Did they ever explain why these last two seasons were shortened? I dont recall at the moment last season too well but i cant help but figure 2-3 additional episodes just to let it breathe would have been better, same with this season. These 81 minute episodes still dont feel nearly long enough for what theyre trying to get done in the time allotted.
I feel bad for all the people who aren't enjoying the show anymore but at the same time I was pretty much always 100% prepared for this to happen once the show blew up like it did. Of course there was going to be a mass backlash against the show as it concluded. It's one of the most popular, most talked about, most theorized-upon pieces of media in history. There are countless different theories/wishes/hopes/dreams/ships/etc. spread out across this fandom, and the show is only going to satisfy one fraction of them when it ends. And because of the time we live in, with Twitter and thinkpieces and weekly episode reviews and the like, most of the people whose personal wishlists for the series finale aren't met will turn on it at some point. It's inevitable. Not saying anyone in here is doing that, but most of the general public watching this show probably doesn't think about it as critically as the people in here do. It just kind of is what it is, the people who are happy with how it ends/who can separate their own desires from what the show decides to do will be fine with it, but they're absolutely going to be the minority.
A few things to note as I've been absent. How the fuck did that Starbucks really make it through editing?! The way Rhaegal died was so stupid, like how could they not see those ships coming? I'd have preferred at least an epic battle in the next episode where he dies (or not at all, gotta love the dragons!). Seeing Ghost with an ear missing was pretty heartbreaking and not even a pet well done from Jon before the potential final goodbye? Come on! Overall my least favourite episode this season. I really hope they don't go with the rumoured 'mad queen' storyline as that would be one epic fail in character growth.
Speaking of series finales, this is like the year of so many shows I enjoy ending all at once: Thrones, Broad City, Veep, Legion, Mr. Robot, Archer (supposedly), Arrow (getting a final shortened season). It's crazy.
I do think a lot of it will also come down to how “well” they do it regardless of which theories end up confirmed or dismissed. If they manage to tie up what threads they have into something coherent that is true to how most people see the characters, that will soothe a lot of people who are currently raging. That’s sort of the best any show can hope for at the end is being confident in its own storytelling and themes and hopefully the audience agrees to come along and see why it works. This show is definitely on thin ice as far as a lot of that goes at the moment, which may make the fractures among fans even worse. I keep seeing a lot of sentiment of, “I was actually rooting for this ending and even I don’t understand the writing to get to it,” with big and small moments alike, and that is a very troubling sign. It’s also interesting to compare it to Endgame, which comes from the very similar place of a pop culture juggernaut ending after a decade of work and even longer history from outside sources and yet has been mostly acclaimed and enjoyed by fans from all different interest levels.
I legitimately think that, even if these final two episodes were absolutely flawless in their execution and tied everything up in a way that makes complete narrative sense, the majority of people watching the show would dislike or outright hate it. It's going to be literally impossible please the majority of people at this point, purely from a narrative perspective. I feel like Endgame is the only thing of this scale that has come out and managed to actually have an overwhelming majority of its fans actually love it and accept it regardless of what their personal theories/hopes were. It's pretty wild. But it's also very much the exception and not the rule. I, of course, and am not one of those satisfied people however because I'm very much upset that they didn't go with the shrunken Ant-Man up Thanos' ass theory.
I don’t know that hatred by most fans has been an inevitability, just based on the fact that the vast majority seemed to be ok with the general changes the story has taken up until like maybe last week. As of right now I think they are absolutely headed to a trainwreck, but because of specific choices in the narrative as opposed to destiny from being super popular.
I don't think it's going to be a disaster/trainwreck. I expect it'll be fine. But the reaction to it just being "fine" is going to be enormous.
I’m reminded of BB’s final 8 episodes a lot with this season. The popularity of the show brought all walks of life watching BB who had to put in their 2 cents even though they were casual fans of TV not even BB at best. The BB finale didn’t really work for me, but the whole last season was great. Now you have possibly even a bigger show popularity wise, and of course everyone is going to dissect it. Now I don’t think either are above criticism. The somewhat misogynistic tendencies of the show are it’s worst aspect, and yeah the really fast storylines are a product of having to wrap up such a huge story in 6 episodes. Having said that I’ve been loving this season, and I think Ep1,2, and 4 have been really interesting.
I also was thinking of this final season and comparing it to other shows, Breaking Bad and Mad Men specifically. I don't remember nearly any hate whatsoever for either of those shows, Mad Men in particular.
Not necessarily hate for BB, but just a lot of people I know IRL who never watched the show before would give their terrible reviews, and say stuff like “Walt should just kill Skyler....” or “Walt is such a badass” etc.
Lol, man... the hate she got was so pathetic and glaringly sexist, I definitely don't miss that shit.
I loved BB at the time I watched it, mostly because I was late to the game and didn’t experience any of that outside hate. There are plenty of shows that had big followings and didn’t get blasted like this has been at the end of their runs, and BB is a great example.
Lost got a ton of hate, especially after the series finale, but I enjoyed that whole final season anyways! Haha I guess it's also because social media is more prevalent than ever, which is a pox upon the entire planet. Ugh, hate that shit.
Oh yeah Lost is still one of the gold standards for finale backlash. Most of that was JUST for the final episode though, and luckily time has been kinder to its understanding and acclaim.
I think they’ve done just enough to make me believe Dany could go Mad Queen, that Jon and Dany love each other, that Tyrion and Varys are plotting to seat Jon instead, etc. I think people saying those things don’t make sense are def wrong. My one and only complaint is it just feels like we’re rushing there now instead of doing what the show was great at for 90% of its run which is slow moving deep plots that tied small things together and would shock and surprise and etc. we’ve lost those elements, which is I do tend to believe is mostly inevitable for a lot of shows that run this long and have such a complicated story. There’s less to “chew on” with the story now, but the huge exciting moments are still there because storylines are concluding. That’s why i said it feels more like a summer blockbuster movie and not a tv drama now. It has less of that stuff to “chew on” and it’s very noticeable in this show because of the sheer amount of information and characters and alliances you had to keep up with for the majority of it. That + the sped up plot= people feeling “disappointed”, IMO. It personally doesn’t lower my enjoyment that much to the point of complaining, but it does make me reconsider goat status for it. It’ll always be my favorite though.