Game of Thrones S7E6 Rant (Spoilers)

If you are not caught up with Game of Thrones do not read this.

For a show that has always stood above its contemporaries and has never needed to be defended by its fans; this season of Game of Thrones has been at least a few steps below the rest. And the latest episode of this beloved show was plagued by bad writing and average directing.

The focus of the episode is on this A Team and their suicidal quest to capture a wight, which was a stupid idea especially coming from Tyrion of all characters. Before I even start with the actual episode, one of the members on the team is not even justified in being there and that's Gendry, the teenage blacksmith with seemingly very little combat experience. Why in the world would Jon agree to bring him along and Davos concede when he just rescued him from Flea Bottom, because he's “good with a hammer”? He blind sided two guards, how has he proven himself as being competent in battle or a reliable allie? He was not necessary for the plot either, literally anybody there could have been told to run back to the wall, Gendry is not a warrior he is a liability.

The problems over the wall potentially start with the finding of a conveniently small group of undead and when Jon kills the white walker all but one wight conveniently die with him. If this is not explained tonight or next season as a part of the ice king's omnipotent plan to conquer the world, it’s a plot hole. Gendry does his run and everyone else is trapped on the island while word of their demise reaches Daenerys at light speed via raven, and then she travels back at the same speed past the wall and to Jon and the others. This unbelievable vagueness in the passage of time could have been resolved by just having her wait at the wall for their return in the first place instead of doing nothing at Dragonstone. While the suicide squad waits for the wights to figure out how to swim and the mother of dragons to save them more bad writing is taking place at Winterfell.

Arya is intimidating and threatening Sansa because she did nothing but comply with the Lanisters, but she was guilty of the exact same thing with Tywin as a child. And why did she not confront Little Finger about the note after Sansa vehemently denied knowing where it came from? Sansa then sends Bryan to King's Landing who has sworn to protect both Stark daughters, which again could be explained as an intelligent decision in the season finale or another plot hole.

Back to the dream team beyond the wall, the lake has frozen and they are now surrounded on all sides while expendables that have barely even been on camera keep dieing to add “tension”. Then Daenerys saves the day which is presented as a surprise even though everyone watching had no doubt that it would happen. The breaker of chains then parks Drogon on the island so everyone can get on while the wights are being incinerated by the two other dragons. The Ice King then grabs an ice spear and takes aim at one flying Viserion impales and kills him. Now why would he try and hit the moving dragon instead of the stationary one with all his enemies on it leaving them helpless? Maybe it's a part of his master plan for them to get away, except no because he then attempts to spear Drogon as well when everyone but Jon flies away. And why is Jon not on the dragon? Well because he has to run out into the middle of the ice to slay more wights instead of protecting his allies and then hoping on and flying away. Jon then falls under the ice with two wights and is presumed dead by no one before escaping the water and being spotted by tail end of the horde. Uncle Benjin then appears out of nowhere again saving Jon and throws him on his horse and doesn't ride to the wall with him because “there’s no time”. In the time it took him to say that he could have been on the horse already, instead he dies a stupid and pointless death. Jon makes it back to the wall and all is well, so the only reason Jon didn't get on the dragon and avoid all of the idiocy that followed was for Benjin to die and his loose end to be tied poorly. Some mourning for Viserion and a rushed love scene happens ending the worst episode of the current series.

With a great director like the one who was responsible for the last two episodes of season six I think the lack of care that this crucial episode needed could have been redeemed somewhat. Or if it was just written well in the first place for either the show or novels we probably wouldn’t have rely on directing. It’s disappointing that the creatives who turned such great books into such a great show don’t seem to care anymore, they just want to move on. The last two seasons that we’re getting have been shortened not by HBO but by it's own show runners. And this is not what they signed up for, they wanted to adapt these books into a series not write the ending that the author can't seem to even write himself.