Better than the last one. Less anti-climatic, at least.
I liked:
The Hound talking to Sansa. I always adored his relationship with her a lot more than with Arya. Arya brings out the angry man we already know, but he is a lot sweeter towards her.
Varys becoming Varys again. We've had this character doing basically nothing for so many seasons it's not even funny. Also, I still hope they didn't make his "I care about the realm" shtick the truth. Maybe there is still some underlying motive to his actions.
The showrunners finally made two things happen: I finally care about Dany's struggle and she is finally going nuts. I like how she is at a disadvantage from being away from the main continent for so long. She doesn't have friendships and complicity like other characters do, and Jorah's death did not help. I can relate to that, and for once I can legitimately see her as a person and not just a Mary Sue.
Jaime sucking at seduction is a nice touch. He probably only had his sister all his life, who he did not need to seduce all that much. Nice of the showrunners to keep that in mind.
Tyrion and Sansa's chat was... alright. Not too good, not bad. The same goes for the reunion of the Stark children.
I did not like:
Rhaegal's death. I'd much rather have this happen with the Night King. It would really make me feel like there were stakes in the previous battle, and the hopes of the living would go down rather nicely. Also, Rhaegal counts as a main-ish character to me, so it would have effectively made the last episode one flaw lighter. Here, it felt too effortless. All that aerial battle with the NK could have just as easily killed off Rhaegal with a lot more intensity.
Arya's "That's not me" has reached a point where I can already see it coming miles and miles away, much like the "Stick 'em with the pointy end". It's not that I wanted her and Gendry to be a couple, but meh... it was just an eye-roll for me.
Cersei has already spared Tyrion from death at her hands twice. Tyrion. The man she despises for killing both her parents and the valonqar, who she thoroughly believes is prophesied to be her demise. Wasn't her main character trait being unable to think things through?
Bronn... Ugh... Why is this character still alive? He is supposed to be a selfish mercenary and instead he is in this limbo where he actually cares about the Lannister brothers and is disguising it with greed. If he dies to save Jaime or Tyrion, and mutters some sarcastic quip before croaking, I will go in a rage.
Also, Jaime broke his vow of celibacy. Again. So much for Ser Jaime Goldhand of the Kingsguard, I guess.
I'm also calling BS on Brienne being offended for being called a virgin by Tyrion. Are we forgetting the time we're in? How maidenhood is seen as a trait of virtue? Or how thick-skinned she had to learn to be through life? I can see Tyrion saying that, at least, but the reaction feels forced. If Jaime said it, though, I could see it hurting.
I'm also not sold on Euron being a menacing villain. He certainly kills characters, true enough, but it just doesn't feel intimidating. He feels like a nuisance to me. A character whose antics you have to suffer until someone kills him off.
Jon Snow is still a dull Mary Sue, always rambling about the same things. I really hope him on the Iron Throne is not the solution we are heading towards in this whole conflict.
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Start of Year: Provoke the failure of 3 expansions, force nerfs on otherwise balanced cards, bring deckbuilding to an all-time low and get rotated one year earlier for being such a threat to the game's health. - Genn and Baku's historical entry on the White Book of Shit Design, shortly before retiring unpunished
I think the show has really painted itself into a corner here. Having Jon Snow save the realm from a psychotic Danny and become the reluctant king is way too predictable and sanitized. I really hope that's not how it ends, but I'm not confident in the show writers any more. My preferred ending would go the other way, with Jon sacrificing himself to set Danny straight, and Danny ending up on the throne (maybe with Jon and her's baby in the works?!). Though if Danny does have to go down, a most flitting end would be a sword through the back from Ser Jaime. Like Father like daughter!
Other predictions/hopes before the end:
Clegane-Bowl seems inevitable at this point. Preferably though, Arya kills the mountain and the Hound kills Arya (maybe both die) in retaliation for Arya staling his life's purpose
Varys is going to die (it was predicted). I think Danny will have him killed for treason after he plots to back Jon
Brienne will do something dumb that hopefully will lead to her death (her character in the book is plagued by poor choices)
I was going to edit this into my previous comment, but I'll put it in a new one, since the first comment was mostly positive and this is... not =P
Having had more time to reflect on Missandei's death scene... what the fuck was that?
Like okay, obviously she was going to die once we saw her captured, I've already seen people arguing about the show shunting off all its POC characters and misogyny and whatever, as a white dude I won't get involved.
That death scene though. Makes no fucking sense. I do not see Missandei as a character who would stand there calmly and wait for the sword to take her. This is a former slave who has clawed her way to a position of power and has consistently offered her input on the situation at hand, not some meek little servant girl.
When Cersei grabbed her arm I was waiting for Missandei to try and overbalance both of them over the edge of the wall. Obviously she would've failed, what a way to kill Cersei off amirite, but to stand there and do absolutely nothing? Yes, her hands were tied, but there was no evidence of her being bound in place more securely than that - if you're gonna die, die fighting. At the very least, jump to your death rather than face the indignity of an execution - we know she didn't have anything on her feet because her body falls from the platform after she's decapitated. And hey, maybe she could have survived the fall and been Rickoned.
Tyrion also living through that is suspect as fuck, but I guess if they're planning on killing him off they want him to get his own special death, not a Two-For-One Dany's Advisers Special.
