I definitely agree this is a fair critique. However, Tyrion talking his way out of death occurred through out the show so it wasn't overly shocking to me. Additionally, it isn't like the world leaders were some totally random jury ... they all know who he is and he is/was one of the more wiser people in the seven kingdoms. Mistakes and all. But still ... I think more "adversity" and conflict after the stabbing of the Queen to the exile was needed to make us feel a bit more satisfied.
I’ve been thinking about if there were any plot points I would outright change, despite the fact that I think 95% of the issues I have with this season are more pacing/fleshed out/should’ve been ten episodes, and I’m at least happy with the fact that all of the points don’t feel false, just (sometimes extremely) rushed. Except one: Jaime. His goodbye with Brienne should’ve been: “I’m going to kill her to be free of her.” I wish Cersei had been alone, watching her kingdom literally crumble around her, and then spotted him. She would’ve thought he was coming for her, but he would’ve been there to kill her. Then, Jaime would’ve died protecting some kids or something from dragon fire near Tyrion later in the episode. Other than that, I truly feel like the seasons being ten episodes could’ve handled the important stuff better: Dany’s descent to madness, driving home how important Bran actually is and lending more weight to the WW plot in the process (like imagine a scene where Dany’s madness is hinted at (like the Tarly’s death) and Varys goes “not again” and begins laying the groundwork for Bran to be king so that those machinations are going on as we discover Jon is a Targ, etc). And Euron....well. That could’ve been handled entirely different, but I don’t hate his madness and the way his cogs fit into the story in theory.
Bran’s “now he’ll spend the rest of his life fixing them” and then cutting to the scene establishing the importance of clean water over brothels was a very minor, important way to show what Tyrion was now doing to make up for the sins of his past. We’ve loved Tyrion from the start, thanks in large part to Peter Dinklage being phenomenal let alone how fascinating the character is, that I think we forget sometimes he still needed a redemption arc, too.
It’s a bit tough for me to buy Grey Worm would be okay with the justice for Jon killing his queen being the Night’s Watch, something he almost assuredly has never heard of before
I think the further everyone gets away from this just now airing and thinking and talking about it all the time, etc... this last season will be looked back upon much better than it has been. All the online toxicity won't be nearly as prevalent and the main complaint that will stick is just it being rushed the last season or two. I don't think it's going to be looked back upon like The Sopranos or The Wire, as far as quality, legacy, and importance though and it shouldn't.
Arya felt like such a confusing character this season. I love the fact that she was overcome by fear at Winterfell. It felt very humanizing. Then she goes and kills the big bad in like two seconds. Then she is just kinda there, not killing the two people she probably should have.
also this is some dumb minor shit but on a close up of i believe Tyrion being marched to his cell there is some obvious Unsullied bulge on one of them so you can keep your Starbucks cups and water bottles this is my I M M E R S I O N B R O K E N
Euron is absolutely the worst character I have encountered so far. I read some tweets by Felix from Chapo Trap House saying Euron was written like a dipshit "Ohio guy" and I couldn't take the character seriously after that lol
Even just Jaime planning to kill her his entire journey so he could do what is right but ultimately being unable to do it when he sees her and it costing him his life would have been infinitely better. It would have even tied into the choice Jon had to make this episode in the same building.
I think in the end it will be known as a flawed, but historic show, that had an immense quality for it for the better part of its run but that it ran out of steam and was rushed to a divisive end. It is still top tier entertainment from my perspective, even if I had massive issues with it on the way out the door. Most of what happened at the end has already settled fairly well for me, but all the issues could only be resolved with more TIME.
Jamie's turn right back to Cersei at the end was a huge thing that needed to be stretched out as well. While it makes sense on paper, his character had come so far from that point just to be like...nah, back to my lady.
This was the only part of the episode I didn't like. Way too corny for them to even suggest democracy as an option, and to have Sam do it, and how timid he was in suggesting it, was brutal. "I mean, I've been thinking, and you can all say no if you want to, but I think it could work - and maybe it won't! - but maybe, just maybe, we could start to consider this idea"
Euron being proud of killing a one handed Jamie, and not really killing him, after just one episode earlier killing a dragon is just the dumbest way for his mind-numbingly awful presence on the show to end. I don't even know how to feel about it other than its great to see him die and not be mentioned for the last episode.
Such an eye-roll moment. At that point, again, the tonal shift was too much for me to handle in seemingly one of the most important set pieces of the entire series.
Once Bran was elected king, and Tyrion as his hand, I was expecting Tyrion, Sansa, Arya, and even bran to start defending Jon for what he did. Tyrion maybe telling everyone he convinced Jon to do it.
Why not have creepy kid just tell everyone what really actually happened through his all knowing visions lol and then ultimately decide to save Jon and just arrest tf out of Greyworm for war crimes? Or they all just gang up on that mf and kill him? Weird flex.
One thing that would've been cool to see in the extended version is Bran proving his superpowers to skeptical Lords by telling them where they stashed their money or how to fix their std or whatever
It’s a good thing he didn’t decide to tell Royce and Robin that Sansa knows the truth of Lysa and the moon door.
These last two seasons really could've benefited from more episodes, and I would've happily waited another six+ months to get them. Seeing things like Sansa and Arya's reaction when Jon told them about his true parentage, or the immediate aftermath of Jon's regicide would've been great. Lena Headey gave Cersei such an incredible portrayal for 7 seasons, but this season she was reduced to little more than a plot point. I also wasn't crazy about how the majority of the dialogue regarding Dany's turn came from other characters who didn't seem to have any more real insight into it than us viewers did. When she finally gave her own rationale, it didn't really line up with what we all kind of assumed regarding the string of great losses she suffered. And of course there were the inconsistencies from scene to scene, like the number of Dany's soldiers who survived Winterfell and the state of King's Landing and the Red Keep this week compared to last. There have been similar issues in years past, but those were likely just errors, whereas these ones were obviously there to advance the plot to certain points. Also, what happened to winter?! W&B seem to have latched onto the idea that winter coming was merely a byproduct of the Night King's approach, and not the actual season. Except that there have been countless winters in the past, all without him... Having said that, I ultimately still liked the ending, especially given what they had to work with after last week. I honestly expected a higher body count (of main characters) given the "bittersweet" descriptor so many people used about the ending for so long. That so many of the Starks were still living at the end (and two of them on thrones!) is something I'd have bet against. A lot of characters got nice closures to their arcs (Robin Arryn's silent appearance notwithstanding!), and it was a beautifully shot episode. It's going to take a little while to process the fact that it's over.