Wednesday 22 May 2019

GAME OF THRONES S8

                Game Of Thrones S8: A fitting Finale or The Worst of the Best?!?

The Eight season of multiple award winning hit TV show Game of Thrones promised two(2) events capable of having cataclysmic effects on the realm of man. The season offered the viewers and adept followers of the franchise; Winter and a very long night, and further a promise of Succession to the Iron Throne. All of these teased to be presented in 6 of the most intense episodes in tv history, 6 episodes worth more in production budget than 4 seasons of some incredible tv series.
The questions that teased this season as the biggest of all were; Would Jon Snow succeed to the Iron Throne? How would the armies of man fare against the undead army of the Night King, Are Cersei, Daenerys and Jon Snow set for an intense conflict over the Iron Throne?!?
 
A brief perusal of the introductory paragraphs shows the potentials that the 8th season packed. The number of conflicts that ought to be created and resolved, the manner in which some of the already existing conflicts ought to be given a rivetting and fitting conclusion and most importantly the expectation of a breathtaking masterpiece of a well told story... but Season 8 is everything but a masterpiece, it couldn't even be called rivetting, and it as sure as daylight was nothing breathtaking and was never close to being a marvel that fans were promised!
At the very best, season 8 was a classic example of an enthusiastic, Creative and brilliant story teller of a father, who had told brilliant bed time stories to his child for 7  consecutive nights, but who increasingly grew weary of the arduous task and became bereft of interesting and creative ways of making the child sleep on the 8th night.
That being said, the problem HBO, Weiss and Benioff had was living up to the hype and viewer expectations they had by their own ingenious marketing created. The absolutely incredible storytelling of 7 solid seasons, the detailed and well crafted character development over the course of 7 gruelling seasons and the evolution of complex, diverse and multiplicity of conflict points over the course of these 7 seasons, all culminating into 2 very distinct conflict points, and the potential to create a final 3rd conflict ensured that the 8th season attracted all of the attention the viewing audience could muster. But that was just one half of the contrition; the second half was by marketing this season as the biggest, most expensive and the longest 6 episodes never before seen in tv history. The budget, the 2 year hiatus to create an absolute beauty, and oh my God, the teaser of the most intense scripted battle in history of tv. All of these had the audience and fans alike drooling at the prospects of watching one of the most iconic tv shows to ever grace our screens come to an end in an emphatic blaze of glory.
Was HBO able to deliver on the promise? No! Why did the show fail to deliver on this promised marvel?
The biggest mistake the directors made with the 8th season was thinking creative freedom had no limit. Creative freedom is always limited by the needs of the viewing audience, especially where the audience has been so invested in the show, that being too creative will not come off as creativity, but may rather be seen as a total loss of ideas, or a stupid decision to deviate from the expected. 

Benioff and Weiss obviously chose to tell a story that no one expected, they chose a conclusion that would Surprise even an adept follower of the show, even at the detriment of making much sense, or connecting with the viewing audience.
Episode 1 of the 8th season set the tone for a momentous high for the series to go out on. It developed and hid just beneath the surface, the early traces of a potential conflict between the North and Cersei's claims to the throne. But it appeared that the developers felt this was an easy way to tow, easily predictable, but one which we admit was capable of allowing for a more rivetting story, than an increasingly dire need to make a coward out of Jon Snow and Tyrion.
Let me make a case against the 2nd and 3rd episodes. Whereas the 2nd episode was absolutely unnecessary in the scheme of things, the 3rd was a disastrous let down. The major purport of the 2nd episode was to present to the viewing audience the impending disaster waiting to confront the realm of man, the dire need for victory and an apparent odds against the united army of the North and Daeny securing victory. This ought to have been a good episode, if only the follow through(3) delivered on everything promised. Episode 3 failed amazingly, for what reasons? The Dothraki charge extinguished in a flicker of a switch, smacked of poor scripting. The inconsistencies in the war plan, it's failure (even though a slight deviation could have saved the battle), the depiction of Jon as a brainless love struck dummy who goes where Daeny goes and a very anti-climactic end to the terror of the Night King. As though this was not all enough, majority of the battle was in absolute pitch black grainy rendition. If you spend a whole lot of money to create a fight scene, it better be clear for all to see where the money went. The audience is not against scripting fight scenes in the dark, but you could take a cue from The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers and do it properly. The entirety of episode 3 was poorly done, the glorious deaths we expected in the said episode were more of stupid exits than heart rending exits. Perhaps that explained the unnecessary need to sacrifice Missandei and Varys in order to connect with the audience once again.
Viserion batted and destroyed the Wall, the first line of protection for the real of man, but yet could not huff and puff and blow away the little walls comprising of Winterfell, neither could it fell the little craggy walls behind which Jon hid. Samwell Tarley had no business in the field of battle and we have always believed he was smart enough to know where he had his influence and where he was only but a nuisance, why the character deviation then?
I am all for the Arya kill but someone still has not explained not only how she snuck past the Generals of the Night King, and have failed to explain what she was doing in the air, did Drogon or his brother fly her there? Appalling!


