(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
Earlier this month, HBO announced its month-long “Iron Anniversary” – a celebration marking 10 years since Game of Thrones premiered on the service on April 17, 2011. The premium cable network/streaming giant has also recently announced a slew of Game of Thrones spin-offs that will keep fans of George R.R. Martin’s dragon-filled tomes and the original TV adaptation satisfied for the next 10 years. At least. (First in line: a prequel taking us back 300 years from the events of Thrones to a very turbulent period for the Targaryens called House of the Dragon.)
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So, we’ve got fire and ice on the brain this week. Which was a perfect reason to go back in time ourselves – just two years, mind – to the time when the very last episodes of Game of Thrones arrived on HBO: an, um, turbulent period for fans of the series, many of whom began season 8’s six-episode run with expectations soaring and ended it in a state WTF disbelief. Story arcs felt rushed, they complained, and characters were taking very out-of-character turns; meanwhile, even the best moments were marred by questionable creative choices. (How much better would “The Long Night” have been if we could have actually seen it?).
Just how much did fans dislike the final season? Its Audience Score sits at just 30%, and critics were only slightly more generous, with their reviews combining to form a Tomatometer score of just 54% – the only Rotten score for any Game of Thrones season. (And it was a big drop from previous years: Every other season is Certified Fresh with a score of at least 90%.)
But was season 8 really that bad? Did a few wrong moves overshadow a whole ton of awesome moments? Was Bran really that terrible a choice for the Iron Throne? That’s what we’re asking in the latest episode of podcast Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong (A Podcast from Rotten Tomatoes). Joining hosts Jacqueline Coley and Mark Ellis this week is Andres “Ace” Cabrera, co-founder of YouTube channel First Cut and co-host of podcast The Meaning Of. Will he be House Rotten Tomatoes… or tear that Tomatometer score down like some suddenly unhinged dragon queen laying waste to a city and all the innocent civilians who dwell there? Tune in to find out.
Check in every Thursday for a new episode of Rotten Tomatoes Is Wrong (A Podcast From Rotten Tomatoes). Each week, hosts Jacqueline and Mark and guests go deep and settle the score on some of the most beloved – and despised – movies and TV shows ever made, directly taking on the statement we hear from so many fans: “Rotten Tomatoes is wrong.”
If you have a suggestion for a movie or show you think we should do an episode on, let us know in the comments, or email us at rtiswrong@rottentomatoes.com.
Meet the hosts
Jacqueline Coley is an editor at Rotten Tomatoes, with a focus on awards and indie coverage but with a passion for everything, from the MCU to musicals and period pieces. Coley is a regular moderator at conventions and other events, can be seen on Access Hollywood and other shows, and will not stand Constantine slander of any kind. Follow Jacqueline on Twitter: @THATjacqueline.
Mark Ellis is a comedian and contributing editor for Rotten Tomatoes. He currently hosts the Rotten Tomatoes series Versus, among others, and can be seen co-hosting the sports entertainment phenomenon Movie Trivia Schmoedown. His favorite Star Wars movie is Jedi (guess which one!), his favorite person is actually a dog (his beloved stepdaughter Mollie), and – thanks to this podcast – he’s about to watch Burlesque for the first time in his life. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markellislive.
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(Updated: 5/14/19, 6:45 a.m. PT)
It’s not an easy thing to be the lowest-scoring Game of Thrones episode of the series’ history, but Episode 5: "The Bells" 49% has done it.
Five seasons had passed before an episode of the series got a Rotten score, and then another two passed before it got another with season 8’s “The Last of the Starks,” which, critics complained, was “anticlimactic” and “a huge letdown.” And now another.
The series’ eighth and final season is struggling relative to its predecessors. With its latest episode at 49% on 68 reviews (updated) following the previous week’s 57% score, season 8 dropped to 73% on Monday — every other season is Certified Fresh at 91% or higher on the Tomatometer. The final episode will have to score an 89% or higher for the season overall to qualify for Certified Fresh status. It is now mathematically impossible for the season to be anything but the lowest-scoring season of the series.
There were no dancing Starbucks cups derailing Sunday’s episode, but plenty more to complain about, according to reviews.
(Photo by Mark Davis/Getty Images)
UPDATED: “Absurd,” author George R.R. Martin wrote in a vehement denial of a statement actor Ian McElhinney made to a Saint Peteresburg, Russia, fan convention that books six and seven were written but shelved until after the series concluded. (See the video here, starting around the 32-minute mark.)
McElhinney who played Ser Barristan Selmy in the series dropped that bomb at Epic Con in April, revealing/purporting that Martin has already finished writing the final two books of the Song of Ice and Fire novel series that the hit TV show is based on.
“He struck an agreement with David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], the showrunners of the series, that he would not publish his final two books until the series has completed,” McElhinney said at the con. “So [if] all goes well, another month or two, we might get books six and seven.”
