rogueslayer452 | (Reply)

From:

You know, I've had this comment in my inbox for like a year. I was going to make a GoT post, as I said, but then I just couldn't be bothered. What's the point of doing it with comments off, and there's no way I'm opening up comments. And at this point (even at the time) everything I could possibly say has already been said. So no post.

I'm sure you've seen Lindsay Ellis' two videos on the GoT ending by now. She lays out everything I hated, much more eloquently.

We're supposed to see Dany as "mad" or "bad" and all of her previous brutal actions are evidence of this, etc. EXCEPT every other character on the show (even the "good" ones) has done just as bad. Arya made people into pies! We're allowed to cheer for that, but nor for Dany killing the slavers. Okay. Everyone in the show operates on a medieval standard of brutality, but we're only supposed to judge Dany for it.

Jon being the true heir was a HUGE fucking deal until it wasn't. If he could have just fucked off North anyway, why couldn't Dany have the throne? When she was alive it was UNSPEAKABLE to not recognize the true king, but after she's dead, NBD to elect a king and let the true king go away. Why is this suddenly an option?

Electing the king was a joke. The bantering of the small council at the end was painful. THESE are the people the realm is left to? Bronn? Really?! So much of the show seemed to be about breaking the cycle, and okay, so we chose the king now, but it's a pretty bleak outlook. The common people have just had their city destroyed, and the council is already bickering about money. This was never a show where "things go on more or less the same" feels like a fitting ending.

In the same vein, Dany's story being about subverting expectations feels like a retcon. The way the show treated her, presented her, and framed her--well, it was like Jon. It felt like a hero's journey. It never felt like it was supposed to be a subversion. Of course, I can't really think of a good subversion at the moment to compare it to. The best I have is Will Graham, who is ostensibly the good guy of the show, and who is definitely presented that way to the viewer, and then he starts to slide, dragging the viewer along with him, even though you're still rooting for him all the while. Dany's story felt like one thing until they decided to pull the rug out from under it at the last minute.

Not sure why Arya was so concerned about Dany when she talked to Jon and Sansa (about Dany not being "one of us") when SHE was also going to fuck off to nowhere. Arya's ending was a thing that I actually liked, but if she's planning on abandoning her family, what does it matter who her family is hanging out with?

As Lindsay said, smart characters got real STUPID in the last season.

And finally, the dragon destroys the throne because ~~obvious symbolism~~ I'm sure the dragon just hated it for some reason.