GAME OF THRONES S8
Saying goodbye to TV’s long-running fantasy epic.
Out 2 December DVD, BD, 4K, Digital HD extras Commentaries, In-episode guides, Documentary, Featurettes, Deleted/extended scenes, Histories
How many battles have we survived between us?” asks Tyrion Lannister, grasping for hope as war looms. Between S5’s pacing, S7’s rushed zombie-catching set-piece and more, HBO’s fantasy behemoth has itself survived pointed criticism from online and elsewhere. And with the finale, despite the odd injury, it goes down fighting.
At its best, Game Of Thrones has scrupulously braided thematic rigour with a sense of how war and power change people. As the wheel spins full circle for a string of reunions in the final season, character shifts resonate deeply. Even if lapses into bullet-point exposition underserve George RR Martin’s unfinished novels, grace notes emerge in fan-service-done-right meetings between Jon (Kit Harington) and Arya (Maisie Williams), Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), and Jaime (Nikolaj CosterWaldau) and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie). Sweetly, sadly (and sometimes lustily) almost every character gets their due.
As for episode three’s grim-dark bastard of a battle, some complaints hold water: who’s slaughtering whom? But Melisandre (Carice van Houten), Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), Arya and others deliver some Valyrian-grade feels in readiness for later episodes’ judicious attention to “What happens afterwards.” If certain city-scorching shocks split viewers, at least they hold true to character developments teased in Season 1, and to Martin’s suspicions of idolatry and fear-gotten power.
Perhaps showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss rushed to land the payoffs; perhaps the shortened final seasons needed full 10-episode runs. Certainly, Cersei (Lena Headey)
deserved more screentime. But S8’s big twist was so well-seeded it’s a wonder it still feels so tragic, paving the way for a meditative (epic diva-dragon moments aside) finale about the worth of stories. Uneven though the closer is, at least Benioff/ Weiss keep the characters’ stories alive, refusing to tie things up too much. “Ask me again in 10 years,” is Tyrion’s answer to one question. Is that a tease for a later reunion? If so, this flawed but often full-blooded farewell rises high enough to earn it.
In the meantime, the extrasstuffed Complete Collection (★★★★★) is a covetable, if pricey, chance to re-celebrate the show’s glories. Beyond the daft fan petitions and the more justifiable gripes, Thrones reinvented TV fantasy, bested cinema for spectacle and sweated for its long-haul rewards. And it helped name many a cat. Shifting viewing habits mean we might not see its like again, though its success reflects a hunger for watercooler conversation starters. In the North and elsewhere, it’ll be remembered. Kevin Harley