Of course Game of Thrones deserved to win the Emmy for outstanding drama series

Variety

The HBO drama tied its own record for most Emmy wins for a season of television, taking home 12 trophies after receiving a record 32 nominations. Game of Thrones, says Kate Aurthur, deserves its fourth drama series Emmy because it showed what event television could be, especially with its final season. "More than anything quantifiable, every season of Game of Throne proved to be a massive communal event during which audiences came together to discuss fan theories, mourn characters who died and argue about the show’s depiction of race and rape and Ed Sheeran," says Aurthur. "The show’s final season, with its wild and incoherent narrative swings, provided perhaps the most interesting conversations of all — not since college have I found myself talking so much about fictional characters’ psychologies and motivations. Congratulations to us, we all survived the Dany wars! And, yes, the final season of Game of Thrones barely resolved any of the mythological puzzles it had set up and betrayed a good number of its characters (not only Dany, but Cersei, Jaime, Brienne, Tyrion, Varys — whew, everyone, maybe!). It was as if the show just stopped caring, to be honest. But millions and millions of us got together and talked about it like we were watching ER in 1994 or something and there were only four TV networks. No, it was not the best, but it was indeed outstanding. I miss Game of Thrones already."

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• It was a muted victory lap for Game of Thrones: "Game of Thrones tied its own record last night for most Emmys won by a series in a single season, scoring 12 trophies in total," says Shirley Li. "Yet, the show lost in most of the major categories: Its finale failed to win for writing and directing, and among its 10 performance nominees, only one triumphed. In the end, 10 of its 12 record-tying honors had been picked up at the Creative Arts Emmys the weekend before."
• Co-creator David Benioff on the Bran controversy: “It was always going to be Bran as the king at the end"
• With four drama series Emmy wins, Game of Thrones ties Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, The West Wing and Mad Men
• Kit Harington reveals he's yet to watch the final season: “Controversy," he said. "I still haven’t seen the show, so that’s how I dealt with that controversy. I haven’t seen the final season, but I know what it took to shoot it and it was hard, and everyone put their love and effort into it. Controversy for us — we knew what we were doing was right story wise and we knew that it was right for the characters because we lived with them for ten years. Controversy for us — didn’t really effect us."
• Peter Dinklage praised co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss in his acceptance speech: "Dave and Dan, we literally walked through fire and ice for you. Literally. And I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Thank you."
• Predictions that Game of Thrones would win everything were wrong
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• Game of Thrones cast had the most awkward presentation of the night
• Gwendoline Christie wins raves for her "Pope" outfit