Game of Thrones: What am I missing out on?

[LobsterFeng]

I don't have HBO. I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat as me yet the amount of popularity it has (especially on this site recently) is making me wonder how this show got so popular. I mean is there a way to watch it legally and not on HBO? I don't think it's on Netflix or anything. And if so, how have I managed to remain so completely clueless about a show that everyone seems to love so much? I literally have no idea what it's about and why it's so great except for it's like fantasy and based on some books or something.

So yeah, why is it so loved and how is everybody watching it? Also how depraved and sheltered am I for avoiding it for so long?

 

[Boris Goodenough]

First 3 seasons are out on DVD/BR, so that's one way to watch it.

Very sheltered and depraved

 

[Zhukov]

Oh, you mean the show?

Well.. you're missing out on a fairly good fantasy story which plays out more like a dramatisation of The War of the Roses than a Tolkien rip-off, which is a nice change. It looks pretty good, although it's frequently pushing against the restrictions of it's budget. Large scale fantasy must be hard on a TV budget. Oh, and the casting is excellent for the most part.

If you can't watch it legally, you could always buy the DVD sets. They've put those out, right?

Or of course you could just read the books. Exact same story, except better in every way. Unless you have a chronic aversion to text or something.

 

[Remus]

It's good because it's a suspenseful, slow burn that starts real enough - the first season had almost no fantasy elements at all, just straight forward, major houses at war to rule a kingdom. This is Martin's take on War of the Roses after all. As the show progresses, there are big events, deaths of major characters that people have been behind from the start, so there's always that risk of liking a character too much then being demolished when they're killed off. Also, the further along the show gets, the more fantasy elements are introduced. We're not to balrogs and evil wizards yet, but there's a fire priestess, a frozen zombie horde (think WoW WotLK, but more grim), dragons, blood magic, and whatever that thing was the red lady gave birth to. Plus some of the characters are so ridiculous you can't help but cheer for em. There's Sandor "Fuck the king and eat chicken" Clegaine, his brother Gregor the Mountain, the Lannister family consisting of incestuous twins and their kids, a dwarf, and a father who wonders how he screwed up so bad, all while trying to hold the throne, Daenerys Targaryen, also the result of incest (her brother got the bad genes tho), her 3 "children", oh and a crazy lady who lives in a tower, drops people she doesn't like down a portal under her castle-on-a-cliff, all while breastfeeding her now 8 yr old kid. And that's just the beginning. As ludicrous as some of this sounds, it's like Lays chips - once you start, you can't stop. My suggestion - buy it on DVD if you don't have any services to draw from. Binge watch the first 2 seasons at least. You won't regret it.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Well it's very differnt from your usual fantantasy stories and it bring alot of interesting characters and from their perspective. Also there're tits aswell!

 

[Vegosiux]

You're not missing out on anything much. It's most definitely not the pure distilled awesomeness it's hyped up to be. Now if you happen upon it and like it and keep watching it, great, but you're not exactly missing out on essential life experience if you don't. So, don't lose sleep over it.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Apparently it's about lots of women getting raped, because that's realistic. There's also dragons.

 

[Brennan]

The good about it is mostly in the characterizations. The characters feel very believable and well developed, and their interactions are allowed to go where they may naturally rather than forced into specific paths according to outside story logic.

The downside is it's very, very bleak. Most of the characters only range from "genuinely rubbish human being" to "outright monster". It's a massive ensemble cast with only a tiny handful of "good guys", and their "good guy"-ness is completely incidental to their story roles. People like to say that characters are actively punished for being good in GoT/ASoIaF, but it's far more accurate to say that the story (and/or writer) simply doesn't care if a character is good or bad. Everybody has the exact same low plot armor stats, regardless of what sort of person they are or what role they play.

Unlike many fans, I'm not of the opinion that George R. R. Martin actually has any story, plan, or theme(s) in mind. I think he just created a bunch of characters and is using them to play chess with himself. Not soap-opera/reality show-ish "character interaction as forced micro-melodramas instead of a plot", just sort of winding them up and setting them free on the map like the proverbial celestial clockmaker. This makes for very believable, refreshingly contrivance-free events and interactions, but it's not really a story, it's just a history. This is both the source of its popularity, and its greatest weakness.

