Critical response
Game of Thrones (season 8): Critical reception by episodeSeason 8 (2019): Percentage of positive critics' reviews tracked by the website Rotten Tomatoes [66] |
The season received mixed reviews from critics. [67] On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 55% based on 699 reviews with an average rating of 6.45/10, the lowest rating for a season of Game of Thrones. [lower-alpha 1] The website's critical consensus reads: "Game of Thrones' final season shortchanges the women of Westeros, sacrificing satisfying character arcs for spectacular set-pieces in its mad dash to the finish line". [66]
The first three episodes were met with generally positive feedback from critics. On Metacritic, the premiere garnered a score of 75 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [69] "The Long Night" was praised for the cinematography and grand scale of the battle between the living and the dead, [70] but was criticized for what was considered its lack of catharsis, disorienting lighting, and the anticlimactic ending of the White Walker storyline that had been built up for seven seasons. [71] [72] [73] "The Last of the Starks" and "The Bells" were said to have rushed pacing, writing, and deviation from character development, with "The Last of the Starks" being labeled as "anticlimactic" and "a huge letdown". [79] "The Iron Throne" was described as "divisive", and according to Rotten Tomatoes, the series finale represents "a modest rebound" but it "went out with a whimper". [80] [81] "The Bells" and "The Iron Throne" are the worst-reviewed episodes of the entire series on the website, with an approval of 49% and 48% respectively, while the last four episodes of the season "plunged to record low scores". [74] [82] [83] [84]
David Sims of The Atlantic wrote that the final season "has been the same story over and over again: a lot of tin-eared writing trying to justify some of the most drastic story developments imaginable, as quickly as possible. As usual, the actors did their best with what was on the page." [80] Lucy Mangan of The Guardian considered the season a "rushed business. It has wasted opportunities, squandered goodwill, and failed to do justice to its characters or its actors." [85] Zack Beauchamp of Vox wrote that it "dispensed almost entirely with trying to make sense of its characters' internal motivations—let alone the complex political reality that its psychological realism initially helped create". [86] Huw Fullerton of Radio Times said the final season was not "Thrones at its best" but still had "some sort of ending for the characters". For Fullerton, the season was "like the finale — some bits I liked, one or two I loved, an awful lot that leaves me scratching my head". [87]
Writing for USA Today , Kelly Lawler felt that the series ultimately betrayed its "identity" of "tragedy and injustice" with a "pandering" ending. [88] Judy Berman of Time said that the series failed to complete the answer to "conflicting ideas about freedom, justice and leadership", themes that had brought depth to the series. [89] Ellen Gray of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly agreed that the final season was not as complex as previous seasons. [90] [91] Franich stated that the "broseph mentality shined through", shunting the development and interaction between female characters. Franich criticized Cersei for doing nothing this season, regarding it "one complete failure of imagination", as well as the ultimate primary focus on the reactions and thoughts of the male characters, such as "Jon Snow, the least complicated main character." [91] Writing for The Hollywood Reporter , Maureen Ryan condemned what she considered the season's reductive treatment of women, and "decisions set up and executed with little or no foresight or thoughtfulness", declaring the penultimate episode "The Bells" as "Game of Thrones at its worst". [92]
Audience response
A petition to HBO for "competent writers" to remake the eighth season of Game of Thrones in a manner "that makes sense" was started on Change.org after "The Last of the Starks" aired, but went viral after "The Bells" aired and saw Daenerys's arc take a significant turn. [99] [100] The petition described showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss as "woefully incompetent writers", [101] [102] even though the pair had by then, won several Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the show. By September 6, 2019, it received over 1.73 million signatures. [103] [104] Digital Spy reported that some fans of the series criticized the season for the way it handled several character arcs and the "rushed" pacing. [105] The petition's creator stated that he never expected HBO to remake the season, but saw the petition as a message "of frustration and disappointment at its core". [103]
The petition was labelled as "disrespectful to the crew and the filmmakers" by actress Sophie Turner (who plays Sansa Stark), [106] [107] "ridiculous", "weird, juvenile" by actor Isaac Hempstead Wright (who plays Bran Stark), [107] [108] "rude" by actor Jacob Anderson (who plays Grey Worm) [109] and "fandom extremism" by actress Carice van Houten (who plays Melisandre). [110] Emilia Clarke (who plays Daenerys Targaryen) indicated she was previously unaware of the petition, but gave a warmer response when she was asked what she would want to see happen if the eighth season were redone: "I can only speak to my own character, and the people that I interact with on the show. But I would've loved some more scenes with me and Missandei. I would've loved some more scenes with me and Cersei". [111]
Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times , wrote: "Over all, though, it was a solid and largely satisfying wrap-up to one of the most exciting and enthralling TV series ever". [112] In regards to the controversy, he added, "Over the last 25+ years, I've reviewed thousands of movies and dozens of TV shows, and I don't think I've ever seen the level of fan (and to a lesser degree, critical) vitriol leveled at [this show] in recent weeks". However, Roeper noted that social media was not yet widely used during much of this time period. [112]
Author Stephen King defended the final season, saying: "I've loved this last season of GoT, including Dani going bugshit all over King's Landing. There's been a lot of negativity about the windup, but I think it's just because people don't want ANY ending. But you know what they say: All good things...". [113]
