"A Game of Thrones" Spoiler-Ridden Catch-All of Doom - books and HBO show

cheeze_pavilion wrote:

That...was amazing. Maybe I was just in the right mood or something, but somehow...that's an ending (edit) that works for me.

I think it's the way Bran sold that line about 'why do you think I came all this way?' or whatever the exact words were.

Along with telling Jon that he was exactly where he was supposed to be. It's the kind of power that doesn't have to shout, which is probably not so good for ratings but it worked for me.

Blind_Evil wrote:

That was about as satisfying and end as I could hope for, given how they botched the prior 3 episodes.

Pretty much how I feel.

Not sure if I understood the fake drama of Jon being a prisoner to be freed. There's no way Greyworm gives him up. It's not like there was a body even.

Just have him escape and the crowning scene is him refusing and Tyrion doing his speech.

I didn't hate it, but that was weak. Jon kills Dany, we time skip forward about a month, there's a five minute conversation, and everyone lives happily ever after? Yeah, that's lame. The episode skips over major plot threads and character motivations to wrap everything up in a neat little package. I don't have a problem with where any of the characters ended up (except for Bronn), but the execution was lazy and uninspired.

Blind_Evil wrote:

That was about as satisfying and end as I could hope for, given how they botched the prior 3 episodes.

With how the episode started, I hoped it was going to go all Children of Men level of dystopian misery. Especially since, you know, "if you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."

Well, in the end, it pretty much was a happy ending. Nobody else died except heel-turned Dany and a metal chair.

The part about how badly the Unsullied wanted Jon's head rang laughably hollow. They wanted it so bad that, in the chaos following the assassination of their queen, they... threw him in a cell and fed him for however long until someone could come along and talk them out of it. Yep they must've wanted his head SO bad.

Oh well. I was cheering for misery and collapse, but it wasn't the worst "and they lived happily ever after" that they could have done.

I loved how the camera followed behind each person as they took their place in the future. It felt like Bran following behind each member of his family. What's west of Westeros? How is the kingdom up north? Let's take back those lands north of the wall.

I loved how in the end, those with so little power (someone with major physical impairment, a person who was born of very short stature and a woman who survived sexual abuse) in the end have all of the power.

Absolutely brilliant, could not have asked for more! What a masterful finish to a show that had a lot of sketchy moments over the years (miserable treatment of women for one) and finally ends on a really positive note.

Meh.

Could have been worse I guess.

Anyone who picked Bran to rule is a genius.

Drogon: *melts throne*

Houses of Westeros: "We're still gonna have a king tho"

Not bad; much better than the rest of the season, I think.

Most of my problems with it center on Jon Snow: First, that he just surrenders to the Unsullied instead of GTFOing. Second, that they don't immediately murder him. I mean, bull sh*t. Third, that the nobility reward everything he's done by exiling him to the now purposeless Night's Watch once more.

I will say that better writers might have pulled that off - you could have sold me on my third point by having a quiet conversation between Tyrion and someone else - Sansa or Davos, maybe - where they discuss the expediency of ridding themselves of the other Targaryen heir by returning him to the Night's Watch. While you're at it, have one of them question why they even need a Night's Watch anymore, and the other one can say "to keep an eye on the last Targaryen" or something.

Still, nothing will ever convince me that the Unsullied wouldn't immediately execute Jon.

Other than that, not bad. Season 8 will always be a debacle, but I won't describe this show's finale as a failure akin to HIMYM, etc. Call that damning with faint praise, maybe, but I sincerely felt most of the ending was solid.

I enjoyed the finale. I thought it was a bit of a return to form after the bombast of the past couple of episodes. The 8th season started out okay, went nearly completely off the rails and then somehow stuck the landing for me.

I liked it.

Queen if the Norph! Queen of the Norph!

Nevin73 wrote:

I really dug how Drogon reacted. Tyrion mentioned earlier in the series that dragons may be more intelligent than humans. They demonstrated that by showing Drogon destroying the Iron Throne. He realized that the lust for the throne (and thus power) is what doomed his mother. Then he simply left.

How did anyone know Jon stabbed Dany through the heart if Drogon ran off with the body and the murder weapon? Oh, probably because Jon being an honest Stark to the end confessed to the whole damn thing.

I thought it was a great episode. My only complaint is that the unsullied and dothraki seem to have been all resurrected. I can get over that but it's something that could have been prevented with some tweaks to episode 3. Otherwise I enjoyed every second.

That was extraordinarily stupid. I literally can't imagine a better ending.

Rat Boy wrote:

How did anyone know Jon stabbed Dany through the heart if Drogon ran off with the body and the murder weapon? Oh, probably because Jon being an honest Stark to the end confessed to the whole damn thing.

What I can't get past is that there was apparently no upheaval or repercussions from that. Two foreign armies had their queen assassinated and apparently just sat there and did nothing until the Lords of Westeros (whom those armies came to conquer and have their queen rule over, mind you) made the trip out and told them what was happening next.

When Jon stabbed Dany, I thought, "oh yeah, power vacuum, sh*t's about to go down". Not so much, apparently.

hbi2k wrote:

That was extraordinarily stupid. I literally can't imagine a better ending.

I'm confused.

Loved the Drogon bit and the epilogue.

Considering the pacing problems of the last two seasons, this was probably the best ending we could hope for.

