Game of Thrones – A Review

N.B. Major – and I mean major! – Spoiler Alert!!

Now that the dust and ash has settled – and there was a hell of a lot of ash to settle! – I feel I should put down a few thoughts on the whole great project that was Game of Thrones. I’ve left it a few days so that I’m not giving a knee jerk reaction to the final series and its outcome.

Firstly, let me say that I read all the books – but, if GRR Martin had decided to ever write the ending, I probably would not have bothered to read it. Though I carried on reading, he lost me round about book 4 when he found that he had dug himself into a bit of a hole. The TV series, however, I have really enjoyed – though I know I won’t be alone in expressing some doubts about series 8 – but more of that later.

Game of Thrones set new standards for a TV series and it deserves to be lauded for doing so. The scripts, the acting, the settings, the cinematography and general production values, especially in the last few series, have all been fantastic.  Martin’s characters have been vividly brought to life by a wonderful cast – and, while we wallow in self-pity that it’s all over, let’s not forget the stellar performances of some who perished earlier in the piece – notably Charles Dance and Diana Rigg. For me – and I suspect many others – the standout performances of the series came from Tyrion [Peter Dinklage]  and Cersei [Lena Headley] but probably my own personal favourite was Sansa Stark [Sophie Turner] in a less flamboyant – and thus very difficult – role.

There were many, many wonderful performances, which brings me – with heavy heart – to poor old Daenerys and Jon Snow. In the immediate aftermath of the series I wasn’t sure what I thought about how the story of those two characters played out. But, having tossed it over for a while in my mind, my overall reaction is just immense disappointment, bordering on anger. What a waste!

I don’t think series 8 began badly and, for me, the whole resolution of the war in the north with the dead and the Night King was very well done. But after that, it was as if the writers sat around and said: “Blimey, now what are we going to do?”

I suppose there is an element of genius in what the writers did: i.e. take two characters that the audience love and trash them. Was the idea to shock the viewer in the last couple of episodes as they have done so many times – and so effectively – in the previous series? If so, then it certainly came as a surprise to me and I reckon millions of others! Whatever they had in mind, as many have already said, the ending was deeply unsatisfying. Does it matter? Well, yes, it does, because Game of Thrones was set to be the greatest fantasy series of all time and the programme makers fumbled their final task.

I could live with the way the Lannister twins ended because there was, after all, a certain poignancy at least to it; and too, Arya Stark setting off into the unknown west was both appropriate and satisfying, BUT… almost everything else was dripping with anti-climax. Why bother giving Jon Snow such a labyrinthine backstory if you’re just going to send him off beyond the wall again? I mean, hang on, why is there still a wall anyway and what are the Night’s Watch guarding against? All the wildlings have moved south of the wall and they’re sort of ‘on side’ now so, why have a Night’s Watch at all?

But, whatever happened to Jon, Daenerys deserved better treatment – far better. The writers might insist that the warning signs of her dark character were there earlier, but there is a hell of a difference between roasting a few unrepentant rebel leaders and immolating an entire city for no apparent advantage. For the story arc, I do think that Daenerys had to die, but her death surely had to be more meaningful and tragic than being put down like a mad dog. To make Jon Snow wield the weapon that killed her might have amused the writers but it didn’t amuse me. I don’t think the dragon was overjoyed about it either – though, in fairness, Drogo the dragon offered more in the way of pathos than any other character, except maybe Tyrion. I think we all saw the melting of the iron throne coming, but what went before was criminal!

So, let’s move on to the scene where the surviving heads of the noble houses have to decide who should be king. Let me begin by saying that the whole situation at that point is based upon nonsense. I know it’s fantasy but a little consistency and common sense would be nice. Somehow both the Dothraki and the Unsullied – despite incurring massive casualties in previous episodes – seem to have actually increased in number – despite the fact that since neither is from Westeros, they can’t be reinforced. Unless Daenerys has been using a replicator she discovered in an old Star Trek Voyager studio, I don’t see how there would be enough of either group left to fill a small pub.  Yet there they are in huge numbers with no other soldiers to be seen.

What does it matter you ask? Well, it matters because that scene is dominated by the threat posed by Daenerys’ victorious army – an army that even in a fantasy world must by then have been largely composed of men who were neither Dothraki nor Unsullied. Jon Snow wanders about after King’s Landing as if he has no men at all whereas he actually has an entire northern army. So it’s ridiculous and thus, the whole premise of that scene is garbage. But sadly, the garbage doesn’t stop there, because making Brandon Stark king is the stupidest possible outcome and one that all his previous utterings have made highly unlikely, to say the least.  Seers don’t tend to be very effective kings since they spend most of their time in a different world – their role is to advise kings because they can ‘see’ stuff!

The only bright spot in the scene was Sansa showing her mettle yet again. I wonder if Sophie Turner said to the writers: “I’m not having that shit! If you’re going with Bran as king then I’m taking the north with me!” Sansa, as ever, making the best of a bad job.

I’m all for unconventional stories and breaking new ground and so on, but this felt like a mistake of massive proportions.  Jon Snow, the long lost Targaryen heir should have ended up as king after Daenerys was perhaps mortally wounded and her dragon killed in battle. The result is that an epic series that should be remembered for all the great characters and storylines it gave us, will now be forever tarnished by its weak and unsatisfying ending.

To be honest, I’d rather Drogo had just incinerated the entire seven kingdoms…