It wasn't the most memorable finale ever, but it also didn't need to be. When you have an ensemble cast this size, it's difficult to incorporate all 11 main players in a heartfelt goodbye that encapsulates everyone's feelings of family, togetherness, and finality. After having watched this, I read an interview w/ co-creators Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, where they explained that they were both fans of finales, where the characters were saying goodbye, b/c that's what the audience was doing, as well, and I agree w/ this premise.
The last montage was of the camera panning over framed pictures of all the characters taken from the past 11 years, finally settling on a family portrait taken in the season one finale w/ their white outfits splattered w/ mud. This was the only keepsake Christopher Lloyd took from the set, fittingly saying of it, "I thought that if we had to land on one image, that's a good one because it is sort of metaphorical: Families are messy, but beautiful at the same time."
Arya Stark is a fucking beast! W/ her hand, she shall bring death to all the subhuman mongrels. And, Cersei Lannister is NOT a victim. That was just the beginning of what that thing deserved.
This episode was an important corollary to our times. It showed the dangers of rehabilitating fascists, which is something a number of adherents to Left-Wing ideology believe is possible. It is not. You don't turn off that type of thinking, racial superiority, gender superiority, religious superiority, ethnic superiority, and the belief that due to their "inherent superiority," they are entitled to rule as they please, and employ any means necessary, including violence, to keep others down. This is not something you rehabilitate others from, either due to the deep-seated nature of these beliefs or the past harm they wrought b/c of them. In other words, the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi.
When the droid dropped the statue on IG-11's head, and Mando said, "That's using your head," that was severely disappointing. It sounded like a line out of an '80s/'90s action-adventure film, which is not a good thing. I hope that it doesn't portend things to come this season.
While viewing this episode, especially the ending sequence, I was reminded of an incredibly fitting tale once retold by the great orator and baseball announcer, the recently deceased Vin Scully, upon his induction, many years ago, into the Baseball Hall of Fame:
"There is a legend in the West of an Indian chief who was wont to test the manhood of his young braves by making them climb up the side of a mountain as far as they could in a single day. And at daybreak on the appointed day, four braves left the village. The first one came back in the late afternoon w/ a sprig of spruce to show how high he had climbed. Later that afternoon, another came with a branch of pine, and much later in the day, the third came with an alpine shrub. But, it wasn’t until late that night by a full moon with the stars dancing in the heavens that the fourth brave arrived. “What did you bring back? How high did you climb?” asked the chief. And the brave said, “Where I was, there was no spruce nor pine to shield me from the Sun; there was no flower to cheer my path; there was only snow and ice and barren rocks and cold, hard ground. My feet are torn and bloodied; I’m worn out and exhausted; I’m barehanded, and I have come home late. But,” and then a wondrous look came into his eye, and he said, “I saw the sea.”"
This episode was certainly more interesting, as there was more happening to introduce elements to the story that might culminate in informing the audience of the truth. Yet, I think that the biggest drawback for me has been the writing. I don't think that they spent much time fleshing out how they would tell this story, and so they seem to be trying to shoehorn plot points into the story that don't really fit. In numerous episodes now, Amanda Seyfried's character has said things that simply didn't fit into the flow of the conversation she was having w/ Tom Holland's character. She pleads with him to get at the heart of the story, to tell the truth, to inform her of the details, but in his retelling of events, that's exactly what he's doing. He's not intentionally misleading her, so there's no reason for her to be saying these things. It seemed that the writers simply felt that they needed to give her lines of dialogue, and this was what they came up w/.
To try to twist the machinations this story involves, they had to write dialogue that doesn't really jive. And the dialogue also betrays later plot points that haven't been introduced, yet, so when they're discussing something the audience isn't aware of, it really doesn't make much sense in the moment. None of this makes for a compelling story.
Much like the first episode, this did very little to move the story forward. I understand that there needs to be some backstory, but there are scenes that drag on for for seven or eight minutes, and nothing of any real consequence occurs in words or action. It's quite clear that this had no business being a 10-episode mini-series.
