Game of Thrones S8 E4 Data Visualization Recap
This is the fourth in a series of recaps I’ll be posting for the final season of Game of Thrones based on work I’ve described in “The Ultimate Game of Thrones Dataset”, “32 Game of Thrones Data Visualizations”, and “19 More Game of Thrones Data Visualizations.”
How did they get all of that wood for the pyres so quickly? And oh, that coffee cup!! Aside from saying goodbye to Rhaegal and Missandei, this felt to me like a placeholder episode; it rearranged some pieces while getting set up for whatever the series finale endgame will be. All of that aside, read on for a data-driven recap of the fourth episode of Game of Thrones’ Season 8, “The Last of the Starks”.
If you want to see these visualizations for past episodes, you can check out any episode here. And if you want to see/play with the dataset, it’s on github.
When are characters on screen?
It was nice to get back to some more discrete scenes and shots throughout this episode. You can clearly see the epic gathering/farewell for the first fifth of the episode, followed by the feast which spottily showed various characters. The war council followed before sending characters on different paths to King’s Landing. Quite a few characters were there together at the end before Missandei was beheaded by The Mountain.
For how long are characters on screen?
Tyrion seems to be back to his old ways (struggle to win compromise, fail, then either have a stroke of brilliance, get knocked out, or defer to someone else’s violence), and he was on screen the longest this episode.
Which locations are on screen?
It was also nice to get some locale diversity back in an episode. Aside from the little jaunt to Winter Town (why was Jaime staying in Winter Town?), the return to focusing on King’s Landing as the locus of the prize should make for the remaining two episodes to be singularly-focused there.
How long is spent in each region?
This was about a 5:2 ratio of The North to King’s Landing. Or was that even King’s Landing? Along with other keen observers, I always thought the outside of King’s Landing was fertile and lush, but somehow Daenerys and team ended up in the dusty flats outside the capital’s walls. Hrmm…
How many words does each character speak?
Unsurprisingly, Tyrion had the most to say this episode. From his drunken chats, to his discussion with Jaime and Bronn, to his attempt to negotiate Cersei’s surrender and recover Missandei, he said nearly twice as many words as Daenerys, the next most verbose character.
Once again, there was also a long list of Winterfell Men #’s in the list below; this episode still had a lot of background dialogue in the closed captioning.
How many languages are spoken?
What a poignant “Dracarys” that was, eh?
What’s the gender balance on screen?
This was a more heavily male-imbalanced episode, with very little female-only or female-dominant time spent on screen.
What’s the gender balance of words spoken?
The balance of words spoken was also pretty male-dominated in this episode: about 1:3.
For how long is each House on screen?
I know Gendry was made a Baratheon, but I don’t yet want to count him as one because, well, is he really… officially… a Baratheon (if Daenerys isn’t currently in control of The Stormlands)? It was a nice gesture though, and it led to an even better rehash of Arya’s lines from Season 1, Episode 4: “That’s not me.” Lots of Lannister chat in this episode…
Which locations are in the opening sequence?
This was the fourth episode with the same(-ish) opening sequence, but now the light blue tiles of the Army of the Dead have stopped advancing. I wonder if King’s Landing will change depending on its fate.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this data-driven description of the episode. Let me know if there are other visualizations you think ought to be included or other data that could be collected in general?
Thanks for reading!
- “Winterfell” (Season 8, Episode 1) Data Visualization Recap
- “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (Season 8, Episode 2) Data Visualization Recap
- “The Long Night” (Season 8, Episode 3) Data Visualization Recap
- “The Last of the Starks” (Season 8, Episode 4) Data Visualization Recap
- “The Bells” (Season 8, Episode 5) Data Visualization Recap
- “The Iron Throne” (Season 8, Episode 6) Data Visualization Recap
