The eighth Game of Thrones season is finally over, and so are our dreams about getting the satisfying Game of Thrones story we wanted. Even before the finale aired it was clear we were witnessing the worst Game of Thrones season in history, and a disaster for HBO, in spite of those record viewing numbers. The last episode happens to be the worst in the entire series, and it only needed less than 12 hours to achieve that.
After episode 4, which was the worst episode ever until the finale, a fan started a Change.org petition asking HBO to remake the final season with competent writers — almost 1,400,000 people signed it, as of this writing. Some Game of Thrones stars reacted after hearing about it. Kit Harington told people to go “fuck themselves,” Isaac Hempstead Right thought it’s ridiculous, while Emilia Clarke actually shared with the world what she’d most want to see in a season 8 reshoot. But, Sophie Turner, it’s just wrong to say that the petition is “disrespectful.” If anything, it’s the Game of Thrones season 8’s writing that is disrespectful to fans.
“All of these petitions and things like that — I think it’s disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season,” Turner told The New York Times. “Like 50-something night shoots. So many people worked so, so hard on it, and for people to just rubbish it because it’s not what they want to see is just disrespectful.”
What you fail to realize here, Sophie Turner, is that it’s actual die-hard Game of Thrones fans who’re criticizing season 8. It’s people who’ve been paying for HBO for years because of Game of Thrones. It’s some of the same fans who have praised the series for so many years. And these fans know how much work went into all of this, and they’re not questioning any of that. And it’s not the way the show ended either. It’s the bad writing choices and rushing to get it done that ruined it. You can be critical of something and still respect it.
Dylan D., who started the petition, sums everything up perfectly:
The issue I have is not necessarily with what we got, it’s HOW we got there — A rushed, laughably inconsistent mess of a season fraught with cringe-inducing, arc-slaying dialogue and “everybody is stupid” syndrome. We can expect that the books will describe a more sensical path toward the ultimate conclusions that we will see on Sunday. No pressure, Mr. Martin.
D&D adapted those books in the beginning and it became one of the greatest TV shows of all time. No one can doubt their talents there. But they seemingly became tired of the series and rushed to the end, thereby doing the show and its fans a great disservice.
I feel for the actors and actresses too. I am sure some of them are happy with their arcs or perhaps are just happy to be done with the series so they can move on, but I am also sure that many are disappointed with the writing of their characters and the plot here in the end. They put their souls into these characters, and they could be every bit as disappointed as we are.
And no one can question the talents of the casting department, and cinematography, and music, and costuming, and the CGI team, and all those technical fields that went into keeping the show such a beautiful spectacle through to the end. They deserve all the accolades they can get and this petition is not a comment on their contributions to the show.
You, Sophie Turner, having to explain that controversial Sansa scene where she seems to credit her abusers for her development is the best proof the writing has been sub-par this season — from the same Times interview:
I obviously think that’s not a message to spread. But I don’t think that was the intention. It was that she was strong in spite of all of the horrific things that she’s gone through, not because of them. She’s had resilience since the very beginning, and despite all of these awful things that happened to her, she’s kept that resilience. Sansa to the core is resilient and brave and strong, and that had nothing to do with her abusers.
Nope, that’s not what that line seems to have suggested:
Maybe try it with a variation of “I never was a little bird?”
That said, I’m still a respectful fan of yours and your Sansa, Sophie Turner, in spite of season 8!