I dunno. The scene works fine, it just feels that bit off that makes you wonder if the writers even remember who half their characters are. Guess we can look forward to Grey Worm dying to Frankenstein as the warm-up to Cleganebowl (ft Arya).
I was going to edit this into my previous comment, but I'll put it in a new one, since the first comment was mostly positive and this is... not =P
Having had more time to reflect on Missandei's death scene... what the fuck was that?
Like okay, obviously she was going to die once we saw her captured, I've already seen people arguing about the show shunting off all its POC characters and misogyny and whatever, as a white dude I won't get involved.
Wait, really? I swear Social Justice gets dumber by the second. We have a "sanitized" medieval setting with female rulers all around, a genderless prophecy about saving the world (which ends up being done by a girl) and no stigma against Arya or Brienne having sex before their marriage and they'll complain about misogyny?
As for the minority characters dying, they probably have a bit more of a reason to complain. Not much, since dying in GOT is basically supposed to happen to anyone, but at least I can understand where they're coming from. But misogyny? It takes some serious mental gymnastics.
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Start of Year: Provoke the failure of 3 expansions, force nerfs on otherwise balanced cards, bring deckbuilding to an all-time low and get rotated one year earlier for being such a threat to the game's health. - Genn and Baku's historical entry on the White Book of Shit Design, shortly before retiring unpunished
This was the best episode in this season so far. What’s wrong with you guys?
I'm sorry, but just no. Literally 2 things made sense in this episode:
1. Tormund leaving - what happens next is not his fight.
2. Varys doing his thing FINALLY.
Hound & Arya, Hound & Sansa scenes were a nice touch.
The rest though...
- Iron Fleet: exists. Dany&co: Let's take the boats!
- Whole Bronn scene - what the hell was that? Do we get a 15-min short where he runs into each room with a crossbow looking for Tirion and Jamie? They should source Benny Hill's theme for it. Then, why does he agree to that deal, which isn't backed by anything?
- Jon dumping Ghost. Completely out of character for JS.
- Two years of filming and editing to miss a FUCKING STARBUCKS CUP?!
- Aimbot Euron with heatseeking bolts. Hitting 3 out of 3 from an untested weapon on a moving boat at a flying target - just fuck you, writers.
- Blind Dany conveniently not seeing the Iron Fleet armada from a vantage position.
- Whole negotiations scene: Cersei paid Bronn to kill Tirion, but doesn't shoot him full of arrows now? And not wiping out the entire delegation? I won't take any "but diplomacy" excuses, cause it's completely and entirely out of character for her. She'd massacre them all in a heartbeat, cause she doesn't give a flying fuck.
- Euron not picking up a clue that it's not his muffin in the oven? He's not the brightest, yes, but not THAT dumb either.
- Missandei not even trying to go out with a bang.
This was the best episode in this season so far. What’s wrong with you guys?
I'm sorry, but just no. Literally 2 things made sense in this episode:
1. Tormund leaving - what happens next is not his fight.
2. Varys doing his thing FINALLY.
Hound & Arya, Hound & Sansa scenes were a nice touch.
The rest though...
- Iron Fleet: exists. Dany&co: Let's take the boats!
- Whole Bronn scene - what the hell was that? Do we get a 15-min short where he runs into each room with a crossbow looking for Tirion and Jamie? They should source Benny Hill's theme for it. Then, why does he agree to that deal, which isn't backed by anything?
- Jon dumping Ghost. Completely out of character for JS.
- Two years of filming and editing to miss a FUCKING STARBUCKS CUP?!
- Aimbot Euron with heatseeking bolts. Hitting 3 out of 3 from an untested weapon on a moving boat at a flying target - just fuck you, writers.
- Blind Dany conveniently not seeing the Iron Fleet armada from a vantage position.
- Whole negotiations scene: Cersei paid Bronn to kill Tirion, but doesn't shoot him full of arrows now? And not wiping out the entire delegation? I won't take any "but diplomacy" excuses, cause it's completely and entirely out of character for her. She'd massacre them all in a heartbeat, cause she doesn't give a flying fuck.
- Euron not picking up a clue that it's not his muffin in the oven? He's not the brightest, yes, but not THAT dumb either.
- Missandei not even trying to go out with a bang.
- Bran.
I remember my reaction in real time, and what annoyed me most was
Bron. "You Lannister's have made and then broken promises to me for 7 fucking seasons! Not this time! Cercei promised me Casterly Rock....so I believed her! By the way I figure she's alread dead so my negotiating power is exactly zero. What say you, imp?"
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Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.
Okay prediction time. Last episode will be Daenarys going crazy and ordering Drogon to burn everything. Jon Snow turns out to be fire-proof due to his Targaryen blood, and is forced to kill Dany. Meh
This was the best episode in this season so far. What’s wrong with you guys?
I'm sorry, but just no. Literally 2 things made sense in this episode:
1. Tormund leaving - what happens next is not his fight.
2. Varys doing his thing FINALLY.
Hound & Arya, Hound & Sansa scenes were a nice touch.
The rest though...
- Iron Fleet: exists. Dany&co: Let's take the boats!
- Whole Bronn scene - what the hell was that? Do we get a 15-min short where he runs into each room with a crossbow looking for Tirion and Jamie? They should source Benny Hill's theme for it. Then, why does he agree to that deal, which isn't backed by anything?
