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?

Twin Peaks Parts 1-4 Review: That gum you like is going to come back in style

 "Bob Cooper" is on the loose in the first four episodes of Twin Peaks

Photo Credit: Showtime

Thoughts on the first 4 parts of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s new revival of Twin Peaks just as soon as I become Mr. Jackpot…

It almost seems like a cliché when it comes to David Lynch’s work at this point but the new Twin Peaks is almost impossible to describe. The only thing I can say for certain is that the revival of the 1990 ABC murder mystery that bought a lot of avant garde elements to television for the first time is pretty much nothing like the original. Twin Peaks the revival shares a bunch of old characters, a title, the tonal shifts, and pretty much nothing else with the original drama. Lynch and Frost are not setting out to recreate a phenomenon or capitalize on nostalgia they are here to subvert people’s expectation and create something original all over again. Through four episodes the results are stunning.

The new Twin Peaks seems to have its focus squarely on the ongoing battle between the two Coopers. In the legendarily frustrating season 2 finale Cooper is possessed by the evil spirit Bob and doomed to be trapped in the black lodge while his doppelganger goes out into the world and assumedly causes chaos. 25 years later we find that Bob as Cooper has grown his hair out, wears leather, and yes has indeed been causing chaos. The real Cooper has been trapped in the black lodge for 25 years, and throughout the first four episodes we witness him attempting to re-enter the world all these years later.

The third and fourth parts which focus primarily on Cooper’s strange re-entry are a sight to behold. The third episode, maybe television’s strangest and most fascinating hour, involves Cooper’s transition between the black lodge and the real world. This transition includes a boxy submarine in space, a stop motion like sequence between cooper and a blind lady, lots and lots of toxic vomit, a man being transformed into a small golden ball, and ultimately Cooper re-entering the world through an electrical socket under the assumed identity of a different man. This Cooper having been cooped up in the dark lodge for so long has no idea how to communicate with the world which leads to an extraordinarily absurdist fourth episode that involves Cooper winning a whole bunch of jackpots on slot machines, not being able to communicate like a basic human being, not being able to perform basic human tasks, all while him generally not being ok being ignored by practically everyone. It all culminates in a great sequence that involves the perfect use of Take Five, a Cooper who wears a tie on his head, and has no idea just how hot his coffee is. It’s hilarious and shows that in back to back episodes following the same plot that Lynch and Frost can still play with tone in commanding fashion.

The other elements of the show Lynch leaves in the background slowly percolating for when they inevitably become important. This could be seen as self indulgent, and in some ways kind of is, but Lynch always manages to find something unique and interesting within his side stories. For example for the first few episodes we spend a decent amount of time on a side plot involving a young man hired to watch a giant glass box looking out a window in New York. Most of this runs super slowly and with many static shots of set up, but even then, Lynch manages to find unique and different ways to shoot these scenes. For example shots of the Manhattan skyline is the most generic shot in all of cinema and yet Lynch finds a way to shoot them in a way that makes the city feel creepier and more claustrophobic. Twin Peaks shows a visionary director at his most confident. Each scene no matter how slowly play out or odd it is feels like the work of a master, unique and beautiful. It makes for a show that looks like nothing else on television even as it meanders on side stories.

But even when it’s meandering and strange Twin Peaks seems to have a very clear through line. The show features some very strange asides (Doc and the shovels are the first to come to mind) but never feels like it loose its focus. Through four episodes I can feel the show building its world and its premise slowly but confidently. So far Lynch and Frost are staying farther away from the town of Twin Peaks itself giving us only brief glances of the characters of old. Instead the majority of the moving plot seems to focus around the strangeness of the two Coopers, and a new murder in a town in South Dakoda. Each of these new plots feel fresher than I imagine anything within the actual town of Twin Peaks could be at this point. This is no longer a show about a small town and its problems this is something much bigger and much stranger, and despite the slow pace and strange asides these four episodes have made me confident that Lynch and Frost have command over the complex story they are weaving.

Through four episodes Twin Peaks is as special as ever. By subverting expectations and moving away from any sort of structure from the original while maintaining a lot of its mythology, Lynch and Frost have created something wholly unique yet again. These four episodes were an absolute blast to watch and if it can continue at this level it has a potential to be something truly special.

Some other Musings:

• I am not going to lie when Andy and Lucy’s son was reviled to be Michael Cera as a biker named Wally Brando I died with laughter. There are few genuinely great surprises but Cera doing a glorious impression of biker Marlen Brando was most wonderful. It’s a scene that is absurd and probably won’t mean much in the grand scheme of things but for a good four and a half minutes I could not stop laughing and that is good enough for me.

• The same applies with all the Cooper getting back into the world scenes in episode 4. Does it ultimately drag the plot out a little bit? Yes. At the same time though I laughed harder than I care to admit at Cooper’s first reaction to coffee and the absurdity of no one calling for help as this man wanders around aimlessly.

• Old characters seem to pop up sporadically with the focus primarily being placed on the Twin Peaks Sheriffs department. More than anything I’m curious to see how interested Lynch himself is at re-integrating the characters into this new world besides a few cameos here and there. It seems like we are heading for a big plotline with Hawk and Sheriff Truman but besides that I have a hard time figuring out how the old characters will merge their ways back in.

• This show is also the first show in a long time that I just want to be fully available for binging. I am usually a proponent for having time between episodes and giving them space to breath but given how many episodes we have to go and how slow this show is moving so far a larger chunk of episodes per week would be appreciated.

That’s all for now. I don’t know how likely it is for me to talk about this show on a weekly basis considering how many episodes are going to air and the slow paced nature of the show so far. I am very excited by this show thorough four though so maybe we’ll check in midway through the season.

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