I just finished the first episode, and I can't say that I have high hopes for this mini-series. First off, the episode was an hour long, which is about 10-15 minutes longer than most "one-hour" mini-series episodes. Since it's a mystery, I expected them to keep many details hidden, which was fine, but they also didn't do much to further the story, which was problematic. You had to do one or the other.
The writing on this show is so awful. Is it laziness or ignorance? I have no idea, but whatever it is, it's not good.
This was generally mediocre. The dialogue was pretty bad, so was the fight choreography, and some of the CGI didn't look right. Also, the story didn't make for a superhero tale. This was more interpersonal drama, and if I wanted to watch that, I'd watch something better written.
I love seeing white nationalist and neo-Nazi mutts get what they deserve.
This may be the finest series finale I've ever seen in all my years. It was such a fitting ending for all involved, as they held a funeral for Old Man Fixico. It was a community affair attended by everyone, and as Willie Jack had been under Fixico's tutelage, she spoke in his honor. She noted her growth and spoke of how no matter what everyone decided to do w/ their lives, the reservation would always be their home, a part of them and they of each other. What she spoke of really mirrored the show and its premature ending. She stated that "He was my good friend, and we were just really starting to get to know each other, and I'm happy for my time with him. Boa, I know I didn't get to spend enough time with you. But mvto for everything that you taught me." And who among us didn't have these sentiments when viewing this final episode. When Willie Jack was done speaking, she picked up a handful of dirt and spread it over Fixico's casket, as if metaphorically spreading the dirt on the casket of this series.
Over the course of the series, Willie Jack's growth was remarkable. She started as a kid w/ a smart mouth and grew into a caretaker of the community. She was the one member of the Rez Dogs who kept them together, through thick and thin, and helped show them realize just how precious their time together truly was. It's something that goes by in the blink of an eye, and you can lose it w/out ever realizing that it's gone. We never know the last time we'll someone, so it's important to remain as connected as possible, and that's what this show was about, the connective tissues that held this community together, and it was beautiful to watch it play out over the course of three seasons. I'll always be grateful for my time w/ Elora Danan, Willie Jack, Bear, Cheese, and the rest of the village community. From the bottom of my heart, mvto, Reservation Dogs.
Devery Jacobs really gave it everything in this episode. You can see from her performance that's an incredibly well-skilled actor.
Just as I thought that this mini-series was making an upward turn, it came crashing back to Earth. This episode did little-to-nothing to move the story forward, and w/ only six episodes in the entire series, that's not something that could be afforded. This episode spent nearly an hour hammering home a singular point that really didn't do much for the overall entirety of the storyline. The time would've been better spent covering a range of plotlines.
The attention to detail is really what makes this mini-series so compelling.
Hey, let's let the child molester go, b/c he didn't do anything too awful!
These shows are so formulaic and so poorly written. All you need to know about this episode is that the Punisher is being hunted by the Irish mob. They corner him, when he's taken one of their soldiers hostage. Four guys surround him, guns pointed, and Castle kills all four, plus the hostage. The next moment, the head of the mob enters w/ three other, armed soldiers. The head of the mob is unarmed and wants to tell Castle how he's surrounded. Uh, he just killed four guys that surrounded him plus the hostage. Why wouldn't he gun you down right now?!? The writing defies logic. It's painful to watch..
The writing for this show is so bad. This intro to the Punisher makes him appear weak and indecisive. There's no discernable difference between him and the dozens of faceless, nameless bikers across this four episode arc. They did a terrible job introducing him, and furthermore, the acting on this show makes it nearly unwatchable. Elden Henson was a poor actor as child, and he never got any better. Having him as a bit player is one thing, but having him as a co-star, where he's required to carry scenes is unacceptable, b/c he's incapable of doing so. Watching him act opposite Rosario Dawson was just painful, b/c he's so far out of his league opposite her. I don't find Charlie Cox to be anything special, either. He's an all right actor, but he doesn't command the presence necessary to hold this role. I also find his moralizing incredibly disingenuous and irritating.
