Brandon's Movie/Tv Reviews

And now our watch is ended (you know I had to say it). Well, Game of Thrones is over. The last episode has premiered and with that the end of an era has concluded. That doesn’t mean we stop talking about it though! First thing I want to say is that I knew regardless of the ending, this show will always be amazing to me. There will be rewatches and my HBO subscription will live on (maybe I’ll try to watch something else on it…I heard Westworld is good). Anyways enough introduction, I just want to hop into the episode. Spoilers are ahead of course.

It starts out right where it left off. Tyrion is walking the streets of the ruined city of King’s Landing. He ends up finding Jaime and Cersei underneath the rubble. First off, I thought the whole ceiling collapsed on them, not a few bricks. The fact Tyrion was able to find them is kind of unrealistic but I have to remember I’m watching a show with dragons. However, what a performance by Peter Dinklage. His ability to portray emotions here was brilliant. In fact this whole series I believe he was the most brilliant actor (the Emmys will back that up). I can’t imagine anyone else playing Tyrion Lannister and I don’t want to. So really shout out to Peter, thank you for really bringing one of my favorite characters in tv to life.

Now moving on, Tyrion then confronts Daenerys in front of her army and throws his “hand of the queen” pin off, not really caring about the consequences at this point. Him and Jon have a conversation together, discussing the right thing to do about Dany. One of the most interesting things Tyrion says in my opinion is how people were “rooting Dany on” while she conquered and liberated these cities. So what she thought she was doing was right. I mean…that’s true? Watching Dany liberate these cities seemed like a good thing and she was bad ass. But maybe it was about perspective? Like Tyrion said, who really are the bad people? Are they all bad? Really made me think but to be honest, I feel like this was a cop out by the writers. It’s like they D.B. Weiss and David Benioff thought “we kind of made Dany go mad queen kind of fast. Should we have a character explain our reasoning and have them look at the show a completely different way? Brilliant idea!” Yeah, not buying that but whatever. I think what Dany was doing WAS good. Clearly she struck down tyrants that were very bad. She’s not innocent but she was serving justice.

Then, Jon does it. He kills Dany in the midst of a kiss. I really saw this coming, even without leaks. Many people predicted this before the season even started. However, I think Jon did the right thing. It sucks but Dany was only getting worse from there. Jon did love her but he knew what was right for the realm. I thought the way it was shot was iffy but it did the job. Then Drogon swoops down and right when it looks like he’s going to burn Jon alive, he burns the Iron Throne. Somehow, Drogon is smart enough to know that the throne is the cause of all this madness. Now, I’ve heard this is touched upon in the books but it is never mentioned in the show how smart the dragons are? Like seriously, that was kind of a joke. And then Drogon picks up Dany and flies away…to we don’t know where. That’s probably the one plot point that didn’t get resolved that I would like to see resolved. Maybe it will in a potential spinoff? I doubt it but either way that will kind of irritate me for a while.

Then there’s the summit scene between the leaders of Westeros. And I hate to say it…this scene was bad. Like bad bad. Not because Bran is voted king either. Not because of Tyrion’s speech. Not because Sansa makes the North an independent region (that was actually the best part of the scene and actually a highlight of the episode). I don’t know. The direction in this scene just seems off. It doesn’t feel right. Sure, Edmure Tully getting rejected and Sam suggesting democracy and getting laughed at was funny. But this scene didn’t need to be funny. In fact this scene is supposed to dictate the rest of the history of Westeros. And these fools nominate Bran as king no problem. I know Tyrion is convincing and me sharing a name with a king is cool but I feel like the writers were again trying to subvert our exceptions. And failed miserably. Again.

Now comes the closing scenes. Jon gets freed on the basis he must go to the Night’s Watch. I thought I would hate this but it makes sense. He goes anywhere else, that man is dead and everyone knows that. Then Jon says goodbye to Sansa, Arya and Bran. Not going to lie, I started to get a little teary eyed at this sequence. I’ve never been a huge Sansa fan but Jon is right…she deserves to rule the North. That’s all she’s ever cared about. Protecting her family and her home. So I think that’s a very fitting ending for her. Arya says she’s going West of Westeros. This is where I really almost started crying. Arya is my favorite Stark by far. This is is an ok ending for her. I mean her killing days are over I guess. No one left on her list. Brown eyes (Walder Frey), blue eyes (Night King), green eyes…Littlefinger I guess? They never really established that in the end which is kind of annoying but oh well. That being said, I want a spin off of Arya sailing the seas and exploring new areas of Westeros. I would watch that for sure.

