#lets give it up for month seven of this mixed episode lads | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

laissezferre · 5 years

Text

the terror (2018), last 3 eps

this is primarily for @corinthes, whom i’ve been yelling at for the past few days bc of this show. it got a bit lengthy and and i doubt you’d enjoy reading this from the chat box. spoilers beware for anyone curious enough.

i feel like episode 8 is the calm before the shitstorm that is ep 9-10 and it certainly has the feel of a filler episode, but i love it nonetheless. people talk! people have lines and are given the time to deliver them! francis and james have this important conversation even before the credits roll and that makes it all the more important. i love this scene; i see what you mean about how it belongs to a stage. it's just two guys having a heartfelt convo, beautifully acted. when the camera goes further and shows them standing apart, right in the middle of the frame, in this vast wasteland, looking at each other and having an understanding--gaawwd.

tobias's delivery of "i would like that very much" was so good! so vulnerable and open and hopeful. even now, he needs validation and it's important that he gets it from francis. and francis--having labeled the ship as a confessor--fills the ships' gap and becomes the confessor for everyone apparently. and at this point, he's reached god-like zen bc seriously he looks so put together after everyone's spilled their guts out to him. til the end, he dispenses "i forgive you" and "you did your best" and "you're a good lad" like pancakes. and he starts calling people by their first name too. and this, coming from a francis crozier who has known to be miserable and disagreeable, is called d e v e l o p m e n t. further on, when tells his lieutenants that if they got sick, he wouldn't leave them either, i thought "yes, i would die for you, i would follow you to hell and back". thank you, jared, for this performance.

i loved the almost-hanging scene too. it's a very looong scene and it's sad how so few shows actually take the time to have their characters talk! i can easily imagine this on a stage, complete with atmospheric smoke and sepia lighting. i knew that letter was gonna bite francis in the ass. i was waiting for it and hickey put down that card in the best time possible. hickey, you are a murdering, mutinous son of a bitch, but i also can't help but admire you.

ep 9 is like one sucker punch after another. god wants you to live, can we sleep, bridal carry, what can i do for you sir--this is... too much. special props tho to goodsir bc he has been through some shit. this show has added so many actors to my watch-for-next-projects list and that includes paul ready. he goes through such a transformation, so filled with hope and optimism and empathy and by the time they ask him to butcher gibson, he just looks so fucking done. we know he's going to die and it won't be by anyone else's hand. i love the part where hickey stabs gibson and they get into a struggle, but it’s less a physical struggle and more a battle of wills. can't believe they brought out the bits of glass from episode xX. his death was so beautifully shot. first, from where he sits still and looks in the direction of the camera while the tent canvass behind him thrashes wildly. that was hauntingly beautiful. then when he cuts his wrists but we can't see his face, only his spasms. and then when he pictures the flowers and shells. that broke me. he was a science man to the death.

i have words for jopson but i will reserve them for ep 10.

francis gave a service for james but they did it alone. ok then! fuck me up some more! this, plus blankly's revelation that he's gonna die soon, chips at francis' state of zen and we see him break a bit. i love how his voice breaks in "why didnt you say aything?!" and then they're laughing and crying at the same time and yeah, there is no toxic masculity in this murderland, just a whole lot of love.

this show like oprah giving out prizes. "you get a monologue! and you get a monologue! and you get a monologue!" and i love it! hodgson and tover are relatively minor characters but they are given time to speak up, and despite their shitty actions, you can't help but empathize. and their breakdowns aren't the same either. goodsir breathes heavily, hodgson is still and haunted, tover hugs himself and shudders, and they all do it so well! how is everyone in this show so good?? jared did mention that most of the cast was theater-trained so i guess that played a part.

