OK, I just watched the finale for the second time, back-to-back. It's a 10/10, and I would give it an even higher grade if I could I loved it even more upon the rewatch, once certain expectations had been dispensed with. This was already my favorite season of Game of Thrones, and now “The Children” is probably my favorite episode of the show. That fight between Brienne and the Hound was FANTASTIC. I don’t give the slightest damn that it wasn’t in the books. It’s easily in the running for the best duel in the show’s history, and we’ve seen some great ones. I suspected that neither one would end up dealing the fatal blow to the other, but every blow hurt because we’ve grown to care about both of these characters so much. And the aftermath of that battle, where the mortally injured Hound is begging Arya for the gift of mercy was perfect. Rory McCann sold every word and every beat of emotion in that scene. He’s been an underrated yet extremely valuable member of the ensemble cast for a long time, but this the best scene that he’s ever gotten to do on the show, and he crushed it. And Maisie Williams … so good. She was silent almost the entire time, but she didn’t need to speak. She said all that she needed to say with her eyes. Her arc next season in Braavos should be stellar, and I can’t wait to see it! The scene between Tywin and Tyrion was equally fantastic. Yes, Tysha wasn’t mentioned and I’m sure that Certain People are pissed, but ultimately it didn’t matter, at least to me. Tywin has inflicted so much pain on Tyrion that Tyrion’s actions were believable even without the reminder (and the Tysha thing did still happen in the show canon, so it still informed his response). Tyrion’s relationship with Shae, which was far stronger on the show, provided sufficient kindling for the spark that set him off on his murderous spree (and I found Tyrion’s murder of Shae to be far more dramatically potent because of it). Speaking of stronger relationships on the show than in the books, Jaime and Tyrion’s goodbye was extremely touching. Frankly, I’m glad that they parted on good terms – once again, changes be damned. I also really liked Jaime’s ‘reconciliation’ with Cersei and Cersei’s confession to Tywin. Once again, purists will whine that the spirit of those scenes weren’t true to the characters from the books, but at this point, I think that you can guess how I feel about said purists. Stannis’s arrival was a nice moment, even without the chanting, which … whatever. I thought that Jon’s discussion with Tormund about Ygritte, followed by Jon giving his fallen love a private funeral pyre and then breaking down in tears really brought a nice bit of closure to that relationship, on top of Ygritte’s dying words to Jon last week. The room got the slightest bit dusty for me there. Daenerys being forced to chain her dragons was another nice moment. Emilia Clarke gets a lot of hate from some corners for her performance, but I think that she’s great and I loved how she handled the scene where she cries as she leaves her children in the darkness. If she gets nominated at the Emmys again, this could possible be her submission episode (it's either this or, if she wants to go for the big rousing speech like last year, “Breaker of Chains”.) Bran's meeting with the Three-Eyed Raven was also cool to see. Bloodraven and the Children of the Forest both looked sufficiently ethereal and unsettling. And yes, Jojen is still (barely) alive in the books, but I think that we all knew that he wasn’t long for this world (I never bought the Jojenpaste theory, but it was bound to happen eventually). Meera’s anguish over Jojen’s death was another nicely tragic moment in an episode that was full of them. I appreciated the payoff to Jojen’s vision of his body burning as well. Finally, let’s talk about the elephant in the room: Lady Stoneheart. Yes, I was expecting her to show up at the end, either with the Freys or with Brienne, but ultimately I’m perfectly fine with her absence (I actually liked the ending that we got – a rather hopeful beat with Arya boarding the ship to Braavos). But since purists will be in a twist about it, I see two possible options concerning what her absence from the finale means for Lady Stoneheart in the series: 1) They’re saving her for a later reveal in Season 5. If that’s the case, then I trust Benioff and Weiss to handle her eventual introduction well. Once again, I understand why they chose to end what has been an incredibly dark season on a more hopeful note, so I’m fine with them deciding to hold off. 2) Lady Stoneheart ultimately isn’t that important. Maybe she dies (permanently) shortly into The Winds of Winter, or maybe she just doesn’t have any significant role to play in the endgame of the series. If that’s the case, then quite honestly I’ll be OK if we never see her, and she’s cut from the show. At this point, I care about the big picture, not minor details and tertiary characters. I’ve got much more to say about this episode, but I’ll leave it there for tonight. Great episode. Great season. Great series. I can’t wait for next year!
