'Game of Thrones' Father's Day-special season finale: Love it? Hate it? Or what?

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on June 16, 2014 at 10:50 AM, updated June 16, 2014 at 11:26 AM

"Game of Thrones" airs special Father's Day episode as season finale. TV tweet of the day so far. TV Monday.

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Is anybody else a little down today because of the fate of those dragons? Sure, there was lots of other gnarly action in the season finale of "Game of Thrones" on Sunday (June 15), ultimately the product of the wicked imagination of Endymion veteran George RR Martin, but seeing the dragons put on a leash is bound to limit some of the pleasure I've derived from the HBO drama since those crispy critters first emerged from fire to accompany their mama on her epic journey. And sure, Tyrion is (apparently) still going to be in the show.

But still. I miss the dragons already. You?

Further reading about the season finale of "Game of Thrones," full of all kinds of spoilers above and below the links:

Alan Sepinwall @

In previous seasons, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have tended to use the finales in the same way that "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" so often did: as a time for reflection after the climactic events of the different episodes 9, and as a preview of what's to come in the following season.

"The Children" didn't work quite like that, in part because "The Watchers on the Wall" wasn't a climax of the season in the way that "Baelor," "Blackwater" and "The Rains of Castamere" were.

Hanh Nguyen @

Trust Game of Thrones to put its own sick twist on Father's Day.   On Sunday's big finale, several characters bit the dust, but no one died with less dignity than Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), who perished while on the toilet after being shot by his son Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) with a crossbow. Director Alex Graves, who was also responsible for directing Joffrey's Purple Wedding fatality and Oberyn Martell's gory demise earlier this season, took a different approach to Twyin's final scene. 

"Tywin's death is the anti-Game of Thrones death in that it's very simple," Graves tells "There's a guy sitting down and rather [than] it being how much blood or how much gore or how shocking it was, it's actually about how futile and humiliating it is that this pillar of strength and arrogance who has had an enormous purpose in the War of the Five Kings is killed on the toilet, a death he would not be happy with."

Alyssa Rosenberg @

In its first season, "Game of Thrones" defined itself as a different kind of story with an execution that sent a very clear message. Traditional fairy tales end with children freed from bad witches and wolves in their grandmothers clothing and reunited with their parents. "Game of Thrones" is a story where parents are cut open, with their heads mounted on walls and their bodies thrown in rivers.

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Vulture ‏(@vulture):

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