i have to tell you that before bingeing the last 3 eps i watched almost all the terror crack videos on youtube, so these last eps were, though still heartbreaking, were also a bit funny for me, in an absurd kind of way. when james fires the rocket, i can hear "rocketman" in the background. when goodsir mixes the poison, i almost yelled "chemistry time!". it's just... i needed to make fun of it or i wouldn't surive the heartbreak. which leads me to:

jopsoooooonnn! the best boi! the goodest boi! the most loyal boi who did no wrong! apart from his death, what's more heartbreaking is that he thought crozier left him. he didn't know that the captain was abducted so he thought he's been deliberately abandoned. his hallucination reduced me to tears. he was probably starving to death and here was all this food but no, he! just! wanted! his! captain! he sees the captain in his best form--well kempt, alert, emphatic--and at the end of it, his captain is turned away from him. fuck me up seven ways to sunday. i desperately want bts pics from this scene bc the eeriness of having a full dining table in the wastes must be jarring.

little doesn't get enough credit, because while he did mess up, his loyalty is also something to be admired. they were hungry and sick and dying--they could very well have just kept on south but he was still insistent to save francis. "you would leave our captain with that devil of a man?" yes, little, you did your best. you deserved to die last.

if tunbaaq is meant to be a metaphor for nature and balance, it's absolutely fitting how it's defeated by lead and chemical poison. ultimately, how we've used technology and industrialization kills the environment--or at least that's how i read it.

i really have to applaud adam nagaitis for his performance here and i do think he deserves top billing as much as the lead cast. by the end of it, he draws as much screen time as crozier and you can even say that he holds the last 2-3 eps together. and you genuinely fucking hate his character. were those really james' boots he was wearing? does that mean they dug him up and looted him? that unforgiveable swine, may he rot in hell, but gawwd adam pulled it off well.

i've been debating with myself if it was kinder and more poetic to have crozier die at the end so that he wouldn't have to grieve or go through survivor's guilt, but for my own mental health, i'm glad he survived. it's a small mercy but i'm glad he got to live. i'm glad he got to see what happened to his men, that he saw jopson one final time, and little too. his survival also sends the message that the one most willing to adapt (and respect the culture) will survive. he tries to follow silna but stops when the chief says "it's just how we do things". he understands and he lets it go. he learns the language and the way of life--and he lives.

i've watched featurettes and interviews for this series and from there you can really see that this show was a labor of love. it was a product of collaboration, research, open-mindedness, and a solid cast and crew. you can have all the special effects, all the expensive costumes, but at the core of it, what makes a good story is Dialogue. i can honestly say that it's one of the best scripts this decade has ever produced. the showrunners set out to tell a story and they did it to the best of their ability. i'll be coming back to this series for the next few months and rewatching it many times over.

thank u, thank u, thank u for introducing this to me. now come yell at me back

#the terror #the terror amc #thoughts #i have feeling--a lot of them

8 notes · View notes

airoasis · 5 years

Text

"Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" | Father Ted | Series 1 Episode 6 | Dead Parrot

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/grant-unto-him-eternal-rest-father-ted-series-1-episode-6-dead-parrot-2/

"Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" | Father Ted | Series 1 Episode 6 | Dead Parrot

