Hi I'm a day later because the episode is released at a later time in my country. Unfortunately I have to agree with everyone that this was a disappointing episode.
I'm not that bothered by the bad tactics used in the battle (though I do agree they were quite terrible). My main problems with the battle were: 1. Why was it soooo damn dark? Even if it's night time you can still adjust the lighting in such a way that we can actually see what is happening. 2. Plot armor once again reached critical levels. I expected so much more people to die, but since they didn't it makes this season's second episode feel pretty damn meaningless. I did really like that Bran thanked Theon and told him he is a good man, and therefore it felt like a good moment for Theon to die. Apart from that the only 'main' characters who died were Jorah, Beric, Edd and Lyanna Mormont. I liked Edd, Beric and Jorah but they had already outlived their usefulness in the story, and I didn't give a shit about Lyanna.
About the Night King and his death: I have only read the first two books of a song of ice and fire (and I plan to read the rest) so I don't if it's more clear in the books that they are not just generic baddies, but when Bran said in the last episode that the goal of the night king is to erase mankind and all memory of it, for me that basically confirmed that the night king is just a generic bad guy. However, I was still secretly hoping that he wouldn't turn out that way, but I was obviously expecting too much from the writers by doing that. I hope GRRM will at least make them more interesting in the books. The night king's death was also pretty dumb. Arya's magical leap out of nothing made no sense at all. Also apparently all the other white walkers (who, by the way, did literally nothing the entire episode) also die when the night king dies, which is awfully convenient.
Now I'm just hoping that D&D will stay true to the ending George told them and tie up the remaining loose ends in a satisfying way. In that sense I'm actually glad they ended the white walker threat in this episode so now we can focus on the (hopefully) more interesting stuff.
Okay I'm really late to this thread but I'd like to share my thoughts.
About the quality of the show: First off I completely agree that the quality of the show has dropped significantly after season 4. I still really enjoyed parts of seasons 5-7 (like hardhome and the sequence where Cersei blows up the sept) but I also really dislike other parts (like the entirety of episode 6 in season 7). I think GRRM is definitely partially to blame since he should have given D&D more to work with (as far as I know he just told them the ending and a few other important things and left the rest up to them), but I also think D&D could have handled a lot of things much better than they did. The most notable things to me are Dorne (season 5 and 6) and the whole Arya vs Sansa bullshit and episode 6 in season 7. Ellaria Sand acted completely irrationally ever since Oberyn was killed and the sandsnakes are just a bunch of completely uninteresting angry girls who happen to be good at fighting. The Arya vs Sansa thing in season 7 was really difficult to watch, I can't remember other shows or movies in which I've seen people act so out of character as Arya did. And then we got the episode beyond the wall which was just one big fuck you to the logic of many things that had previously been established in the show. I just cannot believe that D&D where even trying when they wrote that episode. They probably just wanted to make sure the night king got an undead dragon and be done with it.
What I think about season 8 so far: That being said, I did enjoy the first two episodes of season 8 quite a bit. The first episode still had some bad stuff (I really don't like the romance between Jon and Daenerys) but a lot of good stuff as well (especially Sam's scenes where great, mostly thanks to John Bradley's amazing acting). I liked the second episode a lot more than the first one, I can see why some people think it was too slow, but I also think that was necessary as build up for the next episode. My main criticism with the episode is that I didn't really see anyone being scared of their highly likely death approaching within literal hours, it felt like everyone was a bit too chill about it. It did make me very hyped for the next episode though, this episode basically guaranteed that we are going to lose a lot of characters.
My thoughts on what the ending could/should be: Lastly I'd like to give my view on possible endings. I really hope the whole battle with the Night King will be resolved in the next episode or the one after that. I've always loved Game of Thrones because for its many grey characters, which resulted in me never being sure who to root for since there were always characters I liked at both sides. I feel like the white walkers kind of killed that whole idea. The premise of the good uniting against one evil is not a bad concept (it's used in the Lord of the Rings, and I fucking love the Lord of the Rings) but it does not feel right in Game of thrones. Of course Cersei is still around and she is definitely going to be an obstacle to whoever is left after the fight in the north.
To be honest I have no idea how the show is going to end but I really hope the ending won't be 'Jon and Daenerys live happily ever after and rule the seven kingdoms together'. Luckily I think that's very unlikely to happen, especially since GRRM said the ending is going to be 'bittersweet'. An ending that I thought could be interesting is one where Daenerys eventually wins but at the cost of becoming a 'mad queen'. Maybe she will kill Jon because she knows he has a stronger claim to the throne, and after everything that happened we will basically be back where we started, but now with a mad queen instead of a mad king. I could be totally wrong of course but I think that would be interesting. I actually don't even like Daenerys but Game of Thrones used to not care at all about what the viewers wanted to happen, so in that sense an endin like this would be fitting for me :P.
