S08.E06: The Iron Throne

[seacliffsal]

I was surprised by how much I loved this episode.  I felt it was a good send off of this show that I have watched from season 1 episode 1 (and have kept my HBO subscription to the show-even over the long hiatus; I will cancel my subscription after next week's documentary).

Although not a full democracy, they are heading that way.  More of a Parliamentary style government with the Lords/Ladies choosing the King/Queen which I would imagine would eventually include more and more people in the decision making process.

I was surprised to see Sam and Brienne in the Dragon Pit and then remembered that they were from major houses and inherited the titles/houses.  I really liked that Brienne finished Jaime's entry.

Lots of good feels for the episode (although there could have been a bit less narrative from Tyrion, but why cut his expositions now?).  I'm sure I'll add more tomorrow, but am going to head off to bed.

Just so you all know, I have really enjoyed the thread through all of the seasons and through all of the website changes... Whether I agreed or disagreed with your posts, I always enjoyed reading from them and appreciated varying perspectives.

[QuinnM]

12 minutes ago, Clanstarling said:

Oh, THAT's who that was. I had no idea. Thanks!

Actually Robin has possibilities.  Now someone tell who the dude on the far right was.  Pleas?

[easypeasy]

6 minutes ago, GSManiac said:

Damn Robin Arryan had a major glow up. Wow...

Didn't he? I wondered if it was the same actor.

5 minutes ago, kieyra said:

Fuck Bronn. 

I really hated that he got his castle and title at the end. Still as smug, annoying and pointless as ever.

How did they get rid of the Dothraki? Where did Drogon and Daenerys go? Interesting that the dragon realized that the Iron throne ultimately was responsible for his mother's death.

It was fine. I'll miss the show and most of the characters, but I'm glad I don't have to be conflicted about Sundays anymore.

[Kate47]

Re: Bran

[Gothish520]

Tyrion's alive, that's mostly what I cared about. Sweet.

[gooberfish]

I loved it. Nothing was what I predicted. Nothing. (Except maybe Dani getting  killed. I never liked her. She was way too strict.)

[Francie]

My favorite part:

Brienne writing Jaime’s good deeds in the White Book. At least one person found him honorable. 

And such penmanship!

Edited May 20, 2019 by Francie
I’m not sure which capital (city)/ capitol (building) Brienne meant. Unlike Stannis might have, I will give her the benefit of doubt.

[hypnotoad]

Quote

 this ep was almost worth it for the shot of Danerys walking towards the stairs and Drogon’s wings unfolding behind her.

That was a gorgeous shot for sure. Actually Emilia looked fantastic in her battle garb during that speech too.

I never heard of George RR Martin before this show - the fantasy genre is just one I am not into reading. I ended up watching season 1 on a whim really (I didn't really know what to start on Netflix and heard good things about this). I did expect Ned to be saved and was shocked when he wasn't and then I knew this was something different.

I started reading the books between season 1 and 2, though hadn't even made it to the Red Wedding when that aired - so totally shocked!

I will remember episodes like Hardhome, Battle of the Bastards and even A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. I will always remember the birth of the dragons.

The show was one of the best I have ever watched. The sheer size of everything made it wholly unique as far as TV shows go. I mean really when will we ever see a dragon take down a city again?!?

The cast was good and lots of times great. They had chemistry and made the material work even when some storylines were lacking.

This last season has been the worst as far as I am concerned - or at least the last 2.5 episodes have been really really bad. But you know we got an ending which is more than I expect we'll get from GRRM. It may not be the ending I wanted or imagined, but it's an ending.

Thank goodness Drogon lived and Ghost got a happy ending. And as far as we know Nymeria is still ruling with her pack.

Edited to add: and as much as I hated this last episode I will say I was thrilled to see the Stark's end up on top. Maybe not together but at least not dead!

Edited May 20, 2019 by hypnotoad

[UNOSEZ]

9 minutes ago, Leroux said:

You are not alone, come sit by me. 

I think that Ned would be mighty proud of his children and so am I. 

Ned raised 3 kings and a queen.. And his most talented child is about to be a pirate... Or explorer so.. Great Job Ned

[Kanner]

I have to say it Robin grew up very nicely. 

[Johnny Dollar]

Boooooringgg!!  And I thought the ending to LOTR was long and drawn out. 

Brienne writing about Jaime was basically Wikipedia. 

