I have waited so long to talk about one of my favourite shows ever! GAME OF THRONES Yayy!!! Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun...
As like my review of Defenders Season 1, I'll split my review into the No-Spoiler and Spoiler section, for the benefit of everyone. It's gonna be a looooong one, so take your time. :)
THE NO-SPOILER SECTION:
(Full disclosure: I have NOT read the books. So I will be reviewing the show for what it is. No comparison to the books or anything)
(Also, while this segment is non-spoiler free, it is only w.r.t Season 7, so those who haven't seen the earlier seasons... well, why haven't you watched this excellent show yet? Watch it, and then please do come back :P. It does contain spoilers from earlier seasons only.)
Let us now delve into what made this season quite good.
Season 7 seems to be a totally different season as compared to the earlier 6. There were some damn good, heart-warming reunions for some characters. The graphics, cinematography, the set designs and the overall visual image in some scenes made me gaze in awe. Something GoT always excels at. Music as always, was such a delight to listen to. Each and every soundtrack was fantastic. The melody, the tune, the different tones for each House, some uplifting, some eerie and spooky, some melodious, some others enthralling were all a delight to listen to. You feel completely mesmerized in this world of Westeros, and major thanks to one man. Ramin Djawadi, you rock! Although, I do hate you for making me cry every time the Stark theme comes on. Every damn time man! So bloody effective. Makes me tear up.
The dialogues (not writing per se) for most of the season, were quite well-written. Some very quotable lines were present this season. Characters said certain lines that made me go "Hell yeah!". Now that we are shortening the episodes, and pushing things faster, it makes sense why the focus shifted from gritty politics and engaging drama that had really great dialogue to lesser of that but more of visual grandeur. Still could've maintained that balance a little better. I still feel a little more focus on the scheming, politics and the dialogues could've been done, instead of focusing only on action. Like I said, a better maintained balance.
The different and completely unexpected character interactions in most cases were well done. We could really feel or understand for both (or more) of these characters, in terms of how far they've come throughout this show, how much they have suffered. You cherished theses things, as when you realise they are so different and matured from where they last met and how they are now, it made those interactions so satisfying.
The initial set-up was going on fine in the first 2-3 episodes. The very first scene in Episode 1 though. Amazing! I felt so relieved, and we really get to see what a badass a particular character in that scene is. Rest of Ep 1 moved a little slow though. We then get to see what most of the main characters are up to, what is going on in Winterfell, Dragonstone, Oldtown, The Wall, King's Landing etc. Dany prepares her attack for King's Landing, Jon is uniting the men in the North, Littlefinger still being the cunning evil prick he is, trying to manipulate Sansa, Arya deciding on where to go, Bran doing 3-Eyed Raven stuff, Cersei keeping things under her control in King's Landing and so on. We see some unexpected alliances, some great reunion scenes like I mentioned earlier, that I would've never imagined happening on this show, and then some really disgusting scenes (like seriously vomit-inducing scenes)....Till this point everything was nice and entertaining to watch. Seemed to go a little faster than what we were used to so far, like a heck of a lot things were happening, but it was fine.
Episode 4 had some stunning visuals and cinematography, and it was a wonder to behold. Probably being my 2nd favourite episode of this season. The show focuses a lot more on the dragons now. Finally we see Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal in their full glory throughout this season. (though Drogon still seems to be the main focus a lot. Give the other brothers some screentime dude, lol) These kind of wonderful, spectacular action sequences are scattered in many places throughout this season, which is this season's major + point for me. Not just these, but a few well-choreographed fight scenes here and there.
Episode 5 was a good set-up episode. That major plot bomb they just dropped in that episode.... I see what you did there, writers. Haha. I liked the way they did that.
Episode 6... now this is an episode that I initially thought was one of the best episodes of GoT, but when I slowly realised some glaring problems and inconsistencies it had, well.... I'll elaborate on this in a while.
And my God the finale! WOOOOWWW! Simply brilliant. Though not explosive or breathtaking or anything like the finales before this, the overall structure, flow of the story, great visual effects, some much needed character interactions, and great redemption arcs for some made it a very good one. It felt like your good old Season 1-4 type GoT episodes. I'll talk more about many other instances and more details about the episodes in my Spoiler section.
Although most of the episodes were good, and some were downright awesome, the major problem with this season, started to become more and more apparent from Episode 4 onwards, and that bothered me quite a bit. And the problem is none other than the PACING. It was tooooo fast! Because of this, many instances in this season lacked the much need tension.
