Game of Thrones: “The Last of the Starks”

The Battle of Winterfell has ended, so it’s time to honour the dead, throw a kegger, throw off clothes, and then travel to King’s Landing (which takes a lot less time lately) to confront Cersei.

We have a discussion this week, rather than a full-fledged review (those will return for the final two), so pull up your Starbuck’s Coffee (being sure to clear it off the set before filming starts), and let’s discuss this transitional episode, in which we say good-bye to some characters who made it through last week just to die last night, follow Jaimie to what may be the final confrontation with his sister, and cheer on the reunited team of Arya and the Hound.

Expect Spoilers.

Scene: Dany’s navy sails to king’s landing. We pause to get snacks.

My wife: Are the remaining two dragons male and female? They could be a mated pair. We could have more dragons in the future.

We start the show playing again.

Me: Guess not.

6 replies on “Game of Thrones: “The Last of the Starks””

  1. The Starbucks cup is hilarious.

    Otherwise, the way the show deals with the death has taken a big hit since they moved away from George’s written books. The show is more typical television fantasy now, which is still good, but it’s a B, B- from where it was when it had the stones to give us Red Weddings and to take characters off the board with no regards for your feelings.

    • I was thinking the same thing. It’s still good, but it feels more like TV. They had some heavier works* as a source, which they processed through the writers. Now the writers are on their own, more or less, and it shows: the dialogue, the enhanced plot armor, and the quick transit between places.

      The actors remains strong, but I wonder if the show can deliver a satisfying conclusion in the next two episodes.

      Literally. Pretty much any volume of A Song of Ice and Fire could serve as a doorstop.

  2. I dont have an issue with the quick transit. There is not a lot of world building left to do at this point. There is the fight up north and the fight down south. Pretty much anyone not at one of those two fights is already dead. I’m watching season 5 atm in a rewatch and noticed that the people along the road that the Hound and Arya meet ends up dead. Almost like it was trying to show that anyone not aligned with one of the big factions was just prey and soon to be dead either way.

    • Quick on-screen transit is fine with me too, provided that other events align to allow for the travel time. e.g. they did mention that it would take at least two weeks for the on-foot contingent to catch up with the naval one, so we can just assume everyone spent a month or whatever travelling off-screen. AFAICT, they didn’t commit the cardinal sin of braketing the entire trip with two other scenes that only work as a “night-before / morning after” type combo, so no issues here.

      As you say, it’s not like they *need* to bump into random peasants or someone like Hot Pie again for world-building/fan service, especially given the overly limited amount of time left wrap up the story.

      Definitely agree that the writing and production values have dropped a bit though (and not just overlooking a certain cup that seems like *someone* on set should have noticed). It’s still a great show, but the tropes and obvious plot armour/devices have all been far more frequent since they ran out of GRMM’s material. Hopefully the remaining books will deliver the kind of conclusion fans of the story are waiting for.

        • Yeah, that’s my bet too. More interesting, given Cleganebowl appears to be on, is who is left for Arya to go after?. I’m going to go out on a limb and say she’s going to try and off Dany after she torches King’s Landing and executes Varys (and maybe Tyrion too) for trying to crown Jon instead. And no, I don’t think for one second GRRM will go that way with the books.

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