Category Archives: Immortality

Hodder & Stoughton, 17.99

Review by Alastair Mabbott

Mike Pearl used to write a column for Vice entitled How Scared Should I Be?, and seems to have found his answers researching this book, in which he explores the kind of future scenarios most of us dont have to think about.

To be fair, its not all about apocalyptic endings. Chapter titles like The Day Nuclear Bombs Kill Us All, The Day the Next Supervolcano Erupts and The Day Antibiotics Dont Work Anymore are in the minority. Most of his speculations are extrapolated from existing concerns, such as The Day a Tech Billionaire Takes Over the World (a low probability, in Pearls estimation, but Scary? Extremely) and The Day Anyone Can Imitate Anyone Perfectly, which is more or less upon us already.

Pearl admits that The Day Doping is Allowed at the Olympics would probably closely resemble the late-80s/early-90s Olympics, but even the more innocuous titles evoke a slightly queasy feeling, signalling dramatic changes which are not necessarily unwelcome but underline what a strange and foreign place a future like that would be. Like The Day the UK Finally Abolishes its Monarchy (Plausibility rating: 5/5), or The Day the US Finally Bans Guns (what, with all those tooled-up militias out there?).

Pearl has long suffered from anxiety, and putting this book together made an effective coping strategy for him. Now its us who will be kept awake at night by questions we would never have thought of asking. Will our cemeteries eventually run out of room? If every slaughterhouse shut down, would the global economy collapse? Will lunar colonists be contractually obliged to stay childless until Space Health & Safety works up the nerve to greenlight a low-gravity birth?

Given the epic, world-changing nature of the events being considered here, Pearl couldnt be expected to keep a solemn tone for the duration, so theres levity, irony and understatement in the scenarios he devises for each chapter and the ratings he gives them. Pearl believes were right to be both excited and terrified by the future, though the balance of this book tips just a bit to the terrifying side.

But if the future looks frightening, think of the changes weve already weathered in our lifetime. On consumer resistance to laboratory-grown meat, Pearl sensibly remarks, And just as with existing meat products, as long as the stuff tastes good, consumers probably wont spend much time agonizing over how it got in the package. On the other hand, contact with extra-terrestrials would be a mixed blessing. British astronomer Chris Impel tells Pearl, Our tribal world culture is fairly unstable already, and this will just be another destabilizing element coming out of science, which we sort of dont need.

One thing to look forward to is that there are multiple ways in which the human lifespan could be prolonged. The bad news is that if immortality were to be rolled out among the general population humans would quickly fill up the entire solar system. Laboratory-grown meat not sounding so bad now?

See the original post:

Review: The Day It Finally Happens, by Mike Pearl - HeraldScotland

One of the perennial themes of horror is the idea that death is not the worst fate. Despite our fear of our mortality, the fact that death is an end is in itself a comfort. While many wish for immortality, not being able to die would be truly horrific. Billy Seneses supernatural thriller The Dead Center is a tale about a man who returns from the dead and carries with him a terrible power.

Daniel Forrester (Shane Carruth, Primer) is a dedicated psychiatrist who works in an emergency psych ward. When a catatonic John Doe (Jeremy Childs, Preacher) shows up in the ward after being found in the adjacent hospital, Daniel finds himself drawn to the mysterious man. When the man snaps out of his catatonic state, he is unable to remember who he is, But he claims there is a darkness that spirals within him.

Unbeknownst to Daniel, a medical examiner, Edward Graham (Bill Feehely, Blood Rogues) is looking for the John Doe. The mysterious patient is actually Michael Clark, a suicide victim whose corpse has disappeared from the morgue. While the two men attempt to unravel the mystery behind the patient, there is a spate of deaths in the ward when workers and patients who come in contact with the strange man become sick.

