Got a beef with “Game of Thrones” Cersei Lannister?
Best just let it go. Unless you have a death wish for yourself and your entire crew.
More on the Queen Mother in a minute. First, let me get to the smaller details of the season finale of Game of Thrones, titled “The Winds of Winter.”
Sam has arrived at the Citadel, and there appears to be an internet full of knowledge there with towers of books. Though this place isn’t quite up to date on the latest news.
It’s hard to imagine Sam being able to go through all that information in a timely fashion, but maybe this place has one hell of a card catalog system.
CliffsNotes would help too.
There was a cool moment where Jon told Melisandre how he had sat at the foot of the table in the Stark home. And now he was head of the family.
That nice moment turned bad quickly.
We had to say goodbye to Melisandre as Davos ratted her out to Jon for burning little Princess Shireen at the stake. The witch’s only defense was that the kid’s parents went along with it.
I’m pretty sure that defense wouldn’t even hold up with the first O.J. jury. So Jon Snow sent her packing to the South.
My advice to Jon is to be more careful in future battles, and he better watch his back at all times since he just exiled a lady that could erase his fatal mistakes.
Sansa and Jon had a moment alone, so she apologized for not telling him about the Knights of the Vale being part of the battle plan. Her brother took that well. His only concern is that they work together since their enemies will be coming for them now.
As if they haven’t been coming for six seasons already.
Although some critics couldn’t quite buy the little girl leading House Mormont, I’ve enjoyed actress Bella Ramsey’s work. She gave a proper tongue lashing to the bannermen who refused to back Jon and Sansa. The result? The bastard is proclaimed to be King of the North.
Very cool. Though Robb got the exact same endorsement. We all know how that played out.
And with Petyr’s admission to Sansa that he intends to sit on the Iron Throne himself, Jon best watch his back. Actually, Jon should have Little Finger executed asap, lest the sneaky guy pull a picture out of his head that leaves Jon in the nothingness of death again.
More about Jon is revealed when Bran wargs into the tree and finishes his trip down memory lane. The new Three-Eyed Raven (who could be the same person as the old Three Eyed Raven) saw Ned being told by his sister the identity of her newborn’s father. And we see the black eyes of the baby match up to a shot of Jon in the present.
This “R+L=J” spoiler (Rhaegar Targaryen with Lyanna Stark, producing Jon) has been on the web for a little while. Jon was raised as a bastard for his own protection.
I have to admit that seeing Walder Frey get paid back for the Red Wedding was not as gratifying as I had hoped. It was just as fun watching Jaime disrespect Frey in his own home as it was seeing Arya take revenge for her mother and brother.
And yes, she is a faceless assassin, so she’ll be able to weave in and out of anywhere her hitlist takes her now.
The Sand Snakes of Dorne just got more powerful. Vary’s secret mission took him there, and Granny Tyrell is there to start her revenge on Cersei.
The Snakes’ average IQ just got tripled with their new allies.
We had to say farewell to another character when Daario is told he’s to be a stay at home dad to Meereen. He truly loves Dany but is a hindrance politically. This move, suggested by Tyrion, could come back to bite her eventually.
But hell, any move in the “Great Game” could come back to bite her.
Daenerys tells Tyrion she’s most fearful of the fact that she just dismissed a man who loved her and she didn’t feel a thing.
The most moving scene showed Tyrion telling her how he never believed in anything…until now.
“I believe in you,” he told the MOD. Then Dany presented the dwarf, who’s been dissed by so many, with his “Hand of the Queen” emblem. So damn cool seeing the “half man” tear up as finally, someone sees his value.
And that someone is finally a leader worthy of his counsel.
The episode ended with Varys back with Dany and Tyrion as their fleet heads to King’s Landing. It was a super nice shot of the powerful army Dany has assembled and her three weapons of mass destruction flying overhead.
MOD will need every trick in the book to take over King’s Landing, which has a new ruler.
Cersei Lannister’s story has been building since she was forced to walk naked through the streets last season to atone for her sins. While Loras Tyrell was getting his head carved on to atone for his sins, Cersei was sipping on wine, waiting on the destruction to come.
There was no way Cersei was ever going near that trial. She had learned the hard way to stay in her safe zone. She also made sure her son was kept safe by having The Mountain prevent the little king from heading to the temple for the trial.
Step one of the plan had the little kids murdering Grand Maester Pycelle in brutal fashion. Great. It’s about time. Damn I hated him, and honestly, his character had nowhere else to go.
Little birds can be sinister.
Step two involved cousin Lancel Lannister getting lead into the bowels of the Great Sept of Baelor by a little bird who shanked him. That’s when step three was revealed.
Wildfire SON!
This theory had been out there since Bran’s visions showed the green fire, and it lived up to the hype.
I was so sure at the start of the episode that Margaery had risen above Cersei by joining the Sparrows. But she was a nervous wreck when she saw Cersei was not going to show up for the trial. Tommen’s wife was smart enough to want to get the hell out of there but was not allowed to leave by the High Sparrow.
I hated to see Margaery go out like that, with Tommen watching from his castle. I also hated to see the High Sparrow go out so quickly. He needed to suffer more….but Cersei would get to torture one member of the Sparrows.
The most wicked Lannister told her abusive female jailer to “confess.” Cersei wanted the brutal nun to confess to beating her because she enjoyed it, not for religious reasons. Cersei confessed that she herself enjoyed all the evil things she did. And that’s what motivated her….“because it feels good.”
As I watched with my wife, who is only an occasional watcher of GOT, she asked what the Mountain was going to do to the nun. I just shook my head and told her, “The worst things you can imagine, day after day after day.”
So Cersei wound up beating the enemies she helped place in power. Yet she still lost out as Tommen decided he would just leap out his window.
Maybe it was knowing that he helped caused all those deaths. Most likely the young king just couldn’t fathom going on without that sweet prize of a wife. Margaery had already cut him off in the sex department so he was not in a good place anyway.
It didn’t take much to push him over the edge.
So season seven of GOT will start with Cersei Lannister on the Iron Throne. All three of her and Jaime’s children are dead and gone. So we may see the worst come out in her going forward.
And that’s one hell of a thought, especially with Daenerys on her way to take over the seven kingdoms.
This finale had lots packed into it, and many are starting to criticize the show for having “feel good” endings. I agree that the shock value of bad things continuously happening makes GOT better and different than other shows.
However, having the bad guys win every single time loses its shock value eventually.
So having “good” characters become victorious is actually the right play to keep the audience guessing.
What did you think of the finale and season six as a whole?