Game of Thrones 8.04

[beer_good_foamy]

Aaaand once again, the whole thing comes down to Jon Snow utterly failing at NOT being a dumbass.
Jon: They are my family, we can live together.
Dany: We can. I. Just. Told. You. How.
Jon is the luckiest person in Winterfell. Not the smartest, certainly not the best commander, just the luckiest. I'm just not sure that makes him prime kinging material.

OK, it's not JUST him that's being a bit of a dumbass here. Once again everyone disagrees, but nobody discusses any alternatives. When Arya rides off to kill Cersei, it's not as part of any plan, or with any backup or diversions or anything. Hell, Tolkien's characters were smarter than this, and that's saying something. Maybe all those giant crossbows are there to shoot down eagles?

None of this means this isn't a good episode, because it very much is, taking its time to pick over what the battle has revealed and seems to build the long game... before suddenly detonating in the last ten minutes. RIP Rhaegal, RIP Missandei ("Dracarys!"), RIP any long shot at a peaceful solution and at Daenerys listening to anyone's advice ever again.

A few notes:
- Tormund, Sam, Gilly (who IS pregnant!) and Ghost get written out, apparently for good. Which begs the question why they didn't take the chance to kill at least a couple of them off last week, it's not like the writers have come up with a single other use for Ghost for the last four seasons, but hey. And Jon isn't a Stark anymore, so a direwolf doesn't really suit him. BUT AT LEAST PET HIM, YOU MONSTER. SCRITCH HIS EARS EAR.

- They're going to march alllll the way down south just hours after winning a huge battle in the North. Harold Godwinson must be spinning with frustration in his grave.

- Wouldn't it be neat if the last two episodes had the battle of Kings' Landing take place entirely in the background while the main plot focused on Drunk!Tormund? "Vomiting isn't celebrating." "...Yes it is?!" "Which one of you cowards shit in my pants?"

- The Sers finally get it on, but it's not enough to hold Jaime when he finds out that Kings' Landing is about to burn. Does he go off to join Cersei, or to kill her? Does he even know himself? :(

- The way they systematically isolate Daenerys here is very well done and makes perfect sense. Jon is of The North and all heart and no brains, Tyrion is possibly entering the first stages of alcohol-induced dementia, Sansa hates her, Varys was never loyal to her, and Missandei, well. That look on her face at the end...


- And Varys, again, is a voice of reason. Perhaps not THE voice of reason, but at least one who's practical about it. "It's no longer a secret, it's information." I've been waiting for him to do something all season, and that was a classic Varys scene, but Tyrion is no Littlefinger these days. (But who are all these Lords whom Dany supposedly can't impress without a cock? Can't you count the number of Lords left in Westeros on the fingers of Jaime's right hand by now? And isn't it a tiny bit hypocritical of the show to suddenly champion the common man after we haven't seen a single one of them on screen since The Hound robbed that farmer?) ETA: There's more than a bit of "I don't mind female politicians, just not NOW, and not this one who's so emotional" about all this, isn't there?

- Loved the scene with Sansa and the Hound, even if it continues the slightly iffy theme established by Bran: "Without Ramsay, Littlefinger and the rest, I would have stayed a little bird all my life." And the Hound and Arya go off to murder people, because that's who they are - one who cares more than he used to, and one who kills better than she used to. The real Game of Thrones is the friends enemies we made along the way.

- Poor Gendry. There's a metaphor here about how getting what you deserve means giving up what you want. Still not sure that was the smartest move by Dany, but it's not like she's got allies to spare.

- So Bronn can just... waltz into the inner sanctum of Winterfell without anyone noticing? Is there any reason this show didn't end with a few well-placed assassinations three seasons ago?

- So the Big Bad is... Qyburn? Are we setting up a last-minute medieval vs early industrial theme here? And is Urine Greyjoy even luckier than Ramsay Bolton?

- There's no way that was enough pyres to burn all the dead we saw last episode.

- But at least there's a Starbucks in Winterfell now.

Damnit, Missandei.

Comments

[beer_good_foamy]

I find it hard to hate the episode, I think it pays off a lot of the stuff that the season has been setting up, and while there's a lot of character decisions I want to roll my eyes at I do think as a piece of television it does a good job getting the story from point B to point C. But yeah, while GoT has never been half as feminist as it's liked to pretend, there's something off about how most of the characters' choices seem to point in a certain direction - it's like, I don't NOT buy that Dany would react this way in this situation, or that Ser Brienne would react this way in this situation, or that Sansa or Missandei or Cersei or... but put them all next to each other in an episode meant to set up the end, well, it's hard not to think the writers want us to read it a certain way.

As for Jon, his mopey looks are getting on my nerves so much I'm pretty much team Burn Them All as well.

Here's what I don't get: If they want to build up Jon as the right (and not just the rightful) king, as they seem to want to do right now, why wouldn't they have him... do anything to actually prove it? So far this season he has failed to build a lasting alliance, failed at planning a battle, failed to do much beyond survive the battle, failed to notice the conflict brewing after the battle, failed to plan for the next war, and leaked information that's guaranteed to exacerbate those conflicts. That doesn't make him a good king, it makes him a supporting character in an Armando Ianucci comedy. Beyond giving speeches, not dying, and looking cute, what does he actually DO?

[shapinglight]

If they want to build up Jon as the right (and not just the rightful) king, as they seem to want to do right now, why wouldn't they have him... do anything to actually prove it?

So true. It'd better mean something.