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https://nerdist.com/article/game-of-thrones-finale-iron-throne-review/
The last ever episode of Game of Thrones started off slowly, maybe a little too slowly. Still, it felt at first like past season finales in the best way, with its characters dealing with the consequences of an explosive penultimate episode on a grand scale. But then, as Tyrion retroactively changed Dany’s journey and Jon met her in the throne room, it all felt apart, giving way to an illogical and unsatisfying ending that tried to be too tidy for a show best known for upending traditional storytelling.
In begging Jon to stop Daenerys before she could “liberate” the rest of the world, Tyrion redefined her entire history—she has always killed evil men, and according to Tyrion, that should have been a warning all along for what she’d become—and in turn her decision to burn King’s Landing. He reframed the decision as the result of misplaced logic as opposed to madness, which doesn’t fit with her story as we knew it. Tyrion’s speech only highlighted how out-of-character it was for her to become Queen of the Ashes at all, rather than place that action in a broader context.
Regardless of his questionable insights, Tyrion was right that Jon had to kill Daenerys. It would have been nice if some of the slow walking through the city at the start could have been used to give Jon more quiet time to agonize, because when he did kill her it was another anti-climactic moment in a season full of them. The Mother of Dragons, one of the two most important characters throughout the entire show, was gone in a flash, in a moment that felt aggressively understated. Oberyn’s death was more impactful. The Hound got a better sendoff last week. Even Ramsay Bolton got a better death scene.
Unfortunately, things only got worse from there. Somehow Drogon decided not to kill Jon, but destroy the Iron Throne that had driven his mother wild. Who knew dragons had such a flair for symbolism? Then Jon, after ostensibly telling the Unsullied what he’d done (how else would they have know?), amazingly wasn’t murdered on the spot. Grey Worm was slitting Lannister throats but let Jon live after his confession because… reasons? In exchange for his life, Jon had to rejoin the totally pointless Night’s Watch (the wildlings were still guests at Castle Black!), even though the Unsullied were leaving the Realm forever and the ruling parties could have done whatever they wanted with Jon after they were gone.
Jon’s ultimate ending was ambiguous, with the show hinting he going to live with the wildlings, but even if he did it was the better of only two options. It wasn’t a bad ending unto itself, since heroes don’t always get the ending they deserve, but it was a lot less satisfying than if he had at least made that decision himself. The circumstances around it made it all feel forced.
The biggest eye roll moment belonged to the crowning of Bran, who everyone happily accepts as the Three-Eyed Raven despite that not being a thing that should make any sense to them. The only living son of Ned Stark becoming king, with a promise for future rulers to be chosen rather than inherit the crown, wasn’t crazy for Westeros, but it came out of left field (along with a bunch of strangers) and felt like an actively anti-fan-theory choice.
It’s made more crazy that the North had been allowed to opt out of the Seven Kingdoms. After everything we’ve seen in Westeros, does anyone seriously think the other Lords and Ladies would accept a king from somewhere no longer part of the Realm? It was ludicrous, and it felt reverse-engineered so Sansa could also be Queen in the North. Her otherwise satisfying ending came at the expense of internal logic.
Not that there was much of that elsewhere. Outside of Brienne becoming Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and finishing Jaime’s entry (the most emotionally satisfying moment of the episode), Tyrion got promoted to the same job he just historically failed at: a just reward for a job poorly done. (Maybe don’t publicly resign if you want to stop the crazy queen? Did Varys teach you nothing?) Also, Bronn didn’t just get a massive castle, he got an important job he’s not qualified for. And since there’s no chance they took years to gather for a Small Council meeting, Sam apparently become an archmaester in only a couple of months (while King’s Landing was totally fixed!). Were Gilly, Little Sam, and their unborn baby left to fend for themselves?
But don’t worry, they can read all about what happened in A Song of Ice and Fire: the single most anti-Game of Thrones moment in show history. All that scene was missing was Tyrion looking at the camera and shrugging while a sad trombone played.
At least Arya got a happy ending, setting sail like she always said she wanted to. Well, she never actually talked about exploring the world, but don’t mind that—the important thing is she lived and she’s no one’s lady. She got a happy, unsatisfying, unearned, way-too-tidy ending.