I do work do not they do just right oh you are correct there Ted you so then you’re a nun correct sister Monica I’ve let your luggage within the hall I talked before we dropped you at the boat you would like to enter the holy stone know what the holy stone of Clan Richard Oh Chris it’s some of the holiest lumps of rock in Europe and that you could get these exceptional souvenir combs there there fantastic dwelling I bought this one last 12 months and you will see that there the Britain I noticed the holy stone of clown file the stone is first-rate we have noticeable it I consider about 300 occasions good why to not journey off the weekend in case you taught the new donations wonderful it is going to drag it proper over the threshold i’ll be main as much as the holy stone what’s the holy invited anywhere father it is only a normal variety of entire harmless father doing could be sited there once for about ten minutes and he bought a great feel of serenity yes I got pleasant balls place of business why is it known as the holy stone uh on record I suggestion plum record was once in from Anna it is the holy stone used to be up there but I wasn’t doing excellent industry oh he is in retailer fear wonder son I just go and freshen up she’ll be hanging on make-up I consider huh press the lads huh and oh she’s quite often just going to the bathroom nuns high-quality old head it can be excellent seeing that you do not suppose as fearful for harm to do it actual ladies do are you proper there despite the fact that I simplest bought the courage to talk to her a few minutes in the past it is first-rate to have a identified around offers the situation a little of glamour well a girl’s contact anyway hear I’ve ever gone around telling her off Ted says you were touching them for the jack you’re all correct they may be capable for another day i’m off with sister Monica now if the MIT man calls the money’s on the Statue of our gigantic being embarrassed with the aid of the Romans all right then like a cup of tea earlier than i am going morning father i do know you is not going to intellect us leaving you on my own on account that the entire can we obtained that new video for you Reservoir dogs it is anything out is five insist the ones you most of the time like what’s your plan supply it a go what are you doing this looks very dangerous Ted what he’s very under the influence of alcohol nonetheless to not be not at all first-rate prettily hiders I have no idea i have until this unhealthy in view that prime wedding in Kona Ted do you consider then he disappeared off with sister Imelda god yes the blue nun oh no Ted seem at this Oh God maintain it father this is very unhealthy do not don’t forget what the window Dean did you what distinct father Jack are you there Ted imagine the harm flooring polish would do you my pricey God Ted what is this I imply giant affliction Ted put it down then Oh God Google mall we gotta get get him under the arm come on low father monster contest this morning a factor like this come on gigantic steps the next day to come there you’re sister Monica I simply father Jack set motor takes little time to get going in the morning not taking part in oh he is grand we’re just taking him on the little trip to the toilet once we go on slightly travel to the bathroom father i’m going there ample definite and we’ve got a appear at him he doesn’t like to be fucked over hi there particularly consider you should let me seem at him Holy mother of God he’s dead what’s the problem there sister dancer he’s stone-bloodless come on now father you are not dead are you come on father the comic story came father he’s gone I feel you will have to go and get help and father did not hear can get the sacrament rice after I call dr.Sinister frankly I believe you are making a gigantic fuss about nothing the final rites father all proper yeah direction I mustn’t we wait for Ted however there is no want really is there any a night noise no I consider it’s up drank it last week you sure you wouldn’t love to do the honors your self no of course no longer I think I consider i’m carrying the trousers as far as this job goes hello good we’re gathered right here in these days to become a member of two humans that is not intercourse yeah well father rested up of path yeah there may be extra and sorry failed to get a chance to peer y’all do not know if I will have to be speakme to you down right here or up there look up there so anyway you’re there and that i with our Lord and Stalin and Bob Marley and the rest of them and of course my possess mom and dad and i take this opportunity to say load them hey mommy daddy i am hoping they seem and i see up there father all right Jack I told us to a cinema canister quarter Baggio during the doctor father rate when it looks bad all correct I uh I referred to as doctor soon as I gave him the signs over the telephone and he mentioned he is generally lifeless all correct the post nothing there is unhealthy adequate but the heart stopping is a real chance signal up my uncle and he was pleasant afterwards coronary heart stopped for how lengthy per week week quite and he was once high-quality afterwards absolutely no now I consider of it he died I feel it can be certainly satisfactory to see I mean the extent of commitment among the African church you carry within the face to the folks is simply amazing amazing isn’t it definite