There is an unfortunate trend in mainstream horror to put the monster front and center and to deliver a neat explanation of whatever evil the heroes must face. Fortunately, The Dead Center understands that nothing is more terrifying than the unexplainable, and mostly keeps the horror off-screen and enigmatic. We are rarely shown more than a few flashes of Michaels attacks, making them all the more effective. While there is mercifully no expository scene that tells us exactly whats going on, we are given hints. Michael explains an evil spiral that shows him horrifying things, and when Edward goes to Michaels parents house, we see a wall covered with pictures of demons and corpses that look suspiciously like Michaels victims.

Gore-averse horror fans will be happy to hear that there is little gore in The Dead Center. Michaels evil is more akin to disease than physical violence, and were rarely shown the attacks in full. While this may be frustrating to fans of more extreme horror, it will be a boon to viewers who appreciate subtler scares. You only need a flicker of light and a glimpse of Michael approaching the victim to be creeped out.

Cinematographer Andy Duensing eschews the typical horror movie aesthetic, opting for flat lighting and muted colors. This lack of stereotypically creepy visuals helps keep the film grounded in the psychiatric ward setting, and makes the horror elements feel more realistic. Instead, the film opts to use music and sound design to amp up the chills. Jordan Lehnings score is unobtrusive and mostly consists of ambient sounds that give the scenes an eerie atmosphere.

In addition to the music, the films use of sound also helps to give the audience a sense of unease. This is most noticeable with Michael, who often has tinnitus. When he explains the horrors that haunt him, we hear the ringing in his ears while Daniels dialogue is muffled. It puts the audience in a disoriented mood and helps us empathize with him, even as he causes horrible events to occur.

As far as monsters go, Michael is a sympathetic one. It may not even be fair to call him a monster, as its obvious from the start that he is possessed by some evil force, and doesnt want to hurt people. Childs gives a powerhouse performance, portraying him as tortured without feeling self-pitying. His physical acting is also fantastic. Before attacking his victims, Michael will go into convulsions, and Childs throws himself into these scenes. As he writhes around, his eyes give a dead stare, making the character feel completely inhuman. Its unsettling and escalates the dread before it culminates into terror.

The Dead Center understands that nothing is more terrifying than the unexplainable.

While Childs performance is the lynchpin for the movie, the rest of the cast also play their roles admirably. Carruths Daniel is passionate but vulnerable, and his descent into madness is believable as his desire to help Michael turns into a desire to stop him. Feehely does well as Edward, but his performance is hindered by the blandness of his character. The medical examiner has no quirks and his investigation is only in the film to give the audience a few hints of the evil that is possessing Michael.

Though grounding its horror in the mundane offers a perverse appeal, the unremarkable nature of the characters is maybe the films biggest flaw. While Edward is the worst offender, Daniels characterization also feels uninspired. While he isnt boring, his tragic backstory (his mother committed suicide) and complicated relationship with his boss Sarah (Poorna Jagannathan, Big Little Lies) feel like typical traits of a horror movie psychiatrist. This isnt to say that the characters dont work or detract from enjoying the film, but a little more development would have helped elevate The Dead Center in the crowded field of low-budget horror.

However, even if it doesnt break any new ground in the horror genre, The Dead Center is still worth a watch for fear fans. Its concept is a fresh one, and the chills are deftly handled. There are fates worse than death, and missing out on this fun horror flick may be one of them. (Now, Shane, come back to directing. Its been six years since Upstream Color. We miss you.)

The Dead Center is currently haunting limited theaters and VOD, and comes to DVD October 15th.

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The Dead Center Review: Who Wants to Live Forever? - The Spool

MICHAEL ONEILL watched football immortality come and go in fifteen mad minutes.

Northern Ireland were clinging onto a hard-earned point having taken the lead - only to succumb in injury time.

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Defeat means ONeills team now slip to third place in Group C leaving their Euro 2020 qualifying hopes hanging by a thread.

Boss ONeill reckoned he needed four points from back-to-back qualifiers against the Dutch to stand any chance of making it to next summers finals.

For five minutes his tiny nation were on course for their biggest win since the beating Spain in 2006 after Josh Magennis gave them a shock lead.

