There are many who will state that Game of Thrones season 8 is the worst season of the series. And, to be honest, they’re not wrong. However, let’s not blame the season as a whole, or even the way it came to an end.
The real horror of the season was the execution. If developed well, then the ending of Game of Thrones could and probably would have made perfect sense. There were expectations set up from the beginning that the show that simply needed to be paid off, and even with the twists and turns that we got from bitter showstoppers like Ned Stark’s execution and the Red Wedding, eventually, good did have to win out.
Game of Thrones rushed and failed to stick the landing
The failure of the Game of Thrones characters started back in season 7, as the format of the show changed. Going from 10 episodes a season to just seven and then to just six by season 8 made it clear that there wouldn’t be enough time to tell such an intricate story.
Let’s just look at the first six seasons, and especially the first five. While there were some individual arcs that started to drag, the episodes themselves weren’t boring. There were many other arcs to connect to, and characters to support. We watched the highs and the lows, and the slow development of the characters was there.
Then season 7 happened, and everything turned on its head. The reduced number of episodes meant less time to craft a story, so when it came to sticking the landing, it just didn’t work. There wasn’t the time to be able to show how characters could change.
Sure, there were hints that Daenerys Targaryen was always meant to be the Mad Queen, but nothing was concrete enough until she got to King’s Landing. It was there that she started to lose everything and everyone around her, and what should have been a slow descent felt like a complete 180 in her character.
Some of the twists just didn’t make sense
Then there were the twists added in to make us stay on our toes, and maybe just to get us talking about the show. These types of twists didn’t necessarily make sense, and part of that was the lack of time. Without the space to build to these sudden turns, they felt like they came out of left field.
Let’s talk Jaime Lannister for this one, who had some of the best character development throughout Game of Thrones. Suddenly, in the end, it all changed, and he went straight back to Cersei. It ended with his death with Cersei in his arms, and it was a moment that made zero sense and wiped out everything that we loved and respected of him.
Now, had the show had time to give us a look at how he was wavering now and then, it would be different. If there was even a hint that Cersei wanted Jaime to come back, or if there had been some sort of talk of family loyalties, then maybe, it could have made sense. But the execution of season 8 failed Jaime considerably.
There’s also the twist of Bran becoming King of King’s Landing. There was all this buildup of Bran becoming the next Three-Eyed Raven, and it was because of him that the Night King was able to get past the Wall. Yet, somewhere between returning from North of the Wall to Winterfell, he had become a robot of himself, which didn’t make sense when you consider the personality that the original Three-Eyed Raven actually had.
There was no hint of this happening, and there was no development to even show it possible. Throw in the fact that suddenly Tyrion Lannister had the idea of making King’s Landing a somewhat democratic state, and you completely lose what Game of Thrones was originally about. Tyrion’s suggestion was something nobody had ever considered, and good execution would have had him pondering this topic with others, such as Varys or even Jaime and Brienne, before being imprisoned.
Maybe it was seeing the destruction of King’s Landing and the loss of his siblings that led to his thoughts on the matter, but then something needed to be shown to tell us that. We needed to have that moment of his realization that the thirst for power corrupts people, because before that, he seemed more than willing to advise others how to rule.
Too many plots forgotten from Game of Thrones
I will always stand by the idea that Game of Thrones should have ended with the battle against the Night King. The Starks would have fallen and retreated at the Battle of Winterfell, and winter would have reached King’s Landing. Suddenly, the Night King would have been a much bigger threat to the whole of King’s Landing, and everyone would have had to come together and find a way to deal with the aftermath.
Sure, the Night King could still be destroyed, but he should have been a much bigger threat in the final season. After all, Game of Thrones started with the White Walkers proving to be a scary force that had a loyal man betraying his oath to the Night’s Watch.
It was just one of the many plot points forgotten about in the final season. After years of speculating that Jon Snow was actually the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, the plot ended up leading to nothing. The idea of Bran being the Three-Eyed Raven was somewhat pointless and forgotten about, except to lure the Night King to Winterfell. The prophecy of Cersei Lannister dying at the hands of one of her brothers was just another story of the past.
The season as a whole didn’t fail the characters. It was the execution of a complex storyline years in the making that failed everyone and everything. And while I still won’t say it is the worst ever final season of a series — I have genuinely seen worse — it has become one of the most anticlimactic endings because of how badly the final two seasons were executed.
Game of Thrones is available to stream on HBO Max.