#got review

[fortunatelylori]

GOT: That awkward moment when Daenerys Targareyen turned into Mount Vesuvius

Oh, rejoice all you Dany critics, all you Jonsas and all you Sansa stans! Our deliverance is here! From this day on we can finally shed the shackles of the anti-Dany tag, stop censoring the conqueror’s name and go wild in the Daenerys Targareyen tag! Dark Dany has arrived! 

Praise be! Praise be!

General impressions

This was, by far, my favorite episode of the season. Miguel Sapochnik really delivered on this one. It looked stunning, the fighting was interesting and realistic in that it showed the type of carnage that is handed down when an army attacks a highly populated city and the visual effects were incredibly impressive. 

This shot right here might just be one of my all time favorite GOT shots: 

It was also, frankly, a relief to finally have Dark Dany out in the open. The show has skirted around the issue of Dany’s turn to the dark side since season 2. If you were shocked by what happened in this episode and think it came out of nowhere, you have no one to blame but yourself. In this corner of the fandom we have been speculating Dany would end up burning King’s Landing for years. 

Also ...

That’s season freaking 2, you nincompoops!  

And they really weren’t stingy on the Mad King imagery now that the Her Darkness is here. Dany starts the episode looking like this: 

What is the most pressing thing on khaleesi’s mind? 

Girl! If you’re so worried about Jon’s lustrous, romantically jealous, always put together cousin, do yourself a favor, put a comb through that hair, slap some foundation and blush on and get a freaking grip! You need to be bringing your A game to this fight!

Luckily, Tyrion decides to give Dany the incentive she needs in order to tend to her person hygiene ... Getting ready for an execution, of course!

Dany is wearing a piece from the Targareyen nuclear winter collection. Very avangarde. 

Things don’t improve from here and, as we all know, she ends up Dacarys-ing her entire fandom: 

The city surrenders, the bells ring just as Tyrion had stressed through out the episode and Dany ponders ... She’s come to Westeros expecting to be embraced and loved. Being loved and accepted is very important to Dany. Without those two things, granted unconditionally and uncritically, she feels undervalued. King’s Landing ends up paying for that lapse in adoration: 

This episode, GOT decided to take a break from ripping off How to Train your Dragon and decided to rip off Pompeii (2014) instead: 

Pompeii:

GOT:

Pompeii:

GOT: 

Pompeii: 

GOT: 

So yeah, guys! Daenerys Targareyen is a cataclysmic event! Can I get a hallelujah? Cause this delulu, sexually frustrated, teenage soccer mom is having fun!

Apart from the sweet taste of vindication giving me LIFE, the reason why I enjoyed this episode so much is that it focused on the 3 characters who actually had an arc this season. Apart from Dany, those are: 

Arya Stark

I think the most important line Arya has uttered this entire season was this: 

Arya: I know death. It has many faces. I look forward to seeing this one. 

In true GOT fashion, be careful what you wish for. Arya is confronted with the most extreme versions of death imaginable, first in the specter of the Night King and his armies. And now, in the shape of Daenerys Targareyen and her dragon raining fire on a defenseless city. 

And while the White Walkers rattle Arya’s cage, they don’t manage to break through it. Her reaction to the destruction of King’s Landing is far more emotional than what she experienced during the Battle for the Dawn. 

I think that’s because the White Walkers were existential threats, catalysts of violence. They were not willfully cruel, they weren’t there to punish. They had a purpose and they served that purpose until the end. 

The destruction of King’s Landing, on the other hand, is a human act. Someone makes the decision to destroy this city, burn people alive, murder and rape them. Daenereys chooses to do this: 

The Stallion that Mounts the World serves Arya the most extreme lesson in revenge she could have ever gotten and the results finally break through Arya’s shell. 

Another top ten GOT shot: 

This is so visually striking! The blood framing her eyes just jumps at you. She looks like a rag doll on the verge of being tossed against a wall. This girl who has gone through such harrowing experiences, the brilliant assassin who ended the Night King is now in danger of being squashed as if she were an ant. 

It really drives home not just the immense power Dany is wielding but also that in being rendered powerless, Arya always manages to find strength in herself and her basic empathy: 

I’m really curious how her arc is concluded next episode. 

Jaime Lannister

I was never a Braime shipper so, while I get your dissapointment, guys, I definitely don’t share it. I absolutely love how Jaime’s arc was concluded. I do think there will be differences in the books (I still believe Jaime is the valonqar). However this: 

was foreshadowed back in season 1: 

Cersei: Jaime and I are more than brother and sister. We shared a womb. We came into this world together. We belong together. 

Jaime’s story started with Cersei, he dedicated more than 20 years of his life to this relationship, to the detriment of everything else in his life. It feels natural to me that his arc would end with hers, as well. 

I think, in a really sad way, Brienne was Jaime’s last stitch attempt at getting Cersei out of his system. That would explain his awkwardness during their sex scene. And it almost worked, because Brienne is someone Jaime cares about. However when faced with the possibility of Cersei dying, Jaime goes back to her because he can’t bare to let her go through that alone. 

I mean ... if you look up the definition of tragic couple, I half expect a picture of Cersei and Jaime to pop up. And I find it supremely ironic that the couple who shocked and disgusted everyone back in season 1, now gets a tearful reunion, the male character fighting a death duel to get back to the woman he loves and the woman who hardened herself against everything finally becomes human in the arms of the only person she truly wants.  

This, to me, is love ... 

Yes, I’m fucked up. Let’s not dwell on that! 

However, as much as I enjoyed watching these three characters make their way through this episode, there are still two things that managed to tarnish this episode for me. 

Let’s start with the obvious, shall we? 

Jon Snow

This used to be Jon Snow, back when he had a POV and a spine.

In this episode Jon Snow stands idly by while a man gets burned alive: 

Jon’s POV continues to be blocked and, at this point, I’m tired of trying to figure out what is going on behind the curtain. I’m just not willing to do it anymore, simply because Jon’s actions this episode speak louder than any supposed intention he might have in acting the way he does.

I want you to follow this conversation very carefully: 

Varys: We both know what she’s about to do. 

Jon: That’s her decision to make. She is our queen. 

Varys: Men decide where power resides, whether or not they know it. 

Jon: What do you want? 

Varys: All I’ve ever wanted. The right ruler on the Iron Throne. I still don’t know how her coin has landed but I’m quite certain about yours. 

