Coined after Fonzi hopped his water skis over a literal shark on Happy Days, the term “jump the shark” refers to the moment of no return for a TV show waning in quality. Nearly every TV show experiences its own “jumping the shark” embarrassment, although some take longer than others. One recent example includes HBO’s game-changing epic fantasy series Game of Thrones, the finale of which fans famously rejected as a poor ending.
Yet, true Game of Thrones die-hards know the show jumped the shark well before the disappointing final episode. In Season 7, Episode 6, “Beyond The Wall,” an ungodly spate of eye-rolling plot holes, absurd story twists, and ridiculous shenanigans ensue that threaten to undermine George R.R. Martin’s sterling reputation as a premier scribe. Six episodes later, the mega-popular TV epic ended with a thud. Eight years after “The Wall,” it’s time to reassess everything that went wrong with the Game of Thrones jumping the shark moment.
‘Game of Thrones’ Elevates TV Storytelling
Rivaling the cinematic sprawl and epic scope of The Lord of the Rings movies, Game of Thrones debuted on HBO in 2011 and quickly captivated the world. Based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice novels, the historical fantasy show tracks various families vying for control of Westeros, a mystical realm where dragons exist. As the noble families among the Seven Kingdoms vie for the Iron Throne, political maneuvering, Shakespearean backstabbing, and hyperviolent warfare set the stage for rich storytelling.
Game of Thrones retained its high-quality storytelling for five years, earning 59 Primetime Emmy Awards and climbing to #13 on IMDb’s Top 250 TV shows of all time. Casual and die-hard fans agree that Season 6 is the best Game of Thrones has to offer, with Episodes 9 and 10 earning the highest rating in series history (each with a near-perfect 9.9).
Despite courting controversy for gratuitous nudity and graphic sexual violence, Game of Thrones was lauded for its massive size, scale, scope, expensive production values, stunning photography, excellent performances, and credible ability to blend history with fantasy. Of course, not even the great writing team, including Martin, David Benioff, and D.B. Weiss, could avoid the show’s inevitable shark-jumping debacle.
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‘Game of Thrones’ Jumps the Shark with “Beyond The Wall”
The litany of problems plaguing “Beyond the Wall” is hard to overlook. Released on August 10, 2017, the penultimate episode of Season 7 stretched credulity to an absurd point of no return. In one of the show’s longest episodes (70 minutes), the plot concerns Jon Snow and his raiders venturing north to The Wall, where they encounter a zombified Army of the Dead.
Upon reaching The Wall, Jon’s party is besieged by a zombie polar bear, priming the stage for another hour of head-scratching lunacy. Game of Thrones goes full Walking Dead when Thoros is slaughtered by the zombie polar bear attempting to save The Hound. Jon and his crew murder a White Walker, only for the last surviving wight to warn a horde of undead creatures to attack. Facing roughly 1,000 Wights, Jon and his five-man team easily dispatch the horde without sustaining a scratch. The absurdity only escalates from there.
With Jon and his raiders surrounded by the undead horde, Gendry is dispatched to The Wall to send a raven to Daenerys a message to bring reinforcements. Fans decried the glaring plot hole relating to the time it takes for the raven to fly to meet Daenerys in Dragonstone, roughly 1,000 miles away.
As viewers astutely called out, there is no plausible way for a raven to travel to Dragonstone and back in a single night without possessing supersonic speeds or time-traveling superpowers. When Daenerys arrives with her dragons hours later, fans can no longer suspend disbelief. Many believe she could have reached the north that quickly only if she had a flux capacitor, much less waylay the undead horde like a Marvel version of Rick Grimes.
The absurdity continues. The North King, an expert in ice javelin tossing, recoils in fear when surrounded by the Wights. Rather than fight back with the surrounding ice, the North King retreats to high ground and watches his people get ambushed. Little details, like the ice breaking beneath the weight of the walkers yet remaining firm when a dragon’s head lands on it, further strain belief.
Saving the worst for last, what transpires with Viserion pushes “Beyond the Wall” past redemption. After failing to fight the walkers with ice javelins, The North King kills the dragon Viserion with his trademark weapon. The episode ends with the Night King reanimating Viserion as if he were Lord Voldemort, a ludicrous supernatural development ripped right out of a children’s bedtime story. The only thing possibly more illogical is Benjen Stark saving Jon from sudden death, only to give Jon his horse and sacrifice himself to the walkers.
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The Iron Throne Finale Never Atoned For The Wall
Unfortunately, the parade of plot holes and silly story beats continued well past “Beyond the Wall.” Heretofore, Game of Thrones was known for delivering its best hour of television in each season’s penultimate episode. Fans came to expect the biggest, boldest, and most spectacular episode one week before each season finale, setting up lofty expectations for “Beyond the Wall” to deliver the same riveting results as the previous season’s “Battle of the Bastards.”
Once fans and critics noticed the episode fell short, Game of Thrones officially jumped the shark. Failing to deliver satisfying drama in the second-to-last episode stuck in the minds of many, including IGN’s Terry Schwartz, who stated:
“Game of Thrones has long set the precedent that its penultimate episodes of its seasons would be the biggest in terms of scale and, oftentimes, loss, in everything from “Baelor” to “The Rains of Castamere”. In that way, “Beyond the Wall” was no different, as it arguably featured the greatest loss the series has faced to date: a dragon killed by the Night King, and even worse, resurrected by him.”
After straying from the tried-and-true formula that made Game of Thrones such a success for the first six seasons, Martin failed to nail Season 8’s penultimate episode, “The Bells.” Setting up an even more disappointing series finale, “The Bells” could not capture the show’s past magic, earning an abysmal 5.9 IMDb rating.
The lackluster episode led to “The Iron Throne,” the lowest-rated chapter in series history (4.0). Although the beginning of Season 8 flashed promise, the writing left after “Beyond the Wall” spelled doom for a once-great TV event. As such, Game of Thrones never recovered after jumping the shark in Season 7.
Game of Thrones is available to stream on Max.
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