I FINALLY got around to watching my
Game of Thrones Season 8 Blu-rays.
I’d been given them as a Christmas present last year, but just hadn’t gotten around to/found the time to watch them (nor did I ever end up getting that rewatch done of all the previous seasons in the lead-up to watching this final season like I thought I might've back when I started this thread). I have SO MANY TV shows on DVD/Blu-ray to watch which kept me from watching this last season of the show, and I think, also, I was maybe ‘putting off’ watching the final season of GoT for a while because I knew (at least a fair amount of) what was coming. Since there’s always so much going on in the show and more characters than I can keep track of (or even remember), I figured the only way I was going to have any hope of mentioning all the things I wanted to about the season in this review of mine was if I compose it episode by episode as I watched each one. So here it is:
Episode 1: ‘Winterfell’.
Hello, brand spanking new opening credits!
They’ve certainly changed quite a bit. Everything looks pretty different to how I remember it being previously (except the tree). I liked the addition of the dragon head snapping shut and the mini Iron Throne, but I miss the old glowing spinny thing in the sky (what's that called?). You will be missed, GoT opening credits. No other series had credits like you (or probably ever
will). Some may have tried (and still might), but yours were special/unique. You know your opening credits sequence has made an impact when it’s even referenced in
The Simpsons.
I’d heard that people thought the first few episodes of this final season seemed to be ‘wasting time’/’treading water’ or whatever, but considering just how ridiculously large the cast
still was even after all the ones that'd been killed off - and the fact that there were SO many reunions to get through - I wasn’t at all upset that this first episode was mainly just chatting. Not every episode can be action-packed (and, hey, there was a little bit of action at least).
Those reunions, of course, included Jon/Bran, Jon/Sansa, Jon/Arya, Arya/the Hound and probably others I’ve forgotten. Whilst the Stark reunions were nice (more or less), the one I was
least expecting and therefore had the most impact (because it was such a surprise...though it probably
shouldn’t have been) came at the end of the episode when Jaime turned up and was reunited with Bran who he had shoved out a window and crippled for life (thereby setting so many things in motion) all the way back in the very first episode.
Awkward.
When Dany entered with her dragons, I’m sure some people found the dragons frightening/intimidating, but I would’ve thought there’d also be a percentage of people there who were ‘wowed’ by these magnificent creatures that hadn't been seen in such a long time. I hate the thought that they were only there to be ‘threatening’. I like to think there are those who *wanted* to see the dragons and Dany gave them just that.
I know Sansa has her fair share of fans and I’m also well aware Dany has a large percentage of haters, but Sansa just rubbed me the wrong way from the first time she laid eyes on (or rather
glared at) Dany in this episode. She wasn’t even willing to give her half a chance. Nope, just hated her straight away (I can think of certain people online who’re like that). It may have been petty, but I couldn’t help enjoying Dany’s reply to Sansa’s bitchy question and the look she gave her in return.
When Jon said to Sansa later on, “You want to worry about who holds what title, I'm telling you it doesn't matter.”, I was in agreement with him. And everyone’s on Dany’s case about acting ‘entitled’...well...so does everyone else with any sort of title or power, it’s not just her. All this title business and who had what got a bit tiresome. Besides, at this point no one will
ever top the amount of titles Dany has, no matter how hard they try.
There was one line from Sansa that was good, and that was when she responded to Tyrion’s comment about Joffrey’s wedding being a “miserable affair” with “It had its moments.”, the rest of the time Sansa just annoyed me, as did Arya saying her sister was the smartest person she knew. Firstly, I’m pretty sure Arya has met smarter people than Sansa on her travels. And secondly, it’d be nice if the show actually
showed us Sansa being so ‘smart’ rather than just having others
say that she is, because I can't recall having seen that much evidence of it so far. She’s all pissy and would reject Dany’s help no matter how desperately they need it? That doesn’t seem smart to me.
I liked Jon and Arya’s reunion and the bit with Needle and Jon’s sword.
My favourite part of the episode, though, was Jon getting dragon riding lessons from Dany. I loved everything about it from the start, including these lines...
Jon: "What if he doesn't want me to ride him?"
Dany: "Then it's been a pleasure knowing you Jon Snow."
Jon very awkwardly climbing on and Dany being so calm/cool about it (now a pro at dragon riding) whilst he was scared out of his wits was good too. The whole flying sequence was very nice (and I always love the music used for the dragons...but it automatically makes me sad at the same time, as it reminds me of the time Dany locked her dragons up and I suddenly get something in my eye. It’s weird). I also liked his line to Dany “You’ve completely ruined horses for me.” after the ride.
The best bit was once they had landed at the waterfall (it’s a shame Jon didn’t take Dany up on her offer of them staying there where no one could find them. That was probably the last 'happy' moment they’ll have together. I like the thinking of some of the comments underneath the video of the scene - just pretending the show ended there), with the kissing and Jon getting the stink-eye from Drogon like he was thinking, “Stop kissing my mum!”. That was possibly one of the funniest moments the show’s ever had.
Speaking of animals, Cersei apparently REALLY wanted those elephants. Reminded me of this...
I don’t think they’d be quite as impressive as Dany’s dragons, though.
Cersei wasn't the only one disappointed. *I* was disappointed with
her when she caved to Euron (who I refer to as Urine, which is the name he deserves) and his constant attempts to get into her pants. I thought she had more self-respect than to give into that walking embodiment of the term ‘incel’. He’s such a caricature (complete with his stupid coat which he and his fans probably think is ‘cool’ but looks totally out of place). When she told him, “You’re not boring, I’ll give you that.”, all I could think was, “Uh...I beg to differ, Cersei.”, as I find him an irritating joke of a character and keep wishing for his gruesome demise every episode. On the plus side, at least Cersei’s continuing her tradition of rocking some seriously awesome shoulder pads.
I've liked Sam as a character throughout the show (though I missed seeing Gilly this episode), but the way he reacted to Dany confessing what she'd done his father and brother made me wonder why he got so upset since the Tarly family (as far as I could recall) were a bunch of a-holes to Sam. Yes, they were his ‘family’, but it’s been pretty well established in this show that not all family members are worthy of loyalty or even love. Meanwhile, speaking of loyalty, I was annoyed that it seemed everyone was starting to turn on Dany. She already had the Stark sisters against her, her supposedly loyal advisers seemingly doubted her and the only one of them who remained loyal was Jorah.
It bugged me that Dany was trying to do something nice for Sam, then broke the news to him (being
honest, when she could’ve just lied or kept it to herself - which I’m now wishing she
had) and then he got all mad at her and clearly blurted out the secret he’d discovered regarding Jon’s parentage as revenge against her. If only she hadn’t said anything to him, maybe this could’ve all been avoided (or at least postponed)? I guess if she’d listened to Tyrion about not burning the Tarlys, things might’ve gone differently too. She and Sam were seemingly getting along rather well until the confession. What a shame it didn’t last.
