Why Season 8 of Game of Thrones Was Rushed
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VOICE OVER: Phoebe de Jeu
WRITTEN BY: Hannah Collins
Whether you loved it, or you hated it, we can all agree it wasn't the same "Game of Thrones" we fell in love with all those years ago. Was "Game of Thrones" Season 8 truly "rushed", was the writing really that bad? We got all the answers for you so buckle up partner! What was your least favorite moment of Season 8? Let us know in the comments!
Why Season 8 of Game of Thrones Was Rushed/The Worst
Through its first seven seasons, “Game of Thrones” was consistently considered one of the best TV shows on the air. Hoping to seal this legacy, HBO poured all of its resources into making the show’s eighth and final season as epic as possible. Efforts that have, unfortunately, all been in vain, as season eight has seen the sharpest decline in critical and audience approval in the series’ history.
So, what in seven hells happened? How did the television juggernaut trip at the finish line?
Before we get going, it should go without saying that spoilers - like winter - are coming. You have been warned!
Let’s start with the poor pacing - a problem that’s not unique to this particular season of “Game of Thrones,” but certainly more pronounced than ever before. The decision to have a shorter run of longer episodes sounded like it meant quality over quantity. Sadly, the showrunners squandered this opportunity almost immediately. The first pair of “calm before the storm” episodes offered plenty of fan service moments, like Brienne of Tarth being made an official Knight, but there was little meat on the bones in terms of plot progression.
Considering this season clocks in at around eight hours in length, devoting two whole hours to characters sitting around in a castle is wasteful. Just one hour would have been plenty! Fast-forward to the fifth episode, and rather than a varied and evenly-matched battle, about half of the penultimate instalment of the show was devoted to Daenerys flame-grilling the people of King’s Landing over and over again. Just how many times do we need to see Arya Stark falling over until we get the point?
Then there are this season’s big production blunders, First the infamous Starbucks coffee cup at Winterfell’s victory feast, which has since become the accidental breakout star of the show. Then it happened again in episode six during the war council meeting, with not one but two plastic waterbottles appearing in the shot at the feet of Samwell and Ser Davos. These error followed on from widespread complaints about the Battle for Winterfell being too dark, blurry, and visually confusing for viewers to make out pivotal scenes. The show’s cinematographer deflected criticism, putting the blaming on us for not knowing how to adjust our TV sets or computer screens properly. Yikes.
Bad lighting wasn’t the only problem audiences had with the “The Long Night.” Everyone from military experts to gamers have criticized the battle strategy of the living, particularly on how wasted the Dothraki cavalry was, not to mention the fact that your sending foreign tribesmen on a kamizake run first? The South Park moive really highlights this implication, whether intentional or not. But, while you could argue that this poor strategy was a deliberate fumble to raise tension, the rest of the season is chock full of more plot holes than poor Rhaegal. How on earth did Dany not spot Euron Greyjoy and his Iron Fleet from her high vantage point in “The Last of the Starks?” How was the King of the Iron Islands able to find and capture Missandei - and only Missandei - amongst the sinking wreckage? Why was Jon forced to remain excile with The Night’s Watch at the demand of the Unsullied if the Unsullied ended up leaving Westeros anyway? What does the Night’s Watch even do anymore? And don’t even get us started on how Bronn was able to sneak in and out of Winterfell with a big, unconcealed crossbow! As for the logic behind hiding a bunch of people in a crypt when fighting a necromancer, well, we’ll let Peter Dinklage handle that one: [Peter Dinklage points out the problem of hiding in the crypt]
Not only has the plot been misbehaving, but many fans have noticed that many of the show’s characters have not really been themselves either. The unpredictable, conniving players like Varys and Tyrion Lannister that Martin’s novels have so much affection for lost their edge this season. While Tyrion has been - both internally and literally - lost at sea, Varys - a character who always plays his cards close to his chest - inexplicably showed his hand to everyone, effectively sealing his own death warrant at the start of “The Bells.” Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister, a character who completed a long redemptive arc by choosing to selflessly fight the army of the dead, suddenly did a 180-moral turn to ride back into Cersei’s arms at the end of “The Last of the Starks.” Seven seasons of careful character development blown up like wildfire.
As for Jon: what exactly did the man who still “knows nothing” hope to achieve by blabbing about his true heritage to everyone who’ll listen? For a guy that doesn’t want to sit on the Iron Throne, he sure has a funny way of showing it! His sheer ignorance about the consequences of this huge revelation appear to be based solely on the writers needing to push him towards his destiny, rather than logical character choices.
We could easily say the same for the Mother of Dragons’ sudden descent into tyranny. Yes; the showrunners have been signposting Dany’s “Mad Queen” twist for a long time, the foreshadowing was so obnoxious that it was practically written on our screens. It was the execution that left a lot of fans scratching their heads. Rather than the inevitable endpoint of a well-built hero-to-villain journey, Dany’s snap decision to burn everything to the ground post-victory came across as nonsensical. She tried to justify her actions by saying that Cersei used innocent people as a weapon against her. Ignoring the fact that she had a dragon which she could of used to take out Cersei directly at the Red Keep, instead she chose to target and burn innocent people AFTER they had surrendered. Lets also not forget that all the way back at the Burning of Astapor, Daenerys clearly told the Unsullied to harm no child. Yet she doesn’t seem to think twice about the consequences of her actions, when Jon tells her directly that children are burning because of her. The writers just didn’t put the work in for us to buy any of it.
It’s a sad end for a character once held up as a figure of empowerment for certain viewers, and representative of the many ways the show has failed most of its female characters in this final season. After being heavily criticized for its frequent depiction of nudity and sexual violence, “Game of Thrones” started to feel like it was turning a corner in seasons six and seven, which rings true to Martin’s claim that he is a “feminist at heart.”
With the exception of Arya Stark, season eight has undone much of that positive work: From Sansa essentially telling the Hound that her brutal defilement by Ramsay Bolton was “worth it;” to Brienne being virginity-shamed and then turned into a blubbering wreck by Jaime; to the only woman of color being beheaded in order to damage another’s mental health. To add insult to injury, Varys concluded that one of the things that made Jon a better fit for the throne than Dany was what he was packing between his legs, proving that all the girl power flag-waving the show did was for nothing in the end.
And, yes, we hear you: “historical accuracy” and all that. But, history is dotted with queens who ruled unchallenged in times of extreme misogyny, including during the periods of history that “Game of Thrones” draws inspiration from. How long until we stop making excuses for “historical sexism” and just call it out for what it is: lazy, sexist writing. Also, it’s a fantasy series – c’mon.
Possibly the biggest misstep the show has made, however, was grossly overstating the Night King’s importance. In the books, the “Night’s King” is a mythic figure from Westeros’ ancient past, while the White Walkers exist on the periphery of the story. The show built their version of him and the Walkers up to seem like the real Big Bad, leading to huge disappointment when the Night King - and his frozen army - crumbled to dust from a single knife wound at the mid-way point. This had the knock-on effect of also overselling Bran’s significance as the Three-Eyed Raven, since all he seemed to be doing for most of the season is just sit around and let things happen, right up to the point where he of all people was annoited king. Really? Bran of all the characters is chosen to be king? The same Bran who didn’t want to rule originally but all of a sudden is totally ok with becoming the greatest ruler of the Seven … Sorry Six Kingdoms?
Speaking of which, why did Sansa suddenly decide that the North would retain its independence if a member of her own house is to sit on the throne of all the kingdoms? House Stark is already fragmented, why break it up even more? If Bran were to rule over all the Kingdoms; wouldn’t it make more sense for The North to remain part of that alliance since his home kingdom would get preferencial treatment? Not only that, but what was to stop all the other lords from seeking independence for their own Kingdoms too?
Through its first seven seasons, “Game of Thrones” was consistently considered one of the best TV shows on the air. Hoping to seal this legacy, HBO poured all of its resources into making the show’s eighth and final season as epic as possible. Efforts that have, unfortunately, all been in vain, as season eight has seen the sharpest decline in critical and audience approval in the series’ history.
So, what in seven hells happened? How did the television juggernaut trip at the finish line?
Before we get going, it should go without saying that spoilers - like winter - are coming. You have been warned!
Let’s start with the poor pacing - a problem that’s not unique to this particular season of “Game of Thrones,” but certainly more pronounced than ever before. The decision to have a shorter run of longer episodes sounded like it meant quality over quantity. Sadly, the showrunners squandered this opportunity almost immediately. The first pair of “calm before the storm” episodes offered plenty of fan service moments, like Brienne of Tarth being made an official Knight, but there was little meat on the bones in terms of plot progression.
Considering this season clocks in at around eight hours in length, devoting two whole hours to characters sitting around in a castle is wasteful. Just one hour would have been plenty! Fast-forward to the fifth episode, and rather than a varied and evenly-matched battle, about half of the penultimate instalment of the show was devoted to Daenerys flame-grilling the people of King’s Landing over and over again. Just how many times do we need to see Arya Stark falling over until we get the point?
Then there are this season’s big production blunders, First the infamous Starbucks coffee cup at Winterfell’s victory feast, which has since become the accidental breakout star of the show. Then it happened again in episode six during the war council meeting, with not one but two plastic waterbottles appearing in the shot at the feet of Samwell and Ser Davos. These error followed on from widespread complaints about the Battle for Winterfell being too dark, blurry, and visually confusing for viewers to make out pivotal scenes. The show’s cinematographer deflected criticism, putting the blaming on us for not knowing how to adjust our TV sets or computer screens properly. Yikes.
Bad lighting wasn’t the only problem audiences had with the “The Long Night.” Everyone from military experts to gamers have criticized the battle strategy of the living, particularly on how wasted the Dothraki cavalry was, not to mention the fact that your sending foreign tribesmen on a kamizake run first? The South Park moive really highlights this implication, whether intentional or not. But, while you could argue that this poor strategy was a deliberate fumble to raise tension, the rest of the season is chock full of more plot holes than poor Rhaegal. How on earth did Dany not spot Euron Greyjoy and his Iron Fleet from her high vantage point in “The Last of the Starks?” How was the King of the Iron Islands able to find and capture Missandei - and only Missandei - amongst the sinking wreckage? Why was Jon forced to remain excile with The Night’s Watch at the demand of the Unsullied if the Unsullied ended up leaving Westeros anyway? What does the Night’s Watch even do anymore? And don’t even get us started on how Bronn was able to sneak in and out of Winterfell with a big, unconcealed crossbow! As for the logic behind hiding a bunch of people in a crypt when fighting a necromancer, well, we’ll let Peter Dinklage handle that one: [Peter Dinklage points out the problem of hiding in the crypt]
Not only has the plot been misbehaving, but many fans have noticed that many of the show’s characters have not really been themselves either. The unpredictable, conniving players like Varys and Tyrion Lannister that Martin’s novels have so much affection for lost their edge this season. While Tyrion has been - both internally and literally - lost at sea, Varys - a character who always plays his cards close to his chest - inexplicably showed his hand to everyone, effectively sealing his own death warrant at the start of “The Bells.” Meanwhile, Jaime Lannister, a character who completed a long redemptive arc by choosing to selflessly fight the army of the dead, suddenly did a 180-moral turn to ride back into Cersei’s arms at the end of “The Last of the Starks.” Seven seasons of careful character development blown up like wildfire.
As for Jon: what exactly did the man who still “knows nothing” hope to achieve by blabbing about his true heritage to everyone who’ll listen? For a guy that doesn’t want to sit on the Iron Throne, he sure has a funny way of showing it! His sheer ignorance about the consequences of this huge revelation appear to be based solely on the writers needing to push him towards his destiny, rather than logical character choices.
We could easily say the same for the Mother of Dragons’ sudden descent into tyranny. Yes; the showrunners have been signposting Dany’s “Mad Queen” twist for a long time, the foreshadowing was so obnoxious that it was practically written on our screens. It was the execution that left a lot of fans scratching their heads. Rather than the inevitable endpoint of a well-built hero-to-villain journey, Dany’s snap decision to burn everything to the ground post-victory came across as nonsensical. She tried to justify her actions by saying that Cersei used innocent people as a weapon against her. Ignoring the fact that she had a dragon which she could of used to take out Cersei directly at the Red Keep, instead she chose to target and burn innocent people AFTER they had surrendered. Lets also not forget that all the way back at the Burning of Astapor, Daenerys clearly told the Unsullied to harm no child. Yet she doesn’t seem to think twice about the consequences of her actions, when Jon tells her directly that children are burning because of her. The writers just didn’t put the work in for us to buy any of it.
It’s a sad end for a character once held up as a figure of empowerment for certain viewers, and representative of the many ways the show has failed most of its female characters in this final season. After being heavily criticized for its frequent depiction of nudity and sexual violence, “Game of Thrones” started to feel like it was turning a corner in seasons six and seven, which rings true to Martin’s claim that he is a “feminist at heart.”
With the exception of Arya Stark, season eight has undone much of that positive work: From Sansa essentially telling the Hound that her brutal defilement by Ramsay Bolton was “worth it;” to Brienne being virginity-shamed and then turned into a blubbering wreck by Jaime; to the only woman of color being beheaded in order to damage another’s mental health. To add insult to injury, Varys concluded that one of the things that made Jon a better fit for the throne than Dany was what he was packing between his legs, proving that all the girl power flag-waving the show did was for nothing in the end.
And, yes, we hear you: “historical accuracy” and all that. But, history is dotted with queens who ruled unchallenged in times of extreme misogyny, including during the periods of history that “Game of Thrones” draws inspiration from. How long until we stop making excuses for “historical sexism” and just call it out for what it is: lazy, sexist writing. Also, it’s a fantasy series – c’mon.
Possibly the biggest misstep the show has made, however, was grossly overstating the Night King’s importance. In the books, the “Night’s King” is a mythic figure from Westeros’ ancient past, while the White Walkers exist on the periphery of the story. The show built their version of him and the Walkers up to seem like the real Big Bad, leading to huge disappointment when the Night King - and his frozen army - crumbled to dust from a single knife wound at the mid-way point. This had the knock-on effect of also overselling Bran’s significance as the Three-Eyed Raven, since all he seemed to be doing for most of the season is just sit around and let things happen, right up to the point where he of all people was annoited king. Really? Bran of all the characters is chosen to be king? The same Bran who didn’t want to rule originally but all of a sudden is totally ok with becoming the greatest ruler of the Seven … Sorry Six Kingdoms?
Speaking of which, why did Sansa suddenly decide that the North would retain its independence if a member of her own house is to sit on the throne of all the kingdoms? House Stark is already fragmented, why break it up even more? If Bran were to rule over all the Kingdoms; wouldn’t it make more sense for The North to remain part of that alliance since his home kingdom would get preferencial treatment? Not only that, but what was to stop all the other lords from seeking independence for their own Kingdoms too?
