Game of Thrones
- Thread starter Eerie
- Start date
Roger
He/him
- AKA
- Minato
Those were King Aerys' caches of wildfire, this was the fruition of the plot Jaime had stopped during the last sack of King's Landing.
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
Well, I've been binging this show straight from season 1 for the past 2-3 months.
I have been blind to spoilers from Red Wedding onwards, as thats when I originally fell off as it was airing.
I feel like the writing peaked around s3/s4 and never consistently got back to that ever again. There were still moments of brilliance that made me invested in the journey.
I'm just really sad and disappointed how the way things developed the last two episodes. It has prevented me from having the proper satisfaction I should have for something that's so close to ending.
It sucks because all the plot developments look good on paper... I just, meh.
I wish I had the break between season 7 and season 8, because I feel like having that time to take a step back would allow me to not feel so bad
Thats the downside of binge watching. I've spent so much time with these characters, almost every day...
On the plus side, I'm motivated to pick up the books again! I read the first one when the first season aired, but didnt continue because they were so similar. Hearing how much the show has veered off makes me curious about how they compare.
I have been blind to spoilers from Red Wedding onwards, as thats when I originally fell off as it was airing.
I feel like the writing peaked around s3/s4 and never consistently got back to that ever again. There were still moments of brilliance that made me invested in the journey.
I'm just really sad and disappointed how the way things developed the last two episodes. It has prevented me from having the proper satisfaction I should have for something that's so close to ending.
It sucks because all the plot developments look good on paper... I just, meh.
I wish I had the break between season 7 and season 8, because I feel like having that time to take a step back would allow me to not feel so bad
Thats the downside of binge watching. I've spent so much time with these characters, almost every day...
On the plus side, I'm motivated to pick up the books again! I read the first one when the first season aired, but didnt continue because they were so similar. Hearing how much the show has veered off makes me curious about how they compare.
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looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
okay but
i can't
i am laughing so hard
this is much better if you're familiar with any sort of youtube influencer drama
vlogger morghulis.
i can't
i am laughing so hard
this is much better if you're familiar with any sort of youtube influencer drama
vlogger morghulis.
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
Meh
Lex
Administrator
Why hello yes it's me just sharing my finale thoughts:
Overall I did not find it to be perfect but what has ever been perfect when it comes to GoT.
@Shademp :
That was the best I could do on my 4K screen (it's 720 upscaled), but really decent quality hasn't been released anywhere yet. I'll get more whenever it is.
Bran as the ruler is boring AF. He 100% should have died in Winterfell. UGH. It's not even just that I hate Bran as a character, it's that before he was the three eyed raven he was an entitled, annoying little shit, and now he's just a boring shit. He's just shit all round. Did I miss something btw? I don't follow the lore as closely as some others do so if there's some meaning behind him being the ruler I'm happy to hear it. I know he has the whole memory-and-bits-of-the-future thing going on, so he might have known this would be the endgame. Did he have a motive? What's the point of him ruling?
However, I'm actually OK with the rest of it.
- Arya going west was perfect
- Jon joining the night's watch again was ehhhh but I suppose I don't care all that much. I got the overt "oh look at this closing gate I'm never going back I'm leaving all that drama behind it's a new me" meeeeehhhhhhh
- Sansa being Queen in the North was my favourite part of that finale
- Jon killing Dany was I suppose, expected. But it was a great moment. I was genuinely upset by it so that says something. Drogon broke my heart and then flew away with her. At a certain point I wondered if Jon was going to lie or something but he must have admitted that he killed her (political moron)
- Bronn should have died, asshole
- Brienne as captain of the kingsguard, I liked it. I just don't like who she's serving
- Tyrion as perpetual hand, OK sure but I feel like he should have died. IDK this was probably a "but the fans would go nuts" decision to keep him alive. What does he have left?
Also can we emphasise that the Stark line is dead (in the name)? Unless Sansa works some shit, I can see her doing that tbh.
However, I'm actually OK with the rest of it.
- Arya going west was perfect
- Jon joining the night's watch again was ehhhh but I suppose I don't care all that much. I got the overt "oh look at this closing gate I'm never going back I'm leaving all that drama behind it's a new me" meeeeehhhhhhh
- Sansa being Queen in the North was my favourite part of that finale
- Jon killing Dany was I suppose, expected. But it was a great moment. I was genuinely upset by it so that says something. Drogon broke my heart and then flew away with her. At a certain point I wondered if Jon was going to lie or something but he must have admitted that he killed her (political moron)
- Bronn should have died, asshole
- Brienne as captain of the kingsguard, I liked it. I just don't like who she's serving
- Tyrion as perpetual hand, OK sure but I feel like he should have died. IDK this was probably a "but the fans would go nuts" decision to keep him alive. What does he have left?
Also can we emphasise that the Stark line is dead (in the name)? Unless Sansa works some shit, I can see her doing that tbh.
Overall I did not find it to be perfect but what has ever been perfect when it comes to GoT.
@Shademp :
That was the best I could do on my 4K screen (it's 720 upscaled), but really decent quality hasn't been released anywhere yet. I'll get more whenever it is.
Dawnbreaker
~The Other Side of Fear~
Honestly, I haven't been impressed with this season, with the expection of the Battle of Winterfell. That makes the whole boring, stupidly-written rest of the season worth it, although it doesn't mean that I don't dislike the rest of it. Just makes up for it.
Here's what I thought was good about the season:
-The Battle of Winterfell. That was so beautifully done. Arya killing the Night King was an excellent twist, because it was properly foreshadowed ("What do you say to the God of Death? Not today!") and because it's completely plausible. Arya trained for years to become a killer. The Night King did not expect her and neither did I! Also, Jon vs. the DracoLich was delightful, especially since we're all expected he would go up against the Night King, but since that wasn't happening, they did a great job of giving him a challenge. The other parts like Lord Friend-Zone dying protecing Dany and the Red Woman's fire tricks, etc., all added to what I thought was perhaps the best episode of the series.
-Hound vs. Mountain. This was building up for some time and I'm glad we got to see it. Everything about it was perfect -- the atmosphere of the dying city, the tension between the characters and the actual fight itself, which wasn't pretty but rather brutal, just like brothers themselves. I like that the Hound died by sacrificing himself without it being witnessed. It's a testament to his character as a bit of an anti-hero.
What I didn't didn't like about this season:
-Arya's random decision to bail on killing Cersei. Yes, I know that the Hound just upped and decided to tell her to go, but Arya isn't the type to be scared off. She killed the Mother-Fucking-Night-King for fuck's sake! Why would anything else scare her? Seriously, it was so unbelievable, I was really disappointed. Then she has twenty minutes of running around king's landing for no purpose at all, even running into the same woman three times! In a city THAT large. Then a horse just randomly appears? WTF?
-Dany's decision to murder everyone in King's Landing. Don't get me wrong -- it's completely believable that she's capable of it. It's just that I felt she wasn't quite THERE yet. Dany may have killed others, but she always had a reason. The reason might not be noble, but it wasn't cackling murder, either. It almost feels as if there was a couple other scenes we're missing that brings Dany to that last step. It's a shame, really, because she could have become one of the best antagonists in literature.
-Cersei's death was unsatisfying. I get that the story is all about being unpredictable, but it also has to be fair to the viewers. We spent years watching Cersei commit unspeakable crimes and then the pay-off is her dying under a pile of rocks? Really? She couldn't have been killed by someone, like say, Jamie? I know that seems morbid, but Jamie has that kind of attitude about him, of feeling "She's hateful and so am I.". It would kind of harken back to when he killed the Mad King to protect King's Landing.
-Let's spin a wheel and pick...Bran! Bran wins as King of the Six Kingdoms. Wow, for a guy who does almost nothing in the entire series and is known by barely anyone, he suddenly becomes the King of Six Kingdoms? Da faq? That's not even remotely realistic. Bran has zero qualifications for becoming a king. Most of the country doesn't even know who he is. Yet the most powerful leaders in the land decide he's their king simply Tyrion says so?
-Jon's fate at the Wall. Okay, I get that maybe this is a "closing by return" gimmick, but I don't buy it. Jon is far too significant to end up that way. He deserved either a spectacular death (something like Ned would be appropriate) or to end up as the Hand of the King or something like that. I do like that he killed Dany, because the tension between them is heightened by their relationship, but the scene felt lackluster to me. There needed to be more discussion between them. Maybe some shouting, or a few tears or something.
[There is more I both liked and disliked (a lot-lot-lot more I disliked) but I cherry-picked some items for the sake of brevity.]
What I would have done differently:*
-If they HAD to seperate Arya and the Hound, they could have had a wall of rock do it. Simple.
-If they wanted Dany to go nuts, give more reason, like having King's Landing populace declare their allegiance to Cersei. Or declare Jon king.
-Bran could have become a little more plausible by doing something heroic (say warging into the dragon and stopping him from burning King's Landing).
-Jon could have been eliminated from the position of King by having him fly off on the dragon, taking Dany's body with him. That, or a cool death, as I said.
-If they didn't want to have someone kill Cersei because she was pregnant (a detestable act for almost anyone) they could have had her commit suicide once she realized she'd lost.
*I'm not pretending I'm better than Geroge R. R. Martin. I honestly think most of the garbage here is the TV-show writers' fault, not his.
As far as I can tell, the biggest problems that faced this season was a lack of budget and time. They could have done so much with the huge amount of lore, build-up, and the numbers of characters to make this a truly astonishingly-good show. It's a huge shame, because honestly it had the potential to become something that is talked about for decades. Not that it still won't, but I don't think it's going to be with nearly as much acclaim as it could have been.
Here's what I thought was good about the season:
-The Battle of Winterfell. That was so beautifully done. Arya killing the Night King was an excellent twist, because it was properly foreshadowed ("What do you say to the God of Death? Not today!") and because it's completely plausible. Arya trained for years to become a killer. The Night King did not expect her and neither did I! Also, Jon vs. the DracoLich was delightful, especially since we're all expected he would go up against the Night King, but since that wasn't happening, they did a great job of giving him a challenge. The other parts like Lord Friend-Zone dying protecing Dany and the Red Woman's fire tricks, etc., all added to what I thought was perhaps the best episode of the series.
-Hound vs. Mountain. This was building up for some time and I'm glad we got to see it. Everything about it was perfect -- the atmosphere of the dying city, the tension between the characters and the actual fight itself, which wasn't pretty but rather brutal, just like brothers themselves. I like that the Hound died by sacrificing himself without it being witnessed. It's a testament to his character as a bit of an anti-hero.
What I didn't didn't like about this season:
-Arya's random decision to bail on killing Cersei. Yes, I know that the Hound just upped and decided to tell her to go, but Arya isn't the type to be scared off. She killed the Mother-Fucking-Night-King for fuck's sake! Why would anything else scare her? Seriously, it was so unbelievable, I was really disappointed. Then she has twenty minutes of running around king's landing for no purpose at all, even running into the same woman three times! In a city THAT large. Then a horse just randomly appears? WTF?
-Dany's decision to murder everyone in King's Landing. Don't get me wrong -- it's completely believable that she's capable of it. It's just that I felt she wasn't quite THERE yet. Dany may have killed others, but she always had a reason. The reason might not be noble, but it wasn't cackling murder, either. It almost feels as if there was a couple other scenes we're missing that brings Dany to that last step. It's a shame, really, because she could have become one of the best antagonists in literature.
-Cersei's death was unsatisfying. I get that the story is all about being unpredictable, but it also has to be fair to the viewers. We spent years watching Cersei commit unspeakable crimes and then the pay-off is her dying under a pile of rocks? Really? She couldn't have been killed by someone, like say, Jamie? I know that seems morbid, but Jamie has that kind of attitude about him, of feeling "She's hateful and so am I.". It would kind of harken back to when he killed the Mad King to protect King's Landing.
-Let's spin a wheel and pick...Bran! Bran wins as King of the Six Kingdoms. Wow, for a guy who does almost nothing in the entire series and is known by barely anyone, he suddenly becomes the King of Six Kingdoms? Da faq? That's not even remotely realistic. Bran has zero qualifications for becoming a king. Most of the country doesn't even know who he is. Yet the most powerful leaders in the land decide he's their king simply Tyrion says so?
-Jon's fate at the Wall. Okay, I get that maybe this is a "closing by return" gimmick, but I don't buy it. Jon is far too significant to end up that way. He deserved either a spectacular death (something like Ned would be appropriate) or to end up as the Hand of the King or something like that. I do like that he killed Dany, because the tension between them is heightened by their relationship, but the scene felt lackluster to me. There needed to be more discussion between them. Maybe some shouting, or a few tears or something.
[There is more I both liked and disliked (a lot-lot-lot more I disliked) but I cherry-picked some items for the sake of brevity.]
What I would have done differently:*
-If they HAD to seperate Arya and the Hound, they could have had a wall of rock do it. Simple.
-If they wanted Dany to go nuts, give more reason, like having King's Landing populace declare their allegiance to Cersei. Or declare Jon king.
-Bran could have become a little more plausible by doing something heroic (say warging into the dragon and stopping him from burning King's Landing).
-Jon could have been eliminated from the position of King by having him fly off on the dragon, taking Dany's body with him. That, or a cool death, as I said.
-If they didn't want to have someone kill Cersei because she was pregnant (a detestable act for almost anyone) they could have had her commit suicide once she realized she'd lost.
*I'm not pretending I'm better than Geroge R. R. Martin. I honestly think most of the garbage here is the TV-show writers' fault, not his.
As far as I can tell, the biggest problems that faced this season was a lack of budget and time. They could have done so much with the huge amount of lore, build-up, and the numbers of characters to make this a truly astonishingly-good show. It's a huge shame, because honestly it had the potential to become something that is talked about for decades. Not that it still won't, but I don't think it's going to be with nearly as much acclaim as it could have been.
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The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
[Full disclosure: I don't really have a pale horse in this race, as I'm not a GoT viewer and have only read the first book, but I have known far too many people who are avid fans over these past eight years to ever bother with trying to avoid details of the story]
I've heard it suggested that a much better cause for her heel turn would have been to have Rhaegal survive into the Battle of King's Landing, with Daenerys and Jon both riding the dragons while efficiently taking out ballistas and procuring a rapid victory. Then, during the bellsurrender, Euron shoots the bolt of an overlooked ballista through a stationary Rhaegal's eye. The dragon falls, taking Jon to his apparent death as well (he lives, though Daenerys doesn't know it yet), and the would-be-queen goes into her berserker rage while directing Drogon to dodge additional incoming ballista bolts. Since she's wracked with both grief and rage while unsure of from where more attacks may emerge, she just burns everyone.
To this casual observer, that at least sounds more like a proper fallen hero tragedy. Unless the point is that a hero was never what she was?
To this casual observer, that at least sounds more like a proper fallen hero tragedy. Unless the point is that a hero was never what she was?
trash panda
---m(O.O)gle---
- AKA
- Howl
Jon’s unending idiocy never ceases to amaze me. He and Drogon were the only witnesses to Dany’s Death. Anyone would assume that Drogon would immediately obliterate Dany’s murderer, in the event that she was murdered, but in a very likely plot untwist, Drogon wasn’t that pissed. Jon probably just walked out of the throne room by himself and didn’t owe anyone any explanation, seeing as that both Drogon and Dany’s Body had departed. He could have literally just told the Unsullied that she took Drogon out to go pee and let everyone be really fucking confused as to why she didn’t come back.
Lex
Administrator
I fully agree.
Rhaegal didn't need to die in episode 4, I think that's one of my biggest "ugh" moments this season. Missandei sure, that's the catalyst for the attack. But Rhaegal should have survived episode 4, its death very much felt like a shock value moment rather than actually serving the story. I definitely prefer that outline to what we got.
I don't know if its a case of hindsight being 20/20 and all that shit, but there were definitely some decisions made this season that made me go "didn't they float this past people? like I'm sitting here with the rest of the audience asking questions, didn't anybody ask those questions when they wrote the script?" - there was a lot of that.
I don't buy the "they're shit because they ran out of book material" argument at all. Season 6 was my favourite season for example. Into the bargain I did really enjoy a lot of what they've done this season, it's just frustrating to watch it and go "with small tweaks this would have made much more sense".
but anyway
I don't know if its a case of hindsight being 20/20 and all that shit, but there were definitely some decisions made this season that made me go "didn't they float this past people? like I'm sitting here with the rest of the audience asking questions, didn't anybody ask those questions when they wrote the script?" - there was a lot of that.
I don't buy the "they're shit because they ran out of book material" argument at all. Season 6 was my favourite season for example. Into the bargain I did really enjoy a lot of what they've done this season, it's just frustrating to watch it and go "with small tweaks this would have made much more sense".
but anyway
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
I'm pretty much okay with the results of what happened, but the journey did not take me there. It felt really weak and anti-climactic.
Sad to see the show end on such a whimper, when it's a contender for one of the greatest TV series ever made regardless.
Really could have used another season, or at least half a season of evil Dany. I would have lived.
Thematically, I thought the show was really working against itself by killing off the Knight King before settling what happens to the Iron Throne. I feel happier pretending that The Battle of Winterfell was the final episode. Everything else is unwritten, with strong hints pointing towards Dany's break. The game of thrones is never ending, and the song of ice and fire being how Jon and Dany defeated the knight king. Not perfect but thats my headcanon now, lol.
Thematically, I thought the show was really working against itself by killing off the Knight King before settling what happens to the Iron Throne. I feel happier pretending that The Battle of Winterfell was the final episode. Everything else is unwritten, with strong hints pointing towards Dany's break. The game of thrones is never ending, and the song of ice and fire being how Jon and Dany defeated the knight king. Not perfect but thats my headcanon now, lol.
Sad to see the show end on such a whimper, when it's a contender for one of the greatest TV series ever made regardless.
Lex
Administrator
I've watched a lot of long-running TV shows in my time, so I maybe hold modern shows up to a higher standard in terms of concluding a series because tbh there are a lot of examples out there of how to do it right these days. But I agree, it wasn't necessarily the end result that was poor here, it was the last season overall. Even though I enjoyed a lot of the moments this season that others didn't, a lot of it just didn't feel properly earned.
trash panda
---m(O.O)gle---
- AKA
- Howl
If the Unsullied all went back home, then how would they know whether or not Jon really went back North of the wall? Couldn't Bran have been like "yeah, we'll get rid of him" but then just hide him under a rug until the Unsullied all departed?
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
Some hot takes that make me angry all over again.
I honestly liked Jon so much more after leaving the Knights Watch, grew out of his sad emo boy phase, and had a lot more agency in the narrative. But then he gets into a super forced romance with the other lead of the story, and she gets a really abrupt character assassination so he can go through the exact same boring manpain all over again.
Dany deserved better, and so did Jon. I'm still upser because of how attached to these characters and their journey
Dany deserved better, and so did Jon. I'm still upser because of how attached to these characters and their journey
Attachments
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Mr. Thou
- AKA
- null
Did anyone else abandon all self-respect and start watching House of the Dragon? I'm actually enjoying this shit. It's not on S1-S4 GoT's level but it's definitely watchable. Dr. Who is magnificent in this show.
Maybe watch some Alt Shift X after each episode though because the lore gets a little confusing. Too many Targaryens with the same/similar names running around.
Maybe watch some Alt Shift X after each episode though because the lore gets a little confusing. Too many Targaryens with the same/similar names running around.
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
I am watching it and I don't really find any of the characters super likeable.
It's also like, a bit melodramatic in a way that's sometimes comical
I guess I like Alicent but that seems to be a fairly unpopular opinion
It's also like, a bit melodramatic in a way that's sometimes comical
Ser Criston just like... beat another knight to death in the middle of a party and everyone just sorta shrugged and moved on.... smh
I guess I like Alicent but that seems to be a fairly unpopular opinion
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Mr. Thou
- AKA
- null
I think the most comical part is how preventable this whole mess was. Everything in GoT felt like it was a long time coming but this story is just endless incompetence/negligence/pettiness.
I guess I find Laena and her daughters likeable, though they have the luxury of being minor characters. Osmund seems like an OK dude compared to the average Hand.
Yeah Alicent seems to be getting the Skylar White treatment. She has a wildly disproportionate amount of hate compared to [insert four or five male characters that are far more horrible]. She's just like Rhaenyra and Viserys, caught up in The Game they suck at and never wanted to play in the first place.
The absolute worst part of the story is that
I guess I find Laena and her daughters likeable, though they have the luxury of being minor characters. Osmund seems like an OK dude compared to the average Hand.
Yeah Alicent seems to be getting the Skylar White treatment. She has a wildly disproportionate amount of hate compared to [insert four or five male characters that are far more horrible]. She's just like Rhaenyra and Viserys, caught up in The Game they suck at and never wanted to play in the first place.
The absolute worst part of the story is that
Viserys is, like, my age. At least around episodes 6 and 7.
looneymoon
they/them
- AKA
- Rishi
oh my god episode 8 was like. the most baffling one by FAR. like final season GoT weird.
I really confused why a lot of important events and correlating character development is happening between time skips? Does all this need to be crammed into one season? Why are characters constantly doing unfathomable shit (eg. Rhynaera wandering around the castle right after birth, Viserys painfulling hobbling to the throne then being rightfully carried around a few scenes later)? Why are characters behaving in ways that are contrary to how they were pre-timeskip? Are they allergic to marinating in a bit of character development before it has plot related consequences?
I mean, these problems existed prior to episode 8. I was willing to roll with them for the time being but this was the most egregious episode. Viserys' death felt like it could have happened well into season 2.
I mean, these problems existed prior to episode 8. I was willing to roll with them for the time being but this was the most egregious episode. Viserys' death felt like it could have happened well into season 2.
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Mr. Thou
- AKA
- null
So the S2 finale was a wet fart. Felt like a midseason episode. Entirely too much original material (I think Alt Shift X said most of the season was like 20 pages in the books). There's no way in hell there's 2 seasons worth of plot remaining.
Somehow it's still watchable though. My absolute favorite part of the story is that a civil war broke out because these idiots keep reusing the same names.
Somehow it's still watchable though. My absolute favorite part of the story is that a civil war broke out because these idiots keep reusing the same names.