8x06 The Iron Throne

Watched on HBO Max. I have no idea why some people criticized so bad this finale. It was not that bad. There is a message about what is right and evil, and that queen Daenerys was not on the right side. Jon Snow ends up paying for his sins, and the new king, Bran of House Stark, is the rightful king. It seems like after years of wars and destruction, the people of Westeros finally decided that peace was necessary if they did not want to be conquered and exterminated by peoples from across the sea. I believe that is a clear message, and that years of peace and prosperity will come under King Bran's rule. Tyron from House Lannister will be by his side, and thanks to his experience and knowledge about different kings, nobles, and cultures, he will do the right job. It is a new opportunity for Westeros to start a renaissance. The strength of women like Sansa and Arya is also worth mentioning, about how they have changed over the years. And many other things that happen, that represent something, but I am not saying to not do a spoiler. In conclusion, the finale is not what the millennial audience expected, because the previous episodes were so bad, turning into many narrative inconsistencies, without any meaning or symbolism, but this final one had all the elements to make it a good episode. Sometimes it reminded me of Lord of the Rings, but it would have comparable to it if all the final season was made well. The millennial audience wanted their queen Daenerys to be the good girl, but they should understand what she meant for Westeros: destruction. Some would even say that Daenerys is the prototype of some sort of proto-bolshevism in Westeros, while Bran Stark is the holder of the traditions and the aristocratic system that was part of Westeros since its inception. Maybe that is what the audience did not like much, the fact that what represents Bran won. Anyways, I am satisfied with what I have seen.

There was little chance not to be disappointed, but even if the ending is lacking on many points, the first half of this episode was almos perfect.

Tyrion going through the ruins of the city is a magnificent scene. It looks beautiful and captures the horror of what happened. The arrival of Daenerys, with the dragon wings behind, though a little cheesy, is very powerful too. Her full blown tyrant speech, and Tyrion's reaction to it: perfect. Even though he knows the price to pay, he still do what's right, and in a way that nobody would dare to. And by the way, he's basically running the whole thing during the episode.

It follows with Tyrion's conversation with Jon. Another great Tyrion's scene where he manages to make Jon face reality. Tyrion's greatest scenes have always been conversations, and they were greatly lacking in the last seasons (and in the show in general compared to the books).

Daenerys finally getting her hands on the Iron Throne, and Jon arriving for the climax scene. Really well done too. A bit disappointed that Arya doesn't remove the mask at this point. Very good Drogon scene too though the symbolic melting of the throne is a bit cheesy too.

After that, we're in epilogue mode, and it's not that great. It's expected that characters, specially main ones, will not have the ending they wanted or deserved, and it used to mean that whatever could happen, because life is random and not a nice story. Not in the last seasons.

So the whole choosing the next king scene was meh. First what happened in all these weeks ? Grey Worm was obviously holding the reins, but what about the Dothrakis ? We never see them after the speech. And he waited, so that lotds he doesn't know who choose what to do with Jon ? Makes no sense, why would he follow anybody's orders after Daenerys' death ?


Then who is at this council ? Nobodies, way too many Starks and commoners, it is incredibly unbalanced, and though there are some other lords we don't really care about, they're still lords, why would they recognize the others ?
Bran is the three eyed raven ? A legend for barbarians of the North.
Arya killed the Night King ? These people still haven't see a single undead and should not believe they exist.
Davos ? Was not much respected when he was serving Stannis, why would lords recognize him now ?
What about Sam ? Apart from being Jon's friend ? He abandonned the Night Watch, and his training at the Citadel, he's not even a qualified Maester. He may be the new Lord Tarly, though he shouldn't as beong part of the Night Watch..
And Brienne ? Is she recognized as a knight now ? And everybody accepts that. Being knighted by the Kingslayer and Tyrion as other witness ?
Gendry ? A bastard appointed by Daenerys that most of them never recognized as queen.
Only good things: Sam proposing democracy and Sansa shutting down her uncle.


Now the choice of king. Tyrion's speech kinda makes sense. But Bran is a cripple incapable to pronouncing two sentences in a row. He might have all this knowledge, but when have we seen him apply it to something ? When have we seen him do anything ? Or even say something useful ? Ever ? He's also totally out of real life. I don't know if it's the actor or what the show has done with the character but he has the charisma of an oyster and the usefulness too. How could anyone see him taking the duty of a king (though Robert probably didn't do much more) ?


Also what if they had chosen Jon ? Did they tell everybody that he was the rightful king ? Don't they deserve to know ? After what he did, didn't it prove to Tyrion that he was the right choice ?


Sansa gets her kingdom too, well, at this point basically all her brothers have been king at some point (except the useless one) so she definitely wanted it. However she was not yet queen in the north at this point, why was she habilitated to take this decision ? And everybody's ok with that. No other try to keep their own kingdom or rebel against that ? Also, the North wouldn't even follow the lawful Lord of Winterfell as king ? Really ? Looks more like Sansa is just as power hungry as Daenerys.


As for the aftermath. It's getting worse.
Tyrion still being hand, and hence probably King except for the name is the only real deserved, expected and logical ending. He's the only one with a notion of statecraft, and is pretty good. But the rest ? Davos has a little experience and is rightful and loyal, ok.


Bronn is Master of Coins ? Is it bound to the Highgarden seat ? How does he have any qualification for that ?


Brienne is captain of the Kingsguard ? When it's not even clear the rest of the Order would recognize her as a knight. Also why do that ? Shouldn't she stay with Sansa ? Is she here to protect Tyrion in place of Jaime ? And Podrick is bringing the King, so is he in the Kingsguard ? Is there not a single real knight left ?


And Sam ? Still not a Maester, still barly has any qualification.


Tyrion is supposed to be smart, this small council looks like pure nepotism and doesn't look able to handle anything.


Arya's going on a journey. She should have died, killed by the Faceless Men for quitting. Also this doesn't really look like her character. Though what was she gonna do now that she's all out of revenge ?


As for Jon, he did the hard thing, saved the kingdom, killed his love. Even if he was useless in the battle of Winterfell, he's still the main architect of mankind's defense and the only reason there was a battle instead of white walkers just rolling over everything. And he is punished to go back to the Night Watch (which definitely should not been useful in his lifetime). He already gave his life for it once ! Though is there a Night Watch left ? Nobody seem to know or care. They have no idea what they're sending him to. He really gets the fuck you ending.
And so he just goes with the wildlings ? Abandoning his sentence ? Weird for him.


So. Tyrion gets the rewarding expected ending. Daenarys the expected dramating ending. And Jon gets stabbed in the back by fate. Yes, it's good that it's not happily ever after for everybody but it's not satisfying as Jon is the only one getting this treatment. All the other surviving characters get way out of their depth high rewards roles, that's a sitcom ending, not GoT ending.