Martin responded to the video: “No, THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING are not finished. DREAM is not even begun; I am not going to start writing volume seven until I finish volume six … HBO did not ask me to delay them. Nor did David & Dan. There is no “deal” to hold back on the books. I assure you, HBO and David & Dan would both have been thrilled and delighted if THE WINDS OF WINTER had been delivered and published four or five years ago… and NO ONE would have been more delighted than me.”
Still, if you don’t like the way the show ends, there’s always the option to read the author’s take on it — whenever the books arrive. (And those people who have been dragging on Martin online about finishing the books still seriously need to apologize — that’s still bad form.)
Armed with that information and before you set your expectations about the finale, read on to find out what critics had to say about “The Bells.”
“For viewers who have stuck around for eight seasons of the HBO fantasy series, all that’s left after the penultimate episode is ash and a bad taste.” — Kelly Lawler, USA Today
“For a battle that’s been years in the making, that was more than a little disappointing.” — Paul Dailly, TV Fanatic
“The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones, ‘The Bells,’ has too much to do and too little time for people to stop and explain how they’re feeling. As a result, everything is big.” — Dave Gonzales, Thrillist
“Sorry. But no. I just didn’t buy that. Any of it.” — Michael Deacon, Daily Telegraph (UK)
Read more: Game of Thrones’ Penultimate Episode: Hell Hath No Fury Like a Dragon Queen Scorned
“Dany got a raw deal.” — Glen Weldon, NPR
“It’s understandable that she would act rashly as a response. But the show doesn’t actually set that up. Instead, it presents us with mounting evidence that she’s suddenly inherited her father and brother’s mental illness, with no prior symptoms.” — Anne Cohen, Refinery29
“I don’t want to spend too much time second-guessing the show runners here, but I saw a bunch of people carping on Twitter as soon as the episode ended that this turn of Daenerys’s is unearned, and I have to say it felt that way to me too.” — Mike Hogan, Vanity Fair
“The Thrones series finale will have to do a LOT of repair work to make me understand what the hell happened to Dany, the woman who once locked up her dragons for months because one of them accidentally killed ONE child.” — Huw Fullerton, Radio Times
The show’s perverse desire to dumb down its characters just to fill out inorganic plot beats is maybe the biggest overall problem with this final season. — Clint Worthington, The Spool
“Drawing out aspects of the character which have been there in more than just her gene pool but hidden in the gestalt complicates a picture that is much more fun to leave a little less novelistic.” — Daniel D’Addario, Variety
“In doing so, the thing that GoT is actually pushing is a debate about Dany’s morality, bringing that question into the foreground of the show after letting it sit quietly in the background for so long.” — James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly
“It’s like Jamie Lannister stabbed the Mad King in the back, and the writers of the show stabbed Jamie Lannister in the back!” — Jeremy Jahns, JeremyJahns.com
“I still greatly enjoyed ‘The Bells,’ the penultimate episode of this last-minute-bungled series, because anytime there’s a lot of killing, it translates to minimal dialogue, a blessing at this point.” — Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, The Muse/Jezebel
“Game Of Thrones has always been a show to cast a realistic eye (magic and dragons not withstanding) on how people treat each other when power is in play, and there were multiple examples here. Just not all of them worth our while.” — James White, Empire Magazine
“Sure, there was something wonderful and terrible to behold as she and her Drogon rained terror down on King’s Landing, but all those pyrotechnics — and the resulting ash — couldn’t obscure how mechanical this drama has become.” — Ellen Gray, Philadelphia Inquirer
Read more: Game of Thrones’ Final Season Is Officially Its Worst, According to the Tomatometer
“There was so much that could have worked here, so many emotional pay-offs and beautifully shot scenes – and it was all let down by how little work was put into earning those moments.” — Sarah Hughes, Guardian
“The cinematic pyrotechnics to accompany this grim symphony were occasionally repetitious but overall extraordinary.” — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic
“The CGI was spectacular.” — Neela Debnath, Daily Express (UK)
“In general, this episode was beautifully executed and really well-acted, with a lot of clean action and intelligent cross-cutting between set pieces. But it felt so hollow to me, the narratives stakes entirely obliterated, once Daenerys made her move.” — David Sims, The Atlantic
“The acting was spectacular. The effects were stunning. But that prowess was in service of a story that was extremely obvious in some ways (Dany becoming the Mad Queen, something fans have predicted for ages) and absolutely illogical in others.” — Lenika Cruz, The Atlantic
Read more: All Game of Thrones Episodes, Ranked by Tomatometer
“I’m going to err on the episode working in a vacuum and rate it as positive if middling, but just as this week has come to make last week’s loathsome in hindsight, next week’s final hour will provide the final details to really evaluate this ending.” — David Crow, Den of Geek
