After seeing the entirety of Season 8 as well as having time to reflect on this episode as a whole, I realize how blinded by spectacle I was. This episode certainly provides action and entertainment in a visual sense, but I found myself poking holes in the plot afterward. Why are certain characters shown to make emotional 180s in the course of a few minutes? Why is the most compelling aspect of this episode a brief duel that was foreshadowed many episodes ago between two brothers? Why do the characters feel cheap and two-dimensional, as if the writing is pushing them along rather than the actual circumstances? While first witnessing this episode, I feel that the spectacle overshadowed these story based issues and, upon the dogs**t finale, these flaws are made ever clearer. This episode has become, in my opinion, one of the most shallow episodes of the series, and sums up the entirety of Season 8: Spectacle over substance. When reviewing other titles in the future, I must ensure that the visual grandeur of a film/series does not blind me to the blatant carelessness when it comes to the story, lest I provide a surface level review that doesn't cover all of the flaws.
Review of The Bells
