Game of Thrones 8.06 "The Iron Throne" 5/19/2019 Show Discussion

Cafe Society
161

I have a few off the top of my head:

Mad Men: Starts off exposing the machinations of advertising agencies in an era of limited opportunity for women, and even more limited opportunity for minorities. Midway main character cries and new female characters are introduced then the series focuses on relationships. Series ends too vaguely to be satisfying, with the most pointed social commentary a faint memory.

The Americans: Starts off exposing the machinations of Russian spies embedded in a foreign country in an era of shifting of the relationship between political power and media conglomerates. Midway main characters cry, and new characters are introduced then the series focuses on relationships. Series ends too vaguely to be satisfying, with the most pointed social commentary a faint memory.

Sons of Anarchy: Starts off exposing the lifestyles of motorcycle riding rebels who manage to live by their own codes outside the law. Midway main character cries, and new characters are introduced then the series focuses on relationships. Series ends, I have no idea, I stopped watching.

Friends: Starts off exposing the machinations three male bachelors trying to survive in a modern big city in an era of limited economic opportunity for absolutely everyone. After three episodes the three main characters are given estrogen treatments and three new female characters are introduced then the series focuses on relationships for ten seasons.

162

Fair enough, and I guess the problem is that there’s just no arguing over it or setting it up. Tyrion gives a speech, boom, everyone else is in. I guess it’s just one more compressed storytelling complaint. I feel like the ultimate resolution of the story probably could’ve at least had an episode spent on it rather than a half hour or so.

163

Well Edmure *tried *to announce his candidacy :stuck_out_tongue:

And hey, by the time succession comes along Bran/Tyrion will have properly statuted the elective monarchy system and maybe instituted a rotation among the houses or some such mechanism to reduce the potential for chaos. This end leaves open many possibilities.

164

Immediate reaction — it was an episode simply checking off the requirement list, absent well crafted drama or art.

165

It was able to continue the social commentary because it didn’t attract its audience until production ended. Networks are getting pretty good at canceling these “Second Golden Age of Television” shows more quickly now.

166

“Rule them all” like Sauron, Queen of the ashes" “He said it was made of 1000 swords”, like Littlefinger. Some great scene here, but I don’t see Dany speech to Jon as credible. And I find her death scene bad.

And clearly dragons can regulate the temperature of their breath from superficial burns to melting steel. And they understand symbolism.

And I don’t see Yara siding with Danaerys. And Edmure the wise (with a non tit-sucking Robin), who would have expected this?..ah, uh…OK, “uncle, please seat”. It would have been better without this comment, in fact. He didn’t need to be ridiculed.

OK, the leak was correct. :frowning: And the reason given for the choice is absurd (I hoped they could have come up with some sort of sensible reason, at least. “What unite people? A good story.” What the hell??? Tyrion just convinced me that Bran should be the royal chronicler. And the wheel is broken…The king will be picked up by the magnates (and a Maester apprentice), Polish style. Wow! Such an impressive change, well worth seven years of war. And the example of the North splinting from the crown isn’t at all a precedent for all the other lordship (also formerly independant). This whole scene is completely anticlimatic. And “All hail…Bran** the broken**. Really”???

Arya’s end unsatisfying too. And not making much sense. And a kingdom ruled by fate? The council scene is anticlimatic too. And Bron and and Sam being members make it looks like a joke. Don’t have the time to see the very end, but I expect to keep being disappointed. So far, only one great scene in the whole episode.

167

And yeah, I know about The Wire because it’s a masterpiece, not because I have unlimited knowledge of contemporary television shows.

But just to get back to Game of Thrones for a minute, did anyone find it telling that for all the media emphasis on how much they had to pack into the final two seasons (or final season as the showrunners described it) at “breakneck speed” that they still had time for awkward lingering pauses and even more awkward virgin deflowerings in the last three episodes?

168

This is not remotely accurate.

169

Agree. I’ll note the pale horse wandered off and Arya was still traipsing about KL this episode.

170

Same for the Dothraki that all died at Winterfell, but came back for the battle at KL, only to never be shown or heard from again. It’s like showrunners got lost in all the footage they shot to fool spoilers, and it just ended up as a long list of goofs.

It also didn’t work to fool spoilers from what I’m reading now.

171

That scene seemed to be a direct shout out to a “Theodoric of York” sketch from SNL.

172

My preferred ending:

After Jon stabs Dany, the Unsullied rush in and there is an epic scene of them piling on Jon and stabbing him to death (cue epic music and Jon falling down dead)

The above causes the Northmen to attack the Unsullied, killing Grey Worm and many Unsullied.

Now leaderless, the Unsullied agree to a truce and leave Westeros.

Sansa becomes queen of the seven Kingdoms, with Tyrion as her Hand.

173

I thought of a Monty Python scene, either a scathing critique of monarchy itself or a lampoon of progressive wackjobs. Take your pick.

174

Better than Bran The Flaccid, admittedly not by much.

