LOS ANGELES – While fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones are eagerly awaiting the upcoming premiere of the show’s eighth and final season, many are expressing concern with the decision to broadcast a later episode featuring characters from NBC’s hit drama This is Us.
“I don’t… I mean why… what’s the point?” said Elizabeth Young, a loyal viewer of Game of Thrones since the first season.
An episode synopsis for the crossover states:
“Randall, Kate, and Kevin visit Westeros in a bid to trace their parents’ past vacation to the continent in their youth but end up captured by Dothraki and forced to fight each other in a duel to the death. Tyrion and Toby attend a brothel to find out more about a pending alliance between Cersei and Beth. In flashbacks, Jack pledges undying devotion to Rebecca before the Godswood while fleeing an invasion of the White Walkers. Tess kills a street urchin.”
“I know a lot of people are saying this is just corporate hackery but I always did intend to include characters from This is Us in the upcoming The Winds of Winter,” confirmed series progenitor George R.R. Martin, “I mean, the crockpot thing was basically their Red Wedding, if you think about it.”.
True to form, the episode will feature equal measures of GOT’s trademark sex, violence, and intrigue, and TIU’s crying, crying, and more crying. Rumours circulating from the set suggest that an orgy scene that took five days to shoot left cast members from both shows physically and morally exhausted.
“There was definitely a lot more fake blood and full frontal nudity than we normally have on one of our shows,” said This is Us cast member Mandy Moore.
Critics are befuddled by the notion that such an episode is in any way necessary and have raised numerous questions as to how this is even possible in the chronology or geography of either of the shows. Many are calling the move an unwise decision in all possible ways and a “complete betrayal of the concept of creativity. The GOT fan community is even more enraged, bemoaning the fact that they now have to binge three seasons of This is Us in only a few days so that they can get up to speed.
“I think that these shows will really complement each other tonally. It’s really something our fans have been clamouring for,” said Kyle Green, Vice President of Innovation with HBO. “I don’t want to give too much away but we finally learn that Jack and Rebecca are actually aunt and nephew which obviously has repercussions on The Big 3 and the Seven Kingdoms”
Fans of both shows have unanimously declared the episode to be the grossest thing they will ever watch multiple times and analyze online for days after.
