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Thoughts on season 8 as a whole...

What I loved:

-It started off well. I found episode 1 solid and episode 2 great. My only concern at that point that was: we were already running low on episodes, and not much had actually happened in terms of the plot.

-All the stunning visuals, the set and costume designs, the visual effects and cinematography.

-Ramin Djawadi's soundtrack (the star of every season so far if you ask me).

-I thought the acting was consistently good, from just about everyone, and often excellent.

Divisive things that I was okay with:

-Arya killing the Night King. Honestly I would've preferred that it was Jon, but I didn't mind the kill going to one of my favourite characters, and a super-assassin. It's a pity that the coalition of the living didn't plan to use her in this capacity from the very start (then again, everyone except Sansa and Bran (see below) was an idiot this season). She also didn't get to use her ability to swap faces, but never mind. It was Arya's destiny to stop the existential threat of Ice, and Jon's to stop the existential threat of Fire. It probably should've been the other way around, but I didn't hate this.

-Bran becoming king. I didn't dislike this as much as some did, judging from comments online. It made me look at Bran in a completely new light, because he was apparently a scheming Machiavellian little shit this entire time(!), or at least since losing his humanity inside that tree. He told Sam to tell Jon about Jon's Targaryen ancestry, knowing that this would eventually reach Sansa's ears, ultimately driving wedges between various characters, driving Dany in the direction of insanity or evil or both, leading to the destruction of King's Landing and its people, leading to Dany's death, leading to... Bran becoming the King! It's actually incredibly sinister, and the writers should've made more of this aspect (maybe they didn't because they didn't even see the implications of what they'd written). Oh, and that enigmatic look that the Night King gives Bran in the godswood? Maybe in that moment the NK recognised something familiar and disturbing in Bran ("are we so very different, Bran?")...! People have pointed out that Bran previously said he wouldn't/couldn't be any kind of ruler. Sure, but maybe he was lying. Machiavellian schemers do that from time to time.

-Drogon burning the throne. The criticism I've seen is that Drogon is "just an animal", so how could he realise the throne helped drive his mother down a dark path of obsession with power? In an earlier episode Tyrion explains how some Maesters believe Dragons are more intelligent than people. The extent of their intelligence is simply unknown, in other words. Some psychic link between Dany and Drogon has also been hinted at, like when Drogon knows to rescue her from the Sons of the Harpy in season 5... or how he realises Dany is dead an instant after Jon stabs her. So maybe the dragon has picked up on the fact that Dany's obsession with the throne was a major part of what led to her death. This is something that could've benefited from more buildup or explanation, but that's the story with everything this season.

-Cersei's death. Some criticised the scene for humanising such a monstrous villain, robbing her of a more badass death-scene. But Cersei has always been a complex and human, all-too-human, character. Plus the actress made this death scene much, much better than it should've been on paper. I couldn't help but like it.

-Dany committing mass murder, then deluding herself that she's somehow not the very thing she swore to destroy. I have no problem with this being her ultimate destination as a character, only with how she got there in this season (lack of sufficient buildup, again).

Things I disliked or positively hated:

-Killing off the Night King so early in the season, as if he was a Ramsay Bolton/Euron Greyjoy tier villain, not the demonic embodiment of death itself, as he was built up to be. From the first scene of episode 1, the White Walkers are presented as a terrifying threat to the realm, eventually to life itself. This threat is built upon over 7 seasons... and... then it's mostly forgotten and no big deal by episode 4. Those invested in this story line ever since the pilot episode deserved so much better.

-The fact that Jon was reduced to a useless tool for most of season 8, just reacting to things with a concerned or confused look on his face. Also the fact that Tyrion needs to work hard to persuade Jon that systematically murdering a million civilians is an evil thing to do. ("Would you do it?" ... "I don't know." Fuck off.) In season 3 Jon deceived and betrayed someone he loved far more (Ygritte) over far less, where his sense of what was right came into it. Jon Snow fans and Kit Harrigton deserved a lot better than this.