The Hull City striker had only been on the pitch for nine minutes when he headed home from inside the box after a cock-up in defence between Daley Blind and Matthijs de Ligt.

With 15 minutes to go it appeared as if ONeills defensive masterplan would hold out - only to see his team crumble.

And it was former Manchester United flop Memphis Depay who made them pay with two goals as they ran out of steam and the sloppy Dutch finally woke up.

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Depay equalised in the 80th minute and scored his countrys third four minutes into injury time to seal what on paper looks like a routine night.

Substitute Luuk de Jong scored in between, one minute into stoppage time as Northern Irish resistance faded.

ONeill knew he faced a huge task to get anything from the team ranked 13 in the world at a stadium where they have won 16 games on the spin.

But for a spell it looked as if he might be able to face Holland at Windsor Park next month with a chance to upset the odds and cling onto the all-important second place.

Magennis goal was Northern Irelands only shot on target all night and it was the forwards first goal of any kind this season.

ONeills plan was to soak up Dutch pressure and hit on the counter attack and it seemed to be working a treat.

Holland dominated possession and the number of chances in front of goal but also missed a string of opportunities to take the lad and make it a more comfortable night.

Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum had a thunderous shot black in the first half and he also blazed over the bar in the second.

To make matters worse for Northern Ireland, Holland go to whipping boys Belarus on Sunday where they should stretch their lead even further over ONeills team.

Original post:

Holland 3 Northern Ireland 1: Depay inspires Dutch comeback to sink underdogs who were on verge of shock Euro - The Sun

With 'The Eternals', the MCU will add a race of cosmic superheroes to its mix and they'll be unlike anything the world has ever seen. In comics, most characters who are associated with super-powered races, such as the mutants and Inhumans have an ability or two that sets them apart, however, the Eternals come across as a more unique and powerful race of beings. 'Eternals' is part of Phase 4 and revolves around a group of immortal aliens, the Celestials. According to the comics, the Eternals were a creation of these space gods.

The Celestials came to Earth thousands of years ago and experimented with the DNA of the ancient humans resulting in two sets of creations the Eternals and the Deviants. The latter was a more hideous and crude creation while the Eternals came across as the more refined versions who could pass off for humans. Immortality, one of the many powers of the Eternals came from an accident after Chronos, a first-generation Eternal experimented with cosmic energy. Thanks to the explosion, that spread over the city, each Eternal had cosmic energy in them.

In addition to immortality, they also have a string of powers that set them apart from other Marvel races. While mutants and Inhumans have a specific ability, the cosmic energy gives them more than just one ability including superhuman strength, telepathy, teleportation, and manipulation of matter. Among the most unique abilities is the Uni-Mind where a group of Eternals can link up and form the Uni-Mind where they form a single being.

The only common factor between the Inhumans, Mutants and the Eternals are their power levels that vary. All the Eternals slated to appear in the 2020 movie are perfect examples. Each of them comes with their own impressive set of powers and in many ways is a new direction that the MCU is taking by introducing these celestial beings to the world. How the studios explain their origin, their powers, and abilities remains to be seen.

'The Eternals' will hit theatres on November 6, 2020.

Read more:

MCU Phase 4: Here's how cosmic superheroes 'The Eternals' differ from the X-Men and the Inhumans - MEAWW

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a badass dude. He chopped Darth Maul clear in half. He ripped all six lightsaber-wielding arms of General Grievous apart. And not even Anakin Skywalker, an angry Sith convert at the height of his youthful vigor and rage, could cut Kenobi down in a one-on-one lightsaber duel.

Of course, Kenobi would eventually yield to his former Padawan in Episode IVA New Hope. But that doesn't mean Vader got the last laugh. As the story goes, by Kenobi allowing Vader to strike him down at the finale of the first Star Wars film, Old Ben was able to become an important spiritual ally to Luke Skywalker, helping to save the Rebellion and finish off the The Empire once and for all (or so they thought). So the question is, why the hell is everybody always saying that Anakin is the "chosen one?" A recent fan theory on Reddit makes the case that Kenobi didn't get the respect he deserved. And, if the theories about Rey's parentage are true, the Kenobi bloodline may serve a wildly very significant purpose in the upcoming Rise of Skywalker.

