Endgame of Thrones

So it begins - or ends. We've come to the final set of episodes of Game of Thrones, the first one having aired tonight. Let's take it as a given that there'll be SPOILERS, both for tonight's episode and for stuff that's happened in previous seasons. Although if you're trying to avoid being SPOILED for episodes that aired in 2011, then there's not much I can do for you.




So far today's episode was just moving characters into place for what's coming for the rest of the season: setting up conflicts, betrayals and revelations of incest, among other things. Although given that the Targaryens were into that sort of thing, maybe Jon Snow won't be too bothered to learn of his link, shall we call it, to Daenerys?

It's probably not an accident, either, that I'm put in mind of that first episode, all those years ago. Not just the final shot, when Jaime Lannister comes face to face with Bran Stark, whom he pushed out of that window at the end of the first episode, but Tyrion's first meeting with Sansa Stark since the Purple Wedding, Arya's first meeting with Jon since he went off to the Wall, and so forth.

It's hard not to be impressed that the show made it this far. For one thing, it's long since left the books in the dust, and if I'm honest I've kind of given up on those - maybe George RR Martin will finish them and maybe he won't, but when the final episode airs next month (or whenever it airs), the show will be the definitive vision of the story for me.

Also, it's such a different show than it was back then. I've read a certain amount of criticism of the last few seasons, that they were somehow more "TV-like" and less "novel-like", whatever that means. The implication has been that the quality has gone down, but I'm not convinced, especially because they've left behind the concept of "sexposition", or attempting to keep the audience's attention through long expository scenes by having naked actresses doing sexy stuff while Littlefinger blabbed on about his crap.

That's probably also a function of the actresses gaining more power with the producers as the show's popularity grew, and refusing to do the nude scenes. Though there was a cute nod to it in tonight's episode, where Bronn's about to get to business with three prostitutes and they're talking about the dragons as they take their clothes off.

(I.e., the show can still be exploitative, but I choose to read that scene as a reference to how it used to deliver information back in the old days)

The other thing I appreciate about the show over the books is that it's proven more successful at navigating certain narrative quagmires than GRRM himself has. In the years leading up to the publication of Dance With Dragons, I would have a look at his blog and see references to the "Meereenese knot", or the long and drawn out section where Dany was learning statecraft in Meereen before she went back to invade Westeros.

Part of what made DWD a bit of a slog was that set of chapters, in which not much happened for hundreds and hundreds of pages. So it was a relief that the same bits in the show took up a lot less narrative oxygen, and to be honest, we're seeing some of the effects on Dany's character but it's not overwhelming the plot anymore.

Finally, it's nice to be watching the show as it airs (thanks to my friend sharing his HBO Go password), rather than scrabbling around to catch up either with things that other friends have pirated for me, or watching an entire season on a flight from London to Hong Kong, as I did with season 2 back in 2012. Shared HBO Go passwords notwithstanding, I think I can take it as an indicator of how far I've come personally and professionally compared with 2011 that I'm able to watch it in the comfort of my own place, without having to worry about being delayed and avoiding spoilers.

So onwards and upwards. We've already been trained to expect that anyone can die at any time, so I'll be looking forward to some exciting deaths in the next few episodes - after all, if GRRM killed a Stark every time we asked when the next book was coming out, I expect there'll have to be about 8 million deaths to make up for it.

Valar morghulis!