Season 8 Episode 3 of Game of Thrones came and went like a blizzard. It was dark, it was hard to see most of the action and had an unsatisfying end. Let me start with the good. Melisandre’s arrival and lighting of the Dothraki swords was an amazing visual. There were a few nice shots in the episode like this, such as the dragons above the clouds. Game of Thrones does dragons well and while the show had its problems with blizzard and blurry visuals, some of these moments stood out.
I could nit pick- Sam had to be saved one time too many. It was hard to follow who was where and no one really dies in this show anymore. (except if you are a Mormont) The action wad hard to follow- and the hide from the raptor scene from Jurassic Park featuring Arya Stark dragged on for too long.
There are 2 main reasons why although this was the most action packed and well liked episode in Game of Thrones since the exceptional Loot Train battle… I didnt like it 😦
1.The White Walkers had no bigger purpose.
Have you read the one about Bran being the Night King? Or the one where Jaimie will try and save Jon and then use his golden hand to kill the Night King? How about my personal theory that Night King will take Cersei for his bride? Or that white walkers are a metaphor for climate change? Bran and the Night King look alike, they have some kind of connection… Bran built the wall to protect the from the white walkers. Any one of these theories alone is better than what we eventually got. The Night King wanted an endless night and wanted to kill Bran/Three-eyed-raven to rid the world of any memory of the past. That makes the white walkers one dimensional and not very interesting. G.R.R Martin had wanted to create a fantasy story that was not like traditional Tolkien. The problem with the Night King is that with a pure evil motivation, the 7 seasons of build up were for nothing.
Like Battlestar Galactica, Mass Effect and the Matrix, there was a possibility that the Night King was going to continue an endless cycle. The story for Game of Thrones talks about 1000s of generations of Starks. A Medieval fantasy that is seeing no progress- I wonder why? Could it be a cycle being reset? Could it be that the Night King had to reset the world and bring it to balance when dragons had arisen?
2.Arya Stark as badass is not earned
Ive disliked the whole Arya plot line ever since we saw her leave Braavos after a terminator style battle with another assassin in training. We had seen Arya fight with sticks. Yet, she arrives in Westeros and we are supposed to believe that she somehow became a master assassin, could fight with multiple weapons and throw knives, fire arrows with great accuracy. I never bought that transition. Killing Walder Frey and hiding in shadows wearing faces- yes, that makes sense. But who trained her to be a fighter? Not Syrio, not the Hound.
In season 7 we were supposed to buy that Arya could beat Brienne- someone who had trained her entire life while Arya had played with sticks that one time in Braavos! I would have bought this transition if Arya had lost to Brienne, continued to train with her and then eventually become better.
Then there is the question how Arya reached the Night King. The way it was shot, it looked like Arya leapt up from behind the Night King. How did she get past 1000s of white walkers? She didn’t put on a white walker face… thought admittedly that would have been cool. What if she had taken the face of Lyanna Mormont or someone else who had died and then shambled over? But- no. She somehow sneaked past all these white walkers and then attacked the Night King. Its a cool scene, but you have to not think too much about how she got there.
Its just me being negative thats all
Yes, I know. I am maybe expecting too much from this show. But this is the same show that gave Hodor a great ending. This is the show that had the Red Wedding and the amazing Tyrion trial by combat. This show used to exceed expectations. But for a while now it hasn’t. And some of the biggest mysteries(white walkers) and best characters (Petyr Baelish – yep, im still bitter about that one) are being wrapped with rather unsatisfyingly.
The only end I will be happy with is if the Throne is destroyed and NO ONE SITS ON THE DAMNED THING. Any other ending involving Dany + Jon or either one alone is going to be just another traditional fantasy story that will not be interesting.
See y’all at the finish line.
Bridging the Creativity Strategic Divide 