Game of Thrones Finale Review: “Fire and Blood”

Words cannot express how bummed I was when I discovered that this was in fact a ten episode season for Game of Thrones, not 12 like you usually see from shows of this nature. Even worse, now that’s it’s over, we have to wait the better part of a year for it to come back in spring 2012.

So this will be my last Thrones review for a while, and I’m not sure what show might replace it. Breaking Bad perhaps? I can’t even think of anything else on this summer worth watching. Don’t get me started on True Blood.

This finale seemed a bit strangely paced at first, but soon escalated into a series of “f*** yeah!” moments that will have most on the edge of their seat until next season. Let’s begin, one final time. Remember NO spoilers about next season please.

The shocking death of Ned Stark was obviously going to have ramifications all over the kingdom, and King Smallmouth didn’t quite understand the consequences of his actions. He’s gone from annoying to full-on evil, and the scene where he makes Sansa stare at the head of her father  on a pike was downright cringe inducing.

Line of the night: “Maybe he’ll bring me yours.”

I was cheering for her to push him off the platform, but I figured that wouldn’t actually happen. I hope that Sansa plays a pivotal part in Joffrey’s downfall, and with her current mood, I have to imagine that would be the case. What I don’t understand is why the Lannisters want her around as she has the potential to be so damaging in the future. Like she’s not going to hold a grudge about her own father being beheaded in front of her and a permanent war being declared on the rest of her family?

There were a few touching moments during this episode to balance our the horror of scenes like the one above. Seeing the bannermen pledge allegiance to Rob as the newly appointed King of the North was a sight to behold, and I’m wondering how Joffrey will take that news. I suppose the plan has always been “kill the Starks,” but now this is full fledged secession. Or rebellion. I’m not sure which.

It was also nice to see Tywin Lannister recognize Tyrion’s sharp mind for once, and actually appoint him to be Joffrey’s Hand in his stead. After all those years of rejection and scorn, Tyrion finally has a father that seems vaguely proud to call him a son. I’ve decided that I don’t like Tyrion’s new whore/girlfriend Che (She? whatever). I’m sure she has some secret about her past and she’s not the lowly ho we think she is, but boy is she rather annoying at the moment.

To adventure! Hopefully!

Up north, Jon Snow is set on riding out to find his brother in order to lay siege to the Lannisters with him, but he’s stopped by his friends in a rather lame scene that involves them chanting the oath of the black while standing around him in a circle. Just when I thought they were going to make Jon Snow even more boring, they finally have the Night’s Watch march out north of the wall to see what horrors lurk there. I wish it hadn’t taken them ten episodes to get to this point, but it should definitely make this plotline more worthwhile come next season.

One strange scene that didn’t fit in with any of these others is the one with the old bearded man who is one of the king’s advisers (someone will provide me with a name I’m sure). I didn’t quite know why we were hearing him talk about old kings as his recently used whore got dressed, but then there was the very strange moment when he stood up and stretched, acting all spritely, and then had to hunch over once more as he left the room. I’m assuming this guy has some secrets, and I wonder how old he is really. It’s interesting how this show can take minor characters and make them more important, all the while executing main ones.

So uh, what the hell is your deal?

And the latest to bite the dust? Khal Drogo, after Daenyrs royally f***ed up by trusting that witch that everyone told her not to trust, myself included. I had a hunch that she was the reason Drogo’s wound got so bad. This episode she admitted that she pretty much set up the entire blood magic ritual in order to kill Dany’s baby and at the same time incapacitate Drogo, whose comatose state eventually makes Dany mercy kill him. No warlord, and no future anti-christ, who was just born as a dead decrepit half dragon creature.  The rest of the Dothraki left under the reign of a new Khal, and Dany was all alone with no heir and no master and protector.

But now comes the moment I’ve been waiting all season for. As Dany lights Drogo’s body (and the witch’s to boot) she places her dragon eggs on the fire, and enters the inferno herself. By morning everything is burnt to a crisp but her (including fortunately her clothes) and she’s sitting the ash pile with three newborn dragons climbing all over her.

HELL YEAH.

I’m wondering where the show goes from here. We seem to be diving further and further into the supernatural. It seems cool on the surface, but with the world that’s been built up so far, it’s going to be kind of strange to see CGI dragons flying around in the skies. That’s a very different type of atmosphere. I have to imagine they’ll find a way to make it work without destroying the authenticity of the universe that’s been created, but it’s definitely going to be a very different season two.