“I wish I could go back to living in a world where Game of Thrones was still a great show, something I recommended to my friends, colleagues and my cab driver. But now, I feel like sinking into the ground, embarrassed for ever promoting or defending it.” — Soumya Srivastava, Hindustan Times
“Just because the outcome wasn’t surprising, that doesn’t mean the result wasn’t spectacular.” — Jeremy Egner, New York Times
“Game of Thrones should end the same way it did its best work – surprising us. Or perhaps surprising us about the way it’s surprising us.” — Hillary Kelly, New York Magazine/Vulture
“Whatever the thinking, the result is clear: Game of Thrones marches towards its final episode a lame duck.” — Nick Hilton, Independent (UK)
“The only character I care about survives, so I’m good. Beyond that, this episode is full on chaos.” — Leona Laurie, Geek Girl Authority
“It is sufficed to say that the beautifully shot swarming of King’s Landing and pitiful death of Cersei may stand as the pivotal and most recalled episode of Game of Thrones ever – no matter how things shake down next week.” — Dominic Patten, Deadline Hollywood Daily
“Maybe that’s the core truth revealed by ‘The Bells.’ There may just be too many arcs in this show for these final episodes to feel truly earned as an ending, too many threads that were just destined to never connect.” — Myles McNutt, AV Club
“I loved it and hated it and I think it could have been the perfect culmination of everything this show ever set out to do, if only they’d earned it.” — Erik Kain, Forbes
“By the end of this 90 minutes, as the ash settled, it is difficult not to feel one was looking at the charred remains of an era-defining television show’s integrity.” — Hugh Montgomery, BBC.com
“‘The Bells’ stands as one of the most artful, poetic, and upsetting installments in Game of Thrones history, as the true cost of war hits home in a devastating and visceral way.” — Laura Prudom, IGN Movies
Did you agree with the critics? Tell us in the comments!
Game of Thrones season 8 finale airs Sunday, May 19 at 9 p.m. on HBO.
This week’s biggest TV news includes Game of Thrones‘ plummeting Tomatometer score, new trailers for Watchmen and Big Little Lies, and plenty of casting announcements.
(Photo by HBO)
Not only is Game of Thrones’ latest episode, “The Last of the Starks,” the lowest-rated episode of season 8 to date, it’s also just the second Rotten episode of the series ever, according to the Tomatometer. Following the epic (and dark — literally) “The Long Night,” which featured the long-awaited Battle of Winterfell and the Westerosi rebellion against the cold-blooded Night King (RIP), the show steered back into the world of political intrigue. While critics accounted for a total of 39 Rotten reviews (and counting), fans on Twitter weren’t too happy with the episode either.
Plenty pointed to the fact that an errant modern-day coffee cup made it into a shot of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) celebrating the Winterfell victory as an emblem of the showrunners’ negligence in the series’ final moments. Others were livid that — spoiler alert! — Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel), a.k.a. the only woman of color left on the series, was killed off at the end of the episode.
'The Last of the Starks' is second lowest rated episode of #GameofThrones ever.
No matter the scores of the final two episodes, this season will be the lowest-rated in series history: https://t.co/EJIWxzCw4o pic.twitter.com/iO6XfV9Oz5
— Rotten Tomatoes (@RottenTomatoes) May 9, 2019
As you can see from the graphic above, one thing is for certain: while the first two episodes of season 8 received average scores (by Game of Thrones standards) on the Tomatometer, there’s been a downward trend since. Currently, season 8 is sitting at 78% — which means that no matter what score the final two episodes receive, it’ll be the lowest-scoring season ever. (Even if David Benioff and DB Weiss manage to course-correct with two 100% Fresh episodes in a row, the highest score it could receive is an 85%.)
(Photo by Michael Yarish/Netflix)
ABC has assembled an all-star lineup for its upcoming live re-staging of Norman Lear’s classic sitcoms All in the Family and The Jeffersons, which will see a star-studded cast recreate episodes of the shows on May 22 and is titled Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons.
Woody Harrelson is playing Archie Bunker, Jamie Foxx is George Jefferson, Marisa Tomei is Edith Bunker, Wanda Sykes is Louise Jefferson, Ellie Kemper is Gloria Bunker Stivic, Will Ferrell is Tom Willis, Justina Machado is Florence Johnston, Anthony Anderson is Henry Jefferson, Ike Barinholtz is Mike “Meathead” Stivic, and Sean Hayes is Mr. Lorenzo. The cast also includes Amber Stevens West, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jackee Harry, and Jovan Adepo.
HBO’s long-awaited adaptation of Watchmen is finally headed to the small screen: the cable network released the first official trailer for the series, which is set to debut in the fall. The show is based on the DC Comics series of the same name, and is being adapted for TV Lost’s Damon Lindelof. Set to star in the show are Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Frances Fisher, James Wolk, Hong Chau, Louis Gossett Jr., Tom Mison, and many, many more. You can read everything we know about Watchmen, so far, here.
