Our watch has ended.
The 95 minute finale brought everything to a close. While the places our characters find themselves by the end are interesting (and fitting to varying degrees), the way the show got there was anything but a smooth ride.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead)
The episode began with Tyrion, Jon and Davos walking through the burnt down, ash filled streets of King’s Landing. Tyrion ventured into the Red Keep alone, determined to discover the ultimate fates of his brother and sister. Peter Dinklage did a great job capturing Tyrion’s anguish upon finding Jaime and Cersei’s bodies, and his pain and betrayal was evident when he defied Daenerys in front of her whole army.
Once again in chains, Tyrion did his best to appeal to Jon’s better angels, reasoning that Dany was never going to stop with just the Seven Kingdoms. And then, just when things were building to a crescendo, Jon embraces Dany and kills her with a dagger. The scene came around the 30 minute mark, and the pacing of the episode took an immediate nose dive afterwards.
Once Drogon understood what had happened, he lashed out with rage, destroying the Iron Throne in an symbolic gesture that’s both apt and infuriatingly on the nose. The episode skips ahead in time, with the surviving lords and ladies of the great houses of Westeros parlaying with Greyworm for Tyrion and Jon’s freedom.
In a move that few saw coming, Tyrion nominated Bran to be the next king, and even more surprisingly, all the other lords acquiesced, except Sansa, who backed her own bid for an independent North. Bran being king makes sense when you consider the sheer amount of lore he possesses about Westeros, but his arc so far in the series doesn’t support Bran having kingly ambitions or qualities.
Jon was freed shortly after, on the promise that he be banished once again to the Night’s Watch. As normally returned to Westeros, with Tyrion being the Hand of the King once again and Sansa starting her reign as Queen of the North, Jon journeyed past the wall with Tormund and the rest of the Wildlings, bookending the series on hopeful grounds.
There were, undoubtedly, some frustrating moments in the series finale. However, there were many things it got right, such as Jon finally petting Ghost and Brienne amending Jaime’s entry in the Kingsguard’s Book to better represent his honor. Unfortunately, we barely got to spend time with Dany; large chunks of the episode felt rushed, as though the cast and writers were in a hurry to end everything as soon as possible.
This last season of Game of Thrones will always be remembered as a very mixed blessing, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Game of Thrones still remains a remarkable achievement in serialized storytelling. HBO will be looking to fill this void, with Watchmen this year and Westworld III in 2020. And of course, we will soon learn more about the Game of Thrones’ prequels that are currently in development. Let’s hope the showrunners get those right, especially in regards to pacing and character progression.