There’s a narrative that Game of Thrones completely collapsed in quality at the end. I think that’s way too simplistic, and honestly, not what the evidence shows.

People forget this now, but the Season 7 finale was sitting around a 9.9 on IMDb for a long time. The hype was insane.

Even among book readers, more than 60% gave Season 7 finale a 7 or more out of 10 on book forums.

This was despite the Wight hunt!

So what happened?

The collapse in ratings is due to the fact audiences wanted satisfaction and catharsis. They wanted the characters they are invested in to do just do well and nothing bad to happen to them

Essentially most wanted GoT to have an ending like LotR or Star Wars. Something they can rewatch over the holidays knowing at the end of the day, the good guys will win.

If GoT ends with Jon and Dany as King and Queen with Tyrion as the Hand of the King, GoT would be as critically acclaimed as LotR or Breaking Bad in pop culture