Hey youtubers it's Charlie and this week was the final episode of season 4.
The title of the episode was the ch and it aired on Father's Day which is just brilliant
planning in my mind.
There's so much we need to talk about but first here's the details on my giveaway.
Just as a way to say thank you to all you guys for being so awesome this season I'm
tripling the giveaway.
I'm picking three random subscribers from the comments on this video.
It's just a twenty dollar amazon giftcard.
I'll announce the winners in my Q&A video tomorrow.
Because so many of you asked for a super long finale video I compromised and instead of
focusing on 5 really big WTF moments I'm doing 10.
Then I'll do my review.
I'll briefly mention some season 5 stuff, but I'm doing a separate predictions video
tomorrow.
Careful for spoilers if you haven't seen the episode yet, but here we go.
Number 10 - Jon and Mance Drink to dearly departed Gingers
Mance is such an interesting character.
And he knows Jon Snow better than he knows himself.
In case you didn't catch it last season.
Mance used to be a brother of the Night's Watch, so he knows all their tricks and that
they have nothing left.
So this negotiation was more about him getting Jon to believe that they really did just want
to hide behind the Wall before the White Walker army marched on the Haunted Forest.
That was where they were, the Haunted Forest.
It's right near where the Weirwood Jon took his Oath and Ygritte's body to dust.
Number 9 - Stannis Attacks The Wildlings
This was such an awesome reveal.
I'd seen all the teasers for the episode but for some reason my brain still though, white
walkers, when the horn blew.
It was definitely one of the best special effects shots in the episode.
In case you've never played it, the opening title sequence for the show pays homage to
the Song of Ice and Fire board game with all the minatures.
So when they panned out all I could think of was that and that they were thematically
calling out the title of book 3 Storm of Swords with the swarm of men charging in from both
sides.
I did get really excited when the camera panned left and you saw the formations on the opposite
side of the Haunted Forest.
It was like watching a slow moving train wreck.
It's a really terrible act but you can't look away.
I'd say that's a good metaphor for the entire episode.
A slow moving train wreck you can't stop watching.
It's just too amazing to look away.
Number 8 - Qyburn Saves The Mountain I'm a huge fan of Frankenstein and Bride of
Frankenstein so using Qybryn and The Mountain as analoges for those characters is so much
fun.
Those films are such big touchstones for hollywood film makers I always love it when directors
pay homage to them.
Like when Pycelle said it was his 'laboratory' and referenced the fact Qyburn had been thrown
out of the citadel for experimenting with Necromancy.
It's not necromancy like the magic the white walkers use, Qyburn does it using chemistry.
It looks like he was in the process of transfusing the Manticore Poisoned blood out of the Mountain,
but we don't know what he's going to replace it with.
That's something we can talk more about in my Season 5 predictions video.
If you've read the books please use the spoiler tag when commenting about the mountain please.
Number 7 - Cersei Throws Twincest In Tywin's Face
The biggest surprise of this scene was the genuine wtf face Tywin made.
I always thought that he knew what was really going on and just chose to not let on.
Like he was too proud to let any outrage show.
Cersei's threat was that she would tell everyone about her relationship with Jaime if Tywin
forced her down the aisle.
I think she was more motivated by her love of Tommen than her desire to not get married
again.
But yeah, she really didn't want to be married to anyone.
Even if there weren't any social restrictions about sisterwiving I feel like she would choose
to not marry Jaime.
To be fair though, the Targaryens married brother to sister for the entire history of
their family.
I think people didn't call them out on it as much because they had dragons to barbecue
any critics.
It happened directly after with Jaime, but who else noticed that he was reading the White
Book when Cersei and he started to have sex.
He even pushed it off the table like it was a glass of wine.
The White Book is a literary representation of the honorable deeds previous Kingsguard
brothers have done.
So by casting it off the table, Jaime was throwing away his honor again.
It's like Cersei is his heroin and he's been trying to quit all season and just can't do
it.
Number 6 - Daenerys has to Chain The Dragons Up
Anyone who has had to crate train a puppy will understand how sad this was.
As many WTF moments as there were, this was one of the only ones I didn't cheer for.
This was something that happened in the books.
Drogon starts to kill people while he's hunting.
The little girl who's bones we saw probably wasn't the target.
It's not like Drogon is going after people.
She was just standing in the middle of a flock of goats when he came to eat them.
Viserion and Rhaegal are the only ones that get chained up because Drogon is roaming free
all over the countryside.
So we won't see him again till next season.
Number 5 - Jon Burns Ygritte under the weirwood (only cry worthy moment)
This actually reminded me a little of Return of the Jedi when Luke burned his father Darth
Vader's body in the forest.
That tree was the same weirwood where he took his night's watch oath.
I loved how she was eulogized be several different characters.
Like everyone recognized how amazing she was and how much she loved Jon in her own special
way.
I hope someday we get to see Rose Leslie and Kit Harington work together on a movie or
another tv show.
Number 4 - Bran Meets The Three Eyed Raven and The Children of the Forest
This felt like one of the most important events on the show.
Like Bran was being crowned King of the forest.
Like Luke Skywalker meeting Yoda for the first time.
Yoda always knew Luke would come to learn from him just like the Three Eyed Raven had
been watching Bran and all the other characters their whole lives.
If you didn't catch it, when he said I've had many names, it was a big reference to
his life before he became the last greenseer.
