Revisiting the disaster called Game of Thrones Finale!

About a year ago, there was a lot of hype surrounding the finale season of an extremely popular show called Game of Thrones. Does it ring any bell? Yes, I’m talking about that season of that show. Almost all of us have wiped out that particular memory from our brains but since it has been a year since the debacle, let’s talk about it one last time. What went wrong?

Lack of source material

Adaptations of books have been popular and are rarely unsuccessful….or so we thought. If we talk about popular fantasy franchises, we remember the highly successful Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Hunger Games (and to some extent even Twilight), and conveniently forget the unsuccessful Divergent, Percy Jackson, and The Mortal Instruments. Game of Thrones for the most part was successful and a good adaptation but also had a big hurdle: the lack of material towards the last few seasons. It is no surprise to regular fans when the content quality degraded especially from season 7.

Setting Huge Expectations

The anticipation for a satisfactory and memorable finale was high. The makers announced that the episodes will be trimmed down to six instead of the usual ten. This was met with slight wariness but we were promised each episode will be longer and almost like a mini-movie. They also took two years to work on it saying it will be grand. This naturally elevated the expectations. Obviously.

However, the result was disappointing when we realised the storyline was rushed and crammed heavily into the six episodes. Also, the leaks turning true didn’t help the show in any way. I have no complaints about the Starbucks cup scenario; it was funny and we did have a good laugh at the memes.

Unnecessary Shock Value

Game of Thrones is known for its shock value and plot twists and is mainly popular for “you never know who’ll turn against who” and “who will kill whom and how.” It does come at a price because in season 8 it felt like they simply added shock value and random killings just for the heck of it. Sadly for the makers, the viewers were actually looking for some quality content, which they failed at providing. Prior to this, shock content and plot twists worked because they were justified by a proper build-up so when it happened, it never felt out-of-place. Arya killing the Night King was random like why would you bring Jon back from dead, make him encounter the Night King, be obsessive about the White Walkers and their army and not have him kill the main guy? What was Bran’s power and why didn’t he use it against the Night King? What was the purpose of his multi-season quest? To become a King of the Seven Six Kingdoms? Why would you build it up for nothing? Why on earth would you let Arya take the last kill when Jon and Bran were right there and were given background for this? I’m done.

However, the entire arc of Daenerys Targaryen slaughtering the people of King’s Landing without a proper character arc or build-up was the final straw for the fans. For the record, Jon Snow stabbing Daenerys didn’t evoke any emotion from me except a yawn.

Wasted Character Arcs

Jon Snow

Rightful heir to the Iron Throne. The lost Targaryen. True name, Aegon Targaryen. The purpose? Nothing. Jon literally resurrected for nothing! Sure we can say he was brought back so he could warn the people of Westeros. But that’s it? No final showdown between the Night King and Jon Snow? No true confrontation between Daenerys and Aegon? Surely he must be alive for the Iron Throne? Surprise! Someone else gets the throne. I am still confused.

Daenerys Targaryen

One of the promising characters who had an amazing arc which was was amazingly butchered. Characters claimed throughout the season that she was crazy and almost a Mad Queen. But did her actions concur? Hell no! Don’t believe me? Here’s a scenario:

Character: Daenerys is evil

Daenerys: Tries to be friendly with people, fights the wights alongside the people during the battle of Winterfell, loses her close friends and most of her army that she built over the years and simply asks Jon to not reveal his secret to anyone as opposed to killing him immediately (which IMHO is what she should have done when she found out his lineage.) In reality, she wasn’t showing signs that she was going crazy to a breaking point. Nothing justifies why she would commit a genocide. Action speaks louder than words my friend, you’ve been only telling and not showing.

Bran Stark

Bran has been a frustrating character for me personally. His quest to become the Three-Eyed Raven seemed to only be so that he can warg into birds and see the past. They failed to explain why Night King wanted to kill him. If this was a masterplan designed by him to make sure he ends up on the Iron Throne, he is an evil dude.

Jaime and Cersei Lannister

Cersei who had become a proper villainous character by the finale, showed her full strength which is to… stare outside the window and drink wine. That’s all she did. The only thing worse than Cersei dying with Jaime in her arms (instead of a karmic death) is Jaime abandoning Brienne for Cersei which literally ruins the amazing redemption arc he had been given over the seasons. I’m done!

Tyrion Lannister

What is your purpose? Why are you giving bad ideas? What happened to your wit?

Come to think of it, Tyrion Lannister has only been a shell of his former self since season 5.

Arya Stark

Her purpose in my opinion was fulfilled when she used her faceless god’s power to take revenge from the Frey House. Her killing the Night King felt good, but didn’t make sense. Also, what happened to her list?

Darkness in Episode 3: The Long Night

*In a sarcastic voice* Yes, it is our fault that we didn’t have proper TVs and configuration for watching a TV show that people streamed as soon as possible to avoid spoilers. I do respect that some experiences are different in certain systems but c’mon, how couldn’t you anticipate that such issues might arise during streaming? All I have to say is that for most of us, our first experience of the episode was ruined.

Glass Half-Full

We’ve talked about the negatives in detail but it wouldn’t be fair if we don’t talk about what they got right.

In my opinion, the best episode in Season 8 was the second one: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Theon Greyjoy’s arc was pretty satisfactory. His death touched a chord with me and had a better impact than any other character in the season. I highly appreciate the cinematography throughout the season which was extremely beautiful and visually stunning. The actors did a good job despite the weak script. The music by Ramin Djawadi was incredible and elevated the emotions in the scenes. Special mention to Florence + The Machine for the soothing and melodious Jenny of Oldstones in episode 2.

*****

The hype around the finale of Game of Thrones was real but just like Lost, it failed to satisfy anyone and made people develop selective amnesia about the once most popular and talk-about TV series in recent times.

*****

Please share your constructive criticism and feel free to disagree. Trolls and rude commentators will be……