Do you know who else is doing that? The entire goddam cast of Game of Thrones. Courtesy of @Purple_Dwagon, a Game of Thrones fan account – Gendry talking about all of Season 7, realizing he is being way too critical, shutting up, and Grey Worm laughing saying “Welp Benioff and Weiss are gonna hate you!”:

“Contrarian” KFC checking in, here! I’m the guy from jump street this season who said “You know, these episodes kinda stink, and now season 7 looks pretty pointless too,” and had the entire Barstool fan base crying like Joel Embiid’s girlfriend after a quadruple doink. “Hating on popular things doesnt make you popular!” “Surprise surprise! This guy hates on everything!” No. I hate on things that are bad. I hate on things I dont like. And in this case, I dont even hate it. I love Game of Thrones, but I can admit when its not good. And when thats the case, Im not afraid to let you know. I can admit when something that is usually awesome or something I usually love isnt living up to the hype. I’d say thats just called being a rational adult with a brain but it seems to be a big deal to a LOT of people so I wont paint with that broad of a brush. Its upsetting to admit that 60+ episodes worth of incredible entertainment is going down the drain a little bit, if not completely. But I gotta call it like it is.

Brienne of Tarth who hated her abrupt shift from badass, stone cold warrior to blubbering, crying “why-doesn’t-he-like-me” girl:

Lena Heady, who hated the fact that Cersei was killed in one chaotic avalanche of rocks. “Stars! They’re just like us too!” Because we fucking hated her death:

Missandei, who agreed that her and Dany’s relationship was so non existent in recent seasons. Particularly when that character’s death was supposed to inspire a bloodthirsty war monger, I would assume:

Euron Greyjoy, who blatantly knows he is the biggest waste of time in TV history. Literally everything he did was simply a TV writer cheat code to advance the plot whichever direction they needed to:

Jamie Lannister, a professional actor, who can deliver words he doesnt believe, in a convincing manner, choosing to describe his final reaction in this manner:

And those are all quotes in addition to Jon Snow’s one word reaction to this season being “Disappointed,” Emilia Clarke squirming out of her skin, Dinklage and Ser Barristan being confused, George RR Martin talking about what you do when the world figures out your plot twist before you reveal it, and David Benioff blatantly admitting that they built Jon Snow to build the hero but then it just “didnt feel right” to follow through with it:

Now listen a lot of these points can be argued. Brienne being a human with very common emotions regarding her first love isnt completely unexplainable. Cersei’s death was more symbolic and poetic than it was satisfying and entertaining. Some of those quotes are lacking context and can be interpreted multiple ways. Ive argued against a couple of these points throughout this final controversial season. But at some point you gotta give in to the evidence here. You gotta admit, that on the whole, if we’re going on the binary scale – did Game of Thrones knock it out of the part? Did they deliver on their final season? – the answer is no. When there’s this much debate and controversy, you gotta admit to yourself that Thrones is going more the “Lost” route than it is the “Breaking Bad” route. Right? Thats not to say that you can’t like it. If you’re down with this story telling and the rushed paced and the spotty plot holes and the character turns doesnt bother you, then go right ahead, argue all your points that this is good. But at some point you gotta wave the white flag here and admit that if at least half the fan base and, at least on some level, even the actors are all like “What the fuck is going on here?” then its OK to admit that your favorite show fell victim to the same fate that many all time great TV shows did while trying to wrap up an extremely complicated and thorough storyline.

And please note, theres a difference between all that, and the people who are saying “quit crying that the show simply didnt go the way you wanted it to go.” This is people being bothered that the direction that it did go, didnt make sense. Yes, show runners have every right to end a show the way they want to end a show. Particularly when the world creator left them out to dry and didnt finish the story for them. But you have to make sure that ending that you choose makes sense. That you explain how you got from point A to point B. And if you want to go down in history and live up to the greatness of the first 4, 5, 6 seasons, you should probably do it at the right pace and in an effective manner. You probably shouldnt abandon every bread crumb you ever dropped, and you probably shouldnt try to create a new trail at hyper speed.

And, if the writers fail on those fronts, then you should probably expect a hefty amount of criticism. Because those criticisms go beyond personal opinion. I mean, I know everything regarding a TV show or any form of entertainment is subjective and all revolves around personal opinion, but there are certain standards and expectations and accepted ways to tell a coherent story and when you abandon that code of story telling, its absolutely fair game to be criticized. Do I think the people who are signing petitions asking HBO to REDO THE SEASON are the biggest losers in the world? Yes, yes I do. But do I think that the other, normal losers like myself are justified in their criticism proclaiming they botched this ending? Yes, yes I do. And it seems like the actors themselves, and a large, large chunk of the fan base agree. Contrarian KFC, out!