game of thrones finale

tv:  The end of season two of Game Of Thrones has to, much like the first season finale, be taken as a piece to a much larger whole.  After the penultimate ninth episode, Blackwater, an epic hour long battle for Kings Landing between the Lannisters and the armies of Stannis Baratheon in which we saw the Lannisters maintain control of the iron throne, there was still much more to be resolved, including the aftermath of that epic battle.
The world has continued to grow in season two spanning the size of a true world with more and more people wanting to get involved in the war to lay claim to the throne.  Theon Grayjoy is holding the Winterfell hostage for his home island of Pyke.  Rob Stark is still making his way through a seemingly unending battle to Kings Landing to avenge his fathers death (the shocker at the end of season one).  Daenerys Targaryen is still in search of her way into the fight with her dragons in toe.  Arya is still lost midst the fighting.  And the last Stark in Winterfell, Bran, is now on the run.
With all of that to deal with combined with the fallout of the Battle of Blackwater there was no surprise that the final episode ran long.  And in a similar way as in season one, they set the stage for everyone moving forward.  Season one was a bit different in that there was a central conflict, between the Starks and Lannisters, followed throughout that seemed to be the stories main theme.  This story was turned on its head in the final two episodes with major revelations for most characters and the death of the then main character, not to mention bringing dragons into the mix.  In season two viewers were more prepared for this by the scope of the series to accept change.  Still we were left with a similar sentiment.  That sentiment isn't that of the traditional cliffhanger of a 24 or Lost where you are pulling your hair out wishing you could see the next scene.  It is more that of a longer and larger story. It is not a wondering filled with stress or questions.  It is simply knowing that something awaits you:  that there is more.
 And the biggest way Game Of Thrones has shown that there is more is by giving something new to await in the next season.  In season one it was dragons.  They were nothing but a bedtime story of a descendant of Daenerys who had formerly ruled from the iron throne thousands of years ago but had not been seen since.  This season it was the white walkers.  The white walkers opened the series with bloody mess of terror but was believed by most to not really exist had not been seen except by those that died at their hands in a least a thousand years.  In the final scene, hearkening back to the reveal of the dragons, we have now seen.
The role of the white walkers, however is still very yet to be determined, much like the fates of our characters.  Rob is still waging his war.  Tyrion Lannister is still urging to play the game of thrones at which he is so very good.  The loss at Blackwater has not at all deterred Stannis Baratheon or his red lady who are planning another, and surely terrifying attack.  The other Stark children continue to scatter even further to the wind.  And John Snow is lost above the wall.
The first season of Game Of Thrones was all about setting the stage.  You were given the names of families and settings and the moment at which things would teeter off of the fine edge of a knife that peace had been sitting on into total war.  In the end a greater purpose was revealed.  The end game was shown to be larger and theretofore untold to the viewers.  Season two seemed more to be about the characters.  Now that we knew the board on which the game was to be played and why it was being played, it was time to learn about the actual players.  In season two we seemed to see the true colors of our characters start to be revealed.  Not the notion of good and bad, because everyone seems to have shades of both, but their reasons for being part of the game and their potential roles in that game..  And in that we have learned a lot about what we are watching.  We also still have been given only pieces of the whole.  The board is useful.  The pieces with which we play the game is necessary.  To know those pieces intimately adds advantage.  But with a board and pieces one still cannot see the outcome.  And that is where we seem to stand.
Despite its differences and development, seasons two ended much like season one.  It ended satisfying the appetite of all who watched while forcing the same essential questions.  What the hell is going to happen next?  What is this story really about?  No one can say.  It appears we have watched two seasons of set up.