Other random thoughts on the episode:
Yara head-butting Theon and then helping him up really said it all. No words needed.
That frickin’ screaming chopped-up kid who was used as a wall hanging gave me a bit of a jump due to me having turned the sound up so I could hear whatever everyone was saying.
I don’t even remember who Gendry *is* or his connection to Arya (this is probably why rewatching the previous seasons would've come in handy). I think I often got him mixed up with Podrick.
Episode 2: ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’
Regarding the opening scene with Jaime, it was good to see Sansa actually agreed with Dany about not trusting him...that was until Brienne vouched for him. She certainly knew the right things to say to Dany, mentioning that he'd stepped in to prevent men forcing themselves on her - that was definitely something that would matter to Dany. Though when she asked Jon’s opinion, his not really supporting her and leaving abruptly along with Sansa obviously didn’t please Dany too much, which was why she went to talk with Sansa and convince her that she loved Jon. I liked them both actually having a semi-civil conversation together and somewhat getting along (then even smiled/snickered together when Dany said, “I'm here because I love your brother and I trust him and I know he's true to his word. He's only the second man in my life I can say that about.”, then Sansa asked, “Who was the first?”, to which Dany replied, “Someone taller.”). Sadly, though, it didn’t last.
There were more reunions this episode, lots of ‘character moments’ and lots of possible goodbyes between characters. While I can kind of see how this episode may have frustrated some people, since it was mainly just talking, one has to remember that this was probably the last time quite a few of these characters were ever going to interact (or...you know...be alive), so it was important to give everyone their ‘moment’. Having said that, I could’ve done without the fireplace scene being so long. While it was nice to have a bunch of characters sitting around and talking on what was likely their last night together, it got a bit ridiculous after a while. Tormund’s obsession with Brienne might’ve been intended as ‘funny’/’cute’, but it wore a bit thin with me (and he was quite gross too). When it came time for the song, I rolled my eyes. Really, the only thing of note was Jaime knighting Brienne - that was easily the best moment of the whole scene.
I also really didn’t need to see Arya stripping naked and having sex with Gendry (who I *still* don’t really remember anything about, although the mention of the leeches conjured up a vague memory of him). Maisie Williams might have reached adulthood in her years, but she still looks quite young (especially her face), not to mention we’d literally watched her grow up onscreen over the years, so it felt a bit uncomfortable to see this (I’m just glad they didn’t go full frontal with it). I’m certainly not opposed to Arya getting some on what she thought might be her last night...I just didn’t wish to watch it (and I’ve seen others in agreement with that).
Of the reunions, I appreciated the Sansa/Theon one (as much as I might not like Sansa this season), but I REALLY appreciated the Dany/Jorah one, as there’s SO MUCH history between them. He gave her some good advice, but in a way she was actually willing to listen to - if only others would do the same. Honestly, they should all just get Jorah to relay their concerns with her and she might actually give them a chance.
I’m glad they didn’t draw out Jon revealing to truth to Dany. Naturally, she wasn’t that bothered by the ‘incest’ part of it all (isn’t that the ‘norm’ for Targaryens? And, hey, at least they’re not brother and sister), but was more concerned with Jon’s claim to the Iron Throne. Things really are going to start to fall apart for them from this point on, it looks like, as it was already clear that Jon was keeping her at a distance in their previous scenes together. How I wish Sam had never read those damn books. Grr! Speaking of Sam, he had a nice moment with Jorah, but clearly he doesn’t care for the Queen Jorah serves...so that’s gonna be awkward. It was nice to see Gilly, but she’s sadly underused in the show (and has been for quite a while). I was happy to see Ghost too, but it was a blink-and-you’ll-miss it shot of him.
Bran really is the most freaky-yet-boring character in this show. The actor says all his lines with no ‘life’ to them. I’m glad he had a chat with Jaime, but as he said, he wasn’t really ‘Bran’ anymore.
All in all, this was clearly a ‘calm before the storm’ episode.
Episode 3: ‘The Long Night’
Well, this episode was one big long battle scene – but I can’t really complain about that, since it's taken
seven seasons to get to it. I must say, though, it was difficult to follow what was going on half the time. I imagine it being set at night, combined with the blizzard and whatnot, was intended to help mask any 'iffiness' with the CGI - which was obviously required for such a large-scale battle. However, despite all the effort that went into making it, it’s a shame I couldn’t appreciate it more by being able to actually *see* everything that was on the screen.
I thought for sure once Melisandre lit up all the swords on fire, it’d make following things much easier...but apparently
not - though it certainly made for a striking visual.
Another nifty visual which helped tell the story was when all the flaming swords going out from a distance. It let us know those who were wielding them were quickly falling.
I liked seeing Ghost running alongside Jorah into battle (but, naturally, feared the worst for one of the last two direwolves given the bad luck they've had in this show).
Before getting into everything battle-related, I have to mention that I really liked Missandei standing up for Dany when Sansa was badmouthing her to Tyrion (calling her the ‘Dragon Queen’) after Tyrion suggested the two of them should’ve stayed married. See?
That’s a true loyal friend! And she was right too; they all would’ve been dead already if not for Dany and her dragons.
Having said that^, I did like the moment between Sansa and Tyrion later on when it looked like all those who were hiding were done for.
That^ was a good moment between them and both actors conveyed everything they wanted to say to each other with nothing but looks. Speaking of the attack on those who had been repeatedly told they’d be ‘safe’ down in the crypt, at one point it looked like poor Gilly was done for (which would’ve been
horrible considering all that she’s been through and she's one of the only truly ‘innocent’/’good’ people in the show). Thankfully, it was clear in the last shot of those who had managed to survive down there that she was still
alive. I wondered if the scarred girl who Gilly and Davos (he was obviously reminded of Shireen when he first saw her) wanted to keep ‘safe’, so they told her she’d be ‘protecting’ the people in the crypt, managed to survive? So much for those crypt being ‘safe’.
Now, regarding the actual battle...
For all his tough guy talk, turns out the Hound wasn’t much use once fire was involved (I know he has a bad history with fire, but still. Everyone’s always “Oh, the Hound is so bad-arse!”. Yeah, until there’s
fire). Similarly, Sam kept going on about how he didn’t want to be sent down to the crypts/wanted to fight in the battle, not to mention he always reminded people he was the first to slay a White Walker, but after seeing him in this battle, it seems like that kill was more of a 'fluke' than anything. Maybe he killed some bad guys in between his freaking out, I don’t know. I can’t say I entirely blame him, as he reacted how most would, but it’s interesting that him and the Hound who liked to ‘talk big’ were two of the ones who lost their nerve the most. At least the Hound snapped out of it when he saw Arya needed him.
