One of my favorite “getting to know someone” questions is, “ If you could rewatch any show for the first time, what would it be?” My answer was, and still is, Game of Thrones. I loved it. My sister put me on to the show when it was in the middle of its third season and, after months of me saying that I didn’t want to watch it, I finally decided to give it a chance. Like most people, I wasn’t very deep into season one before I was completely hooked. When season 7 came to its conclusion, fans waited. Two years of waiting, watching theory videos, and internally struggling with whether or not to look at the leaked on-set photos. But we waited, because Winter was coming.

There has never been a show like GOT, and we’ll probably never have another show that has its impact. It changed the way production studios looked at demographics. Millions of people, from all different backgrounds, invested in a show about ladies, lords, knights, and dragons. I’ve talked about GOT in the hair shop with middle-age black women getting press and curls. The Home Box Office is no stranger to extremely successful shows with large ensemble casts, having given us shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, and True Blood, but Game of Thrones was nothing short of a cultural phenomenon.    

I mentioned earlier that Game of Thrones is still my answer to rewatch question, but I definitely do have a stipulation. It’s a simple one, really. I just need someone to lie to me and say that season 6 is the last season. Whoever is put in charge of the lie can make up any reason they’d like for the abrupt cancellation of the most financially lucrative show of all time. Just make it believable. 

If you’ve never seen GOT, you might be wondering why I would go through such great lengths to avoid the ending of a show that I clearly love. Or maybe you saw the giant wave of angry tweets and think pieces that’s been crashing down on social media timelines since May 2019. Either way, i’ll let you know: Game of Thrones has the worst ending of any tv show I’ve ever seen. Worse than all the infamous tv endings, and that includes The Sopranos so don’t ask! 

But it’s not even just the ending. It’s everything that led up to the ending. It was all of the foreshadowing they set up over the last 7 seasons had no payoff and watching the characters that we loved and hated and loved to hate completely betray their characterization. For many fans, it was like being punk’d. This show, that was so close to being perfect, and they blew it all in the final two seasons. It’s funny. Growing up in Buffalo, New York, I have heard people talking about the Buffalo Bills in the 90s my entire life. About how things should have been different, about what could have been. I scoffed, looking at these people upset about games from 20+ years ago. I get it now.

Game of Thrones was way too big a show to sum up all my feelings about it in one post. Which is why I am dedicating the next few weeks to talking about the high and low points of Game of Thrones. I’m really excited to share my thoughts, and hopefully hear some of yours!