omegaxx Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 (edited) Gave it a 4/10. Very choppy and no rhythm, as mentioned by prior posters. Red Toast makes no sense (how did Arya make it work logistically?), but I will let that one slide. Cringe-worthy dialogue with Jon-Sansa and Cersei-Jaime. Cersei-Jaime is actually one of the deepest and best-written relationships in the book that D&D just butchers. Inexcusable. The Hound and BWB scene, heavy-handed but at least respectful. I also appreciate the gravedigger shoutout. The closing scene on Dragonstone is, well, what you'd expect with Emilia Perpetually-Constipated Clarke. Edited July 19, 2017 by omegaxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nocturne Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Gave it a 7, simply because there was way to much time wasted on "catching up". There is no need to catch up, people know what happened, this is not the young and the restless or some other crap. What i liked: Frey's getting wrecked, was done well. To the people complaining that she somehow learned to mimic voices now, do you know the mechanics behind wearing someones face and we don't? Neither in the books, or in the show, does it say that once you put on the face, only your appearance changes, your voice requires extra training. All the Sandor scenes. Arya and the soldiers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolorous Gabe Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 35 minutes ago, Nocturne said: To the people complaining that she somehow learned to mimic voices now, do you know the mechanics behind wearing someones face and we don't? Neither in the books, or in the show, does it say that once you put on the face, only your appearance changes, your voice requires extra training. The problem for me is not that she can do this. The problem for me is a kind of hangover of last season, that she is clearly not 'no one' and that her training at the HoBaW was utter BS. But also, her operation at The Twins was only seen from an endgame perspective, which made it tedious. They couldn't be bothered to explain the logistics of infiltrating the kitchen, killing Lame Lothar and Black Walder in secret, transporting them to the kitchen and cutting them up in secret, then cleaning up the killing of Walder, hiding his body, explaining away the disappearance of Lothar and Black Walder. These should be little suspense stories. Instead we simply got the end of them. It's tedious. There's no build-up, so the payoff has no substance. It was even played as if we don't know it's Arya using Walder's face, as if we never saw her kill him last season, so even the intended shock moment of revealing that it's Arya is a failure of storytelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjlxking Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 10 minutes ago, Dolorous Gabe said: The problem for me is not that she can do this. The problem for me is a kind of hangover of last season, that she is clearly not 'no one' and that her training at the HoBaW was utter BS. But also, her operation at The Twins was only seen from an endgame perspective, which made it tedious. They couldn't be bothered to explain the logistics of infiltrating the kitchen, killing Lame Lothar and Black Walder in secret, transporting them to the kitchen and cutting them up in secret, then cleaning up the killing of Walder, hiding his body, explaining away the disappearance of Lothar and Black Walder. These should be little suspense stories. Instead we simply got the end of them. It's tedious. There's no build-up, so the payoff has no substance. It was even played as if we don't know it's Arya using Walder's face, as if we never saw her kill him last season, so even the intended shock moment of revealing that it's Arya is a failure of storytelling. We did see Arya kill Walder last season they won't show the secret to Faceless men tactic and abilities. Whatever they show, it will disappoint Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolorous Gabe Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 2 minutes ago, xjlxking said: We did see Arya kill Walder last season they won't show the secret to Faceless men tactic and abilities. Whatever they show, it will disappoint Read the line again. I know we saw her kill Walder. That was part of my point. I don't necessarily want them to show the secrets behind what the FM do. I want them to tell an actual story, not just skip parts of the story they can't be bothered to explain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channel4s-JonSnow Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 12 minutes ago, Dolorous Gabe said: Read the line again. I know we saw her kill Walder. That was part of my point. I don't necessarily want them to show the secrets behind what the FM do. I want them to tell an actual story, not just skip parts of the story they can't be bothered to explain. It was definitely rushed and therefore very unsatisfying. It felt more like one more box they had to tick before moving on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cron Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 (edited) On 7/17/2017 at 1:26 PM, SuperMario said: No offense, but why does waiting longer for the premiere cause it to be rated higher? Shouldn't the episode be based on the episode's own merits? If we had waited 10 years for it, would it have earned a 10 because we waited even longer? No offense taken. My rating takes into account how much I "enjoyed" it. Well, long anticipation can make a person "enjoy" something more. It's a highly personal, highly subjective