Speaking of Arya, she was easily the best fighter in the whole episode (all those assassin lessons evidently paid off). She killed SO MANY by herself with that weapon she had Gendry make (every time they show him, I think to myself that I
should know/care about who he is/what’s happening with him, but I just...don’t). There was then the section of the episode where she was creeping around and evading the bad guys stealthily - I guess the show was going for a creepy ‘horror’ feel there, but to me it just felt like a bit of an unnecessary time waste after a while. Among the things I knew about going into this final season was the fact that Arya slayed the Night King, so that wasn’t really a surprise. I did like the knife drop, though.
It always strikes me as somewhat foolish when characters go for an overarm stabbing motion rather than underarm. Holding your arm above your head just gives your opponent plenty of time to stop you/grab your arm, whereas being sneaky and going
under usually works - as it did here. Just as well the Night King didn’t snap her neck instantly. Similarly, lucky for Bran the Night King took his sweet time in attempting to off him and that giant didn’t just stomp Lyanna Mormont instead of slowly crushing her and bringing her close to his face so she could stab him (I thought he was literally going to bite her head off). Bad guys always seem to take their time in those instances.
I’m sure some were disappointed that Arya was the one to kill the Night King (screw them!) and that killing him killed every other White Walker (and the zombiefied dragon) - but, honestly, the only way anyone was ever going to have a hope of beating the White Walkers was if killing the main dude killed the rest. Otherwise defeating him would’ve really meant *nothing* as they still would’ve been overrun. Yes, it’s a bad guy ‘flaw’ that killing the leader kills the rest, but it makes sense. When your enemy can make an army from dead people, you’re kind of screwed in a war (as what do all wars have? Plenty of
dead people).
Something that didn’t make sense was Bran literally just sitting there doing nothing. If there was a Most Useless Award, it’d most definitely go to him. Sure, he was ‘warging’ into ravens and I thought something would come of it, but it didn’t seem to amount to very much. It was especially frustrating when we were seeing Theon take on so many bad guys and Bran did absolutely nothing to help him. Sure, he thanked him and told him he was a good man, but that was of little use. Not that it was at all a surprise seeing Theon bite the dust. All his efforts to make things ‘good’ with the remaining Starks pretty much sealed his fate and he practically had ‘dead meat’ stamped on his forehead. For a guy who started out so weasely, at least he got to go out as a hero.
Someone else who died a hero was Jorah (who I’ll forever think of as ‘Lord Friendzone’ thanks to the Honest Trailer for the early seasons of the show). His death reminded me of Boromir’s in
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (spoiler!), and it was just as heroic too, except instead of defending hobbits, Jorah was defending his Queen/the woman he loved. He went down fighting, killing many even when fatally injured (I was glad we got to see Dany using a sword too. No, she may not have slayed
tons of bad guys, but if she *had*, certain people would've complained about that. So I think that's why she got to kill
some, but not 'too many', so as not to get too many noses out of joint. I’m just glad they showed she was able to hold her own in a hand-to-hand fight and wasn’t completely useless like certain other characters). Her reaction to Jorah’s dying really said it all. There are those who don’t ‘ship’ Dany/Jon and think they have little chemistry, but one thing that can’t be denied was the chemistry between Emilia Clarke as Dany and Iain Glen as Jorah and you can’t say Emilia didn’t sell the moment. It was doubly sad when we saw Drogon comforting Dany over Jorah (animals clearly feel empathy and know when we’re upset. Drogon knew Jorah for all his dragon-y life, so
of course he’d comfort his mother in her time of need and mourn Jorah along with her).
Regarding Jon, it would appear that one dragon riding lesson paid off (I think we’re to take it that Dany took him for more than one lesson between the first episode and this one). I still hate seeing the dragons get hurt. There was a really nice shot of them when they went above the clouds.
Unfortunately, like with the majority of the episode, I couldn’t make out a lot of what was happening because it was all so murky. Everything was so chaotic with Jon riding Rhaegal vs the Night King riding Viserion/the ice dragon. It was sad that the dragon bros had been turned against each other/were on opposite sides and attacking each other, especially seeing Rhaegal get injured and making a crash landing, throwing Jon off him. Then Drogon landed to help save Jon's butt and consequently got swarmed by bad guys, which forced him to leave Dany behind as he flew away, trying to shake them off.
I’ve seen comments arguing “They would’ve all been dead if not for...” (Arya, Dany and her dragons, Melisandre, etc), but can’t we just agree they ALL contributed (well...except for maybe Sam and Bran) and it was a
team effort?
Other random thoughts on the episode:
Nice callback with Arya’s advice to Sansa when she gave her a weapon.
It’s too bad they didn’t have a back-up plan for not being able to light the trench with arrows. That cost them some time, and then there was the nifty trick the Night King pulled where he had soldiers from his own army kill themselves and provide a 'bridge' for the rest through to climb over the wall of flame.
I never particularly cared for Melisandre one way or the other, but I thought her death was well done. Rather simple, yes, but effective. She removed her necklace, revealing her true self, and collapsed , dead/faded away. I’ve always wondered, though, whatever happened to that shadow baby she birthed in Season 2?
Episode 4: ‘The Last of the Starks’
Well...this wasn’t certainly a rage-inducing episode. Things started off okay with the mourning of the dead. I appreciated each character having their moments with the ones they knew best/were closest to who had died. Emilia Clarke manages to make any moment between Dany and Jorah have emotional impact (even when one of them is a corpse). Apparently what Dany said to him, which was unintelligible to the audience, was something Emilia came up with and that only she and Iain Glen know (from what I've read on the matter, according to him it was “something entirely sincere and true to the moment”).
Things got a bit boring after that, as I felt the drunken feast/party was drawn out too long. There were some interesting character ‘beats’. like everything with Dany, for example. I’m glad people toasted to her and she toasted to Arya, but then things went south. Emilia did some fine work just observing the people and telling us what she was thinking without saying a word.
I also probably should’ve cared about Gendry getting a promotion and his declaration of love/marriage proposal to Arya, but not remembering who he even
is makes it kind of difficult for me. The ‘Never Have I Ever’ game was only fun for a little while, and I don’t get the love for Tormund. He’s boisterous, uncouth and not half as funny as the writers obviously think he is. I felt time was wasted on him and his obsessive pursuit of Brienne. Speaking of, I was happy to see Jaime chastise Tyrion when he stuck his nose where it didn’t belong/asked her if she’d ever been with a man/woman. That was rude. I got a laugh when she told Jaime to piss off, though. Try as she might to keep him around, clearly he’s always under his sister’s thrall (or whatever you want to call it) and that’s why he left. Poor Brienne. I was glad he admitted to all the terrible things he’d done, as it irks me when all his fans make out he’s ‘not so bad’.