Then there’s the council of Bran. What a crew this is. I’m happy Bronn is on the council because he’s the man. Also happy Brienne is commander of the King’s Guard. One of the strongest fighters ever. Loved how she finished Jaime’s story in the book too, even though I thought she was going to write “has a 2 inch pinch” or something in it. Now that would’ve been funny. Also liked the shoutout to the books with the “A Song of Ice and Fire” being presented to Tyrion by Sam. It wasn’t subtle but it was good.

And then there’s the completion of many character arcs with the final closing minutes. Cutting between Sansa, Arya and Jon, we see their fates being revealed. Sansa becomes “the Queen in the North”, Arya is heading West and then Jon heads North of the wall to live with the wildings. Now I know Thrones is not a happy show. It never has been. It’s lived off being real and depressing and shocking. It’s what makes the show so compelling. However, I like this ending. It’s fitting for each character. Even Jon. He gets what he wanted. He gets to live in the wild with the free folk. I’m sure he’s happy about that. I think right now this ending is very controversial. This whole finale is. Maybe over time, people will come around to it. Probably not but maybe.

Overall, I thought this episode was…ok. I think this series ends ok. It’s not terrible, it’s not great, its just ok. I don’t think it takes anything away from the show. Hell, if you hate it so much, watch through season 6 and just imagine the show ends there. It could’ve and I would’ve been fine. Everything after was just a bonus. The fact a show like this lasted eight seasons is astonishing. If the finale lives in infamy though, so be it. I thought it was good enough and this series will live on regardless. Now, this post has ended. For the internet is dark and full of terrors. Ok, now I’m seriously done with the references.

Game of Thrones. Season 8 Episode 5. The penultimate episode. Obviously spoilers ahead for all of season 8. Before I really get into the review I’ll just explain that I didn’t really start watching this show until the build up of this oncoming season. I watched the entire show in a month and a half. I love it that much. I’ve honestly never watched a show where I can’t just watch one episode at a time (besides maybe Breaking Bad). I mean, I also wanted to catch up but even if season 8 wasn’t around the corner, I still would’ve watched that much. All that being said, before I dive into just this episode, I want to address some of the criticism this season has faced so far. Whether it’s warranted criticism or not.

Sure, I’ll admit this season’s writing has been lazy. No doubt about it. One moment in particular is Daenerys forgetting about the Iron Fleet and Rhaegal being shot down. How do you forget about that when you were JUST told about it like 10 minutes ago in the show. Anyway, I don’t think they’re destroying complete character arcs though. I do think it’s rushed though. I understand why it’s rushed. HBO has deadlines and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had to meet them. There’s probably a lot of pressure to do that. However, they did fold under pressure it appears. Dany has always been leading up to be a tyrant since the very beginning of the show as we look back now. Although, I think the way it was written showed that her actions are justified and that she’s the good guy. But now, after this season she has gone full mad queen. In only 5 episodes. They just rushed her character along. Sure, she has shown signs of going mad queen in the past but this season how they got to that point was just too fast. Speaking of not writing characters well, can we talk about Euron? My god, he is the most useless character they have put into this show. He was absolutely irrelevant and written so poorly. Yet, he technically ends up killing Jaime, a major character. I thought that was really lame honestly.

Let’s talk about this episode though and how it relates to that criticism and how some of it is unfair. First, RIP Varys. I mean did he deserve it? It was treason and that’s always been punishable by death. He was still a great character though. Another thing I want to mention is the moment between Jaime and Tyrion when Tyrion sets him free. That was actually great and may have been one of the best moments of the episode. Now to the battle. Now again, I just want to mention….how come last episode Euron and his Iron Fleet were marksmen with the arrows….and then in this episode they absolutely suck out loud? That’s turrible as Charles Barkley would say. Anyways, Dany makes quick work of Cersei’s army and it’s over. I thought the scene where everyone was begging her to ring the bells was great. Basically the equivalent of “throwing the damn towel.” Anyways, they do ring the bells but Dany hasn’t had enough.

