Season 7 of Game of Thrones seems like the season everyone will want to forget in a few years. When discussing the undeniable progress Game of Thrones did for future TV productions and for the elevation of the TV medium, season 7 will be left out of this discussion, just like John Snow was left out of Eddard Stark's inheritance.
What made season 7 so bad? The opposite of what made other seasons before it so good - it was missing the key elements of the first seasons - a strong narrative and well-rounded characters. In narrative I do not mean plot - which was found like Tyrion, in a whorehouse, over indulging over its many excesses in this season. No, narrative is what happens when the action in the plot creates something more meaningful than mere chess pieces moving around on the Westerosi board. Narrative moves people, it makes you develop empathy for characters, it prompts an emotional attachment and a response that transcends the mechanics of each of its many parts.
Plot progression, like cancer, managed to infect Game of Thrones season 7 and made it at times, merely entertaining television. In other words - vapid, meaningless and blundering from one uneventful dialogue to another tedious battle; absolutely engrossed in its own technical complexity.
The directors of the show had an impression, a mistaken impression in my opinion, that this season should have somehow "delivered" more than previous seasons did. And when less than genius people are faced with such a high bar to exceed, they tend to lean on the CGI and visual effects crutches that are meant to be aiding tools in the process of storytelling, but this season they became the story itself. Their effect was so overpowering, the audience was too busy admiring the intricacies of the CGI dragons instead of commiserating or rejoicing with their favorite characters. The journey has not come to an end yet, and I hope that narrative and not plot progression will be the guiding principle of the show in its final season.
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