Game of No’s
By I was happy with the finale of Game of Thrones. I know it’s fashionable to trash the show now, but I’m not fashionable. I enjoyed the last episode because it felt like all the characters went full-circle– back to where they belong.
While a part of me wished Jon had just ridden Drogon off into the sunset, something about his returning to The Wall, to the Wildlings felt right to me.
I think Bran was actually a good choice to rule the six kingdoms, his being omniscient and all that. And, of course, Sansa being crowned Queen of the North was deeply satisfying to me. Honestly, I think she got the best job of them all, as being in King’s Landing doesn’t seem to work out so well for most people.
I wasn’t thrilled with Arya sailing off to who knows where. She–obviously–should have been appointed head of the King’s Guard.
I was sympathetic to people who disliked Dany’s ultra-quick descent into despotic madness, though I’d be the first to point out that the show has shown she’s capable of being quite ruthless and merciless in just about every season.
My problem with the penultimate show was not that her incineration of the city was cruel; it was because it profoundly stupid. She had the world in the palm of her hand and she tossed it away for 10 minutes of gory revenge. And as someone else pointed out: we did not see her when we snapped. We saw a dragon torching a city. We didn’t see Dany crying or screaming or seething. It was weird being so far removed from the character, both psychologically and physically.
In other news, I hosted a watch party at my house last night and this happened: https://twitter.com/DeathCar72/status/1130259811344498689
The night before, I made some cocktails that traumatized me in a way no less-than-perfect show could ever do. They’re called Whitewalkers, and, boy are they disgusting. Do not make them. Do not drink them. Do not look at them. Don’t even think about them.
While I doubt I will ever look at (and critique) Game of Thrones through the same feminist lens Sady Doyle did, and while I think it’s perfectly ok to enjoy problematic media without doing a thorough feminist evaluation of it, I’m really, really glad I read her take on Dany’s journey from heroine to heel. It’s powerful, thought-provoking stuff and ridiculously well-written.
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