It is the end, and the end has been very controversial. ‘The Iron Throne‘ follows the remains of what is left in King’s Landing, and the characters who are struggling between love and duty. The introduction sequence has been changed yet again to suit the episode, in which Kings Landing is in pieces.
The most controversial topic regarding the finale and the final season is the story-line. For example, in the finale, Dany becomes full Mad Queen when she decides that she will continue to destroy each and every place and ruler she wants, including the Starks. Therefore, providing a contradiction to the fact that Dany grew up trying to go against tyrants, and yet became just that. This could be pointing to the fact that Targaryens are just violent and murderous by blood regardless. However, this plot went entirely against her whole character development, of trying to get rid of tyrants and yet she becomes one herself. Yes, her character has probably experienced the most suffering and hardship, and yet at the same time, her response seemed too erratic, like there was no obvious build up to her actions. Instead, of Dany remaining to be the lovable character she has been from the start, she became unlikable and irrational.
Emilia Clarke in Game of Thrones (2011). © 2019 Helen Sloan/HBO. Image Credit via IMDb.
Furthermore, from the moment Jon Snow (Kit Harington) entered the room of the Iron Throne, it was almost too predictable that he was going to kill her, thus making those five-ish minutes expected, boring and somewhat cringe-worthy. However, what was not expected, was the fact that Drogon burnt the Iron Throne- making it impossible for anyone to win the Game of Thrones. This, in a way, made the whole series feel somewhat pointless, as it defeats the point of the whole eight seasons. Another conflicted aspect of the plot was the fact that Grey Worm takes Jon Snow and Tyrion as prisoner, and then allows Tyrion to speak after being told to not speak. Following the fact that Grey Worm wants revenge, he then seems to back down and allow the others to decide on a King, and Tyrion (his prisoner) be the hand of the King. Despite this happening, Jon Snow is no longer going to be executed. However, he is taken to the Night’s Watch (which is surely pointless now that there is no longer White Walkers), where he goes to the North of the North with the Wildlings. Surely if Grey Worm has headed off to Tarth, Jon could be free so long as Grey Worm is not around. Moreover, the fact that Bran the Broken becomes King. For example, every time the King/Queen dies, a new battle will begin surrounding who gets the Iron Throne. Moreover, Bran rejected the proposal of being the King of the North, due to his dedication of being the three-eyed raven, so why does he then decide to follow the role of being the King of the six kingdoms..?
Despite a not-so-likeable storyline, each and every other aspect of this episode and season has been great. For example, the acting is as per amazing, specifically from Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, Maisie Williams and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau– each portrayed a convincing character, that throughout the seasons we grew to either love or hate. One of the most emotional aspects of the show, for me at least, was the confirmation of Jaime’s death. Although, some had theorised that he had somehow managed to escape, this episode confirmed that he did indeed die with Cersei in his arms. This aspect of the story brought tears due to the fact that Tyrion found the body, and Jaime was the only one there for Tyrion throughout those years.
Game of Thrones (2011). © 2019 Helen Sloan/HBO. Image Credit via IMDb.
Ongoing- now that the show has been ended- many fan theories and questions have been answered:
- No, the White Walkers will never return again- The battle we saw, was quite literally the end…
- No, Bran was not the Night King- If I am honest, I was hoping he or at some point the end would reveal that there was either a white walker remaining or someone being turned into one. Therefore, setting a tragic ending that they were undefeatable- however, my hopes and theories were at a miss.
- Yes, some fan theories were right in thinking Dany would be killed by Snow.
- No, Jon Snow would not be the King or Sansa.
- Umm, partially true about the theory of Sam being like Bilbo Baggins, except he only wrote the name of the title, ironically being the name of the book series.
- No, Arya seemed to never use her faceless abilities aside from killing Walder Frey a few seasons ago, thus making them seem slightly pointless.
- Finally, one of the most controversial aspects of the show is that no one won the Game of Thrones, despite it being the whole basis of the show…
Emilia Clarke in Game of Thrones (2011). Image Credit via IMDb.
Onto the cinematography, many areas including visuals and camera shots were done perfectly. For example, the visual effects when Drogon flew behind Dany (making it seem as if she had dragon wings) was such as powerful scene. Therefore, showing her as being the mother of dragons, but also as being a dragon. Moreover, it showed her extent of power through being a literal dragon that would act irrationally with fire, just as Dany had been doing in the last few episodes. Moreover, the opening close up shot scene of Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) walking through snow-like ash emphasised the result of the previous episode. For example, there were many dead bodies or people on fire around him, showing the extent of Dany’s destruction on Kings Landing.
One aspect of GOT that never fails to impress me is Ramin Djawadi‘s music. The opening scene is emphasised with the lack of music. This silence creates a tense and shocking realisation of what has happened. The first full part of music comes when Tyrion finds Jaime’s body, thus making the scene powerful and emotional- a true realisation that he is dead. Throughout the episode, the music successfully shapes around the tone of the scenes from being unnerving (as Dany turns fully into the Mad Queen) to powerful and emotional (during her death and Drogon’s revenge). Additionally, to add to the fact that this is the finale, Ramin Djawadi changed the traditional GOT theme to a choir piece, thus making it more dramatic and almost finalising that this is the end.
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Overall, fans haven’t been too impressed with this episode, mainly due to the story-line. From rating the episode 4.3/10 on IMDb to writing bad reviews to petitioning for a renewed version of the final season. That in itself has been controversial, as it comes quite offensive to those who have spent hours on end putting time and dedication to make this season as perfect as possible. However, many feel that this episode and season has been rushed. Some argue that the show-runners should have fit in a few more seasons in order to make each and every episode perfectly detailed. Similarly, there has been an uproar on social media platforms, including Instagram and Twitter, in which fans have complained that many key parts of the story became irrelevant due to not being addresses thoroughly. Examples of this include Cersei’s Valonqar prophecy, the war horn Sam found in season two and more… Moreover, it is interesting to point out that some of the actors have stated that this final season was going to be ‘disappointing’. Specifically, in the release of the actor’s script reading, actors showed to be disappointed at the result of the plot. Similarly, George R.R. Martin, spoke on the subject that he wanted the series to have at least ten seasons if not more, and it was Benioff and Weiss that chose to end the show after seven seasons (the compromise was eight seasons). Despite the controversy surrounding the plot, every other aspect of the episode was pleasing as usual- GOT never fails in the department of acting, cinematography or music.
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Image via IMDb
