Game of Thrones Season 8 - A Failure or too brilliant for the Average Fan to unterstand?
Rarely has a television season been waited for more anxiously than the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones. After a decent beginning the show in the opinion of many fans has spiraled downwards to the worst possible ending.
While a lot of people criticize the outcome, I have more of a problem with the way the characters were led to the outcome or often their death.
Please note that what now follows are mayor spoilers until Season 8 episode 5. Do not go on reading if you haven't seen this season so far.
A famous crime writer once said, that the first thing he comes up with is the motive and the rest of the story evolves around it. This is where the root of the problem lies in season 8. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss seemed to always have had an idea, as to where they want to get with their story, yet haven't considered carefully enough how to get the characters there. They seemed to have reached a point in Season 7, where they had to have their characters turn around a 180 degrees to get there and that is a major problem with season 8.
Personally when I write, I let my story and my characters lead the way and have only a very rough outline of the plot. More often than not, has my story taken me to a place I didn't intend to get to in the first place, but in the end it seemed more honest and organic. I take a character and put him in a situation and then let him react according to his personality, regardless of what I have planned in the end for him. To me this makes writing fun and exciting but enough about my own technique and back to Game of Thrones.
I am going to point out, where in my opinion the motivation for the characters is missing and how I would have fixed it, resulting in the same outcome.
Daenerys Targaryen - The Mad Queen:
This was probably the biggest shocker for most people, but if your rewatch the old seasons, is was not that much of a surprise.
She comes from a family with a known history of mental health issues, due to incestuous marriages. She has a temper and has not a problem with cruelty, when she considers it justified. Just rewatch Viserys death. Although he certainly was a vile man who had threatened her, the way in which he died was extremely gruesome. Yet Daenerys almost seemed to enjoy it. Another proof of her tendency to cruelty is her habit of executing her enemies by dragon fire. Everyone gasped when Stannis burned people alive but with Dany most people passed this over.
Regardless she always showed a sense of justice and will to protect the innocent. So what made her snap? Of course it could be a combination of things: Knowing that she is in fact not the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, losing Ser Jorah, losing Missandei or losing Rhaegal. However the show leaves the viewer with the little emotional feedback. Her reaction at all these events seemed almost healthy. The only thing that seems a bit out of the ordinary is her not eating, but aftter having just lost two of her best friends it seems like a normal reaction to mourn loved ones. Since she has lost people before without snapping, it seems like an unlikely trigger.
A real trigger would have been for her to lose the one thing she has always wanted: The Iron Throne. But Jon has always been very clear about not wanting to rule, so she didn't have to fear that. How about a dialogue that indicates he knows ruling is his duty and that she can be the queen by his side. It would have been in accordance with Jon's character who is extremely dutiful and would have been humiliating for her, because as Queen consort she would have been again reduced to "a piece of decoration", after she fought so hard to become a ruler in her own right.
Another possibility would have been to film Missandei's death in a way, that cheering was heard from the crowd on the other side of the city wall. This would have meant, that the people she wanted to save (from Cersei) were just as bad as Cersei and masses cheering at the death of a loved one would make anyone snap.
Jamie Lannister:
This one really bothered me personally as Jamie Lannister was by far my favourite character. Until episode 8.3 his development had been phenomenal. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's brilliant interpretation made it possible that the audience started seeing a guy who had attempted to murder a child as a hero of the story.
From a storyteller's point of view it was evident since his redemption began, that he wouldn't survive the show. For his redemption to be completed he had to make the ultimate sacrifice. Personally I think the way Theon died would have been perfect for Jamie as well, as he would have saved Bran, whom he had tried to kill. It would have closed the circle. But Alfie Allen's performance in his final scene was gut wrenching, so no criticism there.
Back to Jamie: We have 7 seasons of redemption, where he does numerous things, without any personal gain and that even bring about Cersei's anger, who according to the writers is still the only person he cares about, although she put a contract on his head. We see him consummate his relationship with Brienne and even discuss with Tyrion how happy he is and then without any further trigger, he decides to go back to Cersei? People don't make life altering choices on a whim, something happens that makes them decide.
If the writers wanted to bring him back to King's Landing it would have been better not to have him get together with Brienne, instead rebuffing her with something like this: "If I could choose whom to love, it would be you. But we can't choose whom we love." This was a repeated phrase regarding this obsession with Cersei and would have summed up his relationship with Brienne perfectly.
When we meet Jamie in Season 1 he is a cynic and disappointed. He had been enthusiastic when joining the kingsguard looking for honour, duty and other moral values, instead he found only corruption at court.