If the North could stay independent why couldn’t the other six kingdoms?  And why would the Northmen not want to bend a knee to Bran Stark?  

[Drogo]

2 minutes ago, Advance35 said:

I don't care about anything else. I'm just psyched Sansa is an honest to goodness Queen.  

Her dress was awesome.

Looked a whole lot like Cersei's wardrobe. 

[HunterHunted]

4 minutes ago, Growsonwalls said:

So ... what is Arya going to do? Wander the world and make new people on her kill list?

Ummmm....Explorer and Pirate Queen. 

Jon is the King Beyond the Wall. Sansa is the Queen in the North. Bran is the King of the Seven Six Kingdoms.

Edited May 20, 2019 by HunterHunted

[QuinnM]

14 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said:

You notice the only woman who got what she wanted was the one who said being raped and abused made her stronger

Arya got what she wanted. Brienne got most of what she wanted.  So not just Sansa.

[FierceCritter]

18 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

I don’t care how lonely my island gets. I loved this and will miss this show. 

I'll be there to keep you company. 

I consider this a personally satisfying ending. 

[lucindabelle]

Never going to learn more about the annulment, why rhaegar left ellia and Lyanna Stark behaved so dishonorably. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by lucindabelle

[lovetowrite73]

They left Nymeria out of the episode. WTF? 

[Francie]

1 minute ago, Kanner said:

I have to say it Robin grew up very nicely. 

Seriously!

I wonder if Sansa might be rethinking Lysa’s offer of a marriage. “Yo, you don’t seem so sickly, anymore.”

[screamin]

5 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Where exactly did Arya get the money for a crew and ship?

Bran commissioned her to discover America, I suppose. Though he could just take a long look and tell her what's there if he felt like it.

Edited May 20, 2019 by screamin

[Paws]

Quote

4 minutes ago, TigerLynx said:

I didn't like the finale, but it did amuse me that these idiots have learned nothing.  Did they ask the people in Westeros who are still alive (by some miracle) who they wanted be King or Queen or if they wanted that kind of ruler at all?  Nope.  They just appointed a new King, and are right back where they started.  All these morons accomplished was getting a lot of people killed.

Well, yes. That’s the point. This shit goes on and on. They talked about asking the common folk and then laughed themselseves silly , and then immediately started sniping at the council table.

[Bryce Lynch]

Practically every single beat of the episode was absurd, other than Jon doing what he had to do and killing Dany.

No way Bran would be made king or accept if offered.

Tyrion was a horrible hand, so Bran hires him.

Why is Bronn master of coin, when they need a master of war?

Grey Worm would have killed Jon.

Drogon would have killed Jon.

Brienne glorifying Jaime returning to his evil self and his evil relationship with his evil sister made me sick.

Jon sent to the wall makes no sense.  There is no longer a need for a NW.

[mjc570]

So Bron is the new Little Finger?  I'm assuming that Grey Worm is not really going to Naath, but up north to take out the former Jon Snow. 

Edited May 20, 2019 by mjc570

[chrisvee]

Well I generally hated it.

God help Westeros. Bran the Broken and Tyrion the Incompetent.

I’m glad Arya and Jon escaped. Who would have thunk that Tormund and his little crow would be the ship that sailed? Jon hugging Ghost was my high point. 

Glad Sansa was able to keep the North independent and I think she will rule well.

[Lady Iris]

I liked it. The goodbye scene with the Stark children made me verklempt. I am sad Dany went the way she did though. 

How many times have people in the North yammered and proclaimed so and so King/Queen of the North? Don’t get too comfy in the big chair Sansa. 

Ser Pod FTW!!!

Anyone else think Brienne was gonna write, “Survived by his son/daughter”? No? Just me? 

Edited May 20, 2019 by Lady Iris

[sistermagpie]

4 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

I'm also slightly confused on why there was only one layer of rock on Jaime and Cersei. Didn't like twenty stories of stone collapse on them last episode?

The real tragedy was they would have survived if they'd moved a few feet to the left.

3 minutes ago, Lillith said:

We'll have to agree to disagree. Sansa didn't credit her rape either, she was saying her suffering made her stronger. I will agree the line was clumsy as hell but that's how I took it. 

Yeah, to me she was obviously saying she owned the person she was now and wouldn't change it just to be innocent again.

This season still felt a lot to me like they wrote an outline and never really filled it in.