Reddit user wesskywalker made a post in the r/FanTheories subreddit titled "Obi-Wan Kenobi was the strongest force user and Palpatine knew it." According to the theory, there is evidence in every episode of Star Wars that Kenobinot Yoda, not Sidious, not Anakinwas the most powerful player in the game. This even includes Luke Skywalker as well. The user writes, "In Episode I, he is able to kill Darth Maul after his master was slain by him...In Episode II, Obi-Wan was the only Jedi who sensed that Anakin was not ready for the mission to protect Padme." And, for Revenge of the Sith, he says, "Yoda tells Kenobi that he 'is not powerful enough' to face the Emperor towards the end of the film. Yoda was stuck in the dogmatic Jedi ways and couldnt fathom that a pupil could be more powerful than him. Palpatine knew it." Of course, wesskywalker notes, that Obi-Wan was the first known Jedi to fully achieve immortality at the end of A New Hope too. That's pretty huge.

While it may seem arbitrary to judge the power levels of force users in Star Wars, wesskywalker may be on to something here. Especially because Luke Skywalker tells Rey in The Last Jedi that the whole "chosen one" thing is a bunch of bullshit based on Jedi hubris and religious mumbo jumbo anyway. In fact, regarding Rian Johnson's film, wesskywalker says, "In Episode VIII, the darkness was stronger than ever and it is no coincidence that this is the only film that Kenobi does not appear in. His power was alluded to when Skywalker says that it was a Jedi who was responsible for the creation/training of Darth Vader."

And as per Rogue One, most viewers may not recall, but the whole mission of getting access to the Death Star plans ends with Leia setting up her quest to bring the Empire down in the beginning of A New Hope. And those plans, of course, begin with the Young Princess calling out for the strongest Jedi she ever heard of, saying "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope."

For years, fans have been theorizing that Rey is somehow a descendant of Kenobi. It's not clear how, exactly, the new Jedi could share ancestry with the Ewan McGregor / Alec Guinness character (people have many, many ideas), but the idea of Rise of Skywalker concluding the original trilogy's saga with a Kenobi facing down a descendant of Anakin feels very, well, Star Wars. It'd make the nine-episode saga thematically and narratively whole, and bring back the first lightsaber duel that sparked the events of the entire series. But who would win, in the end? Kylo, a Skywalker? Or Rey, a potential descendant of Obi-Wan?

The Rise of Skywalker debuts on December 20, 2019.

Read the rest here:

This Obi-Wan Kenobi Fan Theory Reconsiders the Real 'Chosen One' In 'Star Wars' - Esquire.com

Season seven of The 100 is going to see things comingto a head in a number of ways. Loose ends will be tied up but not before the characters have to contend with Sanctum Primes. The overlords of the Earth-like planet hold a vice-like grip of their people, who worship them without question despite their dark deeds. However, their days could be numbered, according to The 100 showrunner Jason Rothenberg.

Jordan Green (played by Shannon Kook) was introduced in season five after he was revealed to be the son of Monty (Christopher Larkin) and Harper McIntyre (Chelsey Reist).

He was born on the Eligius IV and when he turned 26, his parents put him in a cryosleep as they continued to man the ship before passing away of old age.

Jordan was one of the first to awake and brought Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor) and Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley) out of cryosleep.

Jordan and other members of Wonkru learnt that the Primes were essentially body snatching and killing the person whose body they had taken over.

READ MORE:The 100: What happened to Charmaine Diyoza and the Anomaly?

After finding out the horrifying truth, Jordan forced Prime Priya Desai (Ashleigh LaThrop) to tell the truth about how the leaders of Sanctum managed to live and rule over Sanctum.

However, an angered Russell Lightbourne (J.R. Bourne) initiated the Adjustment Protocol which made the crowd gather go mad after being exposed to Red Sun toxin.

