Game of Thrones Series Final Season

Game of Thrones is such an epic dynasty that I had to really sit and think about how I wanted to review the end of this era. I got involved in Game of Thrones late in the game, but have been hooked on it ever since my first watch in early 2017, courtesy of my bestie, Grets. The series is absolutely phenomenal thanks to the book series author, George R. R. Martin, but of course he hasn’t finished the books because he’s still working on his greatness and the TV series is closing out but it’s okay.

Although, there aren’t really any black characters displayed in this epicness of medieval trials and tribulations, I must say I’m okay with our people not being caught up in the nonsense that actually occurs in the series, and the two blacks that are represented are D.O.P.E. as heck and about their business, no question. It’s funny watching white people be white towards themselves, however.

I’ve decided the best way to review this final season is to give a snippet into my thought for each episode and close it out with my final remarks on the overall series and how the wonderful production team executed closing out this phenomenal series.

Episode 1

The first minute of the episode was truly a tribute to season 1 episode 1 all the way down to recreating Arya’s fascination with the royal family coming to Winterfell from season 1 while showing how much she’s grown 7 seasons later. I love a great reference back to the beginning of something amazing. Especially with Danny and Jon entering winter fell to lead us through the final battles in the Game of Thrones reminding us of how the game started in season 1 with Cersei and Jaime entering Winterfell. It really feels like all roads lead to Winterfell, right? This was such a great parallel because Cersei loved to justify her disgusting relationship with her brother by arguing that’s how the Targaryens kept their bloodlines pure and now we have 2 Targaryens that don’t even know they’re related in love and in a relationship. Nasty… but I can forgive Danny and Jon in hopes that they do better when they finally learn they’re aunt and nephew.

There were also a lot of reunions that I have long waited for and honestly was not sure if we were ever going to get to see; Tyrion and Sansa, Arya and Jon, Arya and Gendry, and our favorite, Bran and Jaime. My favorite part of the reunions is that none of these characters know each other or the things they’ve been through the way we know them and they’re growth. The underdogs have truly made an impact on the plot of the show moving forward and bringing us to a place very close to success and winning the iron throne.

My favorite underdog is Sansa. I know so many people that dislike her for the choices she made, but truth be told she fought for her life the only way she knew how. Yes, she made some selfish choices but when I look at the position she was placed in she really made smart choices for herself and look at where it’s brought her. People always want to degrade women for choosing themselves but men do it all the time, so, I don’t get the scrutiny. Plus she’s been around enough crazies to see Danny is one and I’m intrigued by the fact that she’s not so quick to bend to Danny. Don’t get me wrong I love Danny but she’s not adjusting well to the North and these aren’t the slaves she’s been saving for 7 seasons. I feel like she’s going to struggle to get her throne because she won’t be able to adjust and that’s what Sansa senses.

Episode 2

This episode was kinda slow to me. Based on the arrival of the Night King’s army at the end I see it’s meant to serve as the quiet before the storm. Although it didn’t really give me much, it did have a few notable moments that bring it’s watchers into the intensity of the war against the dead that is no longer coming and is finally here.

I wasn’t impressed with the reunion of Bran and Jaime; not that I had an idea of what I thought it would look like but I expected something. I guess that just ties to the “mystery” that Bran is as the Three-Eyed Raven. Danny is really on something this season and I can’t figure out what it is. I understand her conflicted stance on allowing Jaime to live, but even with her interaction as she tries to address the issue Sansa has with her. I think her desire to be accepted as Queen of the 7 kingdoms has in a way shifted to being accepted by Sansa; is it because Jon is her brother? Who knows, but it’s annoying and I need Danny to gather herself. It’s honestly coming off as jealousy. I saw it when Theon showed up to join the fight against the dead and asked Sansa if he could fight for her. Danny was HURT; it was written all over her face, LOL. I wonder if this is eluding to anything with Sansa always wanting to be queen… could she be a contender for the throne because of the love her people have for her? Or maybe she will just be the key to the North breaking free from the 7 kingdoms and becoming it’s own kingdom.

