How are the ratings? Good? They're not changing a word.
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*UNMARKED SPOILERS ALL BOOKS* Game of Thrones |OT| - Season 7 - Sundays on HBO
- Thread starter Cornballer
- Start date
How are the ratings? Good? They're not changing a word.
Making a series is a collaborative effort. There's no reason to believe they are deliberately making things bad. If they have a better team of directors for the final season, the directors could have better ideas to contribute that would improve the execution significantly. Ratings are great and I think people mostly still enjoy the show a lot. The bombastic direction they are going for is definitely the right one and I wouldn't want them to change tracks. What we need are better fights, more logical choreography when it comes to set pieces, and just a level of excitement that elevates the action so people are in the moment and following stuff without stopping and going "huh, why is this happening now? it's so dumb!"
Just wait until she starts chanting "Lock her up!" about Cersei.
Atraveller
Banned
She's literally anti-establishment.
Drain the swamp!
The Artisan
Member
well, fuck.
Dusk Soldier
Member
Well, the writers have tried to keep exposition inside natural-sounding dialog. So a scene where the characters sit down and explain exactly how messenger birds work would have been difficult to fit in. (It took them like three seasons to finally reveal the names of Danaerys's dragons for example because they just couldn't figure out how to work that info into the show.)
But messenger birds defintely function similar to real life history on the show.
For instance, Maesters are pretty much always present in any scence involving messenger ravens. This is because people had to be specially trained in how they function in order to send messages.
Messages sent mainly to castles, mostly just for announcements like character deaths, or birthdays, or coronations.
In the first episode, Ned and Cat receive a message by a rider in the night, and Cat states that the information in the message was too risky to be sent by ravens.
When Robb's troops were garrissoned outside the Twins, they were shooting down all the ravens to make sure Walder Frey wasn't sending any messages to the Lannisters. etc. etc.
There's no real reason to assume there was only one copy of the message, as that wouldn't line up with how messenger birds worked historically.
It's almost like 6 years of character development went down the drain!
season 6 was honestly pretty dull until the last two episodes
arya's arc was horrific
idk how anyone can even say it comes close to s1 tbh
Psychoward
Banned
That defense will never cease to irk the shot out of me in any IP that's not a realistic, modern one.
Lol x game/movie/show/book has zombies/dragons/magic/monsters so why do you care about petty things like logical inconsistencies and the physics of the know world distorting over everything else for no reason because of our sloppy writing?
Season 6 has a really strong season long main arc. Like every season in the show, of course there are duds. Arya's was a dud, the Euron stuff was bad, but there's a lot of good too. The season opens with the Jon Snow dead and the first act is his resurrection. Then Sansa starts rallying support with Jon, and there's a lot of build up to Ramsay's final stand. There's an element of excitement that builds and builds and then results in the greatest battle the series has ever seen. Really cathartic stuff with excellent direction.
Parallel to that we have Bran's vision journey and Cercei's rise. More and more flashbacks for Bran, eventually leading to HOLD THE DOOR which was a big fan moment. The shocking truth behind the gentle giant's origins and his tragic fate. And that's just a mid-season climax. By episode 5 it was already getting everyone talking and the series was on fire again.
The King's Landing stuff is pretty neat too, as we see Cersei's choices get limited with her every move, forcing her to make increasingly dangerous decisions in the background. There's a sense that something will happen, but the way it does in the finale, so soon after a major battle episode, is perfectly executed. The opening moments of the finale as everyone is dressing up and the long music piece plays leading everyone to their eventual doom is the single best directed extended sequence in the series.
There are other good moments too - Sam's visit back home with Gilly, his first glimpse into the Citadel, the Tower of Joy finally revealed, Lyanna Morment's KING IN THE NORTH crowdpleaser speech, and the really impressive return of the Hound. The Broken Man is a great episode and probably Mylod's best episode on the series. It shows how wasted he is on directing big action episodes which he isn't good at. They should have given him more dramatic episodes in the series instead. The cold open for Broken Man was something the series doesn't do but worked really well.
The worst things about the season are the opening scenes at Dorne which were total nonsense, and the Arya vs Waif stuff. Really bad stuff in an otherwise outstanding season.
Admiral Woofington
Member
LifEndz
Member
At this point, I'm just turning my brain off and enjoying the special effects and epic moments. The double D's probably expected to have more source material to work off of when they started this series, and it's not easy finishing this incredibly dense story that George started (hell, he can't even do it). The worst part is knowing this ending will probably be the only one we get as I doubt George will finish the series.
Psychoward
Banned
A lot of people rank s2 near the end of the first 4 seasons pretty consistently and I never remembered it to be that weak tbh. I haven't watched any season since they've aired but 2 had the shadow baby (even if they started character assassinating stannis early by never having him reflect on it) and the battle of the blackwater.
Edit: and I loved the Robb and Theon stuff too tbh
We'll agree to disagree. I don't think S6 had a single storyline that made logical sense, at least to me. It's much easier to believe dragons exist than the decisions the characters made.
But The Door is still one of the most emotionally impactful scenes I've seen in any show.
I remember S2 having a lot of pacing problems. They were really rushing through the Clash of Kings material. I think the season would have worked better with a couple more episodes.
I agree about the Theon stuff. That was great.
I don't really think there's that great a gap between most of the seasons other than 5 and now 7. The first 3 seasons are pretty consistent and which one you like more depends on which of the major scenes has more impact for you. Baelor, Blackwater, Rains of Castamere. All great episodes of early GoT. But where the series really takes off is when it completely embraces what it can be - the mainstream pulp fantasy with kickass balls to the wall stuff. Yet it is also when the show gets super inconsistent. 4 and 6 are great stuff, 5 and 7 are mehtastic in comparison. There isn't a strong series consistency in the narrative rhythm anymore, and how good a season is not a sure thing. Yet the highs are far higher even if the lows are deep into the abyss. Hopefully Season 8 goes out on a big high.
As a wise woman once said: "You want a good season, but you need the bad ass set pieces." This is why we continue to watch Game of Thrones!
Psychoward
Banned
If only we knew how bad it would get lol
But yeah idk I just really liked the season/book even conceptually because I found the clash of kings from different regions with different claims after chaos has broken out to be really fascinating. It kept the intrigue and political machinations of season 1 but put it on a larger scale with more players and with better battles to boot.
Sanctuary
Member
It honestly never started feeling "off" that much until episode four of this season to me. That entire episode had huge leaps in logic, but it made up for it by simply looking great. Last night's episode looked good too, but offered way too much that was hard to swallow, especially since the series was never really a "check your brain at the door" type of show. Not really cerebral either, but definitely not so damn mainstream movie experience. It seems to be reveling in it now though.
Atraveller
Banned
Chrys Watch is the best.
Psychoward
Banned
Episode 4 was one of the better episodes this season though? Are you thinking of 2 and 3 which are unrepetently awful and almost down with season 5 quality?
Honestly I can see Arya never even making it back to Winterfell in the books. The show isn't going to do that, they've already very much decided that the route they want to go is wrapping things up w reunions and short cut teleports to get people they want to be together to be together.
bishopcruz
Member
Where was this?
Sanctuary
Member
No, I loved episode four, but it still had a bunch of silly shit in it that you just had to accept happened. It's when I finally realized (in retrospect) how the writing was in the toilet for this season, and that it was most likely because they no longer had any source material to use.
Amazing.
The Artisan
Member
hahaha
Jon definitely was showing off. He's the reason Viserion died. Should've just turned around when Jorah yelled your name.
The Watch podcast. Great TV podcast. They introduced me to Halt and Catch Fire!
It's really amazing how she gets the perfect frames for the perfect dialog so damn quickly.
So basically, "turn your brain off and enjoy the spectacle."
