The highly anticipated eighth and final season of Game of Thrones is only six episodes long. However, each episode is fairly lengthy, with the first two at fifty something minutes but the final four each being around 75 minutes long, which is the same length as some feature length films.
The season begins as a direct continuation of the previous season with no time skip. Considering how jam packed the series is, it is definitely highly recommended to have refreshed your memory on the developments of the previous season, otherwise you’ll be a bit lost here. Jon Snow and Daenerys has returned to the North with an army. Everyone else has rallied to Winterfell and Cersei has pledged to bring her troops as well. It all seems well to repel the army of the dead. Given that Daenerys has two dragons, their chances of survival seem solid if everyone works together.
Of course, being Game of Thrones, there’s a lot of backstabbing and scheming so things never work out in an idealistic way. Jon had left earlier on a bad note and bringing back the daughter of the Mad King has just caused everyone else in the North to be deeply suspicious and wary. There’s tension between Jon and his family given that Sansa doesn’t seem to be able to forgive Jon for what he did.
The big revelation at the end of the last season, that being Jon’s true identity, and what it means for the relationship between him and Daenerys, is a major focus. The thing with Daenerys is that while she has the blood to be the ruler, her father was usurped. She still acts as if it is her right, which is fine, except for the fact that it is not clear that he rule will be better than the current one. She’s quick to anger, arrogant and as expected, wants everything to happen her way. Considering that literally everyone in the kingdom is her enemy and had some part in overthrowing her father, it is a surprise she even trusts them enough to fight on the same side. This results in several uneasy alliances with conflicting loyalties.
The season has an extremely slow beginning. The first two episodes are effectively setting up for the big battle. Everyone is contemplating the high likelihood of their deaths and making peace with themselves. Characters reconcile with each other, like Arya and the Hound, and Jaime and Bran, or are pairing up for their last night together. A side effect of the battle is that a lot of scenes take place in dark places or at night. Being in perpetual winter doesn’t help given that everyone is tinged blue.
The first half of the season is dominated by the big battle against the Night King. It is crazy how the characters fight against such overwhelming odds. Despite seeing the various characters over the seasons all show up in the same place, fighting against the same enemy, it does feel quite hopeless. This is even more so when the battle begins and you see that the opponent can control the weather, their army isn’t afraid of death (being already dead) and your dead just increases their numbers. This causes more than a few characters to start to break down from despair which feels uncharacteristic given we have never seen them in this state, although it is understandable. There’s even a tinge of horror in several scenes when the undead invade Winterfell. Furthermore, there are always casualties of war, so a few long running characters finally meet their end here.
The big large scale battle is a far cry from the tone of previous seasons. The series were always more focused on the politics happening in the background rather than gigantic action set pieces. As a result, the show shifts into an action movie with plenty of fighting, yelling and morale boosting. It’s not necessary a good or bad thing but it does feel inconsistent. What makes this worse is that this is the first time when supernatural enemies are the sole focus. They were on the fringes before but having them at the forefront in what was a rational and realistic world is suddenly blown apart. Plus, we still don’t know, and will never know, why the Night King is targeting Bran.
In a show where it boasts complex characters with layered motives, it is a shame that the Night King feels so one-dimensional as a result. It feels as if the writers had rushed it, with only small glimpses in the build up throughout all the seasons, only for the Night King to be a forgettable villain who is evil because he is evil. At least we get some great pieces of music, especially the piece that plays at the finale of the battle.
The second half of the season then focuses on the Iron Throne and finally completing Daenerys chapter. Daenerys is ruthless and scared of losing her power. She has become the very tyrant that she is trying to overthrow. While she and her army are supposed to be the “good” side, they let their emotions blind them. They are at war so casualties will be felt and it seems hypocritical when they lash out against innocents after one of their comrades died given that if the sides were reversed, they would have done the same. To be honest, there are a lot of deaths this season and some of them are unsatisfying.
As the season nears its ending, it seemed to be leading towards something to your expectations. Then it completely subverts that and throws in a decision that came completely out of nowhere. It is at this point that you realize why the finale had such a mixed reception. It just feels that there was no reason for something like that to be decided upon. There was no hint, no gradual build up, it was as if they just decided at the last moment to do something different and it failed spectacularly.
Overall, Season 8 of Game of Thrones is not quite the spectacular ending that it had been building up towards. It felt rushed in how it ended two massive arcs, being the White Walkers that had been teased for the whole duration fo the show, and the fight for the Iron Throne between Daenerys and Cersei, which had also been the focus for the duration of the show. While there were massive set pieces and somewhat satisfying conclusions, they were separated too far apart with slow paced scenes that felt out of touch with everything else. Then the finale pretty much just gives up after the show’s over and provides a disappointing resolution as to how Westeros ended up. It’s not a horrible season, but it is a far cry from the heights of previous seasons.
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