Jon: I don’t want it. I never have. 

Varys: [...] You will rule wisely and well, while she ...

Jon: She is my queen. 

This discussion is crucial to the ultimate question of whether or not Jon Snow bares responsibility for what happens in King’s Landing. And I would say that based on this, the answer is a resounding yes. 

Varys starts plotting in episode 4, the moment he realizes that Dany is about to treat King’s Landing and all its inhabitants to some good ol’ fashion fire and blood. He tells Jon in this scene that they both know what she’s about to do. Jon doesn’t contradict him. He hankers down on the “whatever my queen wants” party line. 

Whether or not Jon is political or simply a idiotic coward, the fact remains he knows enough of Dany at this point to figure out there is a strong possibility that she will sack the city and many, many innocent people will die. Varys is trying to get him to act. He’s had chances to formulate some sort of resistance against Dany since episode 1. He has chosen not to. He’s chosen not to plot against her, he’s chosen to tell her the truth about his parentage instead of using it to his advantage, he’s chosen to abandon the dragon he could have used against her and to keep those closest to him in the dark about his motivations. 

He’s made his choices. If he’s done it out of love for Dany, than he’s an irresponsible and selfish fool. If he’s done it to protect the North and his family, he has done so at the expense of everyone else in Westeros. Either way, these are the consequences: 

This man, and I’m very sorry to say it, is not fit to be anyone’s king. In this episode he barely manages to keep his men from killing indiscriminately and raping women. He doesn’t even take charge of protecting civilians and trying to take them to safety, the way Arya does. 

Instead, Jon drags his men after him and runs from the city with his tail between his legs.... 

I just .....

My other point of contention with this episode doesn’t really have much to do with the episode itself but rather that the set-up for the pay-offs delivered here wasn’t done properly in past episodes. For example: 

Cersei’s downfall: We all knew it was coming and it was bittersweet and moving. However they’ve given Lena Heady barely anything to do all season. She’s had a total of 4 scenes so when the end eventually comes, it feels shortsighted and incomplete. 

Claganebowl: Another one that was telegraphed in advanced. The scene itself is brilliant however the set-up for it is so hamfisted. The Ds couldn’t think of another way these two could meet but for Sandor to just up and decide with no prior warning that he’s going to KL. Why now so damn particularly? In that vein, The Mountain is supposed to be a mindless zombie. How come he is now perfectly capable of disobeying orders from both Cersei and Qyburn? 

Arya’s story: As I mentioned, I absolutely loved Arya in this episode. However, I can’t help but wish they had put more work in her POV and in her revenge vs. humanity dilemma to truly make Sandor’s advice and her journey through the burning city as emotionally rewarding as it could have been. 

Tyrion: I get that I’m not allowed to understand what the hell is going on with Jon, but why has that extended to Tyrion all of a sudden? Tyrion starts off the episode betraying his only friend and condemning him to a fiery death and for the life of me I don’t understand why. He’s clearly terrified of Dany. Considering her state of mind when he informs her of Vary’s betrayal, she’s one step away from executing him as well. When he sets Jaime free, he seems resigned to being executed by her later on. So why not try to work with Varys to overthrow her? It certainly isn’t that he thinks she’ll make a good queen. He can’t possibly think that in this episode. Is it greed and desire for power? They haven’t done a good enough job for me to buy into that wholesale. So what is it? 

Favorite scenes: 

The “Are you unforgiven too?” scene: 

So close, no matter how far Couldn't be much more from the heart Forever trusting who we are And nothing else matters

All the while, the Lannister theme plays in the background .... PERFECTION!

The “Love Thy Brother” scene: 

I know I criticized the set-up but the scene itself is spectacular. The visuals alone are breathtaking. The fighting is brutal and absolutely horrendous. And the two of them falling into a bottomless pit of flames, feels particularly chilling and sad considering the Hound’s fear of fire. 

My favorite part of the scene, though, is the cutting back and forth between Sandor and Arya. Coupled with their conversation that convinces Arya to give up her list, this creates a wonderful parallel between the two characters and a nice bookend to their twisted but, surprisingly, poignant relationship. 

The “In the queen’s ashes” scene: 

Maisie Williams has been a real champ this season. And this episode, in particular, was her coup d’grace. I absolutely loved her acting in this scene. On top of that, the imagery of the destruction around her, the eerie quiet after the chaos that had come before and ultimately the discovery of the charred bodies of the woman and child she had tried to rescue, with echos of the Stark theme in the background, make this a truly outstanding scene.

It becomes even more poignant when you think that this is the city that started Arya’s tragedy when her father was executed and her book wish that King’s Landing would burn to the ground. When faced with the reality of it, Arya finds empathy, not satisfaction.

In the BTS, the Ds compare Arya to Virgil taking her journey through hell and it truly feels that way. Up until she jumps on that horse and fades into the fiery landscape.

Beautiful!

Episode MVPs:

Lord “It’s been an honor, sir!” Varys

I’m going to nominate only one MVP for this episode because this man truly is in a league of his own.

He is the true hero of this episode and the fantasy show equivalent of a martyr. He is the only one ... THE ONLY ONE ... that actually tried to stop Dany from committing genocide. And as thanks for his bravery and commitment to saving innocent lives, he was betrayed by his best friend and burned alive.

[evax3]

A dragon is not a slave

In my current process of rewatching GoT I realized, that Daenery’s time in Astapor just sums up most everything I really love about her. Here’s why:

[spoilers ahead]

S3E3

First, we see her walking down the Walk of Punishment with her buddies Lord Friendzone and Ser Barristan I’m-never-too-old-for-this-shit. She wants to give water to one of the crucified slaves, but he refuses (she ALWAYS takes care of the people in need).

And Jorah the explorah is like: If you want to sit on the throne, you must win it, and that will mean blood on your hands.

And Dany returns: The blood of my enemies, not the blood of innocents.

(I’m looking at you, David and Dan, because she said it explicitly!! But I’m not going to rage about it anymore …)

This shows, that she is well aware of what war means, that she cannot simply win the throne with a democratic discussion, like, you’re aware that this chair actually belongs to me, so please step aside guys? Blood MUST be shed, but not that of innocent people, who got nothing to do with the matter (!!!)

We go on to visit our homeboy Kraznys, who is so fat, that Dany thinks he has bigger breasts then hers …

(another irritating casting decision of the show, because he resembles Kraznys mo Nakloz from the books, like Jennifer Lawrence looked like Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games, but again, I’m not complaining)

Our dear friend insults her wherever possible. Missandei is super cute and tries to de-escalate the situation a bit, but of course she doesn’t know that Dany’s doing her favorite move. Just pretend she doesn’t understand a single word.

(I really admire her patience, this guy’s such a bloody clown.)

She makes a deal, one of her dragons for the Unsullied, and I’d like to slap Jorah in the face because he’s so naive. Like she’d seriously give away one of the dragons! They’re her children, you idiot. How long have you been with her?

She takes Missandei as “a present” and then we get one of my absolute favorite Dany quotes ever:

Dany: You know that I’m taken you to war. You may go hungry, you may fall sick, you may be killed.

Missandei: Valar morghulis.

Dany: Yes, all men must die. But we are not men.

Bam! That’s my gurl! 

In these moments, Dany is the absolutely perfect feminist for me. She fights for the recognition of the woman in such a clever way, that I find myself sitting in front of the TV, putting my fist in the air for solidarity. Because there are differences between men and women, not as many as some men often pretend to be, but they’re there. So, these are no weaknesses! We should be proud that we are women and not try to be men …

(I run off the topic, so I stop here, because this post is not about feminism and so, go on to the next episode)

S3E4

We have to wait till the end of the episode until Dany gets her big moment, but really, it’s worth it.

First, we get a good overview of the size of the Unsullied and Krazy is babbling some stuff while Missandei continues to translate everything, like the busy lizzy she is.

Everyone is kind of tense, especially Jorah, as if he’s about to storm off and say, No Khaleesi, please not the dragon, take me instead! (It’s not so far off that he’d do something like this, right?) Even at the first time watching I wasn’t afraid that she’d give away the dragon, especially not Drogon. It was obvious back then, that he was definitely the MVP of Team Fire and Blood.

Dany gets a short reassurance, that the army is really hers now, and when Krazy Baby doesn’t understand why the dragon doesn’t obey him, she dissipates his ignorance.

(It’s really cool to see her address the Unsullied, but the best move is when she turns back to the supposed dragon tamer.)

Dany: A dragon is not a slave.

Krazy is totally surprised, like wtf, she understood me the whole time? But he doesn’t have much time to apologize. Dany starts her typical I’m Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen speech, albeit in short form, and it’s pretty clear what comes next.

Dany: Dracarys!

That gives me the same goose bumps as when she first used the words in the House of the Undying. She fights her enemies with fire and blood. The Unsullied show whom they serve now and slaughter all masters. And this is really what I love so much about this episode, she is just totally badass, but with so much style!

And just like in the previous episode with Missandei, she gives the Unsullied the opportunity to leave. But of course, everyone stays and shows their affiliation in their own little version of We will rock you.

But that’s what Dany is all about! Each of her followers is with her because they chose her! Even the honorable Jon, in his recruitment for the Battle of the Bastards, refers to some oaths people have sworn to House Stark centuries ago, but Dany doesn’t need that!

To cap it all off, she ends the whole chapter with a time-equivalent variant of the Drop the Mic gesture and moves on with her new (really huge) army. Now she really is in full bamf!Dany mode, and I love it!

(so, turns out, this has somehow become more of a review, but while writing I realized, I had to get it all out.)

[narniangirl1994]

How to fix the finale

(By fixing the lead up to it)

If you want to stick with the whole Daenerys ultimately being a tyrant story line, have a bit more lead up to it. Show her making at least a few more morally gray decisions other than just brutalizing objectively horrible people (ie: slavers and rapists). I don't agree with the way it was done, but it's a big leap from killing evil men to burning children alive for no good reason. So show a bit more of the slippery slope that got her there in the first place..

BUT, instead of having Jon Snow kill her in the end... have it be Missandei. Hear me out. The finale (and whole show, let's be real) felt highly misogynistic and racist, showing brown/black people as violent, unthinking invaders led by a woman who needs to be taken down by the men around her. So instead of having Dany's tyranny stopped by a man who slid into her DMs a season ago, have it be a woman who has known and followed her all along.

Show Missandei supporting Dany at first as they free slaves and punish slave owners. But have her slowly start to notice Dany's harsh punishments for those who stand in her way, not just the evil men in Essos. Have her try to counsel Dany to show mercy to the common people, but Dany resisting much of the time.

Then after they get to Westeros and go to King's Landing to face Cersei, show Dany explicitly commanding the Unsullied to sack the city.. and show the Unsullied (especially Grey Worm) hesitate at this order, but many start to follow it after Dany commands them more harshly a second time. (Maybe even have a moment earlier in the show where an Unsullied tries to tell Dany he wants to leave, and Dany strongly insist he stay until her war is over).

Show Missandei witnessing all of this and finally realizing the woman she's been following all along is no different than the people Dany supposedly freed her from. Because she's not breaking these scared citizens' chains, and she stopped caring about the freedom of the Unsullied in her quest for power. Show how Missandei is ultimately the only one still trusted enough by power hungry Dany to get close enough to kill her. And have her do this before the whole place is burned down so not everyone dies.. Keep Drogon burning the Iron Throne though.

That solves the racist white savior Mhysa arc from earlier in the show by having a black woman ultimately free her people. It solves the misogyny of yet another (white) man killing the woman who she thought she could trust (and having the men presented as the only rational ones in the end). It also solves the xenophobic racism of having brown outsiders thoughtlessly commit genocide by having conscientious objectors amongst the Unsullied even though some proceeded because they thought they were following a just leader.

Make it clear that Dany's (beginnings of a) genocide are not the result of hereditary mental illness (because she literally was not "crazy", yet many fans and characters kept saying she was mad like her father). Have someone clearly point out this was the result of always being told this was her right, and never really being told the means matter as much as the ends.

If you want Bran to be king, show him using the history and perspective he has access to as the Three Eyed Raven to actually DO something. The one time I really saw what I'm talking about is when he mentioned designing his current wheelchair based on something someone else did a hundred years ago. So have more of that. Show him offering advice to people, showing compassion, making changes to peoples' everyday lives with this wisdom he has so that it actually makes sense when he is made king. I love the message of learning from the past to do better in the future.. but hate that aloof, uninvolved Bran is the vessel of this message.

Have people learn from those past mistakes and actually include more commoners, women, etc. on the board of advisors so it's not just a bunch of men (and Brienne) making all the decisions for everyone again.

Have Yara gain independence for the Iron Islands as well, during the meeting of leaders. Perhaps have shown her ships helping to stop Euron's fleet (to resolve that plot line), but then show her pulling her soldiers back when she sees the slaughter in King's Landing, since they aren't pillagers anymore. It would be a nice nod to Theon saving Bran's life, affirm her ability to be a good leader, and make her whole storyline actually have meaning.

Don't have Jon be a Targaryen. That was ultimately pointless in my opinion and takes away from the idea that someone can be a good leader even if they're 'just a bastard.' It's not his lineage that made him so good at leading, but his hard work, practicality, and compassion for the people.

And even if you have Brienne honor Jaime's memory in the King's Guard historical record, have her start her own page to show she is truly a knight now whose journey is just getting started (that doesn't just revolve around this one man).

That's how I would have done it differently. Other than of course, having more people of color and reducing the constant brutalization/assault of female characters throughout the series. Like I said, I didn't hate the messages/symbolism of some of these plot lines. (War is hell, learn from your history, power corrupts, etc.) But I did hate the way it was presented via a misogynistic, racist, and ultimately cliche story that didn't even make sense character/plot-wise.

[thefandomentals]

Cattiness and Callbacks: Game of Thrones is officially back!

We’re back!!! Season 8 is finally here, and boy is the first episode a whole lot of “eh”. Running just shy of an hour, despite all the hype that this season would be movie length episodes throughout, I mostly left with the feeling that almost nothing of substance happened—something we’ve all grown quite used to at this point. While the show still had some anger inducing moments, including cattiness and callbacks, it was one of those funny bad episodes that ease the pain.

Oh yeah, also apparently this episode title is “Winterfell,” unbeknownst to anyone who watched the episode. God knows how spoiled we’d be if we knew that….

Keep Reading

[where-theres-smoak-2]

GOT 8X06 REVIEW

So this was it, the very last episode of Game of Thrones ever and I was amazed and shocked... at how much they managed to f*ck it all up. I know alot of viewers were already upset with season 8 but up until this point I mostly enjoyed it. However this last episode... well underwhelmed doesn’t really cut it but its the best I can come up with at the moment. If I could sum up this episode in 4 words it would be what was the point?  But anyway as there are spoilers I’m going to stick the rest under the cut so if you want to read on if you don’t that’s cool too lol. 

Bran the Broken 

So I’m going to start with the thing that bothered me the most. Bran is the King makes no sense at all. Like I get that Game of Thrones is suppose to subvert expectations and do the unexpected and be shocking and all that. But there is a difference between having a surprising twist and doing something that just doesn’t make sense at all. By all means shock me, surprise me but for the love of all the gods old and new please make sure it has some kind of logic within the story. Bran has spent the last 2 or so seasons going on about how he can’t be Lord of Winterfell or Lord of anything because he is the Three Eyed Raven now but I’m suppose to believe he can be King like what?! If he can’t be Lord of Winterfell and the Three Eyed Raven both then he sure has hell shouldn’t be able to be King and the Three Eyed Raven it makes no sense at all. 

Also I’m sorry but I half cracked up when Tyrion said the next Ruler should be someone with a great story and then chose Bran because in my opinion he had the least interesting story out of any of the remaining characters there. It was so uninteresting that 1) they cut him out completely for a whole season because all he was doing was sitting in a tree talking to an old guy and 2) Tyrion had to remind us what Bran’s story was and big it up for it to make sense. Like yes he survived a fall from a window then travelled beyond the wall and became the Three Eyed Raven as Tyrion said he was told he’d never walk again so he learnt to fly and yes his powers are interesting (if only they had explored them more). I’m not trying to take those accomplishments away from him. But when you compare it to others that have the potential to be the next ruler Bran’s is hardly the most exciting story. I mean Arya escaped King’s Landing, travelled with Gendry and Hot Pie, served as Tywin’s cup bearer all the while without him knowing he had Arya Stark right within his grasp, joined up with the Brotherhood without Banners, travelled with the Hound and went from hating him to learning from him to having affection for him, went to Braavos and became a faceless assasin, crossed numerous people of her list, came back to Westeros and killed the Frey’s, returned to Winterfell and helped take down Littlefinger, fought against the Army of the Dead, Killed the Night King then witnessed and survived the Sacking of Kings Landing. Sansa suffered under the Lannisters yet survived them, escaped to the Eyrie, learnt how to play the game from both Littlefinger and Cersei, married Bolton then escaped and got to the wall, helped rally the north behind Jon and gained the support of the Vale which led to the victory at the Battle of the Bastards, fed her rapist to his own dogs, ruled the North in a Jon’s absence and outsmarted Littlefinger. She had one of the most dramatic and well written character developments on the show. She went from a whiny little girl who had silly dreams of being a princess and a queen to a strong leader and badass Queen in her own right. Jon joined the Night’s Watch, travelled beyond the wall, infiltrated the wildlings, defended the wall against 100,000 wildlings with only 100 men, became Commander of the Night’s Watch, Fought at Hardhome and killed a Whitewalker, created peace between the Wildlings and the rest of the Kingdom, talked the wildlings into fighting with them for winterfell, became King in the North, brought together the greatest army the world had ever seen consisting of northmen, wildlings, the vale, Dany’s forces of the Dothraki, the Unsullied and two Dragons. Found out he was a targaryen prince, marched agaisnt Kings Landing to dethrone Cersei, Killed the mad Queen Daenerys. Hell even Gendry had a better story with starting out as a bastard son of a King, going on the run from the Lannisters, his adventures with Arya, being taken by the Red Woman, having his blood used in a ritual that took out 3 kings, escaping and hiding out right under the noses of those who had tried to kill him, travelling beyond the wall with Jon and fighting against the dead army, returning to winterfell and making all the weapons for the long night, fighting against the AOTD during the long night and then being legitimised. And yet I’m suppose to believe that Bran has the best story because he fell out the window then became a birdman. Sorry but not buying it; if you wanted me to buy it you should have spent some more time on his story.   

I know I’m ranting and being harsh but its frustrating because if it had been written properly then it could have worked. I get the idea behind the whole a great story is a powerful thing, its true people love a good story, a good story can inspire people to do great things. A great story can make a person immortal and live on through history. So I agree with Tyrion the next ruler should have a great story but they didn’t spend enough time on Bran’s for it to make sense for him to be the one chosen. The moment the writers were told Bran was the one they should have moved him more to the forefront. They didn’t need to have him as the main focus as such but at least have him a little more involved. Show his powers, more of his skills, show him in a position of leadership. I mean Bran hasn’t shown any skills that would suggest he’d be a good king or leader. He’s become too detached from people and most of the time it seems like he just doesn’t really care about anything. But my main issue that I just keep coming back to is that line about not being able to be lord of anything because he was the Three Eyed Raven. Like I get they didn’t want to give too many hints away that it was going to be Bran but they could’ve changed that line slightly and said something like I can’t be Lord of Winterfell I have a greater destiny to fulfill now. It’s vague enough that most would probably assume he was talking about being the Three Eyed Raven and they wouldn’t have betrayed and contradicted their own writing when a couple of seasons later he becomes King it would have been more of a oh so that’s what he meant when he said that moment. Instead it just felt like they weren’t sure who was going to be king so they just pulled a name out of the hat and it happened to be Bran. They might as well have made Pod king for all the sense it made. 

The final thing that bothered me about it was the title they gave him Bran the Broken. I mean really? They could have gone with Bran the Wise or Bran the All Seeing or Bran the Seer or even Bran the Raven. But no lets not focus on the gifts that allow him to see all or the wisdom that he has gained, the things that would make him a worthwhile leader no lets focus on him being in a wheelchair. I don’t know but something about that bothered me, it just didn’t seem right. 

The Council

Ok I’m not opposing the council as a concept I do think that having a council like that is a good idea. But the scene just didn’t seem to work for me. First off it did not seem at all realistic to me that when Tyrion said they needed to vote on a Ruler nobody other than Edmure Tully put themselves forward. Like really that’s not really in line with the characters. I thought it would be more like the election of the Commander for the Night’s Watch where you have a few candidates put forward and they all discuss who would be best, you know Davos could have put forward Gendry and talked about how he’s Robert’s son and knows the common folk, Lord Royce could’ve put forward Robin and tried to come up with something that would make him sound good, Arya could have put forward Sansa and then Tyrion Bran. But instead all these powerful Lords and Ladies just stared blankly at each other until one option was put forward to them. At least if more candidates had been put forward there would have been more interest and intrigue in the scene an element of ooh whose it gonna be. Instead it was just boring. 

Also and this isn’t really that important and is probably me being a petty b*tch but when Tyrion said ‘you’re the most powerful people in Westeros’ I did have a moment of really these guys are. Like Edmure Tully who spent all of his time either making a fool of himself or as a prisoner, Robin Arryn who was a spoilt little brat and did literally nothing but be others pawn and hide in the Eyrie, a Prince I’ve never seen before, two Lords I’ve never seen before, Yara who yes has some power and is usually pretty badass but lets be honest she spent the last 5 episodes hiding at the Iron Islands, Sam who at this point wasn’t really in any position of power, Davos who again doesn’t technically hold any position of power and as much as I love him Gendry whose been a lord for about a month and doesn’t know how to use a fork. These are the people who are deciding who gets to be the new Ruler. I was just sitting there thinking where were all these people when the Night King was attacking or when they were trying to overthrow Cersei the Tyrant. I mean I appreciate Yara’s loyalty to Dany now that she’s dead but where was she when Dany needed her forces to take Kings Landing hiding on the Iron Islands. I mean if we needed anymore signs that Westeros had gone to hell it was the realisation that these were the most powerful people in Westeros. It’s not the character’s faults its the bad writing but I feel like this scene would have had more of an impact if I actually cared about the people who were there. Which other than the Starks, Tyrion, Sam and Davos and Gendry I didn’t really know any of them let alone care about them. 

It Should Have Been Epic

See the thing is this was the final episode it should have been the biggest, most tense, exciting episode ever, I should have been on the edge of my seat the entire time. Instead I was bored. I got to the end of it and just thought nothing happened. It didn’t necessarily need a big battle but it needed more tension. It started out good with Tyrion, Jon, Davos and Arya walking through the city and us seeing all the Dothraki and Unsullied gathered. All of that was good it had tension and that anticipation of what’s going to happen that Game of Thrones is so good at. Then... well the best way I can describe it is that for me it seemed like between the scene where Jon kills Dany  and the meeting of the council in the Dragonpit there was a huge chunk of the episode missing. I almost felt like there should have been another episode in between those two moments. I mean Sansa mentions that there are thousands of Northmen at the city walls, well great I’d have liked to have seen that. Show me Sansa getting the news about Dany burning the city, Jon killing her and how the Unsullied now have both Tyrion and Jon captive. I made a prediction post where I said Sansa would hear about Tyrion’s arrest and march the Northmen south to demand his release and the thing is I was kinda right only two differences between my prediction and the show was 1) It was both Tyrion and Jon she marched the army down for and 2) We never actually got to see it we just got told about it. But I wanted to see it, I wanted to see her call the banners. I wanted to see her give a speech to her men getting them riled up and inspired ready to march down south and free their King. I wanted to see Sansa and Arya join up and discuss what they were going to do, for Arya to travel to Storms End and get Gendry’s support and for him to bring his men too, for Sansa to stop at the Vale on the way down and get Robin’s support and at River Run for her Uncle, I wanted to see her army get bigger and bigger as they travelled further South. I wanted to see the men arrive at the walls of Kings Landing and have it completely surrounded, to see the Unsullied on top of the walls looking down and to feel that tension. To see Grey Worm reacting to Jon killing Dany and arresting him, To see him reach out to Yara and the Prince of Dorne who had offered their support of Dany originally to come and avenge her once the Northern forces arrived, I wanted to see the Iron Fleet and the Dornishmen arrive and for the tension to grow with two sides forming those who want Jon and Tyrion free and those who want them punished for betraying Dany. I wanted to be shown Jon and Tyrion in their cells slowly losing hope and see the effect of what they had done, to see that it was playing on their minds that guilt and sorrow and hopelessness growing as time passed. I wanted to see the Starks then treaty for peace and bring the Council together and for them all to agree to sit on the council and give Jon and Tyrion a fair trail. We’d have got to the same place in that dragonpit but it would have been ten times more exciting and nerve wracking because you would have spent the episode wondering if it was going to come to a battle, whether Jon and Tyrion would make it out ok and still be wondering who would end up on the throne. It would have been Game of Thrones at its finest with a good mix of tension and action and political games. It also would have had the advantage of us getting to know those characters that were at the Council a little, maybe not much but it would have been better than what we got. 

