WARNING: There are going to be spoilers for the final episode of Game of Thrones coming up, so if you're just idly scrolling around looking for something to break up the day with but intend to watch the finale when you get home, keep scrolling. You're going to ruin it for yourself if you keep going this way.
The fury that birthed that million-signature-strong petition to get season eight of Game of Thrones remade "with more competent writers" has probably blown itself out now, but the sense that things were a little rushed is likely to hang around for a while.
However, there were quite a few nice little callbacks to the good old days in Westeros, when storylines were slow, character arcs were believable, and you could basically work out what was likely to happen by reading a Horrible Histories book on the Tudors.
Throw your mind back to the first episode of the first season, and that shot of a few men on horseback emerging from the Black Gate and exploring the frozen wastes beyond the Wall. Looks familiar, doesn't it - that's because the exact same shot was one of the last on the final episode. Look:
Started north of the wall. Ended north of the wall. Thank you #GameofThrones #TheFinalEpisode
— Louis (@louiswswsws) May 20, 2019
S01E01 S08E06 pic.twitter.com/C4EPSqzI0P
Very, very neat. There were quite a few more extremely satisfying moments in the final episode, but linking it all back up to the Westeros we were introduced to way back when was one of the more intense ones. No, the Wall probably doesn't serve a purpose anymore since the Night King exploded. No, the Wildlings probably don't need to live out there anymore. No, Jon probably isn't going to have a lot to do out there apart from rebuilding the bit that was destroyed by ice-dragon. But it's still a tidy little callback, isn't it?
This story originally appeared on Esquire.co.uk.
* Minor edits have been made by the Esquiremag.ph editors.
