DREAM: It’s the series finale of Game Of Thrones. It’s a special three-hour episode — for all intents and purposes the movie event of the year as well as the TV event of the year. The first two hours are amazing, all the spectacle and intrigue that you’d expect from the climax of this epic show.
As the second hour wraps up, we see Theon Greyjoy entering a castle to confront his hated uncle Euron, who has his sister Yara captive. The scene then shifts to…a modern luxury apartment building. There we get Alfie Allen, Pilou Asbaek and Gemma Whelan (Theon, Euron and Yara) all in modern street clothes, still in the midst of a confrontation, but they’re all now just angrily sniping at each other passive-aggressively.
Needless to say, it’s confusing. The rest of the episode also takes place in modern times, with all of the characters now facing each other in family and business-related squabbles over a “Westeros Corporation.” It’s basically like Dallas, except with all of the GoT cast in the lead roles. The episode ends with the head of the company (CEO Cersei Lannister) agreeing to divvy up shares amongst everyone, leading to an uneasy truce that the financial officer for Jon Snow’s bid (Davos Seaworth, who is now a CPA?) predicts things will eventually break down again.
In the final scene of the show, it’s revealed that the entire dragons-and-war framing was actually a bedtime story told by Samwell Tarly to young Sam Jr. as a way of explaining the corporate machinations and why, ultimately, Sam (an employe of one of the companies) lost his job. As a result of this, Gilly has left Sam for Jaime Lannister. The last shot is Gilly hopping into Jamie’s convertible while Sam sadly watches from behind the curtain of his modest two-bedroom home.
ANALYSIS: The phrase “break the internet” is thrown around quite a bit, but needless to say, this type of ending for Game Of Thrones would literally cause a riot on message boards. The showrunners for Dexter, the Sopranos, Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother and any other of the infamous ’ended poorly’ programs over the years would get together and share a toast over being off the hook as the Worst Ending In TV History.
I think we can assume that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss won’t choose to actually end the show this way. (I’m not sure even the vast fortune they’ve amassed from the show’s success would protect them from the hordes of angry fans that would want to re-enact the Red Wedding in the event of such an ending.) What my subconscious may have warning me of, however, is that however GoT does conclude, it’s going to be something of a letdown. Most shows, no matter how good, don’t end on a perfect high note.
Frankly, subconscious, I’m not really expecting a five-star finish from Game Of Thrones anyway given how the show has become increasingly shaky now that Benioff and Weiss have gone well beyond the books. The entire seventh season seemed like ten episodes of story crammed into seven episodes, with way too many far-flung plot machinations. I’m keeping my expectations firmly in check for how things
Ironically, part of my dream actually may have some basis in reality in regards to the actual finale. No, not Jaime and Gilly hooking up…despite their shared background of incest, that might be a stretch. It has long been speculated by GoT and A Song Of Ice And Fire fans that Samwell Tarly is essentially George R.R. Martin’s avatar within the series. With Sam now becoming a maester and (this past season) learning of the importance of chronicling Westerosi history, the theory has been that the story told by ASOIAF and GoT will be “told” within the narrative by Sam himself. Of course, this doesn’t make total sense given the number of events that Sam wasn’t there to witness, nor the lack of living survivors to many of these events that Sam couldn’t perhaps interview after the fact. Then again, I guess Bran the three-eyed raven can help Sam will in the blanks. Framing devices are cool!
The other “some basis in reality” aspect is another fan theory about the show being allegorical. In this interpretation, the White Walkers actually succeed in conquering Westeros and killing everyone, in the ultimate overturning of fantasy tropes. In this allegory, the White Walkers represent climate change, and Martin (and the show) are saying that humanity will be doomed unless it puts aside its petty leadership squabbles and unites against a common foe. This, needless to say, would be a pretty stunning ending, and one I’m not sure the show would have the guts to pull off. Maybe Sam, Gilly and little Sam escape on a boat to Braavos as the only survivors, and we still get the Narrator Sam ending of his telling the Braavosi about Westeros’ downfall? I know GoT loves to shock audiences, but having EVERYONE die and the final scene as the Night’s King sitting on the Iron Throne would be something else even for this show. Still, better that than the Night’s King recast as, like, “King Knight,” a mysterious bidder from up north planning a hostile takeover of CEO Cersei’s corporation.
Also, place your bets now — what are the chances that the Greyjoys all make it to the finale? 10-1? 20-1? My pal Dave would hope this scenario happens, since Theon (of all people) is his favourite character. Words fail me.
