(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.
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.
Given the immense anticipation leading up to episode 3 of HBO fantasy juggernaut Game of Thrones 89%, the assumption was that the battle against the Night King’s army at Winterfell in “The Long Night” would be unequivocally epic. But you know what they say about assumptions.
Critics and fans hung on for two relatively mellow first weeks of the final season. It was fine that the premiere, “Winterfell,” was mostly filled with character reunions and episode 2, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” favored sentimentality over conflict, because everything was building to the #BattleofWinterfell (though that hashtag had been seen before).
Alas, not everyone was blown away by the latest battle at the Stark ancestral home, as demonstrated by the episode’s unusually low (for the series, that is) Tomatometer score: 75% with 92 reviews so far (at 1:20 p.m. PT on April 30).
(Photo by HBO)
Some critics were pleasantly surprised by the episode’s unexpected twists, others were utterly disappointed and lamented the return to the pursuit of the Iron Throne. Many critics found the battle “brutal and emotionally exhausting” — but in a good way! But more than a mere few — 23% if you do the math — as well as some vocal fans on Twitter, found it less-than-thrilling at best, and a “betrayal” at worst.
“The Long Night” is the lowest-scoring of the season’s three episodes so far, and if it stays that low, it would be the second lowest-scoring Game of Thrones episode ever (it recently dropped below season 3’s “The Bear and the Maiden Fair“). To put that score into context, however, that’s still higher than popular recent box office superhero fare like Aquaman (2018) 65%.
Read on to find out what critics had to say about Season 8 Episode 3: "The Long Night" 74%.
Did “The Long Night” live up to your expectations? Tell us in the poll below.
(Photo by HBO)
Fighting an army of the dead is never easy, but Daenerys and Jon’s output was so pitiful here that I worry their alliance might not make it to the final conflict with Cersei. — David Sims, The Atlantic
After bridging the trenches, the wights started climbing the walls. So it was up to Gendry, Jaime, and the gang to fight them all off one by one — a project that was manifestly futile from the start. Still, it gave Brienne a chance to save Jaime’s life, so that was nice. — Michael Hogan, Vanity Fair
What was most striking to me was that while the men were busy having existential crises in the middle of a bloody battle (I’m looking at you Clegane), women were getting shit done. — Anne Cohen, Refinery29
Cersei is a winner because she knows, every time, that she can just hang back and let other people do her dirty work, then sip her wine and chuckle to herself about how everybody else did the dirty work for her. — Todd VanDerWerff, Vox
Read more: The 11 Biggest Moments from “The Long Night.”
(Photo by HBO)
The episode stands in as the ultimate representative of one of the ways “Game of Thrones” has seen itself, as the staging-ground for ultra-violent action whose stakes are the fate of the world. — Daniel D’Addario, Variety
Perhaps the hour’s been built up too much, or maybe events were too foreshadowed; we knew that mankind would prevail, if only because it’s got to fight amongst itself a bit more before Thrones’ six-episode season is through. — Clint Worthington, The Spool
It’s hardly a roller coaster ride, but that’s actually why this might be one of the better battle-focused episodes of “Game of Thrones” to date; it makes every moment of dread feel truly lived-in, lets each character beat scattered between the battles sink in. — Liz Shannon Miller, indieWire
“The Long Night” was unique in that it’s the one Game of Thrones episode I will never watch again, under any circumstance. I do not need to relive that. If television could give you PTSD, this would have done the job. — Shane Ryan, Paste Magazine
I’m satisfied, but my eyes need a rest. — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic
(Photo by HBO)
I know the night is dark and full of terrors, but does that mean the episode has to be so literally dark? — Clint Worthington, The Spool
The long-gestating Battle for Winterfell is difficult to follow, occasionally even impossible to discern, and ends the most existential threat the series has built up over the course of its run with a “one good hit kills them all” solution that feels more than a little cheap. — Andrew Bloom, Consequence of Sound
