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This Sunday, “Game of Thrones,” the biggest TV show on the planet, will end its bold and bloody run, forcing legions of passionate devotees to find something else to obsess over.
“Oh, I will miss it horribly,” said Taylor Follett. “I will be a wreck.”
For the past few years, Follett, a UC Berkeley English major, has been all-in on “Thrones” — so much so that when she wakes up on mornings after HBO airs an episode, “It’s all I think about. I can hardly focus on anything else.”
Millions of fans can relate. “Game of Thrones,” which follows the vicious power struggles in the mythical realm of Westeros, grew into a worldwide phenomenon in the years following its 2011 small-screen debut. But the six-episode final season that launched last month has been off-the-charts colossal in terms of a collective viewing experience, becoming the rare TV series that — as Time magazine critic Judy Berman wrote — had people from all walks of life “losing their minds over the same thing at the same time.”
Indeed, as the show inspired by George R.R. Martin’s novels prepares to wrap up, pop-cultural observers are lamenting its departure as the demise of television as a mass cultural event. (“As goes Westeros, so goes TV,” proclaimed Matt Zoeller Seitz of Vulture.com). In an era of deeply fragmented audiences, it brought people together to not only watch it, but breathlessly analyze every single frame of it, via podcasts, social media and countless fan sites, as well as at viewing parties.
Addicts feverishly tweeted — and commiserated — about “Game of Thrones” in real time. They also celebrated it with friends at costume-optional watch parties, or “Thrones”-themed pop-up bars like the one at San Francisco’s 25 Lusk restaurant, where patrons are invited to take selfies on a replica Iron Throne and “Eat like a Stark and drink like a Lannister!” That particular pop-up, dubbed “Taste of Thrones,” transformed the restaurant’s downstairs lounge into an elaborate six-days-per-week Westeros-inspired bar, complete with Night King cocktails and dragon photo ops. (It runs through May 25; https://tasteofthrones.com.)
The communal experience — that feeling of being part of something larger — is one of the things that excited Follett.
“We’re living in a super divisive time and a lot of people are feeling isolated,” she said. “To be able to share an escapist piece of pop culture with others has been really, really fun.”
With “Game of Thrones,” it wasn’t just about fans wanting to share it, but wanting to share it at the same time. These days, we’re used to watching TV when we get around to it. Recorded shows pile up in DVR queues. Streaming fare is saved to be binged on a rainy day.
But now, suddenly, viewers were bending over backwards to get to their screens at 9 p.m. sharp on Sundays to witness the deadly tangle of swords and dragons. It was a throwback to an era of “appointment TV.”
“People wanted that immediate gratification — like being the first in line for the new iPhone, or seeing ‘Avengers’ on the day it opens,” said Dale Allison, a “Thrones” fan in Sunnyvale. “There was a great desire to avoid spoilers and talk about it as soon as possible with friends.”
Like many others, Allison was drawn to “Game of Thrones” because, with its shocking plot twists, epic sprawl, stellar cast and cinematic production values, it shattered his notions of what TV could be.
“It’s so unlike your typical American series and it’s so unpredictable,” he said. “You never know when a particular character is going to get killed, or what kind of trouble they’re going to get into.”
Not that the final season has been a complete pleasure cruise. Much of the communal chatter surrounding the show has been aimed at what some regard as sloppy plotting, dimly-lit battle scenes and poor character development.
Rowan Kaiser, an Oakland native and author of “100 Things Games of Thrones Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” goes as far as to call the show’s narrative “increasingly superficial and incoherent.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the finale collapsed under its own weight,” he said.
Follett has had her own quibbles with “Game of Thrones.” But no matter. This Sunday — a few hours after her graduation ceremony at Cal — she plans to be riveted to her screen, just like millions of others.
“I hate endings,” she said. “I’m going to cry, regardless what happens.”
Contact Chuck Barney at cbarney@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Twitter.com/chuckbarney and Facebook.com/bayareanewsgroup.chuckbarney.