Euron Greyjoy embodies Game of Thrones' final season flaws

The Ringer

"The deus ex pirate’s seemingly easy slaying of a dragon highlights a glaring endgame problem: He doesn’t add complexity, he removes it," says Riley McAtee of the villain role played by Pilou Asbæk. "Established canon was thrown out the window to allow Thrones’ deus ex pirate to put his thumb on the scales and even out the power imbalance between Daenerys and Cersei," says McAtee. "He’s a cartoon villain who is somehow always in the right place at the right time to do exactly as the plot demands. No character is a better embodiment of Thrones’ late-season pacing and plot failings than Euron." McAtee calls Euron the "horny steampunk pirate" that creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have used to make Cersei and Daenerys equals. "But this latest action of Euron the Plot Device Pirate is particularly tough to swallow," says McAtee. "Euron’s sudden skill as a master marksman have no explanation, and his ability to consistently ambush Daenerys—this time while she had dragons soaring high in the air and was headed toward an area where she knew the enemy fleet would be nearby—is approaching parody...This clunky plot development would be understandable (well, somewhat) if Euron had any role beyond being Cersei’s muscle man. But his character has been stripped down to the studs."

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• Sansa's speech underlined Game of Thrones' uncomfortable compromise on rape: "For many, the scene exposed once again the chasm between Game of Thrones’ male-dominated creative team and the more feminist pockets of its fan base," says Inkoo Kang. "But it also exemplified the irreconcilability of the show’s reliance on shocking hyperviolence (and, especially in its early years, gratuitous displays of female nudity) and its more feminist impulses—or at least the writers’ failure to reconcile the two. In fact, the series’ occasionally discordant attempts to harmonize the brutality of its stylized medieval world with its necessary appeal to contemporary sensibilities are arguably epitomized by its clumsy tackling of gender issues."
• Game of Thrones has betrayed the women who've made it great: "Until recently, you could make the argument that Game of Thrones was a stealthily feminist show," says Abigail Chandler. "In its early years it might have lured in the typical male fantasy crowd with sex, violence and alpha-male characters like Ned and Robb Stark, Robert Baratheon and Jaime Lannister, but before you knew it a woman was on the Iron Throne, her main challenger was also a woman, and Westeros was stuffed full of female assassins, knights, wily politicos and Dame Diana Rigg. Sure, the show still asked us to ogle naked female bodies once a week, and there was still a worryingly relaxed attitude to rape, but we fantasy-loving female viewers have learned to take our victories where we can – and Game of Thrones was one of them. Which is why it’s so frustrating to see the show slip back into its old ways in this final season."
• Why don't we talk about Catelyn Stark?: "The show barely mentions Catelyn anymore," says Lindsey Romain. "Rarely does anyone reflect on the sacrifices she made for her family, or the ramifications of her death, especially not her children. When Jon’s true parentage was revealed, no one considers how his father set him up for a life of spite by not telling his wife the truth. No one stands before her statue in the crypts of Winterfell; we don’t even know if one was erected in her honor. In fact, the only real influence she’s had on the show since her death has been a line that crept into the teasers for this season."
• Director David Nutter's CGI explanation for Jon Snow not petting Ghost made everything worse
• Daenerys' style evolution mirrors how she's "bossed up" over the years
• Joe Dempsie on the controversy over Arya having sex: "The conversation kind of forces you to confront some hypocrisy. I was 11 once, and then I got older, and then I started having sex, and that’s absolutely fine. That’s part of my expected journey through life. We all go through it. We all sort of bristle when we feel patronized about it, when someone suggests we’re too young to be doing something. But when it’s somebody else, we find it uncomfortable to watch."
• Game of Thrones has had a long-running tension between family and love
• Stark family reunion: Sophie Turner and Richard Madden reunited at the Met Gala
• Peter Dinklage celebrated his birthday on set by jumping off a ship
• Maisie Williams makes her Daisie app open to all creatives
• Emilia Clarke breaks her silence on the coffee cup fiasco: "Did I just stumble upon the truth here?! The cup bearer does not drinketh the Starbucks tea"