It’s not the ending per se, it’s how rushed it all was. Dany going villain was always projected, especially in the last published book. But it’s the rushing of the storyline and the distinct decline in quality dialogue that made it so bad. The storyline could and should have been fleshed out more with maybe even 2 extra seasons. Instead the seasons were shortened and they tried (and failed miserably) to wrap it up quickly.
As for the dialogue, compare the dialogues of Tyrion and Varys from the first 3 seasons to the last 3 seasons and you will wonder if those are the same characters. They were quick witted and sharp in the first seasons, but in the last 3 it’s all “Hur hur, you don’t have a cock” jokes. And that’s just one of the more obvious flaws. So many story threads had no conclusion, the actions stopped making sense, what should be a multi month voyage is reduced to days, etc, etc, etc…
It will be taught in movie colleges as a warning for decades, if not centuries.
100% agree. The whole “good guy becoming a conqueror villain” motif isn’t new. The problem is they rushed it so hard. You had characters constantly telling us “she’s not well and must be stopped” and I was like “based on what???”
If they had an extra season to show her slowly descending to the point the bells would set her off it would have been a beautiful tragedy. Instead it felt more like a “I go crazy you all die now!” heel turn.
IMO they did a pretty good job foreshadowing. She was absolutely brutal in Astapor (justifiably), and was on her way in Meereen before being talked down by her advisors. This becomes a recurring theme: she wants to charge in and go scorched earth, Jorah/Varys/Tyrion/etc urge caution. And at the end, none of them were there any longer. Varys and Tyrion were rejected as traitors, Jorah, Missandei, Rhaegal, and Viserion all killed in her presence. It was just Dany, Drogon, grief, and rage at the end.
Going by the general reaction, it was probably a bit too subtle. But it’s pretty low on my list of GoT endgame sins.
what should be a multi month voyage is reduced to days
I think this is what got under my skin the most on the initial watch. Gendry just… running… all the way back to the wall, sending a raven for Dany, and her showing up for the rescue… what was that, like, 6 shots? It pulled me right out.
I kept that in mind during rewatch. What I started realizing is that the early seasons were able to cover passage of time by switching locations/storylines. There was a LOT going on in a bunch of places, and for the most part it was handled well. As the end approached, there were less locations/storylines as everything converged on the North and King’s Landing. So not only did the show lose having the books to fall back on, they also lost the ability to mask time skips. And this was not handled well at all. The result was jarring cuts and a rushed pace. I don’t think stretching the end out any further just for the sake of being longer would have been a net positive, let alone adding seasons of what would have amounted to filler. But there had to have been a better way to avoid those self inflicted faceplants.
TrumpetX@programming.dev 1 day ago
I came here to say this comment. I am often telling people that the Dany’s ending was by far the most likely outcome of her path. But she went from hero to villain in 2 hours of screen time. It’s awful showrunning and producing.