I never expected to post something like this on a Hearthstone forum but I'm really passionate about stuff like this so I'd love to join the conversation :p
Hi I'm a day later because the episode is released at a later time in my country. Unfortunately I have to agree with everyone that this was a disappointing episode.
I'm not that bothered by the bad tactics used in the battle (though I do agree they were quite terrible). My main problems with the battle were: 1. Why was it soooo damn dark? Even if it's night time you can still adjust the lighting in such a way that we can actually see what is happening. 2. Plot armor once again reached critical levels. I expected so much more people to die, but since they didn't it makes this season's second episode feel pretty damn meaningless. I did really like that Bran thanked Theon and told him he is a good man, and therefore it felt like a good moment for Theon to die. Apart from that the only 'main' characters who died were Jorah, Beric, Edd and Lyanna Mormont. I liked Edd, Beric and Jorah but they had already outlived their usefulness in the story, and I didn't give a shit about Lyanna.
About the Night King and his death: I have only read the first two books of a song of ice and fire (and I plan to read the rest) so I don't if it's more clear in the books that they are not just generic baddies, but when Bran said in the last episode that the goal of the night king is to erase mankind and all memory of it, for me that basically confirmed that the night king is just a generic bad guy. However, I was still secretly hoping that he wouldn't turn out that way, but I was obviously expecting too much from the writers by doing that. I hope GRRM will at least make them more interesting in the books. The night king's death was also pretty dumb. Arya's magical leap out of nothing made no sense at all. Also apparently all the other white walkers (who, by the way, did literally nothing the entire episode) also die when the night king dies, which is awfully convenient.
Now I'm just hoping that D&D will stay true to the ending George told them and tie up the remaining loose ends in a satisfying way. In that sense I'm actually glad they ended the white walker threat in this episode so now we can focus on the (hopefully) more interesting stuff.
Okay I'm really late to this thread but I'd like to share my thoughts.
About the quality of the show: First off I completely agree that the quality of the show has dropped significantly after season 4. I still really enjoyed parts of seasons 5-7 (like hardhome and the sequence where Cersei blows up the sept) but I also really dislike other parts (like the entirety of episode 6 in season 7). I think GRRM is definitely partially to blame since he should have given D&D more to work with (as far as I know he just told them the ending and a few other important things and left the rest up to them), but I also think D&D could have handled a lot of things much better than they did. The most notable things to me are Dorne (season 5 and 6) and the whole Arya vs Sansa bullshit and episode 6 in season 7. Ellaria Sand acted completely irrationally ever since Oberyn was killed and the sandsnakes are just a bunch of completely uninteresting angry girls who happen to be good at fighting. The Arya vs Sansa thing in season 7 was really difficult to watch, I can't remember other shows or movies in which I've seen people act so out of character as Arya did. And then we got the episode beyond the wall which was just one big fuck you to the logic of many things that had previously been established in the show. I just cannot believe that D&D where even trying when they wrote that episode. They probably just wanted to make sure the night king got an undead dragon and be done with it.
What I think about season 8 so far: That being said, I did enjoy the first two episodes of season 8 quite a bit. The first episode still had some bad stuff (I really don't like the romance between Jon and Daenerys) but a lot of good stuff as well (especially Sam's scenes where great, mostly thanks to John Bradley's amazing acting). I liked the second episode a lot more than the first one, I can see why some people think it was too slow, but I also think that was necessary as build up for the next episode. My main criticism with the episode is that I didn't really see anyone being scared of their highly likely death approaching within literal hours, it felt like everyone was a bit too chill about it. It did make me very hyped for the next episode though, this episode basically guaranteed that we are going to lose a lot of characters.
My thoughts on what the ending could/should be: Lastly I'd like to give my view on possible endings. I really hope the whole battle with the Night King will be resolved in the next episode or the one after that. I've always loved Game of Thrones because for its many grey characters, which resulted in me never being sure who to root for since there were always characters I liked at both sides. I feel like the white walkers kind of killed that whole idea. The premise of the good uniting against one evil is not a bad concept (it's used in the Lord of the Rings, and I fucking love the Lord of the Rings) but it does not feel right in Game of thrones. Of course Cersei is still around and she is definitely going to be an obstacle to whoever is left after the fight in the north.
To be honest I have no idea how the show is going to end but I really hope the ending won't be 'Jon and Daenerys live happily ever after and rule the seven kingdoms together'. Luckily I think that's very unlikely to happen, especially since GRRM said the ending is going to be 'bittersweet'. An ending that I thought could be interesting is one where Daenerys eventually wins but at the cost of becoming a 'mad queen'. Maybe she will kill Jon because she knows he has a stronger claim to the throne, and after everything that happened we will basically be back where we started, but now with a mad queen instead of a mad king. I could be totally wrong of course but I think that would be interesting. I actually don't even like Daenerys but Game of Thrones used to not care at all about what the viewers wanted to happen, so in that sense an endin like this would be fitting for me :P.
I never expected to post something like this on a Hearthstone forum but I'm really passionate about stuff like this so I'd love to join the conversation :p