As the second hour wraps up, we see Theon Greyjoy entering a castle to confront his hated uncle Euron, who has his sister Yara captive. The scene then shifts to…a modern luxury apartment building. There we get Alfie Allen, Pilou Asbaek and Gemma Whelan (Theon, Euron and Yara) all in modern street clothes, still in the midst of a confrontation, but they’re all now just angrily sniping at each other passive-aggressively.
Needless to say, it’s confusing. The rest of the episode also takes place in modern times, with all of the characters now facing each other in family and business-related squabbles over a “Westeros Corporation.” It’s basically like Dallas, except with all of the GoT cast in the lead roles. The episode ends with the head of the company (CEO Cersei Lannister) agreeing to divvy up shares amongst everyone, leading to an uneasy truce that the financial officer for Jon Snow’s bid (Davos Seaworth, who is now a CPA?) predicts things will eventually break down again.
In the final scene of the show, it’s revealed that the entire dragons-and-war framing was actually a bedtime story told by Samwell Tarly to young Sam Jr. as a way of explaining the corporate machinations and why, ultimately, Sam (an employe of one of the companies) lost his job. As a result of this, Gilly has left Sam for Jaime Lannister. The last shot is Gilly hopping into Jamie’s convertible while Sam sadly watches from behind the curtain of his modest two-bedroom home.
ANALYSIS: The phrase “break the internet” is thrown around quite a bit, but needless to say, this type of ending for Game Of Thrones would literally cause a riot on message boards. The showrunners for Dexter, the Sopranos, Seinfeld, How I Met Your Mother and any other of the infamous ’ended poorly’ programs over the years would get together and share a toast over being off the hook as the Worst Ending In TV History.
I think we can assume that David Benioff and D.B. Weiss won’t choose to actually end the show this way. (I’m not sure even the vast fortune they’ve amassed from the show’s success would protect them from the hordes of angry fans that would want to re-enact the Red Wedding in the event of such an ending.) What my subconscious may have warning me of, however, is that however GoT does conclude, it’s going to be something of a letdown. Most shows, no matter how good, don’t end on a perfect high note.
Frankly, subconscious, I’m not really expecting a five-star finish from Game Of Thrones anyway given how the show has become increasingly shaky now that Benioff and Weiss have gone well beyond the books. The entire seventh season seemed like ten episodes of story crammed into seven episodes, with way too many far-flung plot machinations. I’m keeping my expectations firmly in check for how things
Ironically, part of my dream actually may have some basis in reality in regards to the actual finale. No, not Jaime and Gilly hooking up…despite their shared background of incest, that might be a stretch. It has long been speculated by GoT and A Song Of Ice And Fire fans that Samwell Tarly is essentially George R.R. Martin’s avatar within the series. With Sam now becoming a maester and (this past season) learning of the importance of chronicling Westerosi history, the theory has been that the story told by ASOIAF and GoT will be “told” within the narrative by Sam himself. Of course, this doesn’t make total sense given the number of events that Sam wasn’t there to witness, nor the lack of living survivors to many of these events that Sam couldn’t perhaps interview after the fact. Then again, I guess Bran the three-eyed raven can help Sam will in the blanks. Framing devices are cool!
The other “some basis in reality” aspect is another fan theory about the show being allegorical. In this interpretation, the White Walkers actually succeed in conquering Westeros and killing everyone, in the ultimate overturning of fantasy tropes. In this allegory, the White Walkers represent climate change, and Martin (and the show) are saying that humanity will be doomed unless it puts aside its petty leadership squabbles and unites against a common foe. This, needless to say, would be a pretty stunning ending, and one I’m not sure the show would have the guts to pull off. Maybe Sam, Gilly and little Sam escape on a boat to Braavos as the only survivors, and we still get the Narrator Sam ending of his telling the Braavosi about Westeros’ downfall? I know GoT loves to shock audiences, but having EVERYONE die and the final scene as the Night’s King sitting on the Iron Throne would be something else even for this show. Still, better that than the Night’s King recast as, like, “King Knight,” a mysterious bidder from up north planning a hostile takeover of CEO Cersei’s corporation.
Also, place your bets now — what are the chances that the Greyjoys all make it to the finale? 10-1? 20-1? My pal Dave would hope this scenario happens, since Theon (of all people) is his favourite character. Words fail me.
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