Game of Thrones

Holy. Shit.
I also expected more deaths from the hero side. Only Theon, Jorah, Lyanna, Beric, Melisandre, Edd? I was also convinced that only one of Brienne/Jaime and Missandei/Grey Worm survive. Perhaps we get a few off-screen deaths confirmed in the next episode, but I doubt it.

But hey, I don't complain. As a certified Arya fanboy I am especially satisfied with the ending, and looking back, how it was subtly foreshadowed in the library scene - her being able to move so quietly that the dead don't notice her was a nice Chekhov's skill setup. The parallel and subversion to Lyanna Mormont's last stand was a nice touch too. Also, is it just me or was Arya the only character to get some character development in this ep? Everyone else was just fighting for their lives and was shown as they've always been, while she actually got to lose her cool (and then regain it) for probably the first time since she got blindsided by the Waif while she was blind.

All said and done, as expected, one awesome and long battle sequence. Now three eps of epilogue incoming. :D
 
After I watched the episode I felt it was alright. Now looking back I think it was a complete and utter mess. Just some points that pissed me off and feel are all completely out of the normality for Game of Thrones:
  • The battle tactics on this are atrocious. Supposed to be a big group of very experienced commanders and strategists and veteran warriors. What results is basic mistakes nobody would ever do. Example, why send your light cavalry charging into the middle of an enemy which you know for a fact outnumbers them? The fact that after they're all dead, the Night King can raise them back up and reinforce his army makes it even more stupid. This charge makes the Gondor suicide charge into Osgiliath, ordered by a deranged Denethor, look like a good idea by comparison.
  • Can not count the times when characters were literally buried under a dozen Wights and it cuts away in typical cliffhanger fashion just to cut back to them later and have them be alive and well.
  • Arya killing the Night King is completely and only fan service. It does not fit the story one single bit. Her whole arc was vengeance and getting back at those who hurt her family. The White walkers arc was all about Jon, the Night's watch, arguably Dany, but giving this also to Arya was completely unnecessary. 8 seasons of build up (remember the White walkers were some of the first things to show up in S01E01) to be resolved in two seconds. No epic battle. No Azor Ahai prophecy. Bran didn't do shit. Theon died for nothing. Arya, Arya, Arya.
Those are the main ones but you can see a lot more wrong in this episode. We know that Martin hasn't gone this far in the books, but previous seasons seemed plausible; this episode does not.

Edit: seems I'm not the only one. Plenty of youtube videos, and if you go to imdb, and rank the reviews by 'helpfulness', there's a trend:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6027912/reviews?ref_=tt_urv
 
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Arya killing the Night King has been set up for several seasons, so if it was only fan service, they really went the extra mile there.
 
Yep. It was terrible. A lot of long awaited events delivered in the least satisfying ways possible. The only good part was a certain scene of single-combat, even though it ended with moment lifted directly from the final Harry Potter movie.

In my head I actually heard Harry saying his "C'mon Tom, let's finish this the way we started it...." line as it happened.
 
So the finale was the only episode I watched of the season..... all that I got out of the episode was that HBO ended it so terribly just to set up a few spinoffs for their cash cow because otherwise they'd have a huge revenue deficit.
 
How does that make any sense though? I don't feel like watching spinoffs after that trainwreck. If the rumors are true, it's gonna be prequels. I already know it's all for nothing cos the end is bleak and shitty, so why bother. If anything, to promote the spinoffs, they should have made the final season amazing.
 
So, it's over. I have just seen the final episode, and in contrast to popular opinion, I'm strangely okay with it. If you accept the blatant plot armor that protected the surviving protagonists throughout the last four episodes, all their personal endings make sense or at least don't violate sense too much. But it is a bit far to the happy end side, given the kind of show GoT is - or used to be.

Season 8 as a whole was really sub-standard. With a little distance I am starting to think that the plot makes sense after all - it was just far, far too rushed so the developments didn't have a chance to sink in or be developed properly. That is my only real complaint. Well, that and the obvious plot armor for nearly all heroic characters.
 
So, it's over. I have just seen the final episode, and in contrast to popular opinion, I'm strangely okay with it. If you accept the blatant plot armor that protected the surviving protagonists throughout the last four episodes, all their personal endings make sense or at least don't violate sense too much. But it is a bit far to the happy end side, given the kind of show GoT is - or used to be.

The thing is, in a series which made its name on precisely not giving important characters plot armor, instead always keeping the audience in the edge of their seats because of it, no, it's not acceptable.
Then there are the plot holes which would give the Grand Canyon an inferiority complex.
I'll give you a short example:
Why in the name of all fucks was Jon not even considered to be king? Because of the Unsullied? Yes, they're good fighters (and seemingly they multiply out of nowhere - special feat for men without penises - mitosis maybe?) but who would stop the combined armies of the North, Reach, etc, basically all of Westeros, if it was decided that Jon, who now everyone knows is the actual heir of the last Targaryen kingdom, is alive and well?
And even if he wasn't, he killed the Queen-by-conquest, isn't that how kingdoms pass hands sometimes?
Suddenly everyone forgets about him. Fucking Edmure Tully had a better shot at becoming king than Aegon Targaeyen, and he's spent his life in a cell ever since the red wedding.

I'm pretty sure Bran gets the kingdoms in the books as well, but I think GRRM will do a litle better job at explaining the story than the show did.

There was absolutely no reason why S7 and 8 were shorter than 10 episodes and it shows. The finale felt at the same time that it was rushing along, and wasting time.

Overall this might go down as the biggest disappointment/jump the shark in TV history.
 
Why in the name of all fucks was Jon not even considered to be king? Because of the Unsullied?

Yes. I didn't understand that part. Why did the main dude (don't remember his name) has so much say when all the lords and ladies were deliberating. If they wanted to make Jon king, why couldn't they. Or ok, make Bran king, then as king, he could pardon Jon and step down, at which point Jon would assume the throne as the rightful heir. Or even if that wasn't good enough, the Unsillied then sailed away to god knows where at which point there was no need to send Jon to the wall.

Ben Shapiro actually has a really good recap of the episode of what was wrong with the episode, how to fix it and theories on why things happened like they did. Regardless of what you think of his politics its a good listen
 
before the last season they announced they had placed 6 iron thrones all over the world...and we never heard anything about them?
were they found? did they do anything with them?
 
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