thing. That doesn't mean if something is garbage I'm going to love it just cuz I waited a REALLY long time, though. So no, I would not extrapolate to the extreme hypothetical you asked me about. Having said that, I waited 16 years between Return of the Jedi and Phantom Menace, and I've gotta say, I was pretty ready for Phantom Menace when it was released Quote I have been awaiting TWOW from GRRM for years and likely will wait another year or two longer. But the fact that the book will have taken so long to have been released will not cloud my judgment about its quality. If it sucks, it sucks. And if it's great, it's great. Hmm. I think a lot of people would agree with me that anticipation can enhance an experience. In fact, some people purposely take things slowly in order to savor them. I don't lean heavily in that direction, but there IS some of that in me. A lot of people really enjoy a big build-up, I think. Edited July 19, 2017 by Cron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhollo Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 46 minutes ago, Dolorous Gabe said: The problem for me is not that she can do this. The problem for me is a kind of hangover of last season, that she is clearly not 'no one' and that her training at the HoBaW was utter BS. But also, her operation at The Twins was only seen from an endgame perspective, which made it tedious. They couldn't be bothered to explain the logistics of infiltrating the kitchen, killing Lame Lothar and Black Walder in secret, transporting them to the kitchen and cutting them up in secret, then cleaning up the killing of Walder, hiding his body, explaining away the disappearance of Lothar and Black Walder. These should be little suspense stories. Instead we simply got the end of them. It's tedious. There's no build-up, so the payoff has no substance. It was pretty much "20 good men" all over again. There is no way to make the logistics behind all of it seem plausible (even if we just accept Arya has full FM powers), so they just skip right to the final step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolorous Gabe Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 10 minutes ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said: It was definitely rushed and therefore very unsatisfying. It felt more like one more box they had to tick before moving on. Exactly. And considering how massive it was for them just to get to the RW, dealing with the consequences for its instigators as something of a throwaway or an afterthought is pretty disappointing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Channel4s-JonSnow Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 1 hour ago, Dolorous Gabe said: Exactly. And considering how massive it was for them just to get to the RW, dealing with the consequences for its instigators as something of a throwaway or an afterthought is pretty disappointing. Yeah, that it was clearly designed to elicit a cheer from the audience was obvious. Instead though I watched it completely blankly. Just as when she got Walder Frey, there was little to no build up, no tension and no suspense. It was just 'oh here is Arya, she killed some Freys... Happy now??' I have history as a defender of the show but stuff like this I really cannot defend, and its indicitive of the drop in quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpg2016 Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Awful, awful episode, just like most of the episodes since Season 4. Some problems: - Jaime doesn't care about Cersei blowing up thousands of people with wildfire? Jaime?!?! The man who stained his name in order to stop that exact thing from happening, and which he still considers his finest hour? - Euron, aside from his ridiculous get-up, has 1,000 ships? How? The Iron Islands don't have many trees, and building that many ships takes a TON of time, or else everyone would have them. Where does he even get them men for it? The ironborn don't have huge armies, and many have died or fled east with "Yara" and Theon. - the really, really bad and obvious Ed Sheeran cameo. I liked that scene otherwise, but that was inexcusable shark-jumping. - The entire Sansa/Jon dynamic. The writers don't seem to understand any of the characters or themes. Being cynical and ruthless isn't a good thing; Sansa comes off as a younger Cersei, an idiot who is ignoring the end of the world in the pursuit of political power. - The ongoing overreliance on Lyanna Mormont. She's kickass... but she's a bit character, and the showrunners are using her like she's a protagonist. The entire political situation in the North is 80 kinds of stupid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panther2000 Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 I really liked this episode. It was very good for an opener. 8/10. Not perfect but worth the wait that we had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Many Faced Michael Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 Rating - 5 out of 10 +While I enjoyed the idea behind Arya/Walder Frey the execution was lackluster, especially the lack of build up/details as others have mentioned. +Sam Tarly & Hound/Thoros/Beric updates were the most solid. +Lyanna Mormont was a good small character, but now they're starting to ruin that. It reminds me of a good pop song that the radio plays each hour or so throughout the day. Eventually you become burnt out and the song is unbearable. +I don't mind the Sansa/Jon dynamic. It's clear that eventually she's going to make a bone head decision influenced by Little Finger. She'll then make up for it somehow. +Daenerys homecoming was super overdone. She could have went there prior to everyone on a dragon. If I have dragons, I'm pretty much never riding on a ship again. +Cersei was cersei. Jaime however doesn't seem to care about Cersei killing everyone at the keep. Eurons outfit was modern day rocker. I'm not sure what they were thinking. He also traveled all that way and didn't even get an assurance of marriage. It makes you think he should have just done whatever he was going to do prior and then show up..... if she doesn't take him in marriage then he battles them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizard Queen Posted July 19, 2017 Share Posted July 19, 2017 I would give it a 7. I think the show's quality has been on the decline since they've been off-road from the books (in terms of how overall entertaining it is), so I didn't have high hopes for this episode. But, I was pleasantly surprised -- I felt there was more character development in this episode, at least for a couple of characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unlady B Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 A 6 for me. It was ok but not impressive. Nothing happened that we didn't expect. I liked Sansa and Jon's dialogues, Arya being badass is always fine, and finally, Dany reaching Westeros was like: FINALLY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Desmond Wine's Bane Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Felt no urge to watch whatsoever. Show's previous sins means they won't be getting views from me this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stark side of the MoonDoor Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Everyone wants to propound their own nitpicky agenda here. Yes certain scenes will ring home for people more than others. In truth I can’t unequivocally say any one scene or series of scenes was all in all negative. I’d say half the scenes were 10's, the rest of the scenes were between 6-9. That means half the scenes were 10 and 7.5, giving an average of 8.75. I'd knock it down to 8.5. For huge fans I think that is accurate, maybe a little generous. Being a huge fan is not the same as being hyper critical. A true fan is like a true sports fan. Even when your team sucks for a decade you're still a loyal fan. You don’t reduce your love because your team isn’t as good as it once was. And GofT could never suck like the Redskins or Browns have. GofT is like when the Patriots don’t win, fans still go home and jerk off to Tom Brady. Those of you who are ripping this episode are like the Miami Heat fans that left the building at home and missed a comeback against the Spurs in the finals, including Ray Allen's glorious 3 point buzzer beater to force OT. If you recall, the "fans" tried to get back in and weren't allowed. Considering a 0 for me is no GofT period I was very happy after watching that. Yea the scene with Arya was a little underwhelming. Ed Sh. did not ruin anything as several people were keen to jump on. I didn't even know that was him. He had like two lines, and of course people on social media make it all about that, some micro detail suddenly and stupidly becomes a focal point. Too often in life everyone wants to be critical, when we forget that we all have our own bias and more importantly, how lucky we are to have this show in the first place. The good far outweighed the bad, and we learned a lot. Specifically in Oldtown, Dragonstone, and through the Hound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legba11 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 On 7/19/2017 at 7:22 AM, Nocturne said: Frey's getting wrecked, was done well. To the people complaining that she somehow learned to mimic voices now, do you know the mechanics behind wearing someones face and we don't? Neither in the books, or in the show, does it say that once you put on the face, only your appearance changes, your voice requires extra training. The problem I had is we've had two seasons of Arya on a training montage. We've basically only been shown her learning how to take a beating while blindfolded. Then, she drops out of the program, the kindly dean does an 80's college movie ending of being happy with her decision and she has god powers. If she's going to pull off something like that, it has to be shown how or it is just Michael Bay fan service schlock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolorous Gabe Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 30 minutes ago, legba11 said: The problem I had is we've had two seasons of Arya on a training montage. We've basically only been shown her learning how to take a beating while blindfolded. Then, she drops out of the program, the kindly dean does an 80's college movie ending of being happy with her decision and she has god powers. If she's going to pull off something like that, it has to be shown how or it is just Michael Bay fan service schlock. Haha love the comparison to 80s college movies! Yep, her training had no relevance to anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legba11 Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Heh, I couldn't that image out of my head last season when Jacquen (sp???) sent her off. Her two season training might be the best representation of where the show has moved to in those seasons. High production value (and generally well-performed) moments, incoherently strung together by "reasons". I did love the bad Shakespeare version of season 1, which runs with her training montage, so it wasn't all bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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