You can also catch some other major TV trailers this week, including:
(Photo by JoJo Whilden/FX)
The second wave of winners of this year’s GLAAD Media Awards, which honor media for their fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community and the issues that affect their lives, were announced this week. The organization named Pose the year’s Outstanding Drama Series, and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series. The “Trans Rights Under Attack” episode of Full Frontal With Samantha Bee won Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode, and Don Lemon of CNN won for Outstanding TV Journalism Segment while CBS Sunday Morning won for Outstanding TV Journalism—Newsmagazine for a segment on conversion therapy. Netflix’s Elite and Univision’s Mi marido tiene más familia tied for Outstanding Scripted Television Series (Spanish-Language). Bravo’s Andy Cohen won the Vito Russo Award (honoring an openly LGBTQ media professional working for LGBTQ acceptance). Vida and Queer Eye were previously honored at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
(Photo by Netflix)
A plagiarism lawsuit involving Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer was dropped just days before it was set to go to trial. Charles Kessler had sued the Duffers and Netflix, alleging they’d stolen an idea for a TV show he’d pitched them at a cocktail party in 2014, but withdrew his suit on May 5. The trial was scheduled to begin May 7.
“After hearing the deposition testimony this week of the legal expert I hired, it is now apparent to me that, whatever I may have believed in the past, my work had nothing to do with the creation of Stranger Things,” Kessler said in a statement.
(Photo by Robert Viglasky/FX)
Guy Pearce is set to headline an upcoming three-part adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol as Ebenezer Scrooge. The joint production between FX and BBC One will also star Andy Serkis as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Stephen Graham as Jacob Marley, Charlotte Riley as Lottie, Joe Alwyn as Bob Cratchit, Vinette Robinson as Mary Cratchit, Rutger Hauer as the Ghost of Christmas Future, Kayvan Novak as Ali Baba, and Lenny Rush as Tim Cratchit. Per the official announcement, this will be a “unique and original” take on the classic and a “haunting, hallucinatory, spine-tingling immersion into Scrooge’s dark night of the soul. Steven Knight (Taboo, Peaky Blinders) will write and Nick Murphy (The Awakening) will direct, and the series will premiere in December on FX.
(Photo by Patrick Harbron/CBS)
Last week’s episode of CBS All Access’ The Good Fight touched on censorship — so when, in the place where the show’s weekly animated musical segment would go (yes, that is a thing, and yes, it completely works in context), a black screen reading “CBS HAS CENSORED THIS CONTACT” was inserted instead, many viewers thought it was a joke relating to the overall theme of the episode.
It wasn’t. According to The New Yorker, CBS really did censor the short, which was called “Banned In China” and dealt with “the way that media companies censor content.” The Good Fight showrunners threatened to quit in protest, but inserted the censorship chyron instead as a compromise.
(Photo by Daniel Power/The CW)
Riverdale is losing a main cast member, but that’s actually a good thing. Ashleigh Murray, a.k.a. singer/songwriter Josie McCoy, is leaving the CW series to be a series regular on another CW series: the Riverdale spinoff Katy Keene. The new series follows the titular character (an aspiring fashion designer played by Pretty Little Liars’ Lucy Hale) and her new friend Josie (Murray, as her Riverdale character), who arrives in New York City to pursue a music career.
Hilary Swank will executive produce and star in Netflix’s new space drama Away, about an astronaut who leads an international space exhibition on a treacherous mission. Former E.R. star Anthony Edwards will star alongside Kiefer Sutherland in the third season of Netflix’s resurrected Designated Survivor. Amandla Stenberg will costar alongside Andre Holland in Damien Chazelle’s Netflix series The Eddy. She’ll play Julie, the teenage daughter of Holland’s character “who suddenly shows up in Paris and forces him to face his past,” per Netflix. Also on Netflix, Kristin Scott Thomas will play Mrs. Danvers in the streaming service’s upcoming adaptation of Rebecca, joining Lily James and Armie Hammer in the project.
Paget Brewster is set to headline a new animated Adult Swim series: She’ll play the titular character in Birdgirl, a Harvey Birdman spinoff that will feature Brewster’s character juggling work responsibilities as a CEO by day and superhero by night (and sometimes afternoon).
The new season of anthology series Manhunt, which is moving from Discovery Channel to Spectrum, will chronicle the hunt for the man who bombed the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Jack Huston is set to play the criminal mastermind who planned the deadly bombing, Eric Rudolph, while Cameron Britton will play Richard Jewell, who discovered the bomb and saved hundreds of people — and was falsely charged with planting the bomb. Season 2 is called Manhunt: Lone Wolf, while season 1 was titled Manhunt: Unabomber, and followed the hunt to find Ted Kaczynski.
(Photo by Eric Liebowitz / Netflix)
Season 4 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt just wasn’t enough for Netflix. Tina Fey announced that the series, which ended in late 2018 after four seasons, will get its very own interactive special (a la Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch) set to debut in 2020.
“Fans will be able to make choices on behalf of our characters, taking different story paths with, of course, different jokes,” the creator said in a statement. “I think it’s a great fit for our show and will be a great way to officially complete the series.”