175

Up until the Westeros council scene: “hey, this is pretty fucking awesome, I think they might pull this off!”

Jesus was I wrong.

176

Glad you found it informative.

177

Well, that was… An Ending.

Things I liked:

Dany’s dragon wings. That looked cool.

Umm…

While I try and think of something else I liked, let me list the things that sucked.

Bran as King. “Hey, I’ve got an idea! See that kid in the wheelchair over there? The one with the unfocused stare? He should be king. He’s magical. Okay, it’s the magic of the old gods, which all of you have rejected for the seven, but still. KING!” He’ll be a laugh at weddings and coronations and other kingly duties. I’m sure the people will love the strange kid in the wheelchair who can see what they are doing any time he wants. Also, they made it very clear in the last episodes that Bran is really not ‘all there’. He’s not even Bran. They gave the kingdom to a magical bird with three eyes.

Bronn as Master of Coin: You know who would make a great person to control the realm’s moneyt? An amoral sellsword who keeps saying over and over again that he has no loyalty to anyone or anything, but who will murder and steal to enrich himself. Great pick, Tyrion. Oh, and does Bronn even know how to read, let alone do math? And doesn’t he strike you as the type who will just love pouring over double entry accounts and dealing with merchants and craftsmen and such? What Tyrion should expect is that as soon as he has the chance, Bronn will kill whoever is guarding the gold and bugger off with it.

Jon Snow killing Daeneris: Sure. I’m okay with that. But he was allowed to walk into her presence wearing a sword and a dagger? That’s not supposed to happen. And once he stabbed her, Drogon should have burned him to ash. And how in the hell is a dragon supposed to understand that the real villain is a throne made of swords? I get that an angry/sad dragon just has to burn something, and if the guy who killed your Mom won’t do because he has crazy strong plot armor, you just have to take our your dragony frustrations on the nearest big metal chair, I guess.

And for sure there is no way the unsullied or the Dothraki would let Jon Snow live after that. No freaking way. They came all the way to Westeros for her, they fought the dead for her, they lost over half of their numbers for her. Then someone kills her, and they go, “Oh, I guess we should just go home then. Jon Snow, you’re bad and you need to go to the wall and think about what you’ve done.”

Then there was the whole, “Sorry, the North is independent” thing. If I were a Dornish lord, and I had just agreed to put Sansa’s weird little brother on the throne because reasons, then watched her claim independence and have that weird little brother smile weirdly and nod his assent, I’d be thinking that I’d been really, really stupid. And wait until the other Dornish hear about it. "Hey, everyone! I helped pick our new king! He’s this kid in a wheelchair from way up north. But he’s a mystical bird or something too. No, not by our religion - he worships the old gods we rejected - which turn out to be real Gods, I guess. Unlke the Mother or the Stranger or any of the other five we worship who never do a damned thing for us… But I digress. Anyway, the North decided to be free. The King’s sister demanded it, and well, you know… It’s his sister. So what are you gonna do? What’s that? Why didn’t I declare our independence? Um, I didn’t really know it was an option until Sansa pulled that stunt, and by then I figured it was too late. What are the odds of TWO kingdoms getting to go free?

Some other things I was okay with:

Brienne’s ending. Totally fine. Head of the KingsGuard makes perfect sense as an end to her character arc. But since when does the head of the Kingsguard sit on the small council?

Ser Davos: Yep, he’s right where he belongs. Good ending for Ser Davos.

Arya: Sure. Maybe some of you forgot, but she has declared before that her dream was to sail west and see what was out there. And Winterfell doesn’t really need a trained assassin. It might have been nice, however, if they had had time to develop a bit of a relationship between her and Ser Davos, because it would have been a great scene to see her sailing away with Ser Davos as the captain of her ship. I guess I could nitpick how a world that has dragons should not really have an ‘unexplored’ west, unless whatever is out there is so deadly that people have stopped trying.

Jon Snow: Yeah, sure. So the first part of ‘breaking the wheel’ is the establishment of a Gulag in Siberia, I guess. Because according to Tyrion there’s no need for a Night’s Watch anymore other than as a place for exiling undesirables. Good thing it’s there, then. But whatever - I figured Jon was destined for the wall at the end anyway.

That’s enough for now. Let’s just say the showrunners managed to nudge the pieces on the board to where they needed to go, but did so in a way that made the whole thing a giant letdown.

178

Since always:

Jorah: King Robert wanted her dead?
Selmy: Of course he wanted her dead. She’s a Targaryen. The last Targaryen.
Jorah: I suppose no-one on the Small Council could speak sense to him?
Selmy: I didn’t sit on the Small Council.
Jorah: No? Doesn’t the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard traditionally…
Selmy: Traditionally, yes, but I killed a dozen of Robert’s friends during his rebellion. He didn’t want advice on how to govern from a man who’d fought for the Mad King. Can’t say I minded much. Always hated the politics.

179

Hmm… Did Jamie ever sit on the small council?

180

It was…fine.