Game of Thrones comes to a satisfying conclusion with “The Winds of Winter” from director Miguel Sapochnik. Once again he puts focus on framing and makes stylistic choices we rarely if ever see in this show including locked-down shots and montages. This helps elevate an already quality set of narrative moments as Thrones moves into its final stretch.
This week J and I discuss everything from the stellar soundtrack to the meaningful camerawork. We note that Fabian Wagner’s cinematography and Tim Porter’s editing in particular helps establish geographical relationships, particularly in King’s Landing. We also get into gender and what Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) ascension, Cersei (Lena Headey) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) mean for the series’ denouement.
After that, we debate the merits of the show’s past attempts at adaptation as compared with this episode. J points out how “The Winds of Winter” cleverly uses several book moments to preface a few of the more shocking moments both with the Freys and with Grand Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover).
That launches us into the meat of the episode: Cersei and the Sept, Sam and the library, Jon and Sansa, Daenerys and her army. We offer our theories about what endgame the show is aiming for with Jaimie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in light of Cersei’s actions. We also speculate about what Jon Snow’s (Kit Harington) role will be in a Daenerys-ruled world.
And finally, we discuss what’s next for us now that this season’s over. We’re excited to announce our new podcast series, “Hoopleheads,” which will cover the HBO series Deadwood on an episode-by-episode basis. It’s a show that I’ve seen and love (although it’s been awhile) and that J has no familiarity with whatsoever. I can’t wait to see where it takes us.
~ Søren
As always, you can subscribe to our podcast feed (including all episodes of “Stark Contrast”) using iTunes/Google Play or by copying this link into your RSS reader. Alternatively, you can check out the episode online or download it here. Happy listening!
That’s it for “Stark Contrast” this year! We want to give a big thank you to all of our listeners; we hope you’ll join us again in 2017 as we tackle the penultimate season of Game of Thrones. In the meantime, don’t forget that “Hoopleheads” begins next week.
This podcast uses a clip from the song “Bughici—Suite for Violin, 8 Ardeleneasca, moderato” by Advent Chamber Orchestra / CC BY 3.0.
