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Movies & TV

22nd Apr 2019

Game of Thrones is the biggest TV show ever made, but what makes it so good?

Rudi Kinsella

Game of Thrones

Listen to JOE’s brand new GOT reaction show, The North Awaits, with Michael Fry & Carl Kinsella right here

What makes Game of Thrones’ final season the biggest spectacle in TV history?

Soooo… have you seen the first episode of the new season of Game of Thrones?

Of course you have. By the time you’re reading this, you might even have seen the second. It’s literally all anyone is talking about. In offices, gyms, football changing rooms, and especially on social media – there are three words on everyone’s minds.

Game. Of. Thrones.

But why do so many people love the show? What has made the final season such a historic event?

There are a few major reasons, but before examining them, it’s interesting to look at all of the barriers to entry for the smash hit show.

Off the bat, it seems like a show that should never go mainstream. For many reasons.

There are loads of characters, all of whom are important to a fairly convoluted storyline, with names that are really hard to pronounce (and even harder to spell). Take it from someone who only started watching it last Christmas. At first, it’s a mess.

Also, everyone looks the same. Most people talk the same (with the arguable exception of Aidan Gillen’s Littlefinger). And then suddenly, you’re hooked. You don’t know how they got you, but they did.

It also suffers the same way shows like Lost did, in that if you missed an episode one week, you’re done for. There’s almost no point in watching it again the following week, because you’ll have missed something extremely important.

Again, these are reasons the show shouldn’t be as big as it is. But it succeeds anyway.

It’s a show that appeals to casual and nerdy viewers alike. For the most part at least, the TV show has managed to avoid dividing the millions of people who have read George R. R. Martin’s (still to be finished) Song of Ice and Fire novels.

Sure, there have been a few question marks here and there, but the vast majority of those who read the books will tell you they love the TV show too. On the same level, newcomers who haven’t read the books can watch the show to see the cool action scenes and smart dialogue, of which there is bucketloads in a show that is a combination of political drama and fantasy series, two pretty nerdy genres.

If you watch every episode three times and dissect every scene until you understand every little metaphor and piece of foreshadowing in the series, then you’ll probably love it too, but you don’t necessarily have to either.

There’s something different there for everyone.

And let’s be honest. The sex helped.

It really helped…

Ask a casual fan to describe the entire series in five different words. If one of them isn’t sex, we’ll give you a tenner.

But it’s not just a cheap tactic to hook audiences. It is the main motivation for a number of characters (Euron Greyjoy comes to mind in the most recent episode), and it’s often their downfall too.

To quote Jaime Lannister himself: “Maybe it really is all cocks in the end.”

And let’s look at Jaime Lannister. The Kingslayer. If we’re being honest, his character arc sums up exactly how good the series is.

In the first episode, he’s the most detestable character in the show. He looks like he’s going to be the big bad villain throughout. He does an unspeakable act, and the entire audience is supposed to absolutely despise him.

This continues throughout the next season or two, when everyone continues to hate him, as he seemingly seeks to commit horrible deeds, each one as despicable as the last.

It reaches a point where you feel he is completely irredeemable, until the u-turn begins.

Fast forward to the end of Season 7, and we are rooting for him. We are siding with him. We want him to win. Him, a man guilty of incest. A man who pushed a defenceless young boy out a window and permanently paralysed him in the process. Granted, standards of morality and nobility aren’t exactly sky high in Game of Thrones, but it’s still an impressive turnaround.

And that is the beauty of the show. If you were to show Season 1 Jaime side-by-side with Season 7 Jaime, you wouldn’t believe they were the same character.

But when you look at everything that has happened in between, it makes perfect sense. And that’s good television. That’s the best television.

Now it’s all about whether or not they stick the landing. There was definitely some evidence of turbulence in Season 7 and with an unparalleled level of expectation ahead of the finale, it’s probably the most pressurised landing in the world of TV and movies since this…

Clip via Kack Boo

If they pull it off, it will have to be considered as one of, if not the best TV series of all time.

We’re one episode in to the season finale, and so far, so good.