Game of Thrones: Season Finale Review

While this season of Game of Thrones was only 7 episodes, I feel like so much content was crammed into each episode that the season could easily have been a full length one. I’m still undecided if I like the new, faster pace or if I miss the slower episodes. Regardless, the season finale of Game of Thrones premiered on Sunday and it delivered on everything that it promised. Spoilers below, obviously.

The episode starts off with a reunion, of sorts. We get The Hound and Brienne reuniting, who last saw each other dueling over Arya Stark. Brienne thought she had killed Sandor, yet obviously it didn’t take. Oops. Despite the starting awkwardness because of that, what I really liked about this scene was that it had a vibe of two divorced parents talking about the accomplishments of one of their children and it was awesome. The Hound finds out that Arya can definitely take care of herself, and I’m sure he feels that’s in no small part to his influence.

And then we have Sir Gregor and Sandor coming face-to-face for the first time in a long time. Despite being brothers, these two clearly don’t like each other. Fans have long been clambering for the “CleganeBowl” and I have a feeling they will be getting their wish in Season 8. The Hound all but confirmed it.

But the real star of this meeting was between the two queens. It was the first time Cerise and Daenerys have been in the same room (dragon pit?) and they both entered in their usual style and flair (of course Daenerys flew in on a dragon). The tension in that arena was palpable. It ended with Jon being as Stark-like as possible (of course he scewed it all up), pissing off Cerise, who of course was planning a double cross anyway. So many layers…

Speaking of Jon Snow, this episode also gave us the conformation of a long held fan theory. Jon is not Ned Stark’s bastard. He is the legal son of Lyanna and Rhaegar Targaryen. The had a secret wedding and Jon came shortly after. The implications of that are huge though. That means that Robert’s Rebellion was all based on a lie and Ned Stark knew it. That one domino caused a chain reaction that eventually saw almost every house in Westeros laid to waste.

Plus Jon ended the episode by finally getting it on with Daenerys, who is actually his Aunt. You know, in any other show, that’d be weird. But this Game of Thrones. Incest has been a thing since episode one with Jamie and Cersei knocking boots at Winterfell. So I imagine there isn’t too much shock from the fans on that one.

And Jamie, if you will recall, seems to finally have had enough of Cerise’s treachery. She promised her swords to defeat the Night King’s army, but all the while lied and planned to stab the others in the back. I think Jamie has finally realized that Cersei has gone off the deep end and wants nothing to do with her. I was on the edge of my seat at that moment, figuring that she was actually going to have The Mountain actually kill him. But he made it out of King’s Landing and we last saw him hiding his golden hand. I have no idea where he is going next.

Oven in Winterfell, the show runners have given us one of the most satisfying deaths in a while. Little Finger, master manipulator, was finally outplayed. He tried to pit Sansa against Arya and it clearly didn’t work. My guess is that Bran had a hand in his unveiling using his Three-Eyed Raven skills. Regardless, it was oh so satisfying how quickly that smug grin faded from his face once Sansa turned the accusations on him. His death was a long time coming, and to say that he had a hand in the current disaster that is Westeros would be an understatement. From even before episode 1 of season 1, he was pulling the strings around the realm.

Finally, we get to the end of both the episode and the Seven Kingdoms…The Wall. Even though this was one of the most predictable plot points in a while, it was no less impressive to watch. The army of the dead finally reaches The Wall and had no troubles with it. Despite being there for centuries, the Night King simply had to fly in on his dragon and blast it to pieces. If this were a video game, gamers would be saying that dragon was overpowered. Frankly, it does feel a bit unfair, but that’s Game of Thrones for you. I though, in the books at least, that the wall was originally stone inside. So either the show is different or that dragon just blasted through a hell of a lot of rock. Regardless, things don’t look good for the living next season.

And that wrapped up a hell of a season, one that fell like it was on a rocket train as the showrunners were ticking off plot points left and right. On the plus side, I’m glad we are getting resolutions to so many things have have been unresolved. However the pacing does feel a bit hurried, I think this season could have easily been stretched to 10 episodes or so. Yet season 7 was still a hell of a ride and I can’t wait for Season 8 to get here.