Game of Thrones Final Season Premiere Review: It’s a Family Reunion!

John and Dany hanging out in the snow on Game of Thrones

Photo Credit: HBO

A review of the final season premiere of Game of Thrones coming up right after I inform the world that I have always had blue eyes…

“You gave up your crown to save your people, would she do the same?”

-Sam

So, after nearly two years of anticipation Game of Thrones is finally back. As someone who was left a tad cold by the last season of the show tonight’s season premiere was left in somewhat in interesting position. Would the show be able to put to bed some of the fears I have had about its storytelling going into it? Suffice to say that is lofty to put on a season premiere especially that of a show that has always taken its time to place set, and as perhaps to be expected the final season premiere did nothing quite yet to answer any reservations I had going in. Instead we got a fun table setting episode, one that worked well to re-establish the world of the show and eased the audience back in nicely. Questions and frustrations are for later, tonight it was just fun to live in this world again.

If anything, tonight’s premiere remined me strangely of the beginning of Mad Men’s final season. Both shows have/had relatively short order to move forward a bunch of plots and give satisfying endings to a whole lot of characters. Yet both decided, somewhat defiantly, to take their sweet time to get there. Instead of rushing forth into battle tonight’s season premiere was content with following the show’s usual pace of taking the beginning of the season to do a whole lot of place setting. This was a premiere of characters reuniting and planning their next steps in a time where the episode count on the show is severely dwindling. This is perhaps frustrating to some, but given the fact that the best parts of this series have been spending time with its characters interacting anyways, this was a fine by me.

That being said let’s talk about where these characters are at starting with John, whose question of identity was perhaps the biggest twist of last season. Of all the character beats handled in the premiere I was actually most on board with the way the handled John learning his true identity. I would even go so far as to say that Sam having to break the news to his old friend was pretty elegant. It was a nice nod to one of the more enduring friendships on the show while continuing to develop the players at hand. It’s hard to say whether Sam ultimately going through with revealing the truth to John was a moment of doing what needed to be done, or was done simply because he was a bit bitter at the fact that Dany butchered his family, but either way it worked fairly well here. (Despite the episode sometimes doing too much of the dramatic irony side eye which would have been far worse if the show didn’t let John in on the secret this week)

On the John and Dany front I have mostly found their chemistry to be wooden to say the least (I think my old adage was that they had the chemistry of a rock and a tree) and the premiere did little to convince me otherwise. The dragon riding scene was nicely done and showed off the prowess of the show’s direction and effects budget, but otherwise the chemistry void between the two continues. It will be interesting to see how the reveal of John’s identity effects the relationship going forward, given that it seems that the conflict set up here is the people around John trying to take ultimate leadership and tear himself farther away from Dany. Given my frustration with the way the show ultimately handled its bigger plot points last season though, this one is reserved for the “we’ll wait and see” column.

The rest of the premiere, as with the bulk of the rest of Game of Thrones, took us through a travelogue of brief moments with the rest of our characters. Arya had a lot of reunions this episode, whether it was the slightly uncomfortable yet sweet reunion with John (who doesn’t seem to know the killing machine his sister has become) to moments with the Hound and Gendry. There is still no clear place for Arya to go as of right now, and the premiere didn’t end up making it entirely clear either, but if handled right (again see the “we’ll wait and see” column) Arya could end up being a fascinating wild card to this whole thing.

Sansa’s fate in the premiere was ultimately to have her insecurity played with a little, and for the most part this worked well. Her reunion with Tyrion was a nice exchange (although Tyrion’s character arc is worrying me, more on that later) and for the most part she works well as one of the key players, especially in the game of breaking John and Dany up. Sansa has quickly come from being one of the show’s weakest characters to one of its most interesting, and hopefully her arc is not to be lost amidst the chaos that is coming.