Going forward, despite the departure of a number of major characters along the way, Viserys, Robert, Ned, Drogo, there’s are still many to root for, and this show has such a well rounded cast that it’s able to get away with killing of major players left and right. I’m particularly rooting for Arya, now teamed up with Robert Baratheon’s bastard, and Jon Snow, as he now actually has something useful to do. It’s interesting to see Rob go from the background to the forefront, and I’m still not sure if I’m supposed to be rooting for or against Dany.

But I do know one thing for sure…

JOFFREY MUST DIE.

See you next spring.

 

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33 Comments

  1. My guess is that they’re keeping Sansa around as a hostage, now that they did the stupid thing and murdered Ned. Cersei must be furious at her son, but she hasn’t acted yet.

    An well, Falling Skies premiered on Sunday, check it out!

  2. The reason for Pycelle, the old guys scene is to show the levels of intrigue in King’s Landing and that no one is whom he/she seems to be. Essentially what he did was trick Roz, Littlefinger’s spy into thinking he’s a doddering old fool,and the part afterward shows that is just a act he puts on Tyrion is going to have quite a job figuring out whom to trust next season.

  3. So sad to see the season end. I recommend watching Breaking Bad this summer. It’s an excellent show, unlike True Blood which is complete garbage.

  4. 1) Tyrion’s whore is named Shae

    2) The old guy talking about the kings was Grand Maester Pycelle

    As someone who has read the books already, I’ve really enjoyed reading your reviews every week and seeing your predictions, whether they were right or wrong.
    This season was very excellent and I cannot wait for the next, and some more reviews!

  5. I imagine the scene with the old dude and the whore was to show that he was just another schemer along with Littlefinger and Varys. He is still physically spry, and he is babbling like an absent minded old fool in front of one of Littlefinger’s whores, talking about how great Joffrey is and how he has a “Military mind.”

    However I bet that he is counting on the whore relaying this all to Littlefinger so he thinks he is of no threat to his plans. He’ll have motives of his own next season I’m sure.

  6. I have never been more upset that a show has finished for a season. Usually you get some sort of closure or something to hold you over, but waiting for next season is going to be brutal. Such a good show.

  7. While it’s true they’ve killed off a number of major characters they’re are a few more on deck. I assume a few will be worth rooting for. Especially Brienne of Tarth and Stannis Baratheon.

  8. @Jennifer: That was Lancel Lannister. He was Robert’s squire, and was the one who gave him his wine while he was hunting the boar. It was strongly insinuated (by Varys) that Lancel may have tampered with the wine, which led to Robert’s death. Lancel is also Cercei’s cousin. Not only does she sleep with her brother, now she can add cousin to the list!

  9. Oh and I believe they are keeping Sansa around because Cersei still hopes to broker peace with the North. That’s why she wants Joffrey to “put a son in her” as soon as possible.

  10. The old Lord is a master at the Game of Thrones. That, I think, is the entire purpose of his character. To portray what the Game of Thones really is. It isn’t to be the one sitting on the throne, but the one behind the scenes pulling the strings. This man has influenced every king for more than forty years. He does so by pretending to be someone he is not. With Robert and Joffrey, he is a decrepit old man on the verge of death half out of his mind but is really as sharp as ever and in great health. The entire scene with the whore was to show that he knows when he is being watched and when he is not and how to act at those times. Even his fellow court Lords do not see his deception and they have more spies than a Cold War super power.

  11. Falling skies looks like a good sci-fi show that started on Sunday night. Maybe start doing a review of that series as it would fit well into the theme of your site and for bonus points… it’s produced by Steven Spielberg!

  12. Viserys isn’t dead. He’s the eunuch who was speaking with Littlefinger (Lord Baelish) about ow they respect each other, but are also rivals.

  13. If you haven’t read the books, this may be spoiler-ish, not from later in the story, but simply because it’s something that has happened that you do not know about.

    Now, the only problem I have with this show, and I can’t even really call it a problem in that they usually get around it somehow, is that a great deal of the books is internal thinking and reflection, which usually cannot be translated to the screen well.

    On that note; if you read the books, that entire conversation between Tyrion and Tywin is completely different. I say this because it is from Tyrion’s perspective and after his father says all of that acknowledgement that you felt so good about, Tyrion realizes it isn’t because of his merits that Tywin is doing this, but because he has given Jaime up for dead being held by the Starks. Much of the way this show is done changes the entire dynamic of certain scenes, such as this one.

    And also, removed scenes of Drogo, and how the Maegi (witch) does heal him correctly, but the salve and what-not she uses annoy Drogo, so HE removes the ointments and just cakes the wound in mud, essentially accidentally killing himself.

