S08.E06: The Iron Throne

[WhiteStumbler]

On 5/19/2019 at 9:28 PM, Anothermi said:

And leaving the best for the last. King Bran-the-Broken plans to rule in the style of Robert Barratheon. No, not seducing prostitutes and leaving the day to day business to the council, but seducing Drogon! And leaving the day to day business to the council. Some things never change

Exactly! Broken wheel my @ss... (grumble grumble)

On 5/20/2019 at 8:30 AM, DirewolfPup said:

2) Bronn as Master of Coin? He would be more fitting as Master of War.

BINGO! Spot on.

On 5/20/2019 at 9:18 AM, Pallas said:

(Drogon) destroyed the throne because it, more than Jon, had been the ruin of her.

So dragons are smart enough to understand symbolism. Hmmm. Or Drogon could have come into the room, seen Dany stabbed, and assumed it was the stabby thing made of swords that done the deed!

On 5/20/2019 at 9:44 AM, janjan said:

Dear Show: Either you're dicking with us or you're a moral cretin. Read up on the Nuremberg Trails, why doncha.

Devastating critique. Well done.

On 5/20/2019 at 10:49 AM, Pallas said:

The simple "He died protecting his Queen" as the last word on the erstwhile Kingslayer.

That is magic. Great connection.

On 5/20/2019 at 12:23 PM, Anothermi said:

I can't remember, but I think Tyrion may have made a comment about his participation never being acknowledged.

Varys: (to Tyrion, as he was recovering from the Battle of Blackwater Bay) There are many who know that without you this city faced certain defeat. The King won't give you any honors, the histories won't mention you, but we will not forget.

On 5/21/2019 at 2:44 AM, Llywela said:

My favourite moment? Was when Jon said, "Love is the death of duty," and Tyrion all but collapsed in shock at the thought that Jon Snow could have come up with such a profound statement

Ha! Nice interpretation. Even Tyrion has heard that Jon knows nothing.

On 5/21/2019 at 2:44 AM, Llywela said:

How far she has fallen, how horribly her noble ideals have been corrupted by her ambition and her ruthlessness and her entitlement and her delusion.

Up until this season, I don't see much evidence within the show for those things. She has never previously been ruthless towards the innocent (that I can recall).

On 5/21/2019 at 2:44 AM, Llywela said:

So it came as a surprise when six out of the seven decided to vote for a new king to rule over them

It didn't make sense for 6 kingdoms to choose to be ruled over in the future by a king or queen, when they have all been characterized as being fiercely independent up until S8E6. I call shenanigans.

On 5/21/2019 at 2:44 AM, Llywela said:

but what will (the Unsullied) do in Naath when they get there, if they have never learned to see themselves as anything but soldiers with other people doing all the thinking for them?

Great question.

On 5/21/2019 at 8:34 AM, Llywela said:

And so, after all those terrible wars and all that bloodshed, the show ends with life carrying on more or less as it ever has, as it should - and yet Westeros has changed, in subtle but important ways which could yet grow into greater change further down the line. I consider that a hopeful ending.

That is a really nice interpretation.

On 5/21/2019 at 8:34 AM, Llywela said:

As for Robin, I give full credit to Lord What's-His-Name who's been fostering him all this time. We haven't seen them for years, but it was already clear then that the foster-lord was doing his damndest to knock some sense into the boy.

Royce. But he has spent all his time since the Battle of the Bastards in Winterfell, not with young Robin.

On 5/21/2019 at 10:19 AM, gingerella said:

No matter how profound that parentage reveal was,

But what difference did Jon being a Targ make in the end? What did it change? Why did Bran tell Jon you are the rightful king if Bran could see that BRAN was going to be the king, not Jon? Was it all some devious 3ER plot to drive Dany mad so that Jon would have to kill her so that Bran would have to step in as king?

On 5/21/2019 at 1:16 PM, Llywela said:

I think Ned and Cat could find plenty to be both surprised by and proud of there!

