THE LAST OF THE STARKS
Relative to the events of the Long Night, episode four was a deeper affair as the focus switched back to character relationships. As the series nears its conclusion, characters began to throw all sorts of Hail Marys in the name of love and there was more than enough heartbreak to go around for a full season as Gendry, Tormund, Brienne and Greyworm tasted the bitter side of love. We were also reminded that pets don’t really fare well in Westeros while another major character met an unfortunate end. Well without wasting too much time, let’s get on with it shall we?
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE IS DARK AND FULL OF SPOILERS
THE SHIELDS THAT GUARDED THE REALMS OF MEN
A mass funeral was held for the men, women and children who lost their lives during the battle against the Night King and his army. Major POV characters paid respects to their dearly departed and we saw the corpses of Jorah, Theon, Beric, Edd, and Lyanna Mormont one more time before their fiery sendoff. Jon Snow gave a farewell speech, the pyres were lit, and the heroes of the Battle of Winterfell rose up in glorious flames and smoke and into the history books of the North. Now their watch has ended.
NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL
With the threat of imminent death gone, food in his belly, love in his heart and fire in his loins, Gendry searches for Arya at the celebratory feast, presumably to pick up where they left off the night before. Daenerys rewards him for his contribution to the war effort against the Night King by legitimizing him as a Baratheon and proclaiming him the new Lord of Storm’s End (ulteriorly to score some brownie points for herself and to lift the melancholy of the occasion). Filled with glee, the new Lord goes to find Arya to share the good news. He proposes to the Stark girl, asking her to be his wife and the Lady of the recently inherited Storm’s End. Expectedly, Arya declines his proposal reminding him that ‘I am not a lady’. Poor Gendry had a taste and wanted it forever. *sigh*
SEEDS OF DISCORD
As a drunken but impassioned Tormund, heaped praises on Jon Snow’s triumphs; from his resurrection to Dragon riding, you’d have to have a heart of stone, to not have some sympathy for Daenerys Targaryen. The Dragon Queen has undoubtedly come out worse than any side in the battle against the Night King - losing her friend, a Dragon and half of her army. But she’s still yet to get the endearment of the Northerners, not as much as she deserves anyway. Seeing how much he is revered by his people and fearing what the truth of his parentage might do to her claim to the Iron Throne. Daenerys asks (demands actually) that Jon keeps his secret between them and those who already now. Jon is undecided, as he believes his sisters should know the truth. Desperate, Daenerys affirms him that their happiness is hinged on him keeping his secret.
ONE KNIGHT STAND
ON TO THE NEXT WAR
With the threat from the North essentially ended (or is it?) Jon, Daenerys and the remaining survivors turn their attentions South, towards King’s Landing and Cersei. Daenerys intends to march on the capital immediately to prevent Cersei’s forces from getting any stronger, planning on using her Dragons to take the city. But much to her chagrin (and mine), Tyrion and Jon convince her to apply the charms of diplomacy one more time. Sansa continued to be a source of antagonism to the Dragon Queen, wanting the Northern armies to ‘recuperate’ before participating in another war, but Jon sides with his Queen reiterating the North’s promise to fight for Daenerys. Displeased with Jon taking side with Daenerys, Arya calls for a family meeting.
THE LAST OF THE STARKS
Much like his daddy, Jon Snow has been a near paragon of honour, and much like Ned he was also killed for it. But with death merely a thing of the past now, and Jon being Jon, it wasn’t surprising that he would reveal his secret to his family despite Daenerys’ pleas. In the hopes of transparency and trust, Jon makes his sisters swear to secrecy before revealing the truth of his parentage to them. Both sisters swear, with Sansa doing so rather reluctantly. Sansa’s dislike of Daenerys gets the better of her as she breaks her vow, revealing Jon’s secret to Tyrion in the hopes of denying Daenerys the Iron Throne.
SER BRONN, MAKER OF DEALS
Not one to bet against the might of Dragons (after witnessing what one Dragon is capable of), our favourite mercenary slips into the North and finds the Lannister brothers during happy hour. He incentivizes them (with a crossbow) to better Cersei’s offer of Riverrun or lose their lives. Tyrion promises him Highgarden if Daenerys wins the upcoming war - effectively placing the sellsword in a win-win situation (unless one of the sides kills him first). While my prediction that Bronn will attempt to kill Jamie is still out there, I can’t help but feel Jamie will be the one who gets the last laugh (Bronn has made one too many one-handed jokes).
THE HOUND AND THE WOLF
Arya reunites with the Hound as they both leave Winterfell. Sandor Clegane reveals that he’s headed for King’s Landing to settle some old scores, with no intention of coming back north - a sentiment which Arya echoes. With their paths aligned again, the two set out south. While a decent guess can be made as to why Arya ventures south (probably to kill Cersei, or help Jon), its rather interesting that she has no intention of returning to Winterfell. Given all that’s happened, the changes her family has gone through and the looming expectations of being a highborn, it’s possible that home just isn’t home anymore, or more importantly could the truth of Jon’s secret have played a part in it?
