GoT: The Last of the Starks (Spoilers)

This one will be quick. I'm going to talk about my issues with the episode first and end in an attempt at defending it because conflicted is my middle name.

As much as I love this show, I’m still frustrated by this episode as a whole. I tend to have a great, really high end and fully upgraded, suspension of disbelief machine. I know this is not the first time for a lot of fans but it is for me. I can normally let logic issues go, and ignore my brain-questions when needed, because I’d rather just enjoy something than pick it apart.

But...

There were just too many of those questions back to back. I spent so much time unable to turn my brain off that by the time everything went down with Rhaegal and Missandei, I had been taken so far out of the show that I couldn’t feel either moment on the deep level that I know I would have otherwise.

That’s the thing that frustrates me the most. The character inconsistencies and leaps of logic were so numerous it ruined what should have been two great and deeply emotional moments. 

I made a whole list of issues but everyone else on the internet did as well and they’re mostly the same so I digress and move on. 

I’m trying to keep in mind that the show is on a time crunch. It’s a short season, with a lot to get through, but I feel like this episode was designed to move the show forward in such a way that it squished about three episodes worth of narratives into one. They skipped the setups, skipped the logic building, cut corners, and forced characters to mold around a narrative in uncharacteristic ways instead of the characters naturally moving within the narrative.

It felt really rushed and I’m hoping that this was done for the sake of having more time with what comes next as we head into the ending and not a sign of what comes next for the ending.

I love this show and I want it to get the ending it deserves. I hope this mess of an episode boils down to necessity instead of it being a case of everyone just being ready to move on.