GoT finale

[beer_good_foamy]

Very quick and disordered thoughts for now, will probably have more to say in a few days.

JON: It doesn't feel right.

The eerie silence as Tyrion walks through the city. Tyrion digging out his dead family. That's good stuff. If I ever rewatch the series, I think I might hit "STOP" right there and call it a wrap.

Dany is given the full Nürnberg rally treatment. Including speaking in a foreign language with subtitles so we don't miss that this is a Mad FOREIGN Queen. Her death feels so empty because it doesn't feel like Dany. When we're supposed to believe she's gone MAD, we don't get her POV. When she's allowed to talk, we only get platitudes. When other characters try to justify her actions, they sound like fans desperately trying to patch plot holes. After eight seasons of buildup, Dany gets sidelined even quicker than she was villainified and is barely even mentioned again. Fuck this shit. (Drogon's scene is nice, though. Nice of him to realise that the throne was the villain all along.)

Wait, fucking TULLY gets to brag about his skill in statesmanship? ...OK, no. Haha.

Wait, they're seriously going to hold a referendum on... OK, no. Haha.

"Who has a better story than Bran?" You mean the guy the SHOW ITSELF ignored for a whole season? The guy who has no opinions or desires on anything whatsoever? Um... Who has a better story... EVERYONE?! Fuck, the New Prince Of Dorne has a better claim. Did they just pull his name out of a hat to get the fucking I Am Logical And Smart Reddit people to like this ending?

And Arya suddenly wants to be Columbus for no reason? Well, I wouldn't want to stick around in Westeros either.

BRAN: You were exactly where you were supposed to be.
Fucking BSG God Wills It ending.

"A Song of Ice and Fire." ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME WITH THIS FUCKING HOBBIT BULLSHIT

So basically, Westeros will now be ruled by the small council while the king spends his days watching dragons. There's a metaphor for the show in here. Well, at least we can be sure that all future king elections will be held by fair and wise lords who hold the people's best interests at heart, right? I mean, Robin Arryn looked pretty healthy here, he should be around for another 50 years or so to guarantee the sanity of the election.

And everyone rides off in a very cinematic but completely meaningless way. Well, at least Ghost finally got his ear scritched. ETA: Pretty much this:

In the end, what did any of it mean? Arya with the face-swapping assassin skills, or Jon coming back from the dead, or Tyrion’s scheming, or Daenerys’s time in Meereen? Look beyond even that. What about the Children of the Forest, or the battle with the Night King? What about the ice dragon? What was the point of any of it? Did any of those things add anything to the story beyond, “Well... that happened”?

JON: It doesn't feel right.

Comments

[shapinglight]

I just watched it. It was okay. Could have been worse. Could have been a lot better. At least my favourite character survived, even if he was a bit sad. And at least he got to slag that stupid throne before he went.

Her death feels so empty because it doesn't feel like Dany. When we're supposed to believe she's gone MAD, we don't get her POV. When she's allowed to talk, we only get platitudes. When other characters try to justify her actions, they sound like fans desperately trying to patch plot holes. After eight seasons of buildup, Dany gets sidelined even quicker than she was villainified and is barely even mentioned again.

Yeah, didn't like that either. Not one bit.

[beer_good_foamy]

It was okay. Could have been worse. Could have been a lot better.

Yep. It was serviceable. Occasionally better than reading a recap of it. In a way I almost wish it would have been more awful as long as it had tried. Instead they just... wrapped. (Again, Chuck Wendig's post echoes a lot of my thoughts.)

They pretty much spent the last two episodes going "lol Dany never mattered lol", didn't they?

[shapinglight]

They pretty much spent the last two episodes going "lol Dany never mattered lol", didn't they?

Yes, that's pretty much how it felt. Which sucks really. But oh well.

[shadowkat]

Thank you for the Chuck Wendig link. I wouldn't have found it on my own -- and it articulates very well my issues with Season 8. Like Wendig, I didn't much like Bran or Jon Snow. Bran in the series much like the books -- seems to be there to provide exposition and back story, and no other reason.
He's just a narrative device or a gimmick. He was slightly more interesting in the books though. Jon...sigh.

I do know S8 worked for a few people -- I have three of them on my flist who LOVED it. But it didn't work for my co-workers or myself, or a lot of critics. Reminds me a little of the Lost and BSG endings, and the MASH ending -- which all had similar split reactions.

[shapinglight]

Thanks for the link. I pretty much agree with what he said too.

[shadowkat]

I agree with everything here. I liked the dragon and am happy the dragon and ghost made it out. At least we had that.

But no, didn't like it either. Great cinematography though.