By Heather Case
All hail Arya, a girl who rose from family tragedy to a woman who is determined to choose her own path. I feel many other Game of Thrones characters suffered from the rush of the last two seasons, including Daenerys, Cersei, Brienne, Yara - and even Sansa to a lesser degree. The compressed timeline made some of their arcs seem too dependent on the men around them. I'm glad these women played major roles in the show, but hope someday the completed books will do more justice by fully rounding out their characters.
This show was a true spectacle, pretty much from beginning to end. However, the last few seasons were less of a character study than the opening ones. The compression of timelines to get to the end hurt some characters more than others.
Among the female characters, Arya stands out as an exception. But Daenerys and Brienne are examples of women who fell into bad stereotypes. Dany's snap happened after her boyfriend didn't want to stay the night, and Brienne's tryst with Jaime felt like sheer fan service that led to a very uncharacteristic meltdown when he left her.
I'm still haunted by Sansa's line in episode four where she seemingly credits the sexual abuse she suffered for her growth as a person. Author George R. R. Martin has cited England's War of the Roses as an influence for his novels - a time period where women had almost no rights. In that sense, the books haven't been especially unfair to the female characters. Overall, I'm glad this world introduced us to some very strong and vibrant women. Not all of them were treated justly, not all of them got what they deserved, and not all of them were good. They got mixed endings that weren't always appropriate for their deeds and characters. Life often isn't fair, and I'm okay with this story depicting that truth.
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