QUIZ RECAP

Secret plotting.  Decade long feuds.  Conniving double crossers.  Beards. Bitter rivals.  And a beheading.

Nope, I'm not talking about Game of Thrones.  This is Trivia Night.

Just kidding, I am talking about Game of Thrones.  Guys.  GAME OF THRONES.

Mixed feelings about the finale.  Really enjoyed it on one level but on another wasn't incredibly surprised with all that happened.  I might have to chalk this up to the Internet's love affair with their "theories".  After all the leaks that occurred, I think some of these sites got a hold of the spoilers and decided to make themselves look a little bit better and more "accurate" with their predictions by pawing off actual plot points as "fan guesses".  Note to self: avoid all the think pieces in two years.

A lot of talk about fan servicing as well now that the books have essentially ended and the show is following its own course (it will be really really interesting to see if GRRM actually manages to finish the Fire and Ice series and how decidedly differently his take may be).  I get it.  The show is now being written by fans of the actual show aka the people who work on it and love it and are just as into what GRRM created as the rest of us.  And I think that only really comes through in how you view the stakes from the earlier seasons versus the ones in play now.  Everything is coming together - which is both incredibly exciting (look at all these characters finally meeting!) but also takes away from some of the scheming and chess piece moving that occurred earlier.  But the biggest difference just might be in what Game of Thrones has been known for: the deaths.  We learned very quickly not to get attached to our favorites.  Ned, Robb, Cat, Hodor - but now it seems as if the ones we love will continue to survive no matter the odds.  Tormund has more lives than a Targaryan bastard at this point.  Jamie Lannister dodged a fireball and lived to tell about it.  And the only character who got done in was our literal mustache twirling evil trickster villain.  And there was nothing more satisfying than seeing Littlefinger get it but I can't help but wonder how this would have played out on a version of the show that existed in Seasons 1-4.  I can almost guarantee one of the Stark sisters wouldn't have lived to see Jon bone his aunt and Littlefinger would have manipulated the North to do his bidding.  Hell, I could see Littlefinger trying to get cozy with the Night King and sell out all of humanity for a tower untouched by the kiss of winter.

Anyway, trivia.  Like I said: beards, dragons, double crosses, feuds - we've got it all.  Sundays at 9 (only on HBO... and at Barney's Santa Monica)