(Photo by HBO)
ABC Studios has signed 2 Dope Queens star Phoebe Robinson to a multi-year deal in which the comedian and podcast host will write and star in projects for the studio. “We’ve wanted to be in business with Phoebe since the very first time we heard the 2 Dope Queens podcast. Her humor, unique point of view and her incredibly fresh, authentic talent are huge assets for us; we couldn’t be more thrilled that she’s joining our studio,” studio president Patrick Moran said in a statement.
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris has announced his first project under his new Netflix deal: Black Excellence, a comedy in which Barris will star alongside Rashida Jones. According to its official description, the series will “pull the curtain back and reboot the ‘family sitcom’ in a way we’ve never seen before.”
Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu has signed a four-year deal to develop new projects with 20th Century Fox Television, the TV studio recently acquired by Disney after the Fox merger. According to Deadline, Chu will develop, executive produce, and possibly direct new projects for the studio. The deal is reportedly worth somewhere in the “mid-seven figures.”
Move over, Marvel: The company behind Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, Dark Horse Entertainment, has signed a new deal that gives the streaming service first crack at adapting the company’s comics and other properties.
Comedy Central is starting its own studio. Comedy Central Productions will produce original content with some of the network’s top talent, including Broad City veterans Paul W. Downs and Lucia Aniello; Beetlejuice musical writer Anthony King; Klepper and Daily Show executive producer Stuart Miller; and the production company behind Inside Amy Schumer and I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, Irony Point.
The coffee cup that stole Game of Thrones‘ spotlight on Sunday night might have dominated the conversation on Twitter, but it looks like most of the first critics to review “The Last of the Starks” either missed the cup’s cameo or were too enthralled with that dramatic dinner scene to care.
In a statement released later, the network said: “In response to inquiries from those who saw a craft services coffee cup in Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones, HBO states, ‘The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.’”
News from Winterfell.
The latte that appeared in the episode was a mistake. #Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea. pic.twitter.com/ypowxGgQRl
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) May 6, 2019
(Photo by HBO)
Update: By Tuesday, the cup was scrubbed from the scene in the streaming version.
Despite the cup’s explosion on the Twitter-verse, with the controversy trending under “Starbucks cup” (though HBO indicates the cup was a craft services item), critics weren’t distracted by the contemporary set piece in last night’s episode. Instead, some critics were captivated for positive reasons, but many others — not so much.
The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones 89% is not faring as well as its predecessors. Granted, the season just passed its halfway mark, but it’s still scoring about 10% lower than any season before. After Sunday’s “The Last of the Starks,” season 8 is hanging in the 80th percentile — every other season is at 91% or higher on the Tomatometer. Still, season 8 is well on its way to being Certified Fresh. (The final two episodes would have to have dancing Starbucks cups to fully derail the season.)
Last week, “The Long Night” drew criticism for its darkness, the lack of consequential deaths, and that the battle literally lasted only one night. At 74%, it became the second-lowest ranking Game of Thrones episode ever. But now, it appears that title will be taken by episode 4 — and that now-infamous Starbucks cup.
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI; HBO)
This week’s “The Last of the Starks” is even lower on the Tomatometer, currently at 63% with 63 reviews so far (updated at 2:45 p.m. PT on May 6). And that’s despite a cameo by the series’ showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff (pictured above at a 2018 event and in costume in the episode) in the feasting scene. The only episode ranked lower than these two most recent installments is season 6’s “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken“… and it’s Rotten.
Read on to find out what critics had to say about season 8 Episode 4: "The Last of the Starks" 58%.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
Odd oversight of letting in a Starbucks cup cameo… — Dominic Patten, Deadline
Well, at least no one will complain about the darkness in this latest “Game of Thrones” episode. — Verne Gay, Newsday
Last week was an emotional rollercoaster and tonight took us off the track! — Jamie Broadnax, Black Girl Nerds
Maybe we don’t have a hero on this show anymore, at least not in the game for the Iron Throne. — Dave Gonzales, Thrillist
Read more: Sex, Death and Relationship Drama Feature in Game of Thrones‘ ‘The Last of the Starks’ Top Moments
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
Not every character- or plot-based story decision feels earned, but at least the rapid momentum toward the series’ end has kept the eyes of Game of Thrones somewhat on the present, however volatile and fatal it may be. — Steve Greene, indieWire
Character-driven errors were committed and the war for the Iron Throne ignited in a highly emotional and often devastating episode — have there ever been so many tears and kisses and hugs on this show? — James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly
The Jon/Dany conflict cuts to the heart of Game of Thrones‘ biggest problems in its final few seasons – in its zeal to set up these foregone conclusions, they’ve had to roll back significant character development to do so. — Clint Worthington, The Spool
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
