A Hugo Review: Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form) - Game of Thrones: "The Door"

Game of Thrones: "The Door", answers a question about a long-time character while advancing the general plot of the series.

Again, I'm struck by the difficulty I have with judging the Hugo finalists. This is an episode of an ongoing show that is extremely dependent on knowing the show. If you aren't familiar with the plot, how on earth could you follow this? As it is, I've read the books and had a good idea of the main characters and about where they were in the story, so I was able to follow most of it once I figured out who the characters were. But do I take into account the difficulty of new viewers, or do I judge it solely on how much I enjoyed it?

The good: The production values on this show are amazing. The plotlines I recognized were very well realized from the book to the screen, although this appears to have gone past the last book I've read in most of the stories. I suspect the reason this episode was nominated was because of the final scenes involving Hodor. The scenes explain why he can only say that one word, and what that word is a corruption of. Basically, the secret was mental time travel by Bran. It's a very powerful scene, nicely filmed in a way that makes it clear what has happened. The attack of the wights is suitably terrifying, as well. It was actually freaky in a horror movie sort of way, but better done than most horror movies.

The bad: The set up for the Hodor revelation is not in this episode, so it would be considerably more powerful for someone who has seen the previous episodes. Again, the problem with a finalist that isn't a stand-alone. Also, only one other plotline really advanced all that much in this episode, as Yara attempts to be crowned ruler only to be usurped by her uncle. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I don't see it as a great episode.

Conclusion: It was fine. I wouldn't rate it higher than the Doctor Who episode, so at the moment it's in third place.

Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form): I've watched Doctor Who, Black Mirror and Game of Thrones: "The Door". I need to watch The Expanse, Game of Thrones: "Battle of the Bastards", and Splendor & Misery [album].

Reviews of 2017 Hugo Finalists