What this episode boiled down to was, Frank Castle, the Punisher, had Matt Murdock (Daredevil) chained up on a rooftop, and he'd duct taped a gun onto his hand, so he had a choice: He could either shoot Frank, as Frank was killing one of Murdock's clients who also tied up. Murdock chose not to shoot him, instead shooting the chain to break free. He didn't shoot Frank, b/c he spent the entire episode moralizing about how it was wrong to kill anyone. Yet, moments later, after escaping, he came across a number of angry bikers. The gun is still duct taped to his hand, and he pulls the trigger, but there are no more rounds in the gun. So, the moral of the story was, it's all right to waste an episode going on about how it's bad to kill criminals, but when given a chance, it's all right to do so? The story made zero sense, and it was a giant waste of time.
If you have sympathy for the Lannisters, just know, you're the reason that oppression exists in this world. You're the reason that people are beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted, raped, and murdered. It's b/c, you feel this faux sympathy for their oppressors. It's not real sympathy; it's only lip-service, b/c real sympathy involves action to support those in need of assistance. Sympathy comes in finite supplies and should be reserved for those being oppressed, not those oppressing. The fact that the writers felt the need to make the death of the Lannisters a sympathetic moment says that they're really a danger to society, b/c they found good qualities in violent, sadistic, murderous, torturous subhumans. If you find good qualities in those like that, there's something very, very wrong w/ you. To listen to that lying, conniving, cowardly mutt, Tyrion Lannister, moralize was sickening.
And, this was the single worst episode I'd ever had the displeasure of watching to end a series. What a pile of shit. The writers and showrunners should never work in television or film again.
Cersei deserved so much worse than it got. That thing wasn't even human, and after everything it did, the sick, demented writers played its death as a sad moment deserving of sympathy. That thing deserved to have its sadistic smirk carved off its face w/ a sharp, jagged piece of steel. The entire Lannister bloodline deserved to be burned off the face of the planet.
I don't see why everyone is so upset w/ this episode. I really don't see their complaints as valid, as this was the culmination of everything everyone had fought for. It was an incredibly epic episode, albeit a big long.
I thought that this was one of the best episodes of the series. Seeing Brienne of Tarth being anointed as Lady Brienne of Tarth was fantastic and so well-deserved!
Everyone complained about how the eighth season was a complete departure from previous seasons. So far, I see no discernable difference. This episode would've fit well into any another season.
This felt more like a mid-season episode than one to end it.
The battle scenes alone in this episode were film-worthy. I really forgot that I was watching a TV show at one point, and it felt like watching a movie. I wish that they had shown that sadistic subhuman being ripped apart by its own dogs, but you don't always get what you want.
The murder of Princess Shireen was the last straw for me. The silver-lining was that she moved on to a better place, away from those who did this to her, those vile, subhuman mongrels that deserved to be deskinned and raped w/ sharp sticks, until they stopped breathing.
Waaaay too much Cersei Lannister, as always. Her meaningless, drivel-ridden conversations bore me to tears.
The storylines for this show are incredibly weak and poorly written. They try to use easy picking, low-hanging fruit to get an audience to feel a certain way. The problem is, after they make certain characters just despicable, they then attempt to make them sympathetic. Serial-rapists and child molesters are not sympathetic individuals. If anything, it should make people question the writers of the show for thinking that someone like that could be redeemable. We should question the choices they make in their private lives.
The writing and direction on this show are so awful. We all get that the Lannisters are a family of sadistic subhumans. It doesn't require hour-long renditions of their horrendous acts to be shoved down our throats. It was satisfying seeing that cruel, sadistic, egomaniacal, narcissistic, sociopathic subhuman mongrel Joffrey suffer before dying, but Lena Headey is such a poor actor, she's incapable of emoting. That's mainly why she was good in the role of Cersei, since she's also an egomaniacal, cruel, sociopathic mongrel.
