Game of Thones: Put a Bow On It and Call It Done

A lot of critics and fans out think that season 8 of Game of Thrones wasn’t a satisfying conclusion to the epic story that was set up in the earlier year. Many stories — from the Night King’s invasion of Westeros to Cersei and Daenerys’ battle for the Iron Throne — seemed to end abruptly and in strange ways. Dany’s heel turn came on too suddenly and left a bad taste in many fans’ mouths. And Bran being named king because he has the “best story” just plain didn’t make sense.

I know some people who listen to the Take the Black podcast accuse myself and some of my cohorts of being negative just for the sake of it, or because “our theory wasn’t correct.” I don’t think that’s fair. For me, it’s never been about the destination but the journey. The Night King, Cersei, and Dany died in the span of four episodes. Two of those episodes focused on battles and fighting, without the buildup to make those scenes of carnage as meaningful as they could have been.

The pacing has been the root of all the show’s problems these last two seasons. It caught up to the show in a big way in season, resulting in easily the show’s worst reviews from fans and critics alike, even as viewership climbed higher than ever. That is not a good thing. And if you liked the final season or the finale, more power to you. But let’s not pretend that some small contingent of fans are mad at the season for suspect reasons and just shouting louder than anyone else, as happened with The Last Jedi. This was a reaction to the story we were given.

Many characters were given the short shrift, like the members of House Reed. Howland Reed was with Ned when he found Jon, Jojen died getting Bran to the Three-Eyed Raven, and Meera barely survived getting him back to Winterfell. That house played a key role, and it felt like an oversight when they weren’t even mentioned in the final season. And there are many examples like that.

The worst part is, by the final episode, the writers clearly knew that fans would be confused and up in arms about many of the decisions made, so they leaned hard on tropes to land the points that they couldn’t land narratively.