You know, I always regarded the Night King as an existential threat. He's like a force of nature that cares very little about the petty power squabbles of man, a natural catastrophe looming behind the horizon that draws no distinction between who sits on the iron throne. It's the reason why the Night King has no ulterior motivation, like an earthquake, a hurricane or tornado, there's no rhyme or reason behind his destruction, it just happens. As such, the White Walkers were always the bigger concern to me, at least compared to the usual political schemes and power plays of the show.
You just don't vanquish such an existential threat with a fancy ninja move, it's not something that can be easily beaten, it's something that can only be managed. As such, the Night King should have been the ultimate problem to face, not a deeply flawed and power hungry noble who's not much different than any other. Anything that would follow episode 3 can only feel like a tacked-on epilogue. It's the equivalent of a hero vanquishing his evil nemesis, only to him face a random street tug in the next season.
The worst aspect is that the victory over the Night King didn't feel earned. Yes, the main characters raised their power levels, Jon became a bad-ass fighter and Jamie turned from a golden Knight with a rusty heart to a rusty Knight with a golden heart. Arya turns into a superhuman assassin, Bran a mystical wizard, Daenerys a powerful ruler and Sansa a cunning politician. They all surpassed their masters, but their more important characters flaws still remain. Compared to that their newly acquired powers are mere maculature that merely serves our thirst for spectacle rather than meaning. Sure there were promising glimpses, such as Jon renouncing his kingly title in order to face a bigger concern and Arya recognizing the value of family after following the path of vengeance and death, but after the White Walkers were defeated, all of them became worse, rather than wiser, as they all fell prey to their most basic lustful appetites.
Daenerys is now madly driven by her anger and will probably slaughter thousands of innocent civilians to quench her thirst for power, becoming the very tyrant that she wanted to protect the world from in the first place. Jon is leaving behind what is dearest to him, his true friend Sam, his trusty wolf Ghost and his family, only to make himself another pawn in the battle for the iron throne. Arya buggers off with the Hound leaving her family behind once again. Sansa is using her new talents only to become another pawn in the game. Jamie reverts to his old incestuous self having apparently learnt nothing from his time with Brienne, well apart from a hot one night stand nobody wanted to see.
I always felt that GRRM's books never reveled in the Machiavellian scheming and violence, it was always a means to portray the futility of human war and monarchic power struggles. As such, I always thought the whole point of his story was to transcend the game of thrones. After all, what the hell does it matter who sits on the iron throne? It will just be another flawed being repeating the same mistakes as those who sat on the throne before them. Who wins the game of thrones is not important, but what the protagonists learned and how they have changed. GRRM isn't a fatalist, but as it stands the show's ultimate message seems to be that the game is all that matters, that people can't overcome their flaws, instead locking themselves in a perpetual loop of war, death and suffering.
This is not good story telling. Facing your ultimate flaw can only end in renouncing to play that nefarious power game. I never frikkin' cared about the throne, all that was important to me was how the characters dealt with their experiences. Now, all that's left is the throne as the remaining characters have seemingly learnt nothing from their past struggles and keep going down the path of senseless destruction. Instead we were being treated to 30 minutes of eating, drinking and fornicating, as if that's somehow the most important. F*ck that noise, as if after all that's happened I would care about who is putting his dick into whom. There's so much more important stuff to tackle that is being shoved aside or rushed for tits and ass.
All the writers seem to care about is letting us guess who will be sitting on the throne and "subverting my expectations". Well, subverting my expectations is all nice and dandy, but not if it doesn't make a lick of sense and comes at the expense of more important themes.
I somehow find it hard to believe that GRRM approved of this series of events and I sincerely doubt that's how he wanted to end the show. Yeah I know he's gotten lazy, but considering where the show is heading for its grand finale, I would have preferred for the show to be put on ice until he finished more books. The reason why ASOIAF and the first couple of seasons of GoT were so great is because they broke with typical Hollywood conventions. Season 8 is a return to the same old Hollywood'esque story-telling that trades substance for spectacle and meaning for broad appeal.
