[Poll] How would you rate episode 706?

[HexMachina]

15 hours ago, Ingelheim said:

Kit is like 28457229484 times better now than he was in Season 1. He's become my Jon Snow, and that's a lot coming from me.

Emilia...actually the opposite. She's grown worse with every year that passes and it doesn't seem like she'll improve for Season 8. It's actually a shame, I think she was fantastic in earlier seasons but now she is just average.

Really? I don't think either are good (Emilia has her rare moments but they are few and far between) but I still think Emilia the better of the two. Kit basically has one note, the gormless stare.' There is a reason I think his best performance was in Seven Days in Hell, where he played a gormless numpty. Emilia is also very wooden most of the times, but the right director seems to be able to bring out the odd moment where it seems she can act passably. (And I think she was fine this episode. Not outstanding, she isn't going to be winning awards (ornshouldnt, but, Emmys  ) but passable). 

I felt nothing at all from Kit's performance

[plastic throne]

5 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Really? I don't think either are good (Emilia has her rare moments but they are few and far between) but I still think Emilia the better of the two. Kit basically has one note, the gormless stare.' There is a reason I think his best performance was in Seven Days in Hell, where he played a gormless numpty. Emilia is also very wooden most of the times, but the right director seems to be able to bring out the odd moment where it seems she can act passably. (And I think she was fine this episode. Not outstanding, she isn't going to be winning awards (ornshouldnt, but, Emmys  ) but passable). 

I felt nothing at all from Kit's performance

At one moment when they were holding hands (on a ship) and she let go of his, I thought Jon died in that bed

That 5 seconds emotionless/blank stare! Had a laugh though, quite a laugh if I'm honest.

[Mikkel]

Well, there's a reason neither Kit Harington or Emilia Clarke has managed much of a career outside GoT despite it's phenomenal popularity, and it's not just a scheduling issue.

I suppose we'll see what happens when GoT finally wraps, but outside of coasting on their fame from this for a bit, I don't foresee either of them having a stellar career. I'm sure they're lovely people though.

[sweetsunray]

5 hours ago, Iron Mother said:

According to the POLL in this thread 43% of respondents voted this episode 5 or lower!

What astonishes me is HOW can almost half of all respondents be voting in that low region while the other half voted 6+?  How is this possible?

I voted "2".  It was the worst episode in not just season 7 but in ALL RECENT MEMORY.  Not just for time-traveling ravens and chains from nowhere, but for actual real reasons like IT SUCKED and was almost 100% fan-service.

The average rating for the poll in this thread was 6.1 the first two days and now stands at 5.9. Most polls of previous episodes this season had an average of 7. and something. So, that's a marked drop. In general the polls for this season have a lower average rating than previous season and the season before it.

 

1 hour ago, petertel123 said:

This episode holds an 82% rating on rotten tomatoes. Critics are wearing rose tinted glasses nowadays. A movie with storytelling this lazy would never be above 50%.

Compared to the ratings by those same critics of other episodes this season the 82% rating is an improvement. Most of the previous episodes got 97% and even 100% ratings with no criticism at all, but just "wow ravings" to sub-par writing.

[legba11]

6 hours ago, Iotun said:

But, playing devil's advocate here (because obviously you're allowed to score however you like, and there's not really an objective way to go about this), if you were to score in this way, wouldn't a score that evaluates the quality of the episode relative to other shows on TV, as a function of the budget available to each show, be more fair?

 

You make very good points.  However, part of the producer's job is to secure money for the production and D&D (for all of their faults) secured the rights to make the show from our lord and savior, GRRM.  He had full control of the property and chose to give them full control. They then sold the idea to HBO and got a massive budget for season 1 and created a show which grew in fanbase (and thus money from HBO).  They have earned that money per episode budget.  It's not like they hopped on the train after it was rolling and derailed it.  For an analogy, do people say the Patriots (and I say this as an Eagles fan) don't deserve their incredible run of success because they have Tom Brady?  No, they drafted him fairly in a system where every other team could have drafted him.  They did and they reap the rewards.  

As for your show, yes it's not fair in terms in terms of judging your ability as a filmmaker to D&D's.  However, my rating is not my rating of them as filmakers.  It's my rating of how entertaining I find the show.  Period.  In that rating system, the only true currency is my time and how I want to spend it.  That being said, it's not like I have a hard number allocated for every category. If I did, they could never score a 9 as I would have more than 1 point allocated for writing and they would get almost no points there.  They score so high in a  few categories, it drags the low numbers up.  Even with that, this show isn't even on my top ten for the season (TV year is from Sept-Aug) and several of the shows on that list are fairly low budget (only one is super cheap).  If it matters, here they are.