So, according to Hannah Murray’s IMDB list of credits, this was her final episode in the show. I’m glad Gilly lived, as she was one of the few characters who were ‘pure’. She didn’t have any darkness in her and I’m glad to see someone who was truly
good got out of this
alive, as it would've just been plain cruel/mean-spirited/depressing if she hadn't (they also addressed why she’d been looking pregnant - because she in fact
was pregnant). Hannah Murray hadn’t gotten much to work with since the early seasons, but I always liked her as Gilly. I used to like Sam (and his enthusiastic nodding to Jon after he figured out Gilly was pregnant was a little fun moment), but he ticked me off with the whole Dany thing and being useless last episode, so my opinion of him has soured quite a bit.
The most upsetting thing in the scene was seeing Jon not even bothering to say goodbye to poor Ghost (who, thankfully, also made it out of the last episode’s battle
alive). There’s only TWO of the six original direwolves left (the other, of course, being Nymeria who's out there somewhere and I'd thought would return one day to rip Cersei's throat out...but I guess that's pretty unlikely now. I also wondered why Arya's direwolf shared the same name as one of the Sand Snakes. Whatever the reason, the direwolf version was definitely the superior one) and they couldn’t even be bothered to give a proper send-off to the only one who’s still hanging around! I so very much despise the cheapness of the showmakers who blame the lack of direwolves on budget. They could’ve shelled out for a final goodbye scene. Jon could’ve at least gone over and spoken to Ghost, petted him, ANYTHING. Hearing any sort of animal whimpering is something I always find upsetting, so it was no different here. Ghost looked so SAD and abandoned.
This series has done the direwolves a huge disservice throughout. The showmakers seemed to be only concerned about how much they cost to bring to life onscreen, but we the audience (or at least those of us with
hearts, anyway) regarded them as flesh and blood characters who deserved WAY better than they got. The showmakers should’ve taken more pride in the fact they made these majestic animals feel like
real characters with personalities, but instead they just dismissed them. It was lazy and inconsiderate. I’ll never forget you, Ghost (even though Jon probably will, the jerk).
Continuing my being upset over animals being mistreated on this show was the death of poor Rhaegal, Dany’s second-last dragon (and green’s my favourite colour too!). Screw you, show! He didn’t even get to go out
fighting! And how absurd was it to have Dany flying her dragons where they could be ambushed (I’m guessing someone sold them out?). And WHY didn’t Dany attack from
behind the ships rather than a front-on assault? She’d *never* have risked them like that, not after what happened to Viserion last season (I remember how she’d said she needed to see his death to know what it felt like, and the unspoken part of that I always took to mean she’d
never let anything like that happen again). It was so cruel. He’d just been injured last episode, was starting to recover and was flying (Jon even mentioned that he wasn’t riding him because he needed to heal), then he suddenly gets shot in the chest twice and the third time was very brutally through the neck. I HATED seeing that. He didn't even have a chance. It was very upsetting. You deserved better, Rhaegal!
The worst part, though, was that frickin’
Urine Greyjoy was the one who offed poor Rhaegal. That POS didn’t deserve to have any hand in taking down such a magnificent animal. He’s the absolute WORST and I hate that his ‘fans’ were probably
happy about what he did (if you are one...WTF is wrong with you?!). Those big crossbows also looked ridiculous, like something out of a cartoon - which is fitting, considering Urine himself is a cartoonish character. At this point the bastard deserves no less than to be burned alive by Drogon and have his flesh melted off as he dies screaming (I wouldn’t normally condone such gratuitous violence, but in the case of his horrid character, I’m willing to make an exception). I might love to hate Cersei, but with Urine, I just want him dead as soon as possible in the most painful way possible.
This was the episode I spent the whole time thinking, “Jon, you idiot!”. Dany did everything, including
begging him, to convince Jon not tell Sansa about his true identity because she knew Sansa already hated her and wouldn’t be able to keep her trap shut...and she was right! Of course, if Jon had kept
his mouth shut, it would’ve been fine. But, no, he couldn’t help himself. Arya sounded reasonable to start with, but then she too sided with Sansa (as Jon said, if you only trust the people you grow up with you, won’t make many allies. Everyone in Winterfell, including the Starks, seemed so xenophobic towards Dany and her crew. They came across as very close-minded). Bran, as usual, was useless. So much that went wrong later on could’ve been avoided if Jon had just learned to SHUT UP, and clearly swearing to keep a secret meant NOTHING to Sansa the Blabbermouth. They could’ve at least
shown us Jon’s sisters being told the truth and their reaction to it.
I didn’t really care about the scene between Tyrion, Jaime and Bronn. It went on too long for my liking, as it was basically just a “Don’t kill us and we’ll do you one better than Cersei’s offering.” scene. I was able to appreciate the scene between just Tyrion and Jaime, though (and Tyrion finally getting to make ‘tall person jokes’).
Screw Varys and his BS reasoning for why Jon would be a better ruler/everyone would accept him over Dany. She listened to her advisers and look what happened in return! Everyone turning against her has seriously pissed me off. Jorah was the last fully loyal person who could advise Dany well; even if it was something she didn’t want to hear. He always put her first. Everyone else is out for themselves. All this squabbling over who has the ‘right’ to the Iron Throne could be solved if Dany just married Jon, they
could share it (despite what others maintain), Jon could have the North (to keep Sansa happy) and Dany would get what she wanted. Everybody wins! But, no, they have to force this unnecessary conflict/drama just for the sake of it. Everyone’s acting stupid all of a sudden.
Poor Missandei, who was dead the moment she was taken prisoner (there goes hers and Grey Worm’s retirement plans). As nice as Tyrion’s speech was to both Cersei and her mouthpiece, Qyburn, clearly there was no reasoning with them. Even when it looked like Tyrion may have been getting through to Cersei, of course he
wasn’t and she was just like, “Any last words? Off with your head, then!” to Missandei. Speaking of, I hadn’t expected her to be decapitated. I knew she died, and I’d seen pics of her saying “Dracarys.”, but I thought that meant she was saying it to Drogon and was going to be set on fire (I don’t know what I thought would’ve led to this/been the reasoning for it, though). Anyway, both Emilia and the actor playing Grey Worm looked pretty devastated (though I expected Grey Worm to yell out or something). We we to take Missandei’s final words (or rather
word, singular) as her telling Dany “To hell with everyone, kill ‘em all!”? Dany certainly looked ready to burn everything to the ground after that, which brings us to...
Episode 5: ‘The Bells’
Could’ve been titled ‘Dany Goes Crazy and Burns Things’.
Or alternatively...
As nonsensical as Dany’s sudden descent into madness may have been, props to the makeup department for managing to make her
look the part of someone who was (apparently) losing their mind. They somehow made the stunning Emilia Clarke look
haggard when we first saw her in the episode.
That was an awesome shot we got of Drogon emerging from the darkness at the execution of Varys, as I don't think he's ever looked scarier).
