“There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story,” Peter Dinklage‘s Tyrion says in the series finale of “Game of Thrones.” “Nothing can stop it.” Well, except two showrunners who want to rush through things. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss wrote and directed “The Iron Throne,” only their third in eight seasons, and it’s … fine.
READ MORE: The 50 Most Anticipated TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2019
And for a show with this many Emmys and this much chatter, it shouldn’t be just fine. This last episode caps off an uneven season that might have broken ratings records for HBO, but it lost much of what many fans loved about the show – particularly its devotion to its characters – in favor of a rushed plot line jammed into just six episodes. “The Iron Throne” features moments that will satisfy those fans and feels less hurried than its predecessors this year, but is it enough to make them overlook who has been crowned king? In the spirit of Weiss and Benioff’s speed, I’ll tell you now that the answer is no.
READ MORE: The Best TV Shows & Mini-Series Of 2018
The episode begins with Tyrion walking through the carnage, including passing a nearly naked man with most of his skin burnt off. Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Davos (Liam Cunningham) try to stop Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) from executing the remaining soldiers who fought for Cersei, but it’s no use. They return to speak to Daenerys. Tyrion walks through the remains of King’s Landing alone, discovering the remains of the halls and rooms he knew so well. He descends into the bowels of the castle, looking for his brother and sister, finding Jaime’s golden hand sticking out of the rubble – and a bit of closure for the audience, though the end of two of the show’s biggest and best characters still feels lacking. Tyrion cries over their bodies, which is more than I can muster at this point in the show.
READ MORE: The Biggest Casualty In ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 8 Is Quality Storytelling
Jon and Arya (Maisie Williams) separately advance toward Daenerys, with the Dothraki horde cheering on their Queen in her victory (a.k.a. massacre). Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) gives a triumphant speech with a smile that seems a wee bit inappropriate for a moment following the death of thousands of innocents. She names Grey Worm her Master of War, then asks the Unsullied to help her liberate all the people of the world. “Will you break the wheel with me?” she asks of them, seeming to ignore that if things proceed as in King’s Landing, there won’t actually be any people to free – or to rule over. Details.
However, not everyone is on board with her actions. Tyrion says as he throws down his Hand pin, and inevitably, he’s taken away to the cells as the traitor Daenerys believes him to be. There are no words between Daenerys and Jon. He’s surprised to see Arya, and she warns him that Daenerys sees him as the threat to her reign. Sweet summer child that he is, Jon is convinced the fighting is over, but Tyrion also knows better in one of his few smart moments recently. They debate how she compares to Cersei and Tywin, and Jon is dealing in false equivalencies like he’s on a cable news show. But the real question is: would Jon – or any good ruler – have done what she did?
READ MORE: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Storyboards Show Hodor Among The Night King’s Army In Season 7 Episode
Jon approaches the throne room, and Daenerys’ overgrown guard dog Drogon lets him pass, recognizing that he’s approved by his mistress. We cut to Dany approaching the Iron Throne, which she clearly can’t wait to sit on. But that glee is short-lived: Jon has arrived, and his anger is at a level we’ve never seen before (though it’s clearly entirely merited). He pleads with her for mercy for Tyrion and for others to no avail. She, in turn, pleads with him to join her. He kisses her, and stabs her in the heart, literally and figuratively, and Dany dies the quickest, prettiest death we’ve seen in eight seasons. Drogon approaches, but it’s not Jon that is his target: it’s the throne, which he melts into nothingness (though it still seems like Jon would’ve been scorched by the ambient heat, but whatever). Did he refuse to kill Jon because of his Targaryen blood, because the Iron Throne was her real undoing, or because he has bad aim? Like many other questions here, we’ll never know the answer, as he flies off, carrying his mother’s body in his claw.
Weeks pass, and Tyrion is led out of his cell, he thinks to his death. But instead, he is brought by Grey Worm to a counsel everyone else representing the great houses and then some: Arya, Sansa (Sophie Turner), Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright), Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan), Gendry (Joe Dempsie), and Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), and surprise guests Edmure Tully (Tobias Menzies) and Robin Arryn (Lino Facioli). I clapped for Edmure’s return, but I’m far happier than Sansa, who puts him in his place when he begins to lecture. The group decides that they’ll choose the next ruler, and Sam proposes a democracy led by the common people. This … does not go well.
