Game of Thrones | Season 8 Episode 4 | The Last of the Starks

REVIEW

The war against the White Walkers is over. The North has paid a terrible price in destruction and death. Thousands of lives have been swept away, and nothing remains for Jon, Daenerys and their allies but to burn the bodies of the fallen on great pyres raised outside Winterfell. The previous episode of Game of Thrones divided the audience: for some it was one of the most epic episodes ever, for others a bitter disappointment. The truth probably lies in the middle — but now that the battle of Winterfell is over, the fourth episode offers a chance to catch one’s breath.

The living celebrate and feast by candlelight, when Gendry stands up to look for Arya and is named Lord of Storm’s End by Daenerys. It seems he stood up at just the right moment. When he later finds the girl, he declares himself — but she refuses him, saying the life of a lady at his side is not for her. She is no lady; she never was.

Good old Jon is toasted by Tormund, irritating Daenerys beside him: she sees in the man she loves a possible contender for the throne, however little use he was in the recent battle. Unexpected and pleasant was the delicate, nostalgic conversation between Sansa and the Hound. Between Brienne and Jaime, passion finally ignites: helped along by the rivers of wine poured and drunk through the evening, the two surrender to a night of love, begun before the romantic fire of a hearth. That scene, though, is less affecting than the dramatic farewell in which Jaime decides to return to King’s Landing and to Cersei, bitterly recalling all the terrible things he has done for her — and calling himself as hateful as she is.

JAIME’S FAREWELL

Jon Snow reveals his origins to his sisters Arya and Sansa even though Daenerys asked him not to: thanks to Sansa, the revelation flies to the ears first of Tyrion and then of Varys, who together scramble to answer the question of who would be the better claimant to the Iron Throne. Preparations for the battle against Cersei at King’s Landing are completed in haste, but the fleet’s journey toward Dragonstone is unfortunately interrupted by an ambush by Euron Greyjoy and the Iron Fleet. Euron manages to strike and kill Rhaegal with a brand-new Scorpion and destroys the Dragon Queen’s fleet. Missandei is captured, and Grey Worm cannot find peace. After these events a furious Daenerys announces she wants to teach Cersei an immediate “lesson”, but Tyrion and Varys dissuade her, begging her to keep in mind the millions of lives sheltering inside King’s Landing and the deaths she would cause by destroying the city — warning her not to become the very thing she has always fought to defeat.

VARYS TO DAENERYS

Daenerys is at breaking point, at the limit of endurance, and declares she will try one last time to parley with the rival Queen — if only to shift the blame onto her in the (very likely) case she refuses terms and the inhabitants get caught up in the fighting and the flames. As expected, the meeting goes as badly as possible, further unleashing Daenerys’s wrath and Grey Worm’s despair at the sight of his beloved Missandei beheaded and thrown from the walls in answer to their demands.

P.S.: what do you think of the Starbucks advertising in this episode? Are we too suspicious, or was it deliberate? Given the immense work of set construction and editing, it seems a bit odd that they forgot to remove the famous brand’s coffee cup (which you can see clearly below).

What do you think? What did you enjoy, and what made you wince? Are there aspects you’d like us to explore further in future articles? Write to us in the comments or on our Facebook page!