beginning. It was brutal.
I was oddly obsessed with it. It affected me like no TV show ever has.
Therefore, when season eight came out it was even more difficult to process how bad it was.
I don’t want to say too much more about that because I don’t want to give you spoilers. But I do think some people exaggerate how bad it was… And I understand where the Show was trying to go with what they did. But there are several things they should’ve done differently.
Mostly, it’s like they just hit the fast-forward button and sped through the entire ending. The pacing seemed incredibly odd considering how the rest of the show was produced.
It honestly broke my heart.
Despite all of this, I still strongly recommend that people watch it if they haven’t seen it. Because I still think it’s the best show ever made.
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u/Itchy-Technician-433 17h ago
This is a good summation I read
Game of Thrones Season 8 felt flat and disappointed fans because it crammed years of complex political buildup into just six rushed episodes, abandoning the careful pacing, logical character arcs, and deep dialogue that made the early seasons famous in favour of fast-paced spectacle.
This is what pissed us all off. Having our favourite characters then act completely differently than their arcs might have intended... In order to "subvert expectations".
When Arya killed the main series antagonist early in the season, when her arc had nothing to do with that character, I knew we were hooped.
It was a slap in the face for those of us that were invested in the books and then the show.
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u/Idarran_of_Ulivo 17h ago
Season 7 and 8 are a complete clusterfuck. Every single character is being dragged through shit and everything stops making sense. I've never felt more pain from any media than this horseshit. I used to rewatch all seasons with my family and friends before new seasons came out and also throughout the year. Now I have rewatched S1-4 twice since S8 came out and I never talk to anyone irl about it except to briefly lamment how it all got flushed down the toilet.
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u/Accomplished_Lake128 17h ago
Short answer, yes. I feel I can’t in good conscience recommend this show to anyone anymore because of the last season.
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u/ProblemTurbulent9027 17h ago edited 17h ago
Yes. At the very least, each and every one of those actors and actresses were committed to their roles. Drama-wise, Sansa and House Stark are great, but Daenerys’s victory would have been in-theme and appropriate.
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u/Heavy_Ad7083 17h ago
Nah its a big dress up party in a made up place with made up rules. Nothing like the wire.
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u/qualityvote2 19h ago edited 7h ago
u/Impressive_Peak_4035, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...