Apparently a lot of people did not like this episode. Some are even worried about the direction the show is going. And I’m getting annoyed with the nature of the criticism. Why didn’t they explain this? Why don’t they have time for this thing? Why am I not getting this thing that I want? Why haven’t they mentioned the sword? So much whining about every little detail. Just let it happen and see what they have in store for us.
A lot of the criticism is about the insanity of what's being set up. But I’m fine with crazy things happening. I think people have forgotten that this has been promised all along. Just as Lost teased us about the glowing energy at the heart of the island, Game of Thrones has teased us about those white walkers from the very first episode. A promise was made that things are going to get nuts. Not entirely sure that people will be equipped to handle it.
I’m fine with the final season doing bonkers things that the show hasn’t done before. Not only do I tolerate that, I love it. (See Lost and Battlestar Galactica.)
I can’t be bothered to worry about logistics right now. This does not strike me as the time to be obsessed about dumb little things. As far as I’m concerned, Game of Thrones can do what it wants, as long as the show doesn’t violate the spirit of its narrative or the nature of its characters.
That’s why I didn’t like the finale of Breaking Bad, but I loved the finale of Lost, and its final season, with the core of my being. It felt like its very soul was unfolding and being revealed to us. Same with Battlestar Galactica, essentially. That last season was clearly what the show always wanted to be and was true to its characters along the way.
Game of Thrones is doing something similar. This split final season is kind of a different show — it’s an intense race to the finish that is just not interested in explaining everything. And yet its characterization has been pitch perfect. Dany, Jon, Tyrion, Olenna, Bronn, Cersei — they continue to be emphatically themselves, with dialogue as sharp as ever. Jaime especially. What we want him to be and what he actually is are two different things. Agonizingly, we still see his potential — note his joke last week about confessing his sins to the high septon.
I will acknowledge issues when I see them. For example, I share the concern about the Sansa/Arya storyline. I desperately hope Arya sees through Littlefinger's plot (eventually if not very soon) and uses that to pivot against him. Maybe that’s where Sansa’s quotation comes in: “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.”
