Game Of Thrones headed towards next week’s finale with the answer to its biggest issue hanging in the balance.
No, not 'who will take the Iron Throne?’
Something more important – even to the millions of fans who’ve followed this central struggle for years – namely: ‘can the show save its reputation?’
Having changed the genre, GoT’s place in television history is undoubtedly guaranteed.
Scorching! Khaleesi turned up the heat on Cersei’s army, and King’s Landing. But viewers and the series were suffering from battle fatigue in Game Of Thrones, by Jim Shelley
But whether it can avoid the fate that befell other recent ‘classics’ like The Wire, Twin Peaks, and arguably The Sopranos - being remembered for blowing its legacy by ending with a damp squib - is another matter.
Judging by the penultimate episode it seems unlikely frankly.
‘The Bells’, like a lot of Season 8, proved decidedly unsatisfactory if not necessarily actually rubbish, at least compared to its early days - its peak.
True, there was a healthy cull of characters: Varys, Euron Greyjoy, Qyburn, The Hound, The Mountain, Jaime Lannister, and most crucially, his sister Cersei.
What's gone on? Something more important – even to the millions of fans who’ve followed this central struggle for years – namely: ‘can the show save its reputation?’
But although this purge was long overdue, none lived up to expectation. In fact they were mainly total botch-ups.
‘The Bells’ was the third ‘movie-length’ episode of the five so far and symptomatic of the way the final series has suffered from HBO seemingly (inexplicably) being in a rush to get Game Of Thrones over with.
The storyline has increasingly lacked subtlety - or sense sometimes – with key developments in the narrative feeling too convenient, too sudden.
A disaster: But whether it can avoid the fate that befell other recent ‘classics’ like The Wire, Twin Peaks, and arguably The Sopranos - being remembered for blowing its legacy by ending with a damp squib - is another