On that note here is where the caution comes in. While the premiere did a good job at re-establishing characters and bringing everyone back to the world, I am a little reserved yet on how much of this will actually matter or get payed off well going forward. My biggest gripes with the last season was that when push came to shove Game of Thrones often would rush through plot as time was running out, often at the expense of the more interesting interplay between the characters. This is added to by my reservations with the white walker plot which to this point is the least interesting part of the show as it strips away a lot of the game of chess elements the show presented at its most interesting. I am still dubious that with the little time the show has left, and where the series seems to be ultimately going, that the parts of the show I personally find most interesting will be payed off well, or rather that Benioff and Weiss have any real interest in paying them off at all.

But let’s file that away in the old “we’ll wait and see” column for now. This week it was just nice to be back with these characters.

Some other musings:

• I don’t particularly like where the whole Tyrion story is going. Throughout the last few seasons he has kind of transformed from the wittiest character on the show who was mostly held back by circumstance, to the village idiot in a lot of ways. Tyrion has long been my favorite character in both the books and the show and in general I find the show more interesting with a clever, less brooding character having an effect on the larger narrative. Tyrion has become less and less of that as the show has gone on and has been one of the characters that has been lost a little in the grander scheme of things which is a shame.

• Not too much going on in King’s landing this week, but we’ll see where the whole Gyjoy/Cerci thing goes from here on in. That being said it did give us our mandatory nudity for the episode and a much welcome return for Bronn who is still in play much to the delight of just about everyone.

• I don’t know what they can do to make Bran more interesting and less like a plot device, but his interaction with Jamie at the episode’s close was delightfully awkward. (and was turned into a wonderful Curb your Enthusiasm style clip on Twitter)

• The Night King is apparently a fan of the TV show Hannibal as his design with the young lord’s body was straight out of the playbook of one of the many serial killers from that show.

That’s all I have for this week.  My work schedule is going to make it tough to do these Sunday nights going forward but I will try my best to have them out at the very latest by Monday morning.

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?

With “The Dragon and the Wolf” Game of Thrones has lost the complexity that made it compelling

Jon and Tyrion negotiate on Game of Thrones

Photo Credit: HBO 

Tonight’s thoughts on the season 7 finale of Game of Thrones are brought to you in part by fire and dragonglass…

More than anything what hooked me on George RR Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels was the removal of Ned Stark’s head. While I had been very much enjoying “A Game of Thrones” to that point it was that moment that really told me that I was reading something special. My feeling is that many feel the same way as it is as shocking as any death ever put into a fantasy novel. At that point the message was sent that anyone could die, even the main character.

For me though Ned Stark’s death signified more than anyone can die at any moment but rather became the ultimate thesis statement for the story ahead. See Ned Stark was the one true hero of “A Game of Thrones.” Everyone else, no matter how likable, had flaws and for the most part none of them were fit to be the hero of this story by traditional fantasy standards. Ned was the traditional white knight, the character who when you read the opening passages of the book, or watched the first few episodes of the television show you thought would be the one who would somehow save the day. By lobbing his head off George RR Martin not only made no one safe but he sent the message that this series was anything but traditional fantasy. It was not about the big conquering hero and their legion of villains, it was about all the people in between. Everyone from that point on lived in a world dominated by shades of grey. This was the story of complicated, flawed people each trying to make the best for themselves and the world. While there were characters that leaned towards the good and there were those who leaned towards the bad the battle lines were messy at best. There was no white knight to save the day anymore. We were in fascinating new territory.

Even when Martin’s novels became much too long and ultimately a bit of a slog they never lost their complexity. What kept me going through the long stationary passages of “A Feast of Crows” and “A Dance of Dragons” was the continued love for the strange and flawed characters he had created. No matter how slowly it moved or how frustrating it was the story always maintained its messy shades of grey. Game of Thrones was never about the battle of an overarching good and evil it was something far more complex and human.

