Game of Thrones

I wasn't planning for writing something on "Game of Thrones" (I generally avoid series - it's just too complicated). Still, the latest episode in the final season provided such a good opportunity for a quick entry that I can't miss it :) And since what I'm watching lately is mostly TWD or old Hong Kong stuff after midnight as a zolpidem replacement for falling asleep, I'm not seeing any better option coming this week. So... Disclaimer: this is not a series review - no intro, no story summary, it's just an opinion on the current status of season 8 ( very soon to be obsolete :) ).

It seems that the current, last GoT season managed to gather some "hate", culminating with "The Bells" = the episode when Daenerys, the mother of dragons, just snaps, and decides to slaughter all life in King's Landing. Stuff that's apparently so outrageous, and to which we also add some collateral disappointment, to lower GoT in IMDb Top Rated TV Shows from 2 to 4, with ratings around an average 6 for the unfortunate episode compared to ~9.5 for all time, and accompanied by plenty of websites claiming that the script is a lousy mess.

Let's make it brief and efficient: The writing is not that bad, it's just lazy... Let's just take as granted the producer's decision to end it in 6 episodes (honestly I think even less was possible - there's plenty of artificial filling also in these 6). Not having more material, it's again something that's on the side of "lazy writing". But why isn't that bad... Taking just three points: a) the Hound vs the Mountain; b) Cersei and Jaime vs the bricks; c) Daenerys vs Daenerys (let's keep the best for the last :P).

a) the Hound vs the Mountain - There was a long expected clash between the two (long enough to get its own name: Cleganebowl), and probably it was frustrating to not have it. The issues here seems to come from two sides: the context of a confrontation and the fact that both die. For the first, maybe there would've been indeed better to link the fight to a more serious motivation than just a simple clash to the death - there were speculations for a "trial by combat" as we've seen in the past (from this perspective - the Mountain vs the Viper sticks to probably the most remarkable 1vs1 of GoT). For the second part though: 1) what future could have had the Hound after? everything is about revenge and as bad as that is it's accepted consciously by the character - at least that's what we get from the short dialogue with Arya, and 2) as a nuance you have the choice of jump into fire as a last step for somebody with a fear of fire - not that bad writing ;)

b) Cersei and Jaime vs the bricks - It seems that somewhere in the novels we have a prophecy telling that the last woman of the Lannisters dies by the hand of a smaller brother, a reason for complaining on why Jamie's job was done by the bricks. 1) Maybe I'm wrong, but we actually don't have this particular prophecy in the series, so it had all the right to not fulfill. 2) However, we do have this ending in the series. Really. Maybe it's too subtle to be obvious. Who leads Cersei to a dead end ( pun intended :) ) ? I find this actually very good writing (what would spoil it would be to see both of them surviving somehow... we've just seen falling bricks there, right?)

c) Daenerys vs Daenerys - It's obvious the intention of producers for a shift from a positive to a villainous character from the moment when the mother of dragons finds about another living Targaryen, and doesn't seem to give up on her claim for the throne, but to try securing it even more. So, it was sort of predictable. How can you make a transition to evil/mad character in just 2-3 episodes, in a convincing manner? The fact that the burning carnage had such an impact to the public and generated so much "hate" looks to me like a great success for the "convincing" part. So again: good writing :) (the transition being too fast... well: lazy - but I said, we take as granted the 6 episodes length).

What's left? We'll see in a couple of days but the most predictable seems the theory of only one Targaryen left, and his name is not Daenerys. Just that she dying from somebody else's sword would seem to me a bit anti-climactic in the ending. Spoilers for what I don't know yet :)) : My bet, is that in the last episode, she will be given a final sane moment to redeem herself. Maybe something like a final "Dracarys", face to face with her own dragon ;)