Blood Drive (super cheap), Legion, MST3k (used to be legendarily cheap, this season wasn't), Fargo, Better Call Saul, West World, Luke Cage (I watched it this year), GLOW, American Horror Sytory, Preacher

All of that being said, I am not defending Dumb and Dumber.  I hate what they have done with the show (and rip on them plenty) and this show has gone from something I always watched twice on release week and then rewatched with all the special features when the DVD came out to just another another show on my DVR.  The only reason I watch it close to live is because I enjoy coming here and reading you guys ripping on it.  If I'm honest with myself, I might not even watch it until the books were finished if not for these forums and my fear of book spoilers ruining my life for the next decade while I wait for GRRM to finish.

Part of the reason you can see such a wide range of scores for the same episode (and this episode might have the highest standard deviation I've ever seen here) is because in addition to opinions on quality, there is no clearly defined criteria for what those numbers mean.  Using my system, I think any person would be trolling if they gave this below a 5 (does anyone here think more than half of the truly garbage television episodes out there were better than this one?).  However, they are likely using a different rating system, and their score is perfectly valid (regardless of what system they are using).

Edited August 22, 2017 by legba11

[Daske]

2 hours ago, petertel123 said:

This episode holds an 82% rating on rotten tomatoes. Critics are wearing rose tinted glasses nowadays. A movie with storytelling this lazy would never be above 50%.

I think it's the opposite. GoT has raised the bar so high that people are freaking out about a perceived drop in to poor quality when it doesn't match their own fan fiction. It should be this, it must be that. OK, everyone wants different things, how you rate stuff is subjective, sure. But there was a full on AD&D fight with flaming swords and a freaking undead bear. Right there, on screen! Viewers are spoiled these days. I spent a month once waiting for a schoolmate get me a dodgy VHS tape copy of a Hartnell black-and-white Doctor Who episode that was barely visible through the snowstorm and the sound was a full second out of sync. But it was AMAZING! I know I'm not alone in being so grateful that we have this show to watch - whatever faults it has with some of the writing and some of the pacing. So what? There was a freaking undead bear fight!

 

[Gargarax]

6 hours ago, RhaenysB said:

It won't be forgotten, but it has no value. It's popularized crap. It's a cheap cliche to make the masses happy so they pay for an hbo subscription and buy lots of merch. My only question is, do the actors realize how bad it is? Because most of them seem like they don't, and that's probably the saddest. Or maybe they do they just don't care, it's s job, they became millionaires, who cares the show is nonsensical bullshit? 

I am sure some know - particularly the more experienced ones, like Liam Cunningham or Rory McCann. They have worked with better scripts and have experienced good directors, who would make them know their characters intimately. I don't think we can blame Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams or even Kit Harrington for still speaking up for the show; they had their break-through with it and have done little else of worth so far.

I doubt they don't care, or at least I hope they don't. Even if you make lots of money, as an "artist" (did I really just call Kit that?), you should have enough self-respect to prefer interesting roles over those that pay well. Maybe many actors, just like many fans, are still hoping that the show can find back to its initial strength. Though by now, I would bet a lot of money that that will never happen.

[Neds Secret]

47 minutes ago, Daske said:

I think it's the opposite. GoT has raised the bar so high that people are freaking out about a perceived drop in to poor quality when it doesn't match their own fan fiction. It should be this, it must be that. OK, everyone wants different things, how you rate stuff is subjective, sure. But there was a full on AD&D fight with flaming swords and a freaking undead bear. Right there, on screen! Viewers are spoiled these days. I spent a month once waiting for a schoolmate get me a dodgy VHS tape copy of a Hartnell black-and-white Doctor Who episode that was barely visible through the snowstorm and the sound was a full second out of sync. But it was AMAZING! I know I'm not alone in being so grateful that we have this show to watch - whatever faults it has with some of the writing and some of the pacing. So what? There was a freaking undead bear fight!

 

And??? Video games are also pretty awesome now compared to the 80s! Yeah the action and special effects are outstanding and some people rate that and give high scores. Some people want plot progression and logic and realistic fights and stories, even in a fantasy show so they mark lower, I find this season highly entertaining and visually stunning to watch. I'm relieved or intrigued to see characters converge that I have been waiting for for 6 years but that does not earn it a 10 for me, and so I rate it or score it accordingly. 