Clearly Varys was attempting to have a kitchen girl poison Dany, so I wasn’t at all upset when he was barbequed for treason.
Serves him right, the backstabby eunuch!
He could've gone about things in a very different/less backstabby way.
The character who I *really* wanted to be roasted alive - that POS, Urine Greyjoy - got off FAR too lightly/easily with a simple sword through the gut. Clearly the writers must’ve been in love with him, as WHY else did they keep giving him all these victories? First he kills Rhaegal (and he really should've died right then and there courtesy of Drogon. I'm
very mad that Dany/Drogon didn't get to avenge Rhaegal. Too bad Yara Greyjoy didn't get to be the one to off him, as right after Dany/Drogon, I think she's should've been next in line), and
then he gets to kill the infamous Kingslayer, Jaime Lannister?? I hate that he died
knowing that he’d killed Jaime, as he didn’t deserve to go out feeling happy with himself. Worst of all, I didn't get the joy of
seeing him die. He was
still alive when we last saw him. They could’ve at least given us the satisfaction of
watching him died, damn it! A lot of Cersei haters were let down by the manner in which she was killed, but I personally was far more disappointed that Urine didn’t die in excruciating agony, screaming and being humiliated/having that constant annoying smirk wiped off his stupid smug face (or, preferably, burned off with dragon fire). There were a lot of loathsome characters in GoT who I hated, but I think he was probably one of the worst on my list (right alongside Joffrey). Other villains had depth/nuance, while he was just a caricature. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Meanwhile, I was less ‘mad’ about Cersei's end than probably a lot of people, but was rather more just disappointed with what little they gave Lena Headey to work with in this final episode of hers...and the whole season, actually, as she just felt wasted/like she had very little to do and she didn’t even get any particularly good/memorable lines really (if nothing else, Cersei could always be counted on for some good snarky lines delivered in a perfectly dry/deadpan manner by Lena...but we got
none of that this season. I can’t really recall any memorable Cersei moments from the season prior to this episode (other than her
really wanting those elephants).
I know a lot of people were hoping for the most gruesome/painful death imaginable for Cersei, though I personally wasn't really itching to see that. Instead we got her being overconfident (as usual), and then her slowly losing confidence as she realised just how screwed she was/how much she'd miscalculated the way things were going to go. As if there weren’t enough reasons to think her evil, she purposely loaded King’s Landing with civilians in the hope it’d keep Dany from scorching the place. Too bad she was wrong. After Cersei realised what a mistake she’d made, admitting defeat, she was forced to run away and no doubt regretting what she’d done because it came at the cost of hers, her child’s and her brother’s/lover’s lives. People wanted to see Cersei taken down a peg (or two or three)...and they got it, but probably not in the way they were hoping for. Lena did a good job showing Cersei reduced to her most vulnerable (well, other than her Walk of Shame). She was crying over the fact that she had a chance at having another child and now it was never going to see the light of day (as she said to Jaime, she wanted their child to
live), admitting she didn’t want to die. For someone who had no problem others being killed, she was basically like everyone else - that, when it came down to it, she too feared dying (whereas most of the time it felt like she kept it together/was the picture of poise and stone-cold calm).
I figure the Jaime/Brienne shippers out there were probably pretty pissed he left her to be with Cersei (and not so he could
off her liked they’d hoped he would). Since I was never one who thought he was in any way ‘redeemed’ by him trying to be 'good' after all the bad things he'd done, I didn’t find it particularly unexpected that he never really got over Cersei and wanted to be with her as they died in each other’s arms (kudos to both actors for making the most of their final time onscreen together. However you may have felt about their ending, one can’t deny that they totally sold it). I’ve followed Lena Headey’s career from pretty early on and was so glad that she scored a major role in such a big TV series, as it got her the recognition she deserved. I just hope she manages to keep scoring roles worthy of her talent. People might not have liked the character she played, but she was always so perfect in this quite complex role (I think she deserved quite a few awards, honestly). Here's to you, Cersei, you diabolical brotherfu--
*ahem*
Onto the thing in the episode I was the
least happy about - Dany’s apparent descent into madness (and I thought the
last episode was rage-inducing. It didn’t hold a candle to
this one’s WTF-ness). I’d known about this development for quite some time, but it didn’t really make it any easier to watch (all I could think was, "So...this is what witnessing character assassination feels like."). Unlike most, I didn’t dislike the first half of this season or find it too ‘rushed' (same with Season 7 - I was just happy characters were finally
meeting after what seemed like forever). However, starting with episode 4 and continuing into episode 5, it really did feel like the showrunners were ramping things up way too fast as far as Dany’s ‘madness’ was concerned. Firstly, although some might claim she’s ‘always’ been this way...I’d beg to differ.
What gets me about the Dany hate is that a lot of haters
liked her in the beginning of the show when she was being sold by her bastard of a brother into slavery and getting raped, etc. Then once she started standing up to her brother and others, gaining power and working her way up to becoming a Queen, suddenly a lot of those same people started hating her. It’s like a female character is only interesting when she’s the ‘underdog’, but once she’s ‘on top’ they suddenly lose all interest. Of course, there were also those who hated her from the start and just never changed their opinions (some people can’t handle women having any sort of power). Before this episode, Dany's character certainly never acted like she would ever purposely burn innocent women/children. I thought she'd been a just/fair Queen in the early seasons. Admittedly, she made mistakes at times, but she also had to make some very tough choices/decisions as well. She was kind of in a lose/lose situation, because if she was perceived as being 'weak', then she would've lost the respect/support/control of the people she enlisted to help her in her mission.
So she did some questionable things, granted, but doing so showed she was not to be messed with/dismissed - this, of course, resulted in people automatically going after her with torches and pitchforks, claiming she was a tyrant who'd gone 'mad' with power (this was *before* there were ever any signs she was becoming 'unhinged'). She even chained up her dragons/children once she learned what happened to some peasant’s child, despite the fact that the ones she'd chained up never hurt anyone and it was
Drogon who'd done it, but he wasn't able to be chained up, so she took the precaution of chaining up the other two even though it broke her heart to do so (Emilia Clarke totally killed it in that scene, especially with her final heartbreaking look back at them as she locked them away). So let's not pretend she didn't 'care' about the people. She cared PLENTY. She'd just wanted to end slavery, actually allow the Unsullied to have a
choice, stop the raping of women, avenge those murdered in Mereen, and generally save the world...which she was on her way to doing until the writers had her make a 180 turn into Crazy Town. They
could've given her a well-structured storyline showing her descent into becoming the thing she hated most if they'd actually taken their
time with it, but instead this ‘descent into madness’ felt like it went from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. It was as if they literally flipped a switch in Dany’s head from ‘good’ to ‘evil’.