The people proceeded to attack each other and Priya was killed in the fray as it seemed like the truth died with her.

But could Jordan try again to expose the truth of the Primes to the people once and for all? The play will be interesting to see given some people are zealots and refuse to believe otherwise.

READ MORE:The 100 season 7: Will Russell Lightbourne return?

Season six ended with Jordan holding a mind drive in his hand which Rothenberg said would be important going forward.

Speaking to TV Insider, Rothenberg teased some hints about what season seven could hold.

He said: Very significant for Jordans character, that hes got that in his hand at the end of the season. That tees up the direction were taking him in.

Clearly, Murphy and Emori are Primes now, theyre not part of the original Primes but they have immortality, so that will be something that continues in the story.

READ MORE:The 100 season 7: How do Octavia and Hope Diyoza know each other?

One of the things were playing with is this idea of cognitive dissonance; that people believe things so strongly that even when you tell them the truth, they refuse to believe its the truth.

We will see a stubborn band of true believers in Sanctum who come to worship at the feet of Murphy and Emori, which will be a funand relatively disturbingstory well tell going forward.

The quotes suggest that Jordan will have a role to play going forward that could perhaps discredit the Primes.

However, it looks like there will be a struggle to change the minds of the masses who believe in the power of Primes without question.

Given this is the final run, audiences are likely to get a resolution of some sort.

The 100 season 7 will premiere pm The CW in 2020

More here:

The 100 season 7: Will Jordan Green take down the Sanctum Primes? - Express.co.uk

By Dr Velon L. John

WITH a spiritual act of courage and in his magnificent humility, Brandt Jean conferred upon himself and his deceased brother, Botham Jean immortality in the circumstance of humanity. All of this is circumscribed by these words:

If you truly are sorry, I know I can speak for myself, I forgive you. I love you as a person I know that if you go to God and ask Him, He will forgive you. I dont know if this is possible but, can I give her a hug please? Please?

The question was posed to the Judge and she responded in the affirmative. And from his seat in the witness box Brandt Jean walked towards the killer/murderer of his twenty 26-year-old brother Botham Jean. It was a short walk and she stumblingly met him half way.

It must have been the hardest walk in his life and at the same time, because of who and what he was, it was the easiest. It reminded me of this young man who walked 200 yards to his cross of death two thousand plus years ago; and for Him it was the easiest and most joyful experience in his rather short life. He was 33 years old. The two events that traversed the silent legions of miles and years shared a numinous commonality, in that Love and Forgiveness were the sublime and celestial provenance of it all.

He the Black man in his humble magnificence walked towards the White woman, the killer of his brother. She who wanted only to destroy the dreams, the aspirations, the hopes and the domestic life of this Lucian family was embraced. He hugged her and she sobbingly hugged him.

It is an event the world will never forget. And from this day forward, in churches, synagogues, mosques and temples where the virtues of Love and Forgiveness are being taught, discussed and pontificated upon, Brandt Jean shall be the reference point to the faithful and even the heathen.

And to those who want to disparage the words and actions of this young man, it is their conscious and unconscious hypocrisy that is being given utterance on whatever the level. And further their perverse expression is a grotesque manifestation of their dubious concern for the Jean family.

As regards Amber Guyger, I am of the opinion that she was racist like so many of her associates. But Guyger did not leave her place of work to head to her home and to kill a Black man. But a Black man died; he died, was shot, was murdered because of a concatenation of negative attitudinal events and bad luck that can only be surmised. If Botham was white very likely he would not have been shot; but Guygers mindset of a traditional and historical cast predisposed her to pull the trigger of her gun. And which she did.

The woman who was convicted for the murder of Botham Jean was indeed guilty of murder. And her punishment as I see it should have been thirty years of incarceration. But that was not to be. Interestingly if she had gotten thirty years, Brandts hug and his declaration of love would have lost some of its import its significance. Ten years enhanced augmented and sublimated to the spiritual this disposition of Love and Forgiveness.

