4 Concerns We Have Over Game Of Thrones After THAT Episode

Published on May 7, 2019

[If you clicked on this article after reading that title you should know that this article is filled to the brim with SPOILERS through Season 8 Episode 4 of Game of Thrones.]

Last week’s episode of Game of Thrones left fans at the edge of their seats, fuming in anger over the surprising twists that happened throughout the duration of the 78 minute fiasco. Cast and crew members have been fairly silent on social networks and in the media following the episode, which diverts from the previous three weeks where cast members had something to say almost immediately after the airing. Now, with only about three hours worth of content left in the entire show, we’ve got some major concerns over the fate of the series:

Is that really it for the Night King?

If you remember all the way back to season 1 episode 1, the series quite literally opens with the hint that the threat in the North—a.k.a. the Night King and his army of the dead—will be the single greatest threat to Westeros throughout the series. Over the next seven seasons the show spent a hefty amount of time teeing up for what would ultimately be a big reveal. Who is the Night King? What is his motive? Why is he such an artist? Who are the Children of the Forest, really? Why does Bran have a magical connection to the Night King? Now, with the Night King having been defeated in just one episode, fans were left hoping that the loose ends would be tied up before the series end. Quite a bit of explanation has happened offscreen, but bad writing like that isn’t what Game of Thrones is known for.  However, no mention of that entire plot line in episode 4 hints that the happenings in the far North are done for good—or are they? Which brings me to …

Did HBO know episode 4 would have a terrible response?

Show runners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff won’t let you forget that Game of Thrones once had an unpalatable pilot that never aired. Apparently the thing was full of plot holes and unanswered questions aside from being just plain terrible. HBO inevitably ordered a reshoot after much of the cast had been replaced (this is where we ended up with actors like Emilia Clarke) and the script rewritten to make it more clear. Only then, was it aired. HBO—and Game of Thrones—clearly know where the threshold lies between good and bad television. Moreover, the network has been playing the PR game for decades now—surely it must have carefully considered every possible response to its biggest headliner.

It seems unlikely that Weiss and Benioff would have written an entire episode of the last season so badly if it didn’t pave the way for some epic reconnaissance in the last two episodes. Yes, this may be Game of Thrones and while a happy ending is unlikely, the Battle of Winterfell showed us that the writers are, at least, looking to give each main character an honorable death. With so many up in arms over Missandei and Rhaegal’s surprise deaths, you can’t help but wonder if there’s going to be more to the story.

Wasted Time

Speaking of the last two episodes—did you know there’s only about three hours left in the whole show? It seems as if the writers didn’t. Since so many questions have been left unanswered after the Battle of Winterfell, it’s hard to imagine that everything is going to come together in the last three hours. Episode 4 had a lot of potential to answer questions about the Night King—or even just clarify what Bran was doing for nearly all of The Long Night. Instead, we got an hour and a half of drinking games, weird pity sex between Brienne and Jaime, death, and Daenerys breaking down once and for all (or so we think? more on that later).

In terms of Brienne and Jaime, it almost seems a disservice to write a romantic plot line into a character arc that has—up until now—been more or less asexual. Brienne makes it clear from her first appearance in season 2 that, at no point, is she going to have a romantic arc—so why stuff one in at the last minute in a way that devalues her character? This is the first ever female knight in Westeros—and they’ve got her ugly crying over a man choosing someone else over her. Outside. In a bath robe. In the middle of the night. Many things about this episode were out of character for—well, everyone—but none so much as this one. Game of Thrones may have passed the Bechdel test, but it’s almost insulting to see one of the strongest characters torn down in just 30 minutes.

If destiny is such a big plot point, why leave it unfulfilled?

It’s impossible to go more than a few minutes without hearing the word “destiny” spoken at least once throughout season 8. The show has spent the larger half of the last 7 seasons building up its major characters for something they’re meant to do—or at least think they’re meant to do. For Daenerys, it’s becoming the Queen of Westeros. For Jon Snow, it’s being brought back from the dead by an omnipresent fire god to fulfill some unspoken destiny. For Arya, it’s becoming an assassin with the power of becoming anyone else by wearing their face as a mask. Each of these characters have spent the last couple of seasons (or the entire show, in Daenerys’ case) building up to these moments—so why haven’t they come into fruition?

For Daenerys, it’s particularly frustrating that she’s been stripped to nothing but a neurotic mess in just 60 minutes (or…days? What is the timeline of season 8 anyway?). The loss of her right hand man, a second dragon, and her translator/hair stylist/bff would have changed her, no doubt. But since the show has spent the last 7 seasons building her up as an admirable leader, it would be shocking to see her become a villain so hastily and not have it pan out. She’s one of the most cunning characters in the show—as she demonstrates in this scene. For someone that’s always been a few steps ahead, Daenerys has sure fallen short this season.

Similarly, Jon was brought back to life by the Lord of Light for a reason. As Melisandre said in The Long Night after Beric Dondarrion died saving Arya so she could kill the Night King, “The Lord brought him back for a purpose—now that purpose has been served.” If this is the case, Jon Snow has clearly not served much of a purpose since being brought back from the dead. While he has learned of his true parentage, he’s made it clear he doesn’t actually want to be the new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. So what is his purpose? And surely Arya didn’t spend an entire season training to become a faceless man only to use that skill to kill Walder Frey and no one else.

Something big is coming, and the show is working hard to upset its viewers. But will it tie everything up in the last two episodes?

Julia Sachs is a former Managing Editor at Grit Daily. She covers technology, social media and disinformation. She is based in Utah and before the pandemic she liked to travel.

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