Before I get to this week’s finale of Game of Thrones, I want to share what I think is the perfect analogy for what’s happened to this show over the past three seasons. It comes from – of all places – Scientific American, which ran an analysis of the series this week. Among many points, it described Benioff & Weiss’ attempts to finish the series as “eating ice cream with a fork”. I take it a little differently than it was intended, I’m sure, but it really fits my view of what’s become of Game of Thrones.
In effect, George Martin gave D & D a big dish of ice cream, which had been safely stored in the freezer for four seasons. But when that season ended the ice cream came out of the freezer, and Martin didn’t give them a spoon – he kept that for himself. As the remainder of the show has played out it’s progressively melted, each season getting runnier and runnier, until the tines became unable to hold any of it. That ice cream would have been delicious if you could eat it with a spoon, but someone only possessed of a fork is ill-equipped to deal with what’s in the dish. But Benioff & Weiss kept trying, with increasingly disastrous results. In the end we got to lick a few sweet dregs off that fork, but the ice cream mostly ended up as a bowl of gloop rinsed down the drain.
Here’s the best I can say about “The Iron Throne”: I hated it less than I expected to. And I hated it less than “The Bells”, which was definitely the low point of the series for me. The actual placement of the chess pieces at the end wasn’t bad at all, and there were some interesting notions bandied about in the finale. The problem lies in how we got here, which was so absurd and clumsily handled that it’s impossible to take any of this seriously.
I mean, you’ll have to take my word for it if you’ve never read the books because you’d never believe it based on the TV, but Bran is the best character in the series. His journey is the most interesting, and he’s the one (and only) character whose arc successfully spans both the fantasy and historical sides of the story. In a vacuum Bran the Broken as ruler of the Six Kingdoms is a fine result, and if you’ll told me that in 2015 I’d have been thrilled. But because D & D robbed Bran of his humanity and his journey of all its poetic power, it feels like an asspull to make him king. I believe GRRM intends to end the series with Bran on the throne (well, not that throne) if he ever gets there, but his road to get there will be a damn sight different than the one the TV series took.
As for the rest of it, it’s a mixed bag at best. Jon killing Dany, OK – I guess I can buy that. Drogon being the one to literally “break the wheel” by melting the Iron Throne – I could definitely see that being a Martin thing, too (there’s a symmetry to it to be sure). And one could hardly argue that the most admirable characters in the story – Davos, Brienne, Samwell – won’t make a wonderful council for the new king (with good old Bronn for comic relief). But again, because of the shortcuts – and no-cuts – that D & D took to get here, it just feels like fanservice. Tyrion, Sam, Davos, Brienne and Bronn as the high council? If that had been earned – as is the case with King Bran – it would have been a cause to celebrate.
Sam’s paean to democracy felt like fanservice, too, though I suppose someone had to say it. As did Ghost showing up at The Wall, though at least that means Jon leaving without a real goodbye to him isn’t the last we see of him. There was a nice symmetry to Jon leaving King’s Landing in exile to the Night’s Watch, just as Ned was supposed to do – and indeed, there was a feeling that it might end similarly. Frankly I have a hard time believing Grey Worm wouldn’t have killed Jon immediately, but that’s as may be. Jon was very much his father’s son, even if Ned wasn’t his father – naive, impractical, decent to the core but too straight-laced for his own good. At least he found the courage to end Daenerys the way he did, which I doubt Ned would have ever done.
I don’t mourn Dany or the way her arc too was mauled by D & D so much, because she’s pretty much a disaster even in A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin doesn’t seem to know any better than Benioff and Weiss what to do with her, though he can hardly do worse – maybe he’ll use GoT as a cautionary note. No, if anything I’m just happy she didn’t end up on the throne, because even as detached as I’ve become towards the TV series, that would have been a bitter pill to swallow.