What made seasons like 1 & 4 special was that it took its time setting up things. Character arcs were more spread out, and the flow of the story felt natural and exciting. Every one of those arcs felt real and personal in an isolated manner. There was a very strong focus on world building, and character building. You’d hear characters talk a lot more, which made everything well “built up”. This added a lot of the depth to the series in the past, and for better or worse, Season 7 breaks from this format. In particular, the pacing is faster, and there is a sense that characters are now less fragile which has changed the feel of the series.
Then there's the time travelling. Why?! Why so much? Look, I'm aware of the concept of "non-linear storytelling", but there's still a limit to that right? When characters move from A to B to Z like they're travelling through some wormholes or portals, it just undoes what the show had very elaborately set-up all this while. Earlier seasons gave great importance to details such as the locations of each place, the kingdoms, the time that it would take to move from one place to another, and so on. I am saying this based on how they showed the various locations, scenery, overall world-building and the movement through VARIOUS episodes. Now in Season 7 when you see some characters just jumping from one place to another within the same episode, it makes it illogical and too damn unbelievable.
What could be the reason? If they had already decided to cut short Season 7 & 8, then why were they wasting soooo much time in Season 5 & parts of Season 6? Why show scenes that almost all audiences don't want or are of no importance to the story? It looks like the slow and useless parts of Season 5 and a few of them in Season 6 led to this super fast pacing in Season 7. Especially Episode 6 of this season, where I just lost it. Broke all time barriers. Way too unbelievable, and by this time, there were too many Ex-Machina moments.
When I analysed episode 6, I noticed another thing that has come down in GoT, compared to before. The writing. This was where it clearly showed that the writers reverse-worked their way out, which is not good. They wanted to show this cool X moment, so some really nonsensical and ridiculous plots A, B, C etc. happened in order to lead up to that moment. Felt very rushed, like they wanted to show you these jaw-dropping scenes, but the set-up or build up to that wasn't done well. (More in the spoiler section). And in the process, they missed out on some key events. I also feel some of the Houses (like as a whole) and characters weren't done complete justice.
Let's get into some spoilers, after which I'll conclude on how I felt this season of GoT was.
THE "SPOILERS" OF WAR:
(Sorry, just had to :D)
Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers beware!
Folks who have watched the season, welcome. Let's start with the good ones first.
Oh Wow that opening sequence. Arya kills all the Freys! We finally got our reverse Red-Wedding, and boy it was so satisfying. Best. Opening intro. Ever.
The character interactions I was talking about earlier, were each of the Stark reunions (accompanied with the Stark theme, so you can understand why I started to tear up), and not just them, even Arya & Nymeria, Tyrion & Jaime, Tyrion & Cersei (which was acted brilliantly by Peter Dinklage & Lena Headey), The Hound & Brienne (small yet touching). These were handled quite well. Some of the other completely unexpected (as in, I wouldn't have expected this a few seasons back) meet ups were Jon & Dany, Davos & Gendry, and of course, Cleganebowl! Woohoo. Sandor and Gregor. When you see these characters for who they are and when they meet after so long, it gave you that sense of relief, joy and happiness. I was smiling like an idiot during each of these reunions. These were all well done.
Though the focus was more on the action rather than characters, we got some fantastic acting by Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Nikolaj-Coster Waldau, and Aidan Gillen. I like how Tyrion is finally given something useful to do, something he excels at, simply talking! His role as advisor to Daenerys was nice, although I wonder why he said or made quite ridiculous decisions at times. Jaime had a nice redemption moment in the finale, Cersei still being the evil, adamant queen she is, Littlefinger still being the deceptive, manipulative pest that he is... and how can I forget. Ollenna Tyrell! What a kickass woman! I felt so sad when she died. Damn, even in her last words, she never fails to let go of her badassery! Will definitely miss the Tyrells on this show. Also, I actually felt sad for the Sand Snakes for once, so good acting by Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand too.
Another thing that I liked a lot were the action sequences. Everytime we saw the dragon and Dany on top of it, it was a magnificent sight to behold. I kept saying "Ha! Now that's how you make an entrance! Way to go!". The "Spoils of War" episode, where Dany burns all the Lannister stock and wreaks havoc on their army, was one of the best action set pieces this season. Loved the graphics, the dramatic entrance, the look on every Lannister's face (esp. Jamie's) when they see the dragons for the 1st time in their life. It was well shot, well edited and beautifully done. The fight beyond the Wall was pretty decent, not as breathtaking and adrenaline filled like 'Hardhome' or 'Battle of the Bastards'. But oh man. That very last scene, where the Night King revives the dead dragon, and its eyes turn blue! Holy moly! GoT does know how to give you the OMGs and the surprises. Despite numerous a**holes spoiling it for me on the Internet, it was a bone-chilling "Holy shit" moment that was shown very well. The Euron battle was done pretty poorly though.
