Ethan Sills: Why Game of Thrones didn't deserve the Emmy

By Ethan Sills

Herald online·

24 Sep, 2015 12:55 AM6 mins to read

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Peter Dinklage won outstanding supporting actor in a drama series for Game of Thrones, the show also won best drama at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards. Photo / AP

Opinion

I start this off with a disclaimer: I love Game of Thrones. Ever since I watched the first episode, I have been hooked. I own the first three seasons on DVD. I've read all five books. As I write this, Jon Snow, Arya and Daenerys figurines adorn my desk, watching

However, when I heard the show had finally claimed the top gong at this year's ceremony, I could only groan. For the first time, I really didn't want it to win. I could rant for a long time about this, but here are just five reasons why season five shouldn't have taken the top prize.

1. The other seasons were better

Sean Bean as Ned Stark in the first season of Game of Thrones.

The first four seasons of the show are, for the most part, excellent. Though they are all interconnected, each previous season generally focused on one central storyline: Ned Stark and his arrival in King's Landing; the War of Five Kings and the Battle of Blackwater Bay; the downfall of the Starks and the Red Wedding; the death of Joffrey and the Night's Watch's stand against Mance Rayder.

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All other subplots came out of those central storylines (except Daenerys, but she has dragons, so who cares), and all the characters got to develop and grow within those plots before moving on to something new next year. Season five had no real central plot that connected all the storylines together: Cersei and the Faith, Tyrion and Daenerys, Jamie and Dorne, Arya, Jon, Sansa and Theon. There was no big Episode Nine climax that brought the plots to a head. Few characters really developed. Any other season of the show deserved this award, but season five is nowhere near the quality of the show that started four years ago.

2. The finale was terrible

Kit Harington portrays Jon Snow in a scene from Game of Thrones.

Despite being fairly uneven, the show did churn out some good episodes. In particular, the eighth episode Hardhome, which ended with the 20 minute-long surprise battle between Jon Snow and the White Walkers, was one of the best Game of Thrones has ever produced.

Unfortunately, the episode that got all the attention was the atrocious finale. After ending the fourth season fairly calmly compared to previous seasons, the writers did a complete 180 this year: Mother's Mercy was basically an hour of cliffhangers, with a number of characters either being killed off or finding themselves in even worse situations than before.

It was a fairly difficult hour to sit through with very little hope or joy to be found, but mostly it came across as childish. It's the most-watched show on the planet; fans were going to tune in next year whether there were cliffhangers or not. The Jon Snow mystery would have been enough, but instead we got a dozen other issues thrown in for fun and zero resolution on anything. The writers probably thought it was an exciting way to end the season, but it was so much it simply got boring. Yet it was apparently the best written and directed episode of a drama in the past year. I think not.

3. The show has become too big to handle

Daenerys and Drogon in the Game of Thrones series five finale.

The show has grown and grown and grown with each new season, adding many new characters, locations and storylines to replace people who have died or the castles that burnt down. For the most part, it has done a fairly good job of balancing Jon Snow and the Night's Watch with Daenerys and her dragon-fuelled quest for revenge. But in the latest season, the show struggled to bring all its elements together. After the Dorne region was introduced by Pedro Pascal's magnetic performance as Oberyn Martell, the story of his three daughters and paramour seeking revenge was one of the most embarrassing plots in the show's history. Fan favourite Tyrion Lannister spent most of the season being kidnapped by various people as they rushed to get him and Daenerys together. Brienne of Tarth spent half the season watching a candle. Plotlines jumped all over the place, either going as slowly as it takes George R. R. Martin to write a new book or rushing all over the place. Though some of this can be blamed on the broad scope of the books being adapted, there is too much happening on the show, and the showrunners just can't seem to keep their ever growing show in order.

4. It validates the controversy

Reek and Sansa Stark in the Game of Thrones series five finale.

The most talked about thing this season - before Jon Snow - was the rape of Sansa Stark. In the book a minor character, Jeyne Poole, was abused by Ramsay Snow and many fans were outraged at this major change from the writers. It was seen by many fans as unnecessary, and the episode in which it happened was one of the worst reviewed in the show's history. Yet an Emmy win for this season, a public thumbs-up from such an esteemed institution, basically endorsing everything that happened during season five, will likely make the showrunners and HBO ignore any of the negative reaction and just embrace their shiny golden statues. I dread to think what they will do in season six with this win justifying whatever horrible twist comes next.

5. Other shows probably deserved it more

Kiernan Shipka, January Jones, Jessica Pare and Jon Hamm star in the final season of Mad Men.

Quality probably isn't that important to the Emmys: Game of Thrones is one of the most popular shows in the world, and the academy was probably going to give it the award anyway, based on popularity. If the fifth season had been good, it would have earned it, but given its uneven quality, some of the other nominees were probably more worthy. Homeland had a small comeback this year after several uneven seasons. Mad Men went out a positive note in a well-received final season. House of Cards is probably just as known and popular. You could list dozens of other shows worthy of inclusion: The Americans, Penny Dreadful, Outlander, Hannibal - I'm going to come out and say it; Daredevil had a better-crafted season than Thrones did. I will be honest and say I haven't watched every show that Thrones was up against, so I can't say how it ranks against them all. But basically, a lot of shows were more deserving of inclusion of this list, and some of them deserved the Emmy much more.