[Poll] How would you rate episode 509?

[DireWolfSpirit]

Good for you.

Mad Men is probably my least favorite drama I've ever attempted watching. It's awful. Kudos for them for having great acting, great writing, great direction, and all that nonsense. It's completely wasted on one of the most worthless mediums of entertainment I've ever experienced in my life.

Game of Thrones, on the other hand, has resulted in me devoting a significant amount of my leisurely time to following. The book is certainly better than the TV series, but the book is sublime and TV gets more crap than it deserves for not following the book to a T.

As far as overall TV series goes, I'd give GoT a 9/10 and Mad Men a 2/10. Saying GoT is a 1/10 on the Mad Men scale is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read on the internet.

Alright, I'm done, agree to disagree, have the last word if you must.

Agreed for the most part. Mad Men is atrociously boring. Have attempted to get through a full episode probably 4 times and I just can't do it. It's like watching paint dry.

GOT on it's worst day, it's worst episode, is still vastly more entertaining than the snoozefest known as Mad Men.

Edited June 9, 2015 by DireWolfSpirit

[Spilt Pea Soup]

Mad Men doesn't have any misogyny, unlike Game of Thrones (TV version). That's a big reason it's better.

[Night'sQueen]

I'm giving it an 8. I don't understand the disappointment from so many. The Shireen burning scene was heartbreaking, much more so than RW or any other shocking scene to date. I just wish they would have saved some CGI budget from that endless and confusing battle at Hardhome to make the Drogon riding scene better. A reviewer somewhere (sorry don't remember where or I would link) likened it to The Never Ending Story and I heartily agree. I've been waiting YEARS to see Dany ride that dragon and the effects could have been... just, better.

Oh, and I'm so glad Harzoo got whacked. Hated him in the show even more than in the books.

[SunSpearViper]

I gave it a 6.

It's Game of Thrones-ish, so even on its worst day (which doesn't get must worse than last night), it's still pretty good tv. First, for those who are still comparing the show to the books, your time and energy would be best spent on a more worthy endeavor. D&D made their decision, and if this goes like anything the show runners did to True Blood, it will all be over soon.

Second, we got to see a Targaryen riding a fucking dragon...

Edited June 9, 2015 by SunSpearViper

[grufolo]

A mediocre episode.

The fighting pits were highly disappointing, the Stables sacrifice did not make sense and theonly good sides were the wall and spray mrtell

[SunSpearViper]

Dany, apart from being very boring to me, is not a deserter. The killers were after her right, so if she leaves her followers can probably get away. If she had stayed they all would have died, including the dragon.The silliest part of this episode for me was the way the masked buffoons behaved when they had Dany surrounded. instead of a charge and everyone dead in ten seconds they just stand there and attack one at a time like morons. Not exactly convincing stuff.

I agree. I saw Dany leaving with Drogon, not as abandoning her friends in peril (the threat was neutralized), but more as her getting Drogon out of the situation because clearly he wasn't going to leave without her.

[Coldf00t]

what was so disappointing about the fighting pit scene, can someone explain that to me?! loved it

[Señor de la Tormenta]

When they say its ambition vs family love YOU know D&D are not reading the books. Everything we have said about their bias agaist stannis baratheon is confirmed.

The grey complex man mostly triggered by duty, who might go there in ultra end of the world conditions, has been turned into a trigger happy who burns his daughter mad with ambition to make some snow to stop falling.

Does anybody think book stannis would had burnt his heir in the despicted circunstances? He has asha, but doesnt. And he has "Arya", but he is so about duty that he pays her back to Jon Snow losing the best pawn to rule the north he ever had.

ASAWK jon could send her to essos. And stannis doesnt mind. Because at the end of the day he is a righteous guy.

He is there, ready to die doing his duty, and asking massey to use the Iron bank gold to fight for shireen.

Edited June 9, 2015 by Señor de la Tormenta

[Boar Island]

I gave it a 4/10 - parts of it were fine, others just didn't work.

-Shireen's burning: Brilliant acting, heartbreaking scene, but the fact that it happens just seems weird. Are they trying to make Stannis another villain? Because this totally is a moral event horizon for him.

-Arya in Bravoos: I was very ok with that, and hey, brothel without nudity.

-Dorne: Oh Dorne, why are you so useless in the show? Nine episodes in, and so far it has been Bronn being poisoned but not really, imprisoned but not really, then getting sucker punched in the face by Axe-Muscels (the show too doesn't give a crap about his personality). Also we get Ellaria kidnapping the princess but not really, rebelling against Doran but not really, him banishing her but not really. Why does this happen on screen? Why did they send Jaime, now officially the worst knight in Westeros down there? It just gives me a headache!

-Meereen: I think it was a good idea that they expanded the Daznak scene from the books, but I agree that the greenscreen effects were quite jarring, and did break the illusion for me.

[Talking Hodor]

Since I have a strong hunch that Shireen will get sacrificed in the books, and since they've been blatantly hinting at it all season, and in part of last season, I can't say that it came as a surprise. I also thought the actors' performances during the scene were commendable. Therefore I'm not going to let my emotional reaction to such a horrible act mar my ranking. I've always thought of Stannis as a despicable character anyway. The fighting pit scene was OK, but it could have been a lot better. They should have taken a page out of Spartacus and made the pit fighting a lot more dynamic. The sudden appearance of the Sons of the Harpy was really good, but Daenerys should have been a lot more aggressive with Drogon instead of mounting him as if he were some dainty unicorn or something. She had to tame him with a whip in the book, and he flew off with her barely in control, hanging onto his back for dear life.

I'm looking forward to next episode. I'm hoping something amazing will happen with Stannis' army to make Shireen's sacrifice worth something. I'm looking forward to Daenerys and Drogon coming across a khalasar and hopefully taking it over. I'm looking forward to Jon's betrayal, and I'm hoping that King's Landing receives some of the insanity it did in the books.

I gave the episode an 8. My lowest ranking so far, but I'm such a fan of the series, that they'd really have to do something twisted for me to rank it lower.

[TheKingoftheSevenKingdoms]

I give it a 7/10. In terms of being ranked with the other episode 9s, this was one pretty mediocre compared to Baelor, Blackwater, The Rains of Castamere and the Watchers on the Wall. However just like this season the episode had some up swings and down falls.

Pros:

The Wall

The Daznak Pit

Arya discovering Mace and Meryn "Pedophile" Trant

Stannis' having Shireen burned is not good and confirm that D&D despise the character, but the buildup was quite good with solid acting from all involved. I am going to miss that actress - a bright spot in a dark world.

Cons:

Dorne (That's right, I take 2.5 marks off for Dorne because its that bad and useless. If D&D don't listen to the feedback for this season...)

This season so far:

Episode 1 - 8/10

Episode 2 - 9/10

Episode 3 - 8/10

Episode 4 - 9/10

Episode 5 - 8/10

Episode 6 - 6/10 (lowered my score upon second viewing of episode)

Episode 7 - 7/10

Episode 8 - 10/10

Episode 9 - 7/10

Average so far: 8

Edited June 9, 2015 by TheKingoftheSevenKingdoms

[Bayard]

When they say its ambition vs family love YOU know D&D are not reading the books. Everything we have said about their bias agaist stannis baratheon is confirmed.

The grey complex man mostly triggered by duty, who might go there in ultra end of the world conditions, has been turned into a trigger happy who burns his daughter mad with ambition to make some snow to stop falling.

Does anybody think book stannis would had burnt his heir in the despicted circunstances? He has asha, but doesnt. And he has "Arya", but he is so about duty that he pays her back to Jon Snow losing the best pawn to rule the north he ever had.

ASAWK jon could send her to essos. And stannis doesnt mind. Because at the end of the day he is a righteous guy.

He is there, ready to die doing his duty, and asking massey to use the Iron bank gold to fight for shireen.

Yup, that's why I gave the episode a 3: 1 point for Wun Wun, 1 point for CGI and 1 point for Mace singing.

[Khorkalba]

what was so disappointing about the fighting pit scene, can someone explain that to me?! loved it

- Emilia Clarke's acting.

- In the books, Dany rushes into the arena to save Drogon, not the other way around. The way he appeared to rescue her right as she was about to die seemed kind of cheesy to me.

- Emilia Clarke flying off on a CGI dragon looked utterly ridiculous (though in fairness to the producers, i'm not sure it's possible for them to do it in a way that doesn't look stupid).

[DemiNymph]

I was so satisfied at having my desires fulfilled that I was willing to overlook any lousy SFX. Some of us have been waiting for this for more than a decade.

The next big thing will be Dany finally landing in Westeros and burning some stuff while flying Drogon. Hopefully, that includes Elaria Sand.

[God-Emperor of Yi Ti]

I think it's hilarious how people vote according to "who got burned" or "who didn't do this or who did that".

thats the level we are at though. The rating is a joke- would be better to just say : who is your favourite character"?

[Northernmonkey]

I gave it a 6. Would have been a 7 but it was just too depressing.

