The series "Game of Thrones", Review of the eighth season. A grand final
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We have been waiting for this moment eight years. Managed to re -read hundreds of other people's theories and come up with their. We decided who we want to see on the iron throne. Buried so many heroes that it was enough for a whole cemetery, and prepared to drink to the rest of the remaining. The final season of "Game of Thrones" finally started: in this material we will post our impressions of every new series. Caution, spoilers!
Episode 8.01. "Winterfell"
Author: Evgenia Safonova
The coming war with white walkers reduces the heroes who have not seen each other in the walls of Winterfell years (and seasons). These meetings will not always be pleasant: the fate of the characters intertwined too fancifully, so the conversation with an old friend can open unpleasant details about the new. Everyone understands that getting stuck in petty showdowns in the face of real danger is stupid, but people are people, so as not to always act intelligently.
Scattered storylines are connected and connected together. The theatrical principle of unity of place and action is unlikely to reach, but it feels like the plot narrows the focus and strives for one climax.
A premonition of an unkind final shifts in how often Winterfell echoes the very first episode of the series and gracefully shakes what is happening. Here and there you see internal rhymes, reflection of past scenes. The Daneris army is part of Winterfell under the same musical theme under which the Starks in full force met King Robert. Arya is just as she watches in childhood passing by the dog. Jaime Lannister first looks into the eyes of a boy who pushed the tower seven seasons ago. All surviving olds are finally gathering in their native walls, and two Lannisters are again visiting their monastery.
Everyone managed to sip grief. Everyone has changed. And almost everyone was tempered to adequately meet an external threat.
Of course, from other meetings you expect more than you get. It would seem that people who have not seen each other for so many years and broke up under such circumstances, should give an avalanche of emotions, but on the screen you observe only a modest surge. On the other hand, by this moment many heroes simply did not have the strength for stormy feelings. You have to be content with what is – and there are many touching and heartbreaking.
Fans will surely smile at Tyrion’s sharps or Denis's submarines, breaking John to saddle the dragon, but most of the conversations do not have a smile. Short dialogs significantly move many storylines, and sometimes not at all where you wait. New circumstances pop up, conflicts are aggravated. Hopes are expressed that can immediately collapse. Cersei does not doze, and the inhabitants of Winterfell have to withstand the blow from where no one expects him. Even the mystery of the origin of Snow risks not to fasten the long -awaited alliance of two Targaryenes, but to turn the romantic union of “ice and flame” into a new bite behind the throne. These fears will be justified or not – find out in the following series. In the meantime, you can just touch how Arya finally hugs her beloved brother, and dragons are jealous of Daenerys to a new boyfriend – just like annoying home dogs.
To be continued…
Episode 8.02. "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"
Author: Evgenia Safonova
After leisurely, filled with conversations of the first series from the second you are waiting for more dynamics. But the Game of Thrones was accustomed to surprise-and if in Winterfell dialogs diluted with a couple of spectacular scenes, then the “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” __ consists entirely of conversations. It's simple: the same battle with the walkers ahead, for which we were prepared for seven seasons. And you do not need to be Bran to understand – some of the characters will not survive it.
Just kill the heroes not enough – you need to gently bring to beautiful deaths. Inflap drama. Tie the threads hanging in the air. To precede the tragedy with touching farewells and hopes for a happy future that will never happen.
At such moments, you are convinced that “Game of Thrones” is one of the greatest series of our time. What show can hold the viewer's attention for the second hour in a row, simply arranging the characters of the meeting in different decorations? You can hardly even see conflicts on the screen. Yes, Jaime is not worried about the most pleasant minutes, while the daughter of the crazy king decides his fate. Sansa is sluggishly diving with Denis. John tells the truth about Lianna and Reyegar, raising a painful issue of the throne. But these moments are lost against the background of another: simple relationships of people who live, perhaps, the last day of their lives.
