Where do I even begin?

I have a lot of feelings about the GoT season 7 finale, and most of them are not good. Most of them, in fact, are of the WTF variety. Let’s have a quick recap, shall we?

SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY.

WTF#1 The stupidity of the capture-a-wight-to-convince-Cersei-to-play-nice plot reached its zenith. Cersei was never going to play nice, zombie or no zombie. Her feign to the contrary was … pointless. The whole 30 minutes was just a cat-and-mouse game with the viewers, with a few moments of straight-out pandering to the fandom. The latter felt like the writers were checking off boxes in terms of reunions/face-offs that the fans have been clamouring to see (Bronn-Tyrion; Pod-Tyrion; Hound-Brienne; Hound-Mountain, Cersei-Tyrion, etc.). Thing is, I usually enjoy being pandered to; in this case, after a season that started feeling “off” mid-way through, the pandering isn’t really working for me.

WTF#2 Cersei has the opportunity to kill Tyrion – whom she has been trying to kill for 3 seasons now – and doesn’t do it? Please.

WTF#3 Why would Cersei promise to actually help Dany & Jon face off against the White Walkers? As far as I could understand from the messy plot, all they were asking for was a truce. She has been an astute strategist; making a promise of active help, when she had no intention of following through would be pointless both for her stated goal – to ensure that the other side would feel indebted to her after the zombie war – and for needlessly testing Jamie’s oath. Speaking of…

WTF#4 Why would Cersei verbally humiliate Jamie, then give him an ultimatum, and THEN do nothing once he called her bluff? Seriously, what was the point of all that? Not even Bueller knows.

WTF#5 I am as happy as anyone to see the bloody end of glorious bastard Petyr Baelish, but that scene only served to highlight how poorly the build-up to it had been written and/or directed. I get that the Stark sisters wanted to lull Littlefinger into a false sense of security, but why do so in private conversations shown only to the viewers? Unless Littlefinger had the ability to listen through stone walls, the previous episode’s exchange between Arya and Sansa was just … really weird. It’s like the show wanted pull a “psych, you really thought Sansa was going to kill her sister” on the audience, but went overboard.

WTF#6 I maintain that Jon and Dany have the sizzle of oatmeal, but the writers really went out of their way to make that inevitable love scene as unappetizing as possible by inter-cutting it with the scene of Bran and Sam figuring out the Targaryen family tree. Also, is it too late to re-cast Jon and Dany at this point? Kidding not kidding. God bless Kit Harington, he is a very attractive man, but his acting range seems to be shrinking with every episode. Ditto for Emilia Clarke.

WTF#7 All-Seeing Bran is, in fact, only Selectively-Seeing Bran. So, basically, he’s useless unless you already know what information you’re looking for.

WTF#8 Jon’s real name is Aegon … the same name as Rhaegar’s son by Elia Martell. The son who died in tragic circumstances, along with his mother and sister, after being presumably abandoned by Rhaegar following the start of a civil war precipitated by, what else, Rhaegar’s pursuit of Lyanna Stark. Having Lyanna name her kid Aegon, with or without Rhaegar’s approval, is messed up. We have no idea if Elia Martell voluntarily agreed to divorce Rhaegar and was all cool with his new teenage bride, but overall that was … not a good look for R+L. This pains me, because I was a Rhaegar-Lyanna shipper based on the books, but the show has only served to highlight all the problematic aspects of that relationship.

WTF#9 Why was Tyrion skulking in the shadows outside the Chamber of Dragon Incest? The show better not be suggesting that Tyrion is in love with Dany and feels Jorah-ed by this development because … ugh. One Jorah on this show is one too many already. Whatever this is supposed to foreshadow, I already know I don’t like it.

Overall, I am not sure how I feel about season 8. Unlike most of Twitter, I think I am in no rush to see it. The wait will give me time to forget how much this past season has come to annoy me. Of course I want to see how the story ends (even though I have a feeling I will be disappointed), so of course I will watch next season, whenever it happens. What I love most about GoT these days, however, is the sense of a shared experience that it gives me. I don’t watch sports, so this is the closest I get. The anticipation each week, the online and IRL discussions with fellow fans, the Sunday evening ritual, the post-episode analysis. I don’t know of any other show that inspires quite the same obsessive devotion across a similarly wide audience base. (There are a half dozen people at work that watch the show, and will happily water-cooler it on Monday mornings.) I will miss that, for sure.

