Television: Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5; The Bells. And the USA Connection to Daenerys Continues

In my last blog post I compared Daenerys Targaryen to the USA because both of them joined other people's war for the greater good of the humanity. At that time I had not watched Episode 5 "The Bells" of Game of Thrones Season 8. I watched it today on TV (Star World) and I feel I stand vindicated and how closer to the truth I was yesterday or have been all along about Daenerys. 

First; the way Daenerys burnt the whole city, killing men, women and children alike; in order to give a message for generations to come; how similarly the USA had dropped Nuclear Bombs over Japan, killing men, women and children alike and also crippling them for future generations. This total devastation looked hellish at that time but it changed the course of history for Japan which turned out to be totally non-violent and focusing on constructive things there onward. I am not justifying it and I still do not think dropping of the Nuclear Bombs was the best option. But it did produce an effect. 

And the way Arya Stark went on a mission to assassinate Cersei looks like the assassination attempts made on Adolf Hitler. There are several movies about that. But since Arya could not kill Cersei in time; total devastation of the city happened. Similarly, had the assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler been successful, may be the world would not have seen a World War. 

The second aspect I was right all along was on my hunch feeling that I did not like Daenerys Targaryen at all. I did not like her from the beginning. I did not like the way she killed people; took decisions or took her revenge. I have written about it in my previous blog posts. The way she destroyed the whole city was total madness and pure lapse of judgement. She may try to prove herself right and to justify what she did, the fact is that there was a moment when she could have chosen to stop (when the bells had rung) and could have gotten Cersei arrested (and later executed). In that way, the goal would have been reached without total devastation. But she chose to do what she did best - burn things. That does not make her any good queen; forget about "leaving the world a better place than we found it". 

Anyways, the way things turned out to be might be regrettable but the way future would judge the past would be totally subjective. And hence there would always be hope. 

- Rahul Tiwary

Television: Game of Thrones: Season 6

In Season 6 of Game of Thrones (GOT), Jon Snow's resurrection at the earliest episode was perhaps the most anticipated and debated event. It was the most satisfying also. 

Jon Snow: Arguably the most handsome face of Game of Thrones

In the first episode, if Myrcella's murder by poisoning was not bad enough, Doran Martell, the handicapped Prince of Dorne was killed by Ellaria with a knife to his chest. Doran should not have pardoned Ellaria earlier; giving her a second chance. To make it worse, Doran's noble and only son Trystane is also murdered by Ellaria's female mercenaries. Ellaria is one of the hated characters of GOT.

Sansa Stark's reuniting with Jon Snow was a great relief. And the war between Stark and Bolton armies (the Battle of the Bastards) was one of the best shot parts of GOT. Still, the part where Jon gets weighed down over the pile of dead soldiers while fighting in the war and gasps for breath appeared to be too much of an attempt for creating unnecessary drama. Also, the Stark army was not able to find a way out after being surrounded by the Bolton Army; this does not look possible given that they had Wun Wun, the a giant warrior from the Free Folks. Wun Wun could have just thrown away any such captivity by pushing through them. Also, it was surprising why Wun Wun was not armed with some giant swords or daggers and why he did not have a proper metallic armor. The Bolton soldiers were able to pierce the Giant Wun Wun through their arrows and it shows just a waste on the side of the Free Folks; if they had cared to get him some shield or armor. If Wun Wun had a giant dagger in his arms and also word an armor and a headgear, he would have defeated Bolton army single handedly. It was surprising that no one from the Stark army was ordering or asking Wun Wun to do anything and he appeared to be on his own.

Ramsay Bolton is one of the most hateful charcters in GOT and thank God he died. Before that Ramsay killing his own father Roose Bolton seemed like it was destined. Roose should have known much earlier what an evil character he had allowed to grow in his house; perhaps he knew but still ignored him since Ramsay was his only possible heir. After killing Roose Bolton the manner in which Ramsay killed his step mother and step brother who was a just born baby; was one of the most horrible scenes of GOT. 

Sansa Stark: A fine idea of a woman of character from Game of Thrones

Cersei Lannister destroying the Sept of Baelor by fire, killing the High Sparrow: This was a very satisfying event; Cersei finally behaved like a queen. Ever since the High Sparrow started treating the royalty like dirt; there was a sense of disbelief and the story looked 'unnatural'. Finally this was set right through the Sept burning. Although it was saddening to see so many folks dying in the fire. 

Cersei Lannister: Strong, weak, confused, hard-headed; idea of a complex character

Young King Tommen Baratheon's suicide was not convincing for me. The way he was, he should have been too much of a coward to take his own life. And if he had the guts, he would not have allowed the fenatic Faith Militants to do that to his mother.

