Game of Thrones has ditched its evil streak to become risk-averse

The Guardian

A dark worldview is what defined the HBO series, with a ruthlessnesses that wasn’t just a gimmick, says Gwilym Mumford. “It felt consistent with the harsh and messy world that had been constructed, where shallow noblemen squabbled over their fiefdoms, while on the other side of the Wall an all-consuming force of unreasoning evil was preparing to wipe out everything,” he says. Not anymore: “Where once no one was safe, now its lead characters are wrapped in cotton wool, or even worse, able to be brought back from the dead like Jon Snow,” he says. “Moments of action pass by without any sense that anyone important is in any real danger: did we really think anyone significant would be burned to a crisp during Daenerys’ dragon assault on the Lannister forces? Did anyone expect the cliffhanger at the end of that episode to result in anything other than Jaime and Bronn surviving their plunge into a very deep-looking lake?”

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