Summary: Jon meets with Mance who offers him peace. Jon prepares to kill Mance but it unsure. Stannis suddenly arrives with his troops and defeats the wildling army. Mance is taken prisoner. Dany has to lock away her dragons after Drogon kills an innocent child. Cersei tells Tywin about her relationship with Jaime. Bran reaches the three-eyed raven. Jojen is killed by wights on the way there. Brienne encounters Arya and The Hound. Brienne battles The Hound for custody of Arya and defeats him. Arya evades her sight and leaves The Hound for dead. She takes a ship to Braavos. Tyrion is released by Jaime. He goes to Tywin's chambers and kills Shae who is with Tywin now. He then kills Tywin and leaves King's Landing, across the Narrow Sea.
The Good: This was an explosive finale with a number of great scenes. I really enjoyed Stannis' arrival in The North. Before that, Jon's confrontation with Mance was tense and I was interested to see where things would go. I had expected the wildling story to be stretched into next season which I wasn't looking forward to as this has been happening for 2 seasons already. However, we had a surprise arrival as Stannis makes his presence known and becomes a major factor again after being dormant for two entire seasons. The moment felt significant and I'm excited to see Stannis attempt to gain his rightful crown. The attack on Mance's army was a welcome surprise and shakes up both Jon and Stannis' storylines in a good way, making me excited to see where each storyline goes next season. Dany's story was good too. I was extremely happy to see her face the cold reality that slavery will never be fully erased as her showing kindness to slaves who want to remain slaves will lead into masters growing in power once more. It's a hard lesson for her which I'm sure will leave her somewhat shaken at least. But also, she will certainly be shook by having to lock up her dragons, her children, in a cell because they are dangerous. She received two huge wake up calls in this episode which will hopefully lead to some major changes in her morals and views. I thought the Cersei/Tywin scene was outstanding. Cersei is so vile and petty, so having her reveal her secret just to make Tywin feel awful was really fitting of the character we have come to know for four seasons. The reveal was a big moment for Tywin and let us know that Tywin truly doesn't want to believe that his family is as foul as people say. But in this scene he is forced to face a cold, hard truth which made for impactful storytelling. Tyrion's murders of Shae and Tywin were extremely powerful and effective. While I had issues with how we got there (see: The Bad), the actual moments were some of the show's best emotional moments so far, and Peter Dinklage knocked it out of the park again with terrific acting. His murder of Shae felt tragic as it was spurred on by what was likely a number of misunderstandings between two lovers, and both of them paid the price for it in heartbreaking fashion. And then Tyrion extracts his vengeance on Tywin, finally gaining some control over him and repaying him for a life full of hell. The moment delivered on shock, satisfaction and emotion as Tyrion kills his father without hesitation and the show made yet another massive change to its structure with the single most powerful man in Westeros dying. Also, I enjoy the irony of the most powerful man in Westeros dying on a toilet. But despite all of the good stuff in other stories, the best storyline was Arya's. Her confrontation with Brienne was stellar and it featured some fantastic dialogue. I thought that Arya's lack of trust for Brienne was fitting, and Brienne's inability to convince Arya that she was her ally was well executed with The Hound exposing her Lannister-made armour. It was an organic way to get two characters who have no quarrel in each other to duel in a deathmatch. This is one of my favourite fights in "Game of Thrones" so far because it features two characters who I deeply care about, and I don't want either of them to die. I was properly conflicted throughout as the fight went on and became even more intense. I really love how by the end both fighters were just slugging it out until one of them overpowered the other. It was brutal, dramatic and vicious, a perfect climax to a crazy fight. I know some will have problems with Brienne outfighting The Hound, but I think it makes sense considering that The Hound had been weakened by his time on the road. Furthermore, the poor guy was interrupted before he could take a shit, so I can't imagine it was easy for him to fight like that. This all leads to a fantastic final scene with Arya and The Hound. The Hound is dying, and he looks to Arya to kill him, calling back to the dying man from "The Mountain and the Viper" that The Hound mercy kills. But Arya doesn't go for the kill. She is conflicted. The Hound is on her kill list, but he has done so much for her that she no longer wants to kill him. So this leads to Arya ultimately leaving The Hound, begging for death, in