The heroes are freezing, drinking, saying goodbye, discussing close death, freezing again, drinking again – and you follow this routine without looking up. Because people on the screen for you have come to life a long time ago, and now you are worried about them like the living. They seem a large, confusing, but in general friendly family, who finally gathered at the same table.
You see the most cute and touching scenes with the realization that they are too touching so that the characters do not pay an imminent death for these happy moments. Therefore, buying knightly romance of relations between Jaime and Brienne breaks the heart. Not without cliches like “sex in the end”, but I want to close my eyes for it. The postulate itself “Tomorrow we will die” can already be called cliche, which does not cancel his vitality.
Yes, in fact, the “knight of the seven kingdoms” is another quiet prelude before the climax. Shtil in front of the storm, which will have to wait again. You can get bored in this series, but if you consider the season as a whole unit, then a break on the eve of the most epic battle of the entire series is necessary. Yes, the survivors have to fight with Cersei, but hardly the fight with the troops of the Red Queen will surpass a meeting with dead legions.
This is an opportunity to take a deep breath before diving into the hole. The ability to share the quiet humility of people who know that many of them (if not all) do not survive until dawn. The opportunity to see the heroes with whom we have made a very long way for the last time, alive and almost happy.
Episode 8.03. "Long Night"
Author: Dmitry Zlotnitsky
The battle of the living and the dead. The confrontation to which the "Game of Thrones" came all seven seasons. The largest battle in the history of television. The episode “Long Night” was to become one of the main peaks of the series suitable for completion … but instead turned out to be almost its biggest failure.
The director of the "Long Night" Miguel Saposhchik shot the previous key battles of the series, which occupied a whole episode – the battle of the bastard. And even then he demonstrated that such concepts as tactics and thoughtful actions on the battlefield are deeply alien to him. Unless, of course, not to consider such a frontal attack on superior enemy and salvation at the last moment thanks to the piano jumping out of the bushes. In the same tradition, the battle for Winterfell was also shot.
It seems that the first two episode of the season, the heroes only did that they were preparing for a decisive battle with the army of the King of the Night. But at the key point, the defender of Winterfell is not just poorly prepared, but in fact – incapable. Analyzing everything that was done wrong with them would be enough for a separate large article. It is clear that mortals initially have little chances against the army of the dead, but Daenerys, John and the company tried to reduce them to zero. The absence of a certain sane plan of the battle, the inability of the heroes to take on the battle of the battle, the mediocre sacrifice of the whole cavalry in the first minutes of the battle, the absolutely inefficient use of "aviation", long-range weapons and fortifications are only a small part of the claims that can be presented to the defenders of Winterfell.
Unlike heroes, a shoemaker and screenwriters, apparently, had a plan. And he consisted of getting rid of all the nameless characters in the frame as quickly as possible, so that in slow shooting and to pathos music, show how the main characters desperately fight in a seemingly lost battle. Just like in bad films about the war with a heroic Red Army soldier, dramatically perishing after he will undermine a dozen Nazi tanks with one sappership blade.
In addition, the production of the battle simply leaves much to be desired. And the point is not only that the picture turned out to be too dark and in places what is happening is not really visible. The abuse of a shaking camera leads to the fact that episodes that seem to be realistic and tense, in fact, are chaotic and slurred. Brief fragments of the battles of dragons are especially disappointed – for the first time in the history of the series they showed how fire -breathing lizards fight each other, but in these episodes it is difficult to make out what is happening at all.
A separate conversation deserves the interpretation of the episode. One of the main secrets of Martin’s success lies, in my opinion, in the fact that in the “Song of Ice and Flame” the plot does not unfold at all as it usually happens in fantasy. So it was in the series until he overtook the book. After this happened, the events in the “Game of Thrones” began to occur exactly as fans of the genre were used to. And now the culmination of the confrontation of the living and the dead has been served in the style of a very bad fantasy novel. Thanks to the piano in the bushes – in this case literally jumping out of the bushes – the complete defeat of the heroes turns into a triumph.