i wouldn’t be aware of i have not finished ego when you’ve got a sandwich father Cleary no thanks mrs.Doing i am quality have a are trying they may be diagonal i will show a sequestered no thanks anyway i’m going on certain they are simplest small no no are you sure you will not have one no thanks mrs. Doyle I ate earlier than I got here out would you like one for nature I could put it in a bag oh no no no slightly bag that you may convey one Oh No and here’s a higher bag which you could poke a bit of tagging and that you could effortlessly very greeted now if you want something suits you i can have one now not certain I would as good become a member of father Mac they may be messy we should not have my I stand before you late said on the car the vehicle broke down that’s not my father cost how are you oh he’s this used to be very rapid oh yes I feel so oh sure a brand new Zealand and a sister in South Africa whilst constantly the good ones are you bastard father he couldn’t beat poke experiment 2nd judgment to have it either side off suppose Ted a Polish quote it shouldn’t be Jackie but it’s now not what you realize is it it is who sad when seven books i am dari it was close for you already know he is lifeless useless constantly ever see if i will be able to uh I imply seeing in the next one oh yeah sure make off supply me ample to drink oh right oh howdy you big idiot what are you doing Duggan’s ah i don’t feel you should be getting up to this variety of nonsense come on up you guys will have to depart his chair idle for a at the same time simply look at that it’s thoroughly bald delicate as a little one’s at the back of you do all about that head so when you’re baptizing them the toddlers oh come on all the way down to the ball thanks Father oh no it can be the least we would do you are continually very good for father Jack the least you would do excuse me father obviously there may be a girl here to look you a lady mrs.Doyle I suppose you imply a quantity it can be a woman all right a young lady with a skirt i would be off then communicate hi there father Queenie sure i’m from Corliss Corliss and Sweeney oh we’re high-quality for bloodless Thanks oh howdy nothing to do with bloodless my identify is Laura Sweeney and this must be father McGuire anyway I feel you each higher sit down down I’ve acquired a bit of a shock for you earlier than you say whatever i want to assure you that that was only a movements relocation of fungus no no the money was once resting in my account earlier than I truely for illustration no you don’t fully grasp this is about father Hackett now please take a seat down and i’ll give an explanation for everything to you now it will come as a shock so that you can learn that father has left a will giddy what does it say well if I may i father Jack Hackett being of sound mind and body sorry leave my entire fortune to father Ted cruelly and father Dougal Maguire be allotted equally amongst them and sure has your Canadian father a mixed visible myself in yeah yeah hi there fathers yeah bye kiddo father Jack left his money very quality of them how a lot ha 1/2 half of one million pounds i do know between it is handiest a quarter of 1,000,000 every style that is that looks like you’re going to be very wealthy man grand is that invoice requirement which in surprise father Hackett failed to talk over with you and self oh when is the funeral once more again but we have not had the primary one but no sorry probably I failed to make myself clear it can be the next day to come morning correct good you realize about father Hackett’s terrible worry of being buried alive there’s no hazard of that now either I imply you know it’s useless terribly terrified of that that is why you would not do a confession he failed to like enclosed areas of direction he also just did not want to do it whats up the strangers telling you their sins sure who’d be troubled with that father hackus worry was once so exceptional that he stipulated the do to have to spend the night time before the burial with him okay all right sir so that is the least we are able to do anyway we are able to talk about it with the solicitor i am the solicitor no you are no longer i’m sorry but i am a senior partner in Corliss Corliss and Sweeney now come on now simply due to the fact that had been from the islands you consider which you could have a little of fun with us I guarantee you all correct all proper the big tickles from the island oh but we’re now not as in poor health as we look right here no manner Jose why do you consider i’ve been talking to you for the final hour and a 1/2 seem you are a beautiful girl however I quite think we should talk to the solicitor if you’re a solicitor i am Boy George the cameras are automatically or methods to head head not too bad it is actual to assert about these career weather very aggressive yeah she was once very aggressive wasn’t she dead or on the language of her you wouldn’t hear it from a daughter i might say may be very bad language condition effing das used to be worse than that pet you feel good Google anyway who’d applause father Jack is 1/2 1,000,000 pounds he not ever mentioned a phrase about it sayers used to be lying the bank account all these years he get it all within the first position well so far as I fully grasp she was once just an astute saver you attempt to restrict giving money to charity chalices