The end of GoT

Life is so unkind. You take a break from outraging about the way some of our political leaders are comporting themselves in the ongoing general elections and look for distraction in the much-heralded final season of Game of Thrones. And what do you come away with? More outrage that makes you want to gnash your teeth like Cersei Lannister, the current occupant of the Iron Throne and certified world champion in the teeth-gnashing department. By the old gods and the new, this is the last season of HBO’s mega hit show! It’s supposed to rock! It’s supposed to give you the goosebumps and leave you shocked and awed! Yet four episodes on, and with only two more to go, Game of Thrones (GoT) Season 8 is getting lost in a morass of missed drama, messed-up lines, character flubs and technical pratfalls. 

So excuse me while I rant (and excuse the spoilers ahead too). I had my issues with Episode 3 — fans around the world complained that it was too dark and you could barely see the nightmarish battle between the living and the undead, the battle that was coming upon the GoT universe as surely as its fabled winter was. And verily, it seemed to have been shot more for an audience equipped with night vision goggles than for those watching it on their humdrum TVs or computer monitors. But I made my peace with the murk, because, chalo, at least the zombie-in-chief, aka the Night King, was killed in a moment of high drama. And net-net, the episode was an improvement on the previous one, where everyone sat around, pulled long faces and said stuff like “we are all going to die tomorrow”. (Arya Stark put the time to good use by losing her virginity, but she always had more chutzpah than the rest of them.)

GoT Season 8 is getting lost in a morass of missed drama, messed-up lines and character flubs

But Episode 4, which aired this week, hit the nadir with its emotional sterility and confused messaging. Firstly, why on earth didn’t we see how the two Stark sisters react when they learn that Jon Snow is not their half brother and is really Aegon Targaryen, the true inheritor of the Iron Throne? It was sheer cinematic cowardice on the part of writers D B  Weiss and David Benioff and director David Nutter, if you ask me. They took the easy way out instead of creating a potentially sensational scene. 

There were other unbelievable flubs and false notes: Brienne of Tarth, the steely, valorous woman-knight transformed into a weeping, love-struck wreck; Jon not even patting his pet direwolf goodbye; and Sansa Stark stating that she would have remained a defenceless little thing had she not endured her terrible rape and torture. Of course, this drew widespread flak as her words seemed to imply that rape can make you strong. GoT has been criticised for routinely showing women being assaulted and brutalised. Sansa’s lines are a reminder that though there are many forceful women characters in the show, its makers are, in fact, culturally tone-deaf.

And then there was that stunning glitch — a Starbucks coffee cup in full view in front of Daenerys, the dragon queen. Medieval fantasy meets 21st century styrofoam. It was kind of funny if you were in a charitable mood, but it looked awfully slipshod if you weren’t.  

Now, when it comes to GoT, I’m prepared to overlook a lot — big, scaly dragons spewing fire, armies of blue-eyed zombies, dead men revived with voodoo magic, witchery and uncommon butchery… I’m even prepared to overlook the fact that the show has spawned a generation of media hacks who use its name as a go-to headline — much the same way as The God of Small Things and Children of a Lesser God were used years ago! 

But lose the plot, lose the breathtaking pull of the story, and disbelief has a hard time staying suspended. And this is happening to GoT right now. Sure, it’s tough to meet the sky-high expectations from the final season. But this slouching towards a gathering anti-climax, this floundering, is a huge letdown.

Let’s hope Weiss, Benioff & Co have got their act together in the two remaining episodes. It will be heartbreaking if Game of Thrones ends with a whimper trying to sound like a bang. 

Shuma Raha is a journalist and author based in Delhi @ShumaRaha