- Jon dumping Ghost. Completely out of character for JS.
- Two years of filming and editing to miss a FUCKING STARBUCKS CUP?!
- Aimbot Euron with heatseeking bolts. Hitting 3 out of 3 from an untested weapon on a moving boat at a flying target - just fuck you, writers.
- Blind Dany conveniently not seeing the Iron Fleet armada from a vantage position.
- Whole negotiations scene: Cersei paid Bronn to kill Tirion, but doesn't shoot him full of arrows now? And not wiping out the entire delegation? I won't take any "but diplomacy" excuses, cause it's completely and entirely out of character for her. She'd massacre them all in a heartbeat, cause she doesn't give a flying fuck.
- Euron not picking up a clue that it's not his muffin in the oven? He's not the brightest, yes, but not THAT dumb either.
- Missandei not even trying to go out with a bang.
- Bran.
"One dragon in recorded history has been brought down from the air by a projectile, and it was a one in a million shot... A mature dragon in the air is virtually invulnerable." - GRRM
This was the best episode in this season so far. What’s wrong with you guys?
I'm sorry, but just no. Literally 2 things made sense in this episode:
1. Tormund leaving - what happens next is not his fight.
2. Varys doing his thing FINALLY.
Hound & Arya, Hound & Sansa scenes were a nice touch.
The rest though...
- Iron Fleet: exists. Dany&co: Let's take the boats!
- Whole Bronn scene - what the hell was that? Do we get a 15-min short where he runs into each room with a crossbow looking for Tirion and Jamie? They should source Benny Hill's theme for it. Then, why does he agree to that deal, which isn't backed by anything?
- Jon dumping Ghost. Completely out of character for JS.
- Two years of filming and editing to miss a FUCKING STARBUCKS CUP?!
- Aimbot Euron with heatseeking bolts. Hitting 3 out of 3 from an untested weapon on a moving boat at a flying target - just fuck you, writers.
- Blind Dany conveniently not seeing the Iron Fleet armada from a vantage position.
- Whole negotiations scene: Cersei paid Bronn to kill Tirion, but doesn't shoot him full of arrows now? And not wiping out the entire delegation? I won't take any "but diplomacy" excuses, cause it's completely and entirely out of character for her. She'd massacre them all in a heartbeat, cause she doesn't give a flying fuck.
- Euron not picking up a clue that it's not his muffin in the oven? He's not the brightest, yes, but not THAT dumb either.
- Missandei not even trying to go out with a bang.
- Bran.
"One dragon in recorded history has been brought down from the air by a projectile, and it was a one in a million shot... A mature dragon in the air is virtually invulnerable." - GRRM
How do you know if a dragon is mature? Shoot it with a ballista, if it survives - mature.
Just watched the episode. If I had to describe it in one word I'd say: 'meh'.
The first half hour felt completely pointless to me. Almost no one we cared about died last episode so Jon's speech felt really bland. Then we just get more 'hey did you know I did this when this show was still good' dialogue. Seriously ever since season 7 I feel like the writers just use that as filler because the actually important stuff is not enough to fill an entire episode, and since it makes the viewers go 'ha yeah I remember that!' it makes them forget that it's filler.
I used to really like Jaime and Brienne. I was expecting Brienne to die in the previous episode while defending Jaime. It would have been a poetic end since back in season 2 she said to him 'Who wants to die defending a Lannister?'. But they just had to make them have sex because everyone ends up with the one they love now. Ugh. Of course Brienne might still die the way I predicted, I just don't think this stuff was necessary at all.
I like the conflict between Daenerys and the people who would rather see Jon on the throne, I'm curious how that's going to play out. Thank god Varys is finally getting off his ass and doing something.
Jon not giving any kind of attention to Ghost felt reeeeaaally out of character. They have time to show us characters telling pointless jokes for half an hour but they don't have time to show Jon showing the tiniest but of affection Ghost?
Euron ambushing Daenerys definitely took me by surprise (Poor Rhaegal, he barely survived last episode and now he got slaughtered like this). I do find it hard to believe that Daenerys wasn't able to see Euron's fleet while they were able to perfectly aim for Rhaegal. It's also veeery convenient for Drogon that they completely lost their ability to aim after they perfectly shot down his brother, but whatever. Also, I might have missed it but I found them capturing Missandei pretty unconvincing. Not only how they did it but also how they were able to know who she was and why she was important (because let's face it, she was only important because Daenerys and Greyworm cared about her and not for much else). I guess Qyburn's spies told him about her but I still think it's weird.
I kinda liked the last scene but there were still some things that bothered me. First of all, Tyrion really seems to have a death wish because he keeps giving Cersei every possible opportunity to kill her. Luckily for him, Cersei suddenly stopped wanting him dead ever since he started giving her those opportunities. Sure she knows he didn't kill Joffrey but he still killed their father and shipped of Myrcella to Dorne. She has plenty of reason to still want him dead. The second thing didn't bother me that much but I feel like Euron should have noticed how Tyrion knew Cersei is pregnant. Tyrion couldn't have any way of knowing unless she got pregnant before she fucked Euron.
Missandei's death was a good way to end the episode. I didn't care about her at all (nor did I care about her lame and pointless romance with Greyworm) and it's good that Daenerys (and Greyworm) have more motivation to go all in on Cersei. So all in all I don't think this was a good episode but it was still better than the last one. However if I'm honest I have very little hope that they will be able to tie everything up in a good way.
Edit: oops forgot to put it in spoilers
Also I just remembered more things I wanted to talk about, so here we go!
We just saw the dothraki and unsullied getting completely whiped out in the previous episode, but I guess the writers forgot they still needed daenerys to have some troops left to fight Cersei so they magically resurrected half of them.
What the fuck was that scene with Bronn? He just appeared out of nowhere, demanded double of what Cersei offered him, and then just left. What the hell was the point of Cersei telling Bronn to kill Tyrion and Jaime?
Why did they cut away as soon as Bran was going to reveal Jon's secret to Arya and Sansa? Isn't it important to show us what they think about this? Nah they just cut away and then later show that Sansa is immediately going to tell the secret (we again don't get to see her actually telling it...) which she was obviously going to do and we don't see Arya talking about it at all.
Glad to see the writers are at least consistent when it comes to one thing because teleportation is back! It's not like there's over half a continent in distance between Winterfell and Dragonstone or anything...
Lastly, why didn't Cersei just order to fire the ballistas at Drogon and Daenerys & co.? They should have known better than to just openly stand in front of the enemy gates. Luckily the writers made Cersei too dumb to take advantage of this.
Also I completely missed that there was a Starbucks cup in front of Daenerys but that's hilarious.
I also realized that my 'meh' was actually too high of a rating for this episode, so I'd like to change it to a big fat 'bleh'.
My favourite part was when Tyrion and Jamie were in a random room together and Bron just walks in with a crossbow to threaten them, then leaves again. Where were they? Who let him in? What is love? Baby don't hurt me
Didn't even notice that Starbucks cup.
Also the Dragon death felt incredibly lame. The last time it happened it was, at the very least genuinely out of the blue and had an impact. Here it's just like "ah shit, here we go again" He just died in what wasn't even a real battle. Dany is apparently canonically blind now since she can't spot a fleet of giant ships, one of which has literally WINGS FOR SAILS on a clear day from a mile high.
oh and also...how did Missandei even get captured exactly? they sunk the boat, everyone else managed to swim to...some shore? except her? Fucking Varys managed it and he's a chunky boi.
then there's the whole execution thing. No tension whatsoever because both sides were like "unconditional surrender now" so we knew that wasn't going to happen so Misandei was dead for sure. Cersei not killling Tyrion for the xth time because the plot needs to reward his idiocy
Also apparently we can just arrange meetings now without any setup. Remember how last season Dany brought her whole army + dragons and all of King's Landing was in alert mode. I guess now we don't have the budget so we get leftover Unsullied with Drogon literally sitting in the open, making himself a big target for the scorpions which we established can apparently 3-hit dragons, despite last season a direct hit barely put one out of commission. Oh and said scorpions weren't even pointed at the dragon. He could have literally just obliterated anyone on that wall and there's fuck all they could have done about it.
At the very least I did somewhat enjoy the Tormund scenes. they actually made him more than just a punchline for once. Anything the Hound does is basically just fanservice at this point, but at the very least he's still a likeable character.
Also Varys and Tyrion finally figuring out that Dany is has been a giant cunt for the last 2 seasons.
It's really confusing to me....the character interactions and most of the dialogue are actually still pretty decent, but for some reason they cannot for the love of god write coherent battle scenes. It's not even like they had to do much....just not...that? Was it too much to ask that Dead Dragon #2 at least went out in an actual battle? It's like they're doing everything to nerf Dany just so the fronts are equal...but they already were given how OP the scorpions and Euron's aim is. They could have written a different plot for how Misandei got captured, then have her death (portrayed in a much less stupid scene) be the reason for the final escalation in which dead Dragon #2 actually gets to do something before getting spiked with bolts.
I was hoping that after the whole Night King fiasco we would get at least 3 more episodes of actual game of thrones....but no. We got this filler bs that did nothing to advance the plot, we got a meaningless death that barely had any weight because the character hasn't done anything outside of fucking Grey Worm for the last two seasons...and now we're just waiting for the final battle where another bunch of less important characters die, then a couple main characters die, then Arya kills Cersei (or Jaime kills Cersei) and then we have some random ending that "totally subverted our expectations"
Just goes to show how hype can kill a good show. At some point the masses just eat everything up to the point where the writers don't even need to care anymore to rake in cash.
First season take weeks to go from Capital to Winterfell, now entire armys arrive in what? Hours? One day and half? For me the worst part of previous season was dragons and ravens turning into airplanes and cross entire continents in hours and now this? Common...
End this already!!! So awesome show ruined for the poor writing, that is a shame
Obviously, they had to get rid of the non-essential pokemons after spending all of their CGI budget on the previous episode. You can tell they're desperate for money because they sold out to Starbucks for a product placement :P
Obviously, they had to get rid of the non-essential pokemons after spending all of their CGI budget on the previous episode. You can tell they're desperate for money because they sold out to Starbucks for a product placement :P
First season take weeks to go from Capital to Winterfell, now entire armys arrive in what? Hours? One day and half? For me the worst part of previous season was dragons and ravens turning into airplanes and cross entire continents in hours and now this? Common...
End this already!!! So awesome show ruined for the poor writing, that is a shame
.
fast travel and time jumps have been a part of GoT since S1 Ep1.
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Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.
I read the books first, then watched the series. The series is struggling for the same reason the books are struggling: It can't figure out whether it is The Game of Thrones, a drama where kings, queens and commoners battle for thrones, or High Fantasy, with magic, evil and undead monsters. The books and show would have been much better off just dropping the entire Night King plotline.
That being said:
The absolute lack of explaining any backstory of the Night King, who he was, how he came to be, what he wanted, etc. was a total failure in episode three. Listen, I get that that plot line was in the way of what made the show great, but spending 15 minutes in the episode to explain that character would have gone a looong way to tie up the second biggest plot line of the series. They had the time, we didn't need 15 more minutes of impossible-to-see battles.
Westeros is a world where every bad person has a shade of good, and every good person has a shade of bad. However, we get this one pure evil monarch who apparently was just bad, needed to be killed, but we don't know a thing about him. The show hinted at his story, and so do the books . And we had Bran who knows the history of *everything* (another total failure of GRRM: You don't want Gods in your books or else they become entirely uninteresting), yet offers no hint of who this Night King was. A 700 foot magical wall was created thousands of years ago to keep him out, entire armies protected it for those millenia, he has the ability raise the dead... and then Arya appears out of nowhere and stabs him, and that's that. OK, time to move on.... nothing to see here... what?!?
I didn't really like the Night King story line. In the books, it felt like GRRM trying to stick to High Fantasy "standard", even though he didn't really want to write about it. Who got this castle or who got that castle is insignificant when compared to this immortal undead army to the North, and he generally undermined any drama in the game of thrones. However, he *was* a major character for the entire series, and should have been addressed.
However, the total lack of any backstory or any understanding that we were given to the character in episode three basically caused the show to jump the shark for me. You have Bran, who *knows* the entire backstory, yet doesn't say a word about him. You could have had his death somewhat dramatic, but instead Arya disappears for 30 minutes, and just appears next to him and stabs him. It was the most anti-climactic, how-did-that-get-out-of-the-writer's-room moment in any quality show I've ever watched. I really lost interest the show after that.
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Better than the last one. Less anti-climatic, at least.
I liked:
The Hound talking to Sansa. I always adored his relationship with her a lot more than with Arya. Arya brings out the angry man we already know, but he is a lot sweeter towards her.
Varys becoming Varys again. We've had this character doing basically nothing for so many seasons it's not even funny. Also, I still hope they didn't make his "I care about the realm" shtick the truth. Maybe there is still some underlying motive to his actions.
The showrunners finally made two things happen: I finally care about Dany's struggle and she is finally going nuts. I like how she is at a disadvantage from being away from the main continent for so long. She doesn't have friendships and complicity like other characters do, and Jorah's death did not help. I can relate to that, and for once I can legitimately see her as a person and not just a Mary Sue.
Jaime sucking at seduction is a nice touch. He probably only had his sister all his life, who he did not need to seduce all that much. Nice of the showrunners to keep that in mind.
Tyrion and Sansa's chat was... alright. Not too good, not bad. The same goes for the reunion of the Stark children.
I did not like:
Rhaegal's death. I'd much rather have this happen with the Night King. It would really make me feel like there were stakes in the previous battle, and the hopes of the living would go down rather nicely. Also, Rhaegal counts as a main-ish character to me, so it would have effectively made the last episode one flaw lighter. Here, it felt too effortless. All that aerial battle with the NK could have just as easily killed off Rhaegal with a lot more intensity.
Arya's "That's not me" has reached a point where I can already see it coming miles and miles away, much like the "Stick 'em with the pointy end". It's not that I wanted her and Gendry to be a couple, but meh... it was just an eye-roll for me.
Cersei has already spared Tyrion from death at her hands twice. Tyrion. The man she despises for killing both her parents and the valonqar, who she thoroughly believes is prophesied to be her demise. Wasn't her main character trait being unable to think things through?
Bronn... Ugh... Why is this character still alive? He is supposed to be a selfish mercenary and instead he is in this limbo where he actually cares about the Lannister brothers and is disguising it with greed. If he dies to save Jaime or Tyrion, and mutters some sarcastic quip before croaking, I will go in a rage.
Also, Jaime broke his vow of celibacy. Again. So much for Ser Jaime Goldhand of the Kingsguard, I guess.
I'm also calling BS on Brienne being offended for being called a virgin by Tyrion. Are we forgetting the time we're in? How maidenhood is seen as a trait of virtue? Or how thick-skinned she had to learn to be through life? I can see Tyrion saying that, at least, but the reaction feels forced. If Jaime said it, though, I could see it hurting.
I'm also not sold on Euron being a menacing villain. He certainly kills characters, true enough, but it just doesn't feel intimidating. He feels like a nuisance to me. A character whose antics you have to suffer until someone kills him off.
Jon Snow is still a dull Mary Sue, always rambling about the same things. I really hope him on the Iron Throne is not the solution we are heading towards in this whole conflict.
Start of Year: Provoke the failure of 3 expansions, force nerfs on otherwise balanced cards, bring deckbuilding to an all-time low and get rotated one year earlier for being such a threat to the game's health.
- Genn and Baku's historical entry on the White Book of Shit Design, shortly before retiring unpunished
Imma just put this all in spoilers in case:
I think the show has really painted itself into a corner here. Having Jon Snow save the realm from a psychotic Danny and become the reluctant king is way too predictable and sanitized. I really hope that's not how it ends, but I'm not confident in the show writers any more. My preferred ending would go the other way, with Jon sacrificing himself to set Danny straight, and Danny ending up on the throne (maybe with Jon and her's baby in the works?!). Though if Danny does have to go down, a most flitting end would be a sword through the back from Ser Jaime. Like Father like daughter!
Other predictions/hopes before the end:
I was going to edit this into my previous comment, but I'll put it in a new one, since the first comment was mostly positive and this is... not =P
Having had more time to reflect on Missandei's death scene... what the fuck was that?
Like okay, obviously she was going to die once we saw her captured, I've already seen people arguing about the show shunting off all its POC characters and misogyny and whatever, as a white dude I won't get involved.
That death scene though. Makes no fucking sense. I do not see Missandei as a character who would stand there calmly and wait for the sword to take her. This is a former slave who has clawed her way to a position of power and has consistently offered her input on the situation at hand, not some meek little servant girl.
When Cersei grabbed her arm I was waiting for Missandei to try and overbalance both of them over the edge of the wall. Obviously she would've failed, what a way to kill Cersei off amirite, but to stand there and do absolutely nothing? Yes, her hands were tied, but there was no evidence of her being bound in place more securely than that - if you're gonna die, die fighting. At the very least, jump to your death rather than face the indignity of an execution - we know she didn't have anything on her feet because her body falls from the platform after she's decapitated. And hey, maybe she could have survived the fall and been Rickoned.
Tyrion also living through that is suspect as fuck, but I guess if they're planning on killing him off they want him to get his own special death, not a Two-For-One Dany's Advisers Special.
I dunno. The scene works fine, it just feels that bit off that makes you wonder if the writers even remember who half their characters are. Guess we can look forward to Grey Worm dying to Frankenstein as the warm-up to Cleganebowl (ft Arya).
You can find me here! Good luck everyone!
Start of Year: Provoke the failure of 3 expansions, force nerfs on otherwise balanced cards, bring deckbuilding to an all-time low and get rotated one year earlier for being such a threat to the game's health.
- Genn and Baku's historical entry on the White Book of Shit Design, shortly before retiring unpunished
Best episode of both seasons 7 and 8.
I was not mistaken, the Night King plot is what kept quality down (IMO, of course)
Dany's ultimate undoing will be her love of Starbucks
I'm sorry, but just no. Literally 2 things made sense in this episode:
1. Tormund leaving - what happens next is not his fight.
2. Varys doing his thing FINALLY.
Hound & Arya, Hound & Sansa scenes were a nice touch.
The rest though...
- Iron Fleet: exists. Dany&co: Let's take the boats!
- Whole Bronn scene - what the hell was that? Do we get a 15-min short where he runs into each room with a crossbow looking for Tirion and Jamie? They should source Benny Hill's theme for it. Then, why does he agree to that deal, which isn't backed by anything?
- Jon dumping Ghost. Completely out of character for JS.
- Two years of filming and editing to miss a FUCKING STARBUCKS CUP?!
- Aimbot Euron with heatseeking bolts. Hitting 3 out of 3 from an untested weapon on a moving boat at a flying target - just fuck you, writers.
- Blind Dany conveniently not seeing the Iron Fleet armada from a vantage position.
- Whole negotiations scene: Cersei paid Bronn to kill Tirion, but doesn't shoot him full of arrows now? And not wiping out the entire delegation? I won't take any "but diplomacy" excuses, cause it's completely and entirely out of character for her. She'd massacre them all in a heartbeat, cause she doesn't give a flying fuck.
- Euron not picking up a clue that it's not his muffin in the oven? He's not the brightest, yes, but not THAT dumb either.
- Missandei not even trying to go out with a bang.
- Bran.
I remember my reaction in real time, and what annoyed me most was
Bron. "You Lannister's have made and then broken promises to me for 7 fucking seasons! Not this time! Cercei promised me Casterly Rock....so I believed her! By the way I figure she's alread dead so my negotiating power is exactly zero. What say you, imp?"
Kaladin's RoS Set Review
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Okay prediction time. Last episode will be Daenarys going crazy and ordering Drogon to burn everything. Jon Snow turns out to be fire-proof due to his Targaryen blood, and is forced to kill Dany. Meh
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I miss littlefinger and its way to make the whole serie a "game of thrones".
"One dragon in recorded history has been brought down from the air by a projectile, and it was a one in a million shot... A mature dragon in the air is virtually invulnerable." - GRRM
How do you know if a dragon is mature? Shoot it with a ballista, if it survives - mature.
Yes, Blizzard ruined GoT, they also ruined Avengers. Anything Blizzard touches turns into dust. Yeah, Blizzard is evil.
Just watched the episode. If I had to describe it in one word I'd say: 'meh'.
The first half hour felt completely pointless to me. Almost no one we cared about died last episode so Jon's speech felt really bland. Then we just get more 'hey did you know I did this when this show was still good' dialogue. Seriously ever since season 7 I feel like the writers just use that as filler because the actually important stuff is not enough to fill an entire episode, and since it makes the viewers go 'ha yeah I remember that!' it makes them forget that it's filler.
I used to really like Jaime and Brienne. I was expecting Brienne to die in the previous episode while defending Jaime. It would have been a poetic end since back in season 2 she said to him 'Who wants to die defending a Lannister?'. But they just had to make them have sex because everyone ends up with the one they love now. Ugh. Of course Brienne might still die the way I predicted, I just don't think this stuff was necessary at all.
I like the conflict between Daenerys and the people who would rather see Jon on the throne, I'm curious how that's going to play out. Thank god Varys is finally getting off his ass and doing something.
Jon not giving any kind of attention to Ghost felt reeeeaaally out of character. They have time to show us characters telling pointless jokes for half an hour but they don't have time to show Jon showing the tiniest but of affection Ghost?
Euron ambushing Daenerys definitely took me by surprise (Poor Rhaegal, he barely survived last episode and now he got slaughtered like this). I do find it hard to believe that Daenerys wasn't able to see Euron's fleet while they were able to perfectly aim for Rhaegal. It's also veeery convenient for Drogon that they completely lost their ability to aim after they perfectly shot down his brother, but whatever. Also, I might have missed it but I found them capturing Missandei pretty unconvincing. Not only how they did it but also how they were able to know who she was and why she was important (because let's face it, she was only important because Daenerys and Greyworm cared about her and not for much else). I guess Qyburn's spies told him about her but I still think it's weird.
I kinda liked the last scene but there were still some things that bothered me. First of all, Tyrion really seems to have a death wish because he keeps giving Cersei every possible opportunity to kill her. Luckily for him, Cersei suddenly stopped wanting him dead ever since he started giving her those opportunities. Sure she knows he didn't kill Joffrey but he still killed their father and shipped of Myrcella to Dorne. She has plenty of reason to still want him dead. The second thing didn't bother me that much but I feel like Euron should have noticed how Tyrion knew Cersei is pregnant. Tyrion couldn't have any way of knowing unless she got pregnant before she fucked Euron.
Missandei's death was a good way to end the episode. I didn't care about her at all (nor did I care about her lame and pointless romance with Greyworm) and it's good that Daenerys (and Greyworm) have more motivation to go all in on Cersei. So all in all I don't think this was a good episode but it was still better than the last one. However if I'm honest I have very little hope that they will be able to tie everything up in a good way.
Edit: oops forgot to put it in spoilers
Also I just remembered more things I wanted to talk about, so here we go!
We just saw the dothraki and unsullied getting completely whiped out in the previous episode, but I guess the writers forgot they still needed daenerys to have some troops left to fight Cersei so they magically resurrected half of them.
What the fuck was that scene with Bronn? He just appeared out of nowhere, demanded double of what Cersei offered him, and then just left. What the hell was the point of Cersei telling Bronn to kill Tyrion and Jaime?
Why did they cut away as soon as Bran was going to reveal Jon's secret to Arya and Sansa? Isn't it important to show us what they think about this? Nah they just cut away and then later show that Sansa is immediately going to tell the secret (we again don't get to see her actually telling it...) which she was obviously going to do and we don't see Arya talking about it at all.
Glad to see the writers are at least consistent when it comes to one thing because teleportation is back! It's not like there's over half a continent in distance between Winterfell and Dragonstone or anything...
Lastly, why didn't Cersei just order to fire the ballistas at Drogon and Daenerys & co.? They should have known better than to just openly stand in front of the enemy gates. Luckily the writers made Cersei too dumb to take advantage of this.
Also I completely missed that there was a Starbucks cup in front of Daenerys but that's hilarious.
I also realized that my 'meh' was actually too high of a rating for this episode, so I'd like to change it to a big fat 'bleh'.
My favourite part was when Tyrion and Jamie were in a random room together and Bron just walks in with a crossbow to threaten them, then leaves again. Where were they? Who let him in? What is love? Baby don't hurt me
Didn't even notice that Starbucks cup.
Also the Dragon death felt incredibly lame. The last time it happened it was, at the very least genuinely out of the blue and had an impact. Here it's just like "ah shit, here we go again" He just died in what wasn't even a real battle. Dany is apparently canonically blind now since she can't spot a fleet of giant ships, one of which has literally WINGS FOR SAILS on a clear day from a mile high.
oh and also...how did Missandei even get captured exactly? they sunk the boat, everyone else managed to swim to...some shore? except her? Fucking Varys managed it and he's a chunky boi.
then there's the whole execution thing. No tension whatsoever because both sides were like "unconditional surrender now" so we knew that wasn't going to happen so Misandei was dead for sure. Cersei not killling Tyrion for the xth time because the plot needs to reward his idiocy
Also apparently we can just arrange meetings now without any setup. Remember how last season Dany brought her whole army + dragons and all of King's Landing was in alert mode. I guess now we don't have the budget so we get leftover Unsullied with Drogon literally sitting in the open, making himself a big target for the scorpions which we established can apparently 3-hit dragons, despite last season a direct hit barely put one out of commission. Oh and said scorpions weren't even pointed at the dragon. He could have literally just obliterated anyone on that wall and there's fuck all they could have done about it.
At the very least I did somewhat enjoy the Tormund scenes. they actually made him more than just a punchline for once. Anything the Hound does is basically just fanservice at this point, but at the very least he's still a likeable character.
Also Varys and Tyrion finally figuring out that Dany is has been a giant cunt for the last 2 seasons.
It's really confusing to me....the character interactions and most of the dialogue are actually still pretty decent, but for some reason they cannot for the love of god write coherent battle scenes. It's not even like they had to do much....just not...that? Was it too much to ask that Dead Dragon #2 at least went out in an actual battle? It's like they're doing everything to nerf Dany just so the fronts are equal...but they already were given how OP the scorpions and Euron's aim is. They could have written a different plot for how Misandei got captured, then have her death (portrayed in a much less stupid scene) be the reason for the final escalation in which dead Dragon #2 actually gets to do something before getting spiked with bolts.
I was hoping that after the whole Night King fiasco we would get at least 3 more episodes of actual game of thrones....but no. We got this filler bs that did nothing to advance the plot, we got a meaningless death that barely had any weight because the character hasn't done anything outside of fucking Grey Worm for the last two seasons...and now we're just waiting for the final battle where another bunch of less important characters die, then a couple main characters die, then Arya kills Cersei (or Jaime kills Cersei) and then we have some random ending that "totally subverted our expectations"
Just goes to show how hype can kill a good show. At some point the masses just eat everything up to the point where the writers don't even need to care anymore to rake in cash.
I tried having fun once. It was awful.
What happens with the geography of this thing?
First season take weeks to go from Capital to Winterfell, now entire armys arrive in what? Hours? One day and half? For me the worst part of previous season was dragons and ravens turning into airplanes and cross entire continents in hours and now this? Common...
End this already!!! So awesome show ruined for the poor writing, that is a shame
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Obviously, they had to get rid of the non-essential pokemons after spending all of their CGI budget on the previous episode. You can tell they're desperate for money because they sold out to Starbucks for a product placement :P
By pokemons, I mean
Ghost and Rhaegal. Rip
Legend with : S65 Freeze Mage, S57 Maly Gonk Druid, S57 "Okay" Shaman, S53 Boom-zooka Hunter, S53 Maly Tog Druid, S52 Wild Tog Druid ft.Blingtron, S50 Quest Rogue, S49 Dead Man's Warrior, S41 Wild Clown Fiesta Druid, S41 Hadronox Jade Druid, S40 Wild OTK Dragon Druid, S35 SMOrc Shaman, S33 Jade Druid, S22 Control Priest, S19 Control Priest
Obviously, they had to get rid of the non-essential pokemons after spending all of their CGI budget on the previous episode. You can tell they're desperate for money because they sold out to Starbucks for a product placement :P
By pokemons, I mean
Ghost and Rhaegal. Rip
Legend with : S65 Freeze Mage, S57 Maly Gonk Druid, S57 "Okay" Shaman, S53 Boom-zooka Hunter, S53 Maly Tog Druid, S52 Wild Tog Druid ft.Blingtron, S50 Quest Rogue, S49 Dead Man's Warrior, S41 Wild Clown Fiesta Druid, S41 Hadronox Jade Druid, S40 Wild OTK Dragon Druid, S35 SMOrc Shaman, S33 Jade Druid, S22 Control Priest, S19 Control Priest
fast travel and time jumps have been a part of GoT since S1 Ep1.
Kaladin's RoS Set Review
Join me at Out of Cards!
I read the books first, then watched the series. The series is struggling for the same reason the books are struggling: It can't figure out whether it is The Game of Thrones, a drama where kings, queens and commoners battle for thrones, or High Fantasy, with magic, evil and undead monsters. The books and show would have been much better off just dropping the entire Night King plotline.
That being said:
The absolute lack of explaining any backstory of the Night King, who he was, how he came to be, what he wanted, etc. was a total failure in episode three. Listen, I get that that plot line was in the way of what made the show great, but spending 15 minutes in the episode to explain that character would have gone a looong way to tie up the second biggest plot line of the series. They had the time, we didn't need 15 more minutes of impossible-to-see battles.
Westeros is a world where every bad person has a shade of good, and every good person has a shade of bad. However, we get this one pure evil monarch who apparently was just bad, needed to be killed, but we don't know a thing about him. The show hinted at his story, and so do the books . And we had Bran who knows the history of *everything* (another total failure of GRRM: You don't want Gods in your books or else they become entirely uninteresting), yet offers no hint of who this Night King was. A 700 foot magical wall was created thousands of years ago to keep him out, entire armies protected it for those millenia, he has the ability raise the dead... and then Arya appears out of nowhere and stabs him, and that's that. OK, time to move on.... nothing to see here... what?!?
I didn't really like the Night King story line. In the books, it felt like GRRM trying to stick to High Fantasy "standard", even though he didn't really want to write about it. Who got this castle or who got that castle is insignificant when compared to this immortal undead army to the North, and he generally undermined any drama in the game of thrones. However, he *was* a major character for the entire series, and should have been addressed.
However, the total lack of any backstory or any understanding that we were given to the character in episode three basically caused the show to jump the shark for me. You have Bran, who *knows* the entire backstory, yet doesn't say a word about him. You could have had his death somewhat dramatic, but instead Arya disappears for 30 minutes, and just appears next to him and stabs him. It was the most anti-climactic, how-did-that-get-out-of-the-writer's-room moment in any quality show I've ever watched. I really lost interest the show after that.