Seven seasons, the authors wrapped the tension, painted the threat coming from the north. The whole penultimate season John Snow told everyone who was ready to listen to the main battle, which would determine the fate of the seven kingdoms, and gathered all possible allies for the sake of decisive confrontation ..
But this has fallen centuries -old and terrible seemingly evil as simple and inglorious as Walder Frey. More recently, it seemed that a more rapid transformation from a threatening enemy into an absurd insignificance than Snouk in "Last Jedi" , And it is impossible to imagine. But the authors of the "Game of Thrones" surpassed Ryana Johnson in the "plum" of the antagonist. This largely depreciates the previous seasons and the victims made by the heroes already specifically in the "long night". Through Saga Martin, the idea was always a leitmotif that big problems did not have simple solutions, and in the end it suddenly turns out that the worst evil in history – or, if you want, uncontrollable elements – you can stop literally with one wave of hand.
Shortly after the release of the "long night" the news appeared that the authors of the "Game of Thrones" were convicted of borrowings from Russian fairy tales. The accusations, of course, are ridiculous, but the defenders of Winterfell are really like the collective Ivan Durak-they really did nothing to win, they did not deserve it at all, but still received from the generosity of the scriptwriters. Such interchanges are often found in third -rate fantasy, but like this wildly in one of the best sagas in the history of the genre.
Episode 8.04. "The last of the Starks"
Author: Evgenia Safonova
After the generous portion of the Fanservice, where the heroes drink again, find out relationships and move smoothly to bed, we are moving to the theater of military operations – and he once again reminds the audience that we did not hear about intelligence in serial Westeros. Daenerys freely flies to the Dragon Stone, not even assuming the possibility of an ambush. A review from the air does not help her notice the enemy flotilla, which sneaks up imperceptibly, as if deciding to overcome Arya in Stels.
There is little screen time left, and there is a resolutely resolutely to develop relationships of secondary characters. Therefore, those who were not killed in battle with walkers are removed from the plot under any pretext so that they do not get down under the feet. Even a poor ghost goes into exile, which you are almost not surprised: we are already used to the fact that Lutovolk fully justifies its nickname and shows on the screen no more than a pluggish ghost. In this situation, perhaps, it is really better to get rid of the poor man for good.
Another question, John could really do so. He refuses not only a faithful friend – from the messenger of the gods, a symbol of his belonging to the house of the Starks. But the desire to officially recognize and identify himself by Targaryen John-Eugon obviously does not feel.
Alas, difficult times have come in Westeros when a candidate for an iron throne is already chosen for not reasons of “who is more worthy”, but according to the principle of the smallest evil. The soft -bodied Snow, who proved himself to be a useless commander, does not want a throne and is hardly able to edit, wins against the background of other candidates simply because they confidently plunge into madness. Cersei has long looks like a suicide bomb, ready at any time to undermine the entire royal harbor with him. Daenerys through the efforts of the scriptwriters hastily rolls along the inclined – from a cute girl capable of harsh acts, she turns into a real tyrant. A little more, and the laurels of a merciless bitch will move from Cersei to her.
You can write off this on the whims of the psyche, broken death of dragons and a clash with walkers, or on bad genes. But the desire of the scriptwriters again surprise everyone to surprise everyone is a more significant reason for such a sharp transformation.
Against this background, the saddened Tyrion and Varis are wondering what true fidelity is and whether it is worth storing when the sovereign (any gender) passes the boundaries of the permitted. In the past, Jaime Lannister found his answer to this. Now another Taiwin’s son has to make a difficult choice between oath and common sense.
Jaime did not smell his white cloak for a long time, but surrendered when Aieris decided to fill the royal harbor with blood and flame. Now the daughter of the crazy king came close to the same face. Another circle closes; Tyrion can hardly drive the sword into his queen's back, but throwing the right of her feet and contribute to the overthrow of Daenerys – completely.
