Alright, I’ll watch the damn show.
Anyone that I’ve told that I’m starting Game of Thrones sounds like the deadhead girl from Freaks and Geeks talking about listening to American Beauty for the first time. “I wish I could go back in time and not have listened to the Dead so I could listen to the Dead for the first time.”
I’ve made peace with not watching shows before. I only watched three episodes of Lost. I got bored with Mad Men (and frankly, I never really got it in the first place). I was watching Breaking Bad around the time my mom died and I just couldn’t continue with such a dark show.
I figured I’d let Game of Thrones pass as well.
It appeases me inner hipster. I would think to myself, “People should really be watching The Americans and High Maintenance.” Don’t listen to REM, listen to The Feelies.
This might have been a non issue if my girlfriend hadn’t done the math. Watch an episode a week from now on and you’ll be caught up before the last season in 2019. That’s a compelling argument. I could get up to speed and finally be in on it, this whole phenomenon.
Because I’ve endured it for years, all the water cooler talk and social media posts.
“Can you believe Hilberius Flannister murdered Dionisis Blertarigan?!”
“I can’t even with the Rouge Fever!!!”
“Klronisius Klark ate Snerplernicus Bannister! WTF?!”
“No spoilers! I don’t want to know what happened to Klank Bronnerius and The Rummage of a Thousand Glinklings!”
There are flags of the houses (are they houses? Kingdoms? Realms?) hung up in my office for Stark and Lannister and all the others.
Last fall, I did my storytelling show at Halyards Bar in Gowanus Brooklyn. It had to be an hour early for the Game of Thrones viewing party. It was Super Bowl full. And the patrons were decked out in Game of Thrones gear, too. I believe that Halyards is a Patriots bar but, in this instance, the Game of Thrones fans looked far more intense.
I’m behind and I have no context for it but I know some stuff. I know that there’s something called the Red Wedding and that it’s fucked up. I know that Jon Snow gets stabbed over and over with people saying, “For the watch.” I also know that he, like, didn’t do anything wrong? I feel lucky that my knowledge is scattered enough that it won’t really spoil anything.
I know how The Sopranos ends but I still plan to watch it in its entirety one day. I watched The Wire two or three years behind and, in my passion for the show, I foolishly googled it and found some spoilers (I happened upon a youtube clip with a panel of the stars and the damn moderator says, “Idris Elba… you’re a dead man.” Jesus Christ.)
I just finished episode four of season one. I’m reading wiki recaps like CliffsNotes and it’s helping (a childhood of banal sitcoms have left my mind a pile of mush with regard to picking up subtle details in dramatic television). I have to say, I’m getting sucked in. Not knowing the exact particulars doesn’t make the show any less compelling.
For now, I have a legion of experts on the show to go to if I have any questions. And my girlfriend pointed out something pretty awesome. “You’ll watch the last season being surprised with everyone else.”
That’s true and I’m already looking forward to it.
