I was going to skip Episode 4 and wait until next week to do a major GoT recap, but the more I sit with that episode, the more I need to vent about it. Jane Austen will have to wait, I need to get a few things off my chest. Rant incoming!

I have been saying this for ages now, but the show began declining in storytelling quality once the plot advanced past the books’ timeline. Season 6 was initially exciting because it confirmed some long-held theories of book fans, but the slide accelerated in Season 7 and is in full effect in Season 8. At this point, I’m not even mad anymore – ok, maybe a little cranky – and instead, I’m just giving up on the idea that we will be getting the kind of ending I always believed this story deserved.

After Episode 3, I was disappointed by the show’s apparent dis-investment in all things prophecy-related but I decided to keep an open mind. Even so, Episode 4 felt cheap. And it’s not even because, suddenly, everyone is pivoting to Jon as their next King (Cersei excepted, of course). Jon is a something of natural leader – he inspires people to want to follow him – but he’s a sh*t ruler. I still can’t quite believe that the reason why he was brought back to life was just so he can sit on the Iron Throne, but okay. Fine. Whatever. With a good Council, he can hopefully stay out of trouble. The North can be quasi-independent. Cool, cool. I guess the two Mad Queens will battle it out, and Jonny boy will pick up the pieces or something.

Unless he gets randomly killed in some totally inconsequential way because … why not. That seems to be the writers’ mantra these days.

Let’s talk instead about the other WTF moments in Episode 4:

  • Poor Ghost. I know, I know … CGI budget blah blah. They did both Ghost and Jon dirty on that one. Book Jon would not have left his direwolf without so much as a backward glance.
  • I guess House Baratheon is suddenly un-extinct. Alright, fine, but what the hell was that proposal?! I know Gendry is not the sharpest tool in the shed, and obviously he has no chill, but why on earth would he assume that the woman who just single-handedly killed the Night King thus ending the Great War would have any interest in being Lady Anything? This whole sub-plot is dumb. Why couldn’t these two just have had a little fun and went their separate ways? Ugh.
  • Sansa rationalizing her abuse as a growth opportunity. I know some folks are arguing that’s not what she meant by her conversation with the Hound, but that’s what it sounded like. Ugh.
  • Jaime and Brienne in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N -you get the point. Look, I’m not just salty because of Tormund, I promise. Realistically, Tormund and Brienne didn’t make sense either, but it was nice to joke about their giant, hypothetical babies. But Jaime and Brienne make even less sense to me. What they had going on was a beautiful friendship based on mutual respect. It was and should have always remained platonic. What do TV shows have against platonic male-female relationships?? I may be in the minority, but I felt zero sexual chemistry between these two. And the fact that the show insisted on showing us Brienne crying over a man? Ugh.
  • Bronn as future Lord Tyrrell. Bronn can f**k right off. If anyone deserves Highgarden, it’s Ser Davos. Ugh.
  • Rhaegal’s demise. The whole set-up was beyond dumb. Airborne Dany can’t see the ships that are within clear striking distance. The first 3-4 shots annihilate one dragon, the next 20 can’t even scratch the other dragon. Instead of flying around, and attacking Euron’s fleet from behind, Dany just … doesn’t. Ugh.
  • The showdown with Cersei. This may have been the biggest WTF moment. Why did Dany’s side willingly come to a meeting where their opponents were basically armed to the teeth and in a perfect position to destroy them completely? If this was supposed to be a parley, it should have happened on neutral ground, with Cersei and her gang accompanied by a small complement of soldiers but without archers, guns, etc. This was just a set-up for Dany to watch her BFF get murdered, thus hastening her Mad Queen-ing … but, damn, it was stupid. Also stupid for Cersei not to actually take advantage of her superior position and kill Dany and/or her dragon right then and there. Ugh.

Let me add, as a postscript, that I ended up digging for spoilers online after stewing on Episode 4 for a while; having lost all faith in the writers’ abilities to steer the show, I decided to prepared myself for whatever was coming. And let me tell you: if the current (seemingly legit, but who knows) spoilers are correct, Imma gonna be in “burn it all down” mode come May 19.

7 Comments on What I Watched: Game of Thrones, S8E4

  1. As a HUGE fan of the books, I am nodding along with every point you made. My biggest beef is with Tyrion for advising Dany to NOT attack King’s Landing when she landed on Dragonstone a while back. Screw the people of King’s Landing – she should have burned it down and ruled whomever was left. So disappointed in the direction the storytelling (or lack thereof) is taking, and if the current spoilers are legit, I say, DRACARIS!!!!

    • I keep thinking that GRRM must have okayed the script or at least the overall storyline so it can’t be THAT bad but … ugh. Maybe in the books, this whole thing makes more sense because of better writing, etc. But as presented in the show, it sucks.

  2. I agree with you that this episode left much to be desired but I am going to try to stay optimistic (and spoiler-free) about the last 2 episodes. Emilia Clarke said on some late-night show recently that episode 5 would blow our minds so…here’s hoping?

  3. Yes, yes, yes, and yes! Have to keep watching at this point, though. I’d always thought maybe a room full of writers would be even better than a novelist, but….guess not. How did they get where they are without being better at plotting and character development?

    • I think there is a fundamental difference between book and TV writers. I was re-reading GRRM’s ASOIAF companion book and was blown away all over again by the attention he put into building his world. To see that being bastardized by the show, it sucks.

  4. I just watched a guys review on s8e4 on YouTube and it shared a lot of your sentiments, it’s pretty funny here’s a link to it. I enjoyed the reviews on the episode more than actual episodes lately. Hope you are having a great weekend heres the link if you want to check it out https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7egvcmQepog