    I’d also like to add that the dragons were absolutely fantastic, and although it’s wishful thinking, I’d like them to do away with the live dogs and go the route of CGI direwolves as well; they’re supposed to be huge and scary, not look like pets.

  14. While holding Sansa as a hostage as a possible peace-broker is one fairly short-term aim, there might be another aim as well, of possible long-term benefit:

    The North has been extremely stable politically for thousands of years, precisely because the Stark family is the unquestioned royal family. there are no rivals to power up there.

    Thus, if the Stark sons (Robb, Bran, Rickon) should die without any heirs, Sansa is the next Stark, so a (forcible) marriage to her would give a Lannister a valid claim on Winterfell, and the authority the King in the North wields locally.

  15. Up till now the show has been wonderful. Good accurate retelling of the best, in my opinion, fantasy series of all time. But I agree with al, there is something which is missing from the books, simply, there are no internal reflections, no internal monologues, things which can’t really be shown on tv though to be honest. The show is also a bit less brutal than the books, but maybe that’s a good thing.

    I also have another problem with the series. Because of the format, it misses out on a lot of important things which were in the book. Flashbacks, histories and general sense of the world. That to me has been a major charm of the books and sets up half of the fan following. Case in point, there is no discussion on the war of the usurper, Rhaegar, Aerys and worst of all the Tower of Joy. As a fan who has been waiting for Dance for over 4 (5 now?) years and a same wait for Feast, those monster mysteries is all that keeps me waiting. But I admit, hard to show it on tv.

    My recommendation to viewers, keep watching this series. The book fans all talk about how the first book (season) was slow because it was the setup to later events. I fully agree. That and the third book Storm has been the best of the series and every season introduces awesome characters and settings.

  16. So, Daenerys just upped her badassery rating by about an infinite amount, I mean, just look at her new skill set!
    -Demon Spawning
    -Turning Lemons into lemonade
    -King smothering
    -Mongol horde leading
    -slave freeing
    -fire resistance
    -dragon hatching

    I am also really excited to see where Arya and Tyrion’s plot lines go. I don’t know how long of a period the show will cover but I’m fascinated to see what Arya grows up into. I am also hoping for more scenes with Tyrion slapping the crap out of Joffery.

  17. Paul, did you notice the Hound’s armor in this episode? While he previously wore black/grey, in this one he’s wearing white.

    Also, Meryn Trant, the Kingsguard knight who dueled Syrio, is the thug who beats Sansa for Joffrey.

    Here’s another vote for Breaking Bad reviews.

  18. not sure if anyone has ever mentioned this before or ever even knew but King Smallmouth (Joffrey) was in Batman Begins! Are your minds blown? He was the child who Batman gave a trinket to at the beginning and also was in the end during the tripping scene in the narrows with Katie Holmes.

  19. @al
    I havent read the books. But I am fighting the urge not to. Your comments about Tyrion and Tywin is exactly what I was thinking.
    Also I watched the 1st episode again and said to my wife look at the size of that wolfs head its huge, and thought they must not have the money to CG the wolfs in there proper form. Man im busting to see what happens. And to a previous poster, my wife says sure we still have True blood to watch and to her I just gave a sneer.

  20. Did you know that Walder Frey, the old Lord who controlled the bridge castle “The Twins”, is also Argus Filch, the old caretaker from the Harry Potter films?

    His name is David Bradley.

    And that Grand Maester Pycelle is played by Julian Glover, the same guy who played Walter Donovan from the 3rd Indiana Jones film. He was also General Veers from “The Empire Strikes Back”.

    The layers of geekiness on this show is awesome. ^_^

  21. Well, it is called “A Song Of Ice And Fire,” which pretty much is Jon and Danerys. Not too hard to see who will get the most interesting stories in the series.

  22. @al
    As I read it in the book, Maegi was not healing him but making him worse. So him taking the salve out was only too late.

    @Kermy
    The first book was written as a part of a trilogy (George thought that he would be able to tell all the story in 3 books, … Yes. He was wrong). That’s why there are a lot of foreshadowing, hints and all that in the 1st book, but since in the show they know that this is a long ride, they can wait to introduce all these things in later seasons.
    That said, please, please, do not spoil for people who have not read the book about telling them things that were in the books but were not in the show (unless it is just another take of something that was shown, like Tyrion and Tywin conversation. I think that should be fine ?). We will see them in next seasons.

  23. I think you should know, since you’re so worried about spoilers in Game of Thrones, that the picture on your Television link has the last image of the season on it. For someone who hasn’t seen the show yet, that could be a big spoiler at the ending.

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