Genre wise I'd compare its pop-culture role to that of the Sergio Leone westerns of the mid-20th century. Much as the spaghetti westerns were a "dark and gritty" deconstruction of then traditional Roy Rogers/John Wayne type westerns, GoT is a "dark and gritty" deconstruction of "traditional" LotR-style fantasy. People say it's "more realistic", but that's just because it bucks the trends they've gotten used to and/or tired of. It's actually just as unrealistic, but in refreshingly different ways. Just happens those new ways add up to the whole being half a tic away from grimdork.

Tonally I'd compare it to the BSG reboot, but with more naturalism/less contrivance in the events and characters. It's much better written than many shows on TV right now, but if you found the BSG reboot hard to get into because of darkness induced apathy [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarknessInducedAudienceApathy], you'll have the same problem here.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Apparently it's about lots of women getting raped, because that's realistic. There's also dragons.

Erm... I guess your not a fan? Or are you taking pot shots at people who say they like because it's "dark and gritty"?

It's hard to justify rape in anything as it looks bad no matter how you peg it. But given the in universe themes of extreme desperation, barbarism, depravity, base desires, sin etc. rape is consistant with everything else.

That said, there isn't that much explicit rape. Plenty of implied rape and a few attempted rape scenes, but only one explicit rape scene (that I recall) that wildly diverged from the books equivalent scene.

A lot of whoring though. HBO loves them whores.

OP:

The series, like the books, has some fantastic characterisation. The world is, as zhukov mentioned, a refreshing mix of War of Roses politically divided kingdoms and Tolkein-esque fantasy doom scenario. It's also one of the most (if not the most) expensive productions on TV and it shows.

But there is a lot of pandering. Lots of bewbs swinging around (almsot every episode has a sex scene) and a lot of fights that get more attention then is really needed just to satiated the action junkies.

Then there is the oppressive themes of the narrative. If you aren't comfortable with watching a lot of brutality, death and misery, then the show is not advised.

So, it's incredibly violent, explicitly sexualised (to an obnoxious degree sometimes) and oppressively dark in themes.

But it has some of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction.

Read the books if you like dark fantasy and can tolerate huge tomes of writing. But the series is a solid alternative to it.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Erm... I guess your not a fan? Or are you taking pot shots at people who say they like because it's "dark and gritty"?

A pot shot at people defending elements in stories with dragons in them, by using claims of "realism". Very popular and endlessly annoying. Commonly the "realistic" parts are badly researched anyway.

If someone wants a show about vile and nasty stuff, they can say they want a show about vile and nasty stuff, not pretend that they "have" to have it because of the fantasy story.

 

[Vegosiux]

Apparently it's about lots of women getting raped, because that's realistic. There's also dragons.

Erm... I guess your not a fan? Or are you taking pot shots at people who say they like because it's "dark and gritty"?

My favorite posthot to take on this is "You know if you tell me you watch GoT because it has amazing characters I'll believe you about as much as I'd believe you if you told me that you're subscribed to Playboy because it has amazing articles."

I only take this one when people are trying to force me to like it though ^^

 

[verdant monkai]

Nothing much. Its just medieval types being dicks to each other.

Anyone who tells you its a fantasy is lying, you only see about three things which could classed as fantastical per season.

 

[Pickles]

Apparently it's about lots of women getting raped, because that's realistic. There's also dragons.

Erm... I guess your not a fan? Or are you taking pot shots at people who say they like because it's "dark and gritty"?

My favorite posthot to take on this is "You know if you tell me you watch GoT because it has amazing characters I'll believe you about as much as I'd believe you if you told me that you're subscribed to Playboy because it has amazing articles."

I only take this one when people are trying to force me to like it though ^^

A lot of the characters are pretty good though. Off the top of my head I'd say Ned Stark, Arya, Tyrion, little finger and Theon (Maybe less so in the show than the books) are all pretty interesting. The playboy reference definitely applies to some, but it seems a bit unfair to dismiss all the characters.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Well. There is not a legal way to watch it not through HBO or physical media. But if you want to know how it came to be so widely popular and viewed, you're...not asking the right question.

IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN [/subtlety]

But yeah. I'm mainly in it for the great scenes (in that I'm not often bored, although definitely with Bran's scenes in general), character interplay, plot and setting. Although I will say this, it tends to go black or white on characters. The majority are either clearly evil and you're meant to hate them or clearly sympathetic. And yes, it has naked women in it. Maybe I'm late to realising I'm actually asexual, but I don't see it as the drawcard of the show that it's widely touted to be.

A pot shot at people defending elements in stories with dragons in them, by using claims of "realism". Very popular and endlessly annoying. Commonly the "realistic" parts are badly researched anyway.

There is a difference between realism as in being true to life and history and realism within a given context. The Dark Ages with dragons, white walkers, sun magic and a few other things would still have plenty of rape in it, and your argument is akin to saying any media with anything supernatural in it might as well not make any sense at all and have a flying protagonist. The world of Game of Thrones is clearly invoke a historical period of the human world with some added elements, so it is reasonable to suggest that human problems associated with the era where not contradicted by those added elements may remain.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

A pot shot at people defending elements in stories with dragons in them, by using claims of "realism". Very popular and endlessly annoying. Commonly the "realistic" parts are badly researched anyway.

There is a difference between realism as in being true to life and history and realism within a given context. The Dark Ages with dragons, white walkers, sun magic and a few other things would still have plenty of rape in it, and your argument is akin to saying any media with anything supernatural in it might as well not make any sense at all and have a flying protagonist. The world of Game of Thrones is clearly invoke a historical period of the human world with some added elements, so it is reasonable to suggest that human problems associated with the era where not contradicted by those added elements may remain.

You said it better than I could.

Things can be realistic without sticking to the bone of an actual real-life event. If your land has giant bees infesting it, why wouldn't honey be a very common resource? Hell, that might even be money, or the main food people eat! Or, if they were dangerous, why wouldn't ranged combat get a much bigger investment put towards it, so that by the time that real-life have invented the crossbow, this giant bee life already has.

Just like Me Chan says - realistic with-in the given context.

In Game of Thrones, rape would be everywhere. Far more than we would ever be shown, but you need to remember it's a show and as such I'd rather some time be dedicated towards talking rather than all of it dedicated to showing how bad things could be back then.

 

[Kerethos]

Nothing much. Its just medieval types being dicks to each other.

Anyone who tells you its a fantasy is lying, you only see about three things which could classed as fantastical per season.

By my count this would be, at least, most of the magic:

Spoiler

Witch gypsy in season 1
3x Dragons
An undead army that everyone seems to ignore and that apparently moves slower than a crippled snail in glue
Bran and some other dudes possessing the minds and bodies of animals and Hodor like some NSA-wet dream, while also having dreams about trees with faces and triple eyed crows[footnote]Because that does not at all seem like the time I smoked crack and woke up naked in the woods with my socks on my ears, surrounded by 3 concerned looking policemen with a blanket telling me I'd better come with them before I freeze to death. Yes, the blanket spoke, not the men![/footnote][footnote]Never actually smoked crack, but I imagine it'd be something like that considering where alcohol and poor judgement have landed me. Though, oddly enough, never in police custody... And it's cheaper to just hammer a nail into your brain if you want to scramble it.[/footnote])
About 15 minutes of what could qualify as actual magic around the time Daenerys got her baby dragons stolen
The murdering shadow baby thing
Some peoples ability to survive injuries[footnote]

Spoiler

I'm looking at you Jamie Lannister - because your fucking immune system could have damn well fought of the siege of Kings Landing by itself the way you shrug of massive loss of blood, shock, infection and rotting flesh in a world where "I'll just put some dirty river water on it and cut away the black oozing parts" is a doctors idea of helping when your suffering from massive sepsis. You want to bet on one who will live on to the end then the Kingslayer's your man! Incest, rape, attempted child murder and actual murders = the key to divine protection!

[/footnote]

Long story short: It's fun and has bit's of magic here and there, but the focus is on political machinations in a medieval-ish (as in it's a lot cleaner and better lit, most of the time) setting. I really enjoy it. And here's a trailer (the spoiler free version):
If that seems amusing then I'd say give it a look. Oh, and don't read third footnote if spoilers make you hurt yourself - I'd feel all guilty and sad

 

[Atrocious Joystick]

Erm... I guess your not a fan? Or are you taking pot shots at people who say they like because it's "dark and gritty"?

