WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
It’s clever, really. From the very start, Game of Thrones managed to reel us in with two oh-my-god moments. Season 1, Episode 1: Innocent kid gets pushed out of window by one half of an incestuous couple. Season 1, finale: Heroic “main character” gets his head chopped off. The world was hooked! What kind of sick, twisted, amazing show was this?!
For six seasons we were treated to more of these shocking moments, from brutal and sudden deaths of heroes and villains, to surprising revelations and major plot twists.
Which is why Season 7 fell a little flat.
Sure, there were some huge moments, but us jaded, cynical, seen-it-all GoT fans just can’t be shocked anymore. We knew the Starks were going to reunite. We knew that Jorah would recover from Greyscale. We knew Cersei would kill a bunch of people. We knew that Dany was going to unleash those dragons on her enemies at some point.
Even in the finale, which is supposed to be the shockingest of the shocking, was super predictable.
As soon as Sansa, Arya and Littlefinger were in a room together it was clear that his minutes were numbered. And as soon as Jon and Daenerys were back on that boat it was obvious they were going to give into that sexual tension that had been building since they met. We also knew that Bran and Sam would finally figure out that Jon is officially a Targaryen and therefore the rightful heir to the throne. We knew Cersei had a heart in there somewhere and wouldn’t kill either of her brothers. And a zombie dragon burning the Wall down – what else is a zombie dragon gonna do with itself?
That’s not to say these moments weren’t awesome. In a way, they were exciting because we had been waiting for them for so long. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t cheer like a crazed footy fan when Littlefinger copped it. Or when Jon and Dany got all naked and (unbeknownst to them) incestuous.
While I still think this show is the best thing on TV and hang out for every episode like a full-blown addict, I can’t lie: I miss the shock factor of those early seasons.
With rumours swirling that we might have to wait until 2019 for the final season of Game of Thrones, here’s hoping it gives the show’s writers time to get together with George R. R. Martin and deliver the edge-of-your-seat, ‘oh my god did that just happen’ kind of episodes that got us hopelessly hooked in the first place.