during the summer that undoubtedly saved a couple of Bob and the place all forms of little less financial savings right here and there far and wide the location all of it provides up you understand I consider we handiest really knew him in his twilight years I consider we noticed the nice in a really lovely man authentic knight of the church smooth lovely sense of humor sufferer good-natured sorry Ted who is this man who do you believe i’d be speaking about at this unique moment Dougal so i am now not certain I failed to trap the start Jack of path all proper Jess yeah a great priest first priest to denounce the Beatles that’s proper you might see what they had been up to and he loves children of course oh he did sure they have been petrified of him though well he had that stick you know and he’d be far from that stick and definite possibly the cardboard he’d hit he was once sitting in some columns and he used to be a satisfactory believer in discipline a just right instructor friend of mine haddem father Jimmy Randazzo studied underneath him for a couple of years he instructed me as soon as he said no one nobody had this kind of significant effect on him as father Jack father Jimmy Randall oh yeah anything occurred to him do you bear in mind the drums Shambo bloodbath yeah that was him a different factor about Jack he cherished to be the competitors in a best sense of fair play and a first-rate traditionalist he did not accept as true with a variety of the modern-day thinking within the church humorous one moment you’re here the subsequent moment and in the completely satisfied no time of his sleeping demise took him via the hand you realize someone as soon as stated that lifestyles is but a thin sliver of Lights between two immensities of darkness makes you suppose those robotic about dying Google about dying that’s very ethical however isn’t its head what started off enthusiastic about dying nonetheless it is excellent we’ve got this time of them perhaps mostly we weren’t perpetually as thoughtful as we could were however at the least now we’re in a position to have this time with them treat him with the admire he deserves you’re correct there Ted do you fancy now get mature ad yes I think so nice so you go for it proper i’m going to begin i’ll provide you with an effortless one with a fishing egg long gone fishing nothing to do is boxing every 100 boxing you’re not supposed to tell me Ted k Philip one sir one phrases come on and you’re making a little bit too convenient for me a further wants to grasp correct a further set of can’t be too lots of them Salem’s Lot their tongue yep–no enamel and is just a little Tong Tong Tong and tongue fish went improper and a fish assault of the dye killing fish and tooling come fish and the deep brahmin joel to ancient coast then and papa – Superman – Oh Batman return how does John recognize i don’t rotate it can be a different little bit of it’s an awfully exclusive for the exclusive share still wakeful it simply wish to ask you a query are usually not once more Google appear when a person and a girl are very much in love there so I failed to need to ask I mentioned I simply wish to ask you do you feel in an afterlife to whitewash do you think in an afterlife as Google most commonly speaking clergymen are inclined to have a very powerful notion in the afterlife or I desire I had your face head Dogen how did you get into the church was it like accumulate 12 crisp acts to grow to be a priest good day dude please let me go to sleep I used to be just questioning what are you going to do along with your share of the money well I luckily there are lots of charity companies which can be grateful for money there may be drawback Saint Vincent DePaul meals for Africa healthful aging and maybe a number of kilos for comedian comfort so some just right will come from father Jack sticks carrot woman’s gone though isn’t it ah you are right there attending to snow once more sleek silver and are falling obliquely towards the lamplight it is most likely snowing all over the island from the imperative plane from the treeless Hills falling softly upon the graveyards on the crosses and the headstones on the entire residing and the dead what’s improper useless father Jack did you see what occurred Ted what occurred father Jack oh so there he is risen from the lifeless like that fella et there may be one factor that confuses need oh sure it is simply useless dinner used to be it appears now not the floor polish it induced all of the symptoms of demise similar to no heartbeat rigor mortis decomposition what it’s watching defects just battle outstanding you might want to have him again although is not it hmm who needs half one million pounds anyway sure sir our lifestyles is the spiritual life but to be sincere i do not like speakme about this nevertheless it’s most effective a matter of time I imply he’s not a younger man and you realize and that i believe when he’s gonna won’t be so bad the money will probably be some variety of alleviation to us something now you better come right down to the stores with me I need to purchase some extra flooring polish maybe we will have to get a number of extraordinary manufacturers you realize just to check out them out like sure there used to be in this room all around the apartment for the Vulgate misplaced or we might i will be able to preserve an eye fixed on them Frank you you

