It is lovely, innocent, good-natured, and fun. While our leading ladies of Winterfell are all busy brooding (Sansa pissed off that Daenerys exists, Daenerys sulking that she’s not the centre of adoration, and Arya – the undeniable hero of the last episode – off shooting arrows by herself), Brienne gets to be belle of the ball as she plays a drinking game with Podrick and the Lannister boys. Varys reads the room in that regard, and is the only one who really takes the time to think to check in on the Targaryen usurper Queen’s state of mind. She doesn’t do well when she’s not actively receiving adoration (or burning people alive in a show of power). Of course Tormund is just kind of a well-intentioned idiot, and he wants to praise his bro, but of course Dany is going to seethe. Even Tormund, who comes from a non-patriarchal culture, praises Jon for riding a dragon, while they stand literally right in front of Daenerys, who has been doing that all along. There’s still palpable tension - mostly emanating from Daenerys and mean-girl Sansa, both of whom despise the other, but would do better to realize they’re actually pissed about the same thing: Jon gets an easy pass because he’s a man, and they deserve more credit. Now, everyone is relieved and confused – I mean, Lannisters and Starks and Targaryens and Wildlings, it’s almost surreal how far everyone has come to be able to drink to life together in the halls of Winterfell. They fought through the bitter cold against an army of the damned undead. They saw their comrades die (no main characters, but tons of expendables). Of course, everyone is going to want to drink ‘til they black out and find someone to warm their bed. And to be honest, that’s what the show has always done best.Īfter a sombre check-in with the corpses of the expendable characters we lost last episode, Jon Snow gives a heartfelt speech over their funeral pyres, and it’s time to party. But what it did was return the focus to the political, and to interpersonal relationships. “The Last of the Starks” was sloppy (Starbucks cup, anyone?) and rushed, it provided what some consider fan-service, and it did nothing to clean the bitter taste out of some viewers’ mouths. Game of Thrones fans are now the most volatile they’ve ever been, at each other’s throats in their rage and their pain over the quality, or lack thereof of the show that is so special to them. There are reasons to love it and reasons to hate it, and it’s okay to feel any or all of those things.
“The Long Night” was cinematically monumental– yes, even if you think it was too damn dark - but it reduced the show’s sweeping arch into a blockbuster movie.įeel how you want about the big battle last episode. The first two eps were too precious, looking at death and mortality from the shallowest angle, and milking nostalgia that didn’t pay off in the Battle of Winterfell because we didn’t lose any core characters.
Keeping all this in mind, “The Last of the Starks” is the best episode season 8 thus far. So, our investment is a confused, heartbroken one. Yet, we still have many of the characters we’ve grown to love over that time.
It’s been a decline since they started running out of source material. We can’t hold GoT up to the standards of seasons three and four anymore. For everything Game of Thrones did to change television as we know it – and the hearts and minds of its fans in the process – the show has succumbed to lazy writing, illogic, fast-travel, and what seems undeniably like showrunner burnout as we rush unnecessarily through content that might otherwise be gripping. No, it’s not fair, but we simply have to accept it. We have to understand that Game of Thrones isn’t the same as it was at its height. In order to really discuss any episode of this season, we have to come to terms with a few things.
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