Nerd Processor
What if the End of ‘Game of Thrones’ Is Terrible?
Problems in the show’s last season bode ill for its grand finale
The end of Game of Thrones — the TV show at least — is finally upon us. After eight seasons and 67 episodes, it’s rather daunting to realize we’re finally going to see the long-awaited battle for the fate of Westeros, where the only guarantee is that some of our favorite characters will be dying. But frankly, I have a bigger worry about this final season: What if it’s terrible?
This is not just a counterintuitive take — my concerns are very, very real. I am not happy about the possibility of Thrones’s flubbing its landing after years of excellence. And this isn’t about the possibility that the epic conclusion will be disappointing because that’s a given. There’s simply too much anticipation, which has made our expectations impossible to fulfill. I’ve made my peace with that, and you should, too.
I’m certainly not going to pretend Thrones has been flawless so far. (Rewatch Daenerys’ interminable dragon-napping storyline in season two or anything that ever happened in Dorne.) But the last season, way back in 2017, had more issues than any season before it, and there were many moments that were flat-out bad — often in ways the show hadn’t evidenced before…
