It had to happen eventually I suppose, but last night's Game Of Thrones season finale is pretty much the first episode I found to be really disappointing. Now obviously over the course of the 3 seasons some eps have been better than others, and "Mhysa" was by no means BAD, but you would (or at least I would!) expect a season finale to pack a bigger punch.
Okay, so you can argue that we got that punch (and boy did we ever) last week in the penultimate episode, but over the three seasons the ninth ep has always been the the headline grabber, leaving the tenth to tie up a few loose ends and set the characters up for their upcoming arcs -- BUT, they also gave us a big jaw dropper of a reveal right at the end too. In season one it was Dany's Dragons making an appearance, season 2 the White Walkers, and at the end of season 3 we had...Dany smiling while being paraded around by a bunch of slaves she'd freed. I understand that they're trying to show what a powerful and compelling (almost messianic) force the young Targaryen has become, but wasn't that already established? It almost seemed to me that without another big reveal, the showrunners weren't really sure how to end it and just went with what they did because Dany hadn't had any screen time so far in that ep.
Still, there was plenty of good stuff before this. How cool is it to watch the growing relationship between Arya and The Hound? Even though we just had one scene here..what a scene! Arya finally kills her first man (fat boys don't count) and whispers the words said to her by Jaquen H'gar, while The Hound seems perfectly happy to allow her to continue down that path..provided she warns him next time! Then again, how could she not feel like a bit of murder after witnessing her dead brother being paraded around with the head of his poor Direwolf sewn on to his decapitated corpse.
Elsewhere Theon continues to have a lovely 'ol time at the hands of ...Ramsay Snow! Yes, the sadistic little prick's true identity is finally revealed to be that of Lord Roose Bolton's bastard son. After castrating Greyjoy (okay, he's made a few mistakes but enough is enough!) and giving him the new name "Reek", Ramsay sends "Theon's favorite toy" off to his father and sister at Pike, along with a threat to hunt down the Iron Islanders unless Balon Greyjoy pulls his forces out of the North. The old git refuses of course, but Yara vows to take her fleet to the Dreadfort to rescue her little bro.
Back at The Wall Ygritte catches up to Jon Snow, and when he professes his love for her she responds by..filling him full of arrows! A woman scored and all that -- especially a red headed Wildling woman it seems! Snow survives though, and reaches Castle Black where he is reunited with Sam, who had just hours before (reluctantly) sent Jon's brother Bran and his companions North of the Wall to what sounds like a fate worse than death. You've got to hand it to the young Stark boy, I'm sure most would have told Jojen Reed to shove his three eyed raven where the sun don't shine.
We get a decent (and welcome) amount of screentime for Stannis and co. too. The ever noble Davos frees Gendry, only for Stannis to sentence him to death. But when the Onion Knight shows him the letter from the Nights Watch Melisandre tells him to reconsider, as Davos will be needed in this new war. It seems this is leading to the battle in the snow glimpsed in Stannis' vision.
At Kings Landing Tyrion and Sansa actually seem to be getting on pretty well..until she's informed of her mother and brother's murder at the behest of the Lannisters that is. Tywin first shows Joffrey who REALLY runs the show, before proving to Tyrion that he does put his family's interests before his own by revealing that he didn't kill him as a baby because he bore the Lannister name! Between Tywin and Balon Greyjoy it's going to be a close call in that Westeros Father Of The Year competition. This is all interesting enough, but again, feels a little like they didn't know what to do with the characters leading into season 4 but felt they needed to give them some screen time. We also have what should have been a pretty big deal in Jamie's return to the Lannister fold reduced to an all too brief scene with he and Cersei staring at each other for a while.
In terms of acting, writing and overall production quality "Mhysa" is as top notch as
Game Of Thrones always is, and if it were a mid-season ep it'd have been fine -- but as a season finale I can't help but feel it was a bit of a letdown. What did you guys think? Too harsh? Not harsh enough? Sound off in the usual place.