Surprised that their family name will die out in a few decades, certainly. 😞

On 5/22/2019 at 11:42 AM, gingerella said:

because nobody else can warg into Drogon except him.

We have never seen Bran warg into a dragon, though.

[WhiteStumbler]

On 5/24/2019 at 1:42 AM, Llywela said:

Bran's elevation came entirely from left field, and doesn't feel like the outcome that was intended all along. It feels more like the spare part getting the chair because all the other options had been accidentally ruled out along the way

And many of the other Great Houses had been obliterated. I agree that it felt... "rushed" if I am being charitable.

On 5/24/2019 at 1:42 AM, Llywela said:

Dany's downfall was foreshadowed throughout, even if it wasn't smoothly executed in the end, but if her story had ended with her heeding the guidance of her advisors, tempering her violent urges, and ending up on the Iron Throne unchallenged, no one would have argued against that ending

Dany kept listening to her advisors. She kept losing. A Show backed the character into a corner, so attacking KL was really the only option. I have written a lot more about her burning of KL in a new topic.

On 5/24/2019 at 1:42 AM, Llywela said:

But Bran? Bran's journey has always felt like an afterthought, in many ways

Exactly! We didn't even see the character for an entire season. He never felt like part of the main narrative, the one that the ENTIRE SHOW WAS NAMED FOR.

On 5/24/2019 at 1:42 AM, Llywela said:

This season has been a season of two halves - the battle against the Night King and the battle for the Iron Throne, and those two stories almost feel like they belong in two different shows.

Or at least in two different seasons! A lot of this season felt like the first draft of the final 2 seasons that got compressed into one due to budget constraints. So frustrating.

[gingerella]

3 hours ago, WhiteStumbler said:

On 5/24/2019 at 1:42 AM, Llywela said:

This season has been a season of two halves - the battle against the Night King and the battle for the Iron Throne, and those two stories almost feel like they belong in two different shows.

Or at least in two different seasons! A lot of this season felt like the first draft of the final 2 seasons that got compressed into one due to budget constraints. So frustrating.

I rather wish that last season had been a full season and ended with the Battle at Winterfell. Then have S8 pick up immediately after that battle, so the burning of the dead would be the opening scene of S8, and then we'd have had 9 other hours to sort out The Last War at KL, along with all the 'what about this and that" that were left on the writers room floor.

[supposebly]

So, I finally binge watched these two last seasons in three days. It was easier than I expected. The first seasons were a lot harder and I never managed more than 2, maybe three episodes at a time. I've been reading here mostly since I'm rather late to the party and I managed to avoid spoilers as best I could although I did hear there was some outrage about Dany. I now can imagine what that was probably about. 

Anyway, thank you all for your insights. It did feel there were a lot of things cut off, scenes didn't have the room to breathe they used to, and therefore a lot of character work and reactions were sacrificed on the altar of saving time and weird shock value that made no sense. I do think a few battles could have been shorter. And some stuff was just silly.

Overall, I think I can live with the ending. It worked for me. As to the question why Drogon didn't make a well-done Snow-roast, he didn't see him stabbing her. I don't know what these beasts understand. The blasting of the Iron Throne seemed to show that they understand quite a lot. Who knows how much magic they have.

I never quite bought into the Dany/Jon big love story, it was icky and there was no chemistry, again, no decent time to develop. I was actually surprised when Davos mentioned that Jon kept staring at her "heart". I hadn't noticed.

In the end, Jon was a son of Ned and a Stark in the best way and he probably wouldn't have lasted as Targaryen King of Westeros. 

I'm glad he might find some peace with Ghost in the "real" North. I'm glad that in the end, this huge revelation about his birth was not that life changing after all. He stayed true to what Ned was. And he is now in a place where that might work for him.

I was also surprised at Bran the new king. I also think someone without ambition, someone who needs to make a lot of alliances, no baggage (at least at the moment) and maybe someone with less passion might be perfect to be ruler. And if things go bad, he can go find Drogon and warg into him and blast anyone to smithereens.

Edited August 26, 2019 by supposebly