Review 509: Game of Thrones: A Dream of Spring

Game of Thrones: A Dream of Spring tries to wrap up the hit show on a high note but instead winds up being a rushed, incoherent, nonsensical mess that tries to hard to wrap it’s various plots in too little time.

Based on outlines of the two unpublished novels, The Winds of Winter & A Dream of Spring by George R. R. Martin. The Army of the Dead have breached the Wall and are journeying south bringing an endless winter with them. Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) arrive at Winterfell to assemble their allies but not all of them are satisfied to have Daenerys as their queen.
Meanwhile, in King's Landing, Cersei Lannister (Lena Heady) plots to eliminate her enemies once and for all.
And so the final verse of A Song of Ice and Fire begins.

The season starts promisingly with two pretty solid episodes: Winterfell and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, both featuring some great character work but a quartet of shockingly misguided episodes bring the series crashing down into a fiery mess.

They try to cram not one, but two major conflicts that involve all the surviving characters into only a miniscual number of episodes and the end result is that despite the efforts of its immensely talented cast, the “season” just falls flat on its face and collapses under its own weight. A lot of suff happens in those episodes, most them being over 60 mins long but it all felt truncated with not nutural sense of flow or build-up or momentum. It definitely felt the show was rushing towards a conclusion rather than actually earning it.
The first half of the season takes place exclusively at Winterfell and is focused on the threat of the White Walkers and how a coming Apocalypse of Ice brings friend and foes together. The first two episodes are admiteldy solid table laying and has a warm, upbeat, nostalgic tone to it. Characters comes together and reminisce. Peace is attempted

What we have is a bunch of situations that are engineered to advance the plot forward that sells out the characters involved.

A major problem with this season is that the focus on who the "Big Bad" is supposed to be shifts around so much: One minute it looks like it's The Night King, then the next minute it appears to be Cersei and then, for some inexplicably bizarre reason, it’s Dany who becomes the "Final Boss" with little to no justification or build up.
Although it can be argued that Cersei is a more complex and interesting character than the Night King, the White Walkers are and have always been portrayed as an unstoppable force of nature that will roll over everything and everyone in their way.

It's as though David and Dan were planning Cersei as the "Final Boss" of the series then halfway through planning of this season they changed their minds and decided to go with Dany as the "Big Bad" for the remainder of this season.
The creative choices they made were just so short sighted and ill-conceived. The twists on display seem primarily based on shock value than the culmination of a characters arc or a consequence of decisions they made.
There's bearly a reason to care for these characters because "plot armour" has been taken to virtually the maximum. We see almost every single one of the main characters survive impossible odds and somehow make it out on top.

Another major problem with this season comes down to pacing and David & Dan giving themselves too little time to wrap up the shows two major conflicts and not enough times to develop new, potentially interesting ones that just appear out of nowhere.

Firstly, the White Walker storyline is neatly wrapped up (perhaps too neatly) in the third episode of the season: The Long Night which remarkably is halfway through the season.
Giving us three episodes to see who ultimately does (or doesn’t) get to sit on the Iron Throne.  
Dany's sudden descent into madness is set in motion in the fourth episode: The Last of the Starks and is only given two episodes to breath from there.
We need to see the White Walkers as a bigger threat than what was presented in this season.
After The Long Night, the season looses a lot of momentum when it needed it the most.

The Battle of Winterfell against the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead itself is a mess, an absolute barrage of darkness meaning we can't understand the geography of the battle, bad battle tactics that make the characters look like complete idiots and everything just feels so crowded and all over the place and there isn’t any particular character we as an audience can latch onto.
It's not that the character deaths no long register as something huge but the fact that almost every fan favourite character no matter how skilled they are for combat now has been embowered with "plot armor." The battle itself is meant to represent the best of mankind, showing what we can accomplish when we set aside petty squables to

Even the revelation of Jon being the rightful air to the Iron Throne is merely used a plot device to cause to a rift between him and Dany as opposed to a Game-Changing plot development that the Season 7 finale promised us and has practically ziltch impact on the "season" beyond that.
The ramifications of his true parentage would potentially have on Westeros are generally glossed over  and go untouched and somehow only a handful of people find out the truth.
The impact that it would have on the characters would be interesting to see as it would force them to question their loyalties and would put Cersei’s reign in real jeopardy but very little is actually done with it and only a handful of people learn the truth in the end. The revelation causing a rift between Jon and Dany was apparently as far as it went from a planning perspective and that conflict gets old really, really quickly. How is it possible for this show to introduce a game changing revalation like this one and basicaly do nothing with it?

The ideas presented such as Dany developing a messiah/god complex after being hailed as a saviour for so long and her ultimately not being able to resit the temptation of the Iron Throne are interesting but the way they’re ultimately executed in such a rushed, half baked fashion that it’s just not believable.

Lets face it, Dany becoming what she’s always struggled to defeat as Varys put it, was always a possibility but the fact that it happened in the final two episodes was unexpected for all the wrong reasons and insulting.

Does Daenerys care more about the people or the throne? Is it possible to rule for the right reasons? Those are interesting questions that Game of Thrones: A Dream of Spring puts forward but doesn’t allow itself enough time to answer and instead jumps to half baked conclusion in the final two episodes. She's someone who wants peace yet finds satifaction in violence. Whilist she does care for the common people and doesn't want to hurt innocenes, she holds this contradictory belief that sometimes inocents must die for the greater good.

Daenerys has never been faced with this much animosity because she's become so used to being worshiped as a saviour by this point. She arrives in the North and is expecting the people to welcome her and accept her as their Queen without question and it just doesn't happen for her.

In Slaver's Bay she was worshiped as Mhysa, the Breaker of Chains and saviour above all else but when she finally arrives in Westeros (her theoretical home), the people just see her as a foreign conquerer whose father was a madman.

Beyond that, her promises to improve the lives of the common people and establish stable rule are abstract at best and provide no motivation to the people that she hopes to win to her cause.
It's never clearly established what kind of changes Dany wants to make in the long term.

She also doesn't really do much to win their favour by acting very smug which unfortunately has the effect of turning the majority of the Northern Lords against her.

That itself is a great jumping off point for her potential downfall (assuming that's George R. R. Martin's planned eventual endgame for her) but D & D jump to conclusions too quickly in order for them to effectively stick the landing.

By now it's clear that Dany's fundamental flaw is that (like Cersei) she doesn't consider real threats, real threats. She seems to be living in her world and doesn't really see things as they truly are.
She didn't want to help Jon fight the Night King and the army of the dead when he arrived at Dragonstone asking for her help, he had to do a lot of pursuading to win her to his cause.

This development mandated more time, development, build-up and momentum and this development (to quote Esquire's Gabrielle Bruney) was far too rushed to feel believable or natural and needed at the very least (to quote Rolling Stone) another half of a regular Game of Thrones season in order to feel earned.

The whole point of her ruling Meereen, was to learn to become a better Queen. This sudden shift in character just gives the impression that she’s in fact gone back on all the soul searching she did in previous seasons or she really hasn’t learnt anything at all.
Though the difference in this situation maybe because she "liberaterd" Slavers Bay, the people chose her as their ruler.
When she finally arrives in Westeros, she expects the Northerners to immediately bow to her because she's come to help fight the Army of the Dead, she's "their rightful Queen" and because Jon has pleged himself to her, but even though she refers to it as "Jon's war", the truth is that if she ignored the approaching threat of the White Walkers and took King's Landing first, it would eventually become her problem too.

It also doesn't occur to her that the Northern Lords chose Jon as their king for similar reasons her followers chose her and that they don't really approve of her Viatnam War attitude and that she is also known for doing a number of things people in Westeros would find irrational or bizarre.

The fact that she eventually comes to the conclusion the people of Westeros only fear as opposed to admire her is an intriguing place to go to but the show gets to that point at such a fast pace (with her nearly having spent any time at all in Westeros) it’s just not believable.

There’s never a reason to care about her and Jon’s relationship because the reasons for the downfall of their relationship is because they make utterly stupid mistakes. They want it both ways in regards to who knows about Jon true parentage and what they want in life and the result comes across as more dumb down than actually tragic - as I believe was the intention.

Daenerys wants it both ways in regards to being loved, she wants the people of Westeros to respect and fear her and she wants a relationship with Jon whom she loves and believes its ok to have one with being that she's the product of generations of inbreeding whereas Jon is clearly and understandably freaked out about the prospect for the same reason.

It felt like no one in this season was doing anything intelligent, Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) who for the longest time was regarded as one of the smartest people in Westeros, has made so many political and strategic blunders by this point i.e. the insanely implausible "weight hunt" from last season, being easily tricked by Cersei etc, that it's a wonder Dany hasn't fired him by this point.
In Ep. 4: The Last of the Starks, Daenerys is determined to resume her campaign against Cersei with two depleted and exhausted armies. It never seems to occur to her that a more simple solution is standing right there in front of her in the form of Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) a trained Faceless Men assassin no less who could easily sneak into King's Landing, kill Cersei on her behalf and end the war with one stab.
Because if you really think about it, the story couldn't have unfolded the way that it did had the characters bothered to be intelligent.