In the meantime, we are brought to the ironic interchange in the spirit of Schwartz, where the killer dragon himself becomes a dragon, and the winner of the tyrants himself turns into a tyrant, simply with other views on how to tyrant more correctly. It is possible that John will still have to confirm the title of Azor Ahai and save the seven kingdoms by sticking the blade into the heart of the one whom he loves … or loved.
Episode 8.05. "Bells"
Author: Dmitry Zlotnitsky
In the third episode of the final season of Game of Thrones, we witnessed the battle for Winterfell. The attackers surpassed the defenders in all respects, and they were not really ready for defense, but this did not stop them from winning. In the fifth episode, we again witnessed the assault – this time not a castle, but an entire city – but with a completely different initial https://space-win-casino.co.uk/ situation. Here, the attackers were already pretty chopped, even before the battle, having lost half his strength, and in addition, they were exhausted by a long transition to the south; The defenders, on the contrary, thoroughly prepared and found a way to neutralize the main trump card of the enemy. But, despite this, now those who hold back the onslaught will not have a chance for success.
This parallel emphasizes, perhaps, the main drawback of the final season of "Game of Thrones". For the sake of drama (already strained), the internal logic of the world, common sense and heritage of the previous stages of history are sacrificed. This affected the war, and intrigues, and the images of the characters, and their relationship.
Then the dragons are helpless against the “Scorpions” Graijoev, like flies against a fly -boat, and already in the next drogon plays both the fleet and the city, bristling with the same “scorpions”.
The cunning Varis, who survived many kings and more than once went out the winner in deadly political games, decides to get rid of the already unloved ruler, but, knowing that he was highly likely to surrender the failed conspiracy partner, sits and waits for his fate.
The rapid dullness of heroes can generally be called a key artistic technique and the main plot engine in the eighth season. The relationship between Brienne and Jaime finally comes to a logical, although a somewhat awkward denouement … only so that after a couple of minutes Lannister could rush to the previous lover.
There are more such examples of such examples, but the main one is the basis of the events of the “bells” and is connected with Daenerys, which is rapidly turning into a worthy daughter of her father. Of course, alarming calls sounded before – just remember how Denis treated Tarley. But the authors did not develop these features, gradually leading to what is happening to her now. On the contrary, the girl who was pretty beaten by her life consistently turned into a strong leader: surrounded herself with wise advisers and listened to their words, pushed her own ambitions into the background for the sake of salvation of mankind, rushed to the rescue of John Snow and his comrades.
And in the eighth season, the same heroine turns into a crazy king of version 2.0. Previously, in the “Game of Thrones”, serious changes in the characters showed thoroughly and in detail, often for several seasons – we recall how this happened to Sansa or Jaime, for example. Denis changes literally in a couple of scenes, so the most important (for the series as a whole) transformation of the character occurs almost by clicking the fingers of the scriptwriters – clumsily and unconvincing. Alas, these epithets can be awarded the whole eighth season.
However, if we distract from the development of the central plot and the main characters, the “bells” are quite capable of please a fair amount of strong episodes. The final scene of Varis, the last meeting of Tyrion and Jaime, the Tsareubians with Eoron and the Cligans battle make their way to goosebumps. With most heroes, we went a very long way, and the authors of the series did not have forgotten how to play fan emotions, so it is hardly possible to watch the “bells” indifferently. And the death of the royal harbor under the fire of the drogon is shown impressive.
In the penultimate episode of “Game of Thrones”, Daenerys turns the capital of Westeros to the ashes, and with it everything that she seemed to seek. The authors of the “Game of Thrones” with the series did about the same thing, at the end, mercilessly burning everything that brought him well -deserved fame: the persuasiveness of the characters and their consistent development, thoughtful intrigues and severe realism, attention to details and the ability to surprise non -trivial, but perfectly fitting In the logic of the story by plot moves.
