Let’s stop pretending it’s not as bad as it is

Published May 26, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Dear Gene & Dick,

Firstly a little bit of smoke to blow. Your podcast is my favourite of all the 10+ GoT podcasts I listen to so thank you for doing them! Big D is hilarious and cracks me up every single time! So I will definitely be listening to Shat on the Movies from now on to get my big D fix 😛

GoT Season Finale:

Why are we all pretending the ending is not as bad as is has been? Deep down we all know it has been awful. We know it! That final episode was laughable.

It is to spare the blushes of all the amazing and brilliantly talented cinematographers, musicians, prop designers, costume designers, make up artists, sound designers and all those involved. Not forgetting the outstanding performances from the actors. For the sake of all these hundreds of people I can see why Sophie Turner was upset at the criticism the season has received. They must all be gutted hearing it. I know I would be.

As a wannabe filmmaker myself I understand to some extent what it feels like when your extreme effort is completely destroyed by people calling what you have made shit. It doesn’t feel so great. Cinematic storytelling is hard, very hard, (even with HBO money) and it feels like it is much easier to criticise something than to produce something for yourself.

But that is the nature of the beast I am afraid and how can some amateur filmmaker like me understand that everything is doomed no matter how good it is if your building on writing that is flawed. Admittedly it is the hardest part, but the Double Ds should have admitted they weren’t up to it. How can we all understand that but they cannot. The actors clearly saw it judging by their “best season ever” and “disappointing” comments. Why didn’t anybody say anything? Like the directors?? Or were they ignored? Why were the double Ds allowed to rush this to a bundled car crash of a conclusion? Where are all the opinions of the crew? How do they feel? Are they happy? Is HBO suppressing their opinions?

I get they are all tight and want to defend the show it’s understandable. But I can’t help but think some may feel hoodwinked by the double Ds who just wanted to move on from GoT. Or would they blame Martin? Or do they not care because they got paid? I very much doubt the crew wanted it to be over as fast as the Double Ds.

I would have loved to have been some part of this show, to say you worked on GoT must be a huge thrill but how sad that such a great show ended this way. I’d love to hear an opinion from the inside.

Perhaps you guys can shed some light on some unheard thoughts of the cast and crew? Maybe you have some inside knowledge?

We all expected the ending to be bitter sweet after George said so but who’d have thought it would be about the show itself! RIP Game of Thrones.

But hey we are not entitled to quality and perhaps we were spoiled during seasons 1-4. It has mostly been a great run. Even seeing its flaws helps us aspiring storytellers as often you can learn more from something that is bad than something that is good.

It was a great run. (mostly)

I will keep listening to you guys and keep up the good work!

All the best,

Damon (Cornwall, UK)

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