Game of Thrones - Final Season

So Arya is Azor Ahai? Or was that all just a bunch of nothing

Turtleneck wrote:

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:There is still time for that.

On the other hand, hell, maybe there’s a reason why the books are called “a song of ice and fire” and the show is “game of thrones”. Maybe it really is just prioritizing one fight over the other

Maybe we can also talk about the pathetic tactics and strategy used tonight. Jon Snow is shitty at riding dragons.

We sure could. Seems like throwing the dothraki at them at the beginning was pretty fuckin stupid

There was a lot shit to pick apart here (#1 on my list is wtf was Danny doing all episode?)...but Arya ninja'ing the NK.was pretty fucking cool.

I’m more and more thinking that bran isn’t really a “good guy” here. Be it the night king or or whatever you want to call him, I don’t think his motivations are exactly pure. Though, whatever those motivations are, they are beyond the petty who is king squabble.

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:

Maybe we can also talk about the pathetic tactics and strategy used tonight. Jon Snow is shitty at riding dragons.

We sure could. Seems like throwing the dothraki at them at the beginning was pretty fuckin stupid

Yes! Overall, an offensive strategy against an enemy that can reanimate your dead and use them against you seems misguided.

I thought it was a terrible episode. I had no idea what was going on for 90% of it other than "war". It was Bourne shaky-cam. I couldn't follow who was fighting, who was dying, which dragon was doing what. And ultimately the subplots were all fairly predictable aside from knowing who would give the final blow to tNK. They stretched out an 8 minute battle to last 90 minutes. I liked some of the bylines and certainly the end result but they stretched it out way too long and it was way too disorganized and sloppy for my tastes.

Not going to disagree WBH. I'm not a fan of car chase scene cinema. And there were a lot 'yeah right' moments...i mean their are a gazilly of these things one moment and none the next...but I dug the ending. Especially all the nuiances to it.

None of the cinematic stuff bothered me. Sometimes it added to the overall sense of chaos.

Thinking about it this morning, I usually look forward to re-watching an episode the next day but I feel strangely ambivalent about this one. Maybe because out of 82 minutes there are like 8 watchable minutes.

Yeah, there was an epic battle somewhere in this episode. Unfortunately I couldn't see what the fuck was going on most of the time. I get that they were going for a "feeling of chaos", but it didn't translate very well to the viewer. Also, one minute Jon is surrounded by a fuck ton of newly reanimated dead guys, the next he's fighting them all off long enough for a dragon to come in and save the day? Come on.

The ending itself was sweet. Kind of an anti-climactic way to finish off a threat that motivated most of the "good guys" for the entire series though.

I didn't have a big problem with the darkness. Not any worse than a lot of other shows that shoot scary/intense dark scenes. I must of had my brightness cranked.I wonder if most of the people that had issues stream instead of having cable. Seems like a lot of bitching online about pixelation.

I bet they also do it save CGI time. Whatever. Agree that I don't need to watch it again. Too long and nothing overly compelling happened In the middle (unlike Hardhome and Battle of the Bastards).

My favorite battle sequence was when the Dothraki and the dragon teamed up to ruin the Lannister's shit. I've watched that battle a good ten times I bet.

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:

Turtleneck wrote:They spent a lot of time building up the Walkers story line - over seven seasons - and then ended it in somewhat anti-climatic fashion. I guess it makes sense. The story line was always in the background, and they ended it as such. Awesome move by Cersei to commit nothing to the fight and leave the dirty work to others.

I don’t think it really makes sense tbh turtleneck. What you call “in the background” I thought of as “overarching.” As in, it was always the looming most serious threat while we fight petty squabbles that relatively don’t matter. Kinda like climate change. (Bin)

I have seen theories out there about bran being the night king. And I wonder about that now. During the episode I was like “bran isn’t just sitting there watching this through a raven, right?” Then the night king shows up and he stops doing that and checks out. I dunno. That whole thing seemed weird. Maybe it’ll turn out there was more to it, but maybe not.

This was 100% my take on the series. I predicted that tNK would plow through Winterfell with little resistance then arrive at King's Landing just behind a few key survivors who were trying to sound the alarm and alert the rest of humanity. Cersei throws the survivors in the dungeon, the army of the Night King arrives, and everyone is left with the realization that they were focused on the stupid throne when they should've been focused on the real issue at hand. The Night King sits on the throne and we fade to black.
Instead we get bad fanfiction.

Also, if I'm a Dothraki rider I have serious questions about why we aren't leading with our air superiority.

Clarett's Folly wrote:

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:

I don’t think it really makes sense tbh turtleneck. What you call “in the background” I thought of as “overarching.” As in, it was always the looming most serious threat while we fight petty squabbles that relatively don’t matter. Kinda like climate change. (Bin)

I have seen theories out there about bran being the night king. And I wonder about that now. During the episode I was like “bran isn’t just sitting there watching this through a raven, right?” Then the night king shows up and he stops doing that and checks out. I dunno. That whole thing seemed weird. Maybe it’ll turn out there was more to it, but maybe not.

This was 100% my take on the series. I predicted that tNK would plow through Winterfell with little resistance then arrive at King's Landing just behind a few key survivors who were trying to sound the alarm and alert the rest of humanity. Cersei throws the survivors in the dungeon, the army of the Night King arrives, and everyone is left with the realization that they were focused on the stupid throne when they should've been focused on the real issue at hand. The Night King sits on the throne and we fade to black.
Instead we get bad fanfiction.

Also, if I'm a Dothraki rider I have serious questions about why we aren't leading with our air superiority.

Seriously. All you need to do is do a few sweeps of dragon fire breath to see what's up. Instead you get this shit.

Didn’t hate it didn’t love it.

I don't really hate the outcome of the episode, though I did think the outcome was fairly predictable. Looking at the episode list for this season and the build up of the previous episode it sure seemed like this episode was going to be one long battle of dead vs. living and you figured the Night King would have to fall. I mean he wasn't going to retreat. And when it became obvious that the dead were overwhelming the living there is only one way to end that considering there are 3 episodes left. The dead aren't just going to consume the living and the final 3 episodes are zombies marching on King's Landing.

I can deal with chaos/shaky-cam type stuff in terms of action sequences. I just like them limited in packets. This was just constant shaky cam/action sequence for a solid 50 minutes (it seemed like). I don't want to watch it again because it's not rewatchable like Floyd said. But I still feel a little stumped this morning because I had no idea who was doing what. Was it just me or did the dragon battle sequences not make much sense at first glance? I really couldn't tell which dragon was which unless the NK was on top of one or it was spitting out Ice Breakers breath.

WhiteBoyHatcher wrote:I don't really hate the outcome of the episode, though I did think the outcome was fairly predictable. Looking at the episode list for this season and the build up of the previous episode it sure seemed like this episode was going to be one long battle of dead vs. living and you figured the Night King would have to fall. I mean he wasn't going to retreat. And when it became obvious that the dead were overwhelming the living there is only one way to end that considering there are 3 episodes left. The dead aren't just going to consume the living and the final 3 episodes are zombies marching on King's Landing.

I can deal with chaos/shaky-cam type stuff in terms of action sequences. I just like them limited in packets. This was just constant shaky cam/action sequence for a solid 50 minutes (it seemed like). I don't want to watch it again because it's not rewatchable like Floyd said. But I still feel a little stumped this morning because I had no idea who was doing what. Was it just me or did the dragon battle sequences not make much sense at first glance? I really couldn't tell which dragon was which unless the NK was on top of one or it was spitting out Ice Breakers breath.

The little bit of "exhaust" if you will coming out of the side of it's mouth because it was missing part of it's jaw was pretty cool.

I just kinda expected more of a guy that has been the main looming threat for the entire fucking series.

Dues ex machina. But how else could they have handled it, I guess.

I mean, no wonder every other time the white walkers have come they’ve been defeated. What a poorly designed system. Like the big red “self destruct” button gimmick. Except the button is blue, and has weird ice horns.

About 1/2 through the episode I started thinking maybe the Night King is going to get Dany as his queen, she's going to kill him and take over, setting up a huge showdown at the end with Jon Snow. The dragons would have by then been alienated from Dead Dany and become Jon's allies.

That's what I would have done if they put me in charge.

Arya is going to fuck up Cersei, maybe wearing Jamie's face

Yeah, the battle didn't need to go on as long (on screen) as it did, and it was sometimes hard to tell what was going on, but there were a lot of different main characters involved so I suppose I understand the showrunners' wish to show them dealing with different parts of the battle.

I don't have a problem with the whole White Walker threat being taken out first. You don't want to be battle weary when you have to face the army of the dead. Though I expect Cersei to have a tough, scrapy defense planned...a Texas Tech type challenge after the slaying of the Blue (eyed) Devils. Hopefully Jon, Dany, and company, can make a clutch shot down the stretch, though.

But I think that is more "realistic" of the priorities that any logical thinking leader (i.e., not Cersei) would place on this. I think it reflects a lot of real life history where leaders were faced with similar dilemmas (not always making the right choice).

As a side note, long before this episode, my favorite story arc in the show has been Arya's, so I loved that she was the one to kill the Night King.

I expected more main characters to die. Jorah and Theon and Melisandre (who was never really developed, she was just kind of always around) and... I don’t even remember the flaming sword guy’s name. I’d call him a minor character.

Confusing dragon sequence 1. Jon is riding his dragon in the snow. His dragon seems to hit land. Then his dragon seems to hit another dragon. I assume this is them trying to set the scene that the all powerful Night King made it snow and you can't see shit? I don't think that other dragon was the white walker dragon was it?

Confusing dragon sequence 2. White Walker dragon definitely in play. Jon and Dany are riding dragons and ice breaker dragon shows up spitting blue ice. I think? it's firing blue ice up Dany's dragon's ass? But really hard to tell. Then where does it go? Next scene Jon and Dany and their stupid dragons are hanging out under romantic moonlit skies flapping their wings.

Dragon sequence 3. Ice Breakers is breaking up the party at the castle. Jon's dragon kind of seems to descend on him and claw him. They fight in mid air. What happens is not clear. Night King falls to his imminent death. Jon's dragon next is going in for an emergency landing. And then Dany is there with her dragon.

I'm sure you all have read all of the reviews and articles here, so go ahead and give me your feigned superiority here about how you are a better TV watcher than I am, much like I do when I have a juicy sports nugget gleaned from elsewhere. None of this makes any sense to me and if you claim to have followed and understood it live I think you're bluffing.

No that was all very confusing wbh. I dont think anyone knew without watching again.

But I don’t really think you understand how defense works in sports without watching film or whatever so it’s fine.

Just kidding I love you but seriously if I were going to have a couple of live dragons fight against a dead dragon I’d probably make sure it was a pretty clear moment as to if they are alive or dead (except for the dead one which is already dead but you know what I mean.) they are alive ftr.

In conclusion, and to beat a dead horse - the show mostly went to shit starting with season 7.

I still really really need there to be more to bran. If there isn’t then we’re just watching a Michael Bay movie for the last two seasons. Which.... is fine. A Michael bay movie is fine. Hell, it’s fun. But I know what it is going in. I know how it’s going to go. A bunch of explosions and drama and you think the good guys are going to lose but then hey they don’t. Which is fun. Fine. But it’s not what I’m looking for on this show. That’s what 47 marvel movies are for.

I kept the Bran thought in mind as I watched again. I didn't watch the whole thing, only the meat of it. I think it's Michael Bay. I don't think there's more to the Bran thing.

WhiteBoyHatcher wrote:I kept the Bran thought in mind as I watched again. I didn't watch the whole thing, only the meat of it. I think it's Michael Bay. I don't think there's more to the Bran thing.

You’re probably right but I’m just gonna hold on to a sliver of hope.

What I really really don’t need to see in the next three episodes is an army marching on Kings landing and a big battle and Cersei dies and someone or another becomes the new monarch. I just saw the big ass battle and I don’t need another.

Also I don’t really care if the cleganes fight and secretly I was hoping that the hound would die this last episode just to avoid it but they were never going to do that because fan service.

That's all gonna happen. At least 80% of it you can bet OTPT's life on happening.

WhiteBoyHatcher wrote:That's all gonna happen. At least 80% of it you can bet OTPT's life on happening.

I know. Poor otpt :(

Michael bay is a great way of putting it.

I think this season and last season is suffering from a sped up timeline. I mean, it took Dany what, five seasons just to get to Westeros. Now shit is going down in one episode when it used to take a season or two to flesh out. It just feels like a bunch of cheap thrills for the most part lately.

On an unrelated note, Michael Bay was one of the producers for Black Sails and that show did not suck.

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:I still really really need there to be more to bran.

Cause you full of poop.


BOOM!

I think if you're hoping for not Michael Bay the best you can hope for is some kind of final twist in regards to the Throne. Absolutely the last 3 episodes will consist of strategizing for the march on KL, a battle at KL, Clegane Bowl. Cersei also has to die. The best you can hope for is something like Jon and Dany come to terms with their incest and decide to co-rule and then the dead rise again and kill them all.

On the other hand, I saw they wrapped filming for Bad Boys III. Can't wait. We ride together, We die together. BB4L.

Watch Out Pylon! wrote:I think this season and last season is suffering from a sped up timeline. I mean, it took Dany what, five seasons just to get to Westeros. Now shit is going down in one episode when it used to take a season or two to flesh out. It just feels like a bunch of cheap thrills for the most part lately.

On an unrelated note, Michael Bay was one of the producers for Black Sails and that show did not suck.

Michael Bay is fine. He’s fine. I’ll fucking ride or die so hard for bad boys wbh even though I don’t think that’s Michael bay. But ill go see that in theaters like 4 times. It’s just that that’s not what makes this particular show good.

I don’t know if it’s the timeline so much as it is that the writers aren’t very good at what they do and can’t come up with anything outside of the most obvious and stereotypical story outcomes without being told by the author.

I'm finding my enthusiasm for the final three episodes to have significantly fallen off. That battle at Winterfell really was anticlimactic.

There is still the prophecy that Daenerys had in the house of horrors, where Kings Landing has snow and the throne room roof is destroyed. Maybe Bran travels back in time to tell the Night King how he dies, and he gets another life too!

I'm waiting for Dany's heel turn. Final Battle Jon vs her for the Iron Throne, even though he doesn't want it.

StylesGShmooth wrote:I'm waiting for Dany's heel turn. Final Battle Jon vs her for the Iron Throne, even though he doesn't want it.

Seems possible. This is one way they could go with the twist. As she told Sansa... She's cared only about one thing her entire life.