Given my distaste with the previous two episodes, I was pleasantly surprised by the finale. It was fairly low-key and kind of rushed in places as this whole season has been, but it wrapped up the major character arcs about as well as can be expected after the poor handling (IMO) of Dany and Grey Worm in the run-up to the finale. It wasn't flawless but it was enjoyable and didn't have me groaning at the screen the whole time. I'd give it a "B+".
I thought it was a little unbelievable that Grey Worm would take Jon prisoner for weeks awaiting submission to someone else's authority on deciding his fate after Jon assassinated Daenarys. Maybe old Grey Worm (and by that I mean the one from two episodes ago), but not the new unthinking murderbot Slay Worm. I think after losing Missandei losing Daenarys would have pushed him over the edge to kill Jon right away, especially since he doesn't know of Jon's heritage and Jon bent the knee so he was no longer King in the North or of any significant rank to Grey Worm. I think given a lack of other intervening leadership he would have just executed Jon ASAP. They could have spent a little time showing that perhaps Arya and Davos organized the remaining Northern troops to square off against the Unsullied and Dothraki to prevent his immediate execution and Grey Worm backed off rather than have that abrupt transition to the "trial" at the dragon pit.
Likewise, it was damn considerate of Drogon to not BBQ Jon on the spot for assassinating his mama. Tyrion once suggested that some consider dragons to possibly be smarter than humans, so I guess we're supposed to take away from that that either Drogon recognized Jon's Targaryen-nes and let him go for that reason, or he recognized that Daenarys had become corrupted by the pursuit of power and that's why he took a sudden interest in Westerosi geopolitics and melted the metaphor for the political status quo in Westeros, the Iron Throne. Either way, given both the above and the Grey Worm thing, Jon's plot armor was in full effect in the finale.
Daenarys's armies respawn like nobody's business. Suddenly there are thousands of Dothraki again, even more than in the last episode. Clearly a shitload of them hung back at Winterfell instead of going on the Charge of the Lord of Light's Brigade and nearly all dying (and yes, I know the next episode said half survived, but that was never supported visually). But knowing that, why would Benioff and Weiss say "This is effectively the end of the Dothraki" (the warriors, at least) after The Long Night? Weird.
Drogon had a bunch of great moments in this. The shot of the episode for me was when we first see Danaerys at the top of the steps and Drogon lands behind her and his wings silhouette her like devil's wings. It's about as subtle as a jackhammer, but it was an amazing shot. This is followed up by Dany and Drogon surveying the Unsullied and Dothraki troops over the burnt landscape of the city in the best Imperial style. Then there was when Jon went to see Dany and Drogon awoke fron beneath a pile of ash to surprise him. That was a "holy shit!" moment. And of course, finally, his realization that Dany had been killed and burning of the Iron Throne and carrying her body off presumably to Valyria, possibly to make some more dragon eggs or to die in solitude.
Tyrion crying over the clutched bodies of Jaime and Cersei was heartbreaking. Even after all she had done to him and all they had done together, Tyrion just wanted the love of his family and to protect them and their child from harm. His confrontation with Daenarys and throwing away of the Hand pendant knowing full well the consequences of his actions in freeing Jaime was very well done.
Interestingly for all of his talk of not wanting to be the Hand, by pushing for the nomination of King Bran (now with two scoops of raisins), Tyrion has effectively made himself de facto King, at least for local affairs, because Wargopedia is going to always be in standby mode trying to find Drogon, creeping on Sansa, watching Jon in his travels in the North, or if he's installed some long range birds on Arya's ship (Yacht Today? A Boat Has No Name?), seeing where she's going to the west of Westeros. I suppose he'll also be scanning the borders of the realm looking for trouble spots, unless he goes all Dr. Branhattan and tunes out from the world again.
However her character ended up, after eight seasons of driving towards it, there should have been a Daenarys ascending to the Iron Throne scene.
I laughed my ass off like someone was proposing Westerosi democracy (sorry Sam) at Dungeon Master Edmure trying to throw his hat in the ring for kingship and getting told to sit down by Sansa. Considering Cersei was just offering Bronn Riverrun less than a month ago, that means Lannister forces still held it, so was he still being held as a hostage at The Twins by the Lannister and what surviving Frey forces there might be until Cersei was dethroned?
Brienne filling out Jaime's LinkedIn profile page was a sweet and poignant moment, but she didn't mention what he told her about why he was the Kingslayer, and that he did it to save King's Landing from wildfire destruction by the Mad King. Given the fact that it was burned down by the Mad King's daughter anyway, it might have earned Jaime a new appreciation among the common folk and nobles alike.
With the exception of the unearned abruptness of Dany's heel-turn to full genocide (and to a much lesser extent Grey Worm, who was always pretty kill-ey, but had a sense of honor), I'm pretty satisfied with how everything turned out, and it managed to keep me surprised on a few fronts too.
I wouldn't have expected Roll-Eyes Raven Bran to become King Bran the Broken (first order of business, change that shit name) or Arya (Leif Aryakson / Faceless Mangellan?) to set sail to the New World (even though she had mentioned it once before to the actress in Season 6 before returning to her murder-list), but I'm happy to see both developments. Sansa retaining the autonomy of the North and becoming the Queen in the North made sense and was what I expected. Grey Worm taking the Unsullied back to protect Naath to honor Missandei was nice, which is about the most I can say about the character post-genocide.
The new Small Council is hilarious. It's a shame we won't get to see them at work, because I could watch that all day. And (I assume) Brienne knighted Podric, since now he's Ser Podric, Kingpusher. Well-earned.
I know it's damn unlikely, but I'd love to see some follow-up HBO films set ten years after like Tyrion suggested to show everyone's progress and whether they were able to sustain this experimental government or if more of the kingdoms had Wexited like the North did. The Iron Born didn't seem too happy and are always independence minded, and the Dorne will probably only stay so long as there's a marriage proposal to Bran, which who knows if he's even interested in such earthly pursuits anymore.
I got the distinct impression from Jon's wistful turn back at the closing of the gate at the Wall that he might just say fuck it and stay North of the Wall with his BFF Tormund and Ghost (Jon and Ghost scene FTW), and they'll adopt some Wildling kids with Uncle Benjen dropping by from time to time to play hide-and-seek with them. What is even the function of the Night's Watch now except as a dumping off point for everyone's undesirables? What are they, like a snow patrol now? Park rangers? I'm a little surprised that Grey Worm accepted Jon's "punishment" so easily; it was like the Klingons accepting Kirk's demotion to captain in ST-IV, they were essentially giving him back what he always meant to do.
Because the show was kind of ending on a semi-happy note, as Jon and the Wildlings headed North I half expected there to be a new Night King pattern in the snow to indicate that the cycle never ends and there will always be more of the White Walkers to the North.
Overall, it was a roller coaster of a final season with some really questionable decisions, but I was satisfied with the finale for the most part and enjoyed it, and nothing can take away my appreciation of the series as a whole. What a long strange trip it's been (except from Winterfell to Kings Landing and back, which was a five minute journey).
I thought it was a little unbelievable that Grey Worm would take Jon prisoner for weeks awaiting submission to someone else's authority on deciding his fate after Jon assassinated Daenarys. Maybe old Grey Worm (and by that I mean the one from two episodes ago), but not the new unthinking murderbot Slay Worm. I think after losing Missandei losing Daenarys would have pushed him over the edge to kill Jon right away, especially since he doesn't know of Jon's heritage and Jon bent the knee so he was no longer King in the North or of any significant rank to Grey Worm. I think given a lack of other intervening leadership he would have just executed Jon ASAP. They could have spent a little time showing that perhaps Arya and Davos organized the remaining Northern troops to square off against the Unsullied and Dothraki to prevent his immediate execution and Grey Worm backed off rather than have that abrupt transition to the "trial" at the dragon pit.
Likewise, it was damn considerate of Drogon to not BBQ Jon on the spot for assassinating his mama. Tyrion once suggested that some consider dragons to possibly be smarter than humans, so I guess we're supposed to take away from that that either Drogon recognized Jon's Targaryen-nes and let him go for that reason, or he recognized that Daenarys had become corrupted by the pursuit of power and that's why he took a sudden interest in Westerosi geopolitics and melted the metaphor for the political status quo in Westeros, the Iron Throne. Either way, given both the above and the Grey Worm thing, Jon's plot armor was in full effect in the finale.
Daenarys's armies respawn like nobody's business. Suddenly there are thousands of Dothraki again, even more than in the last episode. Clearly a shitload of them hung back at Winterfell instead of going on the Charge of the Lord of Light's Brigade and nearly all dying (and yes, I know the next episode said half survived, but that was never supported visually). But knowing that, why would Benioff and Weiss say "This is effectively the end of the Dothraki" (the warriors, at least) after The Long Night? Weird.
Drogon had a bunch of great moments in this. The shot of the episode for me was when we first see Danaerys at the top of the steps and Drogon lands behind her and his wings silhouette her like devil's wings. It's about as subtle as a jackhammer, but it was an amazing shot. This is followed up by Dany and Drogon surveying the Unsullied and Dothraki troops over the burnt landscape of the city in the best Imperial style. Then there was when Jon went to see Dany and Drogon awoke fron beneath a pile of ash to surprise him. That was a "holy shit!" moment. And of course, finally, his realization that Dany had been killed and burning of the Iron Throne and carrying her body off presumably to Valyria, possibly to make some more dragon eggs or to die in solitude.
Tyrion crying over the clutched bodies of Jaime and Cersei was heartbreaking. Even after all she had done to him and all they had done together, Tyrion just wanted the love of his family and to protect them and their child from harm. His confrontation with Daenarys and throwing away of the Hand pendant knowing full well the consequences of his actions in freeing Jaime was very well done.
Interestingly for all of his talk of not wanting to be the Hand, by pushing for the nomination of King Bran (now with two scoops of raisins), Tyrion has effectively made himself de facto King, at least for local affairs, because Wargopedia is going to always be in standby mode trying to find Drogon, creeping on Sansa, watching Jon in his travels in the North, or if he's installed some long range birds on Arya's ship (Yacht Today? A Boat Has No Name?), seeing where she's going to the west of Westeros. I suppose he'll also be scanning the borders of the realm looking for trouble spots, unless he goes all Dr. Branhattan and tunes out from the world again.
However her character ended up, after eight seasons of driving towards it, there should have been a Daenarys ascending to the Iron Throne scene.
I laughed my ass off like someone was proposing Westerosi democracy (sorry Sam) at Dungeon Master Edmure trying to throw his hat in the ring for kingship and getting told to sit down by Sansa. Considering Cersei was just offering Bronn Riverrun less than a month ago, that means Lannister forces still held it, so was he still being held as a hostage at The Twins by the Lannister and what surviving Frey forces there might be until Cersei was dethroned?
Brienne filling out Jaime's LinkedIn profile page was a sweet and poignant moment, but she didn't mention what he told her about why he was the Kingslayer, and that he did it to save King's Landing from wildfire destruction by the Mad King. Given the fact that it was burned down by the Mad King's daughter anyway, it might have earned Jaime a new appreciation among the common folk and nobles alike.
With the exception of the unearned abruptness of Dany's heel-turn to full genocide (and to a much lesser extent Grey Worm, who was always pretty kill-ey, but had a sense of honor), I'm pretty satisfied with how everything turned out, and it managed to keep me surprised on a few fronts too.
I wouldn't have expected Roll-Eyes Raven Bran to become King Bran the Broken (first order of business, change that shit name) or Arya (Leif Aryakson / Faceless Mangellan?) to set sail to the New World (even though she had mentioned it once before to the actress in Season 6 before returning to her murder-list), but I'm happy to see both developments. Sansa retaining the autonomy of the North and becoming the Queen in the North made sense and was what I expected. Grey Worm taking the Unsullied back to protect Naath to honor Missandei was nice, which is about the most I can say about the character post-genocide.
The new Small Council is hilarious. It's a shame we won't get to see them at work, because I could watch that all day. And (I assume) Brienne knighted Podric, since now he's Ser Podric, Kingpusher. Well-earned.
I know it's damn unlikely, but I'd love to see some follow-up HBO films set ten years after like Tyrion suggested to show everyone's progress and whether they were able to sustain this experimental government or if more of the kingdoms had Wexited like the North did. The Iron Born didn't seem too happy and are always independence minded, and the Dorne will probably only stay so long as there's a marriage proposal to Bran, which who knows if he's even interested in such earthly pursuits anymore.
I got the distinct impression from Jon's wistful turn back at the closing of the gate at the Wall that he might just say fuck it and stay North of the Wall with his BFF Tormund and Ghost (Jon and Ghost scene FTW), and they'll adopt some Wildling kids with Uncle Benjen dropping by from time to time to play hide-and-seek with them. What is even the function of the Night's Watch now except as a dumping off point for everyone's undesirables? What are they, like a snow patrol now? Park rangers? I'm a little surprised that Grey Worm accepted Jon's "punishment" so easily; it was like the Klingons accepting Kirk's demotion to captain in ST-IV, they were essentially giving him back what he always meant to do.
Because the show was kind of ending on a semi-happy note, as Jon and the Wildlings headed North I half expected there to be a new Night King pattern in the snow to indicate that the cycle never ends and there will always be more of the White Walkers to the North.
Overall, it was a roller coaster of a final season with some really questionable decisions, but I was satisfied with the finale for the most part and enjoyed it, and nothing can take away my appreciation of the series as a whole. What a long strange trip it's been (except from Winterfell to Kings Landing and back, which was a five minute journey).
