The emotional highs and lows of this show are almost too much to take sometimes. Last week’s episode left us cheering and pumping our fists in triumph, but this week’s episode was more likely to have us weeping copiously in a black fog of sadness and despair.
Don’t get me wrong, however: the emotional peaks and valleys are a large part of the appeal of Game of Thrones, and the highs would not seem so high, or the lows so low, if these stories and characters were not so well crafted. I said last week that the pursuit of power was a long game on this show, and it occurs to me now that that’s true for the writers and actors as well: they’ve built these characters so carefully—patiently layering in the histories and personalities, successes and failures, conflicts and contradictions—that every emotional moment is all the more powerful now for being completely earned. Continue reading