When I’d spoiled myself and read that she went ‘mad’ after hearing the bells, I thought that meant they were like some kind of trigger and that’s why they set her off. But...that wasn't really the case from what I saw. It didn’t even make
sense. She burned the Iron Fleet, defeated most of her enemies, the ones Jon Snow confronted were surrendering, Cersei was screwed...and then, for seemingly no reason whatsoever (other than the writers obviously
needed it to happen), we saw Dany just suddenly going 'mad'.
I could’ve understood it if Cersei was yelling out that she wouldn’t surrender or if they hadn’t gotten to ringing the bells in time and Dany had lost patience/set everything ablaze before they got the chance to surrender...but that’s not what happened. It really did feel like the writers needed her to go ‘mad’ for story purposes and they didn’t care how illogical the reasoning was. If there’s a reasonable explanation out there for why she snapped after the surrendering, I’d like to read it, because as far as I could see it made no sense whatsoever and was just done ‘for reasons’. Yes, she’d lost another of her children (Rhaegal) plus Missandei in the previous episode, and yes, there were those betraying her, but it was still a hell of a leap to go from being angry to burning innocents alive. What’s even more frustrating was seeing how easily she had Drogon torch King's Landing. WHY couldn’t they have done that
last episode? Or even last season? There were SO many other times she could’ve done this
before Cersei had a chance to ready her forces. Considering Drogon laid waste to the place with relative ease, it seems like this should’ve happened WAY before Cersei ever had the chance to stockpile the innocent people in King’s Landing. Dany was practically looking
straight at Cersei (albeit from a fair distance away) and decided that instead of siccing Drogon onto
her, she was going to burn everyone else instead?? We don’t even really see Dany after she makes the decision, it’s all just shots of Drogon and things/people burning, so we don’t see her as a ‘person’ anymore. It would've been nice to get some insight into what she was thinking, but they seemed to purposely make us want to feel 'detached' from her.
Nothing will convince me that this was anything but a 'retcon' of the character (I wonder how many people who elected to name their children Khaleesi because they were fans of the character are now regretting that decision? Anyway, it'd serve them right for naming their kids after the character's TITLE rather than her actual NAME. Seriously, how did people watching the show manage to miss that distinction?). Having said that, Emilia Clarke certainly played the HELL out of it. People have doubted her acting ability from early on despite the fact that she shined even back in the first season - the episode 'A Golden Crown' really allowed her to shine and she was asked to do some tough stuff in that episode, which she completely nailed - yet people claimed she wasn't 'good' in the role. Well, for one thing, she was clearly better than the actress who they'd originally cast and decided to replace. And secondly, she's proven time and time again that she was up to the challenge of this part, tackling difficult things she was asked to do and playing some really dark stuff. Naturally the haters chose to ignore all the 'good' her character did and only focused on the 'bad'.
Dany grew a LOT throughout the series and was judged far more harshly than a lot of male characters who were regarded as 'good'/'misjudged' or 'bad-ass'/'awesome' when in fact they did terrible things/were terrible people. It seems they were allowed to get away with doing things that Dany was judged/hated for. Despite Emilia's best efforts to make the moment of Dany’s ‘turn’ work, there is just no forgiving the stupid decision from the writers to go in this direction with her character. I feel so sorry for Emilia, as no matter how much it felt like the rug was pulled out from under us as viewers with this turn, it must've been way worse for her. It's no wonder she apparently went for a long walk and wandered the streets of London in a stupor, attempting to process the shock of her character's fate after reading the scripts for the last two episodes of the show. She, as well as her character of Daenerys Targaryen, deserved MUCH BETTER!
Other random thoughts on the episode:
I liked Tyrion and Jaime’s last scene together, as their scenes were always good and both actors totally sold this final scene of them together.
If everyone automatically thought Dany would go mad because she was a Targaryen...how come once they found out Jon was one too they didn’t automatically worry about HIS sanity as well? Double standard/sexist much?
Well, at least this battle was set during the daytime so we could
see everything clearly...like people being burned alive...so yay?
It got a bit ridiculous how many times Arya miraculously managed to survive the destruction of King’s Landing (the plot armour is strong with this one. I kind of wish George R.R. Martin had never told everyone that his wife said she’d leave him if he ever killed Arya - kind of gave away the fact that she was ‘safe’ no matter how many times she was put in peril). The time we spent with her felt like it dragged on a bit too long (some of her screentime could've gone to Dany and letting us get into her mindset/headspace instead). They really milked those scenes on the ground for all they were worth. The one moment I
did like was Arya and the horse. No matter how implausible it may have been, it was still a beautiful shot.
Considering how much bad luck horses (or
any animal generally) have in this show, it was good to see at least
one survived.
I didn’t even know what ‘Cleganebowl’ was (though I’d recalled seeing it mentioned here or there). Apparently it was the fight between the Hound and Mountain? Anyway, ZombieMountain got one more display of his strength/capability of extreme violence when he went all Frankenstein’s monster on Qyburn and killed his maker. See, Qyburn, this is what you get for trying to come between the brothers who’d been waiting forever to fight each other. Not very wise. Still, you have to hand it to Qyburn for being so loyal to Cersei right up to the point where it cost him his life. The funniest part, though, was Cersei just sneaking past these two giant men (all like, “I’m just gonna leave you to it, then.”). The fight itself was...okay, I guess. It mainly seemed to consist of ZombieMountain tossing the Hound about over and over. Things got really nasty once he resorted to what was apparently his signature move (just ask Oberyn): going for the eyes. I guess fire is what made the Hound how he was and fire was what was going to take him (and ZombieMountain) out of this world. Well,
that and the great big drop. I’ll never forget that Original Recipe Mountain horrifyingly cut a horse’s head completely off with one stroke simply because he lost a jousting competition back in the first season...so another score for the horses!
Episode 6: ‘The Iron Throne’
The alternate title could’ve been ‘So. Much. Walking.’ (seriously, I get that they wanted to convey the tragedy of what happened to the people in King’s Landing, but Tyrion walking through it just took
so long...and then there was that random burned dude who looked to be in a daze (which was probably something like how Emilia Clarke felt after reading the scripts for the last two episodes of the show). I don't know why, but I found it somewhat morbidly amusing how Tyrion and Jon just turned to stare at the burned guy walking past in a daze and continued on.
Good on Grey Worm, being the one person remaining LOYAL to Dany. I’ve seen comments from people who wanted a fight between the Unsullied/Dothraki and the Northerners. Personally, I was pretty much over fight scenes by this point, so I was glad they didn’t waste time on more of that. Davos attempting to defuse the situation was also appreciated.
More slow walking, as Tyrion went to look for Jaime and uncovered both him and his sister’s bodies. Although they may have just been corpses, I’m glad we got to see Cersei and Jaime one last time (it’s only right that they were included in the last ever episode, since they were also in the very first one). I was also glad they didn’t have crushed heads or something like they probably
would’ve had after a ton of bricks fell on them (I would’ve hated to see them mess up Lena Headey).
