I recently re-watched the show during quarantine and I wanted to share with you some thoughts I wrote at the time about the finale, since I wasn't on reddit then.
HOW SHOULD HAVE SEASON 8 ENDED
"First give it two more full seasons so things don't get rushed. I actually liked most of the plot points of the finale (Dany goes mad after losing everything and Jon has to kill her to save the Seven Kingdoms is a perfect ending for their arcs), but everything was so rushed that none of the characters choices made sense. We should've seen Jon and Dany relationship develop more, while at the same time the work around her crumbles and she descends into tyranny.
The biggest problem was D&D refusing those extra two seasons HBO was willing to give.
Jon killing Dany, the biggest climax of the whole show, was supposed to be the toughest decision of his life, not only because she was his queen and he's a man of honor, but because he was supposed to be genuinely in love with her.
But what happened is he bent the knee, had sex with her and found out they're related in literally three episodes (7x06 - 8x01), so we never actually saw them happy for long, so why are we supposed to care about their relationship drama?
Whilst, for example, the Jon/Ygritte arc developed through three seasons, from the time they meet (2x06) until he burns her body beyond the wall (4x10).
And the same goes for pretty much every plot point this season. This could've ended exactly this way and be brilliant, if only they took the time to develop what happened.
Also, it's a bad move from the showrunners not to give future plot points away to their actors. That really can change a performance for the better.
It's one thing to withhold unexpected twists. Richard Madden didn't need to know about Robb's death (even though it was in the books), because it was set in motion by events outside the character.
Michael McElhatton, on the other hand, needed to know it, to play his Roose Bolton true to his character, even if he couldn't display it externally.
Nikolaj is a wonderful actor, as are Lena Headey and Gwendoline Christie, and the showrunners were lucky they could carry that arc as well as they did.
But I'm sure if Nikolaj knew Jaime would go back to Cersei as soon as she was in danger, he would've played his scenes with Lena in season 7 a little different, which could validate him coming back.
But alas D&D were going for the shock factor, including shocking their actors, which unfortunately means they're not getting their whole arc to work with.
Take Sean Bean for example: once you find out about Jon's parentage and the fact that Bean knew all along, you can really see all the subtle hints on Ned's face in his scenes with Jon and Robert.
But D&D clearly didn't plan ahead and I'm pretty sure the only plot points GRRM gave them was J=L+R, "Dany goes full on Mad Queen" and probably who ends in power.
They basically admited that when they said Arya killing the NK was decided like three years ago and her whole blue eyes conversation with Melisandre was pure coincidence!
And speaking of J=L+R, Jon Snow being Lyanna and Rhaegar's son was the most useless fact of the show. It amounted to literally nothing.
This was supposed to be the biggest mystery of the saga, the only thing GRRM asked D&D and the reason he handed them the show.
And yet, at the end, Jon could've been the son of Maester Pycelle and Old Nan and the outcome would've been exactly the same. Does anyone in that council even knows the true, besides the Stark Siblings and Tyrion?
What happened to those letters Varys was writing? Did Drogon burned all them crows?
And you're telling me Howland Reed, the head of a major House loyal to House Stark, a personal friend of Ned Stark who almost died for him and his sister, the man who sent his only children to protect Bran, the ONLY PERSON ALIVE who was with Ned when Jon was born and carried the secret with him, you're telling me now he doesn't really care about Jon, the North Independence, the Stark kids and a Targaryen torching down the capital he fought to conquer?
Casual show watchers probably won't care about him, but world building and history as always been the best part of ASOIAF and D&D completely sidelined that in favor of f'ing Bronn making brothel jokes.
With that said, everything that happened post- Jon killing Dany was absolute non-sense. And this is where I would really change things.
"Seeing his Mother dead, Drogon goes on a grieving rage and burns the Throne Room. Jon included. Flames everywhere. The Iron Throne melts. Jon Snow burned alive. Or is he? Suddenly, through the fire, comes Jon Snow, aka Aegon Targaryen, naked (mirroring Daenerys at the end of season 1, reborn from the flames). This is where his heritage comes into play. Drogon knows "fire cannot kill dragon" so he turns his back on Naked Jon/Aegon, takes Daenerys body and flies away. As he leaves, we see Grey Worm at the door, who just realized what happened. Grey Worm and Naked Jon/Aegon have an epic fight amongst the flames in the Throne Room, and Naked Jon/Aegon ends up killing him, not without giving him a chance to surrender first (he's a good guy after all). But... SHOCK! Grey Worm managed to stab Naked Jon/Aegon. A bleeding, fatally wounded Naked Jon/Aegon leaves the Throne Room and is assisted by Davos (mirroring season 6, when Jon Snow comes back to life, naked, and falls into Davos arms). "What have you done?!", Davos shouts. Naked Jon/Aegon asks for Arya. She arrives. "I was brought back for a reason... And now my watch has ended." Naked Jon/Aegon dies in Arya's arm, who cries over her brother's body. This scene is intercut with scenes of Ghost, still in Winterfell, howling. Cut to Bran, in the Godswood, hearing Ghost and realizing what happened. He's emotionless. Cut to Sansa, in the Great Hall, sheding a single tear, also realizing what happened. Cut to the Godswood again but now Bran's chair is empty. The camera lingers on the Old Tree, suggesting that now that the world is safe at last, he officially became the Three Eyed Raven and merged with the tree (like the 3ER before him). Cut again to Arya holding Dead Naked Jon/Aegon, and then Drogon crossing the Narrow Sea, with Daenerys, arriving to Essos, her true home, to bury her. Some time later Tyrion assembles a Council Meeting to decide who will rule the Seven Kingdoms. Since the last Targaryen are dead, so should the Seven Kingdoms, which were united by the Aegon the Conqueror. Therefore it's only fit to break them apart after the death of the last Aegon. The wheel was broken. The North will be ruled by Sansa Stark; the Iron Islands will be ruled by Yara Greyjoy; The Westerlands will be ruled by Tyrion Lannister; The Reach will be ruled by Samwell Tarly; the Stormlands will be ruled by Gendry Baratheon; Dorne will be ruled by whomever is there already; and Dragonstone will be given to Davos Seaworth. Arya sails west anyway, to new adventures. Brienne becomes Queensguard to Sansa, fulfilling her oath to Catelyn until the end. The show ends with a raven (is it Bran?) flying over Westeros, watching each Kingdom try to rebuild itself after the horrors of the war, sort of like a live-action version of the opening credits. The raven then goes beyond the abandoned wall, we see the wildings, Tormund, Ghost... The raven keeps flying north, where there's pretty much nothing more than darkness. As the screen starts fading to black, we see two blue eyes. THE END."
Submitted April 30, 2020 at 08:28PM by Robbie34DTee https://ift.tt/3bWq8pa
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