When Tyrion is asked who he thinks should be their ruler, he gives a great speech. It’s unfortunate that the great speech is about why Bran should be King. Millions of people watched this episode live, and so millions of eyeballs are rolling and millions of people are groaning at this moment. When Bran is asked if he’ll agree to rule, despite the idea that he’s never wanted to do so, he responds, “Why do you think I came all this way?” Ugh. Bran has been less terrible this season (other than this particular moment), but it’s still ridiculous that he’s voted (unanimously!) as the next King of Westeros. This is like the Democratic party ignoring Elizabeth Warren in favor of all the other dudes. There is a perfectly good leader right there in Sansa. But the North will be its own separate kingdom as it was before, and so she will get a job that she’s worthy of, even if it’s not as much as she ultimately deserves.
Jon’s fate is to return to the Night’s Watch, which was all that Grey Worm (the new lord of The Reach) would agree on. Tyrion is appointed Hand again, though he protests in vain. Grey Worm will first go to the Isle of Naath, where Missandei is from.
It’s goodbye for the Stark children at the docks. Arya will head west of Westeros, where the maps stop. Arya sheds a tear when Jon asks her if she has her Needle, and it’s the only moment that has the emotional impact that Weiss and Benioff intend it to, though I don’t follow Arya’s lead. This moment should get sobs, or at least sniffles, with all the time and feelings we’ve invested in this show, but my eyes are dry. Jon bends the knee to the new King and apologizes for not being there, but all-knowing Bran tells him he was where he needed to be. Jon walks off, cape swirling behind him like he’s in a Beyoncé video.
We can infer that Brienne is apparently the new Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and she takes the opportunity to finish Jaime’s story in the White Book, the history of the Kingsguard. She gives him an end both truthful and fitting: he died protecting his queen. Tyrion arranges the chairs of the Small Council, and we see that it includes Sam, Davos, Brienne, and Bronn (Jerome Flynn). My beloved nerd Sam has brought a maester’s retelling of the War of the Seven Kingdoms: “A Song of Ice and Fire,” the title of George R.R. Martin’s book series. Sam says he helped with the title, but Tyrion has been left out of the story, bringing out a smirk from his new Master of Coin (a.k.a. Bronn). Ser Podrick (Daniel Portman) wheels in the new King, who is concerned about Drogon, who he says he can help locate. Meanwhile, the others are worried about clean water, ships, and – bless Bronn – brothels.
Horn sounds at the Night’s Watch, signaling the arrival of Jon. Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) is there to greet him. Fade to black, and we cut to Arya on her ship sailing west, Jon at Castle Black among the remaining Wildlings, and Sansa is crowned queen in the North at Winterfell. We get our reunion between Ghost and Jon, and the special effects aren’t terrible. Jon heads north with the Free Folk into land no longer blighted by wights. There’s a shoot of green through the snow, promising spring.
They don’t even show Bran in this last scene, which is our final moment with the Stark family, demonstrating that Weiss and Benioff aren’t even invested in Bran’s story. He wasn’t even in Season 5 and hasn’t been an important part of the show, and now we’re supposed to be invested in him as the King? We’re barely invested in him as a character.
“I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things,” Tyrion said way back in Season 1, you know, when he was an interesting character known for his drinking and his intelligence. In Martin’s books, he was often a mouthpiece for the author himself. Martin’s affection for these types of characters is clear, with Bran having the first real chapter perspective in the whole series.
With these things in mind, his ending shouldn’t be a surprise, but it doesn’t feel entirely satisfying either, especially among better conclusions for Arya, Brienne, Sansa, and more. “Game of Thrones” has never cared about Bran as much as the books did, and its fans have followed suit. Weiss and Benioff having to follow Martin’s endgame simply doesn’t work here as well as it may in the books – if Martin ever finishes them. But for most viewers, this is the only ending to this world they’ll ever see, and it’s unworthy of the show at its best.