All of that is exactly what this series finale was. The one important death we got was so underwhelming it felt intentionally lame, and most of the overly, almost Tolkien-esque happy endings didn’t make any sense. The Realm might be in a slightly (and we do mean slightly) better place after the series finale, but after all of the great work that preceded, Game of Thrones deserved a final episode that worked a lot harder to make sense.
Images: HBO
The post How the GAME OF THRONES Finale Brought Its Stories to a Close appeared first on Nerdist.
The last ever episode of Game of Thrones started off slowly, maybe a little too slowly. Still, it felt at first like past season finales in the best way, with its characters dealing with the consequences of an explosive penultimate episode on a grand scale. But then, as Tyrion retroactively changed Dany’s journey and Jon met her in the throne room, it all felt apart, giving way to an illogical and unsatisfying ending that tried to be too tidy for a show best known for upending traditional storytelling.
In begging Jon to stop Daenerys before she could “liberate” the rest of the world, Tyrion redefined her entire history—she has always killed evil men, and according to Tyrion, that should have been a warning all along for what she’d become—and in turn her decision to burn King’s Landing. He reframed the decision as the result of misplaced logic as opposed to madness, which doesn’t fit with her story as we knew it. Tyrion’s speech only highlighted how out-of-character it was for her to become Queen of the Ashes at all, rather than place that action in a broader context.
Regardless of his questionable insights, Tyrion was right that Jon had to kill Daenerys. It would have been nice if some of the slow walking through the city at the start could have been used to give Jon more quiet time to agonize, because when he did kill her it was another anti-climactic moment in a season full of them. The Mother of Dragons, one of the two most important characters throughout the entire show, was gone in a flash, in a moment that felt aggressively understated. Oberyn’s death was more impactful. The Hound got a better sendoff last week. Even Ramsay Bolton got a better death scene.
Unfortunately, things only got worse from there. Somehow Drogon decided not to kill Jon, but destroy the Iron Throne that had driven his mother wild. Who knew dragons had such a flair for symbolism? Then Jon, after ostensibly telling the Unsullied what he’d done (how else would they have know?), amazingly wasn’t murdered on the spot. Grey Worm was slitting Lannister throats but let Jon live after his confession because… reasons? In exchange for his life, Jon had to rejoin the totally pointless Night’s Watch (the wildlings were still guests at Castle Black!), even though the Unsullied were leaving the Realm forever and the ruling parties could have done whatever they wanted with Jon after they were gone.
Jon’s ultimate ending was ambiguous, with the show hinting he going to live with the wildlings, but even if he did it was the better of only two options. It wasn’t a bad ending unto itself, since heroes don’t always get the ending they deserve, but it was a lot less satisfying than if he had at least made that decision himself. The circumstances around it made it all feel forced.
The biggest eye roll moment belonged to the crowning of Bran, who everyone happily accepts as the Three-Eyed Raven despite that not being a thing that should make any sense to them. The only living son of Ned Stark becoming king, with a promise for future rulers to be chosen rather than inherit the crown, wasn’t crazy for Westeros, but it came out of left field (along with a bunch of strangers) and felt like an actively anti-fan-theory choice.
It’s made more crazy that the North had been allowed to opt out of the Seven Kingdoms. After everything we’ve seen in Westeros, does anyone seriously think the other Lords and Ladies would accept a king from somewhere no longer part of the Realm? It was ludicrous, and it felt reverse-engineered so Sansa could also be Queen in the North. Her otherwise satisfying ending came at the expense of internal logic.
Not that there was much of that elsewhere. Outside of Brienne becoming Lord Commander of the Kingsguard and finishing Jaime’s entry (the most emotionally satisfying moment of the episode), Tyrion got promoted to the same job he just historically failed at: a just reward for a job poorly done. (Maybe don’t publicly resign if you want to stop the crazy queen? Did Varys teach you nothing?) Also, Bronn didn’t just get a massive castle, he got an important job he’s not qualified for. And since there’s no chance they took years to gather for a Small Council meeting, Sam apparently become an archmaester in only a couple of months (while King’s Landing was totally fixed!). Were Gilly, Little Sam, and their unborn baby left to fend for themselves?