Special mention also goes to the sword fight between Arya and Brienne. Moments like this made me like Arya a lot more than before. Maisie Williams portrayed her role to perfection. Thank God all that Braavos training paid off.
While all these were good, there were some major issues or things that happened in this season, that quite frankly, was sad to see in a show like this. The pacing (because of which the writing), the overall sense of plot being rushed. Characters were suddenly brought in then ignored, the plot sometimes was way too ridiculous, and it broke all time barriers.
For example, how can you just expect everyone to accept the fact that Dany flew all the way from Dragonstone all the way North then to Eastwatch and even beyond the Wall within a day or two? How did the ravens travel as if they were working for Amazon Prime? How did Jon, Gendry and others travel so soon through soo many miles? Look, at this stage no one wants to see them walk, talk and stretch it for 5-6 episodes, as most of these characters are well built enough by now. That's not the point. The problem is, when you took so much time earlier to establish the locations, the dialogue, the geography in terms of distances and other incidents during the course of, let's say, 2 characters travelling, and now suddenly you make them travel so fast, it feels very odd, and it makes clear that you want to focus only on the action and not on anything else. We saw Bran travelling to reach the 3-Eyed Raven for 4 bloody seasons, took an entire season off, and only then he did some cool warging stuff and gave us useful information. We saw Robert travelling from Winterfell to King's Landing, many characters like the Hound & Arya, Jaime & Brienne amongst others, travelling for so many seasons, and in the process, we got a lot of insight into them, the locations, and others, which was what made GoT a spectacular show above everything else. Now time is not there I understand, but why reduce the episode limit then? Why not more episodes?
GoT wasn't like this man. It's started to rely more on shock value, and Ex-machina moments like Benjen, Dany saving everyone at the last minute, Bronn saving Jaime, Jon getting saved too many times etc. In the process, some of the other characters or storylines took a beating. Sam and the Citadel thing (he already knew Dragonglass was in Dragonstone right?), Jorah and Greyscale plot, Tyrells & Dorne were killed off, like entirely, and Lyanna Mormont & other Northeners, Varys, Melisandre etc. took a seat back.
And then there's the reverse-writing I was talking about. The writers somehow wanted to bring the dragon beyond the Wall, for the Night King to get some leverage in the battle. While this was something that all of us were praying for, the ultimate battle between ice & fire, what we got here was the writers not being able to figure out how to get there. The "capture a wight" storyline was the ridiculous plot I kept talking about here. While we just had to accept that, it made zero sense. Yes, Cersei did get some scary proof that the dead are not a fairytale. But what made Tyrion and others think she'd just let go of all the hatred she has and join hands to fight the White Walkers? What made Jon & Dany think she'd agree to that? There could've been much better ways to make that storyline succeed, and it was wonderfully written on Quora by Laura Parker. Her version shows a much better version of Episode 6, that I personally would've loved to see. Check it out.
Show some events in at least 1-2 episodes prior (e.g Dany arriving at Westeros & beyond the wall, apparently without anyone of the Northeners noticing 3 huge dragons flying above their heads, Jon & suicide squad moving from Dragonstone to Eastwatch, Euron travelling God knows where and all on the seas of Westeros etc.). Instead of focusing on useless stuff like Grey Worm & Missandei relationship, Sam cleaning shit (Really disgusting!), change/delay the order of events so that the flow of story is smooth. Hell, if lot of time hadn't been wasted in earlier seasons, you could've even included more of the Bran and the prequel scenes before Robert's Rebellion, Lady Stoneheart, and so many of these other stuff in books I keep hearing about! Show Gendry being casually brought back into the show, and not make this Southerner go all the way up North, and make him run 6 hours non-stop and expecting everyone to believe he'll be OK in that weather he's never used to. Including Gendry is fine, make him do something else. Include him gradually in story. I was like "Oh yes Finally. All the rowing memes can stop now". And then woah woah woah you're North? You're near the wall? You're beyond the wall? I mean waaaa? See this is why initially I thought episode 6 was awesome, but then I realised the jarring errors and logic flaws it had.
There were some characters I wasn't very satisfied with in terms of the way they portrayed them, like Euron Greyjoy. I feel very sad for the book readers, as I hear he's such an interesting, evil, ruthless character there. Here, he's just obnoxious, and over the top. I still haven't got an explanation for how he knew when to ambush Yara and Dorne, HOW THE HELL DID HE KNOW??? He just comes and goes in between scenes, nothing more. Man I feel bad for the Greyjoys. Except for Theon, the whole House wasn't well developed at all. I don't know if I'll be invested much in Theon saving Yara in Season 8 story though. I seriously thought Euron would save that Greyjoy storyline, as he's all great in the books, but nope.