So, she burns the whole city to the ground. Just like her father would’ve done. Again, I can understand why it led to this. But how we got here is just poor. This again shows why you can’t have favorite characters in this show (unless it’s Arya because she is objectively the best). I would’ve liked to see more from Jon’s point of view from this carnage. I know it showed him trying to stop it but I would’ve liked to seem him try to actually stop Dany or something. I mean how much does he believe in his queen now? I guess we’ll find out. Instead of bashing the writing again, I’ll talk about what this episode and season has done well. The cinematography of this episode was just brilliant. I mean that’s never been a downfall of this show anyway. The shots of the carnage and chaos was breathtaking honestly. I did like how we followed that one civilian and her daughter through it all and how Arya got woven into it. Speaking of Arya and cinematography, the final scene was interesting. I don’t know how that horse survived but Arya’s interaction with it was shot great. I don’t know if it came from the Bible like some people are saying but otherwise it’s great. 

One of the best shot scenes, was personally my favorite scene from the whole episode. And that is Cleganebowl. Sandor Clegane or The Hound finally fighting his brother, The Mountain. That fight was epic. Just when I thought The Mountain was going to crush another person’s head (I couldn’t stand to watch it again) the Hound stabbed in the head. Yet, he DIDN’T DIE. So the Hound just said f it and pushed both of them down the castle. That shot was amazing. RIP The Hound. One of my favorite characters in the show, definitely top 3. Definitely a satisfying death for The Mountain and Qyburn as well. What has been criticized as not a satisfying death is Cersei’s. Honestly, I can’t complain too much about it. Did she deserve more? Of course, she was probably the most ruthless and hated character in the whole show. However, the symbolism of the castle falling on top of her after all of her ignorance and denial to leave was pretty good. I saw someone say on Twitter no one of real importance as killed anyone else of real importance. Ah, how did the castle fall? By itself? No Dany knocked it down. Also, I just want to say don’t read Twitter for Game of Thrones takes. People will literally say anything about an episode just to disagree with people. And I’m the idiot for getting mad at that stuff. 

Overall, I honestly thought this episode was great though. At the end of the day, it’s a good episode. I’ve been trying to figure out how I would rank it in comparison to other episodes though. Honestly, I think there are plenty of other episodes that are better. Battle of the Bastards, Hardhome, Winds of Winter and Spoils of War are a few that come to mind. That being said, with this season one of the criticisms is that this show has been “ruined for fans.” That’s bullshit. This season doesn’t take away anything that has already happened. Sure, its the ending and it should be ended right. However, just because it’s not ending the way YOU want it to end, doesn’t mean it’s bad. I feel like that shouldn’t be something to complain about. This show honestly put it on itself. It raised our expectations so much from past seasons that since this season isn’t it’s strongest (it’s not the worst either) it’s kind of a let down. However, in comparison to all other tv I think it’s still fantastic. If I were to rate this episode as a standalone from all other tv it is an 9/10. If I were to rate it in GoT context, it’s probably a 7/10. So there’s my review and my assessment of this episode and season as a whole honestly. Now we wait for the grand finale next week. 

Hello. I’m not really sure how to start this. I guess I introduce myself? My name is Brandon. I like movies, tv shows and well just film in general. Which led me to make this blog. I just thought it would be kind of fun to write about it and review new movies or tv shows. And if anyone wants to read about it, that would be kind of fun too I guess. I do enjoy writing as well, so the two were a match made in heaven for me. Again, this is just for fun though and I thought it would be an interesting way to put my thoughts down. I think if people care enough too, they will read what I have to say and either agree or disagree with it. That brings up discussion and that is another fun part about this whole thing. I think movies and tv brings us together in more ways than we think. For that short time we watch them, we escape from the real world and go into whatever world we’re watching. They can move us or motivate us or make us happy or so many other things. They can also be really bad so that could also be fun to write about (trust me though I’m an optimist). So that’s pretty much it for the introduction and welcome. If you want to join me in this blogging adventure, be my guest. Be on the lookout in the near future for some of my first reviews.