I make no promises that the things I write won’t blurt out spoilers to certain works of storytelling. I can tell you right now two things I have in mind are Netflix’s Jessica Jones and the Game of Thrones television show, which has begrudgingly surpassed the novella, and will probably utilize plot points that will be spoilers to us book nerds but anyway.
Okay, it’s kind of a spoiler, but I’m not going to go into specifics; but the final conflict of Jessica Jones was pretty unsatisfying. It’s a show that could’ve been wrapped up in 6-8 episodes, but since 13 is the magic number in terms of “seasons,” the song and dance kind of repeated itself twice over before it finally reached its conclusion. Somewhere around the eighth episode, I knew the ending was finally coming, and I had an idea of what I wanted to see, but then I told myself to not hold my breath; because final bosses never get their comeuppance.
Needless to say, the fate of Doctor Who was not what I was hoping for, and I was left with this Kermit face when the final credits began rolling. Perhaps this is a chief reason why I so unanimously and without hesitation, anointed Daredevil as the superior show, among the Hell’s Kitchen chapters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Just the other night, I’m watching GoT, and regardless of the show’s progression of the story over the novels, it’s pretty obvious that one particular character is on a collision course with another particular character. Regardless of the series’ determination to throw more twists and swerves than a convoluted professional wrestling storyline, it’s a pretty forgone conclusion that these two characters are going to collide, and one of them is going to be the obvious victor in their altercation, because there’s far bigger things for that character.
But as far as their altercation is concerned, I would bet money that the justice that fans would love to see, will not be delivered. If storytelling has taught me anything, the antagonist will be in control of the situation for nearly 90% of the time, and then by virtue of outside interference, divine intervention, or some sort of external variable, the protagonist will prevail in some sort of convoluted way. Since it’s GoT, the antagonist will die as opposed to some sort of apprehension, but it won’t be the royal ass kicking that people like me really want to see happen.
The thing is, it’s so common that storytelling conflicts all end up this way. Instead of a tormented protagonist getting the opportunity to drop a 50-hit combo and then a finishing blow, it’s almost always settled by some bullshit resolution. Ironically, one story that ends in exactly the way I described it was one that I thought was extremely overrated, but at least they had the moxie to actually settle a conflict like men should.
I always say that the hardest part of storytelling is coming up with a good ending. I have a belief that nearly 80% of stories all end in ways that leave me scratching my head and doing a Roman Reigns face rather than feeling a sense of satisfaction and disbelief that something ended in a respectable, quality manner.