From my study of human nature on certain levels I have come to the conclusion that Amber Guyger up to the time she made that walk to Brandt Jean was the Amber Guyger her family and friends knew. But the Amber Guyger who walked the 48-feet towards Brandt Jean that held him, that embraced him that hugged him was a different Amber Guyger. Along that stretch of floor something happened. She went through a catharsis that occasioned a characterological metamorphosis on a very profound level. She was reborn. And many who witnessed this phenomenon were themselves changed in varying degrees.

Forgiveness changes both the forgiver and the forgiven. Love changes both the lover and the loved.

Love and Forgiveness. They are both one and the same though paradoxically the former is the genesis of the latter.

The Brothers: In death and in life they have both justified each others existence and the world is a better place because of them.

As I end this piece I leave with you this thought with its aetiological implications and which of course is a product of my philosophical ruminations.

The absolute and quintessential manifestation of love is to forgive the unrepentant.

More here:

The Hug That Rocked The World - The Voice St. Lucia

Unsurprisingly, the director of the most recent episode of Game of Thrones has been forced to defend it against charges of inconsistency in its approach to time and travel.

Alan Taylor a veteran director whose credits include time-travel cyborg thriller Terminator: Genisys and Thor: The Dark World admitted in an interview withVarietythat "timing was getting a little hazy" in this week's episode, Beyond the Wall.

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However, he insisted, "in terms of the emotional experience", it was solid.

Taylor said Jon and co "sort of spent one dark night on the island" in the middle of an icy lake, surrounded by the army of the undead but, he conceded, "there was some effort to fudge the timeline a little bit by not declaring exactly how long we were there" before Dany and her dragons flew to the rescue.

He admitted some viewers were troubled by such fudging, though. "They seemed to be very concerned about how fast a raven can fly but there's a thing called plausible impossibilities, which is what you try to achieve, rather than impossible plausibilities. So I think we were straining plausibility a little bit."

As mea culpas go,Taylor's effort was rather lacking. For a start, he didn't address the most glaring "implausibility" in the episode the sudden emergence of four enormous chains, used by the army of the dead to haul the downed dragon Viserion out of the icy lake. With no backpacks, no packhorses and not a Bunnings in sight, their miraculous appearance tipped the show from "plausible impossibilities" to "implausible impossibilities" in an instant.

More to the point, though, the flaws that riddled this episode have become commonplace in Game of Thrones in the last couple of seasons. So much so that many people are now beginning to wonder if the show hasn't finally jumped the dragon.

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Let's start with the matter of time and travel. Taylor may wish to brush the concerns aside, but they are real and substantial, and point to an incipient laziness in the storytelling that threatens to undo so much good work in the producers' rush to tie things up.

Just popping out. This shouldn't take long. Time and distance have lost all meaning in Game of Throines. Photo: Helen Sloane

A mythologisedBritain, Westeros is a land mass of not inconsiderable size. The Wall, we are told, is 300 miles long and that gives us a handy gauge for estimating all other distances, at least roughly. The Wall to Winterfell is about 700 miles, give or take. Winterfell to King's Landing? That's about 1200 miles by land.

Getting around used to be an arduous and time-consuming business. To make sure I hadn't merely misremembered this, I rewatched the first episode recently. The first words out of Cersei's mouth in the entire show were delivered upon arrival in Winterfell from King's Landing: "We've been riding for a month," she complained.

Just take that in for a moment. A month on horseback (or, for the royals, in a carriage).

Now contrast that with the speed and ease with which Jaime has moved his armies unnoticed, mind around Westeros, pretending to be at Casterly Rock (approximately 500 miles to the west of King's Landing) when all along he was at Highgarden (about 600 miles to the south-west). Or with Jon's rapid-transit commuting between Winterfell and Dragonstone (roughly 300 miles by land and another 1000 by sea).

