Question: I know it’s ridiculously early to bring this up, but can anything stop Game of Thrones from taking the Best Drama Emmy in 2018 after the season that just ended?? —Andy B
Matt Roush: I was blown away by this season, which represents to me everything Game of Thrones is meant to be: epic on a scale heretofore unseen or maybe even attempted on TV, with one dramatic payoff after another, involving characters who had been kept apart on separate parts of the sprawling map for way too long. The irony is that HBO’s Thrones became a better show once it was unshackled from the books, which fatally stalled in the last two volumes. I loved the early seasons, which faithfully enacted the major events from the excellent first three books in the Song of Ice and Fire series. But this season in particular delivered on so many fronts—action (dragons!) and emotion (the Stark sisters giving Littlefinger his comeuppance)—and I have to think anyone who wanted to be satisfied would be. Nothing this mammoth is perfect, and I could take issue with some individual scenes. Still, given that Thrones won the top drama Emmy two years in a row for lesser seasons, it’s got to be seen as a front-runner for next year. The only handicap is that the episodes will have aired so long ago by next year’s show. But these will be hard episodes to forget.
To submit questions to TV Critic
Matt Roush, go to: tvinsider.com
