{"id":39690,"date":"2017-07-14T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T10:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=39690"},"modified":"2017-09-08T13:17:16","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T17:17:16","slug":"game-of-thrones-griping-14-am-i-watching-this-show-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=39690","title":{"rendered":"Game of Thrones Griping 14: Am I Watching This Show Wrong?"},"content":{"rendered":"
This series analyzes the show, but sometimes references the books as well. If you read it, expect spoilers for both.<\/div>\n

Picking up where we left off, the Great Sept of Baelor is now a pile of scorched rubble. The Queen, Margaery Tyrell, and her brother, Loras Tyrell, are both dead. So are Kevan Lannister (head of House Lannister) and Mace Tyrell (head of House Tyrell). So are Kevan’s son Lancel, small council member Grand Maester Pycelle, head of the Faith the High Sparrow, at least seven Septons and Septas who were to judge the trial, and dozens of nobles and other spectators. Oh, and then King Tommen jumps out of a window.<\/p>\n

So that’s the King, the Queen, the heads of the two most powerful houses currently remaining in Westeros, both of their respective firstborn sons, the head of the continent’s dominant religion, and presumably a big chunk of both the religious and political leadership of King’s Landing, and, by extension, all of Westeros. All dead. Even by this show’s standards, that’s quite a butcher’s bill for one episode.<\/p>\n

The most obvious suspect by far is Cersei Lannister, who was conspicuously not at her own trial shortly before it burst into flames, and whose son, the King, died in a highly suspicious way, with her giant murder-zombie as the only possible witness.<\/p>\n

So the people of King’s Landing do the obvious thing and crown her queen.<\/p>\n

In honor of the occasion, she wore her special evil shoulderpads.<\/div>
In honor of the occasion, she wore her special evil shoulderpads.<\/div><\/p>\n

The most common and plausible explanation for this turn of events I’ve seen given is that there’s no one left to challenge her. In a sense, that’s true – virtually every other named character in King’s Landing is now dead. But I’d always flattered the show’s world-building chops to assume that there are other non-named characters who, even if they’re not given specific personalities, would react to the destruction of almost the entire government with dismay.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Do the Lannister soldiers not care that she appears to have murdered the head of House Lannister? Do the Tyrell soldiers not care that she appears to have murdered the head of House Tyrell? Do the Sparrows, who we’re led to believe are numerous enough to threaten the Crown itself, and who can’t possibly have all fit into the Sept before it blew, not care that their incorruptible and magnetic leader is dead? Do the common people not care that the King has died under highly suspicious circumstances, not to mention the Queen, who we’re shown was very popular?<\/p>\n

This show often presents itself as, among other things, some kind of extended meditation on the nature of power and how it works. That meditation is of limited value when the rules by which power operates can’t manage any semblance of consistency. Just a couple of episodes ago, the Faith’s presence was so oppressive that the Queen of Westeros couldn’t even have a private conversation with her own grandmother without a chaperone present. The whole thing that made the Sparrows threatening was their combination of numbers and fanaticism. “You are the few,” the High Sparrow tells Lady Olenna, “we are the many.” Now he’s been killed, the equivalent of the Vatican lies in smoking ruins, and Faith apparently can’t muster any kind of objection to the prompt coronation of the obvious culprit.<\/p>\n

I suppose there are hypothetical ways this could have happened. Maybe she offered the city’s remaining living authority figures cushy jobs or promotions, maybe she spun a convincing lie to the public about who just killed practically everyone, maybe she secured the loyalty of the Lannister and Tyrell soldiers by… oh, I don’t know. Doing something or other. Maybe somehow everyone collectively decided that the woman who was a disgraced criminal yesterday, and a mass murderer today, should be Queen tomorrow.<\/p>\n

But if you want me to believe that an implausible and highly complicated thing happened, you can’t have it happen offscreen with no explanation. Common sense says there should be rioting in the streets, and Cersei being strung up by an angry mob, not an orderly transfer of power.<\/p>\n