Arya killing Walder Frey and his sons was another great event which set a lot of wrong things right. Felt proud of Arya for being able to do that. But before that, thank God the joke in the name of "no one" she was playing got stopped. She was the daughter of Ned Stark and it was disgraceful of the way she had put her whole life in the hands of a "no one". 

Arya Stark: Pray her unending suffering ends forever

And Season 6 continued the boring series of Daenerys Targaryen aka Khaleesi, the Mother of Dragons who kept fighting all the holy evils of this world including slavery. As I have said before, if Khaleesi's character was erased from GOT, GOT would become much more realistic story which grown up people would appreciate.

PS: Interestingly the most interesting character I came across in this Season was of Lyanna Mormont. It is wonderful how they found this perfect child artist Bella Ramsey who has played this role wonderfully. 

- Rahul Tiwary

Related posts: Game of Thrones: Season 5

Television: Game of Thrones: The Childish Khaleesi Thread

These days, Star World is airing older seasons of Game of Thrones (GOT) as a precursor to the final season 8 of GOT which is going to be released in April'19. I watched a few episodes of Season 4 recently on Star World. One curious thing I observed was that how out of place this whole "Khaleesi" business looks like in the overall scheme of GOT!

The initial part of the story where Daenerys Targaryen goes on to become Khaleesi was really captivating. But post that, this whole bringing up of "dragons" in the GOT world and also the way she is shown ruling her kingdom with a compassion and care (which is so much lacking in all characters of GOT); makes her fall out of the GOT scheme of things and it just appears "weird" watching her. 

First, Daenerys Targaryen's character played by Emilia Clarke looks too childish and she does not age at all as we go along. She was from a royal household and had to undergo a lot of atrocities before and after becoming Khaleesi. But if you look at her face even when she is Khaleesi, it still shows same innocence and child like cuteness which came natural to her. Where is any sternness or ruthlessness reflecting anywhere on her face? She looks pure as ever. I don't think this is by design; it appears to be rather Emilia's inability to portray this character properly. I know Khaleesi is supposed to be a good queen and hence she must not look evil. But some grey appearing on her face would make it more natural. 

And not to forget, Khaleesi's white hair looks too artificial. I know that all of Targaryens' hair is silver-white. But only Daenerys Targaryen (aka Khaleesi)'s hair looks like a "wig". This could have been improved upon. 

Picture: Fake Hair Alert

Then I wonder what was the necessity to bring in the "dragons". Come on, GOT is not a child fiction or a fairy tale! Is it that GOT makers wanted to attract some juvenile audiences and hence brought in Khaleesi and her dragons to appeal to the younger age audiences? Or is it that dragons were supposed to be an out of the box power she was expected to have in order to come out strongly? We know there were several other options including magic or some supernatural powers which could have been attributed to her; instead of this compulsion of bringing in the dragons! 

Picture: Childish Dragons of GOT

Because of the dragons, GOT looks like a cheap commercial Chinese movie. It was not worth it.

Now, in the Season 4 episodes I watched, Khaleesi can be seen attending to her citizens in her court and granting them their wishes. She also bothers to speak out "Send the next one in" herself every time; tirelessly. She is always compassionate, noble, tired and agreeable. She is pained some times at people's demands, appears to be swallowing her own disagreements, but always ending up granting them their wishes, no matter what wrong they did in the past. This looks like a kind of cheap "popularity" that she is aiming at. But it is not. It appears that GOT makers were confused and did not work much on how to make her character "humane" while still keeping her as a "GOT character". And while all other threads of stories appear to be gripping and intense, whenever Khaleesi appears on the screen, the pace of the story comes down immediately and GOT turns real "boring". I never thought GOT could be boring; so thanks Khaleesi for doing this. 

Picture: Khaleesi: the good and boring queen

Even Khaleesi's servants are so boring. She has a maid called Missandei (portrayed by Nathalie Emmanuel) who looks like a college student. She stands tall as if she were a queen herself. And she would never have got that kind of hair without a modern saloon. Then there is Grey Worm (role played by Jacob Anderson) with his expressionless and Barack Obama like face. Both servants are as boring as their Khaleesi. 

Picture: Missandei and Grey Worm: Two avoidable characters

Apart from Khaleesi's story thread, all other threads are very gripping. I am also liking the Star World's Game of Thrones series, since it does not show too much of violence and objectionable scenes. Still, the intensity of the story is well maintained in these episodes. From Season 4, just imagine the fight between the Mountain and Oberyn Martell and how tragically Oberyn gets killed. 

- Rahul Tiwary