To her absolute credit, Emilia Clarke plays this new delusional, deranged and unhinged Daenerys magnificently but that’s mainly because she’s Emilia Clarke and no one delivers a rousing speech on Thrones quite like Emilia Clarke.

We're treated to admittedly visually gorgeous scenes of Dany raining fire down on King's Landing in Ep. 5: The Bells but it has no weight because there’s been zilch justification behind that rampage.
David & Dan have reportedly been following guidelines from George R. R. Martin since they started going beyond the books at around Season 5-6 but honestly with the way it’s written and presented it feels more like Big Budget fan fiction.

Ultimately, this season feels less like a season of Television and more like a they were filming the very first draft of a season outline. Or the cliffnotes of how the story should end.

Another problem with this season is its inability to balance out its massively talented cast giving certain members too little to do. Notably, Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) has one or two standout moments in premier episode before getting sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) has a couple of standout moments in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, gets to kills some weights in The Long Knight before getting heartbroken in the The Last of the Starks and then sidelined for the remaining two episodes.

Varys (Conleth Hill) The Spider of all people gets virtually no chances to shine before getting unceremoniously canned.

Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek), a formidable villain in his own right is relegated to being little more than Cersei’s henchman.

Gendry (Joe Dempsie) who made a splendid comeback last season forces Dragonglass weapons, gets laid with Arya, kicks some ass in The Long Night, gets legitimised by Dany (another plot point that goes nowhere), gets turned down by Arya and then disappears until the finale.

Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) is relegated to two things this season: muscle and comic relief.

Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) is reduced to being little more than Jon’s drinking buddy.

Much like the previous season, Melisandre (Carice van Houten) is reduced to a glorified guest star, only showing up to help the Living fight the Dead.

Arya Stark's (Maisie Williams) arc in particular feels like it was written on autopilot. It ultimatly amounts to reuniting with Jon, The Hound and Gendry amongst outhers. Kicking some ass in the Battle for the Dawn, getting laid and resuming her journey to kill Cersei which ultimatly proves to be inconsequential in the long run.

Sophie Turner is, as always luminous and lovely playing Sansa Stark. Sansa has a lot of trouble trusting Daenerys when she arrives at Winterfell.
Even though she has brought help to assist them against the Army of the Dead, she can't help but be sceptical about her as she can't believe that she or anyone in this world (let alone a Targaryan) would have completely altruistic reasons for wanting to help because everyone she's encountered has had ulterior motives or is playing some sort of long game. She's had too many rough experiences to not be suspicious of people and she sees Dany, at best, as a foreign conquerer who only come to the Iron Throne based soley on a claim and as another potential tyrant at worse. The Targaryens don’t have the brightest reputation in Westeros so it just seems inevitable that she would trust Dany as much as she could throw her.
Whilst other characters in the show focus on the impending attack of the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead, Sansa focuses on what happens after - if they survive The Long Night.
Unfortunately, much like everything else in this season, due to the truncated episode number, not enough time is given to ruminate and examine these issues.
Her reasons for distrusting Dany are perfectly understandable D&D just fail to build off of that foundation in any substantial way.

Of all the enormously talented actors involved in this final season, I was appalled by the waste, the absolute waste of both Lena Heady and Jerome Flynn as Cersei and Bronn respectively.
The latter literally served no purpose whatsoever by the end of this season.
His sole contribution was a minor subplot involving him trying to get Tyrion and Jamie to give him a castle for all the admittedly good deeds he’s done for them on a seasonally basis.

After spending the last 7 seasons building her up as one of the "Final Boss" of the show, Cersei is relegated to just standing around and observing Kings Landing, a far cry from the cunning, conniving, manipulative, ruthless matriarch she once was.
As expected, Lena Heady does her absolute best with what she’s given but (to quote Amy Jones of the Daily Telegraph) that’s because she’s Lena Heady and could just as easily turn the ready of a shopping list into an Emmy-worthy performance.
Thanks to those 7 years of build up, her motivations were clearly defined but D&D failed to develop her beyond that initial setup.
Because of her passivity throughout the season, she became less interesting as a character as a result.

Gemma Whelan is also wasted this season as Yara Greyjoy who only shows up in the season premiere and then disappears for the rest of the season only to show up again in the finale.
It's painfully obvious that D&D included these three characters in this season without knowing what to do with them. How is it possible to take three great characters and find nothing interesting or productive for them to do?

Jon Snow is one of the main characters but D&D don't give him a story or character arc.
How many times can he reject his claim to the throne before it gets old? Not many.
For that matter, How many times can Varys & Tyrion attempt to dissuade Dany from using lethal force to take King's Landing without offering an alternative solution before it gets old? Not many.

It’s also never explained why he’s so adamant not to take the Iron Throne after the truth comes out even though it makes so much sense for him to do so, with that much authority and power at his disposal he could potentially clean up Westeros in a week, if not a fortnight, and see endless good work done and ensure peace across the Seven Kingdoms.
It’s implied that he doesn’t want to betray Dany but given how he’s freaked out about the state of their “relationship” and how he’s technically next in line, there’s nothing there to actually stop him from overruling her.
He just comes across as incredibly passive, unusually indecisive and almost too much of a pushover to Dany when really he needs to show some backbone and put her in her place.
The philosophical ramifications of his true heritage being revealed go largely untouched: Jon doesn't want to rule, he has no interest in politics, but the Northerns are more likely to support his claim

He also seems to be in some sort of denial about Dany becoming increasingly unhinged and doesn't seem to know what "he wants" if it isn't the Iron Throne or have any long term goals other than serve Dany all because he's a man of honour who "swore a vow".

Of course, given that this season is the culmination of the shows two primary conflicts, the world is bound to converge, but to dumb the world down to the point where there's none of the complex political reality or psychological realism that made the show popular to start with is just insulting.

There’s also the arc of Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), an honourable man who believes that he doesn’t deserve redemption due to his reputation throughout the Seven Kingdoms and all the terrible things he’s done but given how the moment he decides to go back to Cersei is conveniently right at the moment it seems as though she’s winning, it comes across as a contrived excuse to get him to where he needs to be to tie things up. Much like everything else in this season, D&D give that story no development or build up and it comes right out of nowhere. And so they completely undo his character growth so far and the natural trajectory of the story as a result. Take from that what you will considering the unpredictable nature of the books and show.

As for Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), he's just a terrible protagonist at this point. About half of the factors that contribute to Deanerys' descent into madness are because of his mistakes and since that's all D&D focus on, it makes look like a bumbling buffoon. He is but a pale shadow of the shrewd and cunning  that he was in the earlier seasons.

And then we get to the finale Ep. 6: The Iron Throne and ooooooohhhhh boy was it a letdown.
The whole episode is like watching a short series of vignettes that are randomly and loosely strung together and a 80 minute finale just happened to fall into place.
I never felt like I was watching the culmination of anything because the foundation that's been built towards it is so shoddy. There's not a single moment that feels tense or suspenseful or grand or emotionally satisfying. It’s a hollow, emotionally empty experience.
It lumbers its way to a conclusion that David and Dan clearly had no idea how to write or execute.
If I wasn't feeling so apathetic during the entire episode, my head would have exploded for all the startling stupidity that has plagued this final season.

The final choice for the King of the Seven Kingdoms comes across as a complete cop out and there's no sense of closure regarding any of the characters. That choice may seem like a good idea in the short term but is more than likely to cause more problems in the long run.

Definitely Not the Dream of Spring that we were hoping for,

Director's David Nutter, Miguel Sapochnik as well as David Benioff and D. B. Weiss (all of whom have proven more than capable on previous (and arguably superior seasons) of Thrones) all try to do their best with the material at their disposal but ultimately just end up making a season that’s overall beautiful to look at but a chore to watch.
Sapochnik in particular shows off his signature flair for directing big battles in Ep. 3: The Long Night (dark lighting not withstanding) & Ep. 5: The Bells, clearly making the most of what he's presented with.

The cinematography is gorgeous and captures the beauty of Westeros, the score by Ramin Djawadi is spectacular, the production design is splendid (as the story whitles and contracts itself down to the key players in the Game, the two central conflicts come to the conclusions within the strongholds that represent the two ends of human nature. Winterfell and King's Landing. The former reprents all that is good about mankind; It's ice, hard and brutal but also imovable, resiliant and tranquil. The later on the other hand represents all that is wrong with mankind. It was once the home of the Targaryans whose thirst for power birthed the Iron Throne, the ultimate symbol of the power that corrupts the human heart. It's fire, warm and comfortable yet prone to sudden and radical change that burns those in the way. Good and Evil men alike are drawn to it like Moth to a flame. A place where Morals go to die. By focusing on these two locations and setting the two defining conflicts within these locations, the season contracts to the tiular Song of Ice and Fire yet dividing itself unevenly between these two conflicts 
The costumes are gorgeous, the special effects are as splendid as ever (albeit at the expense of the intricate writing that made earlier seasons so enjoyable.) The make up is rich and superbly detailed. There are some moments of terrifically crafted suspense.

According to various news sites, Game of Thrones: A Dream of Spring was shot from October 2017 until July 2018. Even that clearly wasn't enough time to wrap up all the loose threads and storylines in a cohesive manner.

They saved the worst till last.

My Watch Has Ended. 1.5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.