We’re only a week past the deadly Battle of Winterfell, and Daenerys has already reached the sixth stage of grief: world domination. — Kimberly Roots, TV Line
This is an interesting episode because Daenerys is so bad in so many ways throughout, and yet she’s also clearly not as vile as Cersei. — Erik Kain, Forbes
Holding within herself the power for acts of desperation, grasping need, human connection, and inhuman cruelty, Cersei represents the show at its most painfully complicated. She’s back in full force for the show’s last two episodes — just in time. — Daniel D’Addario, Variety
It’s obvious now from the conversation among the characters and the closeups of Clarke, Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, and Lena Headey, who plays Cersei Lannister, that the battle for the Iron Throne will come down to these three women. — Robert Rorke, New York Post
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
For the first time, I know who I’d like to see on the Iron Throne at the end: Sansa. I think she’d be a great Queen. I want to see Tyrion at one of her sides and Arya at the other. Maybe it’s time to place my bets? — Leona Laurie, Geek Girl Authority
I’m afraid Jon Snow — sorry, Aegon Targaryen — is going to somehow stumble his way onto the Iron Throne. Yes, I do mean accidentally bumbling his way onto it, like he bumbles absolutely everything else, and everyone will just yell, “King in the south!” If that happens, I’m going to riot. — Tasha Robinson, The Verge
Read more: All Game of Thrones Episodes, Ranked by Tomatometer
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
As has been the pattern for two seasons now, the episode was filled with lapses in logic that were too irritating to ignore, plus a plague of idiocy on the part of most of its supposed heroes. — Kelly Lawler, USA Today
It was a bad week for the Dragon Queen, the latest in a fairly regular string of tragedy and indignity that began roughly when she started hanging out with Jon and doesn’t suggest much in the way of a happy ending. — Jeremy Egner, New York Times
As impressive as last week’s spectacle was, none of it felt as engaging as this week’s smaller moments of politicking and intrigue – of Tyrion and Varys contemplating treason. — Stephen Kelly, BBC.com
I suspect that when we all look back on the final season of “Game of Thrones” with the benefit of some hindsight (and when some of us are not in the position of speed-writing recaps late on a Sunday night), the pacing of these final six episodes is going to seem at least a little off… But in the moment, I was delighted to see all of these characters loose and wonderfully, vitally alive. — Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
(Photo by HBO)
The dawn of a new day breaks on Westeros in “The Last of the Starks,” episode 4 of Game of Thrones season 8. And it’s a grim one.
The pyres are piled high with bodies of every stripe: Dothraki, Night’s Watch, Northern warriors, Mormonts, a Dondarrion, and on.
How do you follow that? Lots of alcohol.
(Photo by HBO)
The remaining revengers assemble to say goodbye to the heroes who gave their lives fighting the army of the dead. (The revenging will have to wait – though not for long.)
“They were the shields that guarded the realms of men, and we shall never see their like again,” Jon Snow says, in a nod to the Night’s Watch creed.
Ghost survived, so we have that to thankful for. We’ll later see that he was battered and had his ear torn, and we wonder why Jon wouldn’t pull a surviving stable boy aside and tell him to – gently – tend to the direwolf, feed him, and give him a bath. That wolf is still covered in wight funk the last time we see him.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
At dinner, Daenerys legitimizes Gendry: He is now Lord Gendry Baratheon of Storm’s End.
Tyrion and Ser Davos continue their strange friendship in the only eulogy that Melisandre will likely receive.
“To Arya Stark, the hero of Winterfell,” Daenerys says, but Arya is nowhere to be found.
Tyrion outs Brienne as a virgin, which is so not cool to do in public that we really wish Tyrion would never drink again. At least Brienne gets something out of it…
Then there was the Starbucks cup controversy:
You're telling me they had TWO YEARS to put together a decent show and they couldn't even spot the goddamn Starbucks cup in Winterfell??!?! #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/8opg7nyydv
— Jenna Guillaume (@JennaGuillaume) May 6, 2019
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
Gendry finds Arya, tells her his good news, and proposes to her in a hugely romantic gesture. She turns him down (we think): “I’m not a lady. I never have been. That’s not me.” But she can totally be a “not a lady” with Gendry — in a nice, historic castle with lands and loyal bannermen to grab some ale after work with.
Who was that smiling at Podrick after dinner? She’s in for a surprise. Later, he embraces both her and a woman whose advances The Hound spurned. Correction: They’re in for a surprise.
Jaime seduces Brienne – “I’ve never slept with a knight before” – then leaves her. On his way out, he confesses to her that he pushed Bran from the tower, he strangled his cousin, and he would have murdered everyone at Riverrun for Cersei: “She’s hateful. And so am I.” Brienne sobs. Been there, girl.
Tormund’s wildling heart breaks at dinner over Brienne. The Hound is not interested. Willa says he can touch her, and Tormund miraculously recovers.
And Gilly is pregnant. Can’t help but wonder: Will full-Craster Little Sam inherit Horn Hill or this half-Craster–Tarly child?
At dinner, Daenerys becomes crazy-eyed jealous when Tormund puts Jon in the spotlight and calls him “king.” Her seething gets Varys’ attention.
Later in private, Daenerys tells Jon she loves him, but their kinship stops him mid-snog. She wants to un-know that he’s Rhaegar’s child. When he tells her that he has to tell Arya and Sansa who he is, she replies, “I’ve never begged for anything, but I’m begging you. Don’t do this. Please.”
She’s under stress and people are seeing her sweat. “We’ll rip her out root and stem,” Daenerys says in a strategy session. You can see the mad king ranting and burning Starks in Varys’ eyes when he looks at her.
Tyrion and Varys convince Daenerys not to immediately burn down the Red Keep and all of the innocents Cersei has gathered to her side as dragon-fodder should Daenerys attack.
When Sansa suggests – Daenerys: stop talking, Sansa.
“We have won the Great War. Now we will win the Last War,” Daenerys promises, and looks at Sansa. “In all Seven Kingdoms, men will live without fear and cruelty – under their rightful queen.” (Her attitude will come back to bite Daenerys in the butt when Sansa weighs whether or not to share a big secret.)
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Jon agonizes during the Stark family meeting in the godswood over whether to tell his “sisters” that he’s really their cousin. Arya calls him “brother,” as in “full rights to bogart the TV remote” brother. He’s dying inside and tells Bran to tell them – he’s not officially responsible for having told them if Bran tells him, right? He never really promised Daenerys that he wouldn’t anyway.
Despite promising to keep his secret, Sansa promptly tells Tyrion, who promptly tells Varys, who notes that it’s no longer a secret, but is now “information” (which is a commodity he trades in).
“A Targaryen father and a Stark mother – Jon’s the one man alive who might actually be able to keep the North in the Seven Kingdoms,” Varys says.
Tyrion calls Varys’ musings “treason.”
“You know where my loyalty stands. You know I will never betray the realm,” Varys says, in what may be the most important exchange in the episode.
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When the Targaryen fleet drops anchor off of Dragonstone, Euron Greyjoy attacks. He has mounted scorpions on the front of his ships and unleashes on Rhaegal, who dies horrifically and plunges into the sea. Daenerys moves to attack, but retreats when she realizes how vulnerable Drogon is. Euron then attacks the Targaryen fleet, and, we later find out, takes Missandei prisoner.
Tyrion, Daenerys, Grey Worm, and a group of Unsullied arrive at the walls of King’s Landing to deliver a message: surrender and release Missandei of Narth. Instead, The Mountain beheads Missandei, whose last word is “Dracarys,” indicating to her queen, we thought, that she should burn King’s Landing to the ground.
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Plus, Arya takes the King’s Road with The Hound to settle some “unfinished business.” (Arya says she doesn’t plan on coming back to Winterfell, which sounds ominous – Sansa only just got her sister back. Don’t leave me alone with weird Bran!) Bronn negotiates with the Lannister brothers: Their lives in exchange for Highgarden, the former home of the extinct House Tyrell. And, Jon tells Tormund to take Ghost with him beyond the Wall. OK, but who doesn’t hug their direwolf when they leave forever? Bad form, Aegon Targaryen, sixth of his name.
Next week on episode 5: The Last War.
What was your favorite moment of the episode? Tell us in the comments!
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
In the world of Game of Thrones, conventional wisdom would suggest Daenerys Targaryen has proved herself a fair and just leader, powerful, and compassionate, but firm. Others may see it that Jon Snow, aka Aegon Targaryen, truly is the rightful ruler by Westeros tradition, given that his father was the uncrowned king of the land Rhaegar Targaryen, killed before he could reveal his legitimate marriage to Jon’s mother, Lyanna Stark. Or maybe possession really is nine-tenths of the law, and Cersei Lannister, who in no other way is the legitimate ruler, should continue to reign.
Why bother watching season 8, when you can read our hot takes on who should sit the Iron Throne?
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Some in Deanery’s shoes would be content to rest on their laurels: She has two dragons and a rightful claim to the throne – case closed. But Daenerys has gone above and beyond to earn her place on the Iron Throne. She’s endured personal losses (her dear dead Drogo, their unborn child, her dear undead dragon) and inspired audiences over and over again with moments of strength and steeliness. Most of all, across seven seasons of city-hopping and army-charring, she’s proven a master strategist and builder of alliances, bringing together groups as disparate as the Dothrakis and the Unsullied to form a formidable force as she moves towards what’s rightfully hers.
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Don’t dismiss Tyrion Lannister as the Miss Congeniality of Thrones’ remaining contenders. He may be likable and gentle-hearted – at least in Westerosi terms – but he is also the shrewdest political mind left, a key skill to have in a place that gets so stabby. He’s in many ways one of the series’ ultimate survivors, managing to make it to adulthood despite his family’s unbridled hatred of him, and working his way to Daenerys’ side (the likely winning side). It should be noted he’s also part of the reason there’s still a throne for the series’ aspirants’ to sit on at all, stopping the destruction/sacking of King’s Landing not once but twice – and earning his scar in the process.
