Game of Thrones: Is Predictability Bad?

Here they go again on their own.
"The end is near" - John Monad, John From Cincinnati, S01E01



Last night on Game of Thrones, the outcome we all expected to happen happened.

Let me begin with my take on the "fake-out death." As I've written extensively about in my Walking Dead reviews, I hate this entire concept. Now, the entire Glenn debacle is substantially worse than anything on Game of Thrones, but even so, a seasonal cliffhanger on the death of character who wouldn't be dead past the first episode of the new season is ridiculous. It seemed to be a preordained truth that Jon Snow would be resurrected, giving the season ending scene less impact and, in the end, making me take the show a little less seriously as a result.

Where do we land on the comparison?
Now, the one upside I'll give to this entire fake-out is that it was at least lawful in the rules of the Game of Thrones universe. At the very least, we know that magic does exist in this world, and at the very least, we've seen Melisandre practice it before. And, perhaps we'll be able to benefit from the resurrection of Snow being a major plot point to move him along past just conflicts north of The Wall. All of that being said though, his assassination seemed superfluous. Aside from shock value, why kill Jon Snow if he's going to be back so soon? It feels like lazy writing rather than good plotting. We know that Jon must move on to more relevant plot than the conflict with the Wildlings, but the mutiny plot would have worked to move him on regardless. If Alliser Thorne had staged a failed rebellion ending in a close call, Jon still would have had reason to fight back and eventually leave The Wall.

However, while I am certainly annoyed by the entire Jon Snow death and rebirth, this is not exactly show-ruining. What could be ruining though, is the rather unceremonious way multiple characters have been killed in the last two weeks. In just two episodes, we've lost Roose Bolton, Doran Martell, Trystane Martell, Areo Hotah, Balon Greyjoy, and the entire Daenerys plot. Now, Game of Thrones has always been a show that revels in its edginess. Beginning with the execution of Ned Stark late in season one, we've known that this is a show that's willing to kill anyone at any time. Thus, I have no real qualms with any of the aforementioned characters dying, more so with the way it all went down.

Dorne, the sunny land of writing missteps
In the premiere of season six, we all knew something had to be done about Dorne. It was by far the weakest element of the fifth season, and to fix things, action had to be taken. Was the proper course of action to just kill off three ostensibly major players using the three worst characters on the show? Having the sand snakes stab Trystane Martell through the face, murder Areo Hotah (who was apparently supposed to be a badass,) and then kill the King himself was just poor writing. To have it done in the middle of an episode without any real gravitas or importance made it all the worse. Likewise, Roose Bolton, a major villain, was killed rather unceremoniously by Ramsay in an underscored scene. We already understand that Ramsay is villainous, and having him randomly murder his father, along with his step-mother and brother was just adding insult to injury. Especially for a man as smart and pragmatic as Roose, this seemed like a lame way for him to go out - an event that could have actually held significance.

On the Daenerys end of things, it just feels like a waste of screen time. We've watched a plot that hasn't really connected with anything in the rest of the show for nearly six years now. I understand that Danny can't come conquer the North immediately, but sidelining her with a plot in which she must escape the Dothraki widow compound is nothing if not a waste of time. That being said, I did enjoy hearing the Dothraki take on the five best things in life.

Not all was wrong with Game of Thrones, however. Certain aspects of the show have really shined in the beginning of the season. For one, the Varys/Tyrion dialogue in Mereen shines, just as these two always do when they're together. Get Little Finger in on the action and the best three characters truly shine in each others company. Additionally, the Cersei/Jaime time in King's Landing has been well spent. As cringe worthy as Jaime's "fuck everyone" dialogue was, it's fascinating to see such high powered individuals completely at the end of their rope. Other than the new addition of Zombie Mountain, the favored Lannister children have never been in such peril. Now, with the High Sparrow, they're finally in a situation where the deck is stacked against them, rather than for.
TV's newest comic hero

As much as I complain, I'm still very much enjoying Game of Thrones, but in an overall sense, the show must begin to angle more toward the end-game. A lot of the sidetracking plots need to be resolved for the actual conclusion of the story to begin to shape itself. How can we do that with repetitive Arya scenes, Danny being locked in Vaes Dothrak, and characters dying just to come back to life? We need forward momentum, and though some aspects of the show are delivering, a more complete boost is still required.

As a bonus to my review this week, I'd like to give a special shoutout to perhaps the strangest scene in Game of Thrones history: the Dothraki sitcom moment. In the season six premiere, Khal Moro, the new captor of Daenerys, talked with his warriors about the top five best things in life. After some Grandma jokes and other dialogue that felt like it was taken out of a bad 21st century buddy sitcom, the Dothraki landed on:

- Undressing a beautiful woman for the first time.
- Killing another Khal.
- Conquering a city and taking her slaves back to Vaes Dothrak.
- Breaking a wild horse.
- Number five was not mentioned.
* I'm not 100% sure the order that they landed on.

Thus, in honor of Khal Moro and his buds, I will list my five best things in life:

5. Re-watching Arrested Development.
4. Having extremely long discussions about the strategy, players, and funniest moments on Survivor.
3. Going to a midnight screening of Tommy Wiseau's masterpiece, The Room.
2. Tearing apart or praising television on this blog.
1. Conquering a city and taking her slaves back to New York.
* I may not have done all of these.

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