0 notes

batterymonster2021 · 5 years

Text

"Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" | Father Ted | Series 1 Episode 6 | Dead Parrot

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/grant-unto-him-eternal-rest-father-ted-series-1-episode-6-dead-parrot-2/

"Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" | Father Ted | Series 1 Episode 6 | Dead Parrot

0 notes

biofunmy · 5 years

Text

‘Game of Thrones’ Series Finale Recap: All Hail King Who?

Season 8, Episode 6, ‘The Iron Throne’

In the end, “Game of Thrones” was about blowing up the game of thrones.

At times Sunday’s series finale rendered this literally, as when the Iron Throne itself, the inspiration for most of the terrible things we’ve seen over eight seasons, was grief-torched by Drogon after Jon Snow killed its mom.

More thematically, the show that has been broadly about a society’s transition from murderous, dysfunctional dynastic rule and entitlement politics to a more collectivist model consummated that concept, killing off yet another conquering monarch and replacing her with an elected king.

Of course the thing is, that king is Bran.

It was one of several head-scratchers in a finale that, like much of the season, was a mishmash of poignant moments and puzzling turns.

There were definitely some nice touches, like the dragon-wing shot of Daenerys and the nobles’ guffaws at the mere thought of actual democracy, one of the night’s funnier moments. In some ways, the finale was a compendium of “Thrones” greatest hits: There was yet another regicide, yet another jailing of Tyrion, yet another scattering of Starks.

But the episode, directed by the creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff (who in the last few weeks have become the show’s biggest villains to a vocal fan segment), was also plagued by the same incoherence that has inspired abundant Twitter rage this season and at least one effigial petition.

There was Jon killing Daenerys and then escaping the immediate wrath of both Drogon — maybe his Targaryen blood helped — and the Unsullied, who instead took him prisoner hours after cutting people’s throats just for supporting Cersei, much less murdering their queen. (And how did they know what had happened, without a body? Did he confess?) There was the eternally fungible size of the Unsullied and Dothraki forces.

There was also the weird pacing that has marred much of the past two seasons, since the show cut from 10 episodes a season to seven last season and then six in this one.

On Sunday, minutes of screen time would be devoted to Jon walking and then, with a quick fade out and in, Tyrion had a bushy beard and the heads of Westeros’s big houses had suddenly appeared in the dragonpit. (Who summoned them?)

After eight seasons of anguish and death that amounted to a case for a new political system — “We need to find a better way!” Davos urged — Tyrion laid the whole thing out in a few minutes, Scooby Doo-style, as Grey Worm glowered nearby but reluctantly went along with everything.

It was clumsy and frustrating, especially because if you squinted, you could see how the outcomes could have been powerful if the lead-ups hadn’t been mismanaged.

Jon’s assassination of Daenerys was the stuff of Greek tragedy — a man murdering his lover for the greater good. (And here’s where I brag about bringing up Maester Aemon’s “love is the death of duty” speech back in Week 2.) Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington gave moving performances, but the scene lacked the impact it deserved because the turn that got us there was unconvincing.

Bran is in some ways a fitting choice for a kingdom that is looking to forge a different path. On a show frequently about how societies that forget their history are doomed to repeat it — in sectarian revenge cycles, conquering tyrants, sacks of great cities — Bran can see all of history. In a realm plagued by rulers who slaughtered their way into power, Bran is physically broken. In a tale in which pride and ego can lead to travesty, Bran has neither.

