TV: Game of Thrones

[shinta|hikari]

Episodes 1-3 were indeed terrible. 4 was somewhat terrible. 5 was good. The dragon was finally used properly. I love the city burning part.

"Burn those worthless peasants (and nobles)!"

[Assertn]

I felt like eps 1-3 were terrible, and 4-5 were better.
Was not expecting Dany to straight up burn the whole town in a zig zag though lol

Gotta write her initials as part of her claim.

[Sapphire]

Haha I guess her initals are ZZZZZZZZ

(to represent her literally burning every inch of the town line by line.

[Buffalobiian]

I disliked this episode.

Dany snapping is fine, but the Scorpion defence system (through sheer numbers + improvements) was implied to be superior to her dragons. Now she just swooped in and killed everything. During the barracks CGI scenes most of the crossbows were static and didn't even attempt to track her movement - that's their sole job. At least have some soldiers comment on their aiming speed being too slow or something.

Arya running around like a scared little girl really didn't add anything to the story.

Sandor's fight felt unsatisfying.

The only bit I liked involved Varus. He's the real MVP in this show.

[Sapphire]

I actually liked Arya running around because it finally gave us Children of Men 2 and showed the horrors of what Dany was doing to the common people. Random white horse was pointless and unnecessary in my opinion though!

I was telling Janice & Yuki that Winterfell and nigh the entire continent should have been completely decimated during the Battle of Winterfell and the last few episodes should have been like a guerrilla war in a post-apocalyptic climate.

Yup about the scorpions, other people have been commenting that they suck way more than described. Apparently the dragon was flying at a low altitude or a way where it's hard to hit with the scorpions. But it's dumb that one of her dragons got so easily pwnd in the previous episode.

Cersei sniffling into Jamie's shoulder and worrying about him being hurt after she ordered his assassination grossed me out a little.

Agreed Varys was the MVP!

A lot of people are complaining that Dany acted out of character, but I can see how they have been setting her up to do something crazy for the last few seasons and how a cascade of things sort of happened to her right before that (Jon denying her booty and presenting her threat, allies dying and betraying her...) It's just WAY more overboard that I ever imagined. But I also realize that's the deal with some people, they'll show small signs of doing something over a long period of time and finally do something extremely huge when it looks like they can get away with it.

[shinta|hikari]

You guys don't understand. The scorpions are slow to aim, limited in rotational and ballistic range, static "anti-air" weapons. Of course they wouldn't be able to hit a flying anything, much less a dodging dragon.

Then you may ask, why did 3 whole shots hit their mark in the previous episode? That's because they were guided by Ghost's direwolf olfactory aiming system. Ghost wanted that dragon dead and temporarily defected. Remember, those shots were launched before the dragons could even see Euron's fleet. That means the fleet couldn't see the dragons either but still got three arrows to hit from beyond an island, further proof of Ghost's betrayal because his super smell is not hindered by line of sight.

After the dragon that tempted Jon is dead, Ghost returned north to pretend he was not involved at all, waiting until Jon comes to his senses and fetches him again. That's why the scorpions couldn't hit a damn thing in the latest episode.

[Death BOO Z]

i whole heartily agree with this theory.

i think it's not about the story anymore, even the execution seems sloppy.
you want her to be totes crazy? sure. but have the people aiming the scorpions look like real people, have them run away rather than shoot, the chains snap, be too slow... whatever.
want arya to be in a war movie? sure. but what good is the horse right now?
want john snow to be a hero? sure, but having him save a peasent from being raped while the dragon burns everything around, seriously? who tries to rape anyone in this situation?
want cercei and jamie back? go for it, but don't waste ten minutes of having him killed if you're going to do a 'rock falls, everybody dies' total party kill.

it's not just bad plot decision, it's shoddy direction. and the production values are usually really good, so it's jarring.

[shinta|hikari]

Yeah, the rape and pillaging usually come after the battle is over, not during the battle...

[Sapphire]

Fuck it, ghost theory it is lol

Yeahhhhh I wonder how many of her own people Dany burned?

[shinta|hikari]

A lot. I mean, I'm not sure if anyone was left in the end except Arya.

[DarthEnderX]

Thoughts now that the finale is over.

---

Yeah, I think I was actually happier with the last episode than any other episode this season. I didn't predict what happened, but I also wasn't pissed off about any of it, and a lot of the denouement stuff I thoroughly enjoyed. That Small Council is pretty great.

I was honestly surprised by Bran being made king, because he seems like he doesn't even care about the mortal world anymore, now that the Night King is dead. I was half-expecting the Seven Kingdoms to break up into 7 separate kingdoms again.

And I definitely laughed when they laughed at Sam for suggesting Democracy.


If I can armchair show write for a minute, there's a few small changes I would have made to improve various aspects of this season:
Two changes I would have made to the battle of Winterfell:

1. I would have had the White Walkers actually, you know, participate in the battle. All those important characters with Dragonsteel weapons would have mattered a bit more if they'd killed something more than zombies. Give a few characters like Jorah, Hound and Brienne a kill against a WW and make them matter.

2. I woulda had Arya disguise herself as a White Walker that she killed in order to get close to the Night King. You know, make all her fancy magic assassin powers actually mean something.

Change I would have made to the King's Landing battle:

They shouldn't have killed the 2nd Dragon in the previous episode. They should have attacked the city with BOTH dragons and had that one die during the attack. This would have accomplished two things:

A. Made the King's Landing defenses not COMPLETELY useless and unintimidating. While also not making Dany seem really stupid for doing the exact same thing this week that got a dragon killed last week, only to have it work out somehow.

B. Would have made Dany's turn a lot more understandable. Instead of seemingly flipping out over a friend dying days/weeks before, it would have been more like an in-the-moment reaction to one of her children dying. She's still a villain, because you don't stay the hero after burning a city full of people, no matter how good your reason, but at least the action would have made more sense.

You guys don't understand. The scorpions are slow to aim, limited in rotational and ballistic range, static "anti-air" weapons. Of course they wouldn't be able to hit a flying anything, much less a dodging dragon.

Then you may ask, why did 3 whole shots hit their mark in the previous episode?

In all seriousness, it's because the other dragon still had a torn wing from the battle of Winterfell, which limited it's mobility.

[Buffalobiian]

2. I woulda had Arya disguise herself as a White Walker that she killed in order to get close to the Night King. You know, make all her fancy magic assassin powers actually mean something.

I'm mildly pissed off about that. The whole house-of-black-and-white just gave her an upgrade but it didn't have the impact I expected. I thought she'd go back to it after all this for closure.

Bran was a surprise, but an apt choice. Like what's been said about Jon before, he's a suitable king because he doesn't give a shit about power, amongst other things.

Thank fuck Dany died. That was required.

Frankly all the battles have been quite messy and unexciting. I much prefer the banter and politics.

[shinta|hikari]

Frankly all the battles have been quite messy and unexciting. I much prefer the banter and politics.

Because that's what this story was all about. The screenwriters sorta forgot that these last 2 seasons.

I loved the ending because it proved my ghost theory true. Ghost super smell guidance system is now canon, pun intended.

[DarthEnderX]

Bran was a surprise, but an apt choice. Like what's been said about Jon before, he's a suitable king because he doesn't give a shit about power, amongst other things.

Granted, but you DO want your king to give a shit about the kingdom and it's people.

Bran's been giving off a real Dr. Manhattan vibe of "I live in all times simultaneously, so none of this actually matters because to me it already happened", type deal.

Half the time they're talking to him it seems like he wasn't even paying attention.

[Ryllharu]

So...with the Three Eyed Raven being the King from now on, and the selection being made before the previous one passes...

Game of Thrones and The Giver take place in the same universe!

[Death BOO Z]

i was angry with the rest of the season, in this episode i'm simply... indifferent.
+1 to the thing about the dragon, by the way.

why did we have arya? to have some eyes on the ground when everything is fucked? that's it?
where do all the dotrhaki go? under which banner do the unsullied sail? does it even matter?
what's going on behind the wall now? still the land of the wildlings? yes? no?
does bran care? it didn't seem that he cared much about the nightking, so about a kingdom? he even exited the small council within a minute, i think that even joffery was more involved.

[Sapphire]

I don't even know what to say ya'll.

I agree with all of the above points you guys made at least.

Season 7 really felt like they were going to make an amazing season 8.

I have a feeling the book ending will be way more satisfying if it ever comes.

[Assertn]

I didn't like the ending of season 7 either, really. Night King riding on the dragon was goofy as hell, and made me suspect he didn't actually have a plan for breaching the wall if not for Jon and Dany going there.

[Buffalobiian]

Wasn't said wall also completely intact when Jon went back to throw his Wildings Orgy at the end of this ep?

[Sapphire]

Welp, there goes like 9 years. Should have learned from Lost finale lol.