HOME | DD

Description
Game of Thrones is my second favorite television show of all time. Bold statement to make for an unfinished product. Sadly, I know it will never surpass DS9 for my top spot, despite being all but assured to do so after season 4. Sadly, once the series caught up to and surpassed Martin's source material, it became fan fiction and fan service, lacking the coherent and intricate in world logic and political intrigue and character consistency in favor of tired tropes, cliches and grandeur.

As such, I've been very critical of season 7. It's been a mixture of hot garbage and brilliance, but, the brilliance mostly on the shoulders of the actors and actresses. There were some amazing scenes, to be fair...and most of them involving my favorite character from the novels, Jaime. His scene with Olenna, when he leaves Ceresi and King's Landing to uphold his vow, but none better than when he rode down Danerys. Why? Because it was the first time in years (since season 4) where we had real stakes and drama between two characters who we are invested in as viewers where the shithead show runners haven't decided who's stereotypical good and stereotypical bad. When he charged, I did not know who I wanted to live and who to die.

ironically, I feel the brilliance of the scene was inadvertent, not planned. But consider the subtext...Jaime Lannister, the reviled, "evil" Kingslayer, the Oathbreaker, the man without honor, who we, as viewers know as being complex, but, tragic in that his honor cost him his reputation by killing the genocidal Mad King before he could burn millions alive. The young Knight lost -forever- his name and honor by slaying the man he swore to protect and obey to save millions, and yet, here is his daughter (from his point of view) a foreign warlord lunatic bringing in savage horse lords and eunuchs to lay waste to the land, to say nothing of her fire breathing monsters. In that moment of carnage when he grabbed that spear to ride her down, willing to lose his life as he had his reputation, to prevent the Mad Kings legacy of fire and blood.... Chills.

When we see bold Danerys turn and see his steed bearing down, and the look of shock and horror on her face when she realizes the dreaded traitor who slew her father is about to skewer her as well, when from her perspective she is a progressive liberator, come to save the Kingdom, which is rightfully hers, from the clutches of the Mad Queen Ceresi, and that moment when, for all her youthful arrogance, her advantages, her dragons, she senses terror...chills.

it was a fleeting moment of beautifully shot drama, and genuine suspense with a mixture of emotions, and a sad, bittersweet reminder of what once made the series so damned amazing.

Description
Game of Thrones is my second favorite television show of all time. Bold statement to make for an unfinished product. Sadly, I know it will never surpass DS9 for my top spot, despite being all but assured to do so after season 4. Sadly, once the series caught up to and surpassed Martin's source material, it became fan fiction and fan service, lacking the coherent and intricate in world logic and political intrigue and character consistency in favor of tired tropes, cliches and grandeur.

As such, I've been very critical of season 7. It's been a mixture of hot garbage and brilliance, but, the brilliance mostly on the shoulders of the actors and actresses. There were some amazing scenes, to be fair...and most of them involving my favorite character from the novels, Jaime. His scene with Olenna, when he leaves Ceresi and King's Landing to uphold his vow, but none better than when he rode down Danerys. Why? Because it was the first time in years (since season 4) where we had real stakes and drama between two characters who we are invested in as viewers where the shithead show runners haven't decided who's stereotypical good and stereotypical bad. When he charged, I did not know who I wanted to live and who to die.

ironically, I feel the brilliance of the scene was inadvertent, not planned. But consider the subtext...Jaime Lannister, the reviled, "evil" Kingslayer, the Oathbreaker, the man without honor, who we, as viewers know as being complex, but, tragic in that his honor cost him his reputation by killing the genocidal Mad King before he could burn millions alive. The young Knight lost -forever- his name and honor by slaying the man he swore to protect and obey to save millions, and yet, here is his daughter (from his point of view) a foreign warlord lunatic bringing in savage horse lords and eunuchs to lay waste to the land, to say nothing of her fire breathing monsters. In that moment of carnage when he grabbed that spear to ride her down, willing to lose his life as he had his reputation, to prevent the Mad Kings legacy of fire and blood.... Chills.

When we see bold Danerys turn and see his steed bearing down, and the look of shock and horror on her face when she realizes the dreaded traitor who slew her father is about to skewer her as well, when from her perspective she is a progressive liberator, come to save the Kingdom, which is rightfully hers, from the clutches of the Mad Queen Ceresi, and that moment when, for all her youthful arrogance, her advantages, her dragons, she senses terror...chills.

it was a fleeting moment of beautifully shot drama, and genuine suspense with a mixture of emotions, and a sad, bittersweet reminder of what once made the series so damned amazing.