Game of Thrones – S8E1 “Winterfell”, Recap and Thoughts

Abhi Agarwal

Ahbi is a student, campaign guy, and Game of Thrones fan. He's also on Twitter.

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12 Responses

  1. Marchmaine says:

    “sullied his social skills”

    Given the nature of the Unsullied, this is a perfect turn of phrase.

    I had forgotten this was only 5 episodes? Prepare for disappointment. Most all the failings of the show can be traced to moving from Character studies to compressed Plot movement… this will be like riding a dragon without a harness; a moment of exhilaration followed by a long fall and a very short stop.Report

    • North in reply to Marchmaine says:

      I’m kind of expecting the same. What on earth can they hope to accomplish with so few episodes?Report

      • Marchmaine in reply to North says:

        Merchandizing.Report

      • Michael Cain in reply to North says:

        Introduce some odd bit that can save most of the people from the threat from beyond the Wall, kill off many of the characters heroically executing that, Tyrion and a surviving dragon take King’s Landing and overthrow Cersei because that’s what all the characters who died would have wanted, and Tyrion “wins” the game — seated on the Iron Throne against his own wishes. (It’s an American TV series so someone has to win.)

        Call it my Chekov’s Gun theory. Tyrion is the ultimate survivor. He’s the character that’s done it all. The writers didn’t drag the dwarf through eight seasons and so many different roles just to waste all of that at the end.Report

        • Or perhaps, the Screenwriting 101 theory. You have a character who can see across all of space and time. What mystical thing do you need to know? You have a couple of characters who can die doing heroic things and everyone in the audience will drip a tear or three because damn, sometimes the heroes die saving the world. You have a bunch of characters who will settle for one of the kingdoms. You have a character who sits on the throne and everyone will cheer if she dies. And a character that everyone will nod and say, “Yes, he’ll do the job properly.”

          Are we taking bets?Report

        • North in reply to Michael Cain says:

          I suppose the writers would want to give Tyrion something in exchange for them turning him into an imbecile ever since he escaped Kings’ Landing.Report

          • Marchmaine in reply to North says:

            In some ways, you could imagine that Tyrion is the Narrator of the whole thing… cliche ending of old man Tyrion closing the Big Book of Tales he’s been reading to his royal grandchildren.

            Here’s my subversive Catholic snark on why GRRM gave up: He was attempting to write an anti-mythology a’la Tolkien but he couldn’t figure out how his theodicy works, so he is stuck with a broken myth rather than a subversive myth.

            The showrunners are, of course, oblivious to GRRM’s problem – not having given a thought to the Mythology – so we’ll get whatever ending they think will garner the most critical acclaim… here are my guesses:

            1. Tyrion wins the crown (Pure fan service)
            2. Edgy non-Resolution… Tyrion having a meal before big battle… fade to black.
            3. The Gods show up and we find out Westeros was (not)Purgatory all along.
            4. Half of all the Heroes not under contract die in a surprise prelude to another 5 episodes in 2021.
            5. Ross and Rachel get Married in what is forever remembered as the Meh Wedding.Report

  2. North says:

    Great recap! Exactly what I needed. Thank you.Report

  3. Thank you for the recap. To port over the conversation some of use had on Twitter on this subject, I feel they are continuing to set up Dany to turn heel a start her path to full on despot if not a bit of being mad king herself.Report

  4. Maribou says:

    I enjoyed this a lot. Hope to see you write them for the rest of the show!Report