Another one is Bran. Like I said earlier, he did some really cool stuff in Season 6, and showed us some great things about the flashbacks, what he could do, and so on. Now, he's just there to give us information. Sure, as Brandon Stark, he's probably dead, but make more use of his awesome power, writers! He hasn't got much character development yet! We needed to have seen his internal struggles between the 3-Eyed Raven and Bran Stark. That would make us more invested in his transformation as the all-seeing raven.
Poor Benjen Stark. Was used only as a last minute saviour for Jon. Wouldn't it be better if Benjen was reintroduced a few scenes earlier, and rides from the beginning, instead of randomly saving Jon out of nowhere?
There's also my small issue I had with the Winterfell plot. I mean, yes, the Stark reunions were tear-jerking and much needed, but the rest? Jon abandons his post to meet Dany, we get some unexpected and strange rivalry between the Stark sisters, and the Winterfell plot ends with a plot twist that Sansa and Arya were "just kidding" with their little rivalry just to play Littlefinger. While I will miss Baelish, and I was absolutely taken aback seeing LF for the 1st time, vulnerable, the whole thing was kinda predictable. The sisters would never kill each other. I wish they'd put a little more backstory on why Arya could possible be on trial. The twist would then be even more awesome. His execution was done good, but could've been done slightly better, for a guy who started the WHOLE DAMN WAR!
Another recurring thing this season that many characters seem to be facing so many close calls, but never really dying, pulling the thrill out of those scenes (Eg. Jon, Tormund). Also, the Jon & Dany romance felt so forced down our throats. They should have had more screen time, for me to buy their relationship. It's like they were pandering to the fans of this couple a lot. Felt a bit forced that's all.
With all this being said, the finale almost made up for every problem this season had. Oh wow. The all-character meet-up was executed to perfection, where we saw many reunite after long, many awesome things/hints such as Cleganebowl, and a possible Queenslayer moment for Jaime, but the best part was that it finally felt like a good old GoT episode. The pacing was more smooth and it didn't feel rushed. The look of terror, disgust and shock when everyone especially Cersei sees that wight, was acted and done masterfully. The end result of this meet up gave a nice Jaime redemption moment, but it now makes Cersei less important in the picture. I mean, its gonna be all about the Walkers now right? How is her story going to be any less important? She seems powerless ruling in King's Landing, now that everyone's going up North.
The Jon parentage reveal... Ah what an amazing....montage? Well, ok no time for more of those scenes I guess..., but shit cleaning? "Oh yess we need more of that!" (Sigh!). Also, cutting back and forth from that to Jon & Dany making out?? Weird..... so weird..
Must mention that glorious shot of Jaime leaving King's Landing, and snow falling over King's Landing, at last! Thank God the writers showed the weather change. Coz the dead bring the winter with them right? The Long Night? I do wish most of Season 8 is NOT shot in sunny weather, as their presence must be made known. That melodious, soothing, modified version of the original theme that plays in this scene! Wow. Thank you Ramin Djawadi. Thank you for making me feel calm with these soundtracks in an otherwise hectic life for me.
And finally moving to the most anticipated moment in GoT! Night King has a zombie dragon !!! And the White Walkers finally breach the wall!!!! The whole sequence of The Wall falling down as the dragon breathes "blue fire" (or ice?) was done superbly. I was holding my breath throughout that scene. It was mind-blowing, scary and gave a fitting conclusion to an otherwise lacklustre season.
(SPOILERS END)
In the end, Season 7 was visually spectacular, but had some serious pacing issues. It had some happy reunions and some seriously jaw-dropping scenes. However, the story moved too damn fast, the whole thing felt very short and crammed in due to just 7 episodes. Yes there should be more action now, but along with good dialogue, intriguing plots, somewhat acceptable logic, and good character interactions. I don't think I'm wrong in expecting all this, coz.... Its Game of Thrones after all! That was what made it so good.
I do not want GoT to end on a whimper. I seriously hope the final season overall and the series finale does not become a mindless 8-hour action movie flick, and that it is done properly. Dammit! How are they gonna end everything in 6 more episodes!???
My rating would be around,.....say 6/10. Miles better than Season 5, falls slightly short of Season 6, and definitely not as good as Season 1-4. I'm a die-hard fan of GoT mind you. I still enjoyed watching this season in general.
Well, phew! That was a long one!
What did you guys think of this season? What did you think of my review? Did I miss something?
Do you agree / disagree on something?
