Frewns S8E5 SPOILERS

I really liked it.

You have to ignore the set-up. The pieces at the start were what they were and where they were. Don’t think too hard about how we got here. Here is where we are and starting from here this episode works and works really well, for me at least. I can entirely see why Sapochnik wanted to do 4 and 5 not 3 and 5 – it would have been much better to have the one segue into the other more naturally.

I thought the opening sequence was mood-perfect. WHAT WERE THE WORDS FROM THE FLAMES WHEN VARYS’ PARTS WERE BURNED ALL THOSE YEARS AGO THOUGH, and why did he take his ring off? I guess we’ll never know.

A lot of people in Kings Landing would much have preferred Jon to say “aunt-schmaunt, it’s not like we haven’t already” – but finding out your gf is actually your aunt would put a dampener on most of us. I’m glad they had Grey Worm “turn” as well as Dany.

The sack of Kings Landing was very well done – the show never explained, really, the whole Blackfyre schtick and why we might care about Harry Strickland, so I guess it’s OK that, well, we don’t need to. I really don’t understand why, when defending a city which has walls, you’d ever put your own soldiers outside them; but in-show this is apparently The Done Thing and I think we just have to roll with it.

The fear on the Lannister soldiers’ faces and their decision to surrender, and the subsequent appalling actions of “our heroes” fits with GRRM’s overall ethos. It’s good that we can feel horror at the actions of characters we’ve come to care about.

Sandor’s redemption of Arya was beautifully done, in fact I liked the Arya bits most of all I think this episode. She was no longer the OP assassin, he completed her rehumanisation, if you like; she was helpless as everyone else. I wonder if that horse was really Jaqen H’Gar? I really want her to reunite with Jon now but I imagine she’ll ride off into the sunset, sail west of Westeros righting wrongs or something.

Cleganebowl kind of had to happen, I’ll admit my eyes rolled just a teensy bit but the way it ended was fitting. I liked the subversion of the valonqar prophecy (yes I do know that wasn’t a thing in-show but still): Cersie did indeed die with her younger brother’s arms around her neck.

So now we have a mad queen of all the ashes. Is this the existential threat that Azor Ahai must defeat? Like most people I expect Jon to kill Dany somehow or other (does she die in childbirth?) and think Sansa ought to end up on the Iron Throne. So that’s probably not what’s going to happen. Will she kill Tyrion?

In terms of the books I think this episode and the next will indeed give us the ending in broad strokes but it’s very obvious how individual characters’ journeys can and doubtless will be different.

Posted By: Old Man, May 13, 10:43:05