If you were to ask me, I would say Season 7 ranks among my top 3 favorite seasons. Why? Because this season is easily the most action-packed season of all. The season featured 3 high budget action sequences, all of which were incredible to look at. The first big battle was when Theon and Yara Greyjoy’s fleet is attacked by their crazy uncle and king of the Iron Islands, Euron Greyjoy. This guy is scary. He’s got bushy mutton chops, one mean hammer, and a funny Irish accent which combine to create a very intimidating enemy. Combined with his crew of freaks (they cut off the ears of their victims. Yeah I know weird right?), the Euron is a force to be reckoned with.
The second action sequence is my all time favorite battle because of the way the show runners used music cues to build suspense to the battle, and of course because of the battle itself. Hear me out because if this doesn’t sound like the craziest battle ever in film history, then something is wrong with you. Daenerys Targaryen, a queen and a contender for the Iron Throne, rides her huge Boeing 747 sized Dragon into battle with her army of 40,000 or so Dothraki all on horseback and screaming with their weapons waiving in the air as the attack a supply train defended by the Lannister army. This is the moment I had been waiting for for so long, Daenerys an her army squaring off and decimating the Lannisters. She was RUTHLESS. Daenerys and her dragon would go on bombing runs and lighting everything and everyone on fire while the Dothraki tore the Lannister army to shreds. Tell me that doesn’t sound awesome.
The third action sequence is almost as cool. Jon Snow and his little crew of fighters are stranded on an island in a frozen lake and are surrounded by thousands of wights and the white walker leader, the Night King. The zombie army attacks the island, and it seems all hope is lost until Daenerys and her three dragons come in, and once again light everything they see on fire. But there’s more. The Night King decide’s he’s had enough. He picks up an ice spear and launches it at one of the dragons, and kills it. AND THEN HE HE BRINGS HIM BACK TO LIFE WITH HIS ZOMBIE POWERS AND HE BECOMES A ZOMBIE ICE DRAGON. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.
Game of thrones season 7 had some amazing looking battle scenes with crazy realistic looking dragons and practical effects. So why do critics think it’s not as good as the other? The main complaint about the season was that the logic was questionable for multiple parts. Season 7 had 7 episode, instead of the usual 10 meaning that there was less screen time to cover the story. As a result, the show runners resorted to “fast travel” so that characters could get to their narrative destinations and serve the plot. This infuriated many, including the critics at Vulture.com. In his review of season 7, critic Matt Seitz says “the series had lost track of how long it takes to go places, becoming a video-game map of fast travel teleports that bend to the narrative’s demands.” I agree with this because Westeros is supposed to be many thousands of miles long, yet Jon Snow was able to send a raven from Eastwatch headed for Dragonstone (1500 miles away). Have Daenerys read the message pleading for help and fly all the way up to Eastwatch all in one episode. To recap, the raven and the dragon flew a combined 3000 miles in one episode. Yeah that sounds off to me.
Narrative shortcuts like this bothered me a little but didn’t jeopardize the season for me, but it did for the critics. The other big complaint was the shift from a character based show to one that exploits its huge action sequences to garner more attention. As Variety critics put it “Slapdash shortcuts and sloppy turns undercut the show’s psychological power, its ability to put you inside a character’s emotions, no matter how fantastic the circumstances.” I disagree with the critics here. I think this season had very strong character arcs. Throughout the season we go to see the relationship between Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryan, the two biggest characters on the show, flourish as they met each other as stranger and ended up as lovers. We got to see Jaime realize that Cersei is evil and eventually left her for the North and the “good guys”. These two plot-lines were extremely compelling and added so much depth to the characters involved, especially Jaime, who had been at Cersei’s side for the whole show until now.
Yes, the show took some shortcuts here and there, but the show runners gave us a great looking season with the best action sequences I’ve ever seen and very interesting and rewarding character developments. And to the critics I say this: Game of Thrones Season 7 earned an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series, which basically means its the best drama TV show right now. So suck on that critics!
Variety Critic: https://variety.com/2017/tv/reviews/game-of-thrones-season-7-finale-review-1202540715/
Vulture Critic: http://www.vulture.com/2017/08/game-of-thrones-season-7-review.html
