While Jon Snow's army is preparing for the massive battle and spending the night, Arya Stark decides to lose her virginity, Jamie Lannister breaks tradition to make Lady Brienne as the Knight of the Seven kingdoms, and Jon Snow reveals his true identity to Daenerys Targaryen. We saw the spiral message from the Night King on the wall of Last Hearth that holds a mystery yet to be solved. Not any more.The second episode of Game of Thrones season 8 concluded with Jon Snow's allies including Tormund Giantsbane, Samwell Tarly among others arrived from Last Hearth with the message that the dead will arrive in Winterfell in the morning. The show that had lived on shocks, thrived on shocks, was ultimately killed by one. But the last-minute bid to persuade us that, all along, there had been a villain who was even more dangerous than the Night King, and that she was none other than our heroine, came out looking frantic, clumsy, and above all desperate. To surpass The Long Night, it needed something big.
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Having killed off its most dangerous villain a full three episodes from the end, however, Game of Thrones fell miserably apart. After all, the show had never fallen short before. It was always heading somewhere exactly where, we had little idea, but we were sure it would be dazzling. Up until that point, the show had always felt as if it had purpose, and direction. The moment Arya drove her dagger into his icy guts, it was all over. The sad truth is, Game of Thrones died with the Night King. Any notion of Game of Thrones as a “feminist” narrative instantly evaporated. Sansa was at least permitted to rule the North, as she’d requested, but it felt tokenistic, a runner-up medal, a pat on the head for being such a good girl. And though – as Sansa herself pointed out – Bran will be unable to produce an heir, the objection was waved casually away.
As the late Lord Varys observed a couple of episodes ago, a man as ruler is more appealing to the Lords of Westeros. Still, from the writers’ point of view, I suppose it was better to offer us Tyrion’s flannel about “stories” than to admit the alternative justification for picking Bran: ie, he’s a man, and Sansa isn’t. Bran, meanwhile, spent half the show either being dragged silently around in the snow on a sledge, or daydreaming in the roots of a magic tree. Well, as any GoT viewer must have felt tempted to interject: “Quite a lot of people, frankly.” But to highlight one in particular: Bran’s elder sister, Sansa, whose own story saw her survive Joffrey, win the Battle of the Bastards, save Jon Snow, avenge herself on Ramsay Bolton, outwit Littlefinger – and end up as the sole surviving character to have demonstrated competence in actually running anything. And with that, more or less immediately, all the episode’s tension and drama tumbled away. The key event, Jon Snow’s assassination of Daenerys, arrived so early, and was carried out so straightforwardly, that it felt unsatisfying, even bathetic. At the same time, though, I did worry, just a little, that after such a spectacular showdown, the remaining three episodes were at risk of anticlimax.Īs it turned out, their fate was far, far worse.Īfter the mess of The Bells came The Iron Throne, a finale that somehow managed to seem both rushed and sluggish, with a final twist that was both puzzling and underwhelming.
It feels like another age now, but just three weeks ago, I was raving over The Long Night. The story could go on forever.Īfter the dismaying calamity that was season eight, though: would we actually want it to? There will always be new dangers, new enemies, new wars. After all, a land like Westeros can never truly be at peace there will always be would-be assassins, plotting to steal the crown for themselves. And even if it did end, the show runners could always just take a break for a couple of years, while the fans howled for more – and then pick up the story where it had left off. So certain was I of its brilliance, I used to argue that there was no real need for Game of Thrones to end.
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