Can't argue with most of it - gripping, engaging, brilliantly acted. The only bits I didn't like were the sandsnakes playing slapsies (that was cringeworthy) and Dany flying away on her dragon while the emotional music played (I just don't think dragons are that exciting).

[PatrickStormborn]

what was so disappointing about the fighting pit scene, can someone explain that to me?! loved it

Just based on the show:

• The cheesy arrival of the Sons of the Harpy... who just start killing literally anyone, including Hizdahr? It seems like these people have no allegiance to anyone and are just completely anti-Daenerys. What motivates them? Considering we've spent so long in Meereen, the Sons of the Harpy shouldn't be such a blank enemy.

Dany has 8000 Unsullied. Where were they?

The Sons of the Harpy had spears - ok, not sure where they came from but ok. Why did no one throw them at Daenerys?

That's the worst part: the Sons seem to target literally everyone except Daenerys. But considering they've been characterised as anti-Daenerys, it makes absolutely no sense for them to not just swarm her advisers and throw spears at her.

Some of the directional choices during Dany's flight were really bad. We can blame the CGI for this, but there's only really so much they can do.

Criticism based on the books:

• The pit has so much more symbolism and narrative weight in the books. It's such a pivotal moment for Daenerys, when she abandons the Meereenese and takes off her tokar before Drogon arrives. It's crucial because she rejects the Meereenese on her own terms based on her own morals, rather than being forced into it by an ambush.

Changing the context of Drogon's arrival also meant that Dany's flight made little sense. Why would she abandon everyone in Daznak's Pit after they just tried to help her? In ADwD it made sense that Dany jumped onto Drogon because she was trying to pull out a spear from his neck/back, and then once she's on his back he starts flying away and she gets caught up in the moment. She does not leave anyone she cares about in immediate danger.

Riding Drogon is a moment of pure ecstacy for Daenerys - which is probably the first time we actually read first-hand her experiencing any sort of pleasure in the city (I don't think it's a coincidence that her sex scenes are never delivered first-hand). So it's disappointing that Dany looks peaceful/content/relieved in the show when riding Drogon - I wish she had shown a lot more excitement.

Similarly, the camera should have retained its focus on Dany rather than sweeping down to Tyrion et. al. This moment is supposed to be about her rejecting the Meereenese and accepting herself. "He is fire made flesh ... and so am I." It's not about Tyrion or the Sons of the Harpy or anyone else. It's purely about Daenerys.

Also it's lame that Dany didn't have to whip Drogon into submission. Had they not included the Harpy ambush they would have had the time, space and money to pull that off, and it would have been so much more tense.

So overall I thought it was a fairly good, inoffensive scene, which is all I can expect from GoT these days. But it was a bit illogical in places, the CGI/directional choices looked a bit cheesy (there've been comparisons to the Never Ending Story...), and compared to the books it was extremely disappointing.

Edited June 9, 2015 by PatrickStormborn

[kefln]

posted in wrong thread - sorry!!!! :D

Edited June 9, 2015 by kefln

[kefln]

Really enjoyed the episode.

Like most I was heart broken in the lead up and burning of poor Shireen, but it was obvious that she would come to a bad end and the series has been hinting at her fate for quite a while. Will miss her interactions with Davos.

Have been waiting for the Meereen fighting pits all season and it was worth the wait. The CGI wasn't seamless, but acceptable. The touching of hands made for an interesting cliff hanger.

[JonSnowed]

I've watched it a second time and actually it's good up until the last 15-20 minutes. The Stannis/Shireen stuff is one of the most gruesome and horrible scenes, just like the Vipers death and the red wedding I have a really hard time watching it so I feel it deserves praise. The rest of the first fourty minutes are also good but a little uncomfortable with the Merryn Trant Paedo element.

Now my crticism is all about Daznaks. Firstly Emilia Clarke's acting is once again terrible, all this danger and she is emotionless, her clothes, hair and features don't change, why could she at least not get some blood, messed hair or a flesh wound given all the fighting? Secondly, I hate the way that Hizadar is speaking fairly logicaly to her and she is dismissive almost arrogant and seems to detest the fighting yet she could feed the locals to dragons only a week or two back?

Finally, I really enjoy this forum but I've come to realise that the negativity on here is overwhelming at times, if you read this forum alone you would think yesterdays episode seriously sucked. In contrast I read twitter reactions as the episode aired in the UK, the results were overwhelmingly positive. Now I am sure the majority of watchers are unsullied so I seriously doubt they care why Jon came back the wrong side of the wall or if Stannis is present at Shireens burning but it does demonstrate that the posts on this forum are from a tiny percentage of albeit die hard fans.