her own twisted way of showing gratitude for the man that took care of her. This is tragic and affecting, as if The Hound hadn't been so kind to her, she wouldn't have hesitated to put him out of his misery. This was just wonderful storytelling and it featured a fantastic set of callbacks to their previous interactions, showing how far Arya has come. Then Arya decided to go to Braavos in what I thought was an exciting and fresh development. Arya has been on the road for what feels like forever, under the care of somebody else. Now she is finally taking her fate into her own hands and I'm excited to see where it takes her character. The Bad: Not everything was great unfortunately and there were some really bad moments. Bran's story was really weak in this episode. While I's intrigued by the ending (see: The Unknown), the road to get there was shaky at best. The group runs into a bunch of wights (perhaps they were something else, but I'm not sure) in what is very clearly just a pointless action scene to provide an obstacle for Bran. Furthermore, the presence of these wights is ridiculous as they are apparently just hanging out under the snow for some reason. That's just dumb and nonsensical. Furthermore, Jojen dies and I felt nothing because I couldn't care less for his character. It's bad that a character who has been around for two seasons can just die and it has no impact. Furthermore, his death scene is incredibly poor as the scene comes off as awkward and poorly shot. Tyrion's escape was ridiculously easy and I couldn't believe that he somehow managed to not only escape his confinement, but also go all the way to Tywin's chambers without any trouble. Are there no guards anymore? It's a blatant oversight and I was confused to see such a weak bit of writing in a show which is usually very well put together. Furthermore, if this was so easy, why didn't Jaime just free Tyrion earlier? Did he have to wait until his execution day? It all feels like way too convenient of a way for Tyrion to get out of his predicament. Shae's arc confuses me and takes away from the drama of her death. I'm really confused by why she is with Tywin and why she is working against Tyrion. Are we supposed to believe that she actually just wanted to get vengeance on Tyrion for telling her to go? That is not consistent with the character of Shae that we had come to know. Or are we supposed to believe that Shae never loved him? I really hope that isn't the case because it makes no sense, and removes all of the actual impact that the scene had. I wish that Shae's motives were clearer so the drama and tragedy could have been understood better. All I can do is speculate, which is problematic for such a major catharsis. The Unknown: What will Qyburn do to The Mountain? Will he survive it? I presume he will, so I guess the bigger question is how will it change him? He hardly has a character anyways, so how will this change him in a big way? Melisandre took an uncanny interest in Jon. What does she see for him? Does she have a desire to burn him? What does the raven mean when he says Bran will fly? What significance do the children hold? What is the cave they live in? Why can't the wights come inside? What will Arya find in Braavos? Will she reconnect with Jaqen? Also, what does the coin mean? Why do people just accept anyone who has that coin? Whose coin is it? How is it well known by everyone? With Tywin dead, what comes next? Who will replace him as Hand of the King? Will Cersei be able to maintain Lannister control? Will Olenna seize this opening and return to control King's Landing? What does Tyrion do in Essos? Where does his story go now that he's been removed from all of the characters that he has formed a bond with? Best Moment: The Hound and Arya's final scene. Outstanding storytelling. Character of the Episode: Arya. Conclusion: This was a strong, eventful and exciting finale which capped off the show's best season in dramatic fashion. There were some major flaws which took away from this but as a whole I loved it. Bring on season 5. As mentioned above, I think this is easily the show's best season. There were certainly flaws, but for every flaw there were two or three outstanding scenes or moments which more than make up for it. I thought there wasn't a single weak episode this season and there were a number of great ones which provided genuinely powerful and exhilarating moments including Tyrion's speech, Joffrey's death, Littlefinger's reveal, the Battle of Castle Black and more. This season felt like a major climax for the entire series and every episode had important developments to offer to the story. The show has never been so effective and so consistent and I think the sheer quality of this season is a terrific sign for the show to come. I always thought this show was great from the first season, but this fourth season has shown us that "Game of Thrones" is must-watch television. Score: 70
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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