From the title alone, you can tell this is not going to be a glowing review of what transpired in the world of Westeros in HBO’s Game of Thrones. There are a few good reasons for that, but to open this up… TEN YEARS of storytelling went into the series. That is a lot of effort from everyone involved.
But that is about the limit of the praise, given the state of affairs following the “Grand Finale” of the series. Sorry, that should be “Grand Fizzle.” Because that is what the series feels like now. The entirety of Season Eight has undone all the previous work before it, and for what? To end up with more loose ends than the series started with?
Where to start? I guess the first place to be would be with the chauvinism of the showrunners – Benioff and Weiss. To write and direct the supposed Grand Finale of your series places a lot of weight on your shoulders to deliver. Unfortunately, the writing of the last two episodes shows that there was no steam in the tank after The Long Night. For years, the series has worked with two core dynamics – Cersei Lannister vs the world & Danaerys Targaryen vs tyranny. The result of this? A twist not even M. Night Shyamalan could be proud of.
It appears, after watching the final episodes that I, a writer who loves good story telling, was absolutely dumbfounded by the sheer lunacy of what Benioff and Weiss managed to do in two and a half hours. The writing of the series, usually on par with Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad or Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, took such a sharp decline in quality, it felt like a Monty Python level cop-out. Contrived scenarios, confusing and contradictory characterisation, relying on outdated tropes and cliche galore made this hyped up finale that was two years – TWO YEARS – in the making feel… shit. Utterly shit.
The actors themselves did nothing wrong. They had to work with what they were given, but to turn the stilted, steaming turds into something golden? That was never going to happen. Still, there were some scenes that were much better than the rest. Though, they were few. In no particular order, the best scenes of the final episodes of Game of Thrones:
- Cleganebowl – This was a well done fight and actually felt like something worthwhile. This was Sandor (Rory McCann) getting his revenge on brother Gregor (Conan Stevens/Ian Whyte/Thor Bjornsson) in epic fashion. It would be almost perfect… but the way they insisted on it cutting away to Arya (Maisie Williams) broke up the height of the drama and made it seem like a backseat story.
- Euron Greyjoy v. Jaime Lannister – THIS is the scene that helped solidify Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) as a true knight. He was not fighting Euron (Pilou Asbaek) for glory. No, he was fighting for his sister. He was fighting because it is his duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves. A hell of a fight, if a bit reliant on the dynamic of the actors.
- Bronn, Tyrion, and Jaime meet – Simply put, any scene with Jerome Flynn (Bronn) is top notch, because of how well he portrays the character.
Of course, with the best scenes, come the worst…
- Drogon and Dany v. Iron Fleet – Seriously, this is a case of destroying an aura of badass. In Episode 4, Euron hit a dragon in the freaking head from hundreds of yards away! Here… he can’t even clip a wing on a beast CHARGING HIM HEAD ON! Completely broke the mystique of Euron Greyjoy.
- “Let Them All Burn!” – No words can adequately represent the needless Face-Heel turn Benioff and Weiss gave to Dany. I get that it feels apropos for Dany to take after her father, the “Mad King” Aerys Targaryen, but it is also very lazy to do so. THIS IS A CHARACTER WHOSE ENTIRE EXISTENCE CAME FROM MERCY!
- The Death of the Iron Throne – Good Lord, where to start here? Written in stupidity from Dany – what kind of monarch leaves themselves unguarded??? Jon, the idiot that he is, not even trying to change Dany’s mind. And Drogon. Stupid, stupid, Drogon. You burned the Iron Throne to the ground, but didn’t incinerate Jon????
- Bran the Broken – Bullshit. That is what this sequence is. A cop-out to avoid any real closure to the series. The character who spent almost the entire series doing fucking nothing is King???? I can count the number of people who like Bran on one finger… His story ENDED with the Night’s King. Yet here he is, shoehorned into being the “Big Good” of the series… Pathetic storytelling.
- End of the Family – This here is nothing more than hooks for future spin-offs. Arya going west of Westeros? Sansa having the Northern Kingdom to herself? Jon going North of the North? Bran as Monarch? No sense made for any of these storylines.
- Drogon’s Disappearance – Another potential spin-off hook here. And it is painfully obvious he would be going to Old Valyria with his mother. The place where magic is strongest in the whole world. A massive let down for this story.
Mistake after mistake, misstep after misstep. The saga of Game of Thrones has ended. But the controversy and infamy of the final episodes will forever overshadow and tarnish the reputation of what could have become the greatest TV show of the last fifty years.
Series Scores
Overall: 9/10 – A near perfect masterpiece of cinematography and writing with wonderful direction and fantastic acting throughout.
- Season One: 7/10
- Season Two – 7/10
- Season Three – 10/10
- Season Four – 9/10
- Season Five – 8/10
- Season Six – 10/10
- Season Seven – 8/10
- Season Eight – 5/10
The Best Episodes (Best First; entirely subjective):
- The Battle of the Bastards (S6E9)
- The Long Night (S8E3)
- The Red Wedding/The Purple Wedding (S3E9/S4E2)
- The Mountain and The Viper (S4E8)
- The Winds of Winter (S6E10)
- The Watchers on the Wall (S4E9)
The Worst Episodes (Worst First; entirely subjective):
- The Iron Throne (S8E6)
- The Bells (S8E5)
- A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (S8E2)
- The Last of the Starks (S8E4)
- Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken (S5E6)
- The Kingsroad (S1E2)
- Winter is Coming (S1E1)
- Home (S6E2)
In the grand scheme of things, the final episode of Game of Thrones did not do the series justice. And it seems that Benioff and Weiss had NO idea how to end the saga, so they did the best thing they could – they set fire to the house they built and ran.
A shame.
Fenrir's Lair 