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I'm sorry, but they really blew the Drogon scene (book spoilers)


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The fighting-pit scene that aired Sunday night was my single most-looked-forward-to scene from the entire book series. My anticipation really climbed during season 4, episode 6, where Drogon's terrorizing a shepherd boy, snagging a goat, and soaring off over a nearby hill were splendidly rendered on screen. If they could nail a throwaway dragon moment like that, what would they do with one of the most iconic scenes in the series, a marvelous book action scene? I was expecting something even better than the dracarys scene, a scene that many observers such as yours truly thought was the best single scene the series has done so far.



As it turns out, the scene was decent but no better, and I'm sorry, a "decent" result from such a marvelously cinematic book scene can't be considered as anything other than disaster. What went wrong? Not everything, but quite a few things.



Given that it is never possible to include every subtlety from a book in a screen adaptation, the decision to turn Dany's escape from moral and psychological peril in the books into an escape from physical danger in the show was probably a smart adaptation. All the scene required was that Drogon be given a reason to rescue Dany from something, and physical peril from the Sons of the Harpy obviously fits the bill. But while the strategy may have been good, the execution was lacking on many levels.



The early part of the scene flowed well. Jorah's surprise spear throw kicked off the fight effectively, and the SOTHs appearing among the crowd was an ominous touch, although it was surprising to see them apparently randomly executing crowd members. But the pacing of the scene soon seemed odd. Daenerys and her entourage never seemed to be in a hurry to get anywhere - perhaps her costume was difficult to run in. But the reaction of the crowd to the sudden outbreak of mass murder was oddly muted, and tension was slow to build.



Things really began to go wrong, though, when the scene developed into a staredown, not a fight, although it worked at first. It was believable, or almost believable, that the SOTHs would hesitate to attempt a breakthrough of the Unsullied's spear wall, like a cavalry charge will sometimes pull up short of such a wall and mill around in front of it instead of pressing the attack. Although the attack by one or two at a time from a crowd of attackers is one of the oldest (and stalest) tricks in the film business, it kind of made sense under these standoff conditions, and the tension built as the scene dragged on with Dany and Missandei exchange terrified looks and holding hands.



So far, so good, and my anticipation was at a high level when we heard Drogon's call from over the wall. But then, instead of the action winding up to a fever pitch, it . . . just . . . stopped. Incredibly, all of the fighters involved in the staredown/standoff decided to stare at Drogon instead of continuing the fight. Folks, I'm sure a dragon flying overhead is mighty interesting - but nothing is as interesting as a man with a sword who wants to kill you who and is standing 12" away. Nevertheless, an entire line of SOTH actually turned their backs on Jorah and Daario--who did nothing about it! Hogwash!!!



In short, the fight completely stopped when Drogon appeared, and this is the most basic problem with the scene. There was nothing to distract from the somewhat clumsy technical elements of the scene: the knots of people standing around waiting to get set afire, the unwieldy dragon-headed flame cannon with its too-regular jet of flame, Drogon's awkward, waddling gait.



Instead, the SOTH appeared to be instantly neutralized when Drogon appeared, robbing the scene of all its urgency. Daenerys had time to walk forward, take her sweet time gazing into Drogon's eyes, and unhurriedly mount him, because she suddenly appeared to be in no danger at all. In fact, the way the scene played out left a very obvious question: why did Daenerys fly away? In the book, it was crystal clear that she had to get Drogon out of there, or he would be killed. In the show, there was no apparent danger, and in fact, the folks who were left behind were seen just staring her and Drogon down until they vanished out of sight, with apparently no SOTH-fighting business to be attended to at all.



What could've been done differently? A lot.



  • Obviously, this scene didn't need a staredown, it needed a real fight, it needed action other than Drogon's own action to be going on while Drogon was making his move.
  • The good guys probably needed a larger perimeter, so there was room for Drogon to move around and spaces that were in the fight could be segregated from spaces that were outside the fight, and so that there could be an ongoing fight, with an ebb and flow to it, over whether the SOTH would breach the perimeter.
  • For example, Drogon could have appeared just when the perimeter was starting to collapse, and then, when the perimeter was re-established, Dany would have a safe approach to rescuing Drogon--or better yet, taming him with the whip when he started to get out of hand.
  • The producers shouldn't have been in such love with the flame cannon, which had to be deployed from the ground, but should have had at least some of Drogon's attacks come from the air.
  • Most importantly, there should have been a sense of urgency and danger throughout the entire scene, so that when Dany and Drogon fly off, you know they are escaping, instead of wondering why they abandoned their pals.

Even the danger and urgency of soaring off the ground on the back of a soaring, dipping and swirling beast without a saddle or anything in particular to hang onto was absent: Daenerys looked comfortable, like she was lying on her couch watching TV, instead of looking terrified, as she should have.



I'll give 'em a D- on this, and that feels generous. This was an awesome action scene in the books that could've just gone straight onto the screen: if you're going to change it around, it had better be good or you have nobody to blame but yourselves.


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Ok... I have to say it... why on earth do people keep talking about Dany "abandoning her pals"? First off, if a ruler was attacked, do you really think they'd stick around and fight along side their guards or do you think they'd be whisked away from harm? Also, do you not think Daario, Jorah, etc stand a better chance against the SoTH if they don't have Dany to worry about? Do you really think they were thinking "Wow, what a coward! Look at her run away!". No, they were likely thinking "Thank the Gods!!".



If the President of the United States was attacked, do you really think he's grab a gun and fight his attackers?


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Instead, the SOTH appeared to be instantly neutralized when Drogon appeared, robbing the scene of all its urgency. Daenerys had time to walk forward, take her sweet time gazing into Drogon's eyes, and unhurriedly mount him, because she suddenly appeared to be in no danger at all. In fact, the way the scene played out left a very obvious question: why did Daenerys fly away? In the book, it was crystal clear that she had to get Drogon out of there, or he would be killed. In the show, there was no apparent danger, and in fact, the folks who were left behind were seen just staring her and Drogon down until they vanished out of sight, with apparently no SOTH-fighting business to be attended to at all.

You see most of the Harpies running away and scattering when a fire breathing dragon begins charring their comrades which significantly reduces their numbers.

I don't see where you're coming from. Drogon isn't mature enough yet and was getting hammered with spears. It was quite plain to see she did indeed need to get him out of there before he took one blow too many.

The only part of the sequence that was stupid imo was the fact that the Harpies were still aiming at Drogon when PE.No 1 Daenerys was slowly walking up to and mounting Drogon.

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You see most of the Harpies running away and scattering when a fire breathing dragon begins charring their comrades which significantly reduces their numbers.

I don't see where you're coming from. Drogon isn't mature enough yet and was getting hammered with spears. It was quite plain to see she did indeed need to get him out of there before he took one blow too many.

The only part of the sequence that was stupid imo was the fact that the Harpies were still aiming at Drogon when PE.No 1 Daenerys was slowly walking up to and mounting Drogon.

But there was nothing happening at all when they left, unlike the book where the action was still hot.

Witness the last scene, which is Tyrion, Daario, Jorah and Missandei all just standing there and staring at her for about 20 seconds, apparently with nothing else on their minds. That was the problem. Go back and watch it again. The action virtually stops when Drogon enters, and by the time he finishes torching people, all the main characters are just standing around.

You know, they had definitely established that Drogon was wounded - you could see him bleeding, and there was a visible hole in one wing. But couldn't Dany have said something about it, if they had to get out of there? She certainly didn't appear to be in any hurry.

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Agree with some but disagree with some as well.



1. I think it is believable that everyone might be distracted by a huge flying man killing beastly fantastical creature that was thought to be extinct for 97% of each person's life. A creature that is humongous and breathes fire. A beast that many there had not seen ever or in a while (the good guys). A beast that is very unpredictable. I'd say it would be akin to a T-Rex walking into a battlefield.



2. I think they wanted to convey that Dany was comfortable on Drogon. This was her dragon that she thought had abandoned her. He not only has returned, but he saved her and is now letting her ride him, something that she has heard about happening in stories. I buy that she could look happy instead of afraid.


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How in the hell would Sons of the Harpy, who are just members of former slaver families, have the skill and bravery to attack a magical dragon? It makes no sense.

They were only throwing spears. It wasn't anything too hard for even a lowly foot soldier to do.

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They were only throwing spears. It wasn't anything too hard for even a lowly foot soldier to do.

Would you throw a spear at a dragon? No. Neither would I. Having the Sons of the Harpy attack Drogon was terrible writing.

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You see most of the Harpies running away and scattering when a fire breathing dragon begins charring their comrades which significantly reduces their numbers.

I don't see where you're coming from. Drogon isn't mature enough yet and was getting hammered with spears. It was quite plain to see she did indeed need to get him out of there before he took one blow too many.

The only part of the sequence that was stupid imo was the fact that the Harpies were still aiming at Drogon when PE.No 1 Daenerys was slowly walking up to and mounting Drogon.

This was my biggest peeve with the scene too. Dany casualy saunters over to her dragon while there is a crowd of at least 30 men standing near her who want to kill her. In fact, they are still hurling spears at Drogon. Did none of them think "Hey, let's hurl our spears at our main target, who is now slowly walking in the open and completely vulnerable"?

Up until that point, I thought the scene was doing ok, but that slow walk and "bonding" moment with Drogon completely took me out of it.

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They really should have shown a shot of the Sons retreating after the dragon burned a sufficient number of them. Or more Unsullied arriving in the arena. Anything to explain why the Sons suddenly stopped attacking. The whole time she was mounting Drogon I was thinking 'aren't the sons still there? Why did they stop and give her time to get on him?'

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I was excited too. That spear throw was such an awesome way to start out the scene and the attack was great, and I loved how they externalized Dany's own thoughts with that fight, but you are right that the action just went downhill the moment Drogon got there. We can debate the semantics of how exactly the scene should have been directed/written from there (was it realistic for the harpy to stand around? was an attack on drogon effectively portrayed?), but imo it's clear they let the scene fall flat.



And it really makes no sense. It was written so cinematically and would have adapted onto screen perfectly, it just needed an extra touch of danger and violence which I think the Harpy attack was perfect for.



The biggest thing that was really missing was Dany taming Drogon. The simple fact that that was cut shows they didnt really understand the scene beyond "drogon comes, dany flies off on him. it's cool because dany's finally flying".


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Would you throw a spear at a dragon? No. Neither would I. Having the Sons of the Harpy attack Drogon was terrible writing.

He's attacked in the book too.. terrible writing all around I guess? Also, yes, if a Dragon was trying to barbecue me and my cohorts, I'd most definitely fling a spear or two at it as I tried to get away.

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He's attacked in the book too.. terrible writing all around I guess? Also, yes, if a Dragon was trying to barbecue me and my cohorts, I'd most definitely fling a spear or two at it as I tried to get away.

He was attacked, but not by former slavers in masks with no military training. And no, you wouldn't throw a spear, you would run the second you saw his shadow. Please.

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He's attacked in the book too.. terrible writing all around I guess? Also, yes, if a Dragon was trying to barbecue me and my cohorts, I'd most definitely fling a spear or two at it as I tried to get away.

In the books they start throwing spears at Drogon BEFORE he attacks any of them. It is what causes Drogon to start roasting everyone. In the show he straight up roasts them all before anyone tries to hurt him. I'm not even sure these people have really read the books.

Regarding the OP I agree, some of the action sets have been really off this year for whatever reason. There needed to be more chaos in the pit and more urgency around Dany to get on Drogon.

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In the books they start throwing spears at Drogon BEFORE he attacks any of them. It is what causes Drogon to start roasting everyone. In the show he straight up roasts them all before anyone tries to hurt him. These people don't even really read the books they're so quick to defend.

They? The Sons of the Harpy? What books are you reading?

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