You Win Or You Die

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t seen the final season of Game of Thrones yet, this one ain’t for you.
We’ve all been on this long, taxing, gruesome and oddly satisfying journey of the Big Game for almost a decade now. Some of us started out a bit later, but caught on with the buzz. But the light is about to blow out from this candle, as the show nears its end. A bunch of mixed feelings and the lingering question What next?

Here’s what I thought about this season.

It wasn’t horrible writing!

Just because you didn’t get what you thought you deserve, doesn’t mean the writers have done a bad job.

The show has never worked on fulfilling the demands of its audience. On the contrary, it’s always been about the unexpected, and frankly we did get that.

I for one, wasn’t happy with how the characters' arcs panned out, but in the end all I thought was
I get it.

All the strings left untied.

Yes, there are many storylines that haven’t gotten a polished ending, or to say, a complete end. However there’s one thing we’re all forgetting. The books. I bet they hold a lot of answers and to be honest, I think that’s the reason these loopholes have been left. The fans can read and find out what happened to their beloved characters who didn’t get a mention in the series finale.

The Prelude

S8 Episode 1&2.
Some say they were too slow. Others how it was boring.
But what they fail to understand that this was a prelude to the carnage that was to follow. The Silence before the Storm.

And how can you forget, the heart wrenching reunions. Jon and Arya, Sandor and Arya. Gendry and Arya.(Okay Arya met a lot of people) Sansa and Theon, Brien and Jaime, Brien and Tormund, and many more.

The Long Night

A heavily criticised episode. True. It had its great moments, but a few terrible ones too.
The episode made you wonder who had more brains to formulate a battle plan- the living or the dead. My vote goes to the dead.

The Khalasar charging mindlessly into the darkness(maybe that’s what they do.. Dothraki in an open field, that was probably the best chance they had)

Dany and Jon could have easily wiped out more than half of the undead army with the dragons. Yet they chose to play out a scene of Hiccup and Astrid.

Okay, maybe they were focused on finding the Night King. But one of them could have DRACARYS'ed the seven hells outta the dead.

Bran? Hello three-eyed raven? Are you there? Umm we could use a little of your help here but you know, whatever. Come back when you’re free

The characters who stole the show

Melisandre.
Redemption personified. From the mysterious Red Woman who birthed ghosts to a murderer to a savior. Nobody pulled of redemption better than her. Also, If the night is dark and full of terrors, who you gonna call? Rhaelor.

Next up,
Arya Stark
There’s only onegod, and her name is Arya.
What a character! She’s always had a special place in my heart, as I saw her grow up into a heartless, fearless assassin. Her character has seen so much emotional turmoil and physical trials that now she’s immune to probably anything. Even death.

All her trainings and life’s learnings had been built up for that one moment.
What do we say to Death dressed as a white scarecrow? Not Today.

Some other noteworthy moments of the season…

Tyrion Lannister.
“ I freed my brother. And you slaughtered a city.” *throws pin dramatically
This little man managed to play everyone in the end. Peter deserves all the awards out there for his acting.

Sansa Stark- The Dark Phoenix (yes, I just did that)
She totally redeemed herself man! From an annoying mean girls teenager to a confident woman, worthy of being the Queen in the North. From a little dove to a fierce wolf, she’s one to watch out for now.

Daenerys aka Queen of the Ashes
I don’t want to comment much on this, cause I know I’ll choke up.
I just wanna say, I get it. She lost two of her dragons who were like children to her, she lost two of her best friends. Her claim to the throne was in jeopardy. And she realized, no one really loved her. They were all just afraid of her. And she used precisely that to take what’s hers. With fire and blood.

P.S: This was probably one of the best shots in the show.

The original Mad Queen- Cersei Lannister
We all hoped for a more gruesome death for her character. With all the buzz about her prophecy, some became prophets themselves and wrote a hundred theories about how she would die. No one saw those bricks coming though.

I’m not gonna comment on how Jaime’s character arc plummeted. I thought there was nothing wrong with it. He didn’t abandon Cersei, he only wanted to fight for the living. And in the end, he died protecting his Queen.

The rest of it just passed by in a blur. Not the best season, for sure. But the ending, in its own twisted way, was satisfying.

And now, our watch has ended. Farewell old friend.