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One key to good leadership is growth, and few characters have grown quite as much as Jaime. After all, the wounded, chisel-jawed hero who has slowly won your heart over seven seasons was not so long ago the sister-bonking cad who pushed Bran out of a tower in the final moments of Thrones’ first-ever episode. It’s been a “journey.” Throughout that journey, we’ve seen Jaime develop a number of the traits that would steer him well as king (but perhaps make his reign somewhat short): a developing sense of selflessness, a propensity for mercy (it was to be a painless death for Olenna), and an eye for talent in people, as demonstrated by his connection to Brienne.
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If Game of Thrones were a particularly bloody and blindside-filled season of Survivor – Outwit! Outslay! – no one could compete with Cersei’s case at final Tribal Council. Just look what she’s both achieved and been through on her little island of King’s Landing. No one has suffered as much: she’s lost, what, all of her kids; her glorious long locks; her dad; her lover/brother/Hand; and been paraded through the streets totally naked (shame!). And she arguably pulled off one of Thrones’ most stunning strategic moves in the destruction of the great Sept of Baelor. Sure, you can admire all those fresh-faced and ambitious kids in the North, forming unlikely alliances and proving themselves in battle as they seek to usurp her, but sometimes staying in power is harder than taking power. For holding on so tightly – and never dropping a drop of red while doing so – Cersei deserves to maintain her place on her throne.
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We learned in season 7 that Jon has the strongest claim to the throne, given that his dad was Rhaegar Targaryen, whose marriage to his mother Lyanna Stark was legit, but he also has Thrones’ ultimate mic-drop argument: He died and came back. Who else among these would-be throne-sitters can top that? (Berric Dondarrion isn’t really in the running.) Or say that they led a successful defense of The Wall against attack by the Wildlings? Or that they later forged a key alliance with those same Wildlings – an alliance that could prove key to defending everyone against the oncoming White Walker invasion? No? No one? We’re listening… As if that wasn’t enough, Jon has proved himself the bravest of Thrones’ lead contenders. Recall when he went beyond the Wall. Or when he stood, sword raised, circled by enemy forces in the Battle of the Bastards? And it’s not just cocksure bravery and resurrections that have us rooting for Jon. He’s a sharp mind, too, and one who puts ego aside to “bend the knee” for love.
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Sure, Jon’s survived the Wall, epic battles and, well, death. And Arya has been dodging swords and arrows all across the continent for several years now. But Sansa is the Stark offspring who has survived in arguably the most dangerous places in all of Westeros: under Cersei’s roof, under Littlefinger’s thumb, and in Ramsay Bolton’s bed. The once-naïve wannabe princess has had to grow up very quickly over seven seasons of Thrones, and her developing understanding of how the world really works and a growing skill to move within it have led her safely and triumphantly back to Winterfell. Also, if ruling the Seven Kingdoms requires a strong ability to deal with toxic men, Sansa should be your top pick: Not only did she manage to outlive a spiteful Joffrey, she escaped the physical and mental clutches of Ramsay and Lord Petyr Baelish, before killing both in wonderfully satisfying fashion.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
A girl has no name, perhaps, but she is a strong contender for the throne. More than any other Stark – living, at least – she has had to fight for her life, time and time again, and prove her skills in deception and combat (who else can go toe-to-toe with Brienne, as she did?). Arya’s racked up quite the lethal résumé in her journeys through Kings Landing, Braavos, Riverrun, and beyond: She can fully disguise herself, thanks to skills picked up with the Faceless Men; she’s developed a ruthlessness – sorry, Hound! – that will serve her well when ruling over a court of would-be usurpers; and she’s executed some of Thrones’ biggest moves, chief among them her delicious, crusty vengeance against the House of Frey. “They’re already here, my lord…” Chills.
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If we’re going to consider other Starks for the Iron Throne, why not also the god-like all-seeing Three-Eyed Raven? Voted “Most Likely to Know About His Surprise Birthday Party” among the Stark kids, Bran’s childhood physical agility has given way to supernatural mental acumen now that he’s in his teens. He’ll foresee any and all plots against him, he can time travel to take lessons from the greatest rulers in the history of Westeros and beyond; with his all-seeing eye, he can find more dragons in the east and train them based on the methods of the best dragon riders ever; and he was a kind and sweet child and still seems so at heart. Honestly, other than his unsettlingly detached demeanor — which is far sight better (pun intended) than some of the crazies that have sat the Throne recently — Bran may actually be the very best choice to rule.
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You may not think Thrones’ own Ol’ Blue Eyes has much of a claim, given that we haven’t seen so much of him over the shows’ seven seasons and that we don’t actually know too much about his motives. But when we have seen him, he has almost always outsmarted the living. Case in point: In season 7’s mammoth battle north of the Wall between Daenerys and her dragons and Jon’s forces against the White Walkers and wights, he saw an opportunity in battle to take out Viserion and then resurrected the beast as a Wall-felling ice dragon. So, he’s smart. He’s strategic. And he’s patient, another key quality for a good ruler. He has waited some 8,300 years for summer to end, after all.
Game of Thrones season 8 premieres on Sunday, April 14 at 9 p.m. on HBO.