As I said, I’m kind of OK where the actual pieces landed, if not remotely with how they got there. I would have liked to see the Seven Kingdoms split up altogether, but Bran as king with no heir (though there’s a flaw in Tyrion’s logic, as Three-Eyed Ravens supposedly live a thousand years) isn’t bad. Sansa refusing to acknowledge her own brother as king was a bit silly, but again, it’s fanservice to have her refuse to acknowledge anyone else as her sovereign. At least Arya didn’t magically appear to resolve everything with her blade this time, and going off on a dangerous journey into the unknown is a good fate for her. And Jon? Apparently he and Tormund are going to live as Wildlings north of The Wall, which is certainly a twist. It’s not a bad destiny for him to be honest – he would have hated being king even more than Bran will. And if the wheel must be broken, his being a Targaryen is a moot point.
And so it ends – the only ending for this saga we have for now, at the very least for many years, and most likely ever. Benioff and Weiss are off to burn the carcass of Star Wars that Rian Johnson and J.J. Abrams left behind, and HBO will cook up their prequels to keep playing this gold mine. It was a hell of a ride, one of the biggest cultural phenomena in TV history (maybe the biggest). And while it’s easy to forget now, for a while Game of Thrones was some of the best television we’ve ever seen. The cast, even when the shark was jumped, was always astonishing. When they had great material to work with they were sublime. For me, the high point of Game of Thrones was probably the wonderful interplay between Pedro Pascal and Peter Dinklage, and the utterly fascinating machinations of the peerless Charles Dance as Tywin. It’s all been downhill since then, but the slope has gotten a lot steeper the closer we came to the end.
Marty
May 20, 2019 at 10:29 pmWelp, considering the rate the books are going, I’m genuinely afraid this might be the only conclusion to A Song of Ice and Fire.
But yeah, season 4 was the point was of GoT for me.
Arabesque
May 20, 2019 at 10:57 pmHell of a ride.
For a series that I started reading as a teenager, and then watched as a young adult and onward for the best part of a decade, it is hard to imagine it would have ended like this. You are right that this will in all likelihood be the only ending we will ever get. GRRM’s answer in regard to WoW still being written and ADoS not even being planned yet guarantees that there will not be an ending on that front.
WoW will be out for sure, it had been promised to the publisher side for far too long, and even if Martin decides to drag his legs further with it, the publisher will try everything in their power to get that book after nearly a decade of waiting. ADoS will not see the light of day however.
I do sort of want to rage against some of the most absurd parts of this finale (Such as the absurdity of Sansa getting to be queen of an independent North. Like, are Dorne and the Iron Islands going to also seeking secession from the 7 Kingdoms? Also, 7 Kingdoms is an acronym, there are more kingdoms as a whole in the union and it wouldn’t actually change the name like that. Also, referring to Bran by his epitaph is unlike every form of address used in the show, etc etc), but again, you are right in that this was the biggest and most iconic TV show in history (thus far?) and it really needs us to take a moment to consider just how popular and monumental this all was. The ending didn’t stick the landing because despite D&D having an idea of how each of the cast’s conclusions are, they had no idea about the road that was needed to get them there. And to be fair to them, Martin himself has no idea how to get there either! It is no secret that much of the issues that are stemming from the books taking so long to finish is that Martin came to the realization it wasn’t just Dany and her Meernesse Knot or whatever he calls it causing him issue. It was that the story had become far too unwieldy to bring back in only 2 or 3 more books.
Dany herself, the way that the story beats of her story had been presented, are ok. The execution itself had been godawful, but given that Martin himself has not clue about how to get Dany into being the Mad Queen that we see here, I can cut D&D some slack. I did like that Drogon had decided that the thing that killed his mother wasn’t actually Jon but rather the Throne itself, and so he destroyed it in retaliation. That was a nice point.
I was kind of hoping you would have made a separate post for the series review to take a look back on the series as a whole and its effect on culture worldwide and how it had changed across the years, but I do think that you touched on those points well enough.
I guess in the end of it all, I can say that Game of Thrones ended being more anime than I ever thought. How many anime (and manga) start of really strong on the writing side, but then as they become more and more popular they become engulfed by their success, become more dazzling on the production side as the writing takes a nose dive? Way too many to count. Also comparison to adaptation overtaking the source material and forced to come up with a conclusion on its own.
