Game of Thrones Season 8 TV Review

Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
Season 8 - 6 episodes (2018)

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Created by: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
Starring: Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Lena Headey, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillan, Gwendoline Christie 

Plot: 
HBO's fantasy drama series adapted from George R.R. Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire follows the civil war of kings and usurpers in Westeros who wish to sit on the throne. The scale and scope of the story is staggering, fully realized with a large ensemble cast.

Verdict
How can you not watch the final season of this epic story? At the conclusion of the show, this journey was undeniably worth it.
This season at times felt like a recap. There are a lot of smaller moments I would have liked to see to build the big payoff moments this season has. This season has a few specific story points to wrap up and it does just that, but the criticism is that it doesn't do much more than that story wise. This direction and the look of this season is phenomenal. Was there ever a way to sufficiently conclude such a sprawling story? That's a difficult task, but this series is more than the final season. The character development and arcs in this series are at such a huge scale, and I was happy with most of those arcs, in concept at least.
Watch it.

Review
If you want to read my episode by episode recap, click here. While I will have a spoilers, those will be clearly marked and hidden.

I feel a certain sense of loss, the type you feel when it sets in that no more books or episodes of a property will be made, or at least when the main story has concluded. Game of Thrones has ended. It was a fun journey as I watched these characters grow and the actors grow up. It's been nearly ten years.

I read the first four books before the series ever began. The first three books are great, the fourth was more of a chore and I didn't finish the fifth. I picked the fifth back up when the show started but didn't get far, and picked up where I left off when the show caught up to the books, but it didn't take.

My Game of Thrones TV series interest had begun to wane around season four. The cast and lore had just gotten so large that you needed a list of the characters. Episodes often felt like a clip show as each one tried to cram in all the characters. I never abandoned the show, but my enthusiasm had decreased. Season six changed that, refocusing the story. In season seven all of the stories began to converge.

Season 8 felt a bit uneven, but my complaints are mainly due to the pacing. There just aren't a lot of small scenes to build up the big moments. This season movies quick, showing us highlights, and that hurts the story.
The conclusion felt a bit safe. Quite a few characters are still alive and it almost feels like misguided fan service. A more daring conclusion would have had fewer people alive. There are always going to be characters you wish had a more defined ending when the cast is so big, but having fewer alive would also help that. This season was easier than most in that I didn't have to frequently Google characters to determine their significance.
I do like the symmetry of where the show began and how it ends character-wise, but what's going to prevent a quest for the throne to happen again? Right now, it's not much more than we know better. History does repeat, and maybe that is inevitable.

I wasn't disappointed with the finale. It wrapped up all the story lines and provided a few surprises too. This season just felt truncated, but as a capstone to the series it got us to the end which was it's job. I'm content with how things ended up, though I had a few gripes along the way. The concept of what happened to these characters is fine, though the expression lacks for many.
I watched this show weekly as it came out since 2011, and while I'd like to watch it all from the beginning now that I know how it ends, that's a tall order. If would be fun to watch the very first episode again since there was plenty of symmetry. This has been an intricate and demanding series with plenty of characters playing all kinds of games. Few series ever reach such epic proportions and manage to capture the pop culture spotlight as this did. For nine years I was captivated by the quest for the throne. On this day that story ended. Now I wonder, will the books ever conclude or is this all we'll ever get? If the books do conclude, I can't wait to see what changes.

The series was never really about who would sit on the throne, it was about the journey each of these characters endured. That's what I'm going to remember about this show, the character arcs. While I feel like there are a few too many still around, we've lost a lot over the years too.

Spoilers! Spoilers!
 

Jon Snow ends up as the Commander of the Night's Watch. He was sent to the wall in the first season, became the Commander, then flirted with being a King. He ends in the same spot. I feel bad for Jon. He sacrificed for the good of the realm. How does he go back to the wall after all he's done and experience? His arc might be the most tragic, as death would have freed him from that. What will he even watch from the wall? He's got to build that force up from nothing while repairing the wall, but is there anything to repel at this point?

Sansa ends as the Queen of the North. It's where she always wanted to be but her reasons are drastically different.

Arya is off the explore the unknown. That's cool, but what happened to the assassin we envisioned? She was a faceless man and used that trick just once that I recall. I expected her to assume identities much more than she did. It's just an easy out for her character.

Bran is king, and that makes a lot of sense as far as logic. He's the most knowledgeable character on the show. Won't he have to pass on his power at some point?

Daenerys was Queen of the seven kingdoms for only a short while. The truncated nature of the story does her the most disservice. She wants to free the lands from tyranny, but she free King's Landing by killing them unnecessarily. The show never really addresses the split in her thinking. She killed innocents after they surrendered. The ones that fought for Cersei fought due to a lack of choice. They served those in power, it didn't matter who. The show went all in to make her a threat and it's just clumsy. I get why Daenerys leveled the city, but that doesn't quite square. Rage and vengeance isn't acceptable. I think the show's intent was that Daenerys wants to liberate everyone, but that's going to cause a lot of innocent casualties.

Tyrion is the hand to the king. It's a role that was surprising when he first got it and still surprising that he kept it. It's a flat conclusion for Tyrion.

Bron may be the biggest question mark. What qualifies him to be the treasurer? He's a sell sword, nothing more. Th'at's a forced conclusion.

Varys death was forced. As much double dealing as he's done, it just seems strange he got caught even if Tyrion did have a hand in that.

Jamie's pull back to Cersei seems dictated by forced symmetry. Jamie shouldn't have gone back to her. He should have died in battle. Cersei goes out with a whimper. I was hoping she'd die with the city, but she flees. She doesn't even have a plan. This is the woman that blew up a place of worship to defeat her foes. I wanted her to remain at King's Landing hoping she could defend it so her unborn baby would have a place to live.

The conclusion overall falls flat. All of the houses will vote on who will rule. I get Sam's suggestion of a true democracy wouldn't work, but I also didn't like how the show handled it. It wasn't the time for comedic relief. How it ended could have been helped by the setup. Bran's reign is a rule of sacrifice and knowledge rather than might and brawn. Ruling by force doesn't work so they'll try a new way.

In a hundred years a war for a crown may happen again, and I like the idea that history will repeat but the show didn't communicate that idea.