Game of Thrones, Season 7 - More shock, less emotion
Season 7 was quite possibly the most fast-paced, insane and fan-service filled season of Game of Thrones ever. Yet, I have come away with many of its most bombastic moments making me feel hollow. Beware, spoilers ahead.
The season opened with four of the show’s strongest set-up episodes. Opening with Arya (Maisie Williams) single-handedly pulling off one of the greatest massacres in the show. It was a testament to how much Arya had changed, and how she now longer plays by the rules of her father. In a way the development of the Stark children in this season was consistently good. It’s quite fascinating to see them all joined together once again as they’ve all changed immensely since we last saw them. All shaped by different surrogate fathers they were forced to saddle up with. Sure the new version of Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) was insufferable, but in a way each of the Stark kids got a very meaningful arc as their journey and arrival back home all had a different meaning for each of them. There was a weakness in the Winterfell plotline where Arya and Sansa’s (Sophie Turner) bickering forced by the sneaky hand of Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen) became such an obvious trick that it made his eventual demise a bit too obvious, but all very satisfying. Gillen in particular gave a fantastic performance during his death scene, begging for mercy and doling out half-hearted declarations of love is an attitude we’ve never seen Baelish in and Gillen really approaches it with true gravitas.
Another highlight had to be Jaime’s (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) overtaking of Highgarden and his subsequent scene with Olenna Tyrell (Diana Rigg) where after sealing her fate with a swig of poison delivers one of the greatest speeches the show has ever had as she reveals she was the one who killed Jaime’s son. Waldau’s subsequent horror and rage crawling onto his face is a testament to his incredible ability. Rigg and her wonderful rendering of Olenna will be missed, but her send off was incredible.
The following episode, “Spoils of War” was without a doubt the best of this season. Featuring a beautifully choreographed spar between Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) and Arya, Bran revealing his sight to Littlefinger and then culminating in the show’s finest battle ever as Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) rides in scorching Lannister soldiers aflame as her Dothraki bloodriders ram through shields much to Jaime’s horror. Everything about the structure of this scene was incredible and the execution makes for beautiful cinematography and heartstopping visuals. Truly a highlight.
I should also say that the budding romance between Jon (Kit Harington) and Daenerys does feel earned but I really am not behind it because I just can’t get past the aunt, nephew thing going on. That being said, many questioned if the show had laid enough groundwork to make their love and attraction believable, I think it got there but it seemed to happen very quickly. That might just be because Emilia and Kit have natural charisma together though.
It’s here where the season began to lag a little though. Episodes five and six not only fully committed to the scenes of Arya and Sansa hinting at betraying each other so as to set their trap for Baelish, but it also introduced the really silly, and downright foolish plan of capturing a wight.
Did Jon’s merry band of men traveling beyond the Wall make for some really exciting and intense action? It certainly did, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t convoluted and foolish. The master plan of Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) is not only his worst idea ever but it makes for an episode where characters do really unfathomable things in order to further the plot, and it is an example of the show being post books and not being as risky as the books.
“Beyond the Wall” is filled with fake deaths, idiotic character decisions and odd timelines. It’s an episode filled with fantastic imagery, tense moments and the occasional well-written dialogue, but the more one thinks about it the more one questions that logic and creativity of the writers. Why does Sandor throw a rock for fun which then leads the army of the dead to attack everybody? Why did the writers send up seven major characters and only kill off the one people care the least about? The show is known for killing people the audience likes, so why are you pulling your punches, show? It’s an aggravating hour, but thankfully it is redeemed by the show’s finale.
Pulling back from huge spectacular battles the final episode of Game of Thrones season 7 focused on really hefty and meaningful character moments. Tyrion and Cersei’s (Lena Headey) angry, spiteful confrontation, Sandor (Rory McCann) confronting The Mountain (Hafthor Julius Bjornsson) and declaring he will kill him, Jon forgiving a teary Theon (Alfie Allen) as they both talk about their adoptive father and Jon tells Theon that he will always be a Stark. The episode was an emotional and revelation filled ride that perfectly sets up what are sure to be exciting events in season 8.
All in all, Game of Thrones season 7 was a hodgepodge of emotions. I feel incredibly impressed by how large and spectacular it’s visuals and action has become, and it’s dialogue heavy moments were really fantastic and well written. Overall it was a fine season, filled with really great moments of character introspection and intrigue. Yet, part of me just feels empty. That it’s moments of shock really surprised me, but didn’t give me many other feelings. There was still enough truly intriguing developments for me to heartily say that HBO did produce another thrilling and exciting season of Game of Thrones.