But instead of them showing us all this happening we were just told and instead we got lots of images of people talking and walking and rearranging chairs. It was almost like the writers wrote 5 episodes carefully planning everything out and then ran out of steam by the 6th one, like they had ran a maratheon and were in the lead only to fall flat on their faces a few metres from the finish line. I just got this sense of ‘that will do, lets call it a day’. Which is heartbreaking because you could see that the actors put everything they had into this show, the crew put everything they had into this show, the editors and special effects crew put everything they had into this show, Ramin Djawadi put everything he had into the score for this show and I just feel like they were all let down in the end by the bad writing.

No Really What Was The Point? 

Ok so here are what my thoughts were directly after the episode

What was the point of Jon being resurrected? 

What was the point of Jon being a secret Targaryen? 

What was the point of the Azor Ahai prophecy and everything the red priestesses were doing? 

What was the point of Cersei’s prophecy from Maggie the Frog? 

What was the point of Gendry being Legitimised? 

Hell what was the point in bringing Gendry back in the first place? 

What was the point of the pack survives if all the Starks ended up alone? 

What was the point of you have a son I have a daughter if the houses were never joined? 

What was the point of Arya’s whole symbolism of choosing to live and her journey home if she was just going to isolate herself and sail off by herself?

What was the point of all the references to Sansa and Tyrion’s marriage (they brought it up in every episode) if they weren’t going to do anything with it? 

What was the point of Yara’s whole storyline of becoming Queen of the Iron Islands and having its independence if she wasn’t going to fight for it in the end? 

What was the point of Brienne’s vow to protect the Stark Girls and her storyline with Sansa if she was just going to end up as Bran’s Kingsguard instead of Sansa’s Queensguard?

What was the point of Jaime’s redemption arc when they just had him go back on it? 

What was the point of Cersei’s pregnancy? 

What was the point of Dorne? 

I’ll be honest this last episode left me with more questions than answers. Why didn’t Drogon kill Jon? Like I’m glad he didn’t but it still didn’t make sense. Where did he take Dany’s body? Is Jon going to live with the Wildlings or is he just escorting them then coming back. Is he the Lord Commander still? If he isn’t then who is? Did Gilly have a boy or a girl and did she name it Jon if it was a boy? How did Sam become a Maester and if there is still a Night’s Watch shouldn’t Sam have been sent back to the wall? I mean isn’t he technically a deserter? What happened to Nymeria is she still just wandering around the woods? What is the purpose of the Nights Watch now that the White Walkers are gone and peace has been made with the Free folk? Was Gendry on that boat? If he’s not then who’s going to teach him to use a fork? Where is Davos’ wife and is he ever going to see her again? What did Pod do to those whores? What happened when Tyrion took a honeycomb and an jackass into a brothel?  

This is a bit of a tangent but my whole family watches GOT and we usually ring around each other and talk about the show. So far only me and one (I have four) of my sisters have seen it. When she rang me right after seeing it she couldn’t even talk about it for good 10 minutes she was so mad and when she finally was able to form words her first ones were ‘I feel like I just wasted 10 years of my life.’ Followed by ‘I can’t believe they ended the greatest show in tv history with a sh*tty episode and by joking about f*cking boats and brothels’ and to be honest I’ve never related more to her in my life lol. But she too kept asking what was the point of ..? She’s also decided that the last season never happened.  

The Good Bits

Ok so I didn’t hate every moment of this episode there were some moments that I thought were good so I figured I’d do them last so that we can end on something sweet. 

The shot of Dany walking forward and it looks like Drogon’s wings are coming out of her back. That shot was beautiful. 

Tyrion finding the bodies of his brother and sister and crying over them had me weeping like a baby. Tyrion might be the God of Tits and Wine but Peter Dinklage is the God of Oscar Worthy Acting. He really knows how to do those emotionally powerful scenes. 

Ser Pod 

Bronn got his castle. 

Ghost got his cuddles. 

Sansa is Queen in the North and is slaying it. 

Jon saying goodbye to his siblings was also a very emotional scene for me. 

Arya and Jon’s scene outside Kings Landing was also sweet. 

Brienne filling in Jaime’s pages. 

Drogon trying to wake his momma really destroyed me. 

Grey Worm keeping his promise to Missandei and going to Naarth. 

My favourite moment in the episode though had to have been Tyrion throwing away his Hand of the Queen badge. I don’t even know why but it gave me chills.

Well there you go that’s it for now. I will at some point probably do an analysis of each of the characters story arcs and what I thought of where they all ended up we’ll see how I feel. At the moment I’m still a bit bummed out so. I know that there is a petition going around to re-write the last season but unfortunately that’s not likely to happen but it did get me thinking. As I said what this season really needed was more episodes to flesh it out and help it make more sense. I wonder how much footage ended up on the cutting room floor and whether there’s enough to do like an extended version of the season. They could release it on DVD or something like they do with some films.  

Also another thing that might appease me and other fans would be a spin off or sequel. Like they could do a spin off of Arya’s travels west of Westeros. And obviously there’ll be a scene where she goes below deck and there’s gendry or she looks back and there following the ship is a little row boat chasing after them. Just saying lol. But she could also write back to Sansa and Jon and Bran so although the focus would be on Arya we would still learn what’s happening with our characters back home obviously there’d be an invite to Sanrion’s 2nd wedding. Or even give us a ten years later spin off. I mean Tyrion did say ask me in 10 years to Jon. I don’t know what do you guys think? Did any of you enjoy the finale? Did any of you guess Bran as the King? If you had the choice would you like an extended version of this season or would you prefer a spin off?  

