Original Content podcast: Dragons love symbolism, and other lessons from the ‘Game of Thrones’ finale

This post and podcast include spoilers for “Game of Thrones.”

Remember how it felt six weeks ago, right before “Game of Thrones” returned for its final season? The excitement? The anticipation? That was so, so long ago.

Darrell Etherington, the original co-host of the Original Content podcast, joins us once again to wrap up our week-by-week discussion of the show’s final season. And while there were critics who liked the finale, we weren’t among them.

Anthony, at least, defends the first half of the episode, which deals with the fallout from “The Bells” and takes the story to its tragic conclusion. We might wonder why, exactly, a dragon would want to melt the Iron Throne, but it’s a bold, striking image — and the moments around it, with Drogon grieving for Daenery’s death, are genuinely moving. In fact, this opening half of the episode is full of striking imagery.

But none of us can make sense of what comes afterward. If you look carefully, you can probably see the seeds of a complex and satisfying conclusion — and in his final performance as Tyrion, Peter Dinklage almost sells you on the ending through sheer charisma and force of will. What ends up on screen, however, feels like a listless march through predetermined points, with nearly every character seeming to shrug and give up — because hey, it’s the finale.

We close out our discussion with our general thoughts on the show, now that we know the full story. And before we get into our spoiler-y “Game of Thrones” discussion, we also review “Wine Country,” a Netflix comedy directed by Amy Poehler, with an impressive cast that includes Poehler, Maya Rudoph, Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey.

If you feel like skipping ahead, here’s how the episode breaks down:

0:00 Intro
1:25 “Wine Country” review
9:50 “Game of Thrones” review

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