[SuperMario]

1 hour ago, Daske said:

I think it's the opposite. GoT has raised the bar so high that people are freaking out about a perceived drop in to poor quality when it doesn't match their own fan fiction. It should be this, it must be that. OK, everyone wants different things, how you rate stuff is subjective, sure. But there was a full on AD&D fight with flaming swords and a freaking undead bear. Right there, on screen! Viewers are spoiled these days. I spent a month once waiting for a schoolmate get me a dodgy VHS tape copy of a Hartnell black-and-white Doctor Who episode that was barely visible through the snowstorm and the sound was a full second out of sync. But it was AMAZING! I know I'm not alone in being so grateful that we have this show to watch - whatever faults it has with some of the writing and some of the pacing. So what? There was a freaking undead bear fight!

 

If you hadn't used the phrase undead bear fight, I would have thought you were describing Michael Bay movies.

 

[SuperMario]

Episode gets a 2 from me. The good special effects and dragon death scene were the only thing that saved it from a 1.

Once again, why is Littlefinger still alive?

[Gargarax]

1 hour ago, Daske said:

I think it's the opposite. GoT has raised the bar so high that people are freaking out about a perceived drop in to poor quality when it doesn't match their own fan fiction. It should be this, it must be that. OK, everyone wants different things, how you rate stuff is subjective, sure. But there was a full on AD&D fight with flaming swords and a freaking undead bear. Right there, on screen! Viewers are spoiled these days. I spent a month once waiting for a schoolmate get me a dodgy VHS tape copy of a Hartnell black-and-white Doctor Who episode that was barely visible through the snowstorm and the sound was a full second out of sync. But it was AMAZING! I know I'm not alone in being so grateful that we have this show to watch - whatever faults it has with some of the writing and some of the pacing. So what? There was a freaking undead bear fight!

Yeah, but ... it was a million times worse that the bear attack in "The Revenant" (during which I almost forgot the breathe). I'd rather rewatch that  Seriously, good on you if you enjoy it, but the bear fight was b-movie stuff. It promised to be a great scene, but it made me laugh the way special effects from 1970s movies make me laugh. I'd rather rewatch the scene in the bear pit with Jamie and Brienne, which I thought was quite scary and very well done.

[Gargarax]

2 minutes ago, SuperMario said:

Episode gets a 2 from me. The good special effects and dragon death scene were the only thing that saved it from a 1.

Once again, why is Littlefinger still alive?

I'm sure Aidan Gillen asks himself the same question every week - it wouldn't surprise me if D&D receive weekly emails from him with that question as the subject line ...

[Ingelheim]

2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Really? I don't think either are good (Emilia has her rare moments but they are few and far between) but I still think Emilia the better of the two. Kit basically has one note, the gormless stare.' There is a reason I think his best performance was in Seven Days in Hell, where he played a gormless numpty. Emilia is also very wooden most of the times, but the right director seems to be able to bring out the odd moment where it seems she can act passably. (And I think she was fine this episode. Not outstanding, she isn't going to be winning awards (ornshouldnt, but, Emmys  ) but passable). 

I felt nothing at all from Kit's performance

Yeah, really. I think Kit was quite bland and wooden back in Season 1 and 2, but he's grown a lot since. His resurrection scene, for example, was pretty good acting by any standards. 

Emilia was at her best in Season 1. Since then...not so much.

[Meera of Tarth]

10 hours ago, goomba said:

yea  

and Drogon's emotional cry when he saw his brother fall. Truely emotional scene.

But I barely saw Dany drop a tear??

Edited August 22, 2017 by Meera of Tarth

[SuperMario]

15 minutes ago, Meera of Tarth said:

But I barely saw Dany drop a tear??

Well, how was she expected to cry for her dead child when the showrunners are ramming the forced relationship of Jonerys down our throats?

"See everyone! Clearly there is chemistry between them. She even cried for him!"

Poor Viserion. He can join Rickon and others in the Hall of Forgotten.

[SuperMario]

42 minutes ago, Gargarax said:

I'm sure Aidan Gillen asks himself the same question every week - it wouldn't surprise me if D&D receive weekly emails from him with that question as the subject line ...

 

[Ser Quork]

20 minutes ago, SuperMario said:

Well, how was she expected to cry for her dead child when the showrunners are ramming the forced relationship of Jonerys down our throats?

"See everyone! Clearly there is chemistry between them. She even cried for him!"

Poor Viserion. He can join Rickon and others in the Hall of Forgotten.