Peter Dinklage did a great job in this scene, crying over the loss of his siblings (and, yes, I think that as much as he didn’t like his sister, he was sad to see them *both* lying there dead after he’d tried to help them last episode by telling Jaime how to escape).
After YET MORE SLOW WALKING, we eventually got to the totally AWESOME shot of Dany with Drogon behind her which made it look like she had dragon wings. The showrunners may have screwed over the Dany character and Emilia Clarke...but at least they gave her that bad-arse shot.
What she was wearing was pretty awesome-looking too. For someone ‘mad’, she seemed rather restrained when Tyrion removed his Hand of the Queen pin and tossed it away (very disrespectful). I would’ve expected her to say “Drogon, eat him.” right then. I appreciated they gave Emilia plenty of Dothraki to speak, since it was going to be the last time she did so and why waste all that effort she’d put into learning another language? So much was said with just
looks in this scene also.
Shut up, Arya. You think you had some special insight when you said you recognised another killer? I’m pretty sure EVERYONE knew what Dany did.
What I really appreciated was that the show returned to having ‘talky’ scenes that I actually
cared about/was invested in like it used to (at least for the first half of the episode, anyway). As angry as I was with Tyrion, I thought Peter Dinklage did a really good job when he was talking with Jon, and I’m glad they had Jon saying some stuff/making some good points that I’d been thinking in regards to defending Dany. But it was a moot point anyways, because apparently others influence Jon in what he does. Several times he sounded like he would’ve let Dany
live, but because of those who already hated her even *before* she’d destroyed King’s Landing (Sansa, Arya) or had betrayed her (Tyrion) wanting her dead, Jon just did what they said/implied he should do. Surely there were options other than death. Alas, apparently
not. She didn’t even get a chance to SIT on the Iron Throne (or, as Emilia put it when doing the commentary for the episode, ‘arse to iron’).
She was SO CLOSE. I’d actually imagined some time ago that she’d probably get close to it and then someone would off her before she got to actually sit in it. Guess I imagined right...though not quite, as I’d pictured several people racing for it all at once and killing each other as they did so - so mine was a more ‘comedic’ version.
Anyway, Emilia and Kit Harington did a good job with their final scene together, regardless of how much it ticked me off that the writers seemed to think like the Dany haters/misogynists/sexists did that women couldn’t handle great power without going 'mad', so they had to get the Old Yeller treatment.
Dany's security wasn't worth a
damn, apparently. She had this HUGE army...and not
one of them was able to protect her from assassination.
I’m glad I knew the manner of Dany’s death for quite some time before I ever got to see it, and I was also grateful that it was relatively quick (though it sucks that she still obviously had a brief time to absorb it and feel betrayed by one of the only ones left she thought she could trust). Knowing about it didn’t really soften the blow too much, though. I still HATED the fact that the writers took the easy way out, saying “Well, Targaryens have a history of going mad and we’re not going to change that.”, and that because they wanted the show's ending to be all about the Starks, there was apparently no 'room' for Daenerys in it and she had to be removed (they never liked her anyway and I hated that they all ganged up on her from the very first time they met her, having judged her/wanting her gone before she'd even done anything to warrant that. Dany, her dragons and her armies all helped them out, but after doing so...they'd apparently outlived their 'usefulness' and how convenient that everyone hating on Dany ended up being 'justified', in their minds, by the end. Nevermind the fact that it was a total bunch of BS writing that had to get her to that point. Basically, it felt like a self-fulfilling prophecy: they all thought she would go mad, so their paranoia/being against largely contributed to exactly that happening, whereas if they'd treated her properly/been more welcoming and thankful for her help, she mightn't have felt like she had enemies everywhere. Dany wasn't the paranoid one - she felt everyone was against her...and she was right, whereas those who believed she'd go 'mad' were only proven right because they helped *make* that happen). I also disliked that Jon used his relationship with Dany/her closeness to him against her. "You are my queen, now and always." - just WORDS, Jon, nothing but words! You say this, then stab her to death. Your words mean NOTHING, Jon Snow.
I actually felt really sorry for Drogon, because he was being a good dragon, sleeping outside under the snow (that was a nifty shot too, when he shook the snow off and regarded Jon), not thinking anything was amiss with Jon since Dany had trained him to accept him (if he’d had any inkling what Jon was going to do, he most assuredly would’ve stopped him), and then he clearly sensed something bad had happened to his mum and the way he nudged/nuzzled her was SO SAD. This is what it feels like when dragons cry.
The biggest surprise was that he didn’t either eat Jon immediately or roast him (did Jon even think of how he was going to get away with Drogon there? Surely he realised he’d know his mother had been slain. Soon as he heard him approaching, I would’ve thought he’d have hightailed it out of there. Maybe he was prepared/ready to die?). I really liked the
look of this whole scene. There were some really nice shots.
I’m not sure WHY Drogon decided against burning Jon alive. Maybe he decided to go all philosophical on Jon's arse (instead of
burning it) without Jon even realising. Dragons are intelligent creatures, after all.
Could’ve been that^. Whatever the reason for him sparing Jon, I liked that Drogon at least seemed to have a “If my mum can’t sit on the Iron Throne, then NO ONE WILL!” mentality and melted that uncomfortable-looking metal bastard. I thought they did a good job of having Drogon scooping up Dany’s lifeless body without it looking silly, and his flying away shot (with that music used for the dragons which ALWAYS makes me feel sad no matter how many times I hear it) was a fitting final shot of the two of them.
It's very sad/tragic that all but one of these magical creatures are extinct and that poor Drogon is completely alone now.
Farewell...
You deserved better writing/a better ending!
After that^, I pretty much lost interest in the rest of the episode, as I didn’t really give a damn about anyone who was left. It was good they managed to bring back Tobias Menzies from
Outlander for the scene in the Dragonpit with the meeting of the 'who's who of Westeros', but a shame that he was just brought back to be the butt of a joke (made by
Sansa of all people - grr!). I also hated everyone laughing at Sam’s proposal - especially Sansa, whose smirk I wanted to wipe right off her smug face! She's like the kid in school who mightn't have instigated the bullying of the 'nerd', but is happy to laugh along with the ones doing the bullying (maybe I should just give up on attempting analogies?) - when he suggested that
everyone should get a say in who the new King should be. You may have ticked me off previously, Sam, but I felt sorry for you there. Damn all the rest! Except Davos, who sounded like the only level-handed one of the lot (though I’m fairly certain Brienne would’ve been also). Meanwhile, the new Dornish prince looked as bored as I
felt when watching this scene.
