orz
King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men
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I initially started watching Yellowstone back in 2020, but I was too young to really understand the politics of it. I picked it up again 2 weeks ago, and honestly, I was enjoying it until Season 5.
After finishing Season 5, I am in genuine disbelief.
I get it. Kevin Costner couldn't play the role anymore. There were obviously scheduling conflicts and drama behind the scenes, and he wanted out. I acknowledge that. But there is a difference between an actor leaving and the writers completely giving up. They handled his exit in the laziest way possible.
I never thought I would say this, but the Game of Thrones ending was actually better than this. GoT was rushed, and the writing was bad, but at least it felt like an ending. There was spectacle. There was closure, even if we didn't like it.
But Yellowstone was just horrendous.
The pacing was terrible, the "climax" happened in the first 5 minutes of the first episode, and the rest was just filler.
This brings me to the charts. If you look at the SeriesGraph for Game of Thrones, Season 8 is red and purple, dropping to a 6.4 average with the finale at a 4.0. If you look at the Yellowstone chart, it is inexplicably yellow and green. Season 5 is sitting at a 7.7 average, with the final episodes hovering in the high 7s and low 8s.
The worst part is the actual resolution regarding the ranch because it completely betrays the core concept of the show. For five seasons, we watched the Duttons commit murder and destroy lives just to keep every inch of that land, but then in the finale, they just decided it was okay to give it up for pennies on the dollar. It makes the entire struggle of the previous seasons feel completely pointless because the core motivation of the characters just vanished into thin air. This switch-up is genuinely diabolical.
People like to mock Game of Thrones for making Bran the King, and while that was a baffling creative choice, it does not even come close to the narrative betrayal of the Duttons selling out. Bran becoming King was a clumsy way to end a story, but the Duttons giving up the land is a negation of the story itself. It renders every sacrifice and death in the previous episodes useless. At least the Game of Thrones ending tried to wrap up the plot lines based on some version of character trajectory, whereas Yellowstone just seemed to get bored with its own premise and gave up.
This makes the SeriesGraph ratings even more frustrating to look at because Game of Thrones is sitting in the red with a 6.4 average, while Yellowstone creates a massive narrative contradiction and still sits at a 7.7. The audience punished Game of Thrones for rushing the ending, but they seem to be letting Yellowstone off the hook for ruining the entire point of the show. If Bran becoming King is a 4.0, then the Duttons giving up their land after fighting the world for it should be rated far lower.
After finishing Season 5, I am in genuine disbelief.
I get it. Kevin Costner couldn't play the role anymore. There were obviously scheduling conflicts and drama behind the scenes, and he wanted out. I acknowledge that. But there is a difference between an actor leaving and the writers completely giving up. They handled his exit in the laziest way possible.
I never thought I would say this, but the Game of Thrones ending was actually better than this. GoT was rushed, and the writing was bad, but at least it felt like an ending. There was spectacle. There was closure, even if we didn't like it.
But Yellowstone was just horrendous.
The pacing was terrible, the "climax" happened in the first 5 minutes of the first episode, and the rest was just filler.
This brings me to the charts. If you look at the SeriesGraph for Game of Thrones, Season 8 is red and purple, dropping to a 6.4 average with the finale at a 4.0. If you look at the Yellowstone chart, it is inexplicably yellow and green. Season 5 is sitting at a 7.7 average, with the final episodes hovering in the high 7s and low 8s.
The worst part is the actual resolution regarding the ranch because it completely betrays the core concept of the show. For five seasons, we watched the Duttons commit murder and destroy lives just to keep every inch of that land, but then in the finale, they just decided it was okay to give it up for pennies on the dollar. It makes the entire struggle of the previous seasons feel completely pointless because the core motivation of the characters just vanished into thin air. This switch-up is genuinely diabolical.
People like to mock Game of Thrones for making Bran the King, and while that was a baffling creative choice, it does not even come close to the narrative betrayal of the Duttons selling out. Bran becoming King was a clumsy way to end a story, but the Duttons giving up the land is a negation of the story itself. It renders every sacrifice and death in the previous episodes useless. At least the Game of Thrones ending tried to wrap up the plot lines based on some version of character trajectory, whereas Yellowstone just seemed to get bored with its own premise and gave up.
This makes the SeriesGraph ratings even more frustrating to look at because Game of Thrones is sitting in the red with a 6.4 average, while Yellowstone creates a massive narrative contradiction and still sits at a 7.7. The audience punished Game of Thrones for rushing the ending, but they seem to be letting Yellowstone off the hook for ruining the entire point of the show. If Bran becoming King is a 4.0, then the Duttons giving up their land after fighting the world for it should be rated far lower.
