I wanted to like this episode, I really did. Maybe the writers would make sense of the rushed actions that they had taken all season long. I thought that we would have a payoff at the end that felt good.
But really, I just felt confused and broken – like Bran, maybe.
Here is my review of the last episode of Game of Thrones – The Iron Throne.
Spoilers are Coming!
The Aftermath of Kingslanding
The episode started just like the third episode of the season, with silence. Tyrion, John, and Arya all move about the burned remains of the city separately. We as the viewer get to see all the death and destruction that Daenerys and Drogon caused in the last episode.
It is chilling. And slow. I just wanted the show to get on with it. I wanted answers. Maybe that was my fault, but the painfully slow start was needed to show the city and the people in in the aftermath of the destruction.
John approaches Grey Worm as he is set to execute Lannister soldiers. He tries to stop them saying that there has been enough bloodshed, but Grey Worm doesn’t really care. He has lost the one thing that he loved in all the world and he isn’t being forced to deal with it. Plus, he has orders from the Queen to kill them.
Davos, one of the wisest characters that hasn’t really jumped the ship to this point yet, tells John to go talk to the Queen. We all know that’s not going to work though. And remember, we haven’t seen the queen since midway through the last episode, when she decided to burn them all.
Meanwhile, Tyrion searches through the rubble for his family. It is a sad scene, and even sadder when he finds Jaime and Cersei. While there hasn’t been any love loss between Tyrion and his sister, Tyrion still finds a moment to mourn the loss of his family. It is the most pressing and emotional scene for quiet some time.
Arya, who seemingly has lost the horse that she rode out on yesterday, stumbles around the city.
All Hail The Queen
Okay, so this is where stuff starts getting even more wonky. Despite the fact that John left first, we see him climbing the steps towards his queen and Grey Worm is already there. When last we saw Grey Worm, he was cutting throats and looking mean. How in the world did he get over to the stairs where Dani was about to make her speech? I’ll save that for a top 5 questions of the week though.
Arya has made her way over as well.
But we really focus on Tyrion. He climbs the stairs with his face tight and focused. He’s not happy. Then Daenerys appears in one of the coolest visuals of the entire series. The camera is panning up as she walks out. Behind her,
Finally, our Queen speaks. She addresses the remaining Unsullied and Dothraki (although I thought they all died in the battle for Winterfell). She tells them that she had liberated Kingslanding and that they will continue until everyone is liberated. While it sounds well and good to liberate everyone, the liberation that she did on Kingslanding didn’t really free anyone.
Tyrion has enough. He quits being the Hand of the Queen, throwing his badge down the stairs. Dani doesn’t want anyone disrespecting her, so she calls him out for being a traitor by releasing his captured brother (how she knows that, we don’t really know) to which he responds “I freed his brother, but you slaughtered a city.”
She has him restrained by the Unsullied, but not before he can share a look with Jon Snow. I think everyone but Jon knew what would happen at that moment. He might have even known, but he wasn’t ready for it. This scene sets up Dani as the Evil. She wants to liberate, but is she any better than any of the men or woman that have sat on the Iron Throne?
Arya and Jon have a moment just after Tyrion is taken away, further cementing the seeds in Jon’s mind. Arya gets the line of the night
“Came to kill Cersei. Your Queen got there first.”
She also asks Jon what he thinks the queen will do to him since she knows his true heritage.
We would like to think so. We’ve spent so much time with her over the years. She’s freed slaves and become a strong woman through the years. That’s what makes her turn so hard to swallow. The writers rushed through everything so quickly.
The Dwarf in the Cell
For some reason which completely goes over my head, Jon is permitted to talk to the captured Tyrion. Tyrion, who is locked in a cell because he is a traitor is allowed to speak with the person that could be the rightful heir to the throne, and this is allowed to happen. I don’t understand it. These people are smarter than this.
It also actually tries to put some reason behind some of the questionable choices that the writers have made. Jon sums up everything that has happened to the Dragon Queen, almost justifying her actions. These added lines help the audience through some of the questions about the actions the queen took. It doesn’t excuse the lazy writing though. These moments would have been more powerful if it had been set up better.
In an emotional and poignant scene, Jon and Tyrion discuss love and duty. We all know that Jon is going to do something about Emperor Dani. He has to. Still, the emotions are rare and real here. It’s a well-acted scene, and we are really left to wonder what will happen with Jon and Tyrion.
Tyrion’s fate, in particular, is brought into question. Will he live to see the death of the Queen he has believed in for so long? Regardless, this is the most character work done in a while. Tyrion puts Jon to a question, a problem, that he’s known that he would have to undertake for a while now, and we get to see how he reacts.