Let me quickly transition to the march upon Kings Landing and the before and after credits. First visual impressions were that the Dothraki were obliterated, with only a few returning from the charge, while the Unsullied were also decimated in defence of the walls of Winterfell. This conclusion is supported by the next credits where the 'remaining Dothraki rode south with the Northmen, while the surviving Unsullied sailed for Kings Landing. The Unsullied suffered yet more loses in the attack by Euron's armada and when they lined up in formation outside the walls of Kings Landing, it looked like the situation could not be any more dire than that, a very depleted army and an emotionally broken Queen.
  Not only did the Dothraki suddenly multiply after the decimation of Kings Landing, but the Unsullied appeared to triple their numbers, and could even create an astonishing military formation in honour of their Queen. Colour everyone surprised. Not only is this poor scripting, it's basic editing and amateurish directing to go against logic, for the purpose of creating that one brilliant scene of military beauty. The Formation, the entry of the Queen, and the wings of Drogon extending beyond the external limits of the limbs of the Queen, as though they were her own appendages. That is a good cinematic rendition, but was it worth trivialising the losses of war to achieve? I think not!
Why was making a cliché the preferred narrative? Not only is it Cliché that Daeny became a mad Queen following very well laid footsteps, but she also fell into the weak female character Cliché. We would have thought that as a self proclaimed war mongering liberator, Daenerys should be able to withstand the fall outs of battle, and should be a little brazen in the face of rapidly declining odds. Why she lost her head after the failure of the Dothraki charge at Winterfell is bothersome, why she lost all humanity at the loss of a dragon and Missandei is even yet more curious. If you want to appraise the entirety of the GOT, you will discover that there have been characters who have suffered yet more tribulations than Daeny, and they have refused to descend into utter inhumanity and colossal derangement. One of such is perhaps the sad story of Sansa Stark, who has lost family, been Violated, tormented and bargained with, and yet remains calm headed and much more of a rational schemer than Daeny. Thus, the explanation proffered as the reason for Daeny's capitulation is utter nonsense and can't hold up to intense scrutiny.
  Bran is king!! Bran is king!!! And the one true heir is banished, to man the nights watch, albeit with an honorary title as Lord commander of the free folk.. Okay the last part is a joke. But that's how the ending of Game of Thrones comes off. It's funny in the most ridiculous of proportions. Bran who had done nothing all 7 seasons, but who obviously purports to know all things becomes King. Nothing against his personality, but the viewers never really connected with him after the end of season7. He served a purpose, the end of the Night King, and as the end of the NK failed abysmally, so did the relevance of Bran end in abysmal fashion.
Jon Snow and Tyrion, men who are of valor and high repute, became cowards, back stabbers and hopeless betrayers. After having built their character attributes, it's so sad that everything came crashing down in one magical stroke of the pen; the heel turn of Daeny.
  Once again, the season wasted the character Potential of some of the cast. Euron Greyjoy, Cersei, Jamie and Brienne were all wasted. What business Euron and Jamie had duelling under the crypts is still a mystery, it goes against the character profile of Euron, who ordinarily would have high tailed it out of dodge at the slightest sign of danger! Why did he act contrary?
  Why were the Golden company made to suffer the humiliation of not even swinging a sword before they all lost their lives?
What are the Unsullied and the Dothraki and the Second sons supposed to do now? They are not co-opted and as such may have spin off stories. Create a house and a banner? Who will be their wives? And who will be descendants of the House Unsullied? It's even Funny thinking about it.
And then we have Arya the Explorer, the girl with no name who discovered America at the most extreme edges of Westeros. Utter rubbish. What could have been more hilarious than attempting to tell a love story between Jon and Daenerys, but failing woefully. All we saw was one sided affection being shown by Jon and same being not reciprocated by Daeny. Disgusting!!

Perhaps the only positive is the coronation of Sansa Stark, the Queen in the North. Her character has come a full circle from the first season's weakness and insecurities to the 8th season's defiance and strength of character. And the fact that Ramin Djawadi consistently delivered exquisite musical rendition from season 1 to the 8th, it's astonishing the genius of the man.
  Conclusively, you may not be able to call Season 8 a very poor series, but you can in all honesty and safety call it the worst of the 8 seasons, a big let down and an utterly dismal contrition. It was not a good idea to try to be overly clever with the story and the conclusion of the show. For some reason or the other, brilliant PR and marketing has become the undoing of the show's 8th season. This is one show that just could not live up to its billing as the greatest piece of all time.
That being said, the show runners and the studio have achieved what they set out to do. They have riled up the viewing audience, they have amassed huge following, and have shattered records in the process. It also holds a record for being one of the first shows that fans petitioned it's finale and demanded a complete re scripting.
It's still a good job, but it is one that could have been a stellar job nonetheless.
Our countenance however changes when we compare the 8th season with the previous 7 seasons. It immediately changes from a good job to a hot mess.

We will shut out the petitions, and shut out the screeching sounds of fan boys trying to sound relevant, and rate this dispassionately as a regular job with an FCA AppR of 7.4/10
Genre: Fantasy
Created by: David Benioff, D. B. Weiss
Based on: A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin
Theme music composer: Ramin Djawadi
Opening theme "Main Title" Composer(s): Ramin Djawadi
Country of origin: United States
Executive producer(s):
David Benioff
D. B. Weiss
Carolyn Strauss
Frank Doelger
Bernadette Caulfield
Bryan Cogman
Miguel Sapochnik
David Nutter
Producer(s):
Mark Huffam
Frank Doelger
Chris Newman
Greg Spence
Lisa McAtackney
Bryan Cogman
Duncan Muggoch
Production location(s):
Northern Ireland
Croatia
Iceland
Spain
Malta
Morocco

4 comments:

  1. A master piece analysis....seems there is an error in the writeup where you said daeny was avoiding Jon snows love interest,should have been the other way around. In depth analysis,Standing ovation for you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What is the true measure of love? It's not just showing affection to the significant other, it's about being an object worthy of love. How do u think Jon could love someone who could not be loved by her actions? Jon was ready to stand by her even in her periods of insanity, but was she ready to listen to his words of reason? Was she willing to entertain the thought that he perhaps had a better claim to the iron throne? All of these are answered in the negative. That's why we say she failed to reciprocate Jon's love for her.

      Delete
  2. Wow this is the best analogical deduction and critiqing of a tv ever written by anyone fromthe niger-area i wish beniof and weiss can accross this nice job fellas.

    ReplyDelete

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