PS
I still can’t decide if the Ghost petting was a late minute addition or if they had seriously planned it that way expecting a reaction from Jon giving him the cold shoulder 2 episodes back. Either way, good on that it actually happened.
Guardian Enzo
May 20, 2019 at 11:28 pmI don’t think there were any last minute additions, I think all the filming wrapped many months ago. Ghost was always gonna show up.
I haven’t done a separate series review and finale post for anything in years, though I suppose GoT would merit it as much as any show could. Maybe I’ll find some time to do something in the next couple of weeks.
GC
May 21, 2019 at 2:57 amNor wishing ill will on Martin but he isn’t a young man. I will be shocked if he ever manages to finish the series before he passes on.
No one
May 20, 2019 at 10:59 pmThe chess pieces fell in the right places. The game was rigged along the way though. Splitting season 7/8 hurt the pacing as I feared, but thankfully the finale was the best episode in three years.
LGrey
May 20, 2019 at 11:10 pmLord Varys, dead as he may be, still has amusing presence when Tyrion qoutes him.
“See, I’ve told you.”
Meta enough?
Krize
May 21, 2019 at 1:52 amI really have to disagree with the sentiment that the Seven Kingdoms should be separated. For me, the hope throughout this series (The books really, not the show) is that the nation Aegon the Conqueror built will find a way to weather the war of five kings (And the war in the north) to continue forward as a cohesive whole, the identity of the westerosi people fundamentally altered by Aegon’s conquest and three centuries of Targaryen of rule such that the institution can continue beyond the death of it’s founding dynasty.
Like as not, Westeros is better off united under a symbol, be that the iron throne or something else that would replace it, but something absolutely must. Peace can become continental goal among united people bound to a central ruler, but can be no more than a fleeting thing between perpetually warring states. I highly doubt Martin is penning a story about how Westeros learns to be a democracy or anything approaching representative rule, so such we’re likely to see the present system continue, and I don’t see how people are better off balkanized into smaller kingdoms.
Dein
May 21, 2019 at 6:33 amWhat a strange journey it has been. Once again, I don’t know what sort of character Bran is in the books, but his TV version becoming king doesn’t make any sense. He’s a vegetable. How can he make any choices for the good of the realm? Why would he even try?
And I would agree – Oberyn and the actor playing him was my favourite part and also the most gut-wrenching for me. I have never been so emotionally scarred from the death of a tv character as I have with him. It really did break my heart. That whole arc represented the good parts of this show rather well. Wonderful characters that you really connected with and infuriating, traumatizing plot twists. The book readers also promised sweet closure in the form of the Sand Snakes, but from I understand the show kinda butchered that aspect of the story…
Thanks for all the work you did covering the series, Enzo!
Guardian Enzo
May 21, 2019 at 6:41 amYou’re very welcome. And yes, the whole Sand Snakes thing – while never the strongest part of ASoIaF – was another total butcher job by GoT.
The job they did on Bran is the pinnacle in that dept. though.
Nadavu
May 21, 2019 at 10:50 pmI haven’t watched a single episode of GoT. I want to read the books first, and I ain’t starting before they’re all out (been burned too badly by The Wheel of Time). I have been skimming through your reviews, just to get a general sense of the show is fairing, and well–I’m happy that I’m keeping myself for the books.
There’s no denying the huge cultural impact GoT had, regardless of how badly handled it came to be in the end. As an avid reader of fantasy, I’m happy that we finally got a hugely popular production that isn’t Tolkien or Harry Potter. There were even talks last year about Glen Cook’s The Black Company getting its own TV treatment! So yeah, I’m happy GoT got produce, but considering how badly recieved the last seasons were, I doubt I will ever get around to watching it.
Guardian Enzo
May 21, 2019 at 11:12 pmThat’d be a shame, because it’s full of one of the most brilliant casts ever and in the first four seasons, they really shine.
Plus, you know, the books are never going to be finished. Not by Martin, anyway.