[S7] HOW THE WINTERFELL STORYLINE SHOULD HAVE GONE

HOW THE WINTERFELL STORYLINE SHOULD HAVE GONE IN SEASON 7

Erik Kain, the GOT writer for Forbes, articulated my thoughts on Season 7's Winterfell storyline beautifully. Among other things, he's written that it was:

"ham-fisted," "manipulative plotting," "The entire thing was done to fool us, dear reader. It was done to mess with us and to toy with our emotions," and "this was a dirty trick and nothing more."

This is still in my head days later (and not in the good "what's in the box" kind of way). Driving home last night one of the voices in my head said, "Well it's easy to complain, but what solutions would you have?" So after giving it some thought—and realizing that George R.R. Martin will undoubtedly save this hot mess with his version—I wanted to provide a few solutions that could have kept the same end point of a surprised Littlefinger dying in the Stark hall, while not betraying the ethos of GOT and having each character betray the smarts, experience, and dimensionality they've gained over the six previous seasons (i.e. the ham-fisting that was lazily foisted upon us).

(1) — SANSA SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE CENTRAL PERSPECTIVE.

GOT has always been about playing the game. There has always been intrigue and backstabbing, but the writers chose to keep the juiciest details unaddressed off-screen, just to get to their cute "Little" death scene.

Instead, we should have followed Sansa's perspective as she initially tries to: prepare for winter, keep the lords of the North united, calm Arya after her sister discovers the old letter she wrote, and keep Littlefinger's advances at bay.

Then she talks with Bran and learns the truth. NOW, she really needs to play the game: how can she make Littlefinger pay for his crimes with no evidence? AND without alienating the Knights of the Vale, whom Sansa desperately needs as Winter draws nearer.

Those complex motivations are what Sansa deserved! And it's what the ethos of Game of Thrones deserved. Not the trope-infested pile of daytime TV plotting we were served.

(2) — NOT MAKE LITTLEFINGER SO DENSE.

Hi Littlefinger. You’re a strategic mastermind, constantly plotting, right? So when Bran recited lines you spoke years ago to Varys in King's Landing, shouldn’t you be REALLY REALLY concerned he can see all the horrible things you've done to his family?! Umm, I know it's a repeat beat, but Littlefinger's priority numero uno should have been to off Bran for good this time.

One way this could have gone down is if Littlefinger secretly recruited, say, five Bolton prisoners, offering them "freedom, and what's more, "REVENGE" by killing the heir of Winterfell: Bran Stark. They could dress up under some other distant Northern lord's banner, while Littlefinger plants a clue about these men for Arya to discover. Then at dusk they go to the Weirwood to murder an isolated but calm Bran. Then, two things save Bran.

The obvious savior is Arya but after taking out two men, she gets tackled and pinned down to the ground. And now we see the brilliance of Littlefinger's plan: in one fell swoop he's taken out not one but both Stark's standing/sitting in his way. But what's going on with Bran now? He's warging. And that's where Ghost finally returns, saving the young Starks by brutally mauling the remaining men.

After this event, Littlefinger changes his tactic, trying to sway Sansa that Arya is a threat and Sansa should eliminate that threat. [This still isn't the best logic because Littlefinger's real threat is BRAN, NOT ARYA, so I'm open to suggestions here.] But if we stick with it then Sansa sending Brienne and Pod to King's Landing lands much harder with the audience. She's trying to set Littlefinger up, by making him think she's believing the advice he’s feeding her.

(3) — HAVE THE STARKS SHOWN WITH EACH OTHER, LIKE SEMI-NORMAL PEOPLE.

Okay, I get it. Sansa's too strategic and political, Arya's having empathy issues, and Bran is saying he's a three-eyed raven. But still they should talk to each other a bit, even as dysfunctionally non-emotive as this family is.

Here's a way to do it without adding much to the runtime or budget: Use the template of the scene when Jamie walked in on Cersei and Qyburn, with Qyburn leaving and Jamie finding out she's pregnant. Except in this version, Littlefinger walks in on Sansa and Bran, with Sansa reacting for a split second to LF's presence (like "oh shit, we were just talking about your horrible-ness and I'm not quite able to hide it), and Littlefinger picking up on it. Sansa regains her composure and leaves Bran to have a talk with Littlefinger, where she pretends to express how concerned she is for Bran's mental health.

Their chat ends with the subtlest hint at sexual tension when Sansa grabs Littlefinger's wrist and says "thank you for always being there" or something similar. It's the tension she creates that matters. [She's playing the game folks! Like Sansa has fully earned the experience to play. Stop progressing her only to take her intelligence away with poor plotting!] But Littlefinger is clever too and that's when he recruits the Bolton Boys to kill Bran before he can share any more info (and hopefully Arya in the process).

(4) — HAVE SUPER CREEPY SANSA-LITTLEFINGER 2ND-BASE SEX SCENE:

I don't want to see it, but Sansa should finally use her body to her advantage (for a change) by pretending she's falling for Littlefinger. You thought Jon-Dany was oddly-cringy, you ain't seen nothing yet! Here Sansa plays the damsel in distress (sort of how the show played it), but now it gets sexual with Sansa saying, "I'd be lost without you," and Littlefinger saying something like, "Then my lady, you'll never be lost." Cringe! Then kiss kiss, heavy pet, heavy pet. Then Sansa breaks it up. Regaining his dignity in a playful way, she suggests that the door is open for more at a later time.

BUT WAIT! WHY NOT JUST KILL HIM? Remember, the Starks have no proof of Littlefinger’s crimes, only Crazy Bran's word. And if they gave in to their passions and killed LF, they'd lose the knights of the Vale. Which isn’t good with the Night King on his way. And that's why...

The only way to catch Littlefinger in his lies is not through proof, but through complete and utter surprise. And Sansa knows exactly how. She’s going to publicly reject him, just like Catelyn Tully rejected him, which will make him instantly vulnerable and heart-broken. It's the only way to break his thick veneer and allow the entire room to SEE the truth. It was there in Aidan's performance (brilliant!), but not at all in the set-up. Now. That. Would have been awesome!

CONCLUSION

I admit it's a little rough around the edges, but that would have been so much more dramatic, much more tragic, respectful to the characters, and respectful to the Game of Thrones ethos!

Again, I'm open to suggestions or comments on ways to make this alt-storyline better, or why it wouldn't work (besides saying it's too much runtime. They could have fit this in).

AND ONE LAST POINT...

(5) — DON'T MAKE THE NORTH FINICKY: While a small note, the most aggravating offense may be the writer's casual desire to portray the northern lords as a bunch of wish-washy idiots ready to abandon the King in the North just because he's Out of Office trying to score the most important alliance in the world. And it's all to serve that ham-fisted plot so we get fed how Arya doesn't like Sansa’s response to the northern lord's flip-flopping nature. It can easily be argued that the North's central trait is honor, and yet the writers spit on it to score a lazy plot point.

-NM

Here's a link to Erik Kain's article about Season 7 if anyone is interested in a like-minded perspective (https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/08/28/the-5-biggest-problems-with-season-seven-of-game-of-thrones/#314e0196206c)