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A Note on Spoilers

What is a television blog without a spoilers discussion? A safe rule to follow for the spoiler-sensitive is this: don’t read about a show online if you haven’t watched the latest episode. It’s blunt, and it’s certainly not what anyone who just found out their favorite character dies in the new episode wants to read, but it’s also logical. In fact, since many sites have inside sources to the shows, or knowledge of a show’s source material, complete television blog abstinence is the only true safeguard. Even then, some of your more self-centered friends or coworkers might not think twice about inadvertently spoiling you. It’s a minefield out there.

In my attempt to provide one more safe spot to stand, I’m going to give you an overview of how I’ll try to manage spoilers. For one, I’ll expect you’re up to date on the show (even though I’m not even up to date on all the shows—my girlfriend’s desire to watch with me has hampered my progress on Justified and Breaking Bad, greatly and by about three episodes, respectively). I’m also not going to spend much, if any, energy talking about rumors regarding future episodes, so you’re safe there. As for source material—and here, Game of Thrones is a huge potential for disaster—I’m going to do my best to limit discussion to the show. I have a few posts planned to discuss how the show relates to the books, but I will be exceedingly vague (all the way down to names) about anything that has not already occurred by the end of season 2. I understand that in a series like A Song of Ice and Fire, even the mention of a character name is, at essence, a spoiler about the longevity of that character. I’ll be writing with that in mind.

On a more personal note, spoilers have never bothered me much. I’m more put off by the disrespectful nature of the one doing the spoiling than the spoiler itself. From my perspective, very few (some, but very, very few) events in a story should be true surprises. When something happens, I’m much more likely to be impressed if my response is, Yeah, that makes sense, than if it’s, Holy shit, I didn’t see that coming! The latter is often (not always, but often) a sign of poor writing more than anything else.