Thread by @ThatShockratees

So I finally watched S8 #GOT - re-subscribed to HBO and binged it in the 2 days pre-finale. Apparently I disagree with lots of vocal folks, because I don’t think any of it was shocking or out of character. Rushed, though.

(Particularly given they had two years.) There could have been two full 8-ep seasons in those 6 eps.

I don’t get ppl who say “But Daenerys was never evil, only good!”

You were blinded by the blonde. The greatest evil grows in ppl who become convinced they can only do good.

Daenerys didn’t become evil simply because she was a Targaryen. She was driven mad by a lust for revenge. Every time prior seasons showed us a “Myhsa” good deed, they also showed us Daenerys acting out of personal revenge for a slight.

Coincidentally, her prior revenge acts were helpful. She freed slaves, obviously. But she also sacrificed innocent people, including children, in all of those acts. Anyone who didn’t see a massive bloody act of revenge coming at King’s Landing wasn’t paying attention.

So I thought that turn was well-crafted. And I also thought the choice to have all the Starks end up with all the power was both necessary (given all the tragedy) and foreshadowed. They are the only remaining uncompromised mains.

But the two missing eps should have been used.

Things that were missing:

1. How Stark fam decided to go with Bran as King. You’re expected to assume they did, bc Sansa and Arya both walk away happy, and we already know Jon didn’t want it. But the abrupt jump to the conclave DID. NOT. COHERE.

2. How did Jon access Daenerys in the heated post-battle atmosphere, when she already knew he had better claim to the throne? Daenerys should have feared his presence as much as she wanted his love. But he walked right in, unconflicted, to an unguarded queen. Did not cohere.

3. Why didn’t Drogon burn Jon? We’re to assume Jon wouldn’t burn because he was Targaryen. But Drogon didn’t even try. He swung to miss, and burned the throne instead. Not foreshadowed at all that the dragon children have that quality of abstract reason. Did not cohere.

4. Why did Grey Worm give up on executing Jon? No one persuaded him, really. Tyrion’s speeches were trite, lame.

These items (esp thing 1 - Starks) persuade me the two missing eps were actually storyboarded as eps, then the show runners just went eh, fuck it. We’re done.

But I am absolutely not on the team of those who wanted a happy ending for Daenerys, or even believed that one was possible. Watch the whole series again, perhaps. You’ll see it.

Consider the difference if, instead of Jon suddenly showing up, Dany fears his claim to the throne, imprisons him with Tyrion, and it takes the missing two eps to weasel his way out, and back to her trust. THEN he acts, after waffling several times. THAT would cohere.

And consider, entwined in that plot line, if those 2eps also explored how Sansa naturally wanted the throne, Bran felt destined to it, and Arya had to tear herself apart deciding whom to back. We’d be led to think Sansa, then at the conclave Arya flips to Bran, and . . . .

Sansa DEALS with it nobly. THAT would cohere.

My suggestions all seem so natural, and so in line with S1-7, that I’ve convinced myself showrunners just fucked off two whole eps out of spite or ennui.

There’s no fixing that. I’d not hire them.