Episode 8.06. "Iron Throne"
Author: Evgenia Safonova
The final series of Benioff and Weiss finally confirmed what became clear in the first three episodes: how well the last season was the Fanservice, his business with everything else is going on as badly. Separate scenes that reveal the relationships of the characters are still touched by the living, but everything related to the development of heroes and elementary logic, it is better not to even start analyzing.
Daenerys pushes speeches, after which you are surprised how the little black antennae still have not grown up: such a sharp breakdown of the heroine who has experienced a lot of tragedies by the warehouse of the death of the dragon and the murder of a friend until the eighth season. John confirms that he still does not know anything-at least without prompts from the side. Tyrion has long changed the role of an intriguer to the role of a resoner, and in the sixth series it once again proves; However, ultimately, it is the demon that we owe to the fact that Snow nevertheless realizes the prophecy about Azor Ahai, and Westeros gains a new king. It is doubtful, it is true that Denis, who was obsessed with thoughts “all traitors”, could go for a walk in a new patrimony without protection, but we will calculate this with another convention.
Is the finale so good that we were shown?
No. Because if you go into details, you simply do not believe in it.
The fact that with the separation of the north the united six kingdoms continued to exist, also seems doubtful. The chosen king is not so dear and authoritative, so that his knees and selfless iron -grown, and Dorn, who always longed for freedom. Given the circumstances, it is hardly a new government scheme will work as it should.
Yes, and the candidate for the role of the king, no matter how Tyrion convinces us of the opposite, chose almost the most unsuccessful. A few episodes ago, the new ruler personally stated that he did not care about the present: he lives the past. He, in principle, is not quite a person, but he is put to rule people. It is much more interesting for him to look for the flying dragon than to attend the council and discuss how to restore the kingdom devastated by the war from the ashes and ashes.
The fate of other characters against this background seem more logical. Bronn finally receives a castle (though in appendage to the position in the Royal Council, to which he is hardly ready). Davos, Sam and Brienne seems to be in their places. Arya did not distinguish anything over the season, except for the role of a piano in the bushes in the battle for Winterfell; But her craving for wanderings does not seem strange if you recall who was her example to follow-the warlike Queen Nimeria also once sat on a ship and sailed from her native country in search of a better future.
Sanse gets a crown, which she still dreamed of a girl, and in her case it is even deservedly. At least for the north you can not worry: their queen studied at the best (once) intriguer of Westeros. John, to the last, behaved like a soft -bodied Dunno, and where he went, he was the same place.
However, there are some interesting questions left here. For example, why now you need a wall at all. There are no more others, ferals do not pose a threat – the need for night patrol in principle has disappeared.
The most offensive is that all the plot turns that look absurd in the series may well correspond to Martin's ideas. Coming to the characters normal motivation, cutting the backup of their actions, the arbitrariness of the scenes that will organically bring the heroes from one point to another – and the same turns will sparkle with new colors, will look logical, and not at all costs to surprise. But for some reason, the creators decided not to bring the arch of the characters, after which we followed eight seasons, to an organic end, and to crumpled them hastily.
The intriguers and sages quickly deepened: instead of real politicians, we receive children playing in the sandbox. Shocking, but logical deaths have long turned into murders for the sake of murders, and the primary characters have cheat codes for immortality. Heroes change the characters in a second and unfold at one hundred and eighty degrees, killing all their development over the previous seasons. All the threats that were afraid for so long, burst, like a soap bubble, and the aspects of the conflict enhance and weaken from the series to the series as it will be convenient for a beautiful frame.
Yes, the iron throne is ironic and to some extent naturally does not go to anyone. Yes, we got the finale that you can even call happy, beautiful and dramatic (in any case, the orphaned drogon is really sorry). But this finale, as the showranders promised, really came out “bitter-sweet”. Because we, like many characters, accurately deserved more than injecting nails into the coffin of the Great series and a disregard for realism, logic, viewer and primary source.