Notes and Nuggets: "Game of Thrones" Season 8, Episode 6

When you were growing up, did you ever guess that as an adult you’d be glued to a TV show about dragons and ice zombies? Because I sure did! (Never mind – most of these things are gone!) Here are my thoughts on the last season of Game of Thrones. Um, spoilers!

· Well, here we are, the last episode of “Game of Thrones”. Before we begin, let’s look ahead – is there anything else that can replace it? “WestWorld” (blew its shot)? “Stranger Things” (can’t hang on every episode)? “Watchmen” (have deep reservations about that one)? Probably won’t be doing a TV recap for a very long while.

· I know it’s the last episode, but here’s something I’ve been pondering since episode one: You’d think that with centuries worth of classical music all the best songs would already have been created; and yet, in a period where classical music is an afterthought, in order to score a show on cable, one of the best classical songs you could ever hear was created. Big props to the composer!

· Based on the way Tyrion looks and acts while walking through King’s Landing and the Red Keep, it really looks like he’ll be the one to assassinate Daenerys

· Before the season began the Internet was abuzz that there was some special secret hidden in the Red Keep. Turned out to be as useless as the crypts of Winterfell. Nice one, Internet.

· Didn’t Arya escape on a pale horse last episode? Why is she walking around King’s Landing? You know, I loved the first season of the show “Fringe” that came out about a decade or so ago. Really tight first season. They followed it up in seasons 2-4 where apparently the writer of each episode had never seen an episode of “Fringe”, including the immediately preceding episode. The pale horse thing may not sound like a big deal, but it does give me bad “Fringe” vibes.

· Good thing they brought that giant Targaryen flag with them to drape over the remains of the Red Keep

· Some people love the way it looks like Drogon’s wings sprout out of Daenerys’s back in that one scene, and some people hate it. Me, I love it – I came here for the fantasy elements.

· So Daenerys wants to break the wheel…with her as absolute ruler. She’d go far in American politics!

· So here we go, Tyrion walks right up to Dany, and he…resigns? That was underwhelming.

· While I came to this series for the fantasy, I stayed for the acting and writing on display during the Jon and Tyrion debate. Deep philosophizing over fundamental issues between characters you really care for. No matter how disappointing this last season has been, remember how amazing this series can be, especially during conversations like this.

· Really loved how Jon defended Dany’s actions again and again, until Tyrion asked Jon if he would have done the same thing and left Jon speechless. Considering his claim to the throne, I’d say that’s a key moment.

· Tyrion says Dany really does want to make the world a better place, just with her as the undisputed ruler. Very neo-con.

· “Love is more powerful than reason. We all know that. Look at my brother.” Did they have Jaime hook up with Brienne and then leave her a few hours later just to pay off this Tyrion quote?

· Jon approaches the snow-covered Red Keep, a large pile of snow starts shifting, and it turns out to be Drogon unfurling himself. Awesome visual. One question, though – didn’t Dany say a few episodes ago that the dragons were having trouble with the cold?

· As soon as Dany touched the Iron Throne you KNEW she would never sit in it!

· Jon embraces Dany in a kiss, then shanks her. I’ll say one thing – this is the best show I’ve ever seen that employs casual incest.

· Drogon torching the Iron Throne was a great TV moment that evaporates after a few seconds of thought. Why not torch Jon? He was RIGHT THERE! Not to mention, that would actually have been a good death for Jon and an interesting development.

· Wait, when is this council thing taking place? Why is there no snow on the ground? Is it summer again? I was waiting for a title card to say “5…years…later”.

· Unnamed Prince of Dorne alert!

· Davos, usually awesome, stops Arya and Yarra from fighting. Umm…that fight would have been awesome?

· How does the prisoner get to choose the method of picking a leader?

· Sit down Edmure Tully! Loved Sansa directing him with her eyes, as well as his sword banging into the chair.

