REVIEW #237 Game of Thrones (S8)

Now season 8 is definitely the season fans can all agree on, it’s the weakest season in the show. I don’t actually think the overarching storyline was bad, I appreciated the route they took with the Night King and although I would have loved Jon and Daenerys to end up ruling together, I understand the direction they went in, it made sense! I’ll go more into the writing and the story a little later in the review. My biggest criticism, like many others, is that they simply just rushed the whole thing, reducing the episode count, once again, this time to 6 episodes. I know the episodes were slightly longer but I can’t help but feel like it needed more. George RR Martin himself revealed he asked for at least two more seasons to bring everything to a close, this didn’t happen and that’s why fans were given an abrupt conclusion to a universe that they came to love.

The cinematography, for the most part, was amazing! Producing some incredible shots and more than a few amazing set pieces. If only they could have just improved the lighting for the battle against the army of the dead. We could barely see anything! I know they wanted to create a horror vibe and replicate what the soldiers themselves were seeing but I would have preferred to actually see the ultimate battle of the entire show a little more clearly! The musical score has always impressed in Game of Thrones but the way they utilised it to symbolise Daenerys slowly losing her sanity was genius. It unnerved the audience and combined with the well planned close up shots and Emilia Clarkes wonderful expressions, it really illustrated that descent into madness. You can also take nothing away from the actors, their performances remained strong. I could highlight so many on an individual level but I think it’s best just to compliment them all because they were faultless. From wonderful duologues to beautifully executed combat choreography, it was all very impressive and that helped fuel an emotional ending for their characters and the show.

Now I will go into the writing and the different plots that were present in the finale season, tackling the big talking point first. Having Daenerys turn out just like her father made sense, the dragon Queen displayed subtle signs of that throughout most of the seasons and although I think that was an obvious route to go down, it still made for an epic conclusion. However, I believe a much bigger twist was witnessing Jon kill her and not killing the Night King, something the show had been building up for years. Instead Arya achieved that, which I didn’t mind at all. Her arc is incredible and at least it helped surprise the audience. On the other hand, we never get to see her kill Cersei… which has been her ultimate goal from the beginning. So although the fans would have loved to have seen Jon and Arya fulfil their original destinies, I do think the final route still worked okay. That being said, seeing Cersei and Jamie crushed in a romance fuelled conclusion…I didn’t like that, the wonderful villain that is the evil Cersei Lannister deserved to go out fighting and Jamie Lannister’s story deserved to end with pride but instead his amazing character arc that the show spent years building, came tumbling down (pun intended) when he reverted back to his old ways. 

We also witness Bran being made King of the SIX kingdoms and Sansa being crowned Queen of the North. The decision for Bran is nothing short of abysmal, it’s a terrible choice. Not only did he consistently say he doesn’t ‘want’ anymore, but he also states he’s isn’t much of anything anymore, just the three eyed raven. Well on that basis, how can he rule? Never mind the fact they actually made him slightly arrogant in the end; “why do you think I came all this way”, well Bran sure changed his tune! His whole story was wasted, do we ever get an explanation for what the three eyed ravens real purpose is? “The memory of men” give me a break, having the Night King risk everything to destroy him, on the basis that he wants to destroy memories… That’s terrible writing! What’s next if the Night King had won, visiting every town to burn all the record books? Sansa’s story on the other hand, had a fitting conclusion. Queen of the North, it works really well and is deserved after all she’s been through. Even if the writers did do her an injustice by making her bitter and deceitful towards the end. So to wrap this review up, I don’t think season 8 is as bad as some people make out. It still has a lot to enjoy and the impressive acting and cinematography still remains. But it’s clear that in the rush to wrap everything up, the writers made a number of poor decisions that simply didn’t make sense. Do I think they’re solely to blame? No the studio should have green lit more seasons, the actors shouldn’t have been in such a rush to leave and move on to other projects and perhaps GRRM should have put his foot down more, who knows. But this is what we got and unfortunately we have to live with it!

Overall (6.5/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan