Rant and Rave without Repercussion [Book Spoilers]

[Chebyshov]

Let's stick to the subject at hand: what didn't you like about Hardhome?

(to quote Ran):

The topic of the thread is discussing things you disliked about the episode. It is not a place to throw insults at one another or to act as if he normal rules of the forum do not apply. Discussion of why people disliked something is permitted, but remember the topic at hand -- this is not a debate thread, it's a discussion thread specifically about episode details or events that posters disliked.

[Mladen]

Hardhome :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

And the obvious rant: Never let Kit Harington say anything ever again...

[Troy Reynolds]

Ok, you give two assholes in a boat one job, row the boat. What do they do. They don't row the boat. They're a hundred feet from shore with an huge army that might be able to swim. Nope, lift the oars boys, the LC is having a moment with the NK.

[The Northern Scholar]

Sweet nectar from the gods. That is what this thread is.

Overall, I was rather bored (again) by this episode. The overly busy fight scene at the end did little to save the episode.

I'll start simple. The scenes with Dany and Tyrion were really unpleasant. It's like D&D tried so hard to show us how awesome St. Tyrion was. And Dany needed someone to tell her about Westeros? Because Barry couldn't have done that?

Why call Arya Lana? Seriously? Do D&D think the viewers are too stupid to not confuse Cat Stark with Cat of the Canals?

The lack of Northern Lords really takes away a lot of the stakes for what is going on in Winterfell.

[Chebyshov]

I made my musings here: http://gotgifsandmusings.tumblr.com/post/120407594202/got-5x08-musings

warning: I'm not a giant fan of "zomg battles" anyway, so even by my standards this might be a bit too much saltiness.

[Takyon]

During the discussion in the tent, one of the Wildlings looked at the camera. I couldn't hide my laughter.

And as good as the action sequence was, I'm really not a big fan of this Gladiator-style battling. You begin to grow numb of that combination of close-ups, shaking cams, and quick cuts.

[OldGimletEye]

Let's stick to the subject at hand: what didn't you like about Hardhome?

Why hasn't anybody hatched a plan to marry Sansa off to the Night's King yet?

[Troy Reynolds]

Sweet nectar from the gods. That is what this thread is.

Overall, I was rather bored (again) by this episode. The overly busy fight scene at the end did little to save the episode.

I'll start simple. The scenes with Dany and Tyrion were really unpleasant. It's like D&D tried so hard to show us how awesome St. Tyrion was. And Dany needed someone to tell her about Westeros? Because Barry couldn't have done that?

Why call Arya Lana? Seriously? Do D&D think the viewers are too stupid to not confuse Cat Stark with Cat of the Canals?

The lack of Northern Lords really takes away a lot of the stakes for what is going on in Winterfell.

A lot of people called it last week. St Tyrion is making sure she's worthy of him.

[bobbybuilderton]

What I dsliked about the episode is that people liked it. I want the show to fail, damnit

[MordredDayne]

So, is it just me, or were all the parts that weren't Hardhome better than they have been all season? Too bad they were shoved into the first half of the episode to make way for Army of Darkness: GoT Edition.

Meereen

Tyrion killed Tywin with a bolt to the heart, eh? I guess that sounds better than one to the pubes. This section wasn't terrible, but it seemed awfully damn wooden to me. Especially Dany. I mean, she's not usually expressive, but it seemed like she was on Xanax throughout the entire episode. Dinklage was pretty damn unenthusiastic himself, which made all the quipping that much harder to get through. I enjoyed his Sparknotes version of Dany's journey. Thanks for reminding us that Jorah still has greyscale. I swore I had almost forgotten. I also love how D&D try to retcon stuff from previous episodes in dialogue. Dany "agreed to marry for the greater good"? I could have sworn that she forced someone into marriage on a whim for no real stated purpose. Silly me. Tyrion had "given up on life"? I thought he was just fussy and alcohol deprived. They really didn't waste any time bringing in the reign of St. Tyrion. There just seemed to be a lot of recounting information about people and places for the viewers. Like, it was really awkward to have so much explication going on about Varys and everyone.

