The scene at the monastery in the snowy mountains when Bloom was in uniform and covered up with cold-weather gear reminded me for a second of Jon Snow at Castle Black, but that's as far as it went.
Some early reviews of the series claimed Carnival Row was trying too hard to be like Game of Thrones. Either the GoT reference in these reviews was for clickbait SEO purposes or the reviewers have no concept of the fantasy genre outside of GoT, Harry Potter, and LOTR, as in "Everything must be compared to the big three fantasy franchises because otherwise I have no frame of reference for writing about this show."
Aside from the above referenced scene and the political mechanations and use of dark magic, which is common to almost every fantasy story ever written or filmed, there was nothing about this show that remotely resembled Game of Thrones to me.
I finished watching it last night and really enjoyed the series overall. It's about what I expected based on previews and the first couple of episodes: a procedural crime investigation touching on the highest levels of society, set in a fleshed-out, unique fantasy world with obvious parallels to our current world, with amazing production design, and interesting and engaging characters. I'm definitely looking forward to more.
Now on to finishing the new Prime series Undone, which is off to a great start in the first two episodes I've watched.
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