The End of the Game

Note: This whole post is a Game of Thrones spoiler. AND it includes a few curse words.

I’ve read all the books. The whole Song of Ice & Fire. And I read “Fire & Blood.” I’ve watched all the episodes. So why not jump into the fray? Here is a brief commentary at the end of the Game.

First I’ll say that I do not fancy myself a critic. When it comes to film and to reading, I’m more of an appreciator. I look for what I enjoy. If I don’t like it, I turn it off.

I love the books. And I loved the tv show.

Here is what I didn’t like about this last season:

Then I’ll get to what I liked.

It was rushed. Definitely rushed. I would be ok with the same outcomes. But I needed more of a flow. They took something almost perfect, and they ruined it at the end.

Over the last few seasons I came to trust that the show was going to redeem the way that it treated women. That did not happen. And we all lost.

The people of color are savages or eunuchs. What the fucking fuck?

I’m an optimist. I tend towards happy endings. But I always saw the show as a metaphor for climate change. Here we are vying for power in the realms of men. But winter is coming. And it will get all of us in the end.

The show should have ended with the fight against death. And we should have lost. Then perhaps a few of us, would work to survive. To start society anew. Without kings, and without lords.

Here is what I did like:

Stories are what keep people together. Stories that are told and re-told. Stories that captivate our imagination. That teach us how to live. That make us part of something much greater than ourselves. Stories that connect us to our ancestors even as they inspire us to live into our future. The stories that we want for our descendants.

A big story. Right now. Is what humanity needs.

The hero with the weapon of mass destruction was not such a hero after all. The monopoly of power can be seductive for all of us. We liked Deanerys. We were ok with her absolute rule. As long as we believed she was good. I think there is a big lesson here for all those who claim to stand for justice but act a lot like fascists instead.

My hope is that those who police language, cancel people, and limit speech, picked up a little something from the lesson of the Dragon Queen.

"Danny is motivated by this liberation ideology but fails to see how she is actually reenacting tyranny even inside of her revolutionary ideology." - Autumn Brown, in the Podcast “How to Survive the End of the World: Is Hodor the Real Hero of GoT?”

There is no more iron throne! It’s the beginning of the house of lords. Which is, by the way, exactly what we have today. We can play and should play at voting. But it’s the one percent running the game. They still own 40% of the nation's wealth.

Tyrion has become wise. And he sits in the seat that his father held. Hopefully ready to play a very different game.

House Stark won! The North is free and under a woman’s rule. Arya will venture into the unknown. Jon Snow (Aegon Targaryen) will live with the free folk. The rightful heir to the throne will live a life without kings.

And Bran will be wise. Because history lives within him. And he follows the gods of old.