The battle against the dead brings us scenarios I always anticipated but never believed I would be able to witness. The circle of once Stark enemies turned allies is a huge scene for me; from Tormund’s entertaining but creepy fascination with Brienne to Jaime’s knighting of Brienne; I was truly intrigued with the circle of characters, that truly wanted to see the demise of the Stark’s, come together under the Stark’s lead to save the world from the walking dead. All roads really do lead back to Winterfell. And Arya grew the heck up! Wow… just wow. I always had my suspicions of her and Gendry getting together but I didn’t know she would go from badass to siren all in one episode. It makes sense though, our beloved characters are going into the fight of their lives and because nobody’s life is safe anybody could die; even Arya. This was probably one of my favorite connections out of the series after Greyworm and Missandei, of course, who also took my heart for a loop when he asked her to runaway with him after all of the battles are over; great moment of foreshadowing.

And of course this episode had to end with Danny finding out she’s not the only contender for the throne. Although, Jon doesn’t want it, she’s terrified! It all makes sense to her which is why she tries to deflect and claim Jon being a Targaryen is a made up story… please ma’am, who would lie about being a part of your crazy bloodline?

Episode 3

The Long Night is FINALLY here and I am here for this entire battle. Danny goes off hinged yet again, doesn’t want to follow anybody’s plan, and further annoying me with her antics. I mean, I understand the Dothraki were pretty much eliminated as a people but who did she think she was going to help in this war if she died?

But this battle! The Night King was that dude. No, we never find out what he wants but lets be real, he was created by the Children of the Forrest to take out the human race, they didn’t really give him much purpose other than to bring death to humans; which, I think he did successfully throughout the entire series, just taking out these folk that were expecting him to still be in hibernation. There were so many different aspects of this episode to follow which gave it a depth that I think it needed since it was basically a hour and a half of people dying left and right, then being brought back to life because, you know, the Night King raises zombies in this medieval time.

Which brings me to my biggest question… if we know this man can raise the dead, why were all of the helpless women, children, and men in the crypt? The place filled with dead Stark’s. A tomb. Literally a cemetery.

Whatever… the highlight of the hour goes to ARYA STARK. Always knew she was destined for greatness. My girl had sex and did her thing, LOL. There were so many ways this could have gone left, honestly, I wouldn’t have been sad if they let the Night King win, but when Arya came through with her faceless man skills I was so proud and knew my baby was all growed up. Arya has been D.O.P.E. since she was little, and I’m so happy they have given her the path that she’s been placed on and ecstatic that the victory for saving human kind did not go to Jon Snow. I’m just confused how the long night lasted a hour and a half but we still haven’t faced Cersei yet. So Cersei is a larger battle to fight than the Night King? Hmmmmm…. not sold on that one, but I guess we’ll see when Danny makes her way to King’s Landing.

Episode 4

Now, I’ve dealt with a lot of dryness and things that did not make sense, but this nonsense of Euron taking down the ships and kidnapping Missandei has got to be the DUMBEST PLOT DECISION EVER. I'm annoyed with this entire season at this point.

I understand sending Danny into her character arc to show how she’s turned into her father, the mad king, but seriously? This season has just torn poor little Danny apart and turned her into this inconsistent, under developed tyrant with no sense. I know it’s going to get worse… from her declaration making Gendry Lord of Storm’s End to her attempt to convince Jon they can be together even though they’re aunt and nephew, she’s just too obsessed with a throne she’s never seen for me.

I can’t lie, when Jon told Sansa and Arya he needed them to promise to keep quiet if he told, I was sitting in my chair like “Sansa, just say you promise and break it.” Sansa has never made me more proud than the moment she stopped battling herself and chose to tell Tyrion who Jon really is.

The attacks on Danny are really stacking up and feel too rushed for what we’ve known GoT to pace us with. She buries Jorah, Jon denies her love, Rhaegal is shot out of the sky just as she thinks he’s healing after the battle, and then Missandei dies…. all in one episode?! Who the heck thought this was a good idea instead of just extending the season with more episodes?? I waited TWO YEARS for this mess! Guess we’ll see what other nonsense they can come up with in the last two episodes.

Episode 5

Of course we knew this was going to be bad… but this?? This was so extreme and out of character.

I commend Varys for his attempts to protect the people in the realm, but truthfully there wasn’t enough time to explore what Varys could have done to stop Danny… again blown at how rushed this Season has been and rather disappointed with the outcomes. Fast forward to the real issue of this episode… Daenarys Tarygaryen destroys Kings Landing after they surrender. She is no longer Danny after that foolishness. I personally think they waited too late in the game to change who she is and turn her into the present version of her father. Not saying that she was ever a great leader, because let’s face it she just walked around freeing slaves with no plan on how to care for them, but she NEVER would have taken innocent lives where unneeded. The Danny we’ve grown to know as the breaker of chains would have seen the people on their grown running fearful for their lives unprotected by their Queen, given them mercy, and burned Cersei, Qyburn, Ser Gregor, and whoever in the King’s Guard that wanted to stand by her once the city was conquered. But I digress…

This episode wasn’t even a fight! The long night was placed before this whhhyyyyy? Cersei stood in her castle and watched her people burn for her idiocy and then dies under some rubble in the arms of the man she loves whom also happens to be her twin brother?! This is how she dies after I’ve waited 8 seasons to watch Danny burn her alive… this is all Tyrion’s fault. Had he not let Jaime go I at least would have gotten to see Cersei’s crazy behind die the death she deserved just like Joffrey got what was coming for him in Season 4.

I have so many questions that I understand the concepts behind, because of my film background, but the execution was just poor and I wish they would have made an executive decision to extend the season to at least 10 episodes, maybe even throw in one more season to close everything out better than this bullshicocky. Now, I just want to know what else there is? What, Jon and Danny are going to fight for the thrown now or she’s going to burn him alive for telling his secret after she forbid him not to? This is a bunch of anti-climactic aggravation.

Episode 6

Bran the Broken? That’s how we’re saving the 6, not 7, kingdoms? Maybe I’m missing something… don’t get me wrong, cool Bran is the three-eyed raven, but my dude says nothing the entire last few seasons other than, “I am not Bran,” and “I don’t want to be Lord of Winterfell.” But he wants to be King of the Realm??

I’m glad Danny finally got taken out of the equation because she honestly deserved to die for the foul mistakes the writers made in her character arc… it was truly disrespectful to her as a person and she deserved to be let out of the nonsense her character has become. Whether I believed she would be a good Queen or not she didn’t deserve to go mad like her father did so abruptly without the dedication and development that it should have taken. I would have even been okay if she still went crazy, just not in 3 episodes. Of course Jon had to be the one to kill her, however, was his purpose to take her out and then return to the nights watch then go beyond the wall with the free folk?

The ONLY character arc I was satisfied with was Sansa. My girl Sansa showed up and showed out. As I said, a lot of people I know were disgusted by her, but honestly survival was what she had to go through and she made a comment to the Hound after the Night King died that solidified everything she did for me. She could have left King’s Landing with The Hound and been saved from Joffrey’s torture, marrying Tyrion, Ramsey raping her, and Littlefinger pimping her out, but if she didn’t go through all of those things she would have remained an ignorant “little bird” all her life. If that was the case I definitely wouldn’t have stuck behind her the way I did. She always wanted to be Queen, and she finally got it with making The North it’s own Kingdom, which it has always deserved to be. And let’s just throw in that Sansa’s coronation outfit was BAD! Okkurrr.

Although, the story line, plot, and character development was trash closing out this amazing story of stories, the graphics and imagery were EVERYTHING. My favorite scenes were with Drogon; him buried in the ash when Jon is entering the tower prepared to kill Danny, and right after Jon becomes the Queen Slayer and Drogon pops up destroying the Iron Throne when he can’t wake his mother. I can say the crew did their thing with location scouting and taking their time to give us the best visuals because the rest of the package was trash.

Overall

I want to say I’m happy, but… yea. I’m sure we’ll get some type of Spin-off for Arya or maybe even Sansa, there were so many loose ends left at the end anybody could get a spin-off, LOL. Thank you for the attempt, but I think maybe this team of writers should stick to adaptations and not try to complete a story that they didn’t start; didn’t seem to be their strong suit.

Film making is hard and I commend them fall all of their efforts, but I was less than impressed given the foundation that was laid for this to be a D.O.P.E. production. Oh well, maybe we’ll get a revamped version in about 20 years after the books are finished and somebody picks up the idea to try again.

Season Premiere Date: April 14, 2019
Where I watched: HBO On Demand