The series “Game of Thrones” has become, perhaps, the most noticeable entertainment television project of recent years. The screen version of George Martin's novels from the “Song of Ice and Flame” has gathered an army of fans and has been keeping viewers interest for almost a decade.

Fans of the Game of Thrones expected that the final eighth season will turn into a kind of “cherry on the cake” - it was in the last six series that the long-awaited battle between the living and the dead should have taken place and the owner of the coveted Iron Throne should be determined. But, apparently, the fans of the universe created by Martin were let down by too exaggerated expectations: judging by audience ratings on the portal Rotten Tomatoes, while the eighth season is the most unpopular of all.

At the time of this writing, only 42% of viewers rated the last season positively. For comparison, in the first season this indicator was 96%, and in the third - a record 97%.

Dissatisfaction with the eighth season pushed fans to create a petition on Change.org, demanding ... to retake it.

"David Benioff and D. B. Weiss proved themselves terribly incompetent writers in cases where they can not rely on the original source (ie books)," the text of the petition says.

More than 480 thousand people have already signed their signatures at the time of the release of the material under it. And, judging by the speed with which new signatories appear, this figure can reach a million.

  • Shot from the series "Game of Thrones"
  • © Shot from the series "Game of thrones"

The final of the Game of Thrones is not popular with critics, although they are not so severe in their assessments. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the last season was positively characterized by 71% of experts (the aggregator provides different data based on reviews from critics and ordinary viewers). Nevertheless, this indicator is an anti-record. And the penultimate episode received 47% of “freshness” at all, which can be considered a “historical minimum”.

A similar picture can be observed on the IMDb portal - the final season so far receives the lowest marks.

True, all this does not prevent the series from setting new records in the number of views. The eighth season looks much more spectators than any of the seven previous ones, as reported in HBO. The fifth series of “Bells” was watched by 18.4 million people - and it broke the record set by the third episode of the same eighth season.

The lack of character and bloopers

In the last season, the creators of the Game of Thrones made several scenario decisions that were not liked by fans and critics. And if the first ones always find something to express dissatisfaction (the death of a favorite character, the birth of a new love line, and the like), then the second make judgments through the lens of cinema and are more careful in their judgments.

Many experts were unhappy with the development of the character of one of the key heroines, Daenerys Targaryen. A distinctive feature of the series was the lack of division of characters into purely positive or negative ones. Each hero at one time or another could give up the slack or, on the contrary, show nobility. However, there was an unjustified change with the heroine Targaryen: in the fifth series she suddenly turned into a frank villain.

“It seems that the authors of the series decided to throw the main character under the wheels of the bus just in order not to complicate their lives with the ending. Apparently, the series will end in a battle between Starks and Targaryen, good and evil, ice and fire, ”writes a columnist for the British magazine New Statesman.

  • Shot from the series "Game of Thrones"
  • © hbo.com

Other critics point out that the root of all the problems of the last season lies in the rush with which the authors are trying to complete the story. Not only did they change the rhythm of the narrative, which was familiar to the viewer, by reducing the number of episodes, they also filled each one with events. As a result - many heroes in one episode changed in the way they did not change in the whole season before.

“The first victims of haste are always simplicity and the internal logic of the story. The history of the "Game of Thrones" no longer develops according to its internal logic and rhythm. Instead, it follows the direction Weiss and Benioff point out. And this is bad news, ”writes Daniel Krause of El Financiero.

By the way, in a hurry can be explained and annoying bloopers. So in the feast scene, a paper cup from under the coffee appeared on the table, and Jaime Lannister hugs one of the heroines with two healthy hands (according to the plot he is deprived of one hand).

According to some observers, the quality of the series as a whole was badly damaged when he “overtook” Martin’s novels: the last two seasons were not created on the basis of books. The writer has yet to complete the final parts of the saga: Winds of Winter and Dreams of Spring. If the first book has all the chances to be on store shelves already this year, even Martin himself cannot name the exact release date of the last novel.

  • Shot from the series "Game of Thrones"
  • © Shot from the series "Game of thrones"

As a result, Weiss and Benioff, of course, received the advice of a writer, but almost all of them had to be invented on their own. And it played a cruel joke with them: critics believe that the writers do not fully understand the characters of Martin. Because of this, the transformation of the characters of the characters, for which the audience has been watching for many years, ends messy and illogical.

“The heroes of the series are like people in a dark room who frantically try to find a way out of the room and in this confusion collide with each other. “The Game of Thrones” deserves a better and smarter completion, but most likely it will not receive it, ”Tasha Robinson of The Verge believes.

However, of course, not everyone agrees with this point of view. Although many people admit that the eighth season is weaker than the previous ones, they still do not find a drop in quality catastrophic.

Perhaps the fans are reacting so sharply to the finale, as the latest episodes put an end to their own theories and hopes about plot development.

“Episodes like this — there were, say frankly, not many in the history of the television series — designed both to sum up the results and to quench the blood thirst experienced by fans (in this regard, hardly anyone can compare with the IP fans). Everything has vanished in clouds of dust and flame, and for the most part all ridiculous theories around which disputes have been abating for many years, ”an observer at Newsday believes.