Brienne represents all that he had assumed were nothing but a fantasy. The world he had hoped for, this is why she appeals to him. But there is a difference between that and sexual desire. This way he would have literally given in to his addiction for Cersei, if that is what the writers wanted.
Cersei Lannister
She has been an amazing villain for the last three seasons, which is thanks to Lena Headleys chilling performance. Cersei's only redeeming quality is (according to Tyrion) that she loves her children. When Tommen commits suicide due to something she did, it literally pushes her over the edge. Instead of mourning her son, she crowns herself queen, her last bit of humanity gone. She finally unleashes her sociapathic tendencies in the full. She is ruthless to the point of prostituting herself to Euron Greyjoy and putting a contract on Jamie and Tyrion.
As King's Landing is being destroyed she still refuses to accept reality instead claiming "All we need is one good shot!" meaning that once Drogon was shot down she would win the war.
Then on death's door the writers want us to believe that not only does she forgive Jamie for leaving her (She was never the forgiving type!) but becomes a sniveling mess? This reaction matches in no way her character, nor her mental state. Again this scene is beautifully played by Lena Headley and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau if watched detached, it just was totally out of character for both Jamie und Cersei.
If the concept of the twins dying together was what it was about, it should have been more like Jamie trying to get her out of the Red Keep but Cersei stubbornly insisting that the Red Keep has never fallen. This would have fitted into her delusional state of mind.
There are several other points, which make it obvious that the writers were aiming for quick closure and completely ignored what drives the characters.
There has been a petition started to reshoot this season, which by the time of writing this article has already reached 620.000 signatures. We all know that this is not going to happen, but maybe we can hope for a directors cut with some additional scenes that might fix this.
Do you agree with my assessment? Let me know in the comment section!
From a storyteller's point of view it was evident since his redemption began, that he wouldn't survive the show. For his redemption to be completed he had to make the ultimate sacrifice. Personally I think the way Theon died would have been perfect for Jamie as well, as he would have saved Bran, whom he had tried to kill. It would have closed the circle. But Alfie Allen's performance in his final scene was gut wrenching, so no criticism there.
Back to Jamie: We have 7 seasons of redemption, where he does numerous things, without any personal gain and that even bring about Cersei's anger, who according to the writers is still the only person he cares about, although she put a contract on his head. We see him consummate his relationship with Brienne and even discuss with Tyrion how happy he is and then without any further trigger, he decides to go back to Cersei? People don't make life altering choices on a whim, something happens that makes them decide.
If the writers wanted to bring him back to King's Landing it would have been better not to have him get together with Brienne, instead rebuffing her with something like this: "If I could choose whom to love, it would be you. But we can't choose whom we love." This was a repeated phrase regarding this obsession with Cersei and would have summed up his relationship with Brienne perfectly.
When we meet Jamie in Season 1 he is a cynic and disappointed. He had been enthusiastic when joining the kingsguard looking for honour, duty and other moral values, instead he found only corruption at court.
Brienne represents all that he had assumed were nothing but a fantasy. The world he had hoped for, this is why she appeals to him. But there is a difference between that and sexual desire. This way he would have literally given in to his addiction for Cersei, if that is what the writers wanted.
Cersei Lannister
She has been an amazing villain for the last three seasons, which is thanks to Lena Headleys chilling performance. Cersei's only redeeming quality is (according to Tyrion) that she loves her children. When Tommen commits suicide due to something she did, it literally pushes her over the edge. Instead of mourning her son, she crowns herself queen, her last bit of humanity gone. She finally unleashes her sociapathic tendencies in the full. She is ruthless to the point of prostituting herself to Euron Greyjoy and putting a contract on Jamie and Tyrion.
As King's Landing is being destroyed she still refuses to accept reality instead claiming "All we need is one good shot!" meaning that once Drogon was shot down she would win the war.
Then on death's door the writers want us to believe that not only does she forgive Jamie for leaving her (She was never the forgiving type!) but becomes a sniveling mess? This reaction matches in no way her character, nor her mental state. Again this scene is beautifully played by Lena Headley and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau if watched detached, it just was totally out of character for both Jamie und Cersei.
If the concept of the twins dying together was what it was about, it should have been more like Jamie trying to get her out of the Red Keep but Cersei stubbornly insisting that the Red Keep has never fallen. This would have fitted into her delusional state of mind.
There are several other points, which make it obvious that the writers were aiming for quick closure and completely ignored what drives the characters.
There has been a petition started to reshoot this season, which by the time of writing this article has already reached 620.000 signatures. We all know that this is not going to happen, but maybe we can hope for a directors cut with some additional scenes that might fix this.
Do you agree with my assessment? Let me know in the comment section!
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