Feel free to comment below! I love discussing GoT, and would love to engage in discussions!
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Cheers!
As like my review of Defenders Season 1, I'll split my review into the No-Spoiler and Spoiler section, for the benefit of everyone. It's gonna be a looooong one, so take your time. :)
THE NO-SPOILER SECTION:
(Full disclosure: I have NOT read the books. So I will be reviewing the show for what it is. No comparison to the books or anything)
(Also, while this segment is non-spoiler free, it is only w.r.t Season 7, so those who haven't seen the earlier seasons... well, why haven't you watched this excellent show yet? Watch it, and then please do come back :P. It does contain spoilers from earlier seasons only.)
Let us now delve into what made this season quite good.
Season 7 seems to be a totally different season as compared to the earlier 6. There were some damn good, heart-warming reunions for some characters. The graphics, cinematography, the set designs and the overall visual image in some scenes made me gaze in awe. Something GoT always excels at. Music as always, was such a delight to listen to. Each and every soundtrack was fantastic. The melody, the tune, the different tones for each House, some uplifting, some eerie and spooky, some melodious, some others enthralling were all a delight to listen to. You feel completely mesmerized in this world of Westeros, and major thanks to one man. Ramin Djawadi, you rock! Although, I do hate you for making me cry every time the Stark theme comes on. Every damn time man! So bloody effective. Makes me tear up.
The dialogues (not writing per se) for most of the season, were quite well-written. Some very quotable lines were present this season. Characters said certain lines that made me go "Hell yeah!". Now that we are shortening the episodes, and pushing things faster, it makes sense why the focus shifted from gritty politics and engaging drama that had really great dialogue to lesser of that but more of visual grandeur. Still could've maintained that balance a little better. I still feel a little more focus on the scheming, politics and the dialogues could've been done, instead of focusing only on action. Like I said, a better maintained balance.
The different and completely unexpected character interactions in most cases were well done. We could really feel or understand for both (or more) of these characters, in terms of how far they've come throughout this show, how much they have suffered. You cherished theses things, as when you realise they are so different and matured from where they last met and how they are now, it made those interactions so satisfying.
The initial set-up was going on fine in the first 2-3 episodes. The very first scene in Episode 1 though. Amazing! I felt so relieved, and we really get to see what a badass a particular character in that scene is. Rest of Ep 1 moved a little slow though. We then get to see what most of the main characters are up to, what is going on in Winterfell, Dragonstone, Oldtown, The Wall, King's Landing etc. Dany prepares her attack for King's Landing, Jon is uniting the men in the North, Littlefinger still being the cunning evil prick he is, trying to manipulate Sansa, Arya deciding on where to go, Bran doing 3-Eyed Raven stuff, Cersei keeping things under her control in King's Landing and so on. We see some unexpected alliances, some great reunion scenes like I mentioned earlier, that I would've never imagined happening on this show, and then some really disgusting scenes (like seriously vomit-inducing scenes)....Till this point everything was nice and entertaining to watch. Seemed to go a little faster than what we were used to so far, like a heck of a lot things were happening, but it was fine.
Episode 4 had some stunning visuals and cinematography, and it was a wonder to behold. Probably being my 2nd favourite episode of this season. The show focuses a lot more on the dragons now. Finally we see Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal in their full glory throughout this season. (though Drogon still seems to be the main focus a lot. Give the other brothers some screentime dude, lol) These kind of wonderful, spectacular action sequences are scattered in many places throughout this season, which is this season's major + point for me. Not just these, but a few well-choreographed fight scenes here and there.
Episode 5 was a good set-up episode. That major plot bomb they just dropped in that episode.... I see what you did there, writers. Haha. I liked the way they did that.
Episode 6... now this is an episode that I initially thought was one of the best episodes of GoT, but when I slowly realised some glaring problems and inconsistencies it had, well.... I'll elaborate on this in a while.
And my God the finale! WOOOOWWW! Simply brilliant. Though not explosive or breathtaking or anything like the finales before this, the overall structure, flow of the story, great visual effects, some much needed character interactions, and great redemption arcs for some made it a very good one. It felt like your good old Season 1-4 type GoT episodes. I'll talk more about many other instances and more details about the episodes in my Spoiler section.
Although most of the episodes were good, and some were downright awesome, the major problem with this season, started to become more and more apparent from Episode 4 onwards, and that bothered me quite a bit. And the problem is none other than the PACING. It was tooooo fast! Because of this, many instances in this season lacked the much need tension.