[Meera of Tarth]

36 minutes ago, SuperMario said:

Well, how was she expected to cry for her dead child when the showrunners are ramming the forced relationship of Jonerys down our throats?

"See everyone! Clearly there is chemistry between them. She even cried for him!"

Poor Viserion. He can join Rickon and others in the Hall of Forgotten.

Dany and Jon are pet neglecters.

Yeah, poor Viserion.

And Jonerys chemistry, oh!!! oh!!!!! Jonnie is Dany's dream. He called her Dany!

Hydrophobic substances have more chemistry with water than Jon or Dany have to each other on screen.

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

23 hours ago, Frances Bean Corbray said:

Modified McShane Scoring System (MMSS)

Dragons?  YES.  Tits?  NO (though we did see Kit Harrington topless and technically that means nipple-age, and the MMSS team does endeavor to represent and respect all orientations and preferences, and does aim to recognize tit-equivalents for other perspectives. Hmm.)

Okay we'll start at 6 out of 10 on the promise that topless dudes may count as tits for some audience segments.  So let's get to the bonuses and penalties.

No Alfie Allen in the opening credits.  Show, we have talked about this.  -1.  (5)

Seven Samurai In The Snow.  We cut back to this team several times to get in all the interaction and reaction to each other.  Some of it is interesting, some of it is amusing, some of it seems like conversations that maybe we should've had before they wandered into enemy territory with vastly reduced visibility, but whatever.  Gendry hasn't forgotten he hates the brotherhood and why -- he wanted to join them -- and they don't apologize because after all they're dedicated to Fire Jesus and the ends justify the means.  Good.  Jon addresses the Longclaw issue with Jorah and they give Jorah a believable motive for not taking it back, i.e. his respect for his father and his decision.  Good.  Thoros doesn't remember the Battle of Pyke because he was drunk.  Okay that's funny.  Tormund telling Sandor how he wants to make babies with Brienne, okay that's funny, ran a little long though.  And finally we get revenant chat with Jon and Beric.  "You don't look like your father" HO HO HO here's another reminder for the audience of Jon's true lineage.  Beric referencing the one time he met Ned was good, although remember when it was a relevant point that Jon looks VERY MUCH LIKE NED?  Guess Beric forgot this one of the 6 times he came back from the dead.  Anyway Beric drops a line I personally enjoy about "death is the enemy, the enemy always wins, but we fight him anyway."  Jon references the Night's Watch oath.  Does Beric's eyepatch symbolize tunnel vision?  Is it still tunnel vision if it's focused on the thing that actually IS most important?  I guess I'll give the preamble +.5 over all.  (5.5)

Sansa and Arya have an asshole contest.  I think Arya wins.  Hey, remember when Robb and Catelyn got that letter from Sansa and immediately knew it was horse shit because Sansa was a prisoner?  Neither do I, neither does anyone else.  Season 1 feels like a completely different show now.  Anyway, Arya's story about having to retrieve her one arrow over and over after each shot with Ned watching and applauding when she finally hit the target was enjoyable.  Rest of it kinda wasn't.  Arya walks up to her sister, the acting lord, threatens the fuck out of her, then walks away?  Guess she is Ned's daughter after all. -.5 (5)

ZOMBIE BEAR!  Okay that's fucking cool.  A redshirt dies, we establish Sandor is still pyrophobic, Thoros gets munched by a bear and Beric cauterizes the wound with his very handy flaming sword.  Remember this later.  +1 point for HOLY SHIT ZOMBIE BEAR. (6)

Sansa and Littlefinger establish that hey maybe keeping Brienne around for insurance is a good idea.  And it is.  REMEMBER THIS LATER.  WASH.

The Inglorious Basterds jump a small wight scouting party with one White Walker, who Jon busts with Longclaw [Jon WW Kill Count:  2] and all the wights save one collapse immediately.  Well that's convenient.  So they've figured out that White Walkers work like head vampires or whatever, except this one guy's gang had a transfer from another horde in it.  Whatever okay lets just get on with this.  They bound and gag the wight like a regular prisoner so they don't have to spend money on proesthetic stumps for for the extra I guess.  Not at least chopping the arms and legs off seems dumb here.  Gendry is dispatched sans hammer as a runner because "he's the fastest."  Not sure how they'd know this, I assume they're actually just being tactful about him being the weakest fighter of the gang.  Maybe we should've thought about this raven sending idea BEFORE we got to this point?  -.5 for letting us see the bