Game of Thrones 8.04
May. 6th, 2019 08:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamyAaaand 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 HISEARS 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 thefriends 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.
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
- 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
- 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.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-07 09:01 pm (UTC)That's a very good point, only right now, the dragons... or dragon isn't looking nearly as invincible anymore. Qyburn has won the arms race. But yeah, weapons of mass destruction that answer to one single individual is a problem that's hard to solve.
I don't necessarily want to be Team Burn Them All. (I was Team White Walker partly because I hoped there'd be more to them than just Death Personified. My mistake.) But it would help so much if Team Living Humans gave me something to cheer for instead of just having everyone make mistakes. Part of the reason this show felt so fresh way back in the early seasons was that you had some people who were playing out the traditional fantasy tropes, and some who were just ruthless and competent. I was hoping the big payoff would be that Our Heroes would learn to actually be good at what they do. Instead it's just turning into a punchdrunk version of the third act of Return of the King.
Seven Queens, anyone?
Fine by me. At this point even Cersei is looking better than Jon.