Return to Westeros

Now all the rabid critics have gone home, let’s take another peek at Game of Thrones

I’ve recently been binging on Games of Thrones. The whole 73 episodes were broadcast over eight seasons between April 2011 to May 2019. And the rest, as they say, is history. Like millions across the world I watched it every year as each season was released to its fawning fans. Until it was over. And then came the backlash. From being revered as the best tv series ever, breaking down the conventions of story telling and reaching a new high in fantasy writing, it was castigated as a huge disappointment, a big let down. The majority of the criticism was reserved for the writers of the last two seasons. And, yes. They were the very same writers — David Benioff and D. B. Weiss — who had received unparalleled praise and accolades from fans and critics alike, for the earlier seasons. We were not worthy of their god given talents. How could they have fallen from such grace so quickly?

Although the majority of the fans venom was reserved for seasons 7 and 8, some even went back to seasons 5 and 6, leaving just the first 4 seasons as the show’s golden era. To me that feels a little harsh. I think we can safely place the main source of trouble with the last two seasons. Look no further than the numbers. After enjoying 10 episodes per season, season 7 was…