StrangeSox

turning a Model 3 into a truck https://youtu.be/jKv_N0IDS2A (YT: I TURNED MY TESLA INTO A PICKUP TRUCK)

shows not having any internal logic is just a sign of shitty writing yes plenty of literal magic happens in the show and plenty of other works of fiction, and it's fine if it follows it's own rules. then it's coherent. this was just shitty writing and filming. "BuT iT's NoT rEaL" is the weirdest defense of dumb writing. e: shows where the people making them still give a shit have people whose sole job is dedicated to this sort of internal consistency both in a single episode and across the whole story. GoT clearly lost that by the end. yes this is just nit-picking but I wanted to see if I actually did just miss something or they really were that sloppy. anyway here's a review I basically agree with: https://www.vox.com/game-of-thrones/2019/5/20/18632343/game-of-thrones-finale-season-8-bran-tyrion-iron-throne

Want to see if maybe I missed something early on in the episode. Jon and Tyrion are entering King's Landing, and Tyrion says he's going off alone. Tyrion goes and finds his brother and sister buried under the Red Keep, cries, etc. Jon walks through King's Landing and comes across Greyworm executing Lannister prisoners. Tries to talk him out of it, but fails, and keeps walking away. Then, somehow, Jon and Tyrion both arrive at Daenarys at the same time, with Greyworm already there??

HBO was willing to give the show runners lots more time and money, but they didn't even want to do a season 8 IIRC! They had to be talked into doing 12 episodes split between S7 and S8, too eager to go do their "what if the Confederates won??" show I guess. And now Star Wars. Some of the actors were ready to be done as well.

Both Dorne and the Iron Island's whole things are constantly wanting to be independent but not breaking away purely due to threat of force. Dorne's armies are untouched while Bran has what left? The North is independent. Iron Islands have no fleet even if they wanted to stay loyal. Lannister army is dead. Highgarden army is torched. They didn't need to show what was going to happen with Dorne, but the writers chose to have them at the vote and to agree to be ruled by Bran and to let the North break free without anyone even questioning it. It was just nonsense writing. e: was just reminded that Yara joined Team Dany based on an explicit guarantee of independence, lol

Right? Why would any of them even really believe that the threat from the Night King was real? The only people who ever faced it were in the north, where it was stopped. There was one wight in King's Landing, but that could be rationalized away as illness or some other form of sorcery.

Instead, they just exiled him to the Night's Watch (why is this still actually needed??) which is based in the newly independent North ruled by his sister/cousin. It's a military outpost adjacent to the group of people who all look up to Jon (the wildlings), and he's got a legit claim on the throne. Back down south, you've got Dorne who has no reason to support Bran, same for the Iron Islands, Bronn who will turn on anyone for the right price, and uh I guess Gendry? This resolution still makes no sense and Westeros will erupt into violence yet again. e: Bran no having heirs, this happened plenty of times in Roman history so he could always adopt someone or make it very, very clear who his chosen successor would be, and then the vote would just be a formality. but ultimately you have basically the same exact power structure in Westeros, just with the Ironborne Kingsmoot grafted on

I didn't think they'd actually abolish monarchy, but I was kinda hoping that the end result would be the abolition of the imperial crown and 7 independent kingdoms. Instead, Bran's only real base of support splits off anyway, and you've got six kingdoms under him who don't really have any real reason to follow his authority, and he has no force to back it up. Civil war or coup inside of 5 years imo.

Hilarious that Tyrion thought having no heirs and thus no ability to buy off political alliances via marriage means "the wheel is broken," instead of the much more likely outcome of another massive civil war when bran dies Or when Dorne decides they have no reason to follow central rule and will be independent just like Winterfell now is. Continues the theme of Tyrion actually being a huge dumb ass, I suppose.

Chernobyl is really good

Would have been hard to write a dumber ending if you tried lmao

yes there's lots of instances of extreme contrast/180* opposite of what characters previously said in seasons 1-5 versus what they've said in seasons 7 and 8.

the timing on this *chef's kiss* still not as bad as the several thousand poor children named daenerys over the past several years

IIRC from an interview with the show runners (D&D), it was literally "oh we thought the name 'Golden Company' sounded cool!" these same hacks dismissed the idea of themes in a story as "something for an 8th grade book report," and then shoved a literal white horse into the end for Arya twice They are hacks, but the elements of GRRM's story you can still see peaking through in this episode were good.

Also gotta imagine that the Iron Throne no longer exists, hopefully my populist revolution resulting in the abolition of monarchy ending comes true!

Her going mad is fleshed out/hinted at a bit more here and there in the books, especially with the prophecies/visions. I'm 100% sure her "Goes Mad" heel turn was the ending GRRM gave them when they started the show, but the showrunners didn't do a great job of building to it. e: probably more generally, the brutal sack of King's Landing came from GRRM. It fits with his history of ~subverting tropes~* and shows what actually happened (and happens) an overwhelming majority of the time an enemy force takes a city. It's going to be really, really bad for a lot of people. It ties into a big theme in the books and something touched on a bit in the show, which is that most people do not give one single shit who sits on the throne. The nobles' games for control just lead to suffering for everyday people. *don't mean this phrase negatively just wish I could think of something that's not so overused with this show/book series

lmao

Jon Snow gets murdered. Daenrys is having violent diarrhea in a field somewhere with Drogon after being chased out of Mereen. Cersei's world is seemingly collapsing in around her as she's reached her post-"Shame!" lowpoint. Stannis is marching on a snow-bound Winterfell held by the Boltons. Littlefinger and Sansa are still in the Eyrie I think. Arya is still training in Braavos. Catelyn Stark is dead, but has been resurrected by the Brotherhood without Banners and just captured Brienne. Sandor is MIA. Varys murders Cersei's competent hand, Kevan Lannister. e: basically, they completely out ran the books by the end of Season 5.

this has been D&D's problem since they ran outta book material trying to recapture the 'magic' of Ned or the Red Wedding, but doing it in more jump-cut/shock ways than anything actually interesting with the story.

best episode of the season so far imo wish they had spent more time setting up Mad Queen, feels a little rushed this season. I'm sure this is the ending GRRM gave them way back before they filmed S1:E1.

FYI they choose to rush this into six episodes, and wanted to do even less. HBO offered them $$$$ to do several more full seasons. It has to wrap up quickly because the show runners got bored with it