After starting my Game of Thrones (GoT) project a couple of years ago, I finally finished the 8th and final season of the show. I finished reading the books for the first time a handful of months ago, and of course had to finish the story with the TV show since the book series famously isn't finished yet. Sarah swears I watched the entire TV series when it was first released. After watching the show more recently, however, I vaguely remember just parts of season 7 and didn't have any recollection of season 8. I honestly had no idea how the series ended until I finished season 8 just a few weeks ago. After finishing the season, I initially had a bad taste in my mouth regarding how everything ended. After some thought and reflection, I've mostly come to peace with how everything went down, but I struggled to reach that point. Below I'll leave my thoughts on season 8 of Game of Thrones as well as my final thoughts of the series as a whole.
In the very first scene of season 1 episode 1 of GoT, before the opening credits are even shown, we are introduced to the army of the dead. For several seasons we are progressing toward this monumental war between the army and the people of Westeros, and when the battle finally occurs south of the Wall, we are given what has to be one of the darkest shows in television history. I mean literally dark, like every scene was so dark I could barely tell what was going on, hence the black box above. I guess this has infamously been criticized and critiqued, so I won't dwell on it anymore, but it would have been nice to know what was going on. Arya killed the Night King, which was awesome.
After defeating the army of the dead, Daenerys, Jon Snow & Co. head south to face Cersei Lannister at King's Landing. Thankfully the lighting in King's Landing is a bit better than what we got in the north part of Westeros, but what goes down in King's Landing is understandably controversial. Like I said above, I have mixed emotions about how the series ended, but after some additional thought I've generally come to accept what was portrayed.
I think the biggest hurdle my mind had to clear was that I wanted, and maybe even expected, a fairytale ending to this series. I wanted Daenerys to take King's Landing, marry Jon Snow, and live happily ever after. Instead, Daenerys destroyed King's Landing with her dragon and was murdered by Jon Snow. The entire episode when this was occurring I was in shock. But after I had a week or so to digest what had happened, it made a bit more sense to me. We spent several seasons listening to Daenerys say that she would do what ever it took to take King's Landing. Once her friend and assistant Missandei was murdered in front of her by Cersei's order, it should come as no surprise that Daenerys would go on a rampage. Plus, look at her family history. Her dad was known as the "Mad King" for a reason. Jon Snow never seemed to like the attention of being a king or leader, even though he was good at it. Going back to the north and the Wall likely is where he feels most comfortable, even though the need for the Watch is questionable now that the Army of the Dead has been defeated. Arya riding off into the sunset and Sansa returning to the North to rule is fitting. While I was in shock as I watched how all of this unfolded, the more time I had to digest it, the more sense it made. I think the biggest disappointment of the entire ending was how Cersei died. We had been waiting the entire series for her character to get what she deserved, and I was really hoping Jaime would have killed her once they reunited in the Red Keep. It would have been even better if Jaime had killed her, only to remove his face to reveal that he was Arya performing her Faceless Man magic. But instead, they both get crushed as the Red Keep collapses due do dragon destruction. While realistic in terms of warfare, it was a bit anti-climactic for their characters.
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