ANIMAL CRUELTY
Throughout the latter part of the series, the showrunners have continuously disappointed fans with the little screen time allocated to the Stark pet Direwolves. And it’s seemingly gotten worse as the seasons have progressed as they’ve rapidly been killed off or simply been limited to cameos. While the alarming cost of creating CGI pets for the Stark Children has been blamed for this. It reached an all-time low when Jon Snow asks Tormund to take Ghost with him as the wildlings returned north of the wall. In probably the last time we’ll be seeing the loyal Direwolf, Ghost is not even graced with a proper send off, not even getting as much as a pat from his lifelong friend. Sadly, Ghost’s time in the show seems to have come to a very disappointing end, I guess the penny-pinching execs at HBO just don’t give a damn about man’s best friend.
SCORPION 2.0
With the luxury of time on his side (as Daenerys travelled north to battle the Whitewalkers), Cersei’s Hand, Qyburn has sufficiently made upgrades to the Scorpion – the ballista created to kill Dany’s Dragons. While the initial Scorpion was capable of merely injuring a Dragon, the bigger, badder version has much more fatal effects as poor Rhaegal discovered during Euron’s ambush on the Targaryen fleet. While I have no way of determining how effective a ballista of that size will be in killing a Dragon (well, cause the latter doesn’t exist), it just feels like some cheap ploy (cutting down on the CGI budget again eh HBO?) to bring equal footing in the war to come. All in all, it was a disappointing end for another of Daenerys’ Dragons, maybe a glorious death at the hands of Zombie Viserion would have played out better.
AT THE BRINK
After regrouping at Dragonstone, Daenerys is reasonably angry (who wouldn’t be?) at the death of her Dragon, Missandei’s abduction, and the decimation of her ships. Tyrion and Varys advise their Queen against lashing back impulsively (good idea), and ask that Daenerys attempts one last act of Diplomacy in hopes of resolving the war without more bloodshed (bad idea). Unfortunately, they convince her to arrange one more meeting with Cersei to avoid further bloodshed, to which she agrees (very bad idea). It’s quite mindboggling that despite the setbacks and losses suffered by Daenerys her advisers still want her to be the bigger person, even when Cersei has played dirty.
MISDIRECTION OF NAATH
Since episode two, there had ostensibly been some foreboding on the future of Greyworm and Missandei’s relationship, insinuating a less than a happy ending. But while the compass of death seemed to point towards Greyworm (I predicted he would die at the Battle of the Bastards), we had simply been misdirected all along, as Missandei met an untimely end before the eunuch. While Missandi’s death was an interesting twist of fates, the cinematic stratagem used to achieve it was less exciting. Missandei’s abduction after the ambush of the Targaryen fleet literally comes out of nowhere, and it merely felt like a cheap plot device to end another major character while seemingly driving Daenerys to the brink (another reason to make the Dragon Queen ‘mad’). Alas now I am subjected to watching the next two episodes without Nathalie Emmanuel. *sigh* I’m just going to go cry now.
EPISODE ROUND UP – NO HAPPY ENDINGS
I’ve never been Daenerys’ biggest fan. I’ve always felt the character was entitled, rash and power-hungry! While none of my initial observations have changed, I’m quite disappointed at the direction the show seems to be taking with the character now. Don’t get me wrong, I love a lesson in humility and I’m glad she finally realises that bending the knee to a ruler doesn’t necessary mean loyalty or respect - some things can’t be forcibly taken. But she has certainly given a lot more than she’s taken to be treated like a mad woman, having stayed her hands more times than she’s given way to her rash impulses. Daenerys has lost friends, allies and two Dragons, and is now left with a shadow of the force she brought to Westeros, all because she decided to do things honorably. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, her claim to the Iron Throne isn’t as watertight as she’s always believed. Then there’s the sudden conspiracy behind her back by her advisors and allies, with the Starks distrusting her and Varys being ready to jump on to the next available option. I think he will betray her and she will kill him as she promised, setting up her descent towards villainy and ‘madness’ (hope I’m wrong about this).
Sansa’s dislike of Daenerys has set a series of events that will affect both Jon and Daenerys’ futures and as expected, Cersei passed off Jamie’s child as Euron’s, cementing his undying loyalty to her and setting up a rather interesting situation as Jamie returns to the capital. It was a couple of firsts for Brienne as she got deflowered and heartbroken, and we can only wonder where her arc goes after such powerful first-time experiences.
Ramsey Bolton once told Theon Greyjoy that ‘if you think this is going to have a happy ending then you haven’t been paying attention’ a foreboding statement which not only summed up both characters’ endings but one that hinted how the series would end. And while I have no illusions about many of the characters survivability at the end of the series, it would be a bummer to see their arcs end in less creative circumstances just because David Benioff and D.B Weiss want to tell us ‘I told you so’. The penultimate episode of the series will be packing a punch, as Cersei and Daenerys’ forces come to a head and the final battle for the Iron Throne is set in motion and we can expect major character deaths, plot twists, and probably a couple of Deus ex-machinas as the series comes to a close. At this point I expect that I’ll be disappointed with the way the series will conclude, I really hope they change my mind.
Reject Rating: 6.5/10
Images courtesy of HBO
Comments
Post a Comment