So The Bells happened.
I’m going to talk about the last episode of Game of Thrones which did in some fairly major characters (in more ways than one) and why I’m worried about the books for the first time and not just that Martin probably won’t finish them.
Disclaimer one: If you don’t want to hear anything at all criticizing the show fair to you. Don’t read.
Obviously SPOILERS and swearing! Definite swearing in this one.
A lot of people seem surprised that Jaime did indeed went back to save his sister and wound up dying with her (I hope.) There’s complaints that it ruined his slow burn redemption arc to which I have to ask…
What redemption arc?
Oh yeah, he rationally (and unnecessarily) went to fight the dead and he banged Brienne but that was the inconsistent thing. People talk about his redemption arc on the show and I’m like did I miss something?
Show Jaime has always been up his sister’s ass. It’s consistent. Book Jaime told her to get lost while he wondered about his honor and his page in the Kings Guard book. Show Jaime tossed the book aside and fucked her on the table instead.
I’m actually ok with her death as well. It was anti-climatic sure but she was crying and begging and crushed by what she wanted most. The people who deserved to see her die are long dead and the rest of them have been turned into idiotic shit heads or worse. So…
Book Jaime: I mean who knows? There’s too many things in play that don’t even exist in the show (Aegon & Stoneheart amongst other things) that I don’t know what will happen in the books. That their going to die together I’ve always kind of agreed with but the how and when remains up in the air.
My worry now after I’ve seen Winter play out and this stuff with Dany is will it matter? Or will Martin toss away all his work on Jaime’s character in the books to subvert our expectations? (A phrase which I’m kind of starting to feel like I never want to hear again until some movie or show somewhere actually fucking surprises me and does that!)
Shouldn’t they have kept Rhaegal alive so Jon could actually try to stop her and we get the second dance?
Also frankly despite the episode being well shot (I could see shit!) they burned it into the ground in terms of the destruction and Arya’s fake out deaths. I actually got bored. Dragon battle would have helped.
Dany hearing the bells is pretty much me listening to and reading years of Cleganebowl! Get Hype! crap and Dany burning shit is basically me realizing that’s what they give us of course.
I mean Cersei side-stepping around them was a nice moment. I just think it’s amazing Qyburn was a smarter more loyal and plain old better hand of the Queen then that fucking idiot Tyrion ever was. And the Mountain was harder to kill than the Damn Night King. Yeah Get Hype. I was happy when they finally both died.
Same with Varys.
Yeah, he was right but he wrote her off and started plotting her death before she ever did anything but look upset in Winterfell. I mean I’m totally sure driving her into paranoia and isolation was helpful here.
And then the Mad Queen happens.
And it’s coming in the book but what makes it so hard to swallow was in a show that likes to purport it’s “gray” characters (and quite frankly white-washed a hell of a lot of the ones they liked) based on a book series about the same where well mainly no one is entirely one or the other but there’s no room for gray or debate here.
She became the blackest of the black. Took her place as worse than many of the other villains simply due to the weapon of mass destruction and the absolute targeting of the civilians. It wasn’t like she lost control of the dragons. She didn’t say fuck it and go directly for the Red Keep and let those people die to get to Cersei or accidentally set off the wildfire as most thought she would. Fuck I mean they even had the city surrender.
You can’t debate her actions and there’s no time for redemption (if there even could be redemption from something like that) so I think we are all know where this is going next week.
I actually didn’t want or think we were going to get a happy ending and we can all wonder about what Martin might do differently (if he does anything at all period) but for the first time the show has made me worry about the books. Maybe there is no deeper meaning to this journey? Because right now the Shakepearian ending the cast talked about- the show is only making me think of that Macbeth quote, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
And for me? If the ending of the book is really as empty as the show and none of it mattered or meant anything that feels like the worst ending of all.