I suppose its possible that this will be somehow justified, or at least acknowledged, in the coming season, but I don’t consider it likely. If I’m wrong, we’ll know in just three more days. In the meantime, I’m going pick what I believe may be the smallest nit I’ve ever picked.<\/p>\n

The Smallest Nit I’ve Ever Picked<\/h3>\n

In lieu of devoting any screen time to explaining how Cersei managed to avoid being tarred and feathered by almost everyone in King’s Landing, we’re treated to another of the show’s famous torture scenes. This time it’s Septa Unella, who she’s somehow managed to kidnap and imprison in the Red Keep.<\/p>\n

I thought I'd be able to get some kind of 'wineboarding' joke out of this scene. But all the ones I came up with just made me queasy. Torture can be gratuitous in the same way violence and nudity can.<\/div>
I thought I'd be able to get some kind of 'wineboarding' joke out of this scene. But all the ones I came up with just made me queasy. Torture can be gratuitous in the same way violence and nudity can.<\/div><\/p>\n

Cersei delivers a speech which I guess is meant to show how her character is primarily motivated by hedonism or something.I could probably do 1500 words on the nonversation’s close cousin: the nonologue.<\/span> Season six was when I really started wishing this show would be more subtle with its Emmy bait. It ends with “I said my face would be the last thing you saw before you died. Do you remember?”<\/p>\n

Then she sends in FrankenGregor, and he removes his helmet. I remember being confused when I first saw this, and I still am. Didn’t she just<\/em> say her face would be the last thing Unella saw before she died? Are we supposed to take from this that FrankenGregor doesn’t have a face? Because even though it’s kind of dark, and even though his face looks all gross and zombie-ish, he seems to at least have one.<\/p>\n

Cersei leaves the room. FrankenGregor is apparently going to torture Unella now, so is Cersei going to come back and show Unella her face just before he finishes her off or something? Look, I get that this isn’t a big deal. And I get that “my face will be the second-<\/em>to-last thing you ever see” is not as cool-sounding a line. I just can’t help but be impressed sometimes at this show’s dogged determination to get even the smallest details wrong.<\/p>\n

And that, I believe, was the smallest nit I’ve ever picked. I’m sure you’re impressed. With that out of the way, now seems like a good time for me to have a crisis of self-doubt.<\/p>\n

Am I Watching This Show Wrong?<\/h3>\n

This show is extremely popular, almost universally acclaimed by critics, and drowning in awards and accolades. Millions of viewers are eagerly awaiting the seventh season. I, on the other hand, by this point basically think that the writers are straight-up hacks. Am I just watching this show wrong?<\/p>\n

Even grumpy old me has to give it some credit. For example, it’s generally very well acted. Even the actors I was suspicious of at first (mainly the young ones) seem to have mostly found their feet. And the old pros – your Charles Dances, your Diana Riggs, your Jonathan Pryces – are a joy to watch when they’re given even just a little bit to chew on.Though I am a bit bitter about them casting Max Von Sydow and then giving him practically nothing to do.<\/span> The CGI is also impressive, though obviously limited by budgetary concerns.<\/p>\n

As for the writing, well… there is one thing I’ve noticed about the writing. It seems like the writers don’t always understand consistency of setting, or of character, or sometimes even basic cause and effect. But there is one thing they do seem to understand: hype.<\/p>\n

People get hyped for this show. I remember the nearly frothing anticipation that built up in advance of the Gregor-Oberyn fight, or the as-yet-unrealized Cleganebowl. Many are straining at the leash to see Daenerys and company finally land in Dorne (assuming that’s where they land), and for Jon and Daenerys to finally meet, for the wall to finally fall. I realized that this show reminds me of something. It reminds me of pro wrestling.<\/p>\n

International tag team champions.<\/div>
International tag team champions.<\/div><\/p>\n

I don’t mean that as criticism. I never quite managed to get into pro wrestling myself, but I don’t have anything against it either, and even admire it in a way. Telling a crowd-pleasing story is a skill like any other, and pro wrestling writers (the good ones, at least) are experts at it.<\/p>\n

