The Other Side of the Fourth Wall

Here's my second attempt at doing an AI generated Game of Thrones ending. This time, the AI wasn't at its best, and tended to be repetitive and incoherent, albeit amusingly so. Imagine if, instead of deciding the fate of the Seven Kingdoms while on trial for treason, Tyrion started killing people, including those who have been dead for seasons. You are Tyrion Lannister. You once served House Lannister, but after being falsely convicted of killing your nephew Joffrey Baratheon, you went on the run and joined Daenerys Targaryen, your family's enemy, on her quest to reclaim the Iron Throne. Unfortunately, Daenerys went mad and you had to betray her, freeing your brother Jaime Lannister, who died saving your sister and the queen Cersei Lannister. For that, you were imprisoned, and were to be executed, but Daenerys' lover Jon Snow stabbed her and killed her. Now, you are brought before an assembly of the lords of the Seven Kingdoms- Sansa Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Edmur

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones Now for the conclusion to this series. The General Problems Part of the reason for the decline of Game of Thrones' qualities are the reasons I stated before. The showrunners no longer had Martin's books to guide them, resulting in their writing's shortcomings coming to the fore. The fact that the final two seasons have thirteen episodes between them is a significant factor in why the show ended as poorly as it did. While Daenerys' fall into evil was always destined to be controversial, having more episodes to cover her development might have made it easier to accept. Additionally, giving more episodes to the war with the Night King would have helped him seem like more of a credible threat than he ended up being. Of course, ending a show like this well was always a difficult prospect for a few reasons. First, the ending would inevitably have been the showrunners' creation, and would thus b

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones When I watched this for the first time, my expectations were practically rock-bottom after the previous few episodes, so I wasn't too disappointed by the last episode, the fourth Rotten episode of the series and the third consecutive Rotten one. But does that mean it isn't bad? The opening credits play one last time, and King's Landing is shown to be in ruins. In many cases, not showing the opening credits is best for a momentous occasion like the last episode, but it's nice to see the credits update. The episode begins with Jon and Tyrion walking through the ruins of King's Landing. Grey Worm sentences Lannister prisoners to die, declaring that the war is not over until his queen's enemies are dead, since Daenerys ordered him to kill Cersei's followers. A tense standoff ensues, but Davos defuses it by asking Jon to speak with Daenerys, but Grey Worm starts slicing the prisoners&#

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones While I don't usually watch recaps, the one for this episode is notable. Apart from summarizing the situation- Cersei is holed up in King's Landing and refuses to surrender; Daenerys' allies wonder if Jon might be better; and a few characters are going to King's Landing for their own purposes- it ends with a montage of quotes about the Targaryens, as if to foreshadow the turn Daenerys takes in this episode. The episode begins in Dragonstone, with Varys writing a letter about Jon's parentage when one of his "little birds"(i.e. child spies) knocks on the door and informs him Daenerys isn't eating. Varys replies that they can "try again at supper," implying that he's planning on poisoning Daenerys' food. The little bird whose name is Martha, worries that the soldiers are watching her, but Varys says it's their job, and the greater the risk, the greater the

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones Before the review, I'd like to include a bit of trivia. In the prior 80 episodes of Game of Thrones, only one  got a Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes(less than 60% positive reviews)- Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. This stood out as a particularly weak episode in the fifth season, in large part because of the terrible choreography in the fight scene between Jaime, Bronn and the Sand Snakes, but none of the other episodes were nearly as bad. "The Last of the Starks," however, is not only the second Rotten episode, but the first episode in a Rotten streak that lasts for the rest of the series. Does it deserve this dubious honor? The episode begins with the defenders of Winterfell mourning the fallen and burning their bodies. It then cuts to a victory celebration held by the survivors in Winterfell's hall. Somewhat infamously, Daenerys had a Starbucks cup at her table, which was edited out. Gendry

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones This is the long-awaited "Long Night," heavy on the "night" aspect and light on the "long" aspect. Jokes aside, it's almost impossible to see anything during the battl, and while this was apparently a deliberate choice, the battle is rather confusing and hard to follow, even compared to other night battles, such as the Battle of Blackwater or the wildling attack on Castle Black. It's realistic compared to most fictional depictions of darkness in visual media, but because it's unusually realistic compared ot the norm, it's all the more jarring. The episode begins with the defenders of Winterfell preparing for battle. The red priestess Melisandre shows up and asks Jorah to order the Dothraki to raise their weapons. When they comply, she magically sets their blades ablaze. Davos is not in the least bit happy to see Melisandre again, since she burned Stannis' dau

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones The episode begins with Jaime on trial. Daenerys is bitter about Jaime killing her father, Aerys II Targaryen, despite knowing what kind of person "The Mad King," was, and has fantasized about killing Jaime. She reminds Jaime that Cersei reneged on her pledge to help fight the Night King and blames Jaime for that. Jaime lists all of the forces Cersei has, from the Iron Fleet to the Golden Company, and acknowledges that Daenerys will have to fight Cersei's massive army next if she defeats the dead, but pledges to help Daenerys. Tyrion tries to vouch for Jaime, but she has little trust for Tyrion and even less for Jaime. Surprisingly, Sansa agrees with Daenerys for once, bringing up Jaime's attack on Ned in Season 1. Jaime defiantly insists that they were at war, and he'd do everything he did again. Bran then quips, "The things we do for love," which is innocuous in and of itsel

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones The episode begins in the Stark castle of Winterfell, with House Stark awaiting the arrival of Queen Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, the latter of whom is their bastard brother and the second King in the North. The scene is an obvious parallel to the time King Robert Baratheon visited Winterfell at the start of the series. However, this time, there are only four surviving Starks, after Ned's beheading, Robb and Catelyn being murdered at the Red Wedding, and Rickon being killed by Ramsay Bolton's men. Tyrion Lannister and Varys, two individuals who ended up siding with Daenerys, are in a carriage together. Tyrion, jokes about how Varys the eunuch' severed testicles won't freeze, and after Varys calls him out on making eunuch jokes despite being offended by dwarf jokes, makes one of the most cringeworthy lines of the season, "Because I have balls and you don't." As the first dial

Warning: This series contains spoilers for the final season of Game of Thrones Introduction This is probably my most ambitious project since I started this blog- a look back on Game of Thrones' widely disliked final season. While widely considered the weakest season, some are willing to defend certain aspects of the season, so I will evaluate it and see whether the season is as bad as people remember. The review will be divided into eight parts- an introduction, one entry for each of the six episodes- and a conclusion that summarizes it. Without further ado, let's get into the introduction- where the series stood at this point. The Most Obvious Problem Perhaps the best place to start is one of the most frequently cited problems with the final season, which achieves its status by virtue of being the most obvious- the episode count. The final season is much shorter than the previous seven, and is one episode shorter than the previous season. This shortage of episodes wouldn't