Games of Thrones Season 5 Finale: Punishment

Well, we've come to expert the worst on Game of Thrones, in terms of killing off the best characters, and the season 5 finale last night certainly didn't disappoint.   Not only that, but there were two characters slain which were good to see go, and two other characters may well be dead but maybe alive.

And mixed into to all of that was a new kind of terrifying, horrifying scene we haven't seen before on Game of Thrones, Cersei's walk of shame, naked, through an angry, pelting crowd, and a priestess intoning "Shame, Shame" in perfect, blood-chilling sotto-voce syncopation.

On the two deserving deaths, despicable Stannis got just what he deserved - after what he did to his daughter last week - and a re-invigorated Theon did the right thing when he pushed that woman threatening Sansa to her death.  But then what happened to Sansa and Theon when they jumped? There clearly was no river below to save them, so I guess we have to hope that there was some other unseen thing, natural or constructed or supernatural, to cushion their fall.

Jon Snow was everyone's favorite character, including mine.   His execution was certainly well enough motivated, but also unnecessary -- the Night's Watch could've understood Jon's logic in wanting the Wildlings on the good aka human side of the wall.  But, then again, Ned Stark's death was motivated but unnecessary, too, as was Robb's.   How many Starks are left, by the way? Bran we haven't seen at all this season.  Arya may be blind.  And Sansa's literally in mid-air.  And what about the remaining dire-wolves?  We are they when you need  them?  The North may remember but I don't.

Meanwhile, the Lannisters are on their way to decimation, too.  Against all odds, Tyrion is the only one now once again in a good position, and that was probably the most joyful aspect of this season finale.  Joy is hard to come by in Game of Thrones, but I'll be watching it again next season, because I guess I'm something of a glutton for this kind of punishment.

See also Game of Thrones 5.1: Unsetting the Table ... Game of Thrones 5.8: The Power of Frigid Death ... Game of Thrones 5.9: Dragon in Action; Sickening Scene with Stannis

And see also Games of Thrones Season 4 Premiere: Salient Points ... Game of Thrones 4.2: Whodunnit? ... Game of Thrones 4.3: Who Will Save Tyrion ...Game of Thrones 4.4: Glimpse of the Ultimate Battle ... Game of Thrones 4.6: Tyrion on Trial ... Game of Thrones 4.8: Beetles and Battle ...Game of Thrones 4.9: The Fight for Castle Black ... Games of Thrones Season 4 Finale: Woven Threads

And see also  Game of Thrones Season 3 Premiere ... Game of Thrones 3.3: The Heart of Jaime Lannister ... Game of Thrones 3.6: Extraordinary Cinematography ...Game of Thrones 3.7: Heroic Jaime ...  Game of Thrones 3.9: A Critique 

And see also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2 ... Game of Thrones 2.2: Cersei vs. Tyrion

And see also A Game of Thrones: My 1996 Review of the First Novel ... Game of Thrones Begins Greatly on HBO ... Game of Thrones 1.2: Prince, Wolf, Bastard, Dwarf ... Games of Thrones 1.3: Genuine Demons ... Game of Thrones 1.4: Broken Things  ... Game of Thrones 1.5: Ned Under Seige ... Game of Thrones 1.6: Molten Ever After ... Games of Thrones 1.7: Swiveling Pieces ... Game of Thrones 1.8: Star Wars of the Realms ... Game of Thrones 1.9: Is Ned Really Dead? ... Game of Thrones 1.10 Meets True Blood

And here's a Spanish article in Semana, the leading news magazine in Colombia, in which I'm quoted about explicit sex on television, including on Game of Thrones.

And see "'Game of Thrones': Why the Buzz is So Big" article in The Christian Science Monitor, 8 April 2014, with my quotes.

Also: CNN article, "How 'Game of Thrones' Is Like America," with quote from me

 

"I was here, in Carthage, three months from now." 

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