Season Finales – good and bad

Last night we watched the end of season episodes for two series we’ve been hooked on this spring - ‘The Killing’ and ‘Game of Thrones’. Be warned – lots of spoilers (and ranting) to follow, so if you haven’t seem them, and care, be warned.

Firstly – the Bad. The Killing. &%$#@! I mean really. *&$#@@! What a disappointment. Whoever was in charge really blew that one. The opening episode was riveting. The premise – that each episode was one day in the investigation of a young girl’s murder – proved to be a challenge for the writers to sustain. And throughout the series the implication was that at the end of the 13 weeks the murderer would be revealed. The acting throughout was superb, but the plot wandered all over, and last week when it appeared that the murder was revealed we were - ‘No way! That’s too easy. You can’t have it be him after all this’ And then came last night. What a nonsensical mishmash that turned out to be. And after telling us season that the murder would be solved – nope. And a major character is revealed to be working for sinister forces and oh it was just bad bad bad. I was distracted from my foot stamping and teeth gnashing by the fact that ‘Game of Thrones’ was on immediately after. But when I checked the Internet later I saw that I was no alone in my disappointment. My guys Tom and Lorenzo cover it all here, if you’re interested.

But then there was the Good. Have you been watching Game of Thrones? It was another series that had a fantastic opener and it has just got better. I’m not at all familiar with the books and have no preconceived notions about what is going to happen. Which has allowed me to be surprised as the plot twists and turns. Last night really delivered and I’m looking forward to the next season.

When the series opened it appeared to be about King Robert, his chief advisor Ned Stark and the deposed Targaryen siblings. But by the end of the first season several of the top billed and central characters have been killed off and it appears that the story will actually center on the next generation. King Robert, Ned Stark, and Khal Drogo are dead. Winter is coming, something baleful is stirring in the outlands and now there are dragons. Woohoo!

I was thinking of reading the books to find out what happens, but then again, maybe not. Lets see how season two goes. I don’t expect to be watching The Killing, after all.