Monday, May 6, 2019

Ep. 64.4: Nobody Expects the Iron Fleet!


Just Andrew here today. As Manu said on Twitter, scheduling conflicts are probably going to prevent us from releasing a podcast on "The Last of the Starks," the fourth episode of season 8. Life gets busy sometimes!

I did want to write a handful of thoughts on this episode though because I can't get them out of my head. I really struggled with this one, maybe even more than "Beyond the Wall." It's strange because I do think I like this episode more than that one (though that's not high praise). I did love many of the one-on-one or small group scenes of this episode!

The funeral at the beginning was incredibly touching with everyone who had a close connection to the people who were lost in the last episode like Theon and Jorah getting one final moment of sadness together. Arya's scenes with Gendry, the Hound, and her siblings in the godswood were pitch-perfect, even if it would've been nice to see her & Sansa's reactions to Jon's reveal. Setting Varys up to betray Daenerys for the good of the realm (and likely get killed for it, as she threatened last season) tracks with his character, as does Sansa knowing the implications of leaking Jon's secret to Tyrion.

I just can't kick this feeling of frustration.

Our pal Emmett from the "Not a Podcast" said it best:

I think the thing that's bothering me the most about this episode is that they're doing literally what they did just last season to tip the scales in Cersei's favor. This was a problem they faced entering season 7 because Daenerys was so overpowered. She had three dragons, the entire Unsullied and Dothraki forces, and troops from Dorne, the Reach, and a good chunk of the Iron Islands. With what little support Cersei had, how could she compete?

The solutions were not met with much acclaim last season, and it was tough! But the show seemed to be reconciling with that fact early in season 8 with Daenerys's criticism of Tyrion's plans. Then, she allowed him to make the same mistakes all over again in this most recent episode.

Naval invasion by surprise from Euron to take a hostage from Dany? Check.
Tyrion improbably trusting *once again* to appeal to Cersei's humanity with her child in an attempt for peace? Check.
Team Targaryen giving Tyrion another chance to do this in the first place? Check.
Cersei reaping the rewards? Check.

It's not like those plot points were great last season in the first place, and now they're doing it all over again to emphasize Cersei's power? It's honestly baffling, even if it's just setting up Cersei to fall hard in the upcoming battle. This naval invasion was more confusing than the one in season 7 since it happened in broad daylight. I'm honestly fine with even show Euron being the one to take down Rhaegal since he was already injured and Daenerys had mistakenly pushed him too hard too soon after the Battle of Winterfell, but to have it happen by surprise was head-scratching. With all that the likes of Tyrion and Varys know, how could they have expected Dragonstone to be vacant for the taking? (The showrunners actually said "Daenerys forgot about the iron fleet." Goodness.)

This isn't about me wanting my own preferred conclusion to happen, as some pushback on show criticism appears to be. I didn't expect Arya to kill the Night King and I was actually in the group of fans who thought that made sense for the character, even as a retcon. This all just seems to be played out as Manu said, with characters simply being pushed around on the board in a way that doesn't track.

The stuff with Jaime and Brienne has me paused, too. This is where the show is really missing 10-episode seasons because them getting into bed after the battle only for Jaime to scurry off pretty quickly after they just indicated that he would be staying at Winterfell feels rushed. I even buy that Jaime is doing this because he doesn't feel worthy of a happier life with Brienne. Wherever his plot with Cersei is going, in another season, they might have allowed it to breathe a little bit more. It's hurried.

The finish line can be exciting, but without as much emotional buildup in the final moments, it's not as rewarding. That's what this all seems to be coming down to. I'm more hopeful about characters finding satisfying conclusions than the full story itself. We'll see what happens though.

Anyway, there will surely be several podcasts coming out this week about it, and I encourage you to listen to Jeff & Emmett on the "Not a Podcast," Joanna Robinson and Dave Chen on "A Cast of Kings," and any of your favorites. There's a bunch of great written material out there already on this episode beyond what I wrote about -- try Kim Renfro on Missandei's death, and this tweet thread from Jeff.

Thanks for indulging in this ramble. I've also included some tweets from Manu below for some of his thoughts on the episode because he is a smarter lad than me on Thrones (and probably everything other than baseball trivia).

P.S. At least Tormund will actually care about Ghost more. ðŸ˜ž







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