Why 'Game of Thrones' & 'The Walking Dead' Can't Fool Us 

Why 'Game of Thrones' & 'The Walking Dead' Can't Fool Us

Are audiences getting smarter, or shows getting lazier?

**This article contains spoilers for both shows, take note.**

Now that the cat is totally out of the bag and Jon Snow draws breath once again on

it\'s time we ask ourselves, are these supposedly huge moments really worth it, or cheap dramatic storytelling? On

this season we endured a similar trick, when Glenn appeared to be a goner at the bottom of a sea of zombies and the series took its sweet ass time revealing what really happened.

Were the "deaths" of Jon and Glenn cheap? Why yes. Yes they were. But that doesn\'t mean they weren\'t worth it.

It is worth pointing out Jon Snow\'s death was set up and realized about a hundred times better than Glenn\'s "death," or whatever you want to call it, on

. But the effect on the respective story, and on the fans, was very similar.

In Glenn\'s case, he fell to the ground in season six, episode three, "Thank You," while a horde of dozens of zombies chowed down on Nicholas, who fell on top of him. Director Michael Slovis framed the camera so it appears as though Glenn is being eaten but you can pretty much tell it\'s Nicholas on the buffet table. When the episode ends, it appears Glenn is dead since who could escape such a situation? But a few things smelled rotten. First, major characters aren\'t just killed off like that. They\'re usually given a final scene to shine or a last goodbye. Glenn never got that. Second,

loves to kill off characters in brutal, terrifying ways. If Glenn were really dead, they would have showed us.

Three (!) episodes later, in "Heads Up," we learn Glenn made it out of there by crawling under the dumpster and biding his time. Fans predicted it easily.

, Jon Snow was resurrected by Melisandre, a development every Throneser worth their salt predicted. Like with Glenn, nobody really believed Jon was dead, but at least

made the development a true part of the story and not just a silly cheap thrill played out to maximum effect.

Jon Snow really was dead, unlike Glenn, so it wasn\'t lying when the entire cast and the showrunners kept telling us he was. The real question was whether or not he\'d come back and, although we all predicted he would, the show did a nice job keeping it a secret and they only tortured us for one episode before revealing the truth. (Although, we had to endure the wait

So why bother? If fans are smart enough to sniff out these red herrings for what they are, what\'s the point? Well, dramatically, you can\'t deny the effect isn\'t polarizing. Educated fans may not have bought these scenes when they happened, but that doesn\'t mean they didn\'t enjoy them. Personally, I thought the "death" of Jon Snow was a fantastic moment last year. I didn\'t believe he was really dead, but the scene was still powerful. Ditto for Glenn\'s scene. I felt like he was coming back, but I enjoyed seeing him scream for his life and panic in a seemingly unwinnable scenario. In both cases, the annoyance of waiting for an answer I already knew was outweighed by the general dramatic effect. Were they worth it for you? Comment below with your thoughts.

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I'm an Associate Editor at Zimbio. I spend a lot of time in movie theaters. Follow me: Twitter | Google

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