#82 Thanks a lot, Game of Thrones

How an HBO show ruined gratuitous nudity

Shadi Mirza
Jul 22, 2017 · 1 min read

As someone who read all five A Song of Ice and Fire books (and, let’s not kid ourselves, we’re never getting a sixth), I don’t have to wonder if one of the Sand Snakes is whipping out her boobs in prison because there’s nothing else from the Dorne plot worth putting on screen — I know.

I also know that the show runners have been informed of how the books are going to end, as well as which plot threads from the book are relevant to that ending. So as the show takes us from brothel to brothel, allowing a series of Z-list actresses to give the premium-cable subscribers what they paid to see, I get a little miffed— not at HBO, mind you, but at George R.R. Martin for wasting countless pages on Brienne’s quest to find Sansa, zombie Catelyn Stark doing her thing and other things I’ve forgotten.

But, realistically, the pointless nudity can only replace the books’ lack of substance for so long. I now find myself rolling my eyes or, worse, reaching for my phone, during these scenes when I should be excited to see where the show is going with these characters.

Hopefully HBO will do the ending I’ll never get to read justice. And by “do the ending justice” I mean, “wrap things up in a way that doesn’t require a parade of bare breasts.”

Shadi Mirza

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Marketing sherpa. Digital content wonk. Serial blogger. Not following your passion is like dying a slow death.

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