‘Game of Thrones’ season 4, finale review: Tywin Lannister, Tyrion, and the Hound’s plea

Tonight’s “Game of Thrones” was a grand finale, and what a finale it was! “The Children” had just about everything that you could possibly hope for and then some. It is not only the greatest finale that the series has ever seen, but it may also be one of the best episodes in the series’ entire history. Almost every story had a big moment, and this felt like much less of an afterthought than what we had at the end of past years.

Without further ado, let’s dive into anything and everything that happened across all of the various storylines.

Beyond the Wall – Who saw this story coming? We knew that Stannis Baratheon was going to be making a move soon, but for some reason this arrival completely floored us as his army conquered the Wilding camp led by Mance Rayder, and then used Jon Snow (who revealed his true identity) to determine his fate. This was a miracle for Jon, even if he was starting to come to terms with the King Beyond the Wall on how to move forward.

As if this was not a great enough coda for the Jon story this season, we had him personally setting fire to Ygritte’s body, giving her the send-off he felt she truly deserved. Maybe there is a part of him that genuinely did want to stay in that cave.

Bran Stark – This is also in a similar part of the north, but it deserved its own thread thanks to the progress we had here as Bran started to discover his purpose. He met the Three-Eyed Raven in human form, saw the Children, and also witnessed the sad death of Jojen, who knew he was going to be dying from the moment that he embarked on this journey with them.

Meereen – For some reason, Dany chaining up her dragons was one of the most emotional moments we’ve had for her since the start of the series. We could tell that she never wanted to do such a thing, but was forced into it by them burning up townspeople, eating them, and then spitting up the charred bones.

Arya and the Hound – Is this the end of the Hound as we know it? The beauty of this show is that it can make the death of even a pretty awful person something emotional. He went at the hands of Brienne in what was one of the most awesome fight scenes we’ve ever seen. Arya would not kill the Hound, but we assume that, pending a miracle, he is gone.

As for Arya, she has started a new voyage aboard a ship, and this will lead her to another exciting story that puts her in a completely new place.

King’s Landing – Now, we turn to what was a main event for many who were waiting for this moment on the show. Not after seemingly reconciling with Cersei, Jaime Lannister did a particularly shocking thing and freed Tyrion with the help of Varys.

But, Tyrion of course could not leave well enough alone. He learned the true nature of Shae’s betrayal in an incredibly heartbreaking scene done by Peter Dinklage, and that was just the start of it. He then killed Tywin while he was relieving himself of all places, and it was probably the worst Father’s Day moment of all time.

Tyrion is definitely going to have to lay low now, but it is fair to say that the death of Tywin means more politically even than that of Joffrey.

As for this episode, amazing. Simply something that we’re going to be talking about for the rest of the year and then some. Grade: A+.

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