The scenes were often so dark that it was impossible to see the action unless it happened to include fire (thanks a bunch, Drogon and Melisandre). The editing was sloppy at times, and it was hard to tell who was where and how they got there. And despite the high death count, most of our major characters still made it out alive, an illogical outcome considering the enemy. — Kelly Lawler, USA Today
What spectacle! The deus ex machina of Arya’s attack satisfied in both its culmination of a seasons-long build (her development into a master killer) and its tension-exploding suddenness. — Daniel D’Addario, Variety
At nearly the last possible moment of the longest Game of Thrones episode ever, she saved Bran and all humanity from the Night King in one of those moves that would certainly land her a slot in The Avengers if they were making any more Avengers movies. — Ellen Gray, Philadelphia Daily News
Read more: All Game of Thrones Episodes, Ranked by Tomatometer“
(Photo by HBO)
So, in summation, the Battle of Winterfell dead include: Dolorous Edd, Lyanna Mormont, Jorah Mormont, Beric Dondarrion, Theon Grejoy, Melisandre, and the Night King. — Kimberly Roots, TV Line
Everything in “Game of Thrones” these past seven seasons led us to these cataclysmic 80 minutes, the sum total of all our fears and theories. A shrug wouldn’t do at all, but only a physical, convulsive reflex — our own yawp into the night, as if to say that TV at its wild, most ambitious best really can make dreams come true. Or nightmares. This one certainly did. — Verne Gay, Newsday
With three episodes remaining in its eighth and final season, “Game of Thrones” has defeated its most powerful and threatening villain, the Night King… It was as grand and almost as fatal as we all predicted, sure, but it also ended the White Walker threat forever with one tidy blow. — Kelly Lawler, USA Today
If you asked me whether “Game of Thrones” is a genuinely great show, after “The Long Night,” I’d have to answer: not today. — Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post
(Photo by HBO)
“The Long Night” will go down in television history as the Game of Thrones episode that made “Arya Stark” a verb.
Episode 3 of season 8 started slow on Sunday night, opening as if from the backstage of a play, with all of the players grabbing their props and – “Places everyone!” – moving to their marks. It is called a theater of war, after all. The curtain raised on the first highlight of the night:
(Photo by HBO)
Taking their position as wight-fodder in this fight: the Unsullied led by Grey Worm, the Dothraki (including the tall one, Qhono, played by Staz Nair, in case you ever wondered), Podrick Payne, Brienne of Tarth, Jaime Lannister, Tormund Giantsbane, Ser Beric Dondarrion, The Hound, Gendry, Edd Tollett, Samwell Tarly, Ghost! (hereafter with an exclamation point), Ser Jorah Mormont.
Meanwhile, Jon and Daenerys survey the scene from the distance with dragons Drogon and Rhaegal. Sansa, Arya, and Ser Davos are on the ramparts when a lone rider appears.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
Melisandre rides in out of nowhere and says, all casual, to Ser Jorah: “Do you speak their tongue? Tell them to lift their swords.”
Speaking a spell/prayer in High Valyrian and grasping Quono’s arakh, she sets the Dothraki swords – all of them! – on fire. If only Ser Jorah had Heartsbane out at the time.
She rides on, drops the mic in front of Grey Worm, and says: “Valar morghulis.” Grey Worm: “Valar dohaeris.” Enough said.
The fact that Melisandre shows up isn’t as disturbing as what she says to Ser Davos: That he needn’t bother executing her, because she’d be dead before dawn.
An aside: Watching the Dothraki flaming swords get extinguished in the dark is devastating with the final flames frantically slashing as they sputter. And that Ser Jorah and Ghost went with them is, in that moment, heartbreaking. Jorah and a few Dothraki horses and men return, but not Ghost.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
Edd Tollet is the first named character to die on screen – maybe. It’s so dark, that I can’t tell wight from warrior. So many were slaughtered before Daenerys and Jon showed up with Drogon and Rhaegal and set fire to the field, we may have missed one.
Brienne saves Jaime, Jaime saves Brienne, Edd saves Sam. Podrick, Gendry, The Hound – all slashing at a tsunami of undead.
(Photo by HBO)
“Open the gate,” Lyanna Mormont screams as the live fighters retreat into Winterfell. Can’t help but think that Jorah was absolutely right: This is no place for Lyanna, the future of her house. Listen to your elders, girl. She later takes down the wight Giant with dragonglass to the eyeball when he attempts to snack on her, but dies in the process. If you were hoping she would be only mostly dead, you’d be disappointed later in the episode.