A pot shot at people defending elements in stories with dragons in them, by using claims of "realism". Very popular and endlessly annoying. Commonly the "realistic" parts are badly researched anyway.

If someone wants a show about vile and nasty stuff, they can say they want a show about vile and nasty stuff, not pretend that they "have" to have it because of the fantasy story.

Are there any stories besides romantic comedies (and most but not all other comedies I guess) that do not deal in vile and nasty stuff? Stories typically feature a hero or heroes that overcome some sort of obstacle and for there to be an obstacle something has to be wrong in the first place. The same thing has to be true for fantasy.

 

[UniversalRonin]

It's basically softcore with political intrigue, some knights with some horsies and a whole lot of boring in the middle. Some of the characters are memorable, some of them you actually root for and want to win

Spoiler

If you like them, they probably don't. In a big way.

but honestly, by the middle of the current series, it was beginning to get a bit samey and I lost interest.

But the politics angle within it is fantastic fun. All the scheming and plotting and backstabbing! That's mostly what made it worth watching.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I don't have HBO. I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat as me yet the amount of popularity it has (especially on this site recently) is making me wonder how this show got so popular. I mean is there a way to watch it legally and not on HBO? I don't think it's on Netflix or anything. And if so, how have I managed to remain so completely clueless about a show that everyone seems to love so much? I literally have no idea what it's about and why it's so great except for it's like fantasy and based on some books or something.

So yeah, why is it so loved and how is everybody watching it? Also how depraved and sheltered am I for avoiding it for so long?

It is fantasy, but it's very different from the usual "Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, Magic, etc." that we usually get. Who is good and who is bad in the show is up for debate, and characters who you originally peg as being terrible end up developing into characters you like (and vice versa).

What's also intriguing is how the show handles death. Characters who you just assume are major players in the story die, and they die very suddenly and without warning. Even when I was reading the books, there were parts where I'd be reading a page and say "wait, what!? Did they just kill __________!?" It makes the story unpredictable.

Like some people have said, however, it's very bleak and grimy, with not too many people to genuinely root for.

 

[Hemingslay]

It's nominally a fantasy series, but it's handled more like historical fiction. It's almost worth checking out just to see common genre cliches bucked. The characters aren't heroic ideals, honour is a liability, good people don't always make good rulers, and it's the discreet and conniving characters who survive the longest.

Yeah, yeah, dragons--whatever. The characters--and their motivations and relationships--are written with a level of complexity and nuance that makes the books/show compelling and, yes, more "realistic" than any other example of the genre that's also this accessible.

But!

Beyond that it's all.. well.... it's kind of a puddle of wank, isn't it? The show is just starting to reach the point where Mr RR Martin's well of ideas/stolen historical events began to run dry. Which is why a couple episodes from the current season were like 80% original material. Because it was either that or 8 hours of characters we've never met before sitting glumly on a boat before dying pointlessly at the last second.

Martin should be lauded for his world-building, intricate schemes, and shocking climaxes. But those climaxes start becoming further and further apart as the interesting characters disappear, only to be replaced with new assholes we have no investment in. Who are also killed off and replaced with new assholes. And the shock value starts to wear off once you recognize Martin's pattern of teasing the audience with what they want before yanking it away from them.

Game of Thrones doesn't really have one unified story to tell. It's a series of vaguely connected events that, while individually interesting, don't have any real uniting payoff. We're 5 books into a 7 book series and only one character has anything resembling an arc. The plots of the two continents still haven't met. The dragons are just a sheep-eating nuisance. White walkers? 3-eyed crows? Face-changing-assassins? Naw--but we've got about sixty chapters of boat trips to get through. And lists of clothing and food--nothing is more riveting than lists of clothing and food.

There's a lot about the series--books and show--that's compelling. But so much of it is pointless chaff that a braver editor should have clipped out. I'm sorry to complain, but really for me the last straw was when it turned out that Ned Stark wasn't really executed--it was actually two orphan boys wearing an overcoat and a false beard. Also Tyrion was Keyser Soze the whole time, the La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo killed Jon Arryn, and Westeros is actually located in a secret nature preserve in modern-day Pennsylvania.