That didn't manifest right away. We began with the big peace conference at King's Landing, and because they allowed this episode to sprawl to 80 minutes, the sequence was given time to hit all the needed beats. All the needed "reunion" moments, specifically: Tyrion and Podrick, The Hound and Brienne, Tyrion and Bronn, The Hound and the Mountain, Theon and Euron, Brienne and Jaime... I don't think a single meaningful pairing was overlooked. There were other great character moments scattered throughout too; my favorite was Qyburn's very different reaction to the wight than everyone else, an eager curiosity. He wanted to immediately begin some sort of experimentation.
Jon Snow's gotta Jon Snow of course, and would rather forfeit everything than tell a lie. They sold this moment to us hard, enough so that I suppose I must believe that this is the choice the honorable-to-a-fault Snow would make. It's also the moment we have to have if people are later expected to fall in line behind him as their ultimate leader -- people need to know Jon would never, ever sell them out. But still, when Dany gives you the silent nod indicating it's okay for you to lie, when the safety of the entire world is on the line, when this is what you've been working for literally for years.... really, Jon Snow?
Like I said, it had to go this way, whether it was completely believable or not, not only to set up things next season, but also to set up a big confrontation between Cersei and Tyrion. It was a largely satisfying scene, but you had to explain for yourself why Cersei in fact didn't kill Tyrion when given a chance. I think it tracked because she didn't really want a battle with Daenerys and her allies right then and there, which she most assuredly would have had if she'd killed Tyrion. So Tyrion gets the satisfaction of thinking he's persuaded Cersei, and Cersei gets to do what Cersei does: lie to everyone about her intentions. (I suppose the fact she did so provided further narrative cover for Jon Snow's decision not to lie. We don't really want our hero to be like Cersei, do we?)
But then we get into much shakier territory as we head to Winterfell. Weeks ago, talking with a friend about the rift between Arya and Sansa and how rushed it seemed, he noted that many viewers had rallied around the notion that it was all a ruse to counter-ensnare Littlefinger. I scoffed, not because that seemed impossible, but because that reading of events was even less supported than the the rift between sisters. But that's exactly where we ended up.
Yes, it was satisfying to watch Littlefinger sqiurm and beg and finally feel out of control for a moment, satisfying to see him finally get his come-uppance for kicking off this entire sad series of events, and yet it simply made no sense. If Arya and Sansa were leading him on the entire time, then why the charade when he wasn't around to see it? If they figured out at some point that they were being misled, then what occurred to make them realize it? This entire plotline was staged for an audience, staged for a dramatic bang at the end, but didn't track at all from the perspectives of any of characters -- perhaps least of all Littlefinger himself, who really shouldn't have gone down so easily after all the masterful manipulations we've seen him pull off.
Jon Snow talked the spine back into Theon Greyjoy, who now heads off to rescue his sister from Euron... who we would later be told did not abandon Cersei. There again, a plot point that's hard to reconcile. Euron was just supposed to have invented a reason at the summit to walk out? It's not like either of them actually believed they'd see an actual wight, so what was the pretense going to have been originally? "Oh, I guess seeing you all actually here is too much for me! I'm out!" Euron and Cersei's plan only makes sense with events unfolding that neither could possibly have foreseen. Guess that's where all of Littlefinger's cleverness went.
Samwell returned to Winterfell for a meeting of the minds with creepy Bran, and all the threads were finally laid bare. Samwell hadn't ignored Gilly, it seems, and had heard about the marriage between Rhaegar and Lyanna. So Bran hit the search function on his third eye and confirmed Jon's -- Aegon's -- legitimacy and claim to the Iron Throne.... right as Dany was, uh, receiving several inches of Snow. I guess the story never ends. Maybe some day, we'll get Game of Thrones: The Next Generation, where the incestuous child of Cersei and Jaime struggles with the incestuous child of Dany and Jon. (Okay, probably not.)
The big, final scene of the season was the most "satisfying, yet illogical" scene of the all. The Wall finally came down, and the Walkers finally marched their army into the South. Yet as cool as the visual of an "ice dragon" is, I'm not sure that using ice to instantly shatter ice feels quite right. Then there's the fact that this is a calamity of the hero's own making. If Jon Snow's "capture a wight" plan hadn't been so woefully deficient that Dany had to sacrifice a dragon rescuing him, then the Night King would never have had a dragon in the first place to so easily get through the Wall. I mean, I'm not arguing for hindsight here -- I'm saying Jon Snow had NO plan, and here are the results.
So we're now all teed up for the final season, though we're told it could be until 2019 before it comes. We're definitely accelerating toward AN ending, which is more than George R.R. Martin is ever likely to give us. So on that level, I am satisfied. But as plot dominoes continue to fall out of expediency and not logic, the ride feels less compelling than it has before. I give the finale a B.
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