When you think of everything everyone has been through together – Brienne and Jaime, Arya and Gendry, Jorah and Daenerys, Jaime and Bran, Tyrion and Daenerys, Grey Worm and Missandei, Sam and Jon, Sansa and Theon – it’s remarkable how much they’ve endured to be here in this moment of reckoning. That room, those glasses of wine (and one horn of wildling…something), the old stories and the long silences–all had more weight than any Loot Train Attack ever could. Whether a bunch of former enemies sat around a fire and drank, waiting to die together, or friends stood on a wall making jokes this episode’s moments were better than any of season seven’s action sequences. We got to slow down and reinvest in these people. That’s what this week’s episode did so perfectly, like during its best seasons.
When those people experienced a crushing loss, or yet another beloved person died, it meant so much to us because the show invested in their personal stories and so did we. The show created a fascinating world where the political ramifications of people sitting around a table felt more important than the war those moments led to. Those were the scenes that used to take up the majority of episodes and entire seasons, not the spectacles those seasons built toward. Olenna Tyrell never picked up a sword, but her sharp tongue was riveting no matter whom she spoke to. That’s why it has always been engrossing to watch two enemies sit across from one another, sharing a drink together as they size each other up, like Littlefinger and Varys would, or Tyrion and Cersei. Game of Thrones might be a fantasy series, but it’s one anchored by empathetic people facing a harsh world. Huge set pieces, epic battles, Red Weddings, and face swapping men are cool and vital to the show’s success, but we only care about any of that because we love the characters. The final season’s second episode, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” focused on what has always been the driving force of the show and what has always made it great, the characters and their relationships.
We can stop worrying now, because this week’s Game Of Thrones returned to greatness. It also had us worried the show might not stick the landing on one of the most anticipated final seasons ever. Those problems continued with the season eight premiere, “Winterfell.” Petty fights, silly dragon rides, and a lack of focus on the coming Great War were so frustrating, we asked if the living even deserved to win. 2) Everything was rushed, both distance traveled and the pace of episodes.
1) Characters started acting totally out-of-character (mostly by being really dumb). Game of Thrones has been undergoing a personality crisis since season seven, which was so different from everything that preceded it that the series felt like a totally different show. Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the second episode of Game of Thrones final season.
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