So what did y’all think of the finale of Game of Thrones??
Me? I’m kinda torn to be honest.
Personally I think it would have been more satisfying had it been extended to a normal length season. The consensus among most of us within the GOT fandom was that this season was rushed. The acting was the best it could be considering. The cast and crew, I will admit did what they could with what they had.
It wasn’t the best season…hell…it was perhaps one of the more lackluster but it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve seen on TV. Trust me…there’s rubbish to sort through.
Anyways…here are my thoughts, for better or for worse.
Game of Thrones, overall has been a fantastic show, from the acting, costumes and most of all set design. Oh I must say the best part of looking back at this story were the awesome places it was filmed. I also loved the attention that was put into the set designs.
Moving along, as far as this finale season, I felt that again it was rushed. The story could have simply been told much better than it was. I think the writers paid so much attention to what they thought the fans wanted, that they failed to do what prior seasons have done and that was the deliver on the execution. With a story like Game of Thrones, the execution is everything… LITERALLY!! This season despite it’s plot, which could have written with a little more effort, wasn’t completely horrible but it wasn’t praiseworthy.
Ok we’re heading into spoiler country y’all!
The biggest gripe I had was the battle with the dead and the season finale itself. Both felt more like recaps than episodes.
The anticipation that we had after the way last season ended with the Night King getting himself a dragon and attacking The Wall gave me the impression that we were gonna get a season of the White Walkers taking it to the living in the North!
I imagined the battle with the dead would be more fulfilling than it was. Not that it wasn’t entertaining because it ended with an epic takedown of the Night King and his army. With all of that effort put into the battle at Winterfell, you would have thought that the Night King himself would have had more glory on screen. I mean how dig he survive dragon fire?
I need answers!
Aside from scenes with Lyanna, Dany, Brienne, Jorah and most of all Arya, the rest of it was so dark, you couldn’t see most of it. The rushing of it all made the epic ending less epic.
But kudos to all the cast, crew and extras. I’m sorry that they had to leave grueling elements and hard work for what could have been more in screen than what we got.
The rest of our fav characters were also dispatched so quickly and cheaply that I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or cuss.
Jaime Lannister’s character arc was pretty much wasted in one fell swoop but I’m glad that Brienne of Tarth took the time to give him a good send off even if the writers didn’t. Varys’ all knowing demeanor was also squandered. As the Master of Whispers, he seemed to be blindsided quite a bit, making his death feel cheap. I mean what happened to his little messengers? They and us were owed more. I mean this man spent seasons being 2 steps ahead of everyone only to have his plan dismantled in seconds. Tyrian seemed to drink and “not” know things but at least he didn’t die like his bestie did. His closing speech was good except no one cared to mention Jon’s true identity. Euron Greyjoy seemed to be missing some his villainous ways that fans of the books expected not to mention he was reduced to sarcasm & jokes. Cersei spent most of her time staring out of windows. For her to have been through what she had been as well as pumped up to the season’s big bad, I thought her screen time would have been better used. Even her death was unsatisfactory. You don’t off a GOT baddie like that. A villain like that and she gets crushed by bricks?
Theon had probably the biggest character arc and we only got to enjoy it for a few moments. Jon Snow pretty much to me got jipped. As we we’re tricked into believing his true lineage would play a key role instead of being dangled in front of us for plot reasons. While he received a decent send-off and was finally able to be free, I felt he was underutilized most of all but at least he was reunited with Ghost.
Dany’s breakdown, transformation into the Mad Queen and inevitable demise was cheapened despite impeccable acting. I mean her desent into madness came and went so abruptly that her end came with very little satisfaction. I think Drogon the dragon received the most sympathy from me this finale. Sad the Targaryen lineage was pretty much a blink and you’ll miss it this season.
I think we deserved at least an entire episode depicting her downfall.
The brothers Clegane, while their inevitable fight to the death was awesome… Again it lacked something. The lead up to that fight of revenge should have been satisfactory than what we got. But again that fight was something though. I have to give it to the fight choreographers. The Hound dying while killing The Mountain by the one thing he feared, fire was almost poetic especially since it was because of his brother he feared fire in the first place.
While I expected Bran to have the best ending of all, his “powers” as the Three-Eyed Raven were quite useless this season. However I wasn’t completely upset by his role this season. However I expected the writers to utilize it better. Sheesh!
Sansa got exactly what she wanted… To be Queen of an independent North. I think her character this season was displayed the best of all. She was probably the only one to have played the actual Game of Thrones. Grey Worm was just sad. Here, he lost his girl but at least he and the unsullied gained their freedom. But his anger while acted well was just too dependant on his loyalty to the queen and not his internal turmoil due to losing the love of his life.
I completely understand that the show kinda surpassed the source material but I think we still could have gotten a better send-off. Yet at least the overshadowed ending was exactly as planned. I felt like this way back when during year of the writer’s strike. But at least there was more effort put forth.
But still I’m not completely unsatisfied but I’m not completely happy either.
Overall Game of Thrones is a spectacular show from beginning to end but I think fans should not have to wait for prequels or spin-offs to get a proper conclusion.
What hurt this season most was it’s expectations. A show of this caliber ending this way was probably worse than Dexter or The Sopranos or Lost. I think the delivery lost itself in plot-holes to say the least. Like the third act was fast forward to a newly built King’s Landing yet no real sense of time. I don’t think it would have mattered if Jon became King or not because the cramming of this season would have cheapened that too.
I’m not even gonna go into how ripped off I am feeling about Dorne. Like WTF? A few seasons we were introduced to this amazing place and BAM, Good Bye.
They spent so much time dwelling on every other kingdom except this one.
Again despite these gripes, this show still will go down as a timeless tale of medieval fantasy. Again the endings for everyone wasn’t bad it was just the execution. That being said… I’m sure it could have been worse.
Oh I almost forgot about Samwell… I did enjoy his quip about democracy. That was cute. 😁
That being said, it’s ups outweigh it’s downs. I will say this the memes this season were quite hilarious and creative.
Game of Thrones, while its send-off was too fast… I bend the knee and say thank you.
Til Later Kiddies,
Shalom
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