Speaking of which, this marks the end of my GoT coverage for the year. Some of you may now breathe a sigh of relief. On the other hand, I have really enjoyed writing these posts, so I’m thinking of continuing in a similar vein — alternating books and TV shows as my weekly habits dictate. I do love hearing your thoughts/insights though, so I would also be open to doing some sort of watch-along-athon, if anyone is interested (either as a separate post, or as part of this weekly round-up). If anyone is interested, or has suggestions for shows to watch, let me know!

Happy Friday!

17 Comments on What I Watched: GoT FINALE!!

  1. How much of the implausibility of this season do you think has to do with GRRM not guiding any of the plot developments? I have been feeling a little bad for GRRM who has lost control of his story, but now I think this gives him the opportunity to do a MUCH better job when the next book comes out. I have never wanted to read the books before now, but now I want to read the final ones.

    • I completely agree that the problem is the writers don’t have GRRM’s story to follow. They may have the outline, so they know how major plot points will end, but they have no details on how to get there. So they come up with ridiculous wight-hunting plans to move people around Westeros. I enjoyed the previous books, and this season has made me want the next ones even more.

    • I think it has a lot to do with it, to be honest. I don’t want to be one of those “books are best, RAH RAH” people, but I feel like the show has lost the ethos of the books the longer it has gone on without the books’ guidance. In doing so, it’s become much more of a generic Hollywood blockbuster. And to be clear, it’s not a plot divergence that I mind; it’s a plot that is divorced from the true spirit of the characters. All of them this season seem to be acting in either uncharacteristic, unrealistic, or just plain stupid ways.

  2. Well, I stopped watching GoT in season 3. It just got too dark for my apparently-sensitive heart. I couldn’t unsee some of those disturbing scenes. However, I have very much enjoyed YOUR recaps! Tells me everything I need to know! I will look forward to your musings next season! Meanwhile, hmmmm, I don’t know what to suggest. My kids are staying up too late and watching TV *with* me so we are on their genre of Supergirl, Flash and Arrow. That’s a lot of superhero plots for one mother to endure.

    • I would recommend Misfits as an antidote to all those superheroes (more on it next week) but it’s definitely not a show you can watch with your kids, yet — haha!

    • And, for my 2 cents, it was too long of a lingering shot for it to be just, you know, Tyrion worried about the political implications. A passing frown during one of their (daytime) Dragon Roundtable discussions-with-a-side-of-what-passes-for-googly-eyes would have been sufficient, methinks. If that’s all the show writers are intending for it to be, then I have to quibble with the director’s choices for that scene.

  5. Tyrion outside Dany’s chamber: I didn’t know what that was either and I did not want him to have a crush on her like Jorah. I read an interview with the directors who said Tyrion looks concerned because with Jon and Dany getting together, Tyrion has concerns about how Dany’s choices and strategies would be impacted with this new development. I like that explanation.

    I did not like the capture a wight storyline either but I did like all the reunions.

    Cercei not killing Tyrion: maybe somewhere, deep down, there is still a little bit of humanity left in her? I like that the characters are complex and not all good or all bad.

    Bran: if he could see everything that has ever happened, and everything that is happening right now, he would be omnipresent, which would make him like a god. But he isn’t a god, he’s just a magic raven that can fly anywhere. (Lol! I can’t believe I am arguing that he is “just a magic raven”. The things this show does to me!)

    • See my comment below to Gigi — I saw that explanation too, but then I think they did a s**t job of setting up that scene if that was their true intent. It was way too stalkery and Jorah-esque.

      I think Bran *is* supposed to be some kind of demi-god. Like, something to do with the Children of the Forest, or something? He has the potential to be omnipresent, although I am not sure if he simultaneously see everything, or whether he needs to focus specifically on a particular place/time to be able to see it. Someone online says that Bran is like Westeros’ version of CCTV; it’s all there, if you know when/where to look.

  6. I love your GoT recaps, especially because you validate all my opinions! Lol. We have fun discussing at work, too, though half are Jon+ Dany shippers, ew ew ew! Did you read about or see any of the interviews with Kit and Emilia? They were icked out by it too and it shows. Also they talk about how strange it it to try and create sexual tension after having known each other for seven or eight years. Clearly their real life stuff bleeds into their performances. Interesting when you consider the same (with opposite results) for the Jon + Ygrett (sp?) dynamic. One thing I think will be interesting is this weird season + lack of later books will probably inspire a ton of fanfic. I’m not a fanfic reader usually but could be fun to see what comes of it.

