Here we are — “The Iron Throne.” After years of discussing Game of Thrones with Esther, we’ve found ourselves at last at its finale. Was the show worth almost a decades’ worth of investment?
Well… not really. That is to say: the show has pretty consistently failed to meet our expectations since Season 5, and “The Iron Throne” was no exception. Of course the Davids went for Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) to rule the Six Kingdoms. Of course Jon’s (Kit Harington) story ends as it began without any real purpose to his royal heritage. Of course the Night King really did die after one night of battle, the White Walkers never to be revisited or discussed ever again. Of course Dany (Emilia Clarke) is dead.
Of course.
But we cannot say the same of Stark Contrast. This episode marks the end of the first ever (and longest running) Movie Fail Podcast series. Stark Contrast has meant so much to us over the years; no matter how strange and confusing life got, we always had this show to come back to. We speculated on character motivations, ragged on (and celebrated) the show’s cinematography, guessed at the story’s inevitable conclusions. The podcast, more than the show, transported us far away to a place where Esther and I could debate the filmmaking and narrative choices in HBO’s vision of Westeros. It was (and remains) a huge comfort to us.
And now, we return to real history (as written by the one and only David Milch) with Hoopleheads, our Deadwood podcast. But even as we say goodbye to Game of Thrones, we reflect on what we loved (and hated) about this series and how we’ve grown as people since our first recording back in 2014. With this trip back in time — naturally — comes the return of our Game of Thrones-inspired puns. I only hope my incessant word play don’t cause the podcast to… drag-on.
Thank you for joining us, everyone: guests, commenters, listeners, Tweeters. This has been a beautiful exchange of ideas and we hope to hear all of your voices as we move on to other shows and movies in the future.
~ Søren
For those wondering, here’s the interview with the HBO exec who is adamant that we’ll never get a Game of Thrones sequel series. We also mentioned this great Reductress article about two friends who rag on the Davids which definitely captures the spirit of Stark Contrast quite nicely. And finally, Esther’s observation years ago that this was a show of “moments” is reiterated in this Guardian article just a few days ago. The key difference, of course, is that that author thinks it’s a good thing.
Once again, we cannot thank all of our listeners (and guest podcasters) enough for their phenomenal support and engagement over the past few years. Your thoughtful insights and general enthusiasm have sustained us through a show that frequently missed the mark. For that, we’re truly grateful, and we hope you’ll join us for Hoopleheads and other future podcast series.
This podcast uses a clip from the track “Bughici—Suite for Violin, 8 Ardeleneasca, moderato” by Advent Chamber Orchestra / CC BY 3.0.