Filmmaker Joe Russo during Talks at Google commented that he appreciated all the decisions and the choices that the makers took in Season 8. He said, "They made the choices that they wanted to make with that show and people felt, what I think that they felt, was that they didn’t feel it was seeded properly throughout the series. I loved all the choices. I thought they were crazy and unexpected, and that’s what I want out of a narrative, but I see where people feel like they were upset." [114]
Lenika Cruz, writing for The Atlantic, wrote that with the end of the series, "there are folks who don't feel as though the hours and hours they've devoted to this show have been wasted", but "there are many others" who felt the opposite. [80] Kelly Lawler of USA Today wrote that the ultimate ending of the series was not what some fans "signed up for". [88]
CBS News has described several plot points that some fans are dissatisfied with: the character arcs of Daenerys and Jaime; the fates of Jaime, Missandei, Rhaegal, and the Night King; the Battle of Winterfell being visually too dark; the "basic existence of Euron Greyjoy"; and "Jon's treatment of Ghost". [102]
Cast response
In an interview with The New Yorker , Emilia Clarke said she had to hold back her innermost anxiety from Beyoncé: "I was just, like, Oh, my God, my absolute idol in life is saying that she likes me, and I know for a fact that by the end of this season she's going to hate me. ... All I wanted to scream was 'Please, please still like me even though my character turns into a mass-killing dictator! Please still think that I'm representing women in a really fabulous way.'" [111] Clarke said she was shocked at Daenerys's turn and her last scene because "it comes out of nowhere". Although she stands by the character, Clarke said it was a "struggle" reading the scripts. As for what she would have changed, she said she would have liked more scenes between Daenerys and Missandei and Daenerys and Cersei; "I just think more dissection and those beautifully written scenes that the boys have between characters — that we are more than happy to contently sit there and watch ten minutes of two people talking, because it's beautiful. I just wanted to see a bit more of that." [115]
In an interview published as the final season premiered, Kit Harington said he felt "defiant" about the series at the time, adding that "whatever critic spends half an hour writing about this season and makes their [negative] judgement on it, in my head they can go fuck themselves. I know how much work was put into this ... Now if people feel let down by [this final season], I don't give a fuck—because everyone [working on the series] tried their hardest. ... In the end, no one's bigger fans of the show than we are". [116] Harington later said he expected the ending was going to divide fans, and he was concerned the final two episodes would be deemed sexist: "We have Cersei and Dany, two leading women, who fall". "The justification is: Just because they're women, why should they be the goodies? They're the most interesting characters in the show. You can't just say the strong women are going to end up the good people ... It's going to open up discussion ... And when have you ever seen a woman play a dictator?" Harington also said he was disappointed his character Jon did not kill the Night King, yet added "it was a really great twist, and it tied up Maisie's journey in a really beautiful way." [117]
Nathalie Emmanuel, who played Missandei, was heartbroken when she read her character's sudden demise: "I think the fact that she died in chains when she was a slave her whole life, that for me was a pungent cut for that character, that felt so painful". Emmanuel, the only woman of color who was a regular cast member for the last several seasons, said, "It's safe to say that Game of Thrones has been under criticism for their lack of representation, and the truth of it is that Missandei and Grey Worm have represented so many people because there's only two of them." [118] Emmanuel added that she wished she "had more time or scenes this season maybe with Daenerys or even with Cersei, scenes where we get to see her being brilliant before she dies. I think that might have eased the pain a bit more for people, and reinforcing a friendship that she and Dany had because we haven't really seen anything for a few seasons." [117]
Conleth Hill, who played Varys, told Entertainment Weekly that the seventh and eighth seasons were "kind of frustrating" and not his "favorite", noting that Varys "kind of dropped off the edge". Hill reacted with "dismay" to Varys apparently "losing his knowledge", commenting, "If he was such an intelligent man and he had such resources, how come he didn't know about things?" After being "very bummed to not have a final scene with [Littlefinger]", Hill was "bummed not to have any reaction to [Littlefinger] dying, if he was [Varys'] nemesis". Also, once the series ran out of book material as a source, Hill said that "special niche interest in weirdos wasn't as effective as it had been". However, Hill was "not dissatisfied on the whole" regarding the series. [119]
Lena Headey had a "mixed" initial reaction to the manner of death for Cersei Lannister. Headey said she would rather have had Cersei die by "some big piece or fight with somebody". Fellow actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Headey discussed it and then appreciated the scene, viewing it as "the perfect ending" for Cersei and Jaime as they "came into the world together and now they leave together". [120] Headey mentioned that a scene of Cersei's miscarriage was cut. [121] [122]
Sophie Turner said she would like to have seen "Sansa and Cersei reunited, or Arya and Cersei", but she was happy with the ending for her character. [117] Maisie Williams said the biggest regret for her character Arya was not getting a scene with Cersei, and possibly killing her, "even if it means [Arya] dies too". She later embraced Arya's happier arc for the last season. [123]
Gwendoline Christie, who played Brienne, said she was "dismayed" by her character turn, explaining that "It was partially because I read about this character [in Martin's novels] before I saw the show. So we all have our own ideas about how we think the character is going to develop. Sometimes your ideas become set in your mind, and sometimes David and Dan write something you didn't expect and find difficult to comprehend." "[Brienne] has been very impactful in the way I think about women and in the way they're portrayed in the media and the way they're treated in society", she noted. [117]
Joe Dempsie (Gendry), also expressed disappointment over the series' finale, as did former cast members Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) and Natalia Tena (Osha). [117] [124]
