Alright, I feel oddly compelled to complain about this. My feelings about the Season 8, 3rd Episode of Game of Thrones had a big problem. Here be spoilers if you haven’t watched it, so be warned.
I’ve complained about Arya in the past. Not because I don’t like her character, but I think she’s overpowered. I don’t agree with the Critical Drinker that she’s a Mary Sue. She isn’t. Her powers were at least earned and she is a flawed person who has room to grow.
But I don’t like how she’s effectively an unstoppable plot tool who just…kills everybody and resolves storylines. The whole deal with the Frey’s was too easy a resolution, I believe. And her killing the Night King in this episode was simply unacceptable. There was nothing to build up to this and it wasn’t satisfying at all. It was a bad choice.
Yes, I know. Every woman I know who watches the show loves Arya and I have to wonder if this really was just fanservice for them. I had genuinely hoped that Jaime Lannister would be the one to do it. Put “Kingslayer” in a whole new context, right? At the minimum, it should have been Jon Snow who has been spending years getting ready for the confrontation, right?
You know, if the Night King and Bran had ended up on a wall at Winterfell or something and the Night King had Jaime in a headlock and Bran said, “The things I do for love” and bumped the Night King with his wheelchair and knocked him onto a dragonglass spear stuck in the ground below, it still would have been better than this.
Please tell me that the next episode isn’t going to have Yara fighting Euron at the Iron Islands and Arya will pop up as a sailor and slash his throat just before he kills Yara. Or that Jaime will be choking Cersei out in the episode after that and Arya will just dump poison down her throat to kill-block him as she then throws Needle across the room into The Mountain’s skull. It can’t really be this simple and completely stupid, can it?
That said, the Sansa/Tyrion and Theon/Bran scenes were the greatest thing ever. I don’t know how it bodes for the end of the series, but those were already two of the finest in this season. It’s just for the final episodes, I’m nervous.
There’s an Arya Problem and I hope it can be managed tastefully and satisfyingly (which her sex scene wasn’t).
Honestly this all benefits Cersei, who doesn’t do any of the fighting herself and is probably more than happy now that the two kissin’…er, relations Dany and Jon will probably be fighting over that mass of swords now.
“Eh, that sounds complicated. Let’s just have Arya kill Cersei, Dany, and John and get it over with”
-The writers, probably
Me, from elsewhere:
This was part of a bigger rant. The bubble wrapping of characters has gotten ridiculous and the writing has devolved into 8th grade fan fiction. It’s probably good that it’s wrapping up soon.
Arya was a favorite from my book reading days. Her story was interesting and Martin did a great job in the telling. I do not hold the writers of the show to account for not being GRRM. From all accounts, he has at least temporarily abandoned the series, telling the show writers roughly how it ends.
There is quite a bit of foreshadowing Arya killing one of the major players. Of course, I thought perhaps it would be Cersei, but it also makes sense for it to be the Night King. She has trained as an assassin, starting (at around 8 years old) with her “water dancer” Syrio. Ned was humoring her there, of course, but she took the training very seriously from the beginning. I would not be surprised if that were GRRM’s story line for her. The show does combine characters, so who knows?
What would have been disappointing would have been killing the Night King with dragon fire. I was quite happy to see the NK emerge unscathed from the flames. The dragons are actually the OP beings in the show and as much as I hated to see Viserion die, It was good to show them as vulnerable, providing the tension needed for decent storytelling.
As for Cersei, based on the books it should be either Tyrion or Jaime that finally kills her. That is why she hates Tyrion so much; she thinks that it is prophecy that he kill her. Her betrayal of Jaime may change that a bit and I hope it is Jaime that kills her, but that will probably only be possible once she either miscarries or has the baby.
There are three more shows. Jon should sit on the throne unless he dies, but I am not so sure he wants it. Danaerys should really just blow dragon fire through the Red Keep and be done with it. There is obviously no trusting Cersei, and Jamie and Tyrion really expose themselves if they defend her at this point I believe that is the tension that the show writers want to generate and why Jaime lived. I don’t think Jaime or Tyrion will die unless/until Cersei dies.
I don’t know. It’s like Critical Drinker observed in the video. She trained for assassination, not battle. She didn’t use her previous training to disguise herself as a wight or anything. Just kind of…came up and stabbed him. But as I said, her killing powers at least are well-established so it’s hard for me to say it’s awful writing. I just think it was the wrong resolution.
I’ve never been “Lost”ed before with a series that I’ve watched in real time, thankfully. However, I’m fully expecting to be utterly disappointed by the conclusion of GOT.
Two episodes left and, frankly, I’m not even mildly interested in who ends up on the throne. All of the characters feel like strangers to me.
Only happened to me with one series. Battlestar Galactica. I’m definitely getting the same “let’s just get this over with” vibe.