Not only was it incredibly dull and the jokes were lame, but everything about it just irritated me. Firstly, Arya threatening to kill Yara Greyjoy because she dared to speak up for Dany - why wasn’t
that seen as a sign of ‘mad’ behavior? You killed the Night King, sure, but that doesn’t mean you get to go around threatening to kill everyone you disagree with. And secondly, Sansa played a dirty trick on Yara. The Iron Islands were no longer independent because Yara was basically bullied into voting Bran as King of the Seven Kingdoms, where he would have authority over her and the Iron Islands, but this was
before Sansa declared the independence of the North. It was a crap final scene for Yara’s character and the actress who portrayed her, Gemma Whelan. If I were her, I would’ve been pretty ticked off that my character’s journey ended here (though not half as ticked off as Emilia Clarke probably was with how her character was written in these last few episodes).
The biggest WTF moment of the scene, of course, was BRAN THE BORING being elected KING. By who? Tyrion who’d committed treason and was held prisoner? What crap!
Of course the most boring/useless character gets handed this ultimate position of power without actually WORKING for it or
wanting it, naturally, because only those who *don’t* want it are the ones who people want to give it to. Anyone who *does* want it has everyone else working against them to ensure they DON’T get it. King Bran the Broken? Yeah, that strikes fear in the hearts of...no one (and I thought Ivar the Boneless on
Vikings was the least intimidating title/name given to a character). Of course bloody Sansa got what she wanted - Dany dead/gone and herself as Queen of the North. I couldn’t enjoy any scenes with her after how she’d been, same with Arya (and obviously I didn’t give two figs about Bran the Bland. Seriously, who's going to want a King that acts like a zombie? And since when was he even 'Bran' again? He'd repeatedly said he was the 'Three-Eyed Raven'...whatever happened to that?). And why was Tyrion, who was the WORST Hand EVER, made Hand once again??
Brienne had a nice moment, filling in Jaime's unfinished entries in The White Book, but the stuff with Tyrion, Bronn, Davos, Sam and Brienne just felt like the show was dragging its feet/limping towards the ending (with very lame jokes). And not only was it questionable that Bronn was even
there (I get it was supposed to be him getting everything he wanted in return/payment for not offing Tyrion), but making him Master of Coin?? I'm betting that coin didn't stay put for very long. A very disappointing end to some characters who I used to like (Tyrion, Sam), some who I still more or less liked (Brienne, Davos), some I *never* liked (that little turd, Robin Arryn) and ones who could be entertaining at times, but nothing more really...at least not to
me (Bronn). The rest I didn't even know, so I didn't care what happened with them. This scene felt like the writers had these leftover characters who weren't going to be killed off, but wouldn't fit with the final montage either, so they just threw them all in together and came up with a half-arsed reason for it.
I was really worried to hear Bran was going to try to locate Drogon - that didn't sound good for the last child of Dany's who'd already lost so much. I'm hoping he managed to stay save and away from Bran's 'warging' (leave Drogon alone, you frickin' zombie!).
Here's some discussion/theorising on the matter:
www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/05/233166/where-is-drogon-taking-dany-game-of-thrones-finaleI like the theory I read that Drogon is Khal Drogo reincarnated and his one purpose was to watch over Dany, waiting until she was ready to ride into the afterlife with him. Yeah, I'm going to go with that theory.
Either that^ or Drogon was taking her to Asshai where she can be resurrected.
I
wish I could've enjoyed the goodbye scene and montage with the Starks at the end, but considering they had all pretty much ticked me off at this point...I really
couldn't.
The one bright spot of the ending was Jon reuniting with Ghost, not that it entirely made up for/excused his leaving him and not saying goodbye previously, but I'm SO GLAD he
lived! The poor direwolves have become an endangered species (not quite as endangered as dragons, though). Somehow I'd missed in the previous episode the fact that Ghost must’ve lost an ear during episode 3's battle. Poor boy!
Too bad the showrunners waited until the
end of the series to give us a quality Jon/Ghost scene. Still, it made me go "Aww".
So the show ended where it began - at the Wall. Can't say I was that impressed with the final shot of the show being a horse's arse and a bunch of randos.
A lot of shows like to 'bookend' things with their first and last episodes. I probably would've appreciated this more if I wasn't so ticked off with pretty much everything else.
Despite all my quibbles with this^ final episode, I actually didn't completely hate the first half of the season. I know of that petition started by those who were angry with the way it ended. I was angry too...but, really, if anything were to be 'redone', I'd say just redo the last two episodes (maybe the third last too). Obviously that's never going to happen and people who thought it *would* were deluding themselves. I feel that I've more or less accepted this unsatisfying conclusion since I first learned what happened back when it originally aired (I didn't know all the details, but got the gist). I've had time to process it since then. It'll be interesting to eventually go back and watch the show from the start knowing how it all ends. I might be able to noticed things I never did the first time around and see if there really were hints that this was where it would end up (it'll also remind me who the hell Gendry was). I think it's a bit ridiculous to say the ending/last season or so 'ruined' the entire show. How things ended can't really take away the good stuff that came before, I don't think. Now that it is known how it all ends, one can always choose to pretend it ended at some earlier point in the series if one wishes. I don't entirely agree with this representation of the show's 8 seasons...but it's still pretty funny/makes me laugh.
Something that can't be denied is that this series achieved a lot of things no other shows ever have (or probably ever
will). The scale of it alone made it like a mini movie every episode (or one LONG-ARSE movie if taken as a whole). When I first started watching it, I struggled with keeping track of the many characters (it wasn't even until late into the series that I even started learning the names of some characters who'd been around since the early days). Unlike some, I didn't keep watching because of all the gratuitous violence and such, but rather
in spite of it. I was ready to call it quits after only episode 2, since that was the episode poor Lady (Sansa's direwolf) had to be executed by Ned Stark because of that little turd, Joffrey, but I stuck with the show because it'd already introduced me to several characters I liked/found intriguing and I wanted to see what happened with them. Since then, there's been plenty of other animal deaths which I've struggled to make it through, but I toughed it out because I was invested in several characters.
I'm thankful to the show for introducing me to numerous actors/actresses who I've now become a fan of. It also must be given credit for managing probably the biggest TV show cast ever, and keeping track of the many story threads. There have been shocking moments that I don't think any other show could rival, there have definitely been battles no other show could ever hope to achieve, the dragons and direwolves managed to look a higher quality than ones you see in films (not to mention they felt like full-formed characters who I became invested in and was heartbroken over the deaths of) and I'm not sure any show will ever manage to have CGI'd creatures as impressive as them.
I'll also never forget these themes/amazing pieces of score from the show...
I'll always get sad when listening to that^. *sniff*
And, naturally, the show's main theme tune as well.
Everything about this series felt truly 'EPIC' (a word that tends to get overused, but is warranted when describing
this show), and no matter what complaints I've had with the show, I still appreciate all the time/effort/detail that went into making it. This show really was something special that I'm not sure when we'll see the likes of again. Farewell, show.
And now my watching of you has ended.