How 'Game of Thrones' forgot how to write a real twist

Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 4 had all the hallmarks of classic Thrones — secrets revealed, a shocking twist, the death of a major character — but unlike the show’s previous success in delivering big moments, all of them fell flat in “The Last of the Starks.” The greater reveal of Jon’s true parentage to big players like Sansa, Arya, and Tyrion happened entirely offscreen, Euron’s dragon-killing scorpion shot came out of left field, and Missandei’s capture and execution did little besides make both Daenerys and the audience angry.

Thrones used to thrive on game-changing moments that surprised and enthralled its viewers, but ever since it ran out of source material from George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series it’s been increasingly difficult for the show to match the excitement of its earlier twists.

Moments like Ned Stark’s execution, the Red and Purple Weddings, and Stannis’ attack on Blackwater Bay all came from Martin’s books and benefited from occurring in the same format as Martin wrote them. In A Song of Ice and Fire, chapters are written from a collection of character’s perspectives with all of their biases and knowledge kept contained to their point of view.

Reading Tyrion, Bran, and Catelyn’s chapters leading up to the Red Wedding in A Storm of Swords, for example, allows readers to pick up on major clues that create suspense leading up to and after the moment. Back in Season 3, the show did much of the same. Tyrion witnessed his father write a mysterious letter earlier in the season, and Bran told Jojen and Meera the story of the Rat Cook, which explains what a violation of guest right means to the people of Westeros. When Robb and Cat show up for their final feast, those previous perspectives coalesce into a layered, dramatic tragedy that contextualizes everything that came before it. The twist is earned, and so the fallout feels more devastating.

In Season 8, most of the action has been confined to Winterfell and the many, many characters who are stationed there. Since the Battle of Winterfell definitely showed that the Night King’s army of the dead is not Thrones’ endgame, Cersei’s partnership with Euron Greyjoy and the Golden Company emerged as the show’s final bosses — a position that should merit more screen time, not less. The lack of attention paid to Cersei’s machinations and Euron’s character had reduced both of them to one-dimensional villains whose jabs at Jon and Daenerys feel unearned and out of left field.

Something as simple as a small council meeting or a scene where Euron does literally anything besides talk about banging Cersei could have generated dramatic irony for viewers, who would have a better idea of the dangers waiting for Dany and Jon down south. Instead, Euron’s shot at Rhaegal comes as a complete surprise. While it was one of Episode 4’s better moments, the lack of buildup made the dragon’s sudden death a one-off shock instead of a carefully crafted plot twist.

Missandei’s death was treated similarly. It would have been fascinating to see Missandei and Cersei allude to Daenerys’ chain-breaking and city-burning tendencies, but in the end Missandei just disappears from the screen for a few minutes and reemerges in chains at the top of the city gates to die.

The Game of Thrones audience doesn’t need every plot twist spelled out before it happens, but the show’s best and previous “oh shit” moments were effective because they had the full weight of the characters’ motivations backing up their inevitability. By ignoring the villains’ perspectives, Season 8 is flatter and less interesting than the world of Thrones’ earlier seasons had suggested.

It’s surely difficult to continue to adapting an incomplete book series, but the most recent seasons of Game of Thrones have shown that Martin’s careful plotting and viewpoint-hopping format was essential to the show’s narrative payoffs. Without them, Thrones feels more like an imitation of itself with every episode.