That is until the last stretch of season 7 of Game of Thrones which culminated in the most frustrating finale “The Dragon and the Wolf.” By rushing towards its endgame Game of Thrones has lost a lot of the complexity that made it and its characters a joy to watch. The story has now been distilled into good and evil. The show’s most interesting characters, take Tyrion Lannister for example who at one point was one of my all time favorite characters of any genre, have been flattened for the sake of moving the plot forward. The characters have been divided into two camps, those who stand with Jon Snow Targaryen and Dany, and those who stand with Cersei. Of course, there is also the zombies which serve less now as a metaphor for death and more as a McGuffin that gets the good guys on the same side for the climactic showdown. This is no longer the rich show it once claimed to be this is simple conventional fantasy driving at a pace that is too lightning quick to live up to the complexity it once aspired.

That is not to say Game of Thrones has ceased being a good show as there are still ways in which the show continues to thrill even at its most frustrating. Individual scenes, as they always have been, continue to be a delight. The argument between Tyrion and Cersei, the reuniting of Arya and Sansa, and the ultimate collapse of the wall were great individual moments. The show continues to be a magnificent spectacle the likes of which are not seen on television that is entertaining in its own spectacular way.

On the other hand though spectacle is not hard to find and on its own is interesting only to a point. It is the connective tissue, character and plot that make the ultimate difference. Throughout the latter half of season 7 of Game of Thrones has made a mockery of this connective tissue. Plot elements have seemed rushed and often poorly written. The plan Tyrion and Jon set out on in order to convince Cersei to fight with them is dull at best. The way the show cheaply had us believe that Arya and Sansa were fighting only to swerve us at the last minute was straight out of the worst of the pro-wrestling playbook. Jamie betraying his sister was at best rushed, and at worst a total reversal that felt like it only existed to convenience the plot. Let alone the show continues to commit the cardinal sin of constantly pretending to kill off its core characters without ever going through with it (which I thought reached its annoyance peak last week but boy was I wrong as it was done terribly not just once but twice in the finale), leaving death to no longer feel important. Instead of being a complex fantasy adventure full of dynamic characters and consequences to actions Game of Thrones has become a show solely about its individual “cool moments” at the behest of anything actually mattering.

“The Dragon and the Wolf” and the rest of the back half of the shortened season 7 has ultimately destroyed the intense investment I have had in this story since the removal of Ned Stark’s head. It feels like nothing that I enjoyed about the show ultimately matters to its creators anymore. The show has betrayed so much, its timeline, the complexity and richness of its characters, and the intelligence of its plot to “get to the good parts already.” And while the good parts of Game of Thrones continue to make the show entertaining and I am in for a penny in for a pound for its conclusion the show’s reliance on spectacle over everything else has removed any semblance of it being the great and subversive story it once was.

Some other musings:

• I know this point is belabored but somehow, someway, they managed to make Tyrion Lannister one of my favorite characters of all time into an utter one-dimensional bore. Even when Peter Dinklage is at his best, such as in his verbal showdown with his Cersei, the character has been so distilled to his basics that he is no longer fun to watch.  How as is that even possible at this point?

• Jon Snow Targaryen continues to be frustratingly stupid to the point of ridicule especially throughout the negotiations with Cersei.

• Is it possible we are going to get two children of incest next season? That seems possible given all of the talk of Dany not being able to have children and the easy parallel it creates.

• On that note one of the biggest problems of the season is that Dany and Jon have the chemistry of a rock and a tree and as such it is really hard to root for them to be romantically involved. It’s not Padme and Anakin levels of bad, but its not all that far off either.

That’s it for me I’m sad to be writing all of this about a series I have had such strong feelings for.

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?

The Leftovers “Certified” Review: Therapy is the place to be

Laurie walks away from the peaceful Nora and Matt on The Leftovers

Photo Credit: HBO 

Thoughts on “Certified” are brought to you in part by the new hotline 1-800 Suicide…

Due to some Twin Peaks madness this week’s Leftovers review will go straight to the bullets…

