Wow, what a finale! I had certain fears and expectations for the Season 4 finale of Game of Thrones, but the actual episode blew all of them away! Every storyline seemed to get a really big bump in excitement, and I think it might have been the best finale in the show so far! So it’s a shame that I actually started writing this list before seeing the finale, heh, because that final episode kind of turned my feelings on the season around, at least little bit. Still, let’s not let that deter us, and let’s celebrate Season 4 of Game of Thrones!

I read a pretty good description of Game of Thrones online the other day. It basically pointed out that we missed the big, heroic, happily ever after story decades ago, when the heroic Robert Baratheon and his best friend Ned Stark battled the evil Targaryen family to save the kingdom from madness. That story had everything: handsome heroes, beautiful princesses, epic battles, glorious victories and good triumphing over evil. It also had happy endings. Robert got to marry the beautiful Cersei, and promised to be a just and fair king. Ned got to retire from war to go home and raise his family.

The lesson that follows, of course, is that life doesn’t have happy endings. Life doesn’t just end when the story is over. Life goes on, and it’s never as good as your glory days, and that’s Game of Thrones. It’s the bitter, petty, regretful life that inevitably comes after the Happily Ever After.

Join me after the jump for my thoughts on Season 4! And please note that there will be MAJOR SPOILERS for the entire season!

6. Fun, But Meandering

You were supposed to be the Chosen One!

Don’t get me wrong, Season 4 was a fine season (and that finale was great!)…but it was less than the sum of its parts. This was a season spent either sitting in place or wandering aimlessly in the wilderness. There were no big, overarching set pieces or stories, no grand changes to the status quo, and nothing that really rocked the show to its foundations. Obviously that’s because we’re smack dab in the middle of A Song of Ice and Fire and we’ve got a long way to go. We know the actual end of the show, and all the big climaxes, will come in season 8 or 9 (probably). But we (and the writers, for the most part) don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then, because those books aren’t written yet. The showrunners have nothing but time to kill, and that can weigh down a show.

Season 4 did not have a single, driving story arc, like Ned Stark or the War of Five Kings. Instead, it was just a bunch of loosely interconnected characters going about their business. And I definitely mean a BUNCH. The show is getting overloaded with characters and stories, few of which went anywhere significant in Season 4.

See ya later

One of the best TV shows of all time, Lost, started meandering in the middle too, but then the writing and the show picked up considerably when the producers and the network arranged a solid end point in Season 6. From then on, the writers were writing towards that ending, sometimes at breakneck speed. We haven’t reached that point in Game of Thrones. We’re kind of just stuck in the middle, meandering towards a vague, eventual ending. And while Game of Thrones is still filled with shocking moments, those alone can’t support the show. We need some real solid storylines, preferably ones that aren’t stretched out over the entire season to stall for time.

Aside from a couple of shocking deaths (more on those in a moment), nothing much happened in King’s Landing, but we took all season for that nothing much to happen. Arya and the Hound took all season to walk to the Eyrie, which wasn’t much of a destination at all (though Arya is now off on an even bigger adventure!). The battle at Castle Black was epic, but it didn’t settle anything. Bran still hasn’t done much of anything. And Dany settled in Meereen at the start of the season, and will stay there for who knows how long. Prince Oberyn seemed legitimately cool, but all of his buildup and interesting backstory was for naught. He came and went in the blink of an eye – which still took up the whole season.

Don’t get comfortable

Of course, I very much enjoyed watching Game of Thrones this season. It’s incredibly made, the characters are always engaging, and the action and drama can’t be beat. There were some really amazing scenes and moments, and I’m not about to stop watching. But if I’m being honest, Season 4 was a season of transitions, moving various characters around at a snail’s pace in preparation for the rest of the story, while distracting us with a few cool deaths and twists.

Though I fully admit to probably missing the subtext of what was happening. I’ve seen it said online that Season 4 was about the hard truths of the New World replacing the Old, and how only the people who could adapt to the new way of things were going to survive. I definitely get that vibe, but it went right over my head while actually watching the episodes.

5. The Deaths Were Almost Too Shocking

She was pretty shocked

Speaking of deaths, there were a ton this season, many of whom were seemingly important characters: King Joffrey, Tywin Lannister, Prince Oberyn, Ygritte, Shae, Jojen, Aunt Lysa, and there must be someone I’m forgetting. Shocking deaths have become part of the DNA of the show. But when does ‘shocking’ become ‘too shocking’ or even ‘repetitive?

The Red Wedding was an amazing bit of television. It took viewers completely by surprise for a wide variety of gut-wrenching reasons, the biggest of which is that it killed characters that we thought were the entire point of the show. The Red Wedding pulled the rug out from under us in brutal, unexpected fashion, and we loved the show for it! But the deaths this season? For most of them, what was the point?

Some of them felt really good

Take Joffrey. Here was a character so reviled by audiences that hating Joffrey became part of the cultural lexicon. We all wanted Joffrey to get every ounce of comeuppance that was coming to him for all of the terrible things he’d done. And in any other story, we’d probably get just that. But in Game of Thrones, Joffrey was killed off rather abruptly and without warning in only the second episode of the season, and not by any great hero, but by a few side characters’ secret treachery. That wasn’t good enough! That wasn’t how we wanted Joffrey to die! Sure it makes sense in the context of Westeros, but for a TV show, they just lost their biggest antagonist with little to no fanfare.

Where’s the justice?

Of course, we know the answer to that: there is no justice in Game of Thrones – but that’s something else we’ll get to in a bit. What I’m saying is that the deaths this season didn’t really accomplish anything…anything immediate, that is. Maybe Joffrey’s death has set in motion something bigger and better in the future. Something with Sansa and Littlefinger, maybe? Or King Tommen? We don’t know, because it could be years before we find out. Likewise, take Oberyn’s death. It was just as brutal and unexpected as the Red Wedding, but who was Oberyn? He was introduced this season just to die. He was a character who existed just to warm our hearts with his awesomeness, only to be snatched away by the brutality that lies at the heart of Game of Thrones.

You should have just killed him, you moron!

Ygritte died to give Jon Snow some emotional oomph, which is the very definition of ‘fridging’. Jojen barely did anything over the course of the show. The only deaths that really mattered were Tywin and Shae, but they happened in the last minutes of the season, so we won’t feel their impact for awhile.

Not to mention the fact that killing Tywin is a bit like killing Joffrey. Here was a villain who meant so much to the series, but now he’s snuffed out in a moment. It means a lot to Tyrion’s story, but what about everybody else? Oh, who am I kidding. Tyrion’s is the only story that matters!

One of the things that bugged me towards the end of Lost was that character deaths started becoming the point. Commercials became all about blaring at you that “ONE OF THESE CHARACTERS WILL DIE!”

Character deaths will probably always been shocking, but how long until these deaths stop being interesting and start becoming routine?

4. If They Kill Sam and Gilly…

All my hopes now lie with you

I think Samwell Tarly is quickly becoming my new favorite character. It helps that most of my other favorite character are now dead. But I like heroes, and if there’s anyone in the Game of Thrones universe who might get to actually be a hero or have a hero’s journey, it’s probably going to be Sam. He was pretty darn heroic in the battle at Castle Black. And somehow Gilly managed to make it through Season 4 without being raped or murdered. Of course, this is still Game of Thrones, so I’m probably just getting my hopes up. But man, if Sam and Gilly get the ‘unexpected, shocking death’ treatment, that might be the straw that breaks this camel’s back.

3. Tyrion For the Win!

I liked you in The Station Agent

In all honesty, I thought Tyrion was going to die in the finale. Everybody is always saying how George R.R. Martin kills our favorite characters, so I figured that has meant Tyrion for the longest time. I thought Season 4 would end with Tyrion getting his head chopped off in another gruesome reminder that Game of Thrones is a wicked, evil show. I spent all day Monday hiding in fear of spoilers about Tyrion’s fate, and I was prepared to title this entry, “A Waste of Tyrion”.

But then Game of Thrones took me completely by surprise and totally redeemed itself!

A hunting we will go…

I thought the possibility of Jamie sneaking Tyrion away in the middle of the night was almost too good to be true. But then we got to the end of the episode, there was Jamie at Tyrion’s door, and even Varys decided to lend a hand! But then Tyrion started skulking around the castle. And I sat on the edge of my seat, with bated breath, wondering how he was going to get caught. But he didn’t! He got away! And he killed the traitorous Shae (how sad was that?) and plugged his wicked father with a crossbow on the toilet (how cool was that?). What a perfectly ignominious way to kill the great Tywin Lannister.

Of course, up until that moment, the great Tyrion Lannister spent the entire season sitting glumly in a prison cell. Oh he had his moments, like his big speech at the trial, and the few conversations he had with Jamie, Bronn and Pod, but I felt Tyrion was kind of wasted this season. He’s clearly everyone’s favorite character, and he’s most exciting when he’s strutting around being smarter than everyone else (Of course, it’s easy to argue that that’s what got him into trouble in the first place). Season 2 was a good Tyrion season. But Season 4 was all about bringing him low and breaking every last ounce of his spirit. He didn’t even get any sort of comeuppance against Joffrey. The little snotnosed bastard got to tease Tyrion without remorse right up until someone else killed him.

Brutal death was not a good enough response to this

Tyrion had some really strong moments this season, especially in the finale, but as a whole, he was wasted being stuck down in that dank jail cell. Of course, that was most likely taken from the novels, and Martin has a lot more leeway when it comes to ignoring Tyrion in the cell in favor of other characters. But the show, and Peter Dinklage, have turned Tyrion into such a beloved, powerful character that it’s really disappointing to see him stuck in a rut. Though, of course, breaking a hero’s spirit and letting him rise back up is classic literature, so my whining is pretty unfounded.

And now I have no idea what’s going to happen to him. Tyrion was at his best and most entertaining when he was the lord of King’s Landing. Now what’s he going to do? Start a traveling circus with Varys? Maybe they’ll team up with Jorah Mormont!

2. Stannis Just Became the Coolest Character on the Show

Ain’t no thang

Who is Stannis Baratheon? What does he add to Game of Thrones? He’s a cool guy, sure, and Davos Seaworthy is all manner of awesome. But up until that final episode, Stannis was kind of just the grumpy uncle of Game of Thrones. He just kept pouting because he couldn’t be king, and he just got crazier and crazier with that God of Light stuff. Then he shows up at the Wall and saves the Night’s Watch, and suddenly Stannis is the coolest, most interesting and important character in Game of Thrones. Where did that come from?! It’s awesome!

There shouldn’t have been any doubt

I think it’s safe to say that the whitewalkers and the trouble from the North is going to be a major part of the series towards the end. I know it’s one of the overall most exciting plots in the show. But until that finale, we’d spent four seasons watching Jon Snow and the increasingly dilapidated Night’s Watch fight their war alone. The Night’s Watch is awesome, don’t get me wrong. Every time they have some impact with the rest of the kingdom, like when Tyrion proposed in the Small Council to sending more men to the Wall back in Season 2, or when all those ravens were sent out at the end of Season 3, I get chills. But nothing came of it – until Stannis and his army rode to the rescue against the Wildlings!

For a moment, I thought it was Roose Bolton’s army, for some reason. I thought for sure we’d get another dose of evil, and he would take over all the badassery going on at the Wall. But nope! It’s Stannis! Someone from the rest of the kingdom, someone with some real power behind him, is at the Wall, ready to actually give a damn about what’s happening. That is exciting stuff!

Though Arya had a pretty awesome season as well.

Arya’s gonna cut, like, everybody!

If we’re basing awesomeness on just cool scenes, Arya probably wins the season. The scene where she recovers Needle was pretty darn cool, and her partnership with the Hound was the stuff of legends. Her journey to become a sword-spinning assassin in Braavos will no doubt be a highlight of the rest of the series.

But Stannis is suddenly the King of Awesome, and I’m cool with that.

1. We Have to Prepare for Disappointment

He’s already used to it

I think this dark truth really hit me when they killed Prince Oberyn. The death was spoiled for me earlier in the day (despite my best efforts), and some people justified their spoilers by saying it was the manner of his death that really mattered, that that was the real surprise. After seeing the infamous scene, I disagree. The level of gore was unexpected, sure, but what matters most to me is the story. It was more important to me that Oberyn failed to get his justice or his revenge, and failed to save Tyrion in the Trial by Combat. I cared for Oberyn when he died. The brutality of his death means nothing to me.

Game of Thrones is not going to have a happy ending. And that’s kind of terrible.

Though it’s not a bad thing. If the purpose of Game of Thrones (the books and the show) is to tell a story that upends all of the expected outcomes, that’s fine. If the point is to do everything the opposite of cliche, that’s great. By all means, write that book, make that show. Stretch the boundaries of imagination and deliver real, unexpected twists. Have fun with it. Enjoy it. That kind of storytelling, especially with modern audiences, should be applauded.

But that won’t stop it from being depressing, and probably more than a little disappointing.

At least it’ll still have dragons!

This is personally my opinion, my own views of the world and pop culture. Everyone’s tastes are different. But for me, I like heroes. I like it when good triumphs over evil. And while I can recognize and understand the thematic importance of evil triumphing over good, and the freedom to tell that kind of story, that’s not going to stop me from being disappointed when all the good guys are dead and the bad guys get to cackle evilly over their corpses.

These two should have been the best of friends!

That’s why the Red Wedding was so powerful. And why the death of Oberyn was so depressing. It became clear to me in that moment that the good guys were going to lose in the Game of Thrones. Maybe one or two will survive in the end. Maybe. But for the most part, there will never be justice. There will be no happy endings.

I wanted to see Oberyn kill the Mountain and revel in his victory.

I wanted to see Arya and Sansa reunite.

I wanted Joffrey to get every ounce of his comeuppance.

But I’m not going to get what I want. I’m never going to get to experience that relief and happiness.

It’s taken me four seasons to realize that that’s not what Game of Thrones is about. I have to be ready for more sadness and more defeat if I’m going to keep watching. And I am. Because Game of Thrones is awesome.

My Predictions

OK, so, I haven’t read the books, I haven’t been spoiled about future books and I’m not George R.R. Martin, so I have no idea what’s going to happen beyond Season 4. None. But that’s not going to stop me from taking a look at the landscape and trying to make a few predictions.

I think the big climax of the story is going to be a battle royale between dragons and whitewalkers at King’s Landing, with Bran stuck somewhere in the middle. I think Bran is going to be the Chosen One character who decides the fate of everyone, possibly by using his warg powers to control one of Dany’s dragons. I don’t know how the battle will turn out, but the dragons are definitely going to be key to defeating the whitewalkers.

Dragons are cool like that.

Also Arya is going to become a faceless assassin and be a real wildcard in the whole thing. That should be pretty awesome.

Theon’s depressing storyline was my least favorite part of Season 4, but I think that’s all being set up for when the Wildlings or whitewalkers come over the Wall, and Roose and Ramsay Bolton are completely unprepared to mount any sort of defense. Though I’m not sure how Stannis factors into that…but surely the Boltons have some kind of comeuppance coming, right?

I also think Jon Snow is probably the ‘hero’ of A Song of Ice and Fire…maybe. Unless he’s killed next season, which is entirely possible.

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So that was pretty lengthy, but then there’s so much to talk about with Game of Thrones! I didn’t even get into Littlefinger, Sansa, the Tyrells, Bronn, Brienne of Tarth, the Hound or probably a dozen other topics. So I will leave that up to you guys and girls! What did you think of Season 4? Who are your favorite characters? Favorite storylines? Where do you think it’s all going to go? Sound off in the comments!

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