Benioff and Weiss are in an unenviable position. There is no logically consistent way to wrap up a TV series as sprawling and epic as Game of Thrones, and successfully deliver it to such a fractured fanbase who can barely agree on what they want. George R. R. Martin himself has said that for every new development he writes in the books, there are five more plot threads born that need to be dealt with. Wrapping all of these up in a single, series finale is an impossible feat, and as expected, the writers don’t quite stick the landing.
Picking up immediately after ‘The Bells’, King’s Landing has been reduced to an unrecognisable apocalyptic wasteland. The last of the Lannister soldiers are being executed in the streets, ash flutters down upon the rubble, and Dany’s remaining advisors are realising exactly what they have been complicit in. It is interesting to note that her madness hasn’t manifested in the same way as other Targaryens – her cruelty isn’t impulsive or erratic, but rather calculated and considered.
Even Jon is doing his best to justify her actions to others, even though it is clear he doesn’t believe in them himself. We are reminded of Maester Aemon’s words from years ago – “Love is the death of duty”. It is why the Brothers of the Night’s Watch cannot take wives or families of their own, but it is also the choice Jon is faced with when his lover’s full potential for widespread destruction is made clear. Despite the internal struggle, Jon makes the decision he was always going to make, and chooses his duty to the people of Westeros over his love for Daenerys.
Peter Dinklage’s moving performance carries most of this episode, but he particularly shines in this first half as Tyrion finds the bodies of his siblings, and later renounces his loyalty to the Queen. He is one of the most intelligent characters and he has always done whatever he can to save his own life, but this marked turn makes complete sense. He is done with the sycophants, pettiness, and tyranny. Death seems like a far better option than living under whatever kind of rule Daenerys has in mind.
The Dragon Queen’s demise felt strange for me. Even as I anticipated its inevitability, it was still odd seeing Jon take the life of someone we have grown so used to. Its placement fairly early in the episode was yet another result of compressing a huge amount of story into a small window of time, but it was also clear that there was no other option given we only had one episode to wrap it all up.
Drogon melting the Iron Throne out of anguish was… poetic, I guess? But that was also just another forced moment that left us wondering whether dragons can understand the arbitrary concept of symbols.
Several weeks later, and Jon has been imprisoned for his murder of Daenerys alongside Tyrion. Grey Worm is still out for blood, but with no clear ruler no one is really sure who should pass the judgement. And thus we are led into the first of what will be many meetings between the Lords and Ladies of Westeros, including the return of some we haven’t seen for quite a while. Though they barely have anything to contribute in this scene, it was still great to see Edmure Tully and Robin Arryn back to remind us of which Great Houses are still intact and involved in royal affairs. Sam’s suggestion of establishing a democracy is laughed down and Sansa emphasises the North’s desire to remain independent, but ultimately little progress is made until Tyrion speaks up.
This whole scene could have been an episode on its own, and if it was in an earlier season it might just have been. But instead it is squeezed into a finale that already has so much other stuff going on, and as such we arrive a little too quickly at a solution – Bran will become the new King of the Seven Kingdoms, and the hereditary monarchy will be dissolved. In its place an elective monarchy will be established, in which all the Lords and Ladies of Westeros will vote for a new leader upon the death of the previous one. It is a logical conclusion, since it moves Westeros one step closer to creating a civilisation that relies on one’s ability to rule rather than birthright. But it is the build up to this decision that once again suffers from the same rushed pacing that this whole season has been affected by. It would have been great to have Yara or the new Dornish Prince seek out the same independence that the North has been granted, or to see Gendry defend his insecure grip on Storm’s End, but given how little time was left it was clear that this wasn’t feasible.
The final minutes of ‘The Iron Throne’ are spent sending off the Starks on their own journeys, once again separated from each other. Tyrion assembles the new Small Council for King Bran (which for some reason includes Bronn – why do people keep trusting him?), Sansa is crowned Queen of the North, Arya sails off into the Sunset Sea to explore what lies beyond the maps, and Jon reunites with Ghost to journey beyond the Wall, living the rest of his life in exile with the Free Folk. Some of these endings are a little tidy for Game of Thrones, but they also fortunately don’t lean too much into the most common predictable outcomes.
‘The Iron Throne’ tries a little too hard to appeal to everyone, and as a result it falls flat. Some fans want their favourite characters to find a happy ending, others want the show to keep subverting every political fantasy trope, and a lot of people don’t really know what they want at all. It was an impossible position to be in, and although striking this mid-ground might have left us a little deflated I can’t say for sure what ending really would have satisfied at least a majority of the fanbase. Game of Thrones has always prided itself on the unexpected, so I am at least relieved to see it not go down the easy route of Jon or Daenerys taking the throne. But even if this finale had turned out to be a complete abomination, that wouldn’t have ruined the hours of entertainment and thrilling political intrigue that the show once delivered. Game of Thrones has always been about the journey, not the destination, so perhaps that’s how it should be remembered.
Hmmmmm . . . crap. Like Season 5 of “Boardwalk Empire”.