805 Deep Dive Knocked My “Expectation Goggles” Off

Published May 15, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey guys,

Meg from CT. I wanted to thank you for gently guiding me back off the ledge as a viewer with your deep dive on 805. One of the biggest struggles in life is grappling with the fact that reality rarely meets our expectations. Part of the glamour with Game of Thrones has always been trying to uncover the hidden meanings, hypothesizing what twist or turn will come next.

With the Arya faceless man storyline, I seriously thought that the waif was some sort of Tyler Durden Fight Club twist where the waif was Arya, Arya the waif. I kept waiting for some sort of surprise twist to come out of her time in Braavos and it never did. I honestly liked my fight club twist better than the actual story, so I was disappointed with how it actually played out. Expectation vs Reality. We are all searching for the next “hold the door!” surprise to literally knock us off our feet. Every episode we as viewers sit down with these “expectation goggles” on waiting on the story that we have concocted in our own heads.

I found myself disappointed again after Sunday’s episode, mostly with the character arc changes. First, I don’t think they properly sold a Jon/Dany love story enough to make me feel like him turning her down was the last straw in her sanity. I mean one boat sex session and a magic carpet ride are nice in a Disney story, but I wanted to FEEL it more. But I was even more perplexed by the Jamie arc. Why would you make me ride this wave of hating to love him just to make him an ass in the end? I felt in my soul that he was destined to kill Cersei and put a huge exclamation point on his redemption arc. So I sat down Sunday expecting that redemption outcome and was sorely disappointed when that was not the case.

And then you knocked the “expectation goggles” I was wearing during the show off my face with your deep dive character arc discussion. We only wanted to believe he was better. He did some decent things for a while and assimilated with the good, but that wasn’t truly who he was. He matured and became incredibly self-aware… but he did not fully redeem himself. And that is OK. Because that wasn’t his story. Wow. Thanks for helping me back to appreciating reality.

Best,
Meghan McCormick

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