There's been a nagging sense during this season of Game of Thrones that something is off. Sure, maybe it is the 7-episode order making everything move 14% faster, or the fact that characters are together again making for more central story-telling, but something definitely seems off. More than anything, this dip in Game of Thrones made me immediately think of the last show to be such a cultural phenomenon to end - Breaking Bad. It was a better show, but to me it had the same late-seasons strangeness. It also split up its last two seasons into shorter installments. But more than anything, what it did was focus way too much on the plot and the end-game. And I fear that Game of Thrones is doing the same thing, just not with the same pure brilliance Breaking Bad did.
It sounds weird to criticize any show, particularly a drama, for being too plot-driven, but in reality I think that is fair. A great show isn't always involved on moving from A to B, but going from A to F and focusing a lot of time on B, C, and D. Like many things, few shows did this better than The Wire, which changed its long-form plot each season, and was so slow, so exact it took hours for things to progress. Episodes were isolated, were rarely built off advancing some central plot. That's why I can put on any episode of The Wire at random and be entertained. If anything, some of the better episodes were early-to-middle of seasons before the plot coalesced.
Both Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones were like this. The best seasons of Game of Thrones was always paced slowly and methodically. The best seasons showcased politics, religion, race relations. There were so many lost plots of Jon north of the wall, or Dany's long march through Essos, or Stannis's entire storyline. Sure, they are all either meaningless or forgettable now that we turn towards the final stage, but in reality showcased a show at the peak of its powers, playing off great, voluminous, source material.
Breaking Bad was even better in this regard, showcasing so many small moments, be it Jesse vs. his parents or relationship with Jane & Andrea, to Walt's up and down relationship with his son, to Hank loving minerals. Breaking Bad, to me, was at its best when it was character-driven rather than plot-driven. The final two-part season of the show was way too plot-driven for me. Memorable, sure. Great, definitely. But not as rewatchable, not as lasting as those earlier seasons when it was smaller.
Taking this back to Game of Thrones, my favorite two seasons of the show were its first and fourth. The first was the show at its smallest, before they introduced so many players, cities and 'kings' that muddled Seasons 2-3 way too much. It was a long character study of a honest, good man losing his life due to that unwavering, naive purity. Season 4 was a great character piece of King's Landing, from Joffrey's evil, to Cersei and Tywin's scheming, to Jamie and Tyrion being so conflicted. Sure, you can so those seasons were plot-driven (all of Game of Thrones is), but even their 'showcase' episodes.
This season of Game of Thrones has been way, way too plot driven. Each episode has some 'Wow' moment, but the plot is now overtaking sense, be it the suddenly rapid transit that has popped up all over Westeros, with characters traipsing from region to region at the drop of a hat, or the convenient plot devices and idiotic ideas. The show is still good for the reasons it will go down in history: the incredible film-making quality of the show and the way it can pull of grand scenes and action like no show ever. Yet, there is a feeling that as Game of Thrones hits its final stretch, it has lost some of the soul that made it great. Behind those action packed moments and incredible staging, used to be a heart of dialogue and personal introspection, something that is glaringly missing in this short season.
I have hopes that Game of Thrones can stick the landing plot-wise, and even if it doesn't, it has provided more incredible moments than all but a handful of dramas I've ever seen. It only seems wobbly now due to how incredibly stable and great it has been. But much like Breaking Bad lost some of its luster for me during the end, Game of Thrones seems to be following a similar fate.
It sounds weird to criticize any show, particularly a drama, for being too plot-driven, but in reality I think that is fair. A great show isn't always involved on moving from A to B, but going from A to F and focusing a lot of time on B, C, and D. Like many things, few shows did this better than The Wire, which changed its long-form plot each season, and was so slow, so exact it took hours for things to progress. Episodes were isolated, were rarely built off advancing some central plot. That's why I can put on any episode of The Wire at random and be entertained. If anything, some of the better episodes were early-to-middle of seasons before the plot coalesced.
Both Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones were like this. The best seasons of Game of Thrones was always paced slowly and methodically. The best seasons showcased politics, religion, race relations. There were so many lost plots of Jon north of the wall, or Dany's long march through Essos, or Stannis's entire storyline. Sure, they are all either meaningless or forgettable now that we turn towards the final stage, but in reality showcased a show at the peak of its powers, playing off great, voluminous, source material.
Breaking Bad was even better in this regard, showcasing so many small moments, be it Jesse vs. his parents or relationship with Jane & Andrea, to Walt's up and down relationship with his son, to Hank loving minerals. Breaking Bad, to me, was at its best when it was character-driven rather than plot-driven. The final two-part season of the show was way too plot-driven for me. Memorable, sure. Great, definitely. But not as rewatchable, not as lasting as those earlier seasons when it was smaller.
Taking this back to Game of Thrones, my favorite two seasons of the show were its first and fourth. The first was the show at its smallest, before they introduced so many players, cities and 'kings' that muddled Seasons 2-3 way too much. It was a long character study of a honest, good man losing his life due to that unwavering, naive purity. Season 4 was a great character piece of King's Landing, from Joffrey's evil, to Cersei and Tywin's scheming, to Jamie and Tyrion being so conflicted. Sure, you can so those seasons were plot-driven (all of Game of Thrones is), but even their 'showcase' episodes.
This season of Game of Thrones has been way, way too plot driven. Each episode has some 'Wow' moment, but the plot is now overtaking sense, be it the suddenly rapid transit that has popped up all over Westeros, with characters traipsing from region to region at the drop of a hat, or the convenient plot devices and idiotic ideas. The show is still good for the reasons it will go down in history: the incredible film-making quality of the show and the way it can pull of grand scenes and action like no show ever. Yet, there is a feeling that as Game of Thrones hits its final stretch, it has lost some of the soul that made it great. Behind those action packed moments and incredible staging, used to be a heart of dialogue and personal introspection, something that is glaringly missing in this short season.
I have hopes that Game of Thrones can stick the landing plot-wise, and even if it doesn't, it has provided more incredible moments than all but a handful of dramas I've ever seen. It only seems wobbly now due to how incredibly stable and great it has been. But much like Breaking Bad lost some of its luster for me during the end, Game of Thrones seems to be following a similar fate.
