When the reaction is almost a show in itself…

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Clint

Last week I waxed more-or-less rapturous in my praise for Avengers: Endgame, but part of me wonders… what if I had really felt like they dropped the ball? What if, after 10 years and 22 movies, the MCU I had so come to love had culminated in a hot mess of suck?

Thankfully this was not a question I had to ask any more than rhetorically, but my friends and colleagues who are still following along with Game of Thrones seem to have been not so lucky. And heaven help me, I’m finding the wailing and gnashing of teeth as entertaining as I did when J.K. Rowling started talking Dumbledore’s sexuality.

I’ve been there, of course. I was there for X-Men: Last Stand, lo those many years ago. In a goddamn theater. My howls of pain and outrage were probably audible for miles. The Star Wars Prequels still haunt me. But you know, Mel Brooks has those words of wisdom:

“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”

And the truth is Dawn and I watched and enjoyed GoT rather slavishly for several seasons, right up to the point we decided we had to cut the cord on our cable TV bill. We told ourselves we’d catch it on Netflix after the fact, or watch at a friends’ house. It didn’t happen. Every so often some GoT-related controversy or coolness would pop up and get people talkin’, but as I ended up with less and less context I discovered I was feeling less and less like I needed to–for example–drop $19.99 or whatever to get HBO Go and be able to stream it again.

So the show is not *quite* over yet but this final Season just seems to be sparking outrage after outrage amongst my peers. That must be exhausting for them. Me, I’m reacting to the news of “So-and-so is acting completely out of character! Their whole arc is ruined!” with “Ah, that’s fascinating.” It’s like I’m engaged in a clinical study of a TV series imploding, or a fanbase, or both. Meanwhile some very deep emotions are being inspired, several of which do not seem to be positive.

I guarantee you that regardless of their rhetoric, good or bad, they’ll all be glued to their sets or other viewing devices again this Sunday for the finale. I won’t be, but I’ll still be looking forwards to the viewing of their viewings come Monday morning.

2 thoughts on “When the reaction is almost a show in itself…”

  1. Sarrah W

    Also, I imagine, fascinating to watch from a writer’s point of view – just how far can you “subvert expectations” before the fanbase notices the manipulation and rejects it entirely? It’s frustrating to see how many people say “Oh, you’re just mad your fan theory didn’t play out!” “Oh, you just didn’t notice all the foreshadowing!” etc, etc, etc. But plenty of pieces of media – even our good ol’ geeky media – have pulled wild character arcs and unexpected plot twists without everyone getting their knickers in a twist.

    For instance – and I’ll keep it vague even though we’re probably past spoiler time for Infinity War – but I didn’t see people complaining about the WRITING when Starlord did the stupid thing. I saw them complaining about the CHARACTER. Because what he did, while incredibly dumb and impulsive, made enough sense for his character to do that the nerdrage was directed where it should be.

    On the contrary, people watching GoT (and again, no spoilers) are upset because, even with foreshadowing, characters are taking actions which make no sense. Smart characters are acting stupid. Impulsive characters are acting criminally insane. Character arcs mean nothing. Chekhov’s gun never gets fired. And people (rightly, in my opinion) are placing the blame on the writing. You know that old saying about how you have to learn the rules before you can know when and how to break them? Yeah, they skipped a few steps there.

    The worst thing is, up until episode 2 of this season? I was still wholeheartedly into it. Avoiding all the spoilers, caring deeply about whether characters lived or died or where they would end up when all was said and done. The writing this season has not sparked rage… just… tiredness. Apathy. Someone could spoil the last episode to me right now and I honestly wouldn’t care. Every character could die next week and I’d just shrug and say, “yeah, expectations subverted, well done, whatever.” But I’ve cared so much about the show up to now, it is intensely frustrating to watch it spiral down the drain.

    Am I going to watch until the end? Of course I am. I love the actors, I love the spectacle, I think literally everyone on the show is doing a stellar job with the exception of the weird writing decisions. Plus the whole thing about not being able to look away from the train wreck, coupled with a bit of sunk cost fallacy… yeah.

    …and that turned into a much longer rant than I was expecting. Maybe there is a little nerdrage hanging around in my frustration. 🙂

  2. Steel Raven

    I’m glad I stop watching when I did for similar reasons (HBO is not worth the $$$) What I have heard is… interesting and I would like to hear the creator commentary after it’s all over to know why they choose to go the direction they have. It would be a shame if they did it just for one more ‘gotcha!’ moment.

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