Tyrion leaned hard into the humility argument and also into a cornier one about stories being the most powerful thing on earth. Bran got shoved from a tower and then became the Three Eyed Raven, Tyrion said. Who has a better story than that? (Rebuttal: Arya and Sansa, sitting on either side of him.)

And as a bonus, Bran can’t sire a lunatic like Joffrey because he can’t have kids at all!

But none of it changes the fact that Bran has long been one of the most unsatisfying characters on the show. He’s almost a man, as he told Jon back in the season premiere, but he’s mostly a tool of convenience designed to relay narrative information we couldn’t get otherwise — whether it’s scouting the White Walkers, revealing “Thrones” prehistory or dropping knowledge bombs.

Bran theoretically has access to all information but seems to access it only when and in which way the story needs him to. This was reflected perfectly by his response to Tyrion’s pitch: “Why do you think I came all this way?” O.K., then why were you so hyped about telling Jon he’s supposed to be king a few weeks ago?

One response might be, because that’s what needed to happen — this is Bran’s response to pretty much everything, which makes it essentially meaningless. This all can sound like nit-picking, but internal logic is part of what gives a story power and resonance. In a show that was once defined by a kind of gritty realism within a fantastical setting, Bran is the ultimate cheat.

So his promotion to the Rolling Throne was a sort of final confirmation that over the past couple of seasons, at least, the series became something different from what most of us signed up for.

“Game of Thrones” became a global phenomenon largely by upending expectations, and one way it achieved that was by using the calcified conventions of the fantasy genre against us. The noble patriarch defined by his morals? Gone in the first season. The prince valiant son who followed his heart? Slaughtered along with his pregnant wife. The gentle giant who lived to protect a plucky young lad? Doomed in multiple ways by the actions of said lad.

This was a Shakespearean saga about power, blood and loyalty, we once told our skeptical, fantasy-averse friends. Not some show about dragons and wizards.

And then in its final episode, a dragon committed the story’s most potent symbolic act and a wizard was put in charge.

It all could have worked better if the past two seasons had felt less like headlong rushes toward predetermined outcomes, at the expense of character and story believability. (Whatever that means in a dragon epic.) I might have even accepted King Bran the Broken and his “everything happens for a reason” rhetoric if the show had just … nah, actually, I probably wouldn’t have. But so many of the things that drove fans loudly crazy this season most likely wouldn’t have if they’d been given more room to breathe. (More on this in a minute.)

The council that elected Bran included some of our favorite people, at least. This included the future Small Council members Sam (grand maester), Davos (master of ships), Brienne (lord commander of the kingsguard, maybe?) and Bronn, who in a fun twist was made master of coin. (As political commentary, putting a louche mercenary in charge of the treasury is pretty great.)

Yara Greyjoy and Gendry were there, too. Randomly, so was the former Suckling Robin, Yohn Royce (I think?), and some other people I didn’t recognize. Edmure Tully made it out of Walder Frey’s cell, apparently, but he’s still the same goober he was when he went in.

The mix of highborn and low was meaningful, and combined with the depictions of the Targaryen Regime — the Nurembergish rally, the tyrannical doublespeak about “liberating” people who had just been butchered — it unsubtly hammered home the show’s main themes: Power corrupts. Working together is our only hope.

Of course, the defining pack of the show was scattered yet again to the corners of the earth. The parting of Sansa, Arya and Jon inspired real emotion, intensified by the fact that just as they would never see this family together again, neither would we.

It was sad to see the Starks go their separate ways again, but they each got fitting ends. Sansa got a crown and an independent North, making her one of the few people in the show actually qualified for the job they have.

Arya is off for further adventures in the land beyond the map. Jon is going back North to where he fit in best of all, a poignant end for a man who was always an outsider, even when he was at the center of things. He’s already made up for his diss of Ghost a couple of weeks ago.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me,” Jon told Bran.

“You were exactly where you were supposed to be,” he replied.

Of course he was, Bran. Of course he was.

A Race to the Finish

Endings are hard, and this one was always going to be harder than most.