• First of all wow. It’s hard to find a season of television that has blown me away this consistently but the Leftovers has managed to do so at almost a weekly basis at this point. “Certified” might even be the best episode this show has to offer so far this season. It’s not the strangest, wildest, or the one with the biggest moments but it is the most emotionally raw and the first to draw real tears from me. Laurie has evolved greatly as a character throughout these three seasons and this was the perfect send-off for her. Whether or not she ends up taking Nora’s perfect suicide advice at the end of the episode is still up in the air (more on that in a minute) but I feel like no matter the result that this is the end for Laurie and the show. We got two back to back dynamite sequences to pay her off, whether it was the expert job she does with counseling and comforting Nora, or the amazing conversation with Kevin that played out near the close of the episode “Certified” gave actress Amy Brenneman her proper due at what seems like the end of her tenure on the show. Both literally (it seems like she has done all she can for the rest of the characters at this point), and philosophically (“all of us are gone”) it seems as though Laurie has quietly come to the almost satisfying realisation that she has done all she can and is done with this world and maybe it’s time to move on.

• “Certified” struck me the hardest though not just as a Laurie character piece but as a beautiful contemplation of suicide. Beyond the emotional bombast of the pre-credit sequence which shows the Laurie of the past’s attempted suicide and entry into the Guilty Remnant the episode very quietly and yet very effectively puts the concept of death firmly on the table. It seemed to me midway through “Certified” that most of the main characters are on the last rung at this point and are now challenged with having to tackle it. As suspected in episode 4 it seems as though Nora is actually fully considering the “incineration machine,” Matt is dying of his illness, Kevin Sr. thinks the apocalypse is coming, Kevin Jr. is being asked to die by three groups of people, and as mentioned earlier Laurie just seems at peace with being at the end of her rope. The air of death populates the entire episode, but I doesn’t suffocate it either. At this point contemplations of death, mostly through suicide (maybe with the only exception of Matt but even then he is not taking any sort of treatment for his illness) is just a part of these character’s DNA and the show’s demonstration of how it affects all of them is both crushingly sad and quietly beautiful. It seems as though The Leftovers, like it does with most things at this point, has taken a beautifully complex and difficult look at death and suicide. Nothing is simple or black and white, and I think the best example comes from Laurie herself. Even if death is sad in general there seems to be a peaceful finality to the thought of her potential death via scuba diving. While Laurie is clearly loved (there is a great tender scene between her and John that is incredibly touching) she also seems like an outsider looking in, almost like a guardian angel who has finished her duties. Laurie can not fully be at peace in this world just due to her lingering nihilism and ultimately death may be the only way to solve. As strange as it sounds there is a sort of beauty and peace to that.

• Then there is the scene with Nora and Matt. I have watched the scene on the cliff that brought me to tears numerous times now (it seems like it’s Carrie Coon’s amazing croak of “ok” and the “I’ll see you next week” that get me each time I watch it) and I am unsure yet of whether it is a scene that seems peaceful because of a revelation that both Nora and Matt become at peace with dying or just where they are in that exact moment emotionally. Either way it hits me like a ton of bricks every time I watch it. I can’t quite explain why, maybe it’s seeing Nora and Matt two characters who have struggled with their goals and beliefs for a long time (as evidence by Nora’s great beach ball story no matter how cold she can be the human in her is still at odds with her growing cruel rationalism) finally finding some sense of peace together even amongst the sadness of it all, or maybe it’s the kind of sad and kind of cruel realization that both Nora and Matt have that nothing really matters at this point in their lives (even amongst the peace of it all that is still pretty crushing in itself), maybe it’s just the respective weight that the performances of booth Carrie Coon (who continues to be the best) and Amy Brenneman bring to the table. It’s one of those great Leftovers scenes of late that just sneaks up on you, and by the time the scene is over and the great swelling sad music is at full forte you find yourself (as I did) a complete wreck. It’s far from the biggest emotional scene of this season, far from the longest monologue, but it’s the one that found a way to break me completely.

That’s it for this week. I am confident now after “Certified” that if this show sticks the landing that I can call it the greatest final season of any show of all time. This is an all time legendary run, every week this show has found new ways to surprise, wow, and break me. I can’t wait to see where this show takes us in its final two episodes.

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?