My Review of the Game Of Thrones finale
SPOILERS!!
This is what I felt about the whole Game Of Thrones finale debacle.
Ok, so here are SOME problems that I have with the GoT finale:
JON BETRAYING DAENERYS:
It used to be that characters needed several episodes, almost a season in it's own right, to develop a personal trait that would change their whole belief system. We have already seen Jon be soo completely about keeping his word and, though it was so painstakingly frustrating to see him remain loyal to Daenerys even after the roasting of King's Landing, I was onboard with his stubbornness; thinking "alright, fair enough, this could lead to him becoming some sort of dark right hand-kind of guy where he is pitched against his sisters in a tragic battle that will end in.. " oh, wait, no.. litterally in one single episode he goes from being the most loyal servant to stabbing his queen, not to mention the woman that he loves (!); a fact which is working even more against such a decision. This was one of those things that in a very subtle way screamed at us that Dumb & Dumber would have needed an entire season for this whole angle to be fleshed out better. But we already knew that from the last episode, where Daenerys chose to barbecue a city for no apparent reason.
BURNING THE THRONE:
When Drogon melted the Iron Throne, it was as if it was going to have some significance and have an impact on what little was left of the story; like, maybe they were going to split the kingdom completeley and found new empires or maybe they weren't going to have a king at all. It felt symbolic. It felt meaningful. But no, they just chose a new king, conveniently one that already has something to sit on. The "symbolism" of Drogon burning the throne was wasted; and if they weren't going to do anything with it anyway, then it actually would have made much more sense for Drogon to just burn Jon on the spot in anger. I mean, WHY did Drogon burn the throne? Did his animal instincts tell him that the throne, with it's jagged edges was a threat to him? Or was he, a dragon, aware of the complicated geopolitical circumstances surrounding this inanimate cluster of metal objects?
CHOOSING BRAN AS THE KING:
I laughed when I saw this. They pick Bran, to be the king. Why? For what? Has he demonstrated ANY political aptitude? Is he loved by the people? On what basis does Tyrion pick this crippled boy to be a king? Has he spoken to him at ALL and gotten to know him like he knows Jon Snow to the point where he can feel comfortable making such a decision? And why would Bran even accept this?? What happened to "I can't be lord of Winterfell, I am the three-eyed raven now", like that had some higher meaning and would bar him from the petty dealings of mankind ever again. And the reason? Is he wise and just? Cunning in strategy and political administration? No.... it's because he has a story to tell..... like.... what? If anything, a better move would have been to put Tyrion on the throne (something I was almost expecting when they brought him there in chains), he is kind, fair but also cunning and clever. He has seen the rise and fall of so many people and he has been forced to do horrible things in order to survive, meaning he has been toughened up, but he also has grown wise since his days of pissing off the edge of the world and would have been the perfect candidate. But no, Tyrion becomes the Hand of the king, again. No scene where he is the master of a Lannister vineyard in the Arbor, no sips of the "Imp's Delight" as he dreamt about.. he is doing the exact same thing that he was doing back in season 2 and again from season 7, meaning that he is back to square one... which brings me to another point....
JON GOING BACK TO CASTLE BLACK:
Boy, talk about anti-climactic. The one who returned from the dead, the King In The North, Azor Ahai (yes, I know it is a books-reference and unconfirmed, but still)... all these things that revolved around the man that was Jon, and this hero of heroes is brushed aside and basically regurgitated back into the service of the Night's Watch. I can't even begin to tell you how unsatisfying that was. Jon was this truly epic character that everybody was speculating about. Was he going to sit on the Iron Throne? Was he going to die in a blaze of glory? Was he going to ascend to godhood as a divine hero and join the eight? More to the point, something that I always "knew" was going to happen was the fact that they were going to show Jon die at some point after the Night King was defeated, as the Lord of Light didn't have any more use for him and didn't need to keep him alive anymore. It was so obvious. All through the show, we get these big speaches about "The Lord of Light is keeping us alive, why? We don't know" and it was going to be such a perfect climax because at that point, people would have forgotten about those knife stabs and the fact that Jon was just alive by some supernatural means because of R'hllor and everybody would have forgotten that, and I would have been all like "See? I knew it"..... but no, Jon ends up with the black fur again and he too ends up where he started with no bigger significance or meaning. Instead of ending on a fireworks display, Jon Snow's story fizzles out like a candle in the wind, but not in any bitter-sweet tragically beautiful fatality, but rather as how a candle is snuffed out by a hand that decides "alright, no more of that, it's annoying".
I guess what gets to me is what so many other people are already saying; this season was too short and too rushed; perfectly legitimate criticism. Why Dumb & Dumber turned down HBO's offer for a full length season is anybody's guess, but they didn't do the show any favors. As it was, when the show ran out of fundamental creative content from the creator GRRM himself, a made-for-television mentality began to saturate the last season and anybody could tell that the whole story took on a different type of life.
But I am not angry. I am just sad. I see this as the tragic downfall of the show and it paralells perfectly with how the character of Daenerys was abused and mistreated by the writers in the end; by not giving her the reasons to do the things she did (or at the very least, explaining them completely) and at the same time not giving the audience the time to understand the madness within her, it echoes brilliantly with the fall of the show. What a perfect parable. This epic TV-show that took on a life of it's own and became almost like a cult in most countries ended with a subpar finale that it really didn't deserve. The last episodes shrugged away all lose ends where the show had more or less earned something much better.
That being said, I guess I can forgive the writers partly, as they didn't have any more material to work with on the count of the books that the last season was supposed to be based on haven't even been written yet, and thus they went back to what they knew, standardized mainstream non-revolutionary television with all the typical television tropes; everything from killing your love while kissing her to having a bumbling idiot make a fool out of himself during a serious moment for cheap laughs.
The last season has all been about wrapping up story points without any regard for narrative pacing. To all except for the most meticulously inclined people, Daenerys goes insane seemingly without any rhyme or reason. Instead of facing justice or going out with a big middle-finger to anybody else, Cersei Lannister, the main villain of the show, is pancaked in a very anti-climactic kind of way. Jon is manhandled off to an unsatisfying end. Tyrion goes around and comes around to something that neither he or we want. And on top of the melted heap? "Bran the Broken", an undeserving king (not saying a bad king, just undeserving) that was hinted at having been given so much more of a responsibility than mankind can't even fathom, oh yeah, no I guess he is also king now. That whole R+L=J thing, I guess that doesn't amount to anything of consequence what so fucking ever. Yeah, that whole plot point had litterally zero payoff and was only used as a plot-constructive device to facilitate the split between Jon and Daenerys, nothing else at all.
*sigh* I'm just sad about how this whole thing ended. It is something to learn from. Do not get your hopes up too much and never make a television show based on books if the books are in danger of running out before the show is over. The resulting shift in quality will be way too jarring and will scar fans in a really bad way.
I rate this episode:
0% influenced by GRRM
100% made for television
100% Anti-climactic and unsatisfying
100% Sad (because the show is ending, not because of any of the plot twists)