What made seasons like 1 & 4 special was that it took its time setting up things. Character arcs were more spread out, and the flow of the story felt natural and exciting. Every one of those arcs felt real and personal in an isolated manner. There was a very strong focus on world building, and character building. You’d hear characters talk a lot more, which made everything well “built up”. This added a lot of the depth to the series in the past, and for better or worse, Season 7 breaks from this format. In particular, the pacing is faster, and there is a sense that characters are now less fragile which has changed the feel of the series.
Then there's the time travelling. Why?! Why so much? Look, I'm aware of the concept of "non-linear storytelling", but there's still a limit to that right? When characters move from A to B to Z like they're travelling through some wormholes or portals, it just undoes what the show had very elaborately set-up all this while. Earlier seasons gave great importance to details such as the locations of each place, the kingdoms, the time that it would take to move from one place to another, and so on. I am saying this based on how they showed the various locations, scenery, overall world-building and the movement through VARIOUS episodes. Now in Season 7 when you see some characters just jumping from one place to another within the same episode, it makes it illogical and too damn unbelievable.
What could be the reason? If they had already decided to cut short Season 7 & 8, then why were they wasting soooo much time in Season 5 & parts of Season 6? Why show scenes that almost all audiences don't want or are of no importance to the story? It looks like the slow and useless parts of Season 5 and a few of them in Season 6 led to this super fast pacing in Season 7. Especially Episode 6 of this season, where I just lost it. Broke all time barriers. Way too unbelievable, and by this time, there were too many Ex-Machina moments.
When I analysed episode 6, I noticed another thing that has come down in GoT, compared to before. The writing. This was where it clearly showed that the writers reverse-worked their way out, which is not good. They wanted to show this cool X moment, so some really nonsensical and ridiculous plots A, B, C etc. happened in order to lead up to that moment. Felt very rushed, like they wanted to show you these jaw-dropping scenes, but the set-up or build up to that wasn't done well. (More in the spoiler section). And in the process, they missed out on some key events. I also feel some of the Houses (like as a whole) and characters weren't done complete justice.
Let's get into some spoilers, after which I'll conclude on how I felt this season of GoT was.
THE "SPOILERS" OF WAR:
(Sorry, just had to :D)
Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers beware!
Folks who have watched the season, welcome. Let's start with the good ones first.
Oh Wow that opening sequence. Arya kills all the Freys! We finally got our reverse Red-Wedding, and boy it was so satisfying. Best. Opening intro. Ever.
The character interactions I was talking about earlier, were each of the Stark reunions (accompanied with the Stark theme, so you can understand why I started to tear up), and not just them, even Arya & Nymeria, Tyrion & Jaime, Tyrion & Cersei (which was acted brilliantly by Peter Dinklage & Lena Headey), The Hound & Brienne (small yet touching). These were handled quite well. Some of the other completely unexpected (as in, I wouldn't have expected this a few seasons back) meet ups were Jon & Dany, Davos & Gendry, and of course, Cleganebowl! Woohoo. Sandor and Gregor. When you see these characters for who they are and when they meet after so long, it gave you that sense of relief, joy and happiness. I was smiling like an idiot during each of these reunions. These were all well done.
Though the focus was more on the action rather than characters, we got some fantastic acting by Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Nikolaj-Coster Waldau, and Aidan Gillen. I like how Tyrion is finally given something useful to do, something he excels at, simply talking! His role as advisor to Daenerys was nice, although I wonder why he said or made quite ridiculous decisions at times. Jaime had a nice redemption moment in the finale, Cersei still being the evil, adamant queen she is, Littlefinger still being the deceptive, manipulative pest that he is... and how can I forget. Ollenna Tyrell! What a kickass woman! I felt so sad when she died. Damn, even in her last words, she never fails to let go of her badassery! Will definitely miss the Tyrells on this show. Also, I actually felt sad for the Sand Snakes for once, so good acting by Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand too.
Another thing that I liked a lot were the action sequences. Everytime we saw the dragon and Dany on top of it, it was a magnificent sight to behold. I kept saying "Ha! Now that's how you make an entrance! Way to go!". The "Spoils of War" episode, where Dany burns all the Lannister stock and wreaks havoc on their army, was one of the best action set pieces this season. Loved the graphics, the dramatic entrance, the look on every Lannister's face (esp. Jamie's) when they see the dragons for the 1st time in their life. It was well shot, well edited and beautifully done. The fight beyond the Wall was pretty decent, not as breathtaking and adrenaline filled like 'Hardhome' or 'Battle of the Bastards'. But oh man. That very last scene, where the Night King revives the dead dragon, and its eyes turn blue! Holy moly! GoT does know how to give you the OMGs and the surprises. Despite numerous a**holes spoiling it for me on the Internet, it was a bone-chilling "Holy shit" moment that was shown very well. The Euron battle was done pretty poorly though.
