Every episode from the final season of Game of Thrones, ranked worst to best
By Dan Selcke
Image: Game of Thrones/HBO
73. “The Last of the Starks” Season 8, Episode 4
This was it. This was the moment many of us knew season 8 was going to disappoint us. Season 8’s opening episode, “Winterfell” was a mixed bag, but “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” was amazing, and while “The Long Night” had its issues, season 8 looked like it was heading in the right direction. And then came “Starks.”
The episode’s biggest problem is its rushed pace; it moves along much faster than we’re used to from this slow burn of a show. Think of Jaime and Brienne, who finally act on their romantic feelings only for Jaime to depart for King’s Landing five minutes later. Even having him leave one episode later would have let this dynamic breath a little, but “The Last of the Starks” is in too much of a rush. Or consider Varys, who apparently decides Daenerys isn’t up to ruling Westeros because she’s having a crappy time at a party.
There are small moments to enjoy — it’s good to see Arya and the Hound back together again, for instance, and the opening funeral scene is effective — but they were too far and between to overshadow the what felt like two episodes mashed together.
Image: Game of Thrones/HBO
You could point to small moments like the infamous coffee cup, or showrunner David Benioff’s comment about Dany “kind of forgetting” about the Iron Fleet as proof of the episode’s problems, but really it was more about pacing, and characters making confusing choices to serve the plot. We knew beforehand that the episode would start in Winterfell with the funerals and end with the deaths of Missandei and Rhaeghal, but I still couldn’t believe how quickly things moved.
Like most of season 8, it wasn’t the events themselves that were frustrating, but how the audience we were supposed to buy into them without being sold.