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THERE IS NO SPOILER GRACE PERIOD ON THIS THREAD. DO NOT READ ON IF YOU ARE NOT UP TO DATE
Thoughts about today's episode? Bit of a nothing ep as usual to start the season.
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I mean, nothing much really happened but the amount of reunions in today's episode make me so happy, but obviously all of this isn't gonna last long.
Also, can I just point out how there are so many parallels between today's episode and the first episode of Season 1? Like, the Starks all waiting in Winterfell for Daenerys and Jon just like how all the Starks wait for Robert and the Lannisters and then we see Jaime being emotionally crippled when he sees Bran vs when Jaime physically crippled in the first episode. (Or maybe I'm overthinking everything lol). But I still think Jaime as the prophesied Azor Ahai would be the perfect form of character development.
And let's not forget how much of a cinnamon roll Sam is.
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Bit of a slow ep as all first episodes of a season are but they did a good job of setting things up. Enjoyed the Umber castle scene - back to the ol' creepy messages the white walkers are leaving, because we've strayed away from that recently.
Super excited for next week, based on the trailer (though it'll probably be another set up ep I imagine). I've been deprived of GoT for too long.
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Beyond what's been said here already (100x endorse), I was really struck by how little emotional connection I felt with the characters. It's been so long that a lot of my focus now is on what will happen, so when all the big reunions happen I just didn't feel it like I thought I would? I dunno if that makes sense?
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Lmao of course Bran made Sam go tell Jon* about his parents. Last time Bran discovered a bit of incest he got shoved out a window
*Aegon
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Lmao of course Bran made Sam go tell Jon* about his parents. Last time Bran discovered a bit of incest he got shoved out a window
*Aegon
This is a fucking amazing take.
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Is Ned Stark still alive?
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Is Ned Stark still alive?
No, but he did make a cameo so there you go.
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No, but he did make a cameo so there you go.
Damn, this didn't go down as well as I was hoping. I've only ever watched the first couple of episodes of the first season, and Ned Stark is my default go-to when GoT comes up haha. How did he make a cameo if dead?
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I've only ever watched the first couple of episodes of the first season, and Ned Stark is my default go-to when GoT comes up haha.
Dude, Ned Stark's been dead since Season 1 😂
Damn, this didn't go down as well as I was hoping.
In GoT, nothing ever goes well.
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Dude, Ned Stark's been dead since Season 1 😂
This is more what I was hoping for hahaha.
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Beyond what's been said here already (100x endorse), I was really struck by how little emotional connection I felt with the characters. It's been so long that a lot of my focus now is on what will happen, so when all the big reunions happen I just didn't feel it like I thought I would? I dunno if that makes sense?
Yeah, I've been waiting so long for the Jon/Arya reunion that it wasn't particularly emotional...like when Jon and Sansa had their reunion I really felt that and thought it was really well done but just didn't get the same from Jon and Arya which is disappointing because it was one of the reunions I've been most keen for.
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Ned starK = Night King.
Winter is coming.
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I feel like most of the characters have received a typical 'last scene'. It's going to make next week's deaths harder to predict. Ow ow owie
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Shout out to Ghost who just magically appeared in Winterfell even though we haven't seen him in the past 2-3 seasons.
I'm also still trying to process that Arya and Gendry scene.
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Hmm idk
On one hand, I've been hoping the final conflict was human. I'm thinking it'll be Jon/Dany v. Cersei, then after that Jon v. Dany. When you can't make the villain stronger, you make them more personal. So I'm g they're going down that route
BUT I expected more consequences from the White Walker attack. There weren't many. And it seemed rushed... and I have unanswered questions
So I like what it leads to but I think how it was done was a bit shit
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Happy with the results and Arya being a bloody badass but was mostly a boring episode tbh...my biggest issue is how bloody dark it was the whole time
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Glad there seems to be consensus that that episode wasn't great. Personally I thought it was awful and highlights some of the flaws with GRRM's writing.
Obviously the story initially developed as a struggle for power over the realm, with the existential threat to Westeros in the form of the white walkers gradually supplanting the struggle for power. As a viewer/reader, you're effectively encouraged to look away from the iron throne and towards the white walkers, because struggles for power in Westeros are normal but this whole idea of the long night etc etc is, well, life or death. Then there's all of the lore that's bound up in it as well, all of Bran's creepy magic, the night king's ability to raise the dead. This then begs questions about the purpose of the white walkers, why they're after everyone, why it's so important to have Bran have these magical powers. We then went on these long detours into understanding them, being introduced to the children of the forest, the almost limitless chapters about Bran becoming the three-eyed crow etc.
So everything builds to this one moment. There's a protracted and tense battle. This comes after two episodes of sentimentality, with every scene effectively prefacing this massive clash. The battle itself ebbs and flows, but doesn't really amount to all that much. Then just as all hope is lost, there's some bullshit deus ex machina magic and Arya kills the night king and that's fucking it.
Literally hours and hours and hours of building to this. This is the first clash between death and life, the big battle, and it amounts to a bland and predictable result. Personally, I just left that episode wondering what the fuck the purpose of the entire white walker sequence was? As I said at the start, this story was the story at the end of the day, but it was dealt with as a petty irrelevance. No twist, no turn, no explanation, nothing particularly enlightening, just a boring predictable ending to it. Despite all of the lead up, all of the hype, the protracted and at times excruciatingly boring writing, despite all of the teases, all of the rhetoric around this as the biggest threat, it was just nothing? They didn't even sacrifice a single character of any consequence to the white walker story. Utterly meaningless.
Classic GRRM but on a grand scale. The reason his "trilogy" is now in its third decade of writing and certainly won't ever be finished is because he just can't help indulging stupid plot lines that make no sense and just waste time and effort. Sure, a diversion here and there is great (take the initial Stark v Lannister war, or Renly and Stannis...fantastic shit), but an entire plot within itself that ultimately means nothing is just ridiculous. Another good example is the whole Rhaegar's son Aegon (not JS) lives in the books, and the early invasion facilitated by Jon Connington....something billed in the books as a BIG thing and the focus of Varys' life's work, but ultimately so irrelevant that they don't even bother putting it into the show.
Hopeless.
PS: beyond the MAJOR plot issues, the cinematography absolutely sucked. Imagine spending that much on a fucking episode of TV only to have it impossible to watch because it was so dark. Sure, you can use dark to great effect, but probably leave that to the horror film people who actually know what they're doing??
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Currently rewatching the episode on my laptop, with full brightness, and the lights off in my room. Gotta say, it's easier to follow what's going on this way. Still unnecessarily dark, though.
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The thoughts of a health student during today's episode: every survivor of Kings Landing will be developing pulmonary fibrosis/mesothelioma/COPD/silicosis
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Is it bad that I cracked up when Qyburn died?
Also, rip to Jaime's character development. Cersei deserved a better death than being crushed by a castle.
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Read a really good article this afternoon that said that the destination made sense but that the show writers fucked up the journey. On Dany's arc this feels especially true. Show version is basically depicting her going made because she just wants the thrown so damn much, her m8 died and Jon wouldn't fuck her. The books do a better job of prefacing this demise and I suspect will capture her decline really well.
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Excuse my ignorance: was GoT a big thing as a book series before it got picked up?
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Excuse my ignorance: was GoT a big thing as a book series before it got picked up?
Not really. It wasn't really a big thing as a TV series when it got picked up either tbh. Took a few seasons before it really started to fly.
It's been a really interesting problem though. The early seasons borrowed really heavily from the books and provided a frighteningly faithful account of what happened in the books. Even a lot of the dialogue was lifted straight out of the books. Eventually though it got to a point where the books run out and the show writers only had a really loose idea of what the story line was from that point. I think the show writers really misunderstand their own product though. I suspect they think that the spectacle of GoT is what brought people in. The guts, the gore, the massive battle sequences, the CGI dragons etc etc. They kind of miss the fact that plenty of shows do this well; what was good about GoT was the character development. They've really trashed that sadly.
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Rip to the Star Wars franchise because D&D are going to be the screenwriters for Star Wars, considering how poorly the writing and the general direction of season 8 was.
I love how all the members from the different houses were conveniently lined up in Kings Landing. Like, wtf did Yara do apart from taking the Iron Islands back? I wanted her reaction to the news of Theon's death. And our sweet Robyn Arryn has grown up. The last time I saw him he was still being breastfed by Lysa and suddenly he's all grown up and mature? Oh yes and Edmure Tully- the last time I remember, wasn't he in a cell being kept by the Freys?? So how did he get Riverrun back? I couldn't even recognised who was the one representing Dorne? Oh yes, we're assuming that Ellaria is also dead but from what? I'm so confused why all of the nobles agreed to Bran being the king. And why is a sellsword now Master of Coin??
Another thing I was annoyed with was Bran. Bran is definitely important in the books but I feel like the show didn't do much with Bran. He was literally left out for a whole season. And then suddenly he comes rolling in with his wheelchair and just stares at people and creep them out by being like "I'm not Bran Stark. I'm the Three-Eyed Raven." I feel like D&D didn't really show how Bran got to be the king, which was what annoyed me.
The only good thing about this episode is that Ghost finally gets the pat that he deserved (that pat has been long overdue since he was left out for like 2 seasons). And yay Sansa for being Queen of the North.
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Broadly speaking it's been an underwhelming season but I didn't hate today's episode, was definitely a much better ending than I was expecting aside from it feeling disjointed and like it was jumping around. I like that Jon got to go back to the Wall and finally give Ghost pats, and that Sansa's slaying it as Queen of the North.
And why is a sellsword now Master of Coin??
I thought this scene was quite funny tbh haha. I mean, Bronn was promised Highgarden (and I think whoever has had Highgarden in the past has been Master of Coin? Unsure though) and he got it so good for him. He's risen up in the world
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My big beef is with how quickly they managed to rebuild Kings Landing. As if you could repair that much damage in weeks/months - it'd take years!
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and I think whoever has had Highgarden in the past has been Master of Coin? Unsure though
But Littlefinger was the Master of Coin at some point...?
Oh well, at least Bronn finally got his fookin' castle.
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Honestly takes talent to fuck up something so comprehensively as they've done this season. Didn't think it could get worse but oh boy that finale was trash.
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But Littlefinger was the Master of Coin at some point...?
Oh well, at least Bronn finally got his fookin' castle.
Oh yep, my bad. Was just recalling the Tyrells.
@vox it almost feels like its been written by completely different people to the past few seasons
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Chart courtesy of chartrdaily - one of my favourite Insta accounts.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZxwMHPH.png)
Thoughts? Fair?
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Chart courtesy of chartrdaily - one of my favourite Insta accounts.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZxwMHPH.png)
Thoughts? Fair?
I have an issue with the fact the graph starts at 3 and therefore visually overstates the difference between the ratings of season 8 and the other seasons, but aside from that, yeah absolutely fair.