A happy ending for 'Game of Thrones'? No thanks

Exposure to "Game of Thrones" seemed to have an effect on viewers that was more akin to consuming the news than to exposure to other fictional stories

With the final season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” commencing, I imagine most fans are harboring hopes that things will turn out well for the remaining heroes in Westeros.

A large part of me hopes for the same. But a different part of me – the part that researches the political effects of entertainment – is pulling for a final season that is as brutally unjust as the first five seasons of the series. It wants the White Walkers to overrun the North and kill Jon Snow and Daenerys, or Cersei to betray the heroes after they battle the army