Ghost’s big debut being in the background as Dolorous Ed, Sam and Jon are wistfully speaking on the palisades at Winterfell was hysterically stupid. The showrunners treated him like he was just one of the boys, hanging out with his broskis. While I understand the intent of the scene was to recall simpler times, this is not the moment for it. This was a meme-worthy stumble, the kind of thing I hope one day we start seeing in peoples’s vacation and graduation photos online.
Ghost’s big debut this season should have been in the crypt, when Jon told Dany who he really is. Dany denies it and starts to argue with him and that’s when Ghost should emerge from the shadows, feeling as though Jon’s place in the world is threatened by Dany’s behavior. It ramps up the tension, Dany feels threatened in every way possible and there is much better anxiety. It simultaneously makes her position more precarious, their relationship almost impossible and it re-establishes the core theme of the Dire Wolves relative to the Stark family. Jon could call off Ghost after that to defuse the immediate fears, but this moment would have reaffirmed the mystique Jon always has in the books and which he should have always had in the TV show once he realized that Jeor was gearing him to lead the Night’s Watch and when Jon ran with the free folk beyond the wall for a while.
I could go on and on about how this show has fumbled the ball on Jon and Ghost but fuck it. It’s almost over now. At least we’ll get to see Arya use her spear gun (which I’m almost certain it is) to kill her some White Walkers because that’s important to her growth as a character…
Speaking of Arya, her fucking Gendry was fucking stupid. This felt like a fanfic tier nod to the shippers. You never bend the knee to the shippers. They are the worst, most embarrassing and most toxic percentage of any fan community and their painfully silly demands should never be met if it was never part of the plan. This just felt all wrong, and if Gendry was even remotely organically written in this show and not just a macguffin to make thigs happen, he would have told her not to fuck him out of desperation and fear for her mortality. He would have told her to save it for a time when she could fully enjoy her womanhood. Jesus Christ, some of the writing on this show is bad.
I don’t care at all about anything happening at King’s Landing. Every time they show Cersei, I go take a piss. Her only purpose in this story is to die now. There is no other function for her left to fulfill Her refusal to help with the White Walkers will probably end up with a lot of people getting killed and they’ll all want her dead. It’s most likely going to be Arya (ugh) or Jaimie (better), and if they go full Valonqar Prophecy, she’ll die before she can give birth to her baby.
Since it’s almost certain that some of the characters will go to King’s Landing to kill Cersei, we’re also likely to see the completely worthless, unimportant and insipid ‘Clegganebowl’ that people are demanding. These two characters aren’t even remotely the same people they used to be. The Mountain isn’t even a person at all anymore. He’s just a big zombie devoid of any humanity whatsoever. And the Hound should be past all the bullshit of his past life; in a literary sense, being left for dead and finding a new purpose was the culmination of his hero’s journey. What mattered then doesn’t matter now. Stupid.
The thing no one’s talking about that is certain to factor into the ending is the Onion Knight’s bombshell of a suggestion that Jon and Dany marry. For certain, this will happen. But whether or not they both survive to the end of things isn’t something I can predict. I can see either of them dying or both surviving, but not both dying. Martin said that the ending would be ‘bittersweet’ and even though Weiss and Benioff are only working from the barest of outlines at this point, I have a feeling they’ll stick to that idea. I’m betting that Jon lives and Dany dies. I certainly don’t see Dany achieving the Iron Throne by herself. She’s nothing more than a conventional tyrant, no better than any of the others and this was examined and punctuated in Sam’s conversation with Jon in S08E01, which I suspect is a more important conversation than most even realize. Jon learning that he’s a Targaryen is important, but not as important to the growth of the character that acknowledging that he may have fallen in love with someone that isn’t all that exceptional as warlords go.
The Iron Throne isn’t likely to survive, in any event. It’s caused nothing but war and strife and suffering. If the ‘Great War’ is the war to end all wars, then the thing that causes people to engage in far more petty battles should be melted down or dismantled, and I totally see Jon doing this as his first, and probably last, act as king. It’s made out of friggin’ swords, for chrissake. That’s a dead giveaway that it shouldn’t exist and has brought nothing but ruin. Somebody getting the throne and being ‘a good king’ is certainly false hope. And if Jon gets the throne, which he should and which I believe he will, it won’t be because he’s entitled to it, as everyone else has been acting. It’ll be because he deserves it more than anyone else.
The scene with Jaimie and Brienne in S08E02 was the only good scene in the episode. It represented an organic and satisfying culmination to their shared arc and didn’t have any disgusting nods to the shippers. For Brienne, being knighted is complete vindication in her pursuit of a chivalric ideal and a knight’s excellence. For Jaimie, it’s a redemption; the fact that people take his gesture seriously shows that they see in him a knight capable of making wise and just decisions, not merely a backstabbing sister-fucker. They both come full circle in that scene and it just felt right and honest.
Anyway, I have a hunch we will see more fighting at the Vale, something at Dragonstone and, of course, at King’s Landing before it’s all said and done. The White Walkers will probably win the battle at Winterfell and Bran will be forced to flee, taking refuge someplace where it’s hard to get at him. The Aerie seems like a great place to do that and it would be very difficult for even an army of wights to get to, given the narrow paths that lead up to the top.
We shall see.
Also, while I feel this show has, in aggregate, been worthy, it has a lot of peaks and valleys. It is also still in the shadow of the books, which are much better. GoT isn’t a turd by any stretch, is well produced and well acted. Sometimes the writing is just hideous.
Spartacus, on the other hand, is nearly perfect as a TV show. As well as Black Sails.
EDIT: Jorah getting Heartsbane from Sam feels entirely like plot convenience from start to finish. However, it teases the possibility that Jorah might fulfill the prophecy of Azor Ahai. The sword's name could very well be giving us that hint, even though it's more on the nose than I would ever commit to. I am curious to see how Jorah fares with Heartsbane in the coming battles and I really like Iain Glenn as an actor. He lends an air of wounded dignity to every line he utters and he is one of the most charismatic actors on the entire show. I can't say I like how 'by the numbers' his acquisition of Heartsbane came together, but I will table my final judgment on that pending the character's direction from here. I still believe Jon is Azor Ahai but if he isn't, it's a development i can live with.