'Game of Thrones': Five disappointing things about the final season
HBO's "Game of Thrones" has ended after eight seasons, and the six final episodes certainly weren't met with universal acclaim. Here are five disappointing things about the saga's divisive conclusion.
It was too short.
I think everyone can agree on this, whether we enjoyed the season or not. Back in 2016, Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss chose to wrap up "Game of Thrones" with two shortened seasons, and the resulting sprint to the finish didn't allow the story to breathe, or for some character arcs to fully develop. Even a triumphant episode like "The Long Night" seemed misplaced: The Great War against the undead was all wrapped up in the third of six final episodes?
Cersei's lack of screentime.
The show's deepest character, most devious villain and, in Lena Headey, its most intriguing actor was, for much of this final season, relegated to looking out a window at a green screen - if she was in the episode at all. Those of us hoping for a grand confrontation between Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) instead got a crying Cersei crumbling into the arms of her brother/lover, Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), as the Red Keep caved in on top of them.
Arya's strange decision.
Nothing this season strained credulity for this "Thrones" watcher quite like Arya's (Maisie Williams) sudden change of heart in Episode 5. The young Stark assassin has, for years, been telling pretty much anyone who would listen that she was going to kill Cersei Lannister, and the audience certainly wanted to see it. But instead, The Hound (Rory McCann) cradled her head in his giant paw, asked her if she really wanted to be like him, and that was that - Arya the assassin decided to leave King's Landing when she was just steps away from fulfilling what she long held as her destiny.
Action that valued spectacle over logic.
Very few things about the major action sequences of this final season made sense. What, exactly, were Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) doing with their dragons for much of Episode 3? Why weren't they laying waste to all the zombies instead of flying around in a snowstorm? In Episode 4, how is Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek) able to surprise Dany's dragons - who are in the sky, mind you - with three giant arrows launched from the sea below? And how is just one dragon able to kill, uh, everyone just one episode later, with no resistance at all?
The missed opportunities.
Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) never got to warg into a dragon. Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) did not save Jaime from his doomed love for Cersei. Daenerys did not overcome her bloody past. We did not get to see Ned Stark (Sean Bean) or any other favorite fallen characters in flashbacks or via Bran's special gifts.
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