Originally written August 28, 2017
Game of Thrones is definitely one of the best shows currently on TV. Many people know that it’s adapted from a book series by George R.R. Martin, and as of season 6 the show has passed out how far the book series is in the story, which was already starting to get close to its end. So, fans knew that the end must be in sight for the TV series, and so it was eventually announced that season 8 would be the final season. So, here we are now for the penultimate season of the show.
Since there isn’t much story left to tell (according to the showrunners), we now have shorter seasons for the final two. Season 7 is only 7 episodes long, but the showrunners wanted to cut back on quantity so that they could focus on the quality of those 7 episodes. For what it’s worth, this was mostly successful. Season 7 feels like it came and went really quickly, but even in just 7 episodes so much has happened. It’s pretty obvious at this point that you won’t know what’s going on unless you’ve seen the show, so I’m gonna stay away from story spoilers here.
However, without going into specifics, the story of Game of Thrones is in a really good place here. Things that have been culminating since the very first season (such as the infamous “winter is coming” phrase) are starting to get some serious payoffs here. This season really focuses on the war for the throne, perhaps more than any other. You can really tell that the show is moving towards its end, because we’re really starting to get close to the end of a lot of story arcs now.
I appreciate season 7 for two big things: its progression and its payoffs. It’s just really interesting to look at some of the characters and think about where they are now vs. where they used to be, and so a lot of these arcs are really satisfying when you’re looking at the big picture of it all. Then, there’s just moments that you’ve been waiting for since the show first began that you’re now starting to get in full force. It’s risky business to make fans anticipate something, and so that’s a lot of what is so great about season 7. It starts giving you some of the conclusions you’ve always wanted, and it handles it all with such care. It could have been really easy for some of these moments to be disappointing after so much buildup, but it’s really not.
I think my only real gripe with the season is that it didn’t quite meet the expectations that were set on it. What I mean is that while I understand the “running out of story” argument, another reason that’s been cited for a shorter season is that each episode is going to feel like a big event, similar to how the last two episodes of every season are. I didn’t necessarily find this to be true. While a lot of the scenes were really impressive, I felt like there wasn’t as many “big moments” in the first half of the season. I can still tell that a lot of work was put into them (they always are) but it felt like we got the same sort of slow build we get with every season, when I was expecting the whole season to rock my world. And for what it’s worth, the last four or so episodes do, it’s mainly just those first three that aren’t quite as impressive.
Other than that, season 7 is just as amazing as you would expect from Game of Thrones. I’m still finding that season 4 of the show felt like its peak to me, but after some slight meandering here and there the past two seasons, season 7 really puts things back on track. Overall, so many things happen that get me excited to see how this is all going to end. I feel like all of the pieces are now in their final spots, and so now it’s just a matter of seeing how the end of this story pans out. All in all though, a great addition to the series.
4.5/5