Jon's most recent journey comprised a sea voyage of around 1300 miles from Dragonstone to Eastwatch, followed by a trek across snow and ice of who knows what distance into theLandofAlways Winter. Yet he set off with about as much preparation as if he were popping down to the milk bar for a malted vanilla thickshake.

True, the journey from the Wall on foot into the ice seemed to take forever, but Gendry's dash back unfolded in a time with which Usain Bolt might have been happy.

Let's not even start on the fact that the White Walkers seem to be able to move at great speed when they want and were lurking not far from the Wall in the very first episode of the show, back in 2011 yet have traversed the wasteland with all the sense of urgency of a road crew laying bitumen on double-time wages.

The Night King leads his army of the undead at a leisurely pace, unless they're sprinting.

Or on the fact that after the Iron Fleet was taken holus bolus by Yara Greyjoy, her uncle Euroncommanded every tree on the (rather treeless) islands be chopped down to make 1000 new ships, a massive feat of engineering that apparently took just a few months. Oh, and they seem to be rather special ships too able to catch up toYara's fleet and overwhelmit, undetected, in the night.

It's not just time and distance that have been beset by implausible impossibilities lately, either. There's the small matter of the immortality that seems to be spreading like a plague through the Seven Kingdoms too.

One of the things that quickly established GoT as something special was the idea that no one was safe. What a stroke of genius it was to establish Ned Stark as the moral centre of season one only to have his head lopped off by its end. If your main man was expendable, what hope was there for everyone else?

The Red Wedding in season three was the apotheosis of that, with Robb Stark seemingly our new moral centre and his mother Catelyn cruelly offed. And when Jon Snow was butchered by his own men at the end of season five, it seemed there was no dark corner into which the show was not willing to lead us.

But it was with the resurrection of Jon Snow that things began to unravel. I wrote at the time that this business of killing off a hero only to bring them back was the ultimate act of bad faith and one of which the producers of The Walking Dead had also been guilty in killing/not-killing fan favourite Glenn (before ultimately killing him for real in the show's most gut-wrenching scene ever). But perhaps there was some justification in Game of Thrones because of the pseudo-Christian ethos underpinning the narrative as a whole.

Maybe.

But whatever its grander relevance, Jon's apparent immortality has a very powerful negative impact on the storytelling it robs the show of tension. No matter how parlous his situation see the mutiny at the Wall, The Battle of the Bastards, the attack of the zombie horde, the crashing through the ice he is simply too precious to be killed. He is GoT's Frodo, Luke and Jesus rolled into one. His salvation at the Battle of the Bastards was excusable, and a masterstroke of storytelling and spectacle he owes his life and his victory to his sister, a fact that establishes a simmering rivalry and resentment and potentially makes her pawn to Littlefinger's political machinations but his rescue by Benjen this week was a deus ex machina of the most bogus kind. Like, seriously.

Death, too, has lost its sting. Photo: HBO / Foxtel

We've been asked to accept that the Red Witch Melisandre is hundreds of years old, and what a reveal that was (even if she had once before taken off her necklace and NOT TURNED INTO A WITHERED HAG). OK, magic; I don't buy it, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the world you've created, GoT.

We've been asked to believe that Bran can travel back and forth in time, that's he's maybe capable of controlling people's minds while doing so, that he may even be twinned with the Night King (OK, this is now spinning off into the realm of fan theory, and that's a rabbit hole I'd rather not go down, so let's stop right there). All of that effectively makes him immortal too. OK. Whatever.

Beric Dondarrion has died and come back six times (but with his priest Thoros now dead, his days of dead-cat bouncing may be over). Arya survived a serious stabbing, tumble down a stone staircase and plunge into sewer-infested waters in Braavos without even a hint of septicaemia. Even lowly, cowardly Theon has managed to stay alive after castration, torture, leaps from castle walls and near drowning.

In other words, the show has reneged on one of its core promises and premises - anyone could die, at any moment. It's a massive cheat that leaves it infinitely poorer.