BreezyLimbo
Banned
to be fair there's nothing really complicated in game of thrones that requires you turning on your brain
No, killing major characters isn't one of those moments.
The Bran stuff yeah, that's about the only thing that requires brain turning on.
Atraveller
Banned
Can't speak for anyone else, but personally speaking the War of the Five Kings aspect was great- I loved Stannis, Theon and Tyrion especially. What was weak was the Dany and Jon arcs, which did considerable damage to the pacing considering how much screen time they individually demand.
I still think its the third best season- I never understood why people rank S4 so high, its the moment Game of Thrones becomes the show of "shocking moments", the point where the writers' biggest goal seems to be getting reaction videos on youtube.
Admiral Woofington
Member
bishopcruz
Member
BreezyLimbo
Banned
YUP
What if
Night King uses mambo Jambo and forces all 3 dragons under his servitude
and then they have to kill all of the dragons
game of thrones was yugioh all along
BuggyDClown
Member
I havent been able to find any confirmations, but Im looking into GoT filming locations. I saw a post earlier today on Reddit, and this waterfall looked just like the wall. Had me thinking that if we see it come down they would have a great reason to use one of Iceland's best waterfalls. Since they haven't taken full advantage of how many there are.
Waterfall name:https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/6tbxdo/dynjandi_waterfall_in_iceland/
This is the image in question.
Here's the reddit post that gave me the thought. https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/6tbxdo/dynjandi_waterfall_in_iceland/
Straight up looks like if the wall were to wash away. So unless it is breached, or blown up, I think I may have found where they might film the walls end.
This could also be used maybe at the end of the series when summer comes and the wall would melt away, since the wights would be gone.
Bumping this, since now I really think this is what we will be seeing next week. That shits gunna melt, and Iceland has some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world to use for it.
DragoonKain
Neighbours from Hell
This may be my favorite season so far. I know this past episode must leave a bad taste in people's mouths, but if you get past the aspect of recency bias, like pointed out in this thread, each season had its issues, but I actually think this season's issues are the least egregious. Or maybe egregious isn't the word, maybe I'm thinking of the least impactful to the overall excitability.
Previous seasons had issues that dragged on waaaay too long. At least the problems in this season pop up and then are out of the way. And most of them are traveling, time, and continuity issues.
Ultimately, I think I'd rather get over massive chains coming out of nowhere, deus ex machina Benjen, the Night King deciding not to hit a stationary Drogon over watching Dany wander Essos for season after season after season advancing at a snail's pace.
But that's me, I can respect someone differing.
Previous seasons had issues that dragged on waaaay too long. At least the problems in this season pop up and then are out of the way. And most of them are traveling, time, and continuity issues.
Ultimately, I think I'd rather get over massive chains coming out of nowhere, deus ex machina Benjen, the Night King deciding not to hit a stationary Drogon over watching Dany wander Essos for season after season after season advancing at a snail's pace.
But that's me, I can respect someone differing.
Psychoward
Banned
The problem is when every episode has multiple huge head-scratchingly stupid things (like everything you mentioned and more from this episode, why didn't they use the spear from the start of the stakeout, why can some wights survive in the water and others immediately go under) it completely ruins the moments.
Like what duckroll said a page or two back, 4 is arguably the best episode of the season but I'd still give the edge to 1 just because 4 is held back from having to continue after the awful setups of 2 and 3 that literally do feel like they were just used as bullet points with no further thought in to them.
D
Deleted member 30609
Unconfirmed Member
this episode had problems, but I think emilia clarke has been a lot better recently. also that coat was awesome.
Psychoward
Banned
The problem is Battle of the Bastards at least made sense. He saw his step-brother murdered right in front of him and he's a soldier. So he makes an impulsive decision based on feelings and his supporters have no choice but to come in and protect him.
This episode? No fucking sense. Wanders away from the dragon for no reason for... what reason?
He's giving Tyrion a real challenge for stupidest man in Westeros.