[ziyalofhaiti]

“Dany, Arya, Sansa, Brienne, Cersei, Melisandre: These women survived to the series’ waning episodes, while would-be male rulers—Robert, Ned, Robb, Joffrey, Tywin, Viserys, Roose, Ramsay, Stannis—have fallen. Doing the Game of Thrones equivalent of dancing backward in heels (stepping over horse shit while sword fighting?) the women of GoT have become the most powerful and storied characters in Westeros—rivaled, at this point, only by the noble but witless Jon Snow. Cocks may, as Varys (RIP) remarked, be as important to ruling as ever, but the show is full of literally and figuratively castrated men—witless Jon, robotic Bran, foolish Tyrion—while women prompt the action: Their wills, their plans, even their deaths are driving the whole series. The show’s universal point of view character, the type of human the cameras cut to again and again to show the audience how terrifying and serious the stakes are for the common man—it’s a little girl.”

- Willa Paskin writing for Slate in “Daenerys Doesn’t Need to Be a Feminist Hero”

[tachipaws]

so uhhhhh

I watched the Game of Thrones finale just a little bit ago

and I have some thoughts

spoilers under the cut.

Firstly, seeing Tyrion find Jaime and Cersei together had me almost burst into tears. As soon as he saw Jaime’s golden hand I kinda thought, oh this is a big gag, the hand will be there with Cersei and Jaime will come sidling out from somewhere, he lived thank god. But no. Jaime died in the arms of a woman he loved, taking all these years of beautiful character development with him. And I don’t say this solely as a Braime fan. I LOVED Jaime’s character. He always tried to do the right thing, and even when he was tempted by Cersei, even when he gave in, he still came back and tried to do what he thought was best. He saved thousands of lives when he killed the Mad King, and he suffered in silence for it. He stood with Brienne and with the Starks in the Battle of Winterfell, even when his own queen refused to send her help. He tried to save Cersei from certain death, and their child, tried to get her to leave and live with him in obscurity, because they would be safe and happy and their child would grow and live. But no. They die, and all it serves is to give Dany her win and Tyrion some last-minute angst. But god, seeing him crouch over his beloved brother and sister, I could feel that he felt responsible for their deaths, and it was heart wrenching to watch.

And then Dany. Oh, beautiful Dany. I’ve loved her character from the start, and all through her arc, even when she made choices that weren’t for the best, even when they put her on a White Savior complex, even when it became clear the writers had lied and were going to make her turn out just like her father. I knew she’d die this episode, but it didn’t make watching it any easier. I had so much hope watching through the series that Dany would be the one to dethrone the Lannisters, give the people a kind and just ruler, and be everything she set out to be. For her to lose so much, from her family to her friends, and then die with nothing as well, broke my heart and even as I sit here typing I have to hold back tears. I loved Danaerys’ character so much, and I’m disgusted that she was turned into a Mad Queen. The writers don’t know jack shit about character development and it really shows with her. She should have grown and realized that maybe she wasn’t best suited for a throne, at least not the one in Westeros, and either become an adviser or return to Mereen when all was said and done. I’m so glad Drogon destroyed the Iron Throne, because it’s nothing but a death sentence anyway. Fuck that throne and fuck the writers for making it so unnecessarily important. Danaerys Targaryan was meant to be different, was meant to break the wheel. But in the end, she was crushed by it like her father and so many others before her. The Targaryans die out after a legacy of incest, mental illness, fear, and death. A complete waste of an incredible character played by an amazingly dedicated actress.

Bran being named King of Westeros was something I knew was coming bc I’d asked for the spoiler, but it was still kind of a surprise in an “are they REALLY gonna do it” kind of way. I really fucking hate that his title is Bran the Broken, as if that’s the only B word that can possibly describe a man who defied death and became the Three-Eyed Raven, but again these writers are fuckin terrible so I guess that’s what we get. I didn’t like how Sam’s idea to have the people choose a ruler was sneered at so harshly. It just shows that everyone there enjoys having all the power, which goes against the characterization of at least half of them. But I guess all the upper-class have to be assholes at least a little, huh.  I don’t know if I do or don’t like Bran being the king, but I did like how it was brought up. He is the living history of the realm as Tyrion said, and now he will live on to be its future as well. For a kid who was tossed out of a window after seeing the former queen having sex with her brother, I’d say that’s a pretty good decent glow up of sorts. I almost wish there would be another season, if only to see how Westeros fairs under Bran’s rule with Tyrion at his side. I can only hope everyone lives to see the peace they finally deserve, after suffering so much under the rule of families hungry for fame and riches and titles.

Arya leaving is the one thing I’m just, really fucking bothered by. I don’t recall anywhere her having a desire to travel and see new parts of the world. When she left Westeros she did so because it was life or death. She came home to be with her family. And now she’s leaving them for god knows how long to go god knows where. I can’t believe after all the chaos and death these kids have faced and grown up around, she wouldn’t want to stay in Winterfell to be with Jon and Sansa. I just don’t like it. Arya is one of my top favorite characters and watching her grow from a stubborn child into a ruthless assassin was amazing, but somehow her ending off as an explorer just doesn’t feel quite right.

Jon being sentenced to live out his days in the Watch is the cruelest joke in this whole fucking show. Right back where he started, the bastard son of Ned stark, forced to live out his days in the cold and snow at Castle Black, never to have any family or land of his own. After all the attempts to hype up the R+L=J shit, which so many people figured out way too easily, after uncovering the mystery of his real lineage and discovering he’s one of the only two Targaryans left in existence, after all the struggle within himself of not wanting to take the throne from Dany even though he had a legitimate claim and her Mad Queen story line made her unfit to rule (and after having to listen to Varys insist only men can rule properly, tbh I’m not sad he died, I never liked him and he got what he deserved for that shit), he ends right back where he started. Jon was my first favorite character, and I always hurt for him, how he was raised with the Stark children as Ned’s bastard, how much Catelynn seemed like she wanted to love him like her own but just couldn’t, how much it must have hurt him knowing he was hurting her and her just by existing. I would have loved to see Cat find out the truth and their relationship become something different, as he was the son of her husband’s beloved sister and she would have embraced him with open arms and a thousand apologies. She just didn’t know any different, and by the time Jon knew, it was all too late. He’s lost almost all the family he’s ever known, and all the real family he ever had. His whole character arc amounted to nothing. NOTHING. My only hope is that he just goes off north with Ghost, Tormund, and the wildlings, because who’s gonna bother to make sure? Aegon Targaryan will have never existed.

AT LEAST, he finally gave Ghost the fucking pats that direwolf deserved. I was actually really happy to see Ghost and Tormund again, and even happier to see Jon acknowledge Ghost, who’d been by his side from the very start. I’m at least glad knowing they’ll still be together in the true north.

And now the grand finale, the one thing I was completely satisfied with.  Sansa Stark The Queen in the North Seeing the crown placed upon her head, seeing her take her rightful place, and hearing her men shout “THE QUEEN IN THE NORTH” made me feel swollen with pride. Sansa has been through hell and back. She watched her father die at the command of a king who tormented her, she was raped by another man who executed her youngest brother, she lost her mother and her oldest brother to a supposed ally, and spent so many seasons a hostage or a tool for other people. But she fought, and she grew, and she became shrewd and cunning at the table. Sansa calculated every step she made and it saw her to ascend the throne, and take her rightful place as the oldest Stark heir. She secured her people’s land and ensured their safety. I can only imagine how proud Ned, Catelynn, Robb, and Rickon would be if they could see Sansa now. No longer is she the scared, air-headed little girl who just wants to marry a noble man and live life in the luxury she’s always known. She’s a war veteran, a general, a wolf through and through.

I started watching Game of Thrones in season 5 I believe, with a group of friends in a stream. I knew about the show but had just never bothered to sit and watch it. After seasons 6 ended, I figured I may as well start at the beginning and have a better understanding of what’s going to happen in the last 2 seasons. I spent about three or four weeks slowly marathoning it around my oldest daughter’s schedule (she’s only six and there’s no way she’s watching it any time soon lmao) and I couldn’t help but fall in love with the characters, the world itself, and the stories being played out. I have to say though, along with so many others, I’m utterly disappointed at the ending, and season 8 as a whole. It felt unrefined, and rushed, and there was no sense that anything meaningful happened in the end. When I saw the writers so brashly say that story lines were for 8th grade books, I realized just how little they care about actually writing, and this season truly reflects that. The deaths were for shock value more than anything else, and the major conflicts were solved so easily it felt as if all the buildup for them had been for something else entirely. I don’t regret watching Game of Thrones by any means, but I do feel sad for Martin that his beautiful complex stories full of beautiful complex characters, were reduced to nothing more than a circle story. All this talk of breaking the wheel, and yet it just rolled right back around to see the unspoken main character end right where he began. Because what’s the point of a story when there’s CGI dragons and big fight scenes?

[peterjakes]

Game of Thrones Season 8 Review - The Rise and Fall of D&D

WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

One of the most anticipated series of the year, the final season of Game of Thrones aired for the last time. Being herald as one of the best T.V series of this century, most fans expected a spectacular and epic final season but that isn’t exactly what happened.

The past few seasons haven’t felt the same, perhaps this was because the creators stopped following the books after Season 4. Many times, it’s obvious that the dialogue doesn’t seem to fit in, it feels too modern and it seems that the writers are quite lost. There have been some good episodes since Season 4, but during Season 7 and this season, it became apparent how bad the writing truly is. It’s interesting that people are only realising that the writing isn’t as good now when it concerns their favourite character when it has been like this for years.

There had been several leaks during this season, which definitely didn’t help and with only 6 episodes, it seemed like they wanted to fit everything in. The poor attention to detail has been quite obvious, one massive blunder was during Episode 4 when a Starbucks cup was left within shot during the celebratory dinner scene. The writers have seemed to ignore many things they set out during the past seasons – Jaime’s character development was one of the most prominent, dying alongside his twin sister whom he deserted for the North by getting crushed by a ceiling no less. In Episode 3, it seemed that the Dothraki Hoard were all killed by the Army of the Dead and yet they appeared in Episode 5. The mistake of Gendry’s name (Waters – Rivers) is also a stupid blunder. It seems that the creators would rather have epic, fire-breathing dragons burning down cities than logic.

However, I do have to say that the cinematography was still as stunning as ever and really made this season. The soundtrack of this season was simply wonderful and Ramin Djawadi is a complete music genius. Some personal highlights of this season were the sequence in Episode 2, even if it was foreshadowing many of the deaths to come in the next episode.

There were a lot of parallels and nostalgic moments to previous seasons as well as some great reunions during the earlier episodes – Theon and Sansa, Arya and Jon, Bran and Jaime. Arya killing the Night King was incredible and although unexpected, really worked! Brienne FINALLY becoming a knight was also wonderful.

Some notable performances were Lena Headley as Cersei and Alfie Allen as Theon, two of the best actors on the show still managed to amaze me after 8 seasons. Arya’s scenes during Episode 5 were really powerful, seeing the true destruction of Daenerys’ rampage and Maisie Williams is such a great actress.

One thing I really didn’t enjoy during this season was the reaction to Daenerys. Using a POC’s death to further a white woman’s story of ‘darkness’ is never a positive thing. It seemed that Daenerys going dark was always going to happen, but the creators couldn’t represent it in a way GRRM could. Perhaps they were originally rooting for her but have been told that she was always going to be dark. Some fans are very hypocritical, when one character went through trauma they were criticised (Sansa? Theon?) but it’s fine for Daenerys to be angry. At first, they wanted her to ‘burn them all’ like her father but then they were criticising the show because it was apparently bad writing and didn’t make sense to her character that she would burn the city.

She has been hailed as a feminist icon by many but what I find interesting is that she has never been purely ‘good’, she burns people alive, she ‘saves’ POC and then still lords over them, she decides who deserves to live or who die, she says she won’t be like Cersei and then to goes about things the same way or even worse, she believes because it was her birth-right she deserves the iron throne without any care for anyone else, she blames other people when it is her fault for her actions, she tells Jon not to tell everyone who he really is because he is a threat and she knows people would rather him to rule, she is the epitome of a white saviour and she is a destroyer of society, which was certainly demonstrated in Episode 5. And without her dragons, what really is she? The only good thing is that the characters finally saw her for what she really was.

It’s interesting that a lot of the main characters ended up where they wanted to be at the beginning. Sansa becoming Queen in the North was probably the best ending for my favourite character and I couldn’t be happier. Although the Starks splitting up once again was sad, what was the point of ‘the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives’?

Was I disappointed with this season? No, I wasn’t, I knew it wouldn’t be the greatest season ever. It was always going to be underwhelming because it was so hyped up. The past few seasons have demonstrated that. But as Ramsey Bolton once said, ‘If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention’.

2.5/5 Stars.