Special mention also goes to the sword fight between Arya and Brienne. Moments like this made me like Arya a lot more than before. Maisie Williams portrayed her role to perfection. Thank God all that Braavos training paid off.
While all these were good, there were some major issues or things that happened in this season, that quite frankly, was sad to see in a show like this. The pacing (because of which the writing), the overall sense of plot being rushed. Characters were suddenly brought in then ignored, the plot sometimes was way too ridiculous, and it broke all time barriers.
For example, how can you just expect everyone to accept the fact that Dany flew all the way from Dragonstone all the way North then to Eastwatch and even beyond the Wall within a day or two? How did the ravens travel as if they were working for Amazon Prime? How did Jon, Gendry and others travel so soon through soo many miles? Look, at this stage no one wants to see them walk, talk and stretch it for 5-6 episodes, as most of these characters are well built enough by now. That's not the point. The problem is, when you took so much time earlier to establish the locations, the dialogue, the geography in terms of distances and other incidents during the course of, let's say, 2 characters travelling, and now suddenly you make them travel so fast, it feels very odd, and it makes clear that you want to focus only on the action and not on anything else. We saw Bran travelling to reach the 3-Eyed Raven for 4 bloody seasons, took an entire season off, and only then he did some cool warging stuff and gave us useful information. We saw Robert travelling from Winterfell to King's Landing, many characters like the Hound & Arya, Jaime & Brienne amongst others, travelling for so many seasons, and in the process, we got a lot of insight into them, the locations, and others, which was what made GoT a spectacular show above everything else. Now time is not there I understand, but why reduce the episode limit then? Why not more episodes?
GoT wasn't like this man. It's started to rely more on shock value, and Ex-machina moments like Benjen, Dany saving everyone at the last minute, Bronn saving Jaime, Jon getting saved too many times etc. In the process, some of the other characters or storylines took a beating. Sam and the Citadel thing (he already knew Dragonglass was in Dragonstone right?), Jorah and Greyscale plot, Tyrells & Dorne were killed off, like entirely, and Lyanna Mormont & other Northeners, Varys, Melisandre etc. took a seat back.
And then there's the reverse-writing I was talking about. The writers somehow wanted to bring the dragon beyond the Wall, for the Night King to get some leverage in the battle. While this was something that all of us were praying for, the ultimate battle between ice & fire, what we got here was the writers not being able to figure out how to get there. The "capture a wight" storyline was the ridiculous plot I kept talking about here. While we just had to accept that, it made zero sense. Yes, Cersei did get some scary proof that the dead are not a fairytale. But what made Tyrion and others think she'd just let go of all the hatred she has and join hands to fight the White Walkers? What made Jon & Dany think she'd agree to that? There could've been much better ways to make that storyline succeed, and it was wonderfully written on Quora by Laura Parker. Her version shows a much better version of Episode 6, that I personally would've loved to see. Check it out.
Show some events in at least 1-2 episodes prior (e.g Dany arriving at Westeros & beyond the wall, apparently without anyone of the Northeners noticing 3 huge dragons flying above their heads, Jon & suicide squad moving from Dragonstone to Eastwatch, Euron travelling God knows where and all on the seas of Westeros etc.). Instead of focusing on useless stuff like Grey Worm & Missandei relationship, Sam cleaning shit (Really disgusting!), change/delay the order of events so that the flow of story is smooth. Hell, if lot of time hadn't been wasted in earlier seasons, you could've even included more of the Bran and the prequel scenes before Robert's Rebellion, Lady Stoneheart, and so many of these other stuff in books I keep hearing about! Show Gendry being casually brought back into the show, and not make this Southerner go all the way up North, and make him run 6 hours non-stop and expecting everyone to believe he'll be OK in that weather he's never used to. Including Gendry is fine, make him do something else. Include him gradually in story. I was like "Oh yes Finally. All the rowing memes can stop now". And then woah woah woah you're North? You're near the wall? You're beyond the wall? I mean waaaa? See this is why initially I thought episode 6 was awesome, but then I realised the jarring errors and logic flaws it had.
There were some characters I wasn't very satisfied with in terms of the way they portrayed them, like Euron Greyjoy. I feel very sad for the book readers, as I hear he's such an interesting, evil, ruthless character there. Here, he's just obnoxious, and over the top. I still haven't got an explanation for how he knew when to ambush Yara and Dorne, HOW THE HELL DID HE KNOW??? He just comes and goes in between scenes, nothing more. Man I feel bad for the Greyjoys. Except for Theon, the whole House wasn't well developed at all. I don't know if I'll be invested much in Theon saving Yara in Season 8 story though. I seriously thought Euron would save that Greyjoy storyline, as he's all great in the books, but nope.
