*Spoiler Warning: Ah one, a two, a skiddily diddily do….not read beyond this point if you haven’t watched the episode yet. It’s bad enough I still have people yelling at me for spoiling a major character death in The Walking Dead a few years back.*

Just gotta say thank you to my readers for not minding that I always come out late with these reviews, and also thank you all for continuing to read them despite my dry humor and tendency to ramble at the beginning of each review (it’s to cover up spoilers on my personal Facebook page). With all of that said, here are my thoughts on this massive headache of an episode.

Before I delve into the nitty-gritty of this episode, and what I enjoyed and what I hated, I just want to say that I felt like that Stannis was really swept under the rug in this episode. I know Stannis is still alive in the books from what I’ve heard, so I feel like that whole scenario of how quickly he was defeated was complete bullshit (aside from the part with Brienne beheading him, that was pretty awesome that she got closure for Renly). I just stated two things that I enjoyed and didn’t enjoy about the episode. Oh well, at least I’m only trolling myself rather than trolling my fans (looking at your GRRM!)

What I enjoyed: It was great seeing Brienne get closure (as mentioned earlier), and it was great seeing Theon regain his sanity to save Sansa from Miranda and then to escape, and I loved seeing that Varys is still alive and ready to help give Tyrion and Dany a helping hand at managing things in Mereen. Speaking of Dany, I’m glad to see she’s still alive, I just hope the Dothraki turn out to be allies rather than enemies (and things are completely up in the air about that one since the show is abandoning the book cannon). I loved seeing Aria get her revenge on the pedophile women beater Meryn Trant (albeit at the cost of her eye sight). I’m happy to see Sam leave with Gilly to become a meister. Lastly, I’m curious to know the Frankenstein angle with The reanimated Mountain will effect things next season.

What I didn’t like: Where do I fucking start with this massive thought bomb of an episode? Star Wars Expanded Universe references aside, I hated seeing The Bolton’s beat Stannis’s army. Stannis could have done some real good for the seven kingdoms and the north (burning his enemies aside). I felt bad seeing Cersei have to endure such a massive trek of shame through the streets of King’s Landing since it seemed like overkill (despite all the pain she’s caused). Of course, I knew that Jon’s death was coming, but I hate that they killed him for trying to save the Free Folk vs how he died in the books (with being stabbed after ordering the Knight’s Watch to attack the Boltons). I haven’t been this pissed by Game of Thrones since I saw the Red Wedding, and at least that resolved plot points rather than opening more unknown plot possibilities.

I have mixed feelings about this finale since it was well written and well made, it just pissed me off so badly that I almost would have written HBO an angry letter (not to GRRM as what happened recently). However, I know to respect another writer’s artistic vision (even if that vision is overly sexual and brutal as all hell). I think in the meanwhile I will go ahead and start reading the book series to pass the time until the next season comes out.

And with that, I will leave my favorite EDM instrumental “Heart Upon My Sleeve” since Game of Thrones is definitely the type of show to bring you around on an emotional roller coaster.

-KCard