Needless to say, don’t read on if you haven’t watched the episode.
As you may be aware, I have the least informed opinions about this show, because I only watched last season, and I’m not even sure I watched all of it? But I love series-enders — I watched the Sopranos finale without having watched any of the rest of it — and so I picked up Game of Thrones specifically to see if this show does a better job with forewarning of its end than, say, the likes of Gossip Girl and Gilmore Girls and Girls and a whole horde of shows that do not have the word “Girl” in the title. And I thought Fug Nation might also want a place to talk about it all, so HAVE AT IT.
As for my Opinions From an Ignorant Viewer, which do not necessarily mean I didn’t enjoy it also:
– This episode felt very Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, but with zombies. It had lots of waiting for the arrival of evil, although in LOTR I think the Army of the Dead ends up fighting for good against the Orcs. It had a secondary character bursting into plaintive song, as did The Hobbit That Wasn’t Samwise or Frodo (Pip, right?). Even Jamie Lannister has a whiff of the Viggo about him. And there’s the Samwell/Samwise of it all.
— Kevin informs me that this was a good episode with enough satisfying character pairings and exposition that it really sets the table for any number of them to die. I believe him, and that does sound like the way to do it when you are getting in a land war in Westeros and going up against a Night King when death is on the line. Sansa and her dude have been reunited, so he could go; Arya had sex, which by horror movie conventions means she probably dies at some point; Jon and Dany know the truth and so she can die and become a zombie and ride with her crazy-ass undead dragon; etc.
– Y’all are going to have to help me with Bran, because he tests my patience like a kid who goes off to college and comes back at Christmas thinking he knows more than you stuffy adults do. I know he’s the Three-Eyed Raven or something, but why does he always come out with helpful information at the last second? When they were all strategizing, he was like, “Oh, right, the Night King? He’s totally coming for me, btw, and he always knows where I am,” and wouldn’t that have been nice to know before now? Does he just do all his supernatural seeing in extremely convenient windows of time? Does BranVision have a short turnaround? Like, thanks for the two scoops, Raven Bran, but breakfast needed to be served a week ago.
– Also, how come nobody spent any time strategizing how they were going to handle the massive zombie dragon?
— I’m also puzzled that neither Jon’s nor Daenarys’s reaction to his parentage seemed to be, “OMG I AM BANGING MY NEPHEW/AUNT”? Presumably SOME people are not into incest in Westeros, given that Jamie shoved Bran out a window to avoid going public with it. Perhaps I missed some unspoken subtext, or perhaps it’s simply telling that Dany’s main reaction was, “Dammit, you have a claim to the fancy chair.”
– Do we think the dead Starks are going to wake up, and Zombie Ned will need to be killed again, and that’s secretly why Sean Bean was hanging out at the premiere?
– I kind of hope Daenarys does become a zombie — I’m sure I’m supposed to call them something else, but whatever — but if that means Jon Snow gets the Iron Throne, I’m not super on board with that either. He’s boring to me. But he has also BEEN dead so maybe he can help with… you know, the deadness of it all.
– I’m going to assume they don’t all immediately die because Cersei didn’t show up this week, and there’s LOTS of unfinished business there.
– I am pleased that Arya seized control and got some from foxy Joe Dempsie Whose Character Name I Do Not Know, even if I have exactly zero sense of how old any of them are supposed to be. I’m sure if I’d watched her grow up, this would scandalize me, but I am free from those chains and so can root for consequence-free nailing.
– Sir Brienne forever!
YOUR TURN.