-The abrupt way in which Dany descends to an extreme level villainy and psychopathy. The character always had a brutal side, but there was always a reason behind the brutality: she saw herself as rightfully punishing those who had wronged the innocent, for example. She was never about systematically murdering the innocent, by the hundreds of thousands, to make a point and/or because she's seething with rage at the world in general. Emilia Clarke did the best job she could, trying to sell this transformation to the audience, and it's not her acting that's at fault. Because it wasn't built up properly, the turn felt unearned and baffling, destroying immersion for many including me. Daenerys fans and Emilia Clarke deserved so much better.

-How little the writers gave Cersei to say and do. She had, what, 5 or 6 lines of dialogue in total? The one decision she made turned out to be dumb and wrong, killing Missandei to provoke Daenerys. Keeping Missandei as a hostage and bargaining chip would've been smarter, but again, almost everyone has to be as dumb as a rock this season. Hell, using the scorpions to kill Daenerys and her entire cohort during that scene would've made more sense. Anyway, they had one of the best actors playing arguably the best-developed character in GoT, and they do almost nothing with her, as the plot surges on like a stumbling tidal wave of wights. Such a waste! Cersei fans and Lena Headey deserved so much better.

-The fact that the show persisted with its tedious "Tyrion is now an idiot" arc, if it can be called that. "Where's the best place to hide all the defenceless women and children from a necromancer who can raise the dead? I know! A crypt full of the dead!" Was Tyrion involved in this cretinous plan? Did he never question it? Why does he have to be wrong about everything for 4 entire seasons, with absolute consistency? Why would any ruler keep him around when every plan he suggests ends in farcical failure, and every choice he makes is guaranteed to be incorrect? Tyrion fans and Peter Dinklage deserved so much better.

-Jaime Lannister's backsliding, regarding his addiction to Cersei. Arguably this might be realistic, but is it interesting or good storytelling when we've seen the same pattern what feels like a dozen times? Why not have him die during the battle of Winterfell? More realistic than using plot armour to keep him alive during said battle, and it still "subverts expectations" since few fans expected him to die. Jaime knighting Brienne could've been the culmination of his arc. Fans of this excellent character, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, deserved a more satisfying conclusion after all the highs and lows of his development.

-The fact that Varys is reduced to an unsubtle, bungling schemer who almost immediately gets caught, his plotting quickly coming to nothing (at least nothing he designed). Yes, even Varys falls prey to whatever collective brain-eating disease addles the characters. Varys fans and Conleth Hill deserved so much more.

-The sheer amount of inconsistencies and nonsense this season. Characters easily make it through enemy lines as if this is nothing (Melisandre arriving at Winterfell from the direction of the army of the dead, or Bronn making it to Jaime and Tyrion, carrying a large and conspicuous crossbow), but if Jaime tries to sneak into territory he knows better than any Unsullied, but the plot needs Jaime to get caught, then he inevitably gets caught (we never find out how or why, in any of these cases). In one episode, scorpions are so effective at killing dragons that Dany is utterly powerless against a dozen of them; in the next, she takes out scores of the things every few seconds as if they're trivial inconveniences. Resources and troop numbers are all over the place, and consequences only matter if and when the writers find it convenient. Characters no longer drive the story, by doing what they would; they're treated more like props who have to do and say whatever the plot clunkily tells them they must. The story deserved better than a rushed mess.

-The fact that we got a rushed mess. The fact that 20-30 episodes of remaining story were crudely shoved into 13 episodes, 2 truncated seasons instead of the 2 or 3 full seasons GRRM and some at HBO argued for. Asked why the show had to come to an end, GRRM replied, "ask Dave and Dan". He was confident there was enough life and material left to make as many as 13 seasons, total. And yet 8 full seasons was too much to ask? Apparently so, cuz Star Wars. GoT deserved so much better.