Bran Stark can see the past, the future, everything. Except what a knob he has become. Photo: AP

Perhaps the greatest crime of all, though, is that the producers of Game of Thrones have begun to play merry havoc with the behaviour and motivation of our most beloved characters. Why, having gone to such great lengths to find a cache of dragon glass, would Jon head north to capture a white walker WITHOUT TAKING ANY? Why would Daenerys talk about having followed Tyrion's advice about not flying her dragons into battle when she had just done so? Why would Jaime flip-flop on everything when he has been on a slow journey away from bastardry towards some semblance of decency? Why would Varys, the arch schemer, suddenly become the new moral centre of this world? And why would Arya become so fixated on revenge that she now even has her sister in her sights? True, she trained as an assassin in the House of Black and White, but does that really mean she is utterly incapable of seeing shades of grey?

You may well ask if it is fair to take Game of Thrones to task for losing its grip on reality. You might well point out that it's a fantasy show, for crying out loud, so what place does reality have in any of this anyway?

Now into his seventh life, Beric may be running out of chances. Photo: HBO / Foxtel

That's a fair enough point, but the trick on which GoT was built was an absolute conviction in and the believability of the world it created. It didn't matter that we know there are no such things as dragons or giants or white walkers. If the world-building was solid enough, and if the rules that govern this faux world remained consistent, we were willing to suspend our disbelief and go along for the ride.

Lately, though, Game of Thrones has suspended that suspension of disbelief in favour of a much bolder strategy. It has simply thrown the rule book away.

There's little danger that viewer numbers will suffer as a result; after 66 episodes, fans have too much invested in the show to do a Theon and jump ship now. But reputation and regard is a far more fragile thing. And right now, they are very much at risk.

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Time travel, immortality, inconsistencies: Has Game of Thrones jumped the dragon? - The Sydney Morning Herald

BBC Three (satire) (blog)

The super rich are injecting blood from teenagers to gain 'immortality' BBC Three (satire) (blog) If you're a millennial, you might have felt for a while now that older generations are out to suck us dry. To their Ying of affordable housing, secure jobs and actual pensions, we seem to have the Yang of six-figure car garages for homes, 'gigs' for ...

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The super rich are injecting blood from teenagers to gain 'immortality' - BBC Three (satire) (blog)

Ambrosia's founder, Dr Jesse Karmazin, said: 'Its like plastic surgery from the inside out'

A US company is offering older patients teenage blood transfusions worth 6,200 ($8,000) so they can come pretty close to immortality.

Ambrosia, an American start-up, claims the procedures can reverse the effects of ageing.

Getty - Contributor

More than 100 adults around the age of 60 have tried the procedure since its launch in 2016, the Sunday Times reports.

Jesse Karmazin, 32, a doctor trained at Americas elite Stanford university, is pleased with the visible results.

Mr Karmazin, who founded Ambrosia, said: It could help improve things such as appearance or diabetes or heart function or memory.

These are all the aspects of ageing that have a common cause.

Im not really in the camp of saying this will provide immortality but I think it comes pretty close, essentially.

Ambrosia buys surplus blood from banks ideally from teenage donors and then separates the plasma from the cells.

E+ - Getty

Alamy

During the procedure, patients are injected with two and a half litres of blood mixed from several donors.

Criticising the treatment, Brit experts from UCL have blasted the procedure as a placebo.

Arne Akbar told the New Scientist, that the positive effects patients have felt could be down to the fact theyre paying so much money and hope to receive benefits from it rather than it actually producing substantial results.

Patients experience the placebo effect when they see an improvement in their symptoms after receiving fake or empty treatment.

David Gems, also from UCL, said more tests were necessary to determine the procedures effectiveness.

Ignoring their comments, Mr Karmazin said blood transfusions are a well-known procedure so more detailed tests are not necessary.

Getty - Contributor

Insisting the benefits are visible, Mr Karmazin said: Were already seeing people look better after just one treatment.

Its like plastic surgery from the inside out.

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Blood of teenagers being injected into OAPS for 6000 a shot by US company who claim it leaves the elderly 'pretty ... - The Sun