In the end, ‘Game of Thrones’ leaves us cold
Kelly Lawler: No matter how you slice it, series finale didn’t seem like the show we started out with.
Spoiler alert! The following contains details from the “Game of Thrones” series finale.
This isn’t what we signed up for. When “Game of Thrones” premiered eight years ago, it was instantly clear that the series was something different. It was a story that broke the conventions of the fantasy genre, not one that was a slave to them. Tragedy and injustice were as baked into the series’ identity as dragons and battles.
But that’s not the show that aired its finale Sunday night. In the final episode, “The Iron Throne,” the show was unrecognizable. It was hacky; it was cliched. Every character left standing received a saccharine coda. Closure is one thing, but pandering is entirely another.
“The Iron Throne” would have been a fine ending for a different kind of TV show. It would have been a satisfying landing for a series that had long warmed hearts. But over the years, “Thrones” has been a story in which the good guys didn’t win and the bad guys didn’t get their comeuppance. The world the writers built wasn’t fair, and good people suffered for no reason. It wasn’t a particularly rosy theme, but it was one of the reasons the series became such a massive hit, why it felt relatable in spite of its otherworldy setting. It never was a fairy tale. It was as messy and broken our world is now.
“Iron Throne” is an episode that will go down as one of the most controversial series finales of all time. For many fans, it likely is enough. Everybody who was good got their reward. Dany got her recompense. And there even is an argument to be made that by going for a happy-ever-after, “Thrones” subverted the expectations of everyone waiting for a bloodbath.
But that’s not what “Iron Throne”
did. It didn’t gracefully swerve into another lane, it careened off a cliff.
All hail Daenerys Stormborn
“Iron Throne” picks up where last week’s “The Bells” left off: in the ruins of King’s Landing as Dany’s allies reckon with what their queen has done. Tyrion is particularly devastated.
Jon is not happy either, as he surveys the corpses of the civilians and their children whom his aunt/lover killed. He and Davos come upon Grey Worm and the Unsullied about to execute a group of Lannister soldiers, even though they’ve surrendered. Grey Worm is still in rage mode. The two almost come to blows before Davos intervenes; Grey Worm executes the prisoners anyway.
Dany, completely chill after her mass murder, is holding court for her soldiers, shouting about all they’ve conquered. Emilia Clarke gives her last Dany speech with gusto, and there’s a legitimately stunning shot where Drogon takes off behind Dany and she momentarily looks like she has black wings.
Tyrion is not impressed, ripping off his Hand of the Queen badge when Dany confronts him about releasing Jaime. Dany has the Unsullied take him away.
‘Love is the death of duty’
Jon goes to see Tyrion in his makeshift cell, and Tyrion uses what he thinks to be the last few moments of his life trying to persuade Jon to murder Dany. He says Dany has killed more people than Tywin and Cersei combined, that she’s all fire and blood.Tyrion also reveals what most fans had theorized since the infamous boat scene in Season 7: that he’s in love with Dany. Jon remembers something Maester Aemon said all the way back in Season 1: “Love is the death of duty.” Tyrion responds: “Sometimes duty is the death of love.”
I love you, you’re perfect, now die
Jon confronts Dany, who is on the verge of finally sitting on the magically intact Iron Throne. She’s giddy and tries to reminisce about her childhood dreams of what the Iron Throne might look like, but he moves the conversation squarely into the realm of dead children and burned cities.
He’s looking for remorse or reasoning – anything to convince him to keep following her. Instead, Dany babbles about some kind of utopia she’ll create before begging him to take her back and love her again. (Of all the betrayals of Dany’s character this season, her angry ex-girlfriend mood is the worst.) He says she’ll always be his queen, kisses her and then stabs her.
Drogon immediately knows something has happened. He climbs into the throne room and nudges her body in the most genuinely emotional moment of the whole episode. When he realizes she’s dead, he roars, and for a moment it looks like he may burn Jon alive. Instead, he directs his fire toward … the Iron Throne, melting it.
Much like Cersei’s death last week, Dany’s demise felt like a dull, anticlimactic end for such a heavily invested character. Daenerys Targaryen came into the world with a storm, and she went out with a thud.
Congrats on the election
“Iron Throne” skips over all the messy parts and jumps a few weeks into the future. What remains of the great families of Westeros (Sansa, Arya, Bran, Yara, Sam, Brienne, Gendry, Royce, Robin Arryn, Edmure Tully, a random Dornish guy and other nameless men) have gathered to figure out what’s next.
Grey Worm and the Unsullied want Tyrion’s and Jon’s heads, but there’s the messy question of who has the authority to order their executions. Tyrion suggests that the assembled lords and ladies just pick someone to rule. Eventually, Tyrion makes a big speech before suggesting Bran. Yes, that Bran – the one who hasn’t had a personality since Season 6 and is the least-helpful allseeing magical raven ever.
There and back again
There might as well be a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage in Westeros. Jon gets his perfect ending in the compromise among the Unsullied and Sansa and Arya, and heads back to the Night’s Watch. (Who knows what they’re guarding against these days?) Sansa goes north to claim her crown. Arya decides to go find out what’s west of Westeros. Grey Worm leads the Unsullied to Naath.
Bran is the king and makes Tyrion be his Hand to fix everything he broke. Also filling out that small council chamber are: Sam, now Grand Maester; Brienne, the new lord commander of the Kingsguard; Bronn, lord of Highgarden and master of coin; and Davos, master of ships. Just what they’ve always wanted!
At a small council meeting, Sam waltzes in with a big tome, the Archmaester’s official history of the wars that followed the death of King Robert Baratheon. The title of the book? “A Song of Ice and Fire.” Even Frodo Baggins would shake his head at that line.
It was probably too much to hope for after two bad seasons, but it would have been nice to watch a finale that felt like it was part of the same story we started with. Finding happiness and self-actualization may be the proper ending for a Hallmark movie, but not for “Game of Thrones.”