King's Landing

It's hard to me mad at any of these scenes because we had Septa Unella and her Spoon of Punishment . Seriously, she was killing it this whole episode. I wasn't even paying attention to anything else that happened because I was too busy thinking of a Septa Unella spin-off show. Oh, I guess I liked Qyburn's little look and it was nice to hear about Kevan coming back, but whatever. Septa Unella and her spoon for life.

Winterfell

Vengeful Sansa. Great. That's really what we needed for her right now. Such development. I guess that it's...interesting that Sansa got Theon to confess that Bran and Rickon are still alive. I don't know what she's going to do with this information, but considering what I've come to expect from these scenes this season it wasn't terrible. Ramsay's "Leave a feast for the crows" line almost made me throw up in my mouth a little. I guess it's nice to know that D&D are aware of the approximate title of the book that they are butchering. Ramsay's got a commando plan? But who's going to rape Sansa while he's out on his mission?

The Wall

I was all enjoying Sam and Gilly's post coital first aid and then OLLY was at the door and I couldn't any more. You're fucking kidding me. He needed to remind us AGAIN that wildlings killed his parents while the camera ominously zooms in on his face and he gives Sam super creepy whipback glares? This is so beyond ridiculous that I kind of love it now.

Braavos

I actually didn't hate this section of the show. The talk with Jaqen was a little Manchurian Candidate for my tastes, and I could have done without The Waif's "She's not ready." BS, but I really liked watching Arya actually walking around Braavos. Why the fuck hasn't there been more of this this season? And really, we couldn't have Cat of the Canals? She has to be Lana or some such stupid fucking name? So no "Only Cat." and no Cat of the Canals. What the fuck is up with D&D's irrational hatred of the name Cat?

Hardhome

From the moment George Washington Snow rode his boat across the Delaware to meet with wildlings who all apparently wear the exact same uniform like they are Army Rangers or some shit I was just done with this scene. Was Jon ever going to give the context of killing Mance? No? Did him and Tormund plan for T to reveal the full context all dramatically? I know it's supposed to be a super awesome battle or whatever, but all I could think about during the whole thing was how many millions of dollars and how much show time they wasted on all this mindless action. It was bad enough that the meeting of the "elders" confirmed the fact that Jon was completely superfluous on this mission. Everyone only agrees because Tormund is there. Then the Harryhausen zombies came out of the woodwork and I was just done. A fierce wildling woman is betrayed by her motherly instincts and killed by a bunch of wight children? Fucking seriously? Why are the White Walkers dressed up like samurai? Why did they send a small force of wights at first and then send this huge crushing horde when Jon is looking up at them? Why not just, you know, send your whole crazy dead army at once and wipe everyone out? What is Wun Wun going to do when they get to the boat? Is he just going to swim back? The Night King raising the roof to bring up his undead army was pretty cool, especially how quiet the scene was, but that was only meaningful because the preceding 15 minutes was full of noisy bullshit.


I guess that's about it. Like last episode, it was better than the mess that was most of this season, but I've never seen a more concrete example of D&D's completely fucked priorities.

[of man and wolf]

No Ghost with Jon.

Lord of Bones didnt seem like the same actor as before? His accent was odd. Could have used him too.

The battle was great but a bit too much fast cutting, which made things hard to sometimes follow.

[Good Guy Garlan]

Hardhome was pretty good, the only things I didn't like were the return of the Harryhausen skeletons (further prove that D&D don't care about their audience's input, because no one liked that shit the first time) and Wun Wun going "The fuck you're looking at?". That's some Men in Black shitty dialogue.

[StuSeaworth]

Wildling special forces arctic commandos please all report to Hardhome.

They all had the exact same clothing?

[OldGimletEye]

A lot of people called it last week. St Tyrion is making sure she's worthy of him.

Yeah, also I couldn't hear that line about Dany "breaking the wheel" or whatever, but it seems they are making Dany look insufferable in order to make Tyrion look wise and just an all round great guy.

[LadySoftheart]

So Arya doesn't get to name herself after her DEAD mother whom she mourned deeply (in the books anyway) and instead is called something that sounds like Lannister. Wow!!

And the fact that Dany apparently cannot do anything without St Tyrion on her side just makes me RAGE. They've made her rule of Meereen so much easier on the show (no siege for one thing) and she still can't do anything without Tyrion by her side. And this is totally why they killed Barristan because heaven forbid anyone outshine Tyrion with actual eyewitness knowledge of the events of Robert's Rebellion!

At least Dorne wasn't in this one?

I find the big set piece television battles incredibly boring and what I love about ASOIAF has very little to do with the battles so ... I guess the battle was ok (though kind of low stakes since we know Jon isn't going to die here) but what is making me rant and rave about it is people calling the episode "best ever" because of that stupid battle. Guess "The Walking Dead" is the best tv show ever because they fight the undead all the damn time!

[Troy Reynolds]

Let's stick to the subject at hand: what didn't you like about Hardhome?

Pick a zombie genre and stick to it. S1 has a lumbering, unstoppable without fire zombie. Cut off the hand and both the zombie and the hand keep coming. Only fire will put them down. S2 we get the same zombies at The Fist. Since S4E10 we have supercharged runner zombies that can be done in with ordinary weapons. Either Danny Boyle or George Romano, you can use one or the other, not both.

Oh, and stomp on a wights head and he's done. Let a few hundred fall off a big ass cliff, they're good to go.

Sorry, just really fired up about the epic levels of dumb I just witnessed.

[JonSnow4President]

Olly's presence and Peter/Emilia's acting were really it for me. I thought the episode was overall great.

And at this point, I'm just not going to complain about them changing a characters name. I'm just so glad we're actually getting some Arya-in-braavos scenes.

[StarlightDancer]

I don't normally post here (although I have been reading for 2 seasons now). I normally agree with a lot in this thread, but think you guys are funny also... Tonight I must post for the first time... and it's not the unending dorn problem or the bad special effects, it's not even bad winterhell that brings me here... its that I'm sad that after MANY years, and being a teenage girl reading before bed about steel blades snaping and shattering to other ice blades, it's not in a book at all that I find my 17 year old theory is correct, and that Long claw can parry the blows....

I was so excited I jumped and hooted and texted five people... but an hour later I am now wondering, how much better would that have been in the winds of winter?

[JonCon's Red Beard]

I've already been in enough abusive relationships to have learned my lesson: those motherfuckers will always return sweet and loving after a bad time... and then they will return to their normal self :dunno:

[bobbybuilderton]

So, is it just me, or were all the parts that weren't Hardhome better than they have been all season? Too bad they were shoved into the first half of the episode to make way for Army of Darkness: GoT Edition.

Meereen

Tyrion killed Tywin with a bolt to the heart, eh? I guess that sounds better than one to the pubes. This section wasn't terrible, but it seemed awfully damn wooden to me. Especially Dany. I mean, she's not usually expressive, but it seemed like she was on Xanax throughout the entire episode. Dinklage was pretty damn unenthusiastic himself, which made all the quipping that much harder to get through. I enjoyed his Sparknotes version of Dany's journey. Thanks for reminding us that Jorah still has greyscale. I swore I had almost forgotten. I also love how D&D try to retcon stuff from previous episodes in dialogue. Dany "agreed to marry for the greater good"? I could have sworn that she forced someone into marriage on a whim for no real stated purpose. Silly me. Tyrion had "given up on life"? I thought he was just fussy and alcohol deprived. They really didn't waste any time bringing in the reign of St. Tyrion. There just seemed to be a lot of recounting information about people and places for the viewers. Like, it was really awkward to have so much explication going on about Varys and everyone.

snip

It sounds like they weren't retconning, more like explaining things that their shitty writing abilities and impatience didn't allow them to show rather than tell.