    • Some gossip site (maybe Lainey) suggested that Kit and Emilia burned through their sexual tension early on, when they had some kind of real-life thing (like, 4-5 years ago). They are now obviously just friends IRL, and their acting abilities cannot compensate. I have been wondering a lot lately whether GRRM would have tied himself in knots to get Jon and Dany together. I’m not current on the book gossip/rumours, but a part of me believes that GRRM would have gone a different way with Jon. Honestly, I kinda wish Ygritte hadn’t been killed. Stupid Olly!

  7. I’ve finally watched this entire season, and I totally agree with all of your criticisms. I thought the whole OMG Jon is legitimate (and named Aegon… wtf) thing made absolutely no sense.

    I was surprised by how much screentime Theon got in the finale. I don’t really understand where his story arc is heading.

    • I’m torn on the legitimizing of Jon as the Targ heir. On one hand, I think it really damages the image of Rhaegar, and I think he is an important character to GRRM. On the other hand, I think legitimacy is an important character development for Jon – perhaps the most important. Finding out that he was a much-desired son of two parents who loved each other (and were married) would be a huge resolution for him … just in time for him to sacrifice himself, as I have been theorizing, LOL! So I can see this being something that GRRM would also plan. If he did, I like to believe that he would have done a better job of explaining how it all came about without making Rhaegar look like an asshole.

      Theon is zzzzzzz to me, honestly. I never watched the first 3 seasons of the show, and his plotline in the books didn’t interest me because, well, it’s torture porn. I hope he serves a greater plot purpose in season 8, because we are past the point of show filler, surely.

  8. I blame GRRM for not getting the final book(s) published in a reasonable timeframe. (And partially his editors who let books 4&5 go a bit crazy-pants in expansion, because if those had been reined in a bit I feel like finishing the final tomes could be easier- fewer loose ends to wrap up at least). There’s been a huge difference in the show’s story from when it was based on the books (season 1-5), to when it was loosely-based on where it was obvious the books where going/presumably some direct input from GRRM (season 6), to this season where the show runners have just taken off on their own. And taken off obviously ill-informed about their own talents for telling a story – telling someone else’s story well is very different than writing your own story.

    It’s obvious (and I think there’s interviews of them admitting to this) that they came up with ‘wouldn’t it be cool to have this scene’ and then figured out the ‘logic’ and the story on how to make that happen. Which makes for a show that’s fun to watch, sure, but… when you stop and think about the story, not the tv spectacle, it IS super frustrating. Sure, the battle of people & dragons vs white walkers was fun to watch, but so was the Hardhome battle, and there was a legit logic for why that battle occured in the first place (trying to evacuate living people!).

    It’s also super weird that they seem to be all ‘well, lots of crazy things need to happen super quickly because we need to finish in 13 episodes.’ But… they didn’t need to finish in 13 episodes; HBO would have been very happy to let them run to 13 *seasons* I think. And yeah, sure, there’s a budget per season, but the main budget drivers are the crazy spectacles, while the interpersonal conflict is a lot less (yes, sure, actors and camera crews and all that cost money, but my understanding is that battles and CGI costs dwarf a scene with a few actors talking a room.

    I am worried about the overall ending of the series in the books as well, particularly as the 6th book takes longer and longer. What does that mean for book #7? Will GRRM’s own story end up needing 15 books to finally wrap up (especially if editors refuse to rein him in, especially with these huge delays there’s no incentive for them to encourage significant edits to rein him in). In which case, the TV show may be the only ending we get. Based on the earlier seasons, I would have said that would have been ok, better than nothing, but having seen season 7… meh. No so hopeful.

    • Totally agree! I want to see the books because I love the world that GRRM built up, and want to see the way the prophecies will be worked into the eventual resolution, but the show has kinda spoiled my interest in the outcome itself. I think it’s because the characters have been reduced to little more than pieces of chess, moved around the board in seemingly arbitrary ways by the show writers. I’m barely invested in anyone anymore. It’s so bizarre, because that was NOT the case at the end of season 6.

      Hopefully the next book will build up my investment in the characters again, but given GRRM’s penchant for filler plotlines and red herrings, I’m not so sure. Frankly, I skipped over a lot of the (faux)Aegon story in book 6 because … who cares? And, judging by the show, I was right to do so. It was pure filler. Bah!