That’s partly thanks to a story that methodically killed off its most interesting characters (and some of its best actors) as it winnowed into a more traditional good-versus-evil tale centered on its least interesting ones (Jon and Dany).

And it’s partly because the things that established “Game of Thrones” as a phenomenon — the epic scale, the shocking twists — began to work against it. Plot swerves got more abrupt as the writers tried to stay ahead of the obsessive audience — without the benefit of a blueprint, once the show surpassed the books — and story was sacrificed at the altar of spectacle as the series strove to top itself over and over.

And it’s partly because Benioff and Weiss failed to anticipate the ways in which dramatically abbreviating the last two seasons would exacerbate all of the above.

I don’t pretend to understand the pressures of TV production — logic suggests that with the episodes getting ever more technically complicated, they would take longer to shoot, which results in fewer of them per season.

But didn’t the show already take as much time as it needed, with months and months between some seasons? Why not go ahead and take as much as it takes to get to 10 episodes for those last two? For that matter, why not break up some of these supersize installments from this season into two separate ones that let moments land and things develop less frantically?

I liked the Battle of Winterfell more than most people, but would it have felt less abrupt spread over two episodes? Would Jaime or Dany’s turns have felt more natural if they’d been given time to more gradually unfold? Yes, yes and yes.

But now I worry that I’m starting to sound nit-picky again. And listen: For all of my kvetching, am I saying the show has been ruined, as so many former fans claim? Not at all. (I’m certainly not signing any goofy petitions.)

I will always admire “Game of Thrones” and never forget the wonder of its most provocative moments — Hardhome, Hodor, the Red Wedding, Cersei’s coup, Arya’s killing of the Night King — and the beauty of its quieter ones. I was frequently astounded that such stunning and audacious artistry could be delivered into my living room.

I kvetch because I care. I care because at its best, there was nothing else like “Game of Thrones” on TV or any other medium.

A Few Thoughts While We Turn the Page

• The power of stories and the tension between actual and recorded history were big themes in the finale, and in the show over all. In addition to Tyrion’s rhetoric on Sunday, we saw Brienne faithfully filling out Jaime’s story in the Book of the Brothers — a callback to Joffrey making fun of Jaime’s scanty entry in Season 4 — until she got to his final act. “He died serving his Queen,” she wrote, a single-sentence gloss on one of the most complex and defining plots of this story.

• Then Tyrion himself, the linchpin of so much of “Game of Thrones,” was entirely left out of “Song of Ice and Fire.” A popular theory held that Sam was ultimately going to be the one who wrote the story we’ve just watched. Close. Turns out it was Archmaester Ebrose (the head guy played by Jim Broadbent), but Sam helped with the title.

• “There’s still a Night’s Watch?” Jon asked, speaking for all of us, when it was proposed to him. Yep, Tyrion said, but maybe there wasn’t after all? It just looked like Tormund and a bunch of Wildlings, and then they all headed north of the Wall.

• Freed of their pillaging and storm-trooping responsibilities, the Unsullied are on their way to Naath, all 100 or 10,000 or however many of them are going to live the dream that Grey Worm hatched with Missandei back at Winterfell. Also, if you had Grey Worm in your survival pool, congratulations. Drinks are on you.

• What did you make of the big finale? Did it make you mad about the rise of Bran the Broken? Sad about Jon’s expulsion? Glad Dany got her comeuppance?

• And finally, each of us has a role to play, and now mine is done. But before I stagger toward the horizon like Melisandre and collapse into dust, I want to say thank you to everyone for reading and commenting over the past few weeks (or years). Daenerys, Jaime, Cersei, Jorah, Missandei, Ned, Robb, Rickon, Hodor (Hodor) and about a billion others didn’t make it, but we’re still here. We were the watchers on the couches, and now our … wait, how does it go again?

Sahred From Source link Arts

from WordPress http://bit.ly/2HBIApg via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes