 8.01 Winterfell - Upon reaching Winterfell with their combined armies, Jon and Daenerys learn the Army of the Dead has breached the Wall, and the Night King commands the undead Viserion. The Northern lords and their allies rally around Winterfell, but distrust Daenerys and doubt Cersei's pledge to send troops. At King's Landing, Euron returns from Essos with the Golden Company and entices Cersei to consummate their union. On Cersei's orders, Qyburn hires Bronn to assassinate Tyrion and Jaime. Theon rescues Yara, who then sets out to retake the Iron Islands, while Theon returns to Winterfell. At Winterfell, Jon reunites with Bran and Arya, and later learns to ride Rhaegal. Sam meets Daenerys, who reveals that she executed his father and brother. After Sam and Jon are reunited, Sam reveals Jon's true identity is Aegon Targaryen, king and rightful heir to the Iron Throne. At House Umber's seat of Last Hearth, Tormund and Beric encounter Edd and other Night's Watch members, finding the castle's occupants dead, and Ned Umber's body left as a gruesome message from the Night King. Jaime arrives at Winterfell where Bran is awaiting him. 8.02 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - Jaime reveals Cersei's deception to the Targaryen–Stark alliance and joins the alliance after Brienne defends his loyalty. Jaime later apologizes to Bran for crippling him; Bran replies he has no anger, and they are no longer the same people. Tyrion loses Daenerys' favor for believing Cersei, prompting Jorah to ask her to forgive Tyrion's mistakes. Citing their mutual love for Jon, Daenerys tries and fails to gain Sansa's trust after refusing to give assurances about the North's fate. Theon, Edd, Tormund, and Beric arrive at Winterfell, with the latter three reporting House Umber's fall. Bran proposes that he lure out the Night King, who intends to destroy the Three-Eyed Raven. His plan is reluctantly approved, with Theon and the Ironborn offering protection. Arya asks Gendry to have sex with her. Jaime formally knights Brienne. Jorah fails to dissuade Lyanna Mormont from fighting, and he receives House Tarly's ancestral sword as a gift from Sam. As the Army of the Dead approaches, Jon reveals his Targaryen lineage to Daenerys, who reluctantly acknowledges his claim to the Iron Throne. 8.03 The Long Night - The Living Army meets the Army of the Dead outside Winterfell. The Dothraki are obliterated first, then the Unsullied are overwhelmed. Edd is killed after saving Sam. The survivors retreat into the castle as Melisandre ignites the defensive fire trench surrounding Winterfell to delay the advancing horde. Jon and Daenerys engage the Night King on their dragons. The wights invade Winterfell, overpowering the defenders and killing Lyanna Mormont. Beric dies defending Arya, whom Melisandre helps realize her destiny to deny the God of Death on that day. Jon and Rhaegal knock the Night King off Viserion; Daenerys commands Drogon to burn the Night King, but dragon fire has no effect. The Night King raises slain Winterfell defenders, including the dead entombed in the crypt where the non-combatants are attacked. When swarming wights pull Daenerys from Drogon, Jorah is fatally wounded defending her. The Night King arrives at the Godswood for Bran and kills Theon. Arya ambushes the Night King, stabbing him with her Valyrian steel dagger. The Night King and his White Walkers disintegrate, causing Viserion and the wights to collapse. Her purpose served, Melisandre leaves Winterfell and falls dead from her advanced age. 8.04 The Last of the Starks - The survivors mourn and burn the dead. Daenerys legitimizes Gendry as a Baratheon, and names him Lord of Storm's End. Arya declines Gendry's marriage proposal. Jaime and Brienne become lovers. To protect her position as queen, Daenerys wants Jon to conceal his true parentage. Bronn arrives to kill Jaime and Tyrion for Cersei, but spares them in exchange for Highgarden. Daenerys wants to immediately attack King's Landing, but her war council disagrees. Jon reveals his Targaryen claim to Sansa and Arya, swearing them to secrecy. Wanting Jon as king, Sansa tells Tyrion, who informs Varys. Arya leaves Winterfell and joins Clegane, heading to King's Landing. Tormund returns north with the Wildlings, taking Ghost at Jon's request. Daenerys and her fleet set sail for King's Landing, while Jon leads the Northern army. At Dragonstone, Euron's navy ambushes Daenery's fleet, destroying many ships and killing Rhaegal with superior scorpion weapons. Misandei is taken hostage. Daenerys considers seizing King's Landing using dragon fire. Varys and Tyrion debate whether Jon or Daenerys is a better ruler. After the fleet is attacked, Jaime feels compelled to return to Cersei, despite Brienne's plea that he stay. Cersei defiantly refuses Daenerys' demand to surrender and orders the Mountain to behead Missandei, enraging Daenerys and Grey Worm. 8.05 The Bells - Varys wants Jon to take the Iron Throne, but Jon refuses to betray Daenerys. After learning of Varys' plot from Tyrion, Daenerys has Drogon burn Varys. Daenerys plans to incinerate King's Landing. Jaime is captured, but Tyrion conspires for him to enter King's Landing and signal its surrender by ringing the city's bells. Jaime and Cersei can then secretly escape Westeros. As Jaime, Arya, and Sandor infiltrate King's Landing, Daenerys has Drogon destroy the Iron Fleet, the scorpion weapons, the city gates, and most of the Golden Company, allowing her army to enter. The Lannister forces are overwhelmed and the city signals its surrender, but an enraged Daenerys attacks King's Landing on Drogon, indiscriminately burning soldiers and civilians. The allied army follows her lead, slaughtering all in their path, horrifying Tyrion and Jon. After entering the Red Keep, Jaime kills Euron, but is severely wounded. Clegane convinces Arya to abandon killing Cersei and save herself, then engages the Mountain, who kills Qyburn. Glegane and the Mountain fight fiercely, both brothers perishing after falling into flames. Cersei and Jaime reunite and flee, but are buried under rubble as the castle collapses. Jon calls for retreat as frantic civilians desert a demolished King's Landing. Amid the city's destruction, Arya barely escapes alive. 8.06 The Iron Throne - After King's Landing is nearly destroyed, Grey Worm executes all captured soldiers on Daenerys' orders. Tyrion finds Jaime and Cersei dead in the Red Keep ruins. Daenerys rallies the Unsullied and Dothraki, declaring she will liberate the entire world. Denouncing Daenerys' tyranny, Tyrion resigns as Hand, then is imprisoned for treason to await execution. Fearing Daenerys may kill Jon and Sansa, Arya and Tyrion separately tell Jon that Westeros' fate lies with him. Jon confronts Daenerys, but unable to halt her destructive path, fatally stabs her. Grieved by her death, Drogon melts the Iron Throne, then carries her body away. Tyrion is freed and suggests that future monarchs be chosen by Westerosi aristocrats, rather than through familial succession. Apart from Sansa asserting an independent North, the Westerosi leaders unanimously proclaim Bran Stark as Bran the Broken, Ruler of the Six Kingdoms. Bran appoints Tyrion as his Hand and sentences Jon to the Night's Watch to appease Daenerys' followers, who wanted him executed. Grey Worm and the Unsullied sail for Naath. Tyrion reorganizes the King's Small Council – Brienne, Bronn, Davos, and Sam – to rebuild King's Landing. Sansa is crowned Queen in the North. Arya sets sail to explore west of Westeros. At Castle Black, Jon rejoins Tormund and Ghost, accompanying the Wildlings heading north of the Wall. (Disc.2) ------------------------------Storyline: In the mythical continent of Westeros, several powerful families fight for control of the Seven Kingdoms. As conflict erupts in the kingdoms of men, an ancient enemy rises once again to threaten them all. Meanwhile, the last heirs of a recently usurped dynasty plot to take back their homeland from across the Narrow Sea. Written by Sam Gray Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, December 7, 2019 The now famous tag line "winter is coming" has morphed into "winter is here" on some of the press material accompanying the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, but one way or the other, audiences and critics alike, evidently affected by that kind of weather, seemed to have a perhaps appropriately cooler response to this much loved and talked about series during this wrap up collection of episodes. In a way, it's perhaps completely predictable that Game of Thrones, having evaded the so-called "sophomore slump" that many shows seems to suffer, may have ultimately fallen prey to an analogous syndrome in the annals of series television, the "final season letdown", as exemplified by such at least somewhat controversial wrap up years like Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season. Game of Thrones: The Complete Eighth Season may therefore not completely satisfy each and every fan in each and every one of its six episodes this season (abbreviated compared to previous years, which may in fact be part of the problem). That said, there is still a wealth of material here that should at least occasionally and intermittently engage various longtime viewers of the series, even if there may be an undeniable feeling of things ending not with a veritable bang, but a snowbound whimper. Even the relatively "minor" lack of an episode or two this season compared to previous seasons may prove to be one of the insurmountable obstacles Game of Thrones encounters as the writers attempt to deal with a vast array of characters and plot points. The season has two major objectives, establishing who will finally assume the duties of the Iron Throne, and also documenting the epochal battle of Winterfell between the armies of the living and dead. That may not sound like a lot of material, but as anyone who has watched even an isolated episode or two of the series may understand, there are so many strands of subplots woven into these two "basic" plotlines that it may have been a fool's errand to attempt to knit them together with such a relatively few episodes. Forces are assembled both literally and figuratively as the eighth season opens, with hordes of characters either arriving or meeting in Winterfell, including Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). By