Andrew Robinson
After the airing of the most epic battle scene in television history last week (here is our review of that), Game of Thrones has a lot to live up to in “The Last of the Starks.” The results are mixed.
Spoilers for episode 4 WILL be present, so read at your own risk.
Summary
After the Battle of Winterfell’s conclusion, Daenerys, Jon, and Sansa plot next moves. Cersei sits in wait at King’s Landing.
Analysis
Ever since the airing of “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter” – the greatest consecutive episodes of television this reviewer has ever seen – to close out season six, GoT has struggled with believability. Much of season seven featured remarkably quick entrances and trips (Daenerys traveling North of the Wall to save Jon and Co. comes to mind), downright ridiculous character decisions (Jon and Co. deciding to go North of the Wall at all), and otherwise difficult-to-believe moments (capturing a wight and taking it the entire way to King’s Landing when they know darn well that Cersei won’t care). For the most part, season eight has avoided that… up until “The Last of the Starks,” that is.
The fight scene between Euron’s fleet and Daenerys’ soldiers is shocking, especially once Rhaegal is killed. However, shock value aside, do the events of the battle really make sense? So Dany just doesn’t see the fleet sitting there in wait, ready to fire upon her and her dragons? Rhaegal can’t dodge the arrows – or even, like, fly away – after being hit once? Once Euron fires upon all Dany’s ships and ambushes them (somehow, because they weren’t expecting him to fire upon them, despite him literally lying in wait), he chooses to simply capture Missandei and retreat? He has the opportunity to completely decimate Dany’s army, including a few of her top advisors (Tyrion and Varys), but he decides that, nah, Missandei is enough, let’s let Dany’s army live to fight another day even though we have a clear advantage and could decimate her forces right now. How does he even capture Missandei in the first place? Does he just roll up there and capture her as the ships are being destroyed around him?
There are many questions stemming from this battle that simply don’t make sense from a tactical standpoint, and that is frustrating from a show that once gave fans a battle as incredible and intelligent as The Battle of the Bastards. It simply seems like the writers didn’t know how to proceed with the war between Cersei and Dany/Jon, and they figured that they needed to kill off a dragon to make it more fair. The way they go about it is just absurd. That has happened far too often since the show surpassed the source novels.
Once again, Dany and Jon come up with an absolutely horrific battle plan, and somehow allow themselves to get ambushed when they know full well that Euron has a fleet – that’s literally all he, her only freakin’ allied house in the entire Seven Kingdoms, brings to Cersei – and will be waiting for them. How they don’t see an ambush coming is beyond incomprehensible, and either 1) further proves that neither one is at all fit to sit on the Iron Throne, especially after their stupidity during the Battle of Winterfell, or 2) that the writers don’t value their viewers enough to provide them with intelligent characters that make intelligent decisions. Dany and Jon should NEVER be outwitted by Euron Greyjoy. Cersei, yes, but Euron? Seriously? The dude is an idiot. There’s absolutely no way they should have allowed him, even acting under Cersei’s orders, to outwit them. It’s a remarkable feat of stupidity that further shows that neither one should be on the Iron Throne.
All this said, poor Missandei. One of the unsung heroes of the show since her debut, Missandei has been perfect in her role as Dany’s best friend, and one of the few people that she actually listens to. Once Cersei has her hands on Missandei, it’s clear that she isn’t going to survive, so at least viewers get a little bit of time to prepare themselves. Still, though, she deserves better. A true servant of the Seven Kingdoms, and a very strong-willed, intelligent female character at that.
The drinking scene between Tyrion, Brienne, Podrick, and Jamie is quite funny and written very well. It’s a nice way to introduce the new episode after an hour and 20 minutes of pure adrenaline during the Battle of Winterfell. This reviewer could do without the Jamie-Brienne love story, but at least she’s finding happiness… at least until Jamie decides to leave and (seemingly) rejoin his only true love – his sister. A character as great as Brienne deserves better.
Speaking of Jamie, what the heck?? He can never escape his romantic love for his twin, and now he’s (again, seemingly; the prophecy stating that one of Cersei’s younger brothers will kill her could put a wrench in the idea) going to fight for his sister once again. Jamie says he’s not a good man. That may be true for much of his life, but he has become a good man recently. If he returns to Cersei, he very well may lose that status. This reviewer still thinks Jamie is going to end up killing Cersei, or at least that Arya is going to kill Jamie, and then use his face to kill the Lannister woman. We shall see.
The Hound and Arya are traveling together once again!! Both have unfinished business. It’s time for the Hound to finally get his revenge on The Mountain, and for Arya to cross a certain someone off her kill list.
Tormund takes the Wildings back to their home, leaving Winterfell, seemingly for good. This may be the last we see of Tormund. If it is, then what a run for the Wilding leader. GOAT.
Verdict
As next week’s penultimate episode seems to promise another major battle, judgement on the final season of one of the most popular shows in the world will likely rest significantly on next week’s blockbuster episode. If it is anything like “The Long Night,” things should be okay. If it takes after “The Last of the Starks,” however, history may not look as fondly upon the ending of Game of Thrones.
6/10
