This summer when we got “Will” on the TNT basic cable network for 10 episodes, I said:
We watch a man’s intestines pulled out. Another has what I believe was some sort of hot poker shoved down his throat. Great, we get it, we live in a world where to go against the crown is to risk torture. But you could just as easily have said “you risk losing your head” and had the same effect. Unless you want an audience turned on instead of off by that sort of thing. If I wanted that I know what channel Game of Thrones is on.
So imagine my surprise to read about HBO’s new Game of Thrones topper called Gunpowder, which at first I thought would be a western but turns out to be about, oh look! Elizabethan England. Specifically the Gunpowder Plot.
At first it looks as thought the young priest will be merely hung, but after he is hung, he is brought down, still breathing, and drawn and quartered. It’s…a lot.
The entire linked article is about how audiences are getting sick at this one and asks whether it’s too much. Are they serious? From that description, I already saw it earlier this summer. What else you got?
Oh, and in case you were wondering about the sex to go with your violence? After all, Game of Thrones isn’t just about people getting their faces ripped off by dogs, it’s about people getting naked. HBO’s still got your back with other people’s fronts:
So then we see what happens to the elegant older woman and the sweet young priest — and it truly is revolting. The woman is publicly stripped down for all to see, then slowly crushed to death between weights and a small, sharp rock.
But then again, so did Will:
But as I told one friend, “I didn’t realize that people were allowed to get that naked for that long.” Seriously, it made me wonder whether they were going in and digitally erasing bits, because there’s literally nothing for them to strategically hide anything behind.
I guess the only difference between Gunpowder and Will then is … Will? I checked the cast on IMDB, and none of our merry band of playwrights is mentioned. My hope for humanity crumbles by the minute, though I’m not surprised. Recipe for a successful show is more nudity, more gore, and less literature and historical accuracy. Sigh.
I suppose having Jon Snow never hurts a show’s chances, though.