the end of the first episode of the season, a number of other notables are in Winterfell, including Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), and Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams). With other hordes of the undead variety due to arrive at Winterfell's doorstep at any moment, there are somewhat panicked strategy meetings, some explicitly doubting whether the promises of Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) to provide fighting forces can be believes. Cersei herself is given some time in this episode as her relationship with Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) enters new territory. (Another subplot involving other Greyjoys seems almost weirdly truncated, as if the writers decided "well, we have to do something with these characters.) This season has a rather cheeky sense of humor at times which would seem to be an odd match for the overamped histrionics that also frequently take place. Suffice it to say that backstabbing and major character expirations continue to be the norm, but there are some arguably unexpected bits along the way, including what is obviously meant to be a mind blowing reveal about Jon in the first episode (but which may not come as that much of a surprise to some). Other interchanges, as in the "reunion" between Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright), may actually provoke eye rolling in some, with an "are you [inserted expletive here] kidding me?" response to a certain sanguine nature between the two. There are a number of other plot contrivances, including at least two moments when Jon Snow is seemingly fated to be killed (again, it might be added), but then just kind of miraculously escapes. Kind of surprisingly, given the build up to the big battle with the Army of the Dead (one which gets started in earnest in the third episode), the series just kind of moves on willy nilly to other menaces, until things move inexorably to their bittersweet conclusion, where a ruler if not an "inhabitant" of the Iron Throne is revealed. It's perhaps salient to point out that some may feel the most emotional moment in this entire season takes place between a dragon and human (more will not be said lest spoilers be inferred), even with a whole panoply of players strutting and fretting their hour on this particular stage. Was I completely thrilled with this final season of the much beloved Game of Thrones? No. Did I think it was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish, as at least some other fans evidently did? No. I think things could have been smoothed out here with at least one or two more episodes, but there also is some unabashedly ham handed writing this season, with both silly soap operatic aspects and interpersonal relationships that just don't ring true all of the time. Still, I can't imagine anyone who has been following this show not finding something to like about this final season. Technical merits are generally solid, though I personally found the video side of things to be a little lackluster this season. With caveats duly noted, Recommended. Cast Notes: Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister[67 episodes, 2011-2019]), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister[62 episodes, 2011-2019]), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen[62 episodes, 2011-2019]), Kit Harington (Jon Snow[62 episodes, 2011-2019]), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark[59 episodes, 2011-2019]), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark[59 episodes, 2011-2019]), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister[55 episodes, 2011-2019]), Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont[52 episodes, 2011-2019]), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly[48 episodes, 2011-2019]), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy[47 episodes, 2011-2019]), Conleth Hill (Lord Varys[46 episodes, 2011-2019]), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth[42 episodes, 2012-2019]), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth[42 episodes, 2012-2019]), Aidan Gillen (Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish[41 episodes, 2011-2017]), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark[40 episodes, 2011-2019]), Rory McCann (Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane[38 episodes, 2011-2019]), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei[38 episodes, 2013-2019]), Jerome Flynn (Bronn[37 episodes, 2011-2019]), Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne[35 episodes, 2012-2019]), Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm[34 episodes, 2013-2019]), Ben Crompton (Eddison Tollett[34 episodes, 2012-2019]), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane[33 episodes, 2013-2019]), Julian Glover (Grand Maester Pycelle[31 episodes, 2011-2016]), Carice van Houten (Melisandre[29 episodes, 2012-2019]), Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister[27 episodes, 2011-2015]), Hannah Murray (Gilly[27 episodes, 2012-2019]). IMDb Rating (12/16/19): 9.4/10 from 1,613,998 users Top Rated TV #8
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