Another week, another cruelly titillating Game of Thrones Season 4 trailer. This time it's entitled "Vengeance" and is in keeping with the heart-wrenching and blood-curdling end of last season. As expected, from the previous trailer, the 15 minute long foreshadowing, and of course, the obsessive consideration of the end of last season, we can definitely expect an entirely epic and distinctly gory Season 4. Which is par the course, since ya know, no one kills all the Starks and just gets away with it, nor would we want them to. But it really begs the question of what lies ahead, not just in the upcoming seasons but for the show's future in general.
After all, what makes Game of Thrones so addictive is the complex blend of intrigue and loss. It's a show that is determined to make sure we are never ever bored, nor able to guess what comes next. But that same complexity has been the damnation of many a good show in the past, and the worry is that Game of Thrones could get too dark, which would break our little hearts. Now, having aired this concern, I have utter faith in the writers, it's just worth considering that shows that end up barreling toward certain doom for all of its characters lose what made them so gritty in the first place, and that should be kept in mind as they proceed with the next few seasons.
If you never watched Sons of Anarchy, it is, in my opinion, the cautionary tale in regard to violence-heavy dramas. Much like Game of Thrones, it was (and is) an action packed series that played on the duality of good and evil, albeit in the lives of a modern day biker gang instead of medieval houses. I was utterly addicted to it, and much like Game of Thrones, I felt it to be the kind of show you'd end up talking about for a few days after viewing it. It was engrossing, but more importantly, realistic. People who did bad things occasionally had bad things happen to them, even if you didn't want them to. It made sense, there was no warped Hollywood sense of morality or neat tie-ups.
But then they killed Opie in prison, and the whole show catapulted into such constant tragedy that it became utterly unpleasant to watch. It went from bad to worse to almost comedically tragic, and then I stopped watching. Within the span of two seasons, Sons of Anarchy went from my favorite show to something I would quickly skip past if I happened to find it on television. So, although I have more faith in Game of Thrones, it's well within the range of possibility that this season could draw Games of Thrones down a dark path, from which it is incredibly hard to return. I'm not saying it's going to happen for sure, but what I am saying is that if they kill one more goddamn Stark, I'm going to have to slap someone on the writing team immediately. Consider yourself warned, HBO.
Image: HBO