Did Dany tell Jon she expected the IT to look more like it did in the books?

Oh, also Arya sneaking up on Jon will never get old.

[mammaM]

"Sit down uncle"  Hahahahahahaha

And I don't know if this is what they wanted but I kept getting a "dread pirates roberts" vibe with arya 😂

[Sakura12]

13 minutes ago, Helena Dax said:

I also guess the Iron Islands will want their independence too, especially with Yara pissed by Dany's death.

When Sansa asked for that I'm surprised the rest Kingdoms didn't ask for the same. Then they could fight over that for years. But of course the North is so super special because of the Starks. And of course Bran would grant it, he is a Stark. 

[treeranchlady]

13 minutes ago, Drogo said:

I loved it.  

I did too!! 

[Daisy]

I have cookies for the "I enjoyed it." crowd.

There are some things i have issues with - but yah i can see the bitter-sweetness

 

[Hana Chan]

My feelings are a little mixed, and part of that I think comes just from having the level of expectations that no show could possibly meet. I was also disapointed by Avengers: Endgame, so there's that...

There were a lot of really good moments here. Dany, unquestionably, had to die. There was no question that she would have launched a reign of terror over the world because only she got to decide how people should live. And it was right that Jon fulfilled his greatest duty by saving the world. His reward... back to the wall where it looks like he was immediately made Lord Commander again and then went beyond the wall with the Wildlings. My headcannon is totally having him as Lord Commander of the Nights Watch and King Beyond the Wall. You can't talk me out of it. Go get yourself a girl kissed by fire, Jon. You've earned it.

Tyrion is stuck being Hand to a king that will be so lost up his own asshole that he's basically running the kingdom. We went in five minutes from watching GOT to CSPAN. Welcome to governence, folks. Boring and messy.

Loved Brianne ensuring that Jamie's entire legacy not be forgotten. And Arya sets off on the life of adventure that she always dreamed of without the taint of being a Faceless Man.

Drogon and Ghost as the best, most loyal pets ever. Glad that in the end, Jon reunited with Ghost and will have lots of fun adventures playing in the snow together.

Sansa got what she wanted. Yay, I guess. Gonna get interesting when she turns eighty and there's no heir because she won't marry.

Bran as king? Well, I guess the choice made sense since it made practically no one happy.

Yay... the Unsullied and the Dothraki are leaving. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

It's been a long, strange ride. Really going to need to look at the series as a whole and how the final season fits in to make a real judgement if it's a fitting conclusion or not. Endings are always difficult and never really satisfying. But I think they got a lot more right here than wrong.

[kieyra]

2 minutes ago, screamin said:

Bran commissioned her to discover America, I suppose. Though he could just take a long look and tell her what's there if he felt like it.

Yep, and it had the Stark flag on it. 

[HunterHunted]

3 minutes ago, Kanner said:

I have to say it Robin grew up very nicely. 

12 years of your mama's breast milk and being coddled through a massive war that decimates a continent does a body good.

[Grumpymonkey]

Early thoughts....I didn't think it was that bad! I'm more mad at myself because while I watched I was all "the internet isn't going to be happy with that", instead of just enjoying it.

I think the season was way too rushed. Ten or 8 episodes would have served it so much better, but I'm pleased with the ending, especially as a Stark fan.  I even kind of dug Bran this episode and he usually annoys me. I'm glad they all got to say a good bye to each other. ST, KH and MW  work very well as siblings to me.

I was satisfied with Brienne and Davos' ending also.

Bronn however so wasn't needed, him still being around annoyed. 

I loved the ending montage. The music and the cutting between, Jon, Sansa and Arya? Beautiful.

[QuinnM]

11 minutes ago, Kanner said:

Since Jon is my favorite, I am happy that he got to be free and in a place and with people he can be happy with. Plus, he is with Ghost! 

Subtle bit in the end ... notice that most of the Wildings were old men, women and a lot of children.  That is exactly what you see in a country ravaged by war.

[Artsda]

Starks together/Ghost were the best part. tog

[magdalene]

11 minutes ago, call me ishmael said:

Drogon showed he had more sense than all the humans when he torched the Iron Throne.

I said as much in the live thread.

[Lola82]

I liked the scene with Tyrian and his small council of friends. He finally has someone to tell jokes with. I believe he started telling the same joke he tried with Gray Worm a few seasons back.

