The latest season of HBO’s hit fantasy drama looked perfect from far away, but up close it was a big old mess. WARNING: Spoilers through the season finale.
HBO
While HBO's Game of Thrones remains one of television's most buzzed-about series, the show is no longer the near-perfect adaptation that delighted viewers, both newcomers and established fans of George R .R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series.
Over the course of its uneven fourth season, Game of Thrones lost some of its luster, to the extent that what was once appointment viewing became the occasional slog. (Anyone up for an episode that takes place entirely as the Wall? Well, you're getting one.) When it comes to production values and performances, Game of Thrones remains an impressive feat. But in looking back over Season 4, which concluded on June 15, it's difficult not to reflect on where the show slipped and, at times, fell into disappointing mediocrity.
Neil Davidson / HBO
The scene in which Jaime rapes his sister-lover next to the corpse of their child will likely go down not only as Season 4's biggest misstep, but also as the show's most egregious mistake overall. It's hard to imagine a bigger insult to the audience, to the characters, and to victims of sexual violence than the scene and the subsequent attempt by director Alex Graves to recontextualize a clear rape as rough consensual sex. "It becomes consensual by the end," Graves said. It absolutely does not.
In fact, the rape scene in "Breaker of Chains" — allegedly intended to show an act of passion, not violence — was so mishandled that some have suggested pretending it never happened. And while that might seem like a radical step, it's perhaps the only reasonable way we can really move forward. How else to take the scene in the season finale, in which Cersei confesses her undying love for Jaime to their father? What are we supposed to make of Jaime's character development otherwise? In going for something edgy and shocking, Game of Thrones displayed a fundamental misunderstanding of rape and consent — not to mention the characters of Jaime and Cersei — and that grave error casts a serious shadow over the rest of the season, if not the series as a whole.
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