Another one is Bran. Like I said earlier, he did some really cool stuff in Season 6, and showed us some great things about the flashbacks, what he could do, and so on. Now, he's just there to give us information. Sure, as Brandon Stark, he's probably dead, but make more use of his awesome power, writers! He hasn't got much character development yet! We needed to have seen his internal struggles between the 3-Eyed Raven and Bran Stark. That would make us more invested in his transformation as the all-seeing raven.
Poor Benjen Stark. Was used only as a last minute saviour for Jon. Wouldn't it be better if Benjen was reintroduced a few scenes earlier, and rides from the beginning, instead of randomly saving Jon out of nowhere?
There's also my small issue I had with the Winterfell plot. I mean, yes, the Stark reunions were tear-jerking and much needed, but the rest? Jon abandons his post to meet Dany, we get some unexpected and strange rivalry between the Stark sisters, and the Winterfell plot ends with a plot twist that Sansa and Arya were "just kidding" with their little rivalry just to play Littlefinger. While I will miss Baelish, and I was absolutely taken aback seeing LF for the 1st time, vulnerable, the whole thing was kinda predictable. The sisters would never kill each other. I wish they'd put a little more backstory on why Arya could possible be on trial. The twist would then be even more awesome. His execution was done good, but could've been done slightly better, for a guy who started the WHOLE DAMN WAR!
Another recurring thing this season that many characters seem to be facing so many close calls, but never really dying, pulling the thrill out of those scenes (Eg. Jon, Tormund). Also, the Jon & Dany romance felt so forced down our throats. They should have had more screen time, for me to buy their relationship. It's like they were pandering to the fans of this couple a lot. Felt a bit forced that's all.
With all this being said, the finale almost made up for every problem this season had. Oh wow. The all-character meet-up was executed to perfection, where we saw many reunite after long, many awesome things/hints such as Cleganebowl, and a possible Queenslayer moment for Jaime, but the best part was that it finally felt like a good old GoT episode. The pacing was more smooth and it didn't feel rushed. The look of terror, disgust and shock when everyone especially Cersei sees that wight, was acted and done masterfully. The end result of this meet up gave a nice Jaime redemption moment, but it now makes Cersei less important in the picture. I mean, its gonna be all about the Walkers now right? How is her story going to be any less important? She seems powerless ruling in King's Landing, now that everyone's going up North.
The Jon parentage reveal... Ah what an amazing....montage? Well, ok no time for more of those scenes I guess..., but shit cleaning? "Oh yess we need more of that!" (Sigh!). Also, cutting back and forth from that to Jon & Dany making out?? Weird..... so weird..
Must mention that glorious shot of Jaime leaving King's Landing, and snow falling over King's Landing, at last! Thank God the writers showed the weather change. Coz the dead bring the winter with them right? The Long Night? I do wish most of Season 8 is NOT shot in sunny weather, as their presence must be made known. That melodious, soothing, modified version of the original theme that plays in this scene! Wow. Thank you Ramin Djawadi. Thank you for making me feel calm with these soundtracks in an otherwise hectic life for me.
And finally moving to the most anticipated moment in GoT! Night King has a zombie dragon !!! And the White Walkers finally breach the wall!!!! The whole sequence of The Wall falling down as the dragon breathes "blue fire" (or ice?) was done superbly. I was holding my breath throughout that scene. It was mind-blowing, scary and gave a fitting conclusion to an otherwise lacklustre season.
(SPOILERS END)
In the end, Season 7 was visually spectacular, but had some serious pacing issues. It had some happy reunions and some seriously jaw-dropping scenes. However, the story moved too damn fast, the whole thing felt very short and crammed in due to just 7 episodes. Yes there should be more action now, but along with good dialogue, intriguing plots, somewhat acceptable logic, and good character interactions. I don't think I'm wrong in expecting all this, coz.... Its Game of Thrones after all! That was what made it so good.
I do not want GoT to end on a whimper. I seriously hope the final season overall and the series finale does not become a mindless 8-hour action movie flick, and that it is done properly. Dammit! How are they gonna end everything in 6 more episodes!???
My rating would be around,.....say 6/10. Miles better than Season 5, falls slightly short of Season 6, and definitely not as good as Season 1-4. I'm a die-hard fan of GoT mind you. I still enjoyed watching this season in general.
Well, phew! That was a long one!
What did you guys think of this season? What did you think of my review? Did I miss something?
Do you agree / disagree on something?
Feel free to comment below! I love discussing GoT, and would love to engage in discussions!
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