[Leroux]

13 minutes ago, kieyra said:

She didn’t want a Stark on the Melty Throne, she wanted independence for the North. That’s been her arc for a while, and it was nice to see her get it after everything she’s been through. 

I absolutely loved her coronation. Nobody has worked as hard as Sansa for an independent North. I believe she would have asked the same of Jon if he was named King. 

My hope for her is that she gets to be the Elizabeth of the North. After all she has been through I don't think she ever wants to be with a man again. 

When Arya gets done traveling she can settle (not marry) and have babies with Gendry, babies who will be Starks or maybe even after Bran pardons Jon, then Sansa can give him the Stark name and Jon's children could be her heirs. 

[Clanstarling]

11 minutes ago, TigerLynx said:

I didn't like the finale, but it did amuse me that these idiots have learned nothing.  Did they ask the people in Westeros who are still alive (by some miracle) who they wanted be King or Queen or if they wanted that kind of ruler at all?  Nope.  They just appointed a new King, and are right back where they started.  All these morons accomplished was getting a lot of people killed.

Not quite. They've established a system where a king (or queen) is appointed by the ruling families - not inherited by birthright. It's not yet democracy, but it's heading in that direction.

Edited May 20, 2019 by Clanstarling

[SourK]

Mixed feelings. I'm happy to know how it ended, and I think most of the plot points would have been fine/good with more build-up. I didn't get that "everything's falling into place" feeling I wanted so much as it just felt like a bunch of stuff happened.

Not thrilled with the politics around Dany overall, happy for Sansa, touched that Brienne said Jaime died protecting his queen, confused about Arya, stealth shipping Jon and Tormund now for some reason.

[MissL]

I just find it hard to believe Tyrion and Jon were even still alive. That Gray Worm didn’t kill them immediately in anger/grief is shocking.  Why is Gray Worm going to listen to a king that isn’t his and is elected by Lords and ladies he doesn’t care about? Is it just because he’s followed orders all his life?

I actually said out loud when Tyrion was making his speech for Bran to be king “well this is stupid”. Who has a better story than Bran? How about half the people sitting in those chairs?

Also apparently if Tyrion cries I cry. Last episode with Jaime and this one when he finds Jaime and  Cersei dead. Rip my heart out Peter Dinklage.

[Popples]

1 minute ago, Lola82 said:

I liked the scene with Tyrian and his small council of friends. He finally has someone to tell jokes with. I believe he started telling the same joke he tried with Gray Worm a few seasons back.

He started that same joke back in season one when he was held prisoner at the Eyrie by Lysa.

[kieyra]

5 minutes ago, mjc570 said:

So Bron is the new Little Finger?  I'm assuming that Grey Worm is not really going to Naath, but up north to take out the former Jon Snow. 

I believe if Grey Worm was going to kill Jon, he would have done it when he had him in captivity for weeks. I found the fact that he *didn’t* to be hard to believe, but I guess he’s supposed to have chosen peace. 

[LuvScottishAccents]

13 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

Sansa being Queen in the North was my favorite part. Missed Lady Mormont though. 😞

How the eff did Bron get a seat on the council? He was a Lannister man. 

Bran as king? Ugh! Why? The kid playing his just plain creepy looking.

After the Dothraki and the No-balls leave, would Jon be free to do whatever he wants? 

Loved the series for a great ride for many years.

If Lady Mormont was still alive, she might have given Sansa a run for her money. She would certainly keep Sansa on her toes.

[Growsonwalls]

Oh another thing that made me mad: we didnt even see Arya say goodbye to Bran and Sansa.

[dramachick]

Loved the ending! The Starks finally came out on top! Yay!

I was a little bit worried for Jon, but when they said he was going to the Night's Watch I knew he would be okay because there wasn't any Night's Watch, just free folk living beyond the wall doing their own thing.

[UNOSEZ]

Dear HBO... Plz Greenlight West Of Westeros and give Maisie whatever she needs... Thanks

[Soup333]

Well, it’s all over but the crying now. Thank God. 

[Conotocarious]

19 minutes ago, Leroux said:

You are not alone, come sit by me. 

I think that Ned would be mighty proud of his children and so am I. 

I think Ned would barely recognize his children because they didn’t even end up on the same show he was on.

[Francie]

I felt like GRRM was too chicken shit to make Sansa queen of Westeros outright. Hence making the robot kid king instead.