The only way ‘Game of Thrones’ can end

"HBO’s fantasy epic is staring down the quandary that faces all true water-cooler shows, and has been especially pressing in this so-called Golden Age of television. Can showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss wrap up the story in a way that is satisfying to fans — some of whom have been longing for this conclusion since 1996 when George R.R. Martin published “A Game of Thrones” — and more importantly, in a way that is true to the show’s finest qualities? 

Trying to accomplish both of these sometimes-contradictory goals is a tremendously difficult task, even for the most accomplished television shows. “Sex and the City” and “Breaking Bad” both whiffed, the former by going full fairy-tale, the latter by allowing its meth-cooking high school teacher to reinvent himself as an action hero even after acknowledging that he was a monster. “The Shield” succeeded by delivering an incomplete reckoning to crooked cop Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) that highlighted both the value of his pursuers’ persistence and the difficulty of achieving accountability. And “The Sopranos” achieved immortality and launched a thousand speculations with its now-infamous cut to black.

Despite the years I’ve spent reading, watching and writing about “Game of Thrones,” I don’t know where the series is going to finish. But if the series is to conclude with integrity, I know exactly how it should end: with no one sitting on the Iron Throne."

read analysis by ALYSSA ROSENBERG