But don’t worry, they can read all about what happened in A Song of Ice and Fire: the single most anti-Game of Thrones moment in show history. All that scene was missing was Tyrion looking at the camera and shrugging while a sad trombone played.
At least Arya got a happy ending, setting sail like she always said she wanted to. Well, she never actually talked about exploring the world, but don’t mind that—the important thing is she lived and she’s no one’s lady. She got a happy, unsatisfying, unearned, way-too-tidy ending.
All of that is exactly what this series finale was. The one important death we got was so underwhelming it felt intentionally lame, and most of the overly, almost Tolkien-esque happy endings didn’t make any sense. The Realm might be in a slightly (and we do mean slightly) better place after the series finale, but after all of the great work that preceded, Game of Thrones deserved a final episode that worked a lot harder to make sense.
Images: HBO
The post How the GAME OF THRONES Finale Brought Its Stories to a Close appeared first on Nerdist.
As President Trump promised during the 2016 campaign, he would make overturning Roe v. Wade—the landmark court case giving women the constitutional right to have an abortion—part of his mission. Six states thus far, have passed or are trying to pass draconian laws banning abortions. Abortion ban is bad for all women and a crisis for black women.
It’s well-established that there is inequity in healthcare. “The sexual and reproductive health of African American women has been compromised due to multiple experiences of racism, including discriminatory healthcare practices from slavery through the post-Civil Rights era,” writes researchers in the report Racism, African American Women, and Their Sexual and Reproductive Health: A Review of Historical and Contemporary Evidence and Implications for Health Equity.
Those discriminatory practices exist today. Black women, many with limited resources, often have unequal access to quality healthcare. For example, the above study found that black women often are subjected to unnecessary hysterectomies. Infant mortality, pregnancy complications, and access to vital prenatal care are all issues affecting black women’s reproductive health.
And it doesn’t matter if you are a rich and famous black woman as we discovered when Serena Williams opened up about her life-threatening pregnancy complications. In fact, black woman’s reproductive health status is at such a red alert that Sen. Kamala Harris introduced legislation to address the black maternal mortality crisis.
What the anti-choice advocates conveniently leave out of their hateful, misogynistic narrative is that the same facilities that provide abortions are also safe havens for women to receive prenatal care, sexual education, and pregnancy care. These facilities are particularly crucial to low-income black women and those in rural areas.
Yet, the states with high populations of black women—and some with the worst records on black women’s healthcare—are the ones pushing hardest for abortion bans: Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Georgia. As a result, many of these states are closing facilities that not only provide abortions but other critical women’s health services. Currently, only one abortion clinic remains in Missouri; three in Alabama; and one in Mississippi.
Missouri, Alabama, Ohio are ranked among the worst states for black infant mortality rates in the aforementioned study. From that report, “Mississippi has the largest proportion of babies born with low birth weight among Black women as well as all women (16.1% and 11.5%, respectively). The states with the next largest proportions of babies born with low birth weight to Black women are Louisiana, West Virginia, Colorado, and Alabama.”
What is the impetus to place women’s reproductive freedom back 50 years? Anti-choicers cite their religious beliefs as justification—bestowing personhood onto fetuses.
But perhaps the underlying reasons are even more sinister. America is becoming browner. With the influx of immigrants from Latin America, and more people open to the idea of interracial relationships, millennials and Gen Z are the most diverse generations ever.
It stands to reason that the powers that be, the network of old white boys, are panicking over the darkened hue of the American populace; and over the demands for economic and political diversity and equity. And there is power in numbers. Force more white women to have white babies and make America white again…perhaps?
Of course, that is speculation. What isn’t: Abortion bans do not stop women from having abortions. These bans only make it more dangerous and expensive for women to terminate pregnancies. These bans shut down healthcare facilities that provide reproductive services and support that extends far beyond abortions. These bans, while detrimental to all women, will be devastating to the well-being of black women, as we still struggle to gain equal footing in a world that is so quick to hate us.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author’s and not necessarily the opinion of Black Enterprise.