Sunday night, I might be drinking wine from a goblet, sitting in a hot tub and watching Game of Thrones HBO. Or not.
Yeah, it’s finally time for the final season of the much-lauded, way-much-talked about series that’s become a pop culture phenomenon the world over.
Of course, Game of Thrones (GOT), pretty much sets a standard a good deal of binge-watch programming now follows, meaning:
• Lots o’ characters do devious things to each other.
• The sex involves all sorts of pairings, with requisite splashes of both male and female nudity.
• More blood spills in some episodes than there is oil in Venezuela.
• Sadism, masochism, mutilation, murder, mass murder and more murder make these realms go ’round.
• Epic battles abound.
• And there be dragons. And frozen zombies.
It helps that GOT is very well-made, a medieval fantasy world soap opera that captures the uneasy nature of our times.
So, with all the hype, here are some suggestions for your viewing pleasure Sunday and beyond. I’m not reinventing the wheel here – pretty much anything there is to say about this show has been said and left for you to find online. (The web is all about SEO and hits and all that stuff, and super- popular TV shows will drive traffic. Or something like that.)
Those new to GOT who want to feel of the moment Sunday, study up before diving in. Start with GOT Wiki, an online encyclopedia compiled by fans devoted to the show.
To watch all the past episodes, according to Binge Clock it would take 63 hours and 30 minutes to do so.
Having friends over for dinner? Here are some suggestions from South Africa on preparing a feast. Otherwise, just grab a bag of Oreos.
In addition to all the intrigue, characters on GOT love their wine and spirits. So there are plenty of drinking games to he found online. Here is one from Delish. Here’s one from Buzzfeed.
You can even choose adult beverages with product tie-ins to the show. That’s not to mention Johnny Walker White Walker.
If you like your liver, though, find an online Bingo game and adapt it to the current season, instead.
I’m sure there will be famous people live tweeting or on Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat where you can view along with them Sunday night. Afterward, there will be countless recaps, reviews and think pieces. Trump probably will be jealous of all the coverage. There will be alerts to spoilers – so if you don’t have the patience to watch, you can take five minutes to read what happened.
There are already millions of things you can find to read about GOT. Among the pieces are articles to share on LinkedIn that relate the happenings on GOT to the business world. A Forbes writer has this pearl of wisdom: Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger) may have saved the Starks at the Battle of the Bastards with the Knights of the Vale. But in the end, he could have done more harm than good, which is why Sansa had Arya slit his throat; this was a strong management move.
If you’ve watched the show, saying Littlefinger did more harm than good is quite the understatement. Littlefinger left Sansa to be married to one of the Game of Thrones’ most sadistic characters, Ramsay Bolton. Oh, and Littlefinger played a big role in the murder of Sansa’s and Arya’s dad. So, naturally, slitting his throat for his misdeeds was, indeed, a strong management move, right?
Anyway, there are six episodes this season, the last of which will be shown May 19. You can place a bet on who will be left a the end of it all.
Once it does end, head out to vacation in Iceland, Croatia and other places GOT used as sets, including Northern Ireland, where a studio in Belfast served as a base of operations – and a quarry in Antrim was used to film many a scene, including an upcoming battle-to-end-all-battles that took more than 50 consecutive nights to film.
Whatever does transpire on the show, lets hope it doesn’t wind up with somebody who is left in the aftermath sitting around listening to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”