· Sam invented democracy – write it down

· “Maybe we should give the dogs a vote as well?” Sounds like someone’s working on Brian Kemp’s re-election slogan.

· Tyrion picking Bran based on his story is a very weak moment in the series. Not only is that a terrible reason to pick a leader (the Westerosi equivalent of picking a president you’d want to have a beer with), but he doesn’t even have the best story in his FAMILY. Forget about Jon (although it’s hard not to) – what about Sansa, who went through hell upon hell to return to her people? What about Arya, who KILLED THE EFFING NIGHT KING?!?! The only good thing is that Bran has no wants and no interest in people, so at least he’ll say no.

· HE ACCEPTED?!?! What in the name of Hot Pie?!?!

· Just to reiterate, there were two very recent and very important battles. In the Battle of Winterfell, Bran used himself as bait (a plus), then warged into birds, apparently only in an attempt to avoid conversation with Theon, then watched Arya strike the killing blow. In the Battle of King’s Landing, he did NOTHING. Why would anyone every follow this guy? His stunning charisma? Seems more like Grand Maester material.

· Everyone votes Bran in, we get to his sister…and she declares the North independent. First of all, great vote of confidence, sis. Second of all, why doesn’t everyone else get a do-over? Did they know this was an option?

· Tyrion: “Thought I was wise but I wasn’t. I thought I knew what was right but I didn’t.” Was this the writers talking directly to us?

· Why is there still a Nightswatch? What are they watching? It can’t be only to give bastards something to do – put them all on a farm or something. Don’t just make them watch snow where there USED to be enemies.

· Why did Grey Worm demand justice regarding Jon Snow, then have the Unsullied leave immediately thereafter? Why do you care what happens if you’ve got one foot out the door already?

· Good moment when the Stark kids come together for one final time (not shown: Rickon). How far they’ve come.

· “What’s west of Westeros?” Arya discovers America – write it down.

· Bran: “You were exactly where you were supposed to be.” Approve Yoda would.

· Brienne completing Jaime’s history was touching. Again, I think this moment actually works better without the hookup, when it’s based on respect. But what are you gonna do?

· So Sam only wrote the title of the book? Also, didn’t he drop out of maester school? One thing is for sure: this episode could have used some Gilly.

· Love when Tyrion finds out he’s not even mentioned in the histories. There’s always a bigger fish!

· Wait, what is Bronn doing on the small council? Easy answer is he’s lord of Highgarden, but last time we saw him he was threatening the lives of Tyrion and hi snow-dead brother. Are we just going to forget that happened? Or did Bronn and Tyrion have a manly heart-to-heart to resolve their differences? Was that just not deemed cinematic enough? I said it before – pitting Bronn against Tyrion wouldn’t produce any good outcomes – in this case, they may as well have left the storyline out of the show.

· That’s SER Podrick, thank you very much

· I will say, it was good to see Bran’s council actually get down to a little business – feels like an actual end to the story

· Tormund was still at the Wall? What, did his car break down? When is this happening again? Also, Jon finally gets to pet Wolf!

· Of the three Stark endings, the one that feels most meaningful to me was Sansa’s. Think about her beginnings – in season one she was the girl who wanted the trappings of royalty without having done anything to deserve them. Over the course of the show she has seen more of life than anyone should, and had to endure hardship after hardship. She definitely earned her title.

· So…Jon’s not coming back, is he?

· Look your mileage will vary on the whole “singing the theme song” thing, but to me it was too reminiscent of the “Star Wars Christmas Special” Leia fiasco

· Here’s a little inside baseball for you: since the first episode I’ve been watching these twice – once to get a general sense of the episode, and once to take notes. This episode had the widest variance – it was cruising for a high rating after the first viewing, but the second viewing left it riddled with plot holes and missed choices. Six out of ten hot dogs.

· So…that is it, I guess. Thanks for joining me for the final season of what, despite the last few episodes, was one of the all-time great TV series. Let’s hope something else comes along to fill that vacuum!