Game of Thrones Final Season Discussion Thread

posted by Laley23

I think we had 7 deaths.

1. Edd
2. Jorah
3. Lyanna
4. Melisandre
5. Beric
6. Theon
7. Night King (and all the undead)

Rhegal appeared to die, but is alive in next weeks preview. 

Also head Blood Rider [I only noticed because he was in my pool]. 

posted by FatHobbit

There's no way Bronn sides with Cersei

Well, yes, but literally [LOL, I mean that in the figurative sense] he still needs to point the arrow at someone.  I assumed it would be Tyrion.  Never thought both would survive.  I didn't mean to say he would actually fire the arrow....

It seems entirely predictable that the Bronn/Jaime/Tyrion relationship is what will turn the Golden Company.  But this show can't be that predictable, can it?

posted by gut

Well, I guess Arya and Gentry are still kicking....

I forgot all about Gendry. I think I probably confused him for Podrick during the fighting if they ever showed Gendry. 

posted by FatHobbit

I forgot all about Gendry. I think I probably confused him for Podrick during the fighting if they ever showed Gendry. 

Thing is, you don't know what will be left open for RR to resolve in the books.

Like most people, I just assumed they'd use this as an excuse to wrap-up a ton of ancillary plot points.  They may still kill off most of these people, but it all seems downhill from there.

Obviously a big and unexpected twist is coming....I think it's that the NK is somehow immortal, in one way or another.  But even if that were the case, he'd have no army.

But let's focus on what WASN'T wiped.....Still going full-bore toward Cleganebowl.  Arya is still the favorite to kill Cersei.   And, ummm, there's a shocking number of Lanisters still alive....

posted by gut

Obviously a big and unexpected twist is coming....I think it's that the NK is somehow immortal, in one way or another.  But even if that were the case, he'd have no army.

Bran is the knight king. Whatever Arya killed was just his puppet. He can raise a new army just by lifting his hands. 

posted by FatHobbit

..... He can raise a new army just by lifting his hands. 

Sure....but they perma-killed a bunch with dragon glass, and will presumably burn everything else.

I'm expecting a twist.  Otherwise, from a narrative standpoint, it's kind of a crap episode.

Jesus Herbert Christ, the Knight King is fucking dead.

A "crap" episode.  You guys are the fucking worst.  Gut, stop acting like a pretentious fucking expert.

posted by ernest_t_bass

Jesus Herbert Christ, the Knight King is fucking dead.

A "crap" episode.  You guys are the fucking worst.  Gut, stop acting like a pretentious fucking expert.

lol I've noticed this.

Episode has a 9.6 rating on imdb.. almost every post on twitter loves it. And you'd think it was the worst slop ever put out if you read the reviews on this site. Amazing. 

There are a ton of people who didn’t like it. Tons. And for good reason. I didn’t like the fighting as much as Hardhome, Watchers on the Wall or Blackwater. I didn’t really grasp what the dragon fight was supposed to do, or what the plan was (but that could’ve been the bad lighting). 

That said, the non fighting portions were great. Arya in the library was about as tense as the show has ever been. Beric/Hound/Arya escaping was awesome. Tyrion/Sansa resignation and empathy for each other was an awesome moment. Lyanna and Arya kills were the two “fighting” portions that was great.

What they did poorly, and frankly have always struggled with especially without guidance of the books is the fantasy portions. Unless we get some deeper answers in the next 3 episodes, we just had a decade long buildup of one of the most feared characters in TV history and don’t even know what his goal/purpose was. We don’t have any more clarity on Brans timeline. That whole plot seems unfulfilled without those answers.

https://www.theringer.com/game-of-thrones/2019/4/29/18522174/r-i-p-night-king-we-wish-we-learned-your-secrets

Fighting at night had to be because of budget, in my opinion.  You can save a lot on special effects, reuse doubles, etc.  

I thought it was fine. It started slow. They could have shaved off 5-10 mins easily with all the waiting for the battle to start. It was hard to see, but I thought that was the point. It was chaos and brutal, scary. I was surprised so many of the main characters survived. That seemed like a stretch. There were a few moments were I thought Dany or Jon might be gone. But, the whole Arya portion of the episode was awesome. 

I agree that now we only have 3 episodes left, I could see how 1 is the battle at Kings Landing, 1 is the battle that is left between Jon v. Dany or Dany v. the North/ Sansa, and the last is wrap up. 

posted by Laley23

There are a ton of people who didn’t like it. Tons. And for good reason. I didn’t like the fighting as much as Hardhome, Watchers on the Wall or Blackwater. I didn’t really grasp what the dragon fight was supposed to do, or what the plan was (but that could’ve been the bad lighting). 

That said, the non fighting portions were great. Arya in the library was about as tense as the show has ever been. Beric/Hound/Arya escaping was awesome. Tyrion/Sansa resignation and empathy for each other was an awesome moment. Lyanna and Arya kills were the two “fighting” portions that was great.

What they did poorly, and frankly have always struggled with especially without guidance of the books is the fantasy portions. Unless we get some deeper answers in the next 3 episodes, we just had a decade long buildup of one of the most feared characters in TV history and don’t even know what his goal/purpose was. We don’t have any more clarity on Brans timeline. That whole plot seems unfulfilled without those answers.

At a 9.6/10 there can't be tons.   Seems to me you're just being picky. 

posted by kizer permanente

At a 9.6/10 there can't be tons.   Seems to me you're just being picky. 

Down to 9.5 and it will fall some more. 9.5 currently ranks it about 20th on the all time episode list of GOT. And behind half of S4, and behind all the big battles on this show. Which was my point, the actual battles were not don’t that well (and this is in comparison to this show...still blows the rest of television out of the water). 

My other complaint was the lack of true knowledge of anything Bran/Night King. They can still explain that better though in the next 3 episodes.

Based on the article, I would not be surprised if there isn't an "education" to the viewer in episode 6.  "OK, now that this is all done... why did THIS happen?"

I loved the episode but still have a problem with some of the stuff listed. I blame GRRM for it though. D&D were forced to create an ending because the douche nozzle couldn't finish his book. Do people really expect these guys to be on the same level as GRRM when it comes to his own series? I'm guessing in 10 years when its finally finished it will have quite a bit of detail.

You know GRRM is going to change things up out of spite, too.  He'll probably kill Arya in her next unwritten chapter. 

posted by ernest_t_bass

Jesus Herbert Christ, the Knight King is fucking dead.

A "crap" episode.  You guys are the fucking worst.  Gut, stop acting like a pretentious fucking expert.

#1) Learn to read.  I already said it was a great and well-executed episode.

#2) Learn to read.  I said from a narrative standpoint, if that's the end of NK it kind of sucks.  Other critics agree with ending with the battle for the Iron Throne would be anti-climactic.

#3) It's a message board.  People give opinions and nitpick.  Disagree if you like, but stop acting like I peed on your cheerios every time I don't echo your exact opinion about everything that happened in an episode.

Not my favorite GoT battle, but it was fucking awesome.

Also this is great.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/game-of-thrones-arya-stark-night-king-foreshadowing?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bffbbuzzfeedrewind&ref=bffbbuzzfeedrewind

To me it was a weird episode. I was completely captivated while watching, but after it was over, it just felt a bit anticlimactic overall. The Night King and the threat of the army of the dead was the very first thing that started off this show and it got neatly wrapped up in one 84-minute burst of action. During that action, there were no surprising deaths, with a lot of the notable kills being lesser characters (Edd, Beric, Mormont girl) or characters whose arc had clearly came to an end, like Melisandre and her knowledge of dying during this encounter and Theon and his "die fighting for the Starks after betraying them" last stand. The closest to a "big" death was probably Jorah, and his moment last week where he could have replaced Tyrion as Hand, but showed the character development to overcome his obsession with being with her to advise her that Tyrion was the best suited guy for the job, pretty much made him an expendable dead man walking. Added to that, it was completely hilarious how all the main names lived, with most of them being completely surrounded and overwhelmed most of the episode.

But while watching it, it had enough "whoa, cool!" moments to keep me locked into it. I loved the Arya/library scene; one of the most legit tense segments they've ever done with this show. I got a good laugh at how Meli shows up without saying anything to anyone other than telling Davos she'll be dead soon so he won't need to execute her, while just randomly using fire magic to help out. For a character who was all about the mystery in virtually everything she said or did, her showing up randomly, helping out and then self-terminating at the end was pretty much a perfect way to write her out. The last stand moments for Beric, Mormont, Theon and Jorah were done really well --- especially Jorah refusing to stay down until Dany was safe from the zombies. Little things like the Dothraki flying out with their flaming swords and war yells, only for everyone else to watch the fire dying down in the distance while everything gets more and more quiet were great touches.

Some of that was marred a bit by how dark it was and the jittery cam stuff. Made it hard to figure out who was who in battle sequences. But overall, a good episode that wasn't hard-hitting enough to really reach memorable status for me.