When he was alive he was a Targaryen Bastard named the Bloodraven.
He was the son of Aegon the Fourth, the king that precipitated the Blackfyre Rebellion.
I did a bonus video for the Bloodraven a little while ago so I'll put a link in the description
for it if you want to learn more about that character.
But I could do a whole video for Bran at the Weirwood.
The homage to Ray Harryhausen with the skeleton warriors.
That's from Clash of the Titans.
Harryhausen was this really famous visual effects creator who's style looked just like
this.
He just did it with real life models because it was before the age of digital effects.
The Children of the Forest are part of the show now.
And they have crazy power so I can't wait to see how Bran's story unfolds as it relates
to both them and the greenseer.
Number 3 - Brienne Vs The Hound
This was one of the biggest changes from the books.
But he was killed by people seeking the bounty on his head.
They also didn't do the Lady Stoneheart character, which is who Brienne ran into in the books.
So because they got rid of these two big plot points they had to do the shootout at the
OK Vale Corral between Brienne and The Hound to reign in their stories.
Just like with Craster's house earlier this season.
You see big scenes added that weren't in the books because of changes they made to things
a long time ago.
It's like the butterfly effect.
The changes get bigger as we get further along in the story.
So either they roll with it or they do Hound v Brienne to pull it back closer to the book
story.
Number 2 - Arya refuses to Kill the Hound
Arya is so cold now it's hard to read her emotions.
I think she knew the Hound was just trying to goad her into mercy killing him.
And because he couldn't read her, he just kept escalating things trying to find the
thing that would make her so mad she'd do it.
I love that she didn't.
It shows that she's even darker than you thought.
Remember where the heart is Arya.
You're headed to Braavos.
The coin scene was right out of the books.
It should be noted that she did try to join Jon at the Wall.
They kept Braavos in the opening credits so I was pretty sure they were going to do that
plot from the books.
I also did a Braavos video that I'll add as a link in the description if you want to learn
more about the city.
It's one of the coolest new places we'll see next year.
and my Number 1 WTF moment - Tyrion Kills Tywin and Shae.
Their whole relationship distilled in three minutes.
There are so many things that stand out about this.
The way Tyrion left Jaime was a huge change from the books.
I'd say it was as big of a change as the Brienne Hound scene.
In the books when Jaime frees Tyrion he tells him that his first wife was never a whore
and Tywin just cast her out.
So out of rage Tyrion lies and says he really did kill Joffrey and leaves saying he hates
his whole family including Jaime.
Like he despises them all.
The change allows the show to hold on to that brotherly bond between them.
Jaime and Tyrion will always love each other as opposed to the books where tyrion hates
everyone.
It was a change I was really happy with.
The Shae scene was pretty close to the books too.
He chokes her with his father's gold chain of office, the chain that the hand of the
king wears.
They showed the chain dangling but it was hard to see if you weren't looking for it.
Who else really liked that Peter Dinklage let the crossbow drag on the ground as he
walked down the hallway.
Their talk was really good and for a minute I actually did believe Tywin when he said
he'd never let Tyrion be killed.
But my favorite moment was the reload.
Not Tywin's words, just Tyrion casually reloading the crossbow and shooting him again.
Now it's your turn though.
Let me know what your favorite moment from the episode was and if there were any big
surprises you didn't see coming.
I know on a show like this that's based on books it's really hard to not get spoiled,
but I was still surprised by Brienne and the Hound's scene and Stannis arriving at the
wall.
Overall I gave the episode an A plus for being my new favorite game of thrones finale.
The way they change the plot helped keep it from being too predictable even if there were
some big book moments and I can't stop thinking about that fight scene between Brienne and
The Hound.
I'm actually wondering if that scene was part of the reason Gwendoline Christie was cast
in Star Wars.
That was almost a better fight than Oberyn Martell versus the Mountain.
It's hard to pick one actor as delivering the best performance in the episode.
I'll say Peter Dinklage and Lena Headey really stood out which isn't a surprise.
Maisie Williams is going to be someone you all need to watch closely next season.
She just keeps getting better and better.
Sophie Turner too, but Sansa wasn't even in this episode.
Rory McCann had the best death of the episode and possibly the season.
Let me know if you think any other character had a better death this season.
I know we didn't see him die, it just ended with him yelling at Arya.
But I don't think he's coming back next year.
I didn't mention it in my top 10 moments, but Arya and Brienne bonding over being tomboys
was so much fun.
I love the way the show plays with your expectations.
I thought she'd be the one to go after the Hound, but it was Arya and the Hound that
went after her for thinking she was on the Lannister payroll.
And who among us can say we do not also want a valyrian blade?
I'm going to dedicate a separate video to Season 5 predictions and plot lines but things
that they pretty clearly foreshadowed were The Mountain turning into Frankenstein's Monster,
Arya going to Braavos, Bran with the greenseer and Stannis at the Wall.
Be sure to subscribe to get that video.
I'll be posting it monday and then my Q&A video.
Later this week I'll do one more bonus video and then after that I'll just being doing
one bonus video a week every Sunday.
So we can still do Game of Thrones' Sundays until Season 5 gets here next April.
Right now click here for the Q&A and Click here for my Season 5 predictions.
I'll add the annotations as soon as I post them.
Thanks for watching, now everyone go re-watch the episode.
High Fives!