TV & Movies

So, we know from the 20-second preview video above that Arya stays in the rubble of King’s Landing instead of riding that white horse far away. She’s looking at Dany with vengeance in her eyes since she experienced firsthand Dany’s unforgivable atrocities in the last episode.

Will Arya try to kill Dany? It sure looks like it’s being set up that way. On the other hand, Sandor “The Hound” Clegane’s words about forswearing vengeance are still ringing in her ears. I wish she’d get back on that horse, ride to Storm’s End and take Gendry up on his proposal, but she probably won’t.

Speaking of Gendry, ever since season one, my husband has been predicting that Gendry will win the game in the end. I scoffed at first, but it’s not so far-fetched now that Gendry has been legitimized as Robert Baratheon’s heir and made Lord of Storm’s End.

Even if the Targaryens are removed from contention for the Iron Throne, I don’t think Tyrion can win on the strength of a claim as the last surviving Lannister since everyone now knows Joffrey wasn’t Robert Baratheon’s son. Gendry has the superior claim in the absence of a Targaryen restoration. Maybe Gendry becomes king and appoints Tyrion Hand of the King. He’ll need help since he’s a blacksmith by trade.

My prediction is that Dany will sentence Tyrion to death by Drogon for springing Jaime from captivity — recall that she told him the next time he failed her would be the last. Maybe Bronn will kill Dany and/or Drogon to save Tyrion since he (Bronn) needs Tyrion alive to fulfill his promise to make Bronn the Lord of Highgarden? Bronn wants his damned payday.

So, if Dany dies, why wouldn’t Jon be the king? As he keeps telling everyone who will listen, he doesn’t want to be king. Maybe he’ll refuse the crown and head back north, rejoining Ghost and Tormund beyond the wall. It’s what he wants to do, as he told Tormund after the Battle of Winterfell. He wouldn’t be the first Targaryen to renounce the throne in favor of colder climates (recall Maester Aemon).

If Arya survives the looming conflict with Dany, maybe she actually does go back to Gendry, with the proviso that she won’t be pigeon-holed in a traditional lady’s role. She’s had a crush on Gendry since she first saw him. She once told him she could be his family.

In the first season, Robert Baratheon told Eddard Stark, “I have a son, you have a daughter — we’ll join our houses.” He meant Joffey and Sansa, of course. But maybe that’ll come true with a different set of Baratheon and Stark children. That’s probably too happy an ending to hope for from GoT, but I like it.

What about Sansa? Dany will definitely be gunning for her since she blabbed about Jon’s true lineage and is a staunch believer in Northern independence. I think Sansa survives and stays in her Lady of Winterfell role, ably guarded by Ser Brienne of Tarth.

And what about the Unsullied and the Dothraki? They’ve gotta get out of Westeros somehow. Maybe Dany lives after all. Maybe she addresses the people gathered in the ruins of King’s Landing (as depicted in that clip above_ and announces that she and her dragon and armies are headed back across the Narrow Sea to rule in Essos but Westeros better not start any shit, or she’ll be back to burn everything to the ground again.

That seems unlikely, but I also don’t see how the Unsullied and Dothraki remain in Westeros long-term, even if Dany wins the Iron Throne. Grey Worm, for one, can’t wait to get the hell out of there, and who can blame him after the way the Northern people looked at him when he rolled up to save their asses at Winterfell? Maybe Grey Worm leads the Unsullied to Naath and becomes the protector of that peaceful land in memory of his sweet Missandei.

And what about Drogon? If Dany dies and he lives, maybe he or she flies away, and the last scene shows him or her leaving three dragon eggs in a nest…

What do y’all think? Open thread!

So, from my cursory visit to the Twitters and elsewhere, I get the overwhelming impression that people are angry as hell about this episode. Glen Weldon at NPR has a decent recap and commentary here.

I disagree with one of his speculations — that Euron Greyjoy will end up being not-dead. He got a sword twisted into his guts and was clearly bleeding out! (Good riddance, BTW).

Weldon assumes Cersei and Jaime are dead, and certainly having tons of masonry rain down on the couple implies that they were crushed. But why foreclose the possibility of one or both of that incestuous pair’s surprise resurrection if you think Euron can bounce back from an evisceration? I think all three are well and truly dead.

Anyhoo, I’m not thrilled with the Mad Queen angle the series finale is taking, but I’m not as outraged as most folks seem to be. There was plenty of criticism for Arya’s sudden decision to listen to the Hound and abandon her quest for revenge, but I enjoyed this scene so much:

Sandor! She gave him his name at long last. RIP, Sandor.

The cinematography was pretty amazing, particularly when Arya was stumbling around in the smoke and ashes as the dragon strafed the city.

Many of the hot takes I saw said this episode ruined the whole series. That’s nuts, IMO. Plot holes? Yes, there were gaping plot holes. Etc. But we’ve seen this before with the series, and it still manages to be first-rate TV, IMO.

My only qualms involve the fact that we’ve only got 80 or so minutes to wrap it up, so I do wonder if the writers can stick the landing in that timeframe. We shall see. What did you think?