Why now you may ask, has good team Must decided to go Thrones? Well, since season four of The Crown dropped on Netflix, people haven’t stopped going on about it. So, we’ve decided now is the perfect time to escape the real royals with some throwback fake ones.
These are slightly more bloodthirsty, incestuous and deplorable than the Windsors. But ignoring the fact that we’re reviewing Game of Thrones 18 months after it ended, we want to reflect on just how much of a glorious cultural phenomenon it was. For 8 years it was the telly event of the year, with viewing parties and Twitter storms a regular side dishes to the fantasy feast that aired each Sunday. Never before had a show been so shocking, thrilling, infuriating and stressful at once. We loved it.
Of course, we must address the dragon in the room, and talk (briefly) about that final – even if you never watched an episode in your life you likely remember the chaos that ensued after the last episode aired on 20th May 2019. And to be honest, a lot of people still aren’t over it, even saying that it wasn’t worth watching the show because of it. But we disagree – if you’re looking for an epic to get your teeth stuck into, and you somehow have managed to avoid any spoilers, then Game of Thrones is an absolute Must. And you never know, HBO might eventually cave and give fans the alternate ending they crave. But then, “we know nothing, Jon Snow…”
During its time on air, Game of Thrones cleaned up at most of the big award shows, winning BAFTAS, SAGAs, and more Emmy’s than we can count. This, and the fact that every Tom, Dick and Ned Stark talks about how good it was, is probably enough to persuade you to watch it, but if not, there’s plenty to read from the good old-fashioned critics. Such was the magnitude of this show, that instead of writing one review for a whole series, any critic worth their salt reviewed the show episode by episode. So there’s plenty of material out there, if you want it. Like The Independent’s Chris Bennion noting there was “barely a scrap of fat on [the] fascinating fifth series,” or The Telegraph’s Ed Power celebrating the release of season six by saying “Oh how we’ve missed your cruel, manipulative ways Game of Thrones.”
So, whist you can’t travel in real life, why not visit Westeros? Their white walker infested lands might be just what we need to escape 2020…
First aired in April 2011. You can watch the trailer by pressing play on the show image, or by clicking here:
