Game of Thrones, Series Finale, The Iron Throne Review: A Disappointing End.

A few weeks before the series finale of Game of Thrones, “The Iron Throne”, aired, I learned that the ending of the show had been leaked.
I did not listen to these spoilers but I heard that those who had were disappointed with the ending, some even outright hating it.
This left me concerned, especially given that I was already disliking where the series was heading, having seen the incredibly underwhelming third episode, “The Long Night.”
So, coming into the final episode of Game of Thrones, I had my fingers crossed that the leaks were wrong and “The Iron Throne”, directed by David Benioff and D. B Weiss, would end the series right.
And you know what?
I thought the first half of this episode was pretty good.
It is not spectacular or anything, but I did like most of the things that happened here.
“The Iron Throne” picks up after Dany (Emilia Clarke) burned down King’s Landing, killing thousands of innocent civilians, including children.
We get to see a lot of characters dealing with the reality that Dany is not the benign ruler they all thought she was.
The best reaction of all of them, though, came from Tyrion who discovered Jamie and Cersei’s bodies in the crypts.
In the best case of acting in the episode, Tyrion completely breaks down in a very moving performance from Peter Dinklage.
I was very scared for Tyrion this episode, especially when he confronted Dany because I thought she might burn him then and there.
Thankfully, she just has him arrested, which leads to Jon (Kit Harrington) visiting him where they discuss the morality of what Dany has done in another great scene.
Conflicted, Jon goes to see her in the big moment of the finale.
As Dany touches the Iron Throne, Jon interrupts her and asks how she can justify her actions and what she plans to do next.
It is clear from Dany’s response that she is too far gone and, with no other choice, Jon stabs her after sharing a passionate kiss.
And so the mad queen falls, in a tragic end to her journey of reclaiming her family’s crown.

Jon kills Dany.jpg — Dany’s death is tragic… too bad they undercut it with jokes not ten minutes later.

However, it is not over yet because Drogon arrives and, in a heartbreaking moment, tries to awaken Dany, before burning the Iron Throne to the ground.
He then grabs Dany’s body and flies off into the unknown.
This first half of the episode is very well done in my opinion.
Is it perfect?
No, there are quite a few writing problems.
For example, Jon tells Tyrion he will not try to justify what Dany did only for him to attempt to justify it not a minute later.
But, overall, this first half is satisfying.
The second half, however, takes a trip to crazy land with all of its bad writing.
Everything goes downhill as soon as this second half starts.
In what has to be the worst scene of the entire episode, Tyrion is brought before the lords and ladies of Westeroes to decide what is to be done with Jon and who should be King now.
And who does Tyrion choose?
Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright).
That’s right, the guy who did literally nothing this season wins the game of thrones and becomes king.
It is not that this scene was not built up because there have been numerous scenes of Tyrion with Bran, as I pointed out in earlier reviews.
However, as I said, Bran has done nothing to earn becoming king.
What is more, it makes absolutely no sense that everyone agrees to crown him.
Half the people there do not even know him, or about his ability to see into the future.
And that is another thing, why did Bran not warn anyone that Dany was going to go crazy and burn down King’s Landing?
It makes him seem more like a villain than someone you would choose to be king.

Bran the broken.jpg — Bran becoming king could have worked if he actually did something instead of just sitting around acting more important than he is.

Sadly, these are not the only plot holes this scene presents because there is so much more.
Why did Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) not kill Jon after learning he murdered Dany?
Why does he allow Tyrion to speak?
Why does everyone listen to Tyrion when he is a prisoner, and only a few people like him?
The list goes on.
Even worse, there are water bottles just sitting around.
They seriously left their beverages out for people to see twice, and nobody noticed?
And then they have the nerve to try and add comedy here.
Not only do these jokes fall flat, but they completely undermine the tragic death of Dany we saw earlier.
Imagine if after the Red Wedding someone made a joke about the reception being bland.
That would have killed all of the emotion that came with the shocking moment.
Sadly, this “comedy” continues throughout the episode, with each joke being worse than the last.
Thankfully, we do get one good scene with Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) where she writes down all of Jamie’s good deeds in the book he wanted to fill.
I am not sure she is qualified to do this but it at least gave me some closure surrounding Jamie’s badly written death.
A lot of the other character endings had potential too.
Jon is banished to the Night’s Watch but goes to live with the Wildlings, Arya (Maisie Williams) leaves Westeroes to explore the world, and Sansa (Sophie Turner) becomes Queen in the North.
Even Bran ending up as king had the potential to be good.
All of these endings are in character.
I can honestly see George R. R. Martin having these be where his characters end up at the end of his books, if he ever completes them that is.
The problem with all of these endings, though, is that they are either badly written or too rushed.
As I said, Bran did nothing the entire season, Jon being Aegon Targaryen meant literally nothing, Arya did nothing after the King’s Landing massacre, which makes her being there seem pointless, and Sansa declaring the North’s independence makes me wonder why the rest of the six kingdoms did not just do that?

Jonny boy — Jon living with the Wildlings is a fitting ending for him but what was the point of making him Aegon Targaryen? He could have just been Ned Stark’s bastard and nothing would have changed.

This all goes to show how rushed and badly written the final season is.
In this one episode alone there are dozens of plot holes, some of which I have not even talked about.
Again, the acting, cinematography and music are all fantastic but that does not mean much if there is not good writing to accompany them.
The second half of “The Iron Throne” did not just end the episode disappointingly, but the entire Game of Thrones series as well.
Honestly, the last two seasons have really dragged down my opinion of the show.
Seasons 1-4 are still masterpieces, and seasons 5-6 have some writing issues but are still great overall.
However, seasons 7-8 completely dropped the ball.
The ending could have worked but the writing just kills it.
I hope that if Martin ever finishes his books that the writing will be good enough to bring a satisfying conclusion that we are missing from the show.

Game of Thrones Season Eight, Episode Four, The Last of the Starks Review: The Beginning of the Mad Queen.

After the disappointing episode of “The Long Night”, the final season of Game of Thrones follows it up with a decent episode in “The Last of the Starks”, which is hopefully a sign that the show can present two fantastic final episodes.
I do have my doubts, but hopefully the writers can pull it off.
In any case, “The Last of the Starks”, like the first two episodes of the season, is mostly build-up for an inevitable battle between Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Cersei (Lena Headey).
Before all of this though, we are given the aftermath of the battle with the Night King where we see all of those who were lost given a funeral.
Sam lights Edd’s pyre, Jon lights Lyanna’s, Arya lights Beric’s, Sansa lights Theon’s, and Dany lights Jorah.
The loss of these characters is palpable with all of the cast doing a great job at showing their grief, especially Dany who is the highlight of the episode with the series seeming to begin her transition into the Mad Queen.

Dany is pissed.jpg — Dany’s journey towards becoming more ruthless is great in “The Last of the Starks” with Emilia Clarke doing a great job.

This transition is featured throughout the episode, from how we see her interact with others at the feast, to her argument with Jon (Kit Harrington), and, finally, the grief of her losing another dragon, Rhaegal, along with her close friend Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel).
However, one of these deaths is better than the other.
While Missandei’s death at the end of the episode is tragic, Rhaegal’s feels forced and once again reliant on the tropes George R. R. Martin tries to avoid.
He is shot out of the sky by Euron (Pilou Asbaek) in what feels like a complete shock value moment.
Not only this, but the scene has a ton of plot holes.
Where did Euron and his ships come from, how did Dany not see them, why did Euron not aim for Dany first and end the entire war?
Not only this, but a dragon being killed by one of series’ worst characters is hardly flattering.
Coming back to Missandei though, her death is handled well for the most part.
Sure, there are pacing and structural issues with her capture, but her death scene is incredibly strong, with her going out on the memorable line of “Dracarys!”
The performances of Emilia Clarke and Jacob Anderson, who plays Grey Worm, at this moment also help greatly to deliver an emotional gutpunch.
Both do a magnificent job, with it being clear through the final shot of Dany’s face that she is going to go on a rampage next episode.
Missandei’s death is very shocking and feels like a return to the old, unpredictable plot of Game of Thrones.

Missandei’s death was very surprising to me because I thought Grey Worm would die before her.

Another scene that continues this feeling of a return to form is the conversation between Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Varys (Conleth Hill), which is my favourite scene of the episode.
The two discuss Dany’s recent volatile actions, leading Varys suggesting they overthrow her in favor of Jon.
This felt like a return to the gripping political drama of the first few seasons and, while Tyrion is still dumbed down compared to how he was in those seasons, it really like the old Varys has returned.
It will be interesting to see how Varys attempts to put Jon into power, as information about his true lineage is quickly spreading.

The conversation between Varys and Tyrion about what to do with Dany was very intriguing. I cannot wait to learn what Varys has planned.

Yes, Jon told Arya (Maisie Williams) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) this episode about his true parentage which, as Dany said, may have not been the right call because, once it gets out, it is going to create a storm.
One minor gripe I did have with the scene where Jon tells Arya and Sansa is that it does not actually show him telling them.
Yeah, I get they did not want to repeat the explanation about his parentage again, but I would have liked to see Arya and Sansa’s reactions.
Speaking of Arya though, it looks like she and the Hound (Rory McCann) are on a suicide mission to kill Cersei and the Mountain.
While I think is likely that the Hound will die, it will be interesting to see what happens to Arya.
She has a very nice conclusion for her relationship with Gendry (Jon Dempsie) this episode, where she refuses his proposal of marriage because it is not who she is, which is in character.
Whatever happens to her though, Jamie will most likely get involved as well, with him leaving to either help or kill Cersei, abandoning Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), who he gets together with in the episode.
I felt this is a nice coupling, and the scene where Jamie (Nickolaj Conster-Waldau) explains to Brienne why he is leaving has a very tragic feel to it.
And, with Brienne, Sam, Gilly, little Sam, Tormund and Ghost all left behind at Winterfell, I think it is very likely all six of these characters are going to survive the series.
The final battle will be in King’s Landing and these characters are far away from it.
I just hope the series can end on a high note in its final two episodes.
Overall, “The Last of the Starks was a good episodes with a few flaws that held it back.
Still, it is better than “The Long Night” so that is something.

Game of Thrones, Season Eight, Episode Three, The Long Night Review. Wait, That’s It?

Coming into the third episode of Game of Thrones season eight, directed by Miguel Sapochnik, I was very excited to see what would surely be the first epic battle with the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) and his army of the dead in the final season.
Only for it to be the last as well as the first.
That’s right, the Night King and his entire army are killed off this episode in one of the most anticlimactic deaths I have ever seen.
Arya (Maisie Williams) just leaps out of nowhere, right at the end of the episode, and stabs him with the Catspaw dagger, killing him and his entire army because their existence is tied to him.
Game of Thrones has been setting up the threat of the White Walkers from the very beginning of the series.
They were the entire focus of the seventh season, and they have posed such a threat that the fight for the Iron Throne seemed inconsequential.
As Jon (Kit Harrington) puts it in the first episode of the season, “you want to worry about who holds what title. I’m telling you, it doesn’t matter.”
Well, apparently it does matter now because the greatest threat of the entire series, the Night King, has been killed off three episodes before the series’ conclusion.

Arya kils the Night King.jpg — The Night King’s death feels too soon, what with him being built up for the entire series only for him to just die here.

I just want to say that the death itself is not completely terrible.
It is well shot and executed.
However, Arya has had absolutely no interactions with the Night King, unlike Jon, and the Night King himself has not been explored in any meaningful way.
We know his origins but nothing more than that.
We have no idea why he wanted to destroy the world.
He was just a mustache twirling villain, but without the mustache, and this goes against everything Game of Thrones stands for.
The bad guys of the series’ motivations are all explored and even characters that are completely evil like Ramsay and Joffrey, are realistically evil, basically being serial killers put into positions of power.
The Night King is just some monster that is evil for no reason.
And I will say it again: they just killed off what has been hyped up to be the main threat of the series, leaving the last three episodes to cover who gets the Iron Throne, which I have stated has been made to feel inconsequential.
This is not the only thing about the episode that is disappointing.
The predicted crypt scene happens here but nothing special comes from it and sometimes the scenes are so dark you cannot tell what is happening.

The Crypts.jpg — The crypt scene had no point at all, with no major characters dying. It felt very out of place.

Plus, by killing the Night King, it feels like all of those prophecies about “the prince that was promised” are being thrown away.
On top of this, many characters felt pointless in this battle.
Seriously, what was the point of Jamie (Nickolaj Coster-Waldau) switching sides at the end of season seven?
Other than a brief scene where he saves Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), he made literally no difference in the battle with the dead.
Then there is Melisandre (Carice van Houten), who is one of the big deus ex machinas of the episode because, with no build up at all, she just shows up to help in the fight.
All of this said, there are some good things about the episode.
The opening minutes do a great job of building up suspense and, with the exception of the Night King, many of the deaths are tragic and bring an end to the characters’ arcs well.
Theon (Alfie Allen) gets the redemption he deserves before dying, Jorah (Iain Glen) dies protecting Dany (Emilia Clarke), and Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey) goes out like the little badass she is, killing a giant.
I even felt sad about Edd’s (Ben Compton) death, with him trying to protect Sam (John Bradley) only to be stabbed from behind.

Lyanna Mormont — I definitely did not expect Lyanna to die but she had a great death, with her taking out a giant.

These are some genuinely good and tragic moments in an episode that was a large disappointment.
I feel like a lot of the great build up of the last two episodes was squandered.
Sadly, this has been happening a lot in the last few seasons of Game of Thrones.
Ever since the series started diverging from George R.R. Martin’s source material the series has been slowly declining.
Where the show once felt realistic in its portrayal of war and death, everything now feels very reliant on tropes, something that Martin definitely wanted to avoid when writing the series, and many characters have been dumbed down, especially Tyrion (Peter Dinklage).
Speaking of him though, Bran (Isaac Wright) definitely knows something about him right?
Bran keeps staring at him so Tyrion is probably going to do something important soon.
Hopefully this will make him an interesting character again.
Overall though, “The Long Night” is a disappointing episode that concludes a storyline built up right from the first episode of the series very poorly.
I will say though, my opinion of “The Long Night” may change depending on how Game of Thrones concludes.
If the writers manage to pull off a good ending without the Night King and his army, I will certainly be more forgiving of the episode.
However, if they do not, this will always be one of the most disappointing things about the series for me.