You can tell by the lingo of the trade, which I’ve found useful even in other contexts. Terms like face and hell, the heel\/face and face\/heel turn, concepts like pushing and jobbing – though I don’t often like jargon, in this case I think it serves a valuable purpose, and indicates that the craft can reach a high level.<\/p>\n

But we don’t talk about pro wrestling the way we do other TV shows. Critics don’t review Smackdown the same way they do The Sopranos. They don’t (usually) write long thinkpieces on its themes, ones that describe how the sequence where the ref fails to notice John Cena sneaking a folding chair into the ring is a cutting commentary on America’s crumbling faith in our institutions. Wrestling isn’t that, because, for the most part, it doesn’t try to be that.<\/p>\n

But Game of Thrones does try, and critics take it seriously. They discuss the show’s depiction of political and power dynamics, even though its political and power dynamics operate by Calvinball rules half the time. They discuss what the show has to say about an authoritarian, patriarchal culture, even though the setting’s misogyny seems to turn on and off like a lightswitch at the convenience of the writers.<\/p>\n

Even if this show was pro wrestling, would it be good<\/em> pro wrestling? I think I would say it was frustrating when the promising High Sparrow\/Margaery angle got sacrificed to push Cersei. Or how I don’t like that they keep going for the same kinds of cheap heat over and over again. Or that the writers are determined to push Euron Greyjoy even though he’s not getting over at all.I’m not actually a pro wrestling guy. I might be using some of this lingo wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

And I think – and this relates to the whole “gitchy feeling” stuff I wrote way back in the olden days of early 2017 – that many of them realize this. I’m going to do something unusual and just copy-paste a section of a review of “The Winds of Winter” (the final episode of season six) from The Onion’s AV Club. Here it is:<\/p>\n

…it's even tidier than that, barreling through any potential complications just so it can get to its ending points. Take the Dorne bookend. The very term, Dorne, embodies the second act's shortcuts by being a no-fuss catch-all for anywhere in Dorne, most often its capital, Sunspear. In my day you had to learn the sigils and the words for the lesser houses to understand what was going on. Olenna arrives in mourning, and Varys is on his way out because he has to get back to Meereen in time for Dany's departure. He can't just wait for her to get there for some reason. Anyway, he's there in Dorne to help broker an alliance between the Tyrells and the Martells on one side and the Targaryen queen on the other. So what has Ellaria been doing all this time? Ever since she took out her region's ruling men for their inaction against the Lannisters? Apparently she's been busy waiting patiently for the narrative to activate her. And the Dornish citizens who abetted or accepted her coup? They're fine. Real go-with-the-flow types, unlike every single Dornish character with a name. For that matter, what has Olenna been doing? Did they intercept her on the road, or was she raising an army, or is she army-less because the Tyrells are out of power now? Who's to say? All that matters to the producers, even more than the sight of her learning what happened to her family, is that she join Team Dany. Meanwhile Dany agrees, at Tyrion's behest, to leave Daario behind to keep the peace in Meereen while she's gone. Yes, there's peace in Slaver's Bay\u00e2\u20ac"make that the Bay Of Dragons. Dany decisively ended the insurgency. But what about the ex-slaves who were unhappy with the free life? On the one hand, Daario's right: “Fuck Meereen.” But Game Of Thrones can't make such a big deal about how hard it is for an occupying ruler to assert her own justice on a city and then just wipe its hands of the nitty-gritty. Or I guess it can. Welcome to season six.<\/div>\n

The reviewer, Brandon Nowalk, gave the episode a B+. Does the description above sound like a B+ episode of television to you? The entire reviewYou can read it here<\/a>.<\/span> is possibly more critical than the excerpt I listed. Nowalk’s review isn’t the only example of this happening. It seems like people are rating this show highly out of habit more than anything else.<\/p>\n

Will this trend continue? Or bend? Or break? We’ll find out soon enough. The plan right now is to start doing reviews of new episodes as they come out – and they’ll be on Monday, rather than Friday. So I guess I’ll see you all Monday, where I’ll review the season seven premiere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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