(Photo by HBO)
Sure, the Unsullied in perfect formation even in the midst of madness was an impressive sight to see, but they also look an awful lot like future wights for all their heroism. They back up against spikes in the trenches that are supposed to be set aflame. Daenerys doesn’t see the signal, flaming arrows from the ramparts keep going out before they can catch, and the wights keep taking out the runners with torches.
Melisandre saves everyone’s asses (for the time being) by lighting the trench with her spell/prayer.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
The Night King flies in on a high pressure storm front and, with a wave of his hand, commands his followers to create wight bridges over the trench fires, so that the others can climb over them. The zombies crawl up and over the walls World War Z style.
Arya fighting on the wall is awe-inspiring and strikes Ser Davos silent. It also prompts The Hound to get his ass in gear to save her.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
Arya plays a deadly game of hide-and-seek with the wights who have made it inside Winterfell.
There are too many of them. So now we know what was obscured in the darkness of the trailer: dozens of wights chasing our petite hero.
When Beric and The Hound later come to her rescue, it’s almost as if Arya had given up. She stares almost helplessly when wights attack Beric, which is very unlike her. The trio retreats to a room where Melisandre has been hiding/waiting for them, and Beric dies.
“What do we say to the god of death?” Melisandre asks Arya, which immediately summons the ghost of Syrio Forel (not literally).
Arya: “Not today.”
(Photo by HBO)
(Photo by HBO)
The dragons in the moonlight above the storm clouds is a beautiful image – this-dragon-moment-is-brought-to-you-by-Hallmark beautiful. But the scene later turns deadly as Jon and Rhaegal lock together in dragon battle against the Night King and wight dragon Viserion, who tears at his brother’s flesh and snaps his jaws at snack-sized Jon on Rhaegal’s back. The Night King tries to be smooth and grabs for his ice spear, but falls off (not to his death, of course – because that would be too easy).
The scene of Winterfell from the air at this point, by the way, looks like a nighttime Burning Man riot: a circle of fire and waves of bodies flowing this way and that.
Rhaegal goes down and Jon tumbles off. Daenerys tries dragonfire on the Night King on the ground, but he does not burn (like a Targaryen). She retreats when he aims a spear her way, but Jon pursues him on foot with Longclaw. The Night King raises a new army from the freshly dead, including those inside Winterfell – including, they make a point to show, Lyanna, Qhono, and Edd. Was that Podrick standing behind the Night King before he pimp-walked away? OMG, where’s Podrick?
Wights, meanwhile, swarm Drogon, and Daenerys falls off.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
Tyrion laments that he’s not out there. Sansa says he’d be dead. Then he suggests they should’ve stayed married. She rightly notes his divided loyalties (aka “You loooove her, you want to marry her…”) for Daenerys.
The dead rise in the crypt of Winterfell even (thanks for the heads-up, Jared Harris), and dusty, ancient Starks start tearing at people.
Next time, maybe freeze them in carbonite?
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
The Night King swaggers into the godswood with his court. Bran: “Theon, you’re a good man. Thank you.” Theon charges the Night King and gets a spear thrust into his side.
Elsewhere, when a wight wave threatens to overcome Daenerys, Ser Jorah puts himself between them and her and is mortally (maybe, probably) wounded protecting her. He leans on Heartsbane in his final stand.
(Photo by HBO)
Holy sh–! Arya killed the Night King. She takes a flying leap and, despite being caught by the throat, still manages to thrust that ancient Valyrian-steel dagger into his belly. (To “Arya Stark” someone will forever refer to that move.) He explodes, his court explodes, Viserion (who Jon has been dodging all this time) collapses to the ground in a pile of loose bones and ragged flesh, as do all of the other wights.
(We heard echos of Jon’s voice: “How did you sneak up on me?”)
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
There’s a roll call of who’s still alive: Arya, Bran, Daenerys, Jorah (until he’s not), Drogon, Jon, Tormund, Gendry, Grey Worm, Brienne, Jaime, Podrick, Tyrion, Sansa, Varys, his new little crypt birds, Missandei, Gilly and Little Sam (did anyone see Samwell Tarly in the roll call?), The Hound, Melisandre (until she isn’t), and Ser Davos. Where’s Ghost!? Did Rhaegal survive?
I hit “replay.”
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?
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
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.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
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.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
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.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
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.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
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.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
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.
(Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO)
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.
(Photo by HBO)
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.
