GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8--Final Run-- Part 6---THE END

Vyvyan Basterd · May 20, 2019

The biggest crime IMO was just how boring this episode was. Why add the extra 20 minutes? Oh, so we can watch everyone slow walk with zero dialogue.

As for what I hoped to see: A more heated argument between Jon and Arya about what needed to be done with a wishy-washy Jon. The stab happens and Jon peels away his face as Arya wells up with tears over what she had to do to make sure the right thing was done. Then fleeing with a plan to head West.

jonesy · May 20, 2019

Another thing about lost continuity. I know they never mentioned it on the show, but it's possible that the Unsullied are sailing to their doom. The Isle of Naath is home to butterflies which spread a plague to anyone who wasn't born there. That's the reason they are 'peaceful people' as Missandei said. They don't need to defend themselves. Outsiders who go there die.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Naath

Corsairs from the Basilisk Isles have landed on the island countless times. None of these invaders survived, however, all falling victim to the butterfly fever, a horrific plague which makes its victims violently spasm and die. The Naathi are immune to this local disease, which is theorized to be carried by the butterflies of the island. The Naathi claim that none of these invaders maintained a permanent presence on the island for more than a single year.

RangerWickett · May 20, 2019

Umbran said:
You seem to forget one of GRRM's stated purposes in writing the series - to teach genre fans lessons about how things don't work out the way they want them, to specifically defy your narrative expectations.

Oh that's nonsense. There's fantasy tropes of the hero fighting a heroic duel and saving the day and winning the princess. That stuff he's pushing back on.

But then there's just good storytelling. You don't devote 2 seasons to a character gaining a skill only to have her not even bring up that she has that skill. And especially in GRRM's writing, characters are supposed to act realistically, and I'm pretty sure a realistic Arya would tell people who want to kill Cersei that she has "one neat trick to kill Cersei."

mortwatcher · May 20, 2019

jonesy said:
Another thing about lost continuity. I know they never mentioned it on the show, but it's possible that the Unsullied are sailing to their doom. The Isle of Naath is home to butterflies which spread a plague to anyone who wasn't born there. That's the reason they are 'peaceful people' as Missandei said. They don't need to defend themselves. Outsiders who go there die.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Naath

yep, they are basically committing mass suicide

with how this season went, it kinda makes sense that is doesn't make any sense

Mageman · May 20, 2019

She did kill Set Meryn Trant wearing a face but that's in season 5

Umbran · May 20, 2019

RangerWickett said:
But then there's just good storytelling. You don't devote 2 seasons to a character gaining a skill only to have her not even bring up that she has that skill.

Television does not always give you the luxury of knowing how you are going to be allowed to end your story. My understanding is that the decision to have the 7th and 8th season be brief was a business decision made after that (and other issues we could point to) were already in motion. When they cut your episode count, you have to cut material. Such is the nature of television at the moment.

I mean, look back at Babylon 5, some of the best storytelling in TV ever done. They got their chain yanked over whether they were going to have a 5th season - the result was a pretty crummy 5th season. It happens.

RangerWickett · May 20, 2019

My understanding is that HBO wanted the showrunners to keep going for more seasons, and offered money for more episodes, but Weiss and Benioff declined.

Even if the shorter seasons were imposed on them, there are myriad ways to write the ending of this show that make the events leading up to this season have more import.

Babylon 5's fourth season is stupendous because, despite being rushed, JMS was able to wrap up the various plot threads in a satisfying way. The mediocre fifth season is a different issue. It's not like Game of Thrones wrapped up its plots and then got renewed again.

I'm not saying the showrunners are monsters or anything. I'm just saying that they wrote a bad ending from a purely technical standpoint. I don't care whether character A lives or character B gets with their love interest, or whatever. I just want effective set-up and pay-off, and this show failed at that after many years of being the pinnacle of it.

jonesy · May 20, 2019

Captain Stark, the faceless wolf, the smiling death, bane of the far seas, slayer of kraken, silence of the seas, the wave that strikes like thunder.

CapnZapp · May 21, 2019

Season eight summary:

Sigh. Yawn. Shrug.

Tonguez · May 21, 2019

how do so many Dothraki keep coming back? they seem to keep multiplying quicker than the dead!!!

anyway after two weeks of terrible battles, having a slower pace was strangely cathartic

but it must have been an American who thought that ending with a democratic monarchy with a six state electoral college was a good idea

but I was right about Sansa being Queen of the North and Jon going back to the Black Watch