I get it. This season was about love, won and lost: Jamie and Cersei, and Tyrion. Dany and Jorah. Dany and Jon. Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, with a little throwback to Oberyn. Olenna and Margery. Sansa and Arya and Bran. Rhaegar and Lyanna and Ned and Robert Baratheon. Lysa, Catelyn and Little Finger. Thormund and Brienne and The Hound. Yara, Theon and Euron. Sam and Gilly. All of them doing whatever it takes to keep those they love safe; all of them letting love be the beginning and the end of the Seven Kingdoms and the Iron Throne.
It was also a little about making a point of telling the audience you read their memes and can do fan service. I enjoyed breaking the fourth wall even if the subtlety was lost on most of the viewers. Shame. Shame. Shame.
After watching the season 7 finale, the love angle didn’t do it for me during this short and not impressive romp through Westeros. I needed more fantasy show theatrics: direwolves, magic, Night King backstory/motivation and dragons. Olenna and Cersei dropped some serious mikes but it wasn’t enough to satisfy my lust for revenge and treachery. I needed more Fire and Blood to fully immerse myself into the content especially after the leaked and flawed story arcs. You should have countered the hacks by reshooting or editing the footage to prove the suckers wrong.
By the way, why did the main characters all of a sudden turn into potty mouths? Why are the writers employing foul language during important dialogue? Tsk tsk. The beautiful wordplay I grew accustomed to hearing during crucial debates was replaced by the mundane and ordinary language of cocks and fuck yous. You walked away from the intellectual formula to close out the story quickly and cheaply. It felt dirty, in a bad way. Nevermind that the books are still the cannon, all of the posturing and words made popular by the series will be remembered and preferred by the masses. I’m going to have to live with this until the end of my days. Meh.
Predictable tropes and dialogue aside, Martin’s work deserved better. Killing off Little Finger was total fan service. It didn’t shock or awe me, and it went against the Starks grain. Ned taught his daughters that the person that passes the sentence has to swing the sword. Arya should have known better than to act on behalf of Sansa. Blood needed to be drawn by the Lady of Winterfell for this scene to pop and matter. On top of that we all knew The Wall had to come down and that the Targaryens mate with each other so Jon’s true lineage shouldn’t put a damper on things. Dany’s pregnancy and the death of Jon should make for good TV, if Season 8 can get it together and really go for it.
Dust off Lyanna Mormont, get Jorah to Bear Island and let them have at it. I needed more of her and less of Bran brooding ominously. All this conjecture about the new Three Eyed Raven being the Night King is starting to bore me. He can’t interfere or we can have another Hodor in our hands. Soooo…if Bran only good for validating the J = L + R theory, why are we keeping him alive? To check a box? His powers are too cool to be laying in wait. Develop him already, damn it! Also, Sam should have given Gilly credit. Martin would have done so. After all, this is a feminist story, let us not forget that HBO.
I got to give you kudos on the undead “Ice Dragon” sequence. However, make sure Danaerys actually says his name, Viserion, instead of calling her “dragon” in the future. The fallen child is not no one, and he deserves better than being mentioned as a byline. She lost a CHILD and there was 0 emotion displayed. No memorial, nothing. This is why the drama feels rushed and fake. Y’all are not taking time to let the raw emotions be processed as they should. Even Westworld leans on the emotional to portray its robot citizens! Geez. Get your act together!
Sincerely,
A fan with lots of Ice and Fire towards Season 7 and 8, until redeemed.
P.S. How come y’all are making millions off this series and yet cannot spring enough dough to fearure dragons and CGI at the same time? I feel like I am taking crazy pills…
Mrs. Enginerd - Nerd Whisperer 