A nice, big crowd on a warm, sunny day in Van Buren, Arkansas.
But it was just an ordinary street fair with a few people gamely getting into the spirit by dressing in Steampunk fashion. A guy dressed to the nines, or "gears" as it were, and riding a penny farthing (high wheeled bicycle), led a pitifully small group of people in a costume parade for judging. There were other small events, like a costume contest for dogs, a teapot race, and some live music. That's pretty much all I have to say about that.
The production value, acting, special effects and soundtrack were, as always, stellar. That's why I still can't believe that Dan & Dave dropped the ball at the goal line. They had ONE JOB. Wrap up all the threads laid in previous seasons and go out in a glorious bang. HBO supposedly offered them all the time and money they needed to complete the project well and they rushed it! Everybody says it was the writing that failed the endgame. I wholeheartedly agree.
Yes, I know they didn't have the source material to draw from because GRRM hasn't finished the last two books. But surely, after all these years, they knew these characters well enough to flesh out the endgame. I began to get suspicious in season 6 when the quality of the dialogue seemed to change. In S7, all Jon said was "I've seen the Night King. I've seen the Army of the Dead!" Like, repeatedly. Uh oh. Somebody getting tired of writing.
For 7 seasons, the show was filled with political intrigue, fantasy elements, and many foreshadowings. A lot of mythology was laid down. Characters said mysterious things. Fans started to catch on to the game. Hardcore followers did extensive research for the rest of us, making endless videos of why this or that could happen. Every word, even a twitch of the eye, had significance in previous seasons. You learned to pay very close attention and it would pay off in the following episodes. But at the finale season, none of it meant anything.
One of the few people in costume. She kindly let me snap her picture.
We don't know what the red comet meant. Or who the masked woman, Quaithe, was or what the heck she was talking about in her shady prophecies. What did the voice in the flames say to Varys? Why was Tyrion able to get close to the dragons? Whatever happened to Jaquen H'ghar? Why was he in the black cells of Westeros in the first place? Why did they so strongly hint at Dany & Jon having a baby if they weren't going to pay it off? And how did Sam get to be a Grand Maester so quickly and with a family of his own yet?? The whole Jamie & Brienne affair was just wrong. And what a lame way for Jamie & Cersei to go!
Wouldn't be a southern diner without a picture of Elvis on the wall. Boomerang in VB has the best hamburgers!
Why was it ok for the North to be an independent kingdom. Why didn't the other kingdoms speak up - "hey! not fair! why do they get to be separate?!"
You know you're in Arkansas when this flag hangs between halter tops & dream catchers.
Why in the world would Tyrion put Bronn in charge of the treasury? He can barely read. And my biggest complaint - who cares what Grey Worm wants!!! He's leaving anyway! Where was the gratitude to Jon for pulling the team together to defeat the Night King? They'd all be ice zombies by now if not for him, including Sansa. Which brings me to complaint #2. She takes credit for the Lords of the Vale defeating that demented leprechaun, Ramsey Bolton. But if she had any integrity, she would've told Jon that they were coming and he would've waited instead of rushing headlong into battle. And guess what - maybe her little brother, Rickon, would still be alive!
We happened upon a small Kite Festival on one of our Sunday afternoon convertible rides.
So what was the intended take away? That crafty cunning trumps honest decency? What kind of message is that to send impressionable young people? Actually, I don't think GRRM ever intended his story to have a message. There are no true heroes or villains; it's all shades of gray. Maybe that's how he sees the world.
This guy had a hard time staying in the air.
These and dozens of other questions have been bandied about in many online articles and YouTube videos. They'll either remain unanswered, or God bless him, George will explain it all in the next two books, if he ever gets them finished. In conclusion, Season 8 was more of a visceral feast in storytelling. And while it was breathtaking and quite intense, it was the complexity of character development and plot layering in previous seasons that set GoT apart from every other show.
Dear Reader, we can pin a hope on this:
There's one dragon left in the world.
And one true Targaryen to ride him.
I often process my thoughts in writing. Sometimes in a journal. Sometimes with pictures on the blog. And sometimes just a short post on social media. Because some of my friends and family hadn't finished watching GoT, I waited awhile before writing it down here. I do realize they're not lofty or deep, or I've not written anything that hasn't already been hashed out, but I've enjoyed expressing an opinion or two.
Speaking of opinions....!
I was recently accused of being rude and acting like I think I'm better than everyone else! Imagine!
I'm generally thought of as being pretty easy going and...you know... rather nice. Most of the time, I really don't care what people think of me but this was posted on social media and seen by co-workers and fellow church members. Talk about rude!
It was a bit of a struggle to take the high road and not respond. My Daenerys side wanted to "dracarys" someone. My Cersei side just wanted to get even.
The flawed human part of us (well, some of us) really does secretly enjoy plotting revenge. How you could ambush someone with a polite greeting then drop a snide remark. Or pop in on their Facebook conversation with a witty comment to let them know that you know they're talking about you. (Wow, this all sounds so childish now that I'm typing it!)