The Iron Throne
The second coolest shot sees Jon walking towards the Iron Throne and
Jon goes to the throne room to find Dani looking at the Iron Throne. She mentions her memory from being little to humanize her to the audience. She even delivers the story with a smile.
Jon doesn’t seem to care and cuts straight to the issue. That she killed so many people and that she isn’t forgiving. He goes so far to beg her, but she “can’t hide behind small mercies.”
Dani is starting to think that she is the only one that can bring peace. She thinks that what she is doing is the right thing, but she is starting to sound more insane than ever.
Then they kiss. Jon actually seems into it as he says that she is his queen, now and for always. Then he runs a knife through her heart and instantly regrets it.
Here, I had two major issues. If Jon did just kill Dani, unless he controls
More importantly though, by murdering Daenerys Jon just became as bad as everyone else that has tried to claim the throne. It was a character move that I wasn’t expecting. Since the turn last week, I figured that Jon would have to be the one to stop her, but it wasn’t until he actually killed her that I felt like it was the wrong move.
But I also didn’t expect it to happen the way it did either.
Dragons know more than we do
As if he could sense his mother’s life draining from her,
He sends blast after blast at the chair of swords until it melts. Then he picks up his mother’s dead body and flies off.
Pets always add needed emotion to the scene and his reaction is amazing, if not questionable. Why didn’t attack Jon?
And really, that’s the first third of the episode.
Prisoner Knows Best
We cut forward a few weeks (you can tell by Tyrion’s beard) to find our favorite dwarf still alive but in captivity. The Unsullied come to collect him for reasons and take him to a council meeting.
All of the still standing houses have gathered to discuss what comes next for Westeros and for some reason Tyrion is brought to that meeting – in chains. They discuss that Jon has been taken prisoner by the Unsullied.
But really, they need to figure out who will lead them, but not before threats are thrown out. Davos, the speaker of wisdom, cuts through the war and makes a plea, to find a better way.
Tyrion tries to jump in, but is quickly put in his place by Grey Worm who shouts “You are not here to speak!” but then lets him pretty much run the meeting.
Sam stands up and recommends that they become a democratic republic and is then laughed away. So they must find a King and everyone turns to Tyrion.
Tyrion recommends Bran the Broken, because apparently, that’s his new nickname, as the king. He says that Bran knows all the stories and is fair and should be the rightful ruler. Everyone on the internet let out a giant “Huh? Him?”
I get the argument, but I felt like Bran was pretty much off the table because of his powers, but we don’t really know what powers the Three-eyed raven has. While it all makes sense, it just doesn’t seem like the choice that needed to be made here. Bran had pretty much been in the background for forever.
Do I think Jon was the right one to rule? At the end, no. I’m not sure who I would have selected being in that spot though. Maybe if the story had unfolded in a different way, Jon might have made a great king.
But it’s not a 100% vote. Sansa has issues with Bran not being able to have kids – because he’s disabled? But Tyrion mentions how bad princes are. Regardless, Bran is selected as the king.
Sansa takes the North Independent because of reasons and Jon Snow will be sent to the Night’s Watch again. But I don’t really know what they are watching anymore.
The Return of the Endings
What follows is just slow wrap up of the stories. That’s right, I said slow.
- Arya decides to go explore what is west of Westeros.
- Sansa is the Queen of the Northern Independent Collective,
- Bran is King
- Jon goes North
- Grey Worm sails for Naath, Missandei’s home island.
- Davos, Sam, Bronn, Brienne, and Tyrion all become part of Brann’s council.
The best sense of closure from the episode comes from Jon reuniting with Ghost and actually petting him.
And that’s pretty much how it ends.
Endings are tough
End something like Game of Thrones is difficult. I’m sure if they had to do it over again after hearing some of the objections the fans have, the writers might do things differently. Maybe not too.
To me, the ending just felt hollow. I feel like most of the season was rushed through so that we could wrap up these stories. However, most of these stories didn’t wrap up the way you might expect. Normally, that might be okay, but here with ten years of background and character stories, things just seemed to happen just to happen. Not all of the character arcs really paid off and society wasn’t really affected by them.
So after watching, I felt like this episode really lacked in almost everything.
But really, I’m just glad that I’m not the one that had to end this (however, I might take a stab out reworking the entire season later).
What did you think of the final episode? What do you wish had ended differently? Did you think Bran is the best choice for the throne? let me know in the comments.
Check out my reviews of the other episodes of the season:
A Knight of the 7 Kingdom – Episode 2