I for one, demand an Arya spinoff exploring beyond the map.

Pros:
Dany going full Fuhrer was scary AF
Peter Dinklage can act
Emilia Clarke can act
Brienne closing Jaime's story
Drogon in the ash
D&D gave every scene a chance to breath this ep; felt like old school GoT
No (TV) Euron

Cons:
I love Davos the most but if he has to do another Explainer for when lords are being stupid they should just stop making the show...
Tormund had no lines

Bottom Line:
"What, am I supposed to let my horse vote?!?!"

Top_Shelf wrote:

"What, am I supposed to let my horse vote?!?!"

Someone clearly didn't buy the right CK2 DLC.

I think the paralysis of the 2 armies after Dany’s death is completely understandable. These are dumb men who need to be told what to do. Once their leader was gone, they were paralyzed waiting for someone to tell them what to do. I bet it was really a huge relief once someone was able to come and think for them.

*Legion* wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

How did anyone know Jon stabbed Dany through the heart if Drogon ran off with the body and the murder weapon? Oh, probably because Jon being an honest Stark to the end confessed to the whole damn thing.

What I can't get past is that there was apparently no upheaval or repercussions from that. Two foreign armies had their queen assassinated and apparently just sat there and did nothing until the Lords of Westeros (whom those armies came to conquer and have their queen rule over, mind you) made the trip out and told them what was happening next.

When Jon stabbed Dany, I thought, "oh yeah, power vacuum, sh*t's about to go down". Not so much, apparently.

Same.

Spoiler:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6_S6GWXYAAF8DZ.jpg)

I liked it.

It helped that my mental-rewriting-process had improved the previous episode into something acceptable.

I'd have done some things differently, but it mostly did what it needed to do.

Best Internet comment I've seen tonight:

"Chaos is a ramp."

I liked the ending for the most part. The worse season for me but still better than most shows.

How the F did Grey Worm get to the queen before Jon. He was still killing fools when Jon went off to talk to Dany.

Loved Dany speech about freeing the world. She really sold the idea that at least she believed she was in the right.

So stupid Jon told everyone he killed Dany. I guess that is in character for Jon. However, Grey Worm should have killed Jon on sight. I didn't see any reason why he would have taken him prisoner.

Useless Bran as king. I guess, I'm not sure I would be completely happy with anyone.

Drogon was MVP of the season and him in ash was a great shot. I kind of wish he blasted Jon. I wanted to see if Jon could survive in fire.

The council meeting was great.

Where was the giant hole in the wall? I guess they could have crossed at a different point but then why would they?

I'm not sure what Sam's status is. I thought he was running his house since he was sitting with the leaders. However, he was also wearing maester robes during council meeting.

Anyway good ending. I'd put it behind Lost and BSG for finales.

So Bran orchestrated all that just to be king? Dude knows how to play the game of thrones.

Someone on my facebook feeds called it a Disney ending. Uh huh. All of the blood in the series and much before it can be linked to a nature spirit which now inhabits the body of the first in what will likely be a long succession of God-kings. Tyrion and Jon had moments in this episode when they confronted this and decided to continue on (what else could they do?). The small council also paused to consider when Bran said, "Oh fine, maybe I'll find him then." regarding Drogon. The whole spiel Tyrion had about the longer you have success, the more your idea of what's good seems like the only idea? What has succeeded and had the longest to refine its idea of what is good?

Despite how much I like it, everyone in their perfect places doing what they were born to do is more than a bit creepy to me given the circumstances.

Oh something I just thought about. The ending was months after the NK died so winter really did end with the night king. Will they have normal for us winters now? Or will the weather be the same forever?

Probably about as good an ending as could be expected. I'm satisfied with it, at least. I agree with what others have said here - that this episode felt a little more like an older one, there was some room to breathe. I guess these past two seasons could have been a lot better if maybe they were the full 10 episodes?

Kind of felt early on when Danny was talking about all the liberation she was doing that she was a metaphor for US foreign policy - that was really reinforced after Tyrion's monologue to Jon. Maybe that's just me reading into things too much.

Nevin73 wrote:

And how about that Westworld trailer?

On the one hand, I'd have been happy if Westworld was a one and done kind of thing. On the other, I can't wait!

My wife was pissed. I've felt like this season was a limbo tournament to see how low they could go, so I wasn't really happy or sad with the ending, just meh.

I feel like there was a far better way to get to the exact same ending that would have made more sense. Jon kills Danny. Jon takes control of the unsullied/Dothraki (because they certainly would have killed him on sight otherwise). Jon calls the council, because he feels that if he's in power the wheel is not yet broken. Things will be expected of him that will pull things back to the way they've been all these years, because of his lineage.

The council convenes under the understanding that they are there to bend the knee to their new king. Jon tells them to go to hell, he doesn't want it. Greyworm refuses a weak leader, decides to take his men and the Dothraki across the sea. Tyrion has almost same speech about breaking the wheel. Sam pushes democracy, Jon shuts him down because the people aren't ready for it. Tyrion backs Bran. Everyone, including Jon, goes for it. Jon tells them he's done with this sh*t, he's going North to be a free man. Sansa still refuses southern rule. Arya still goes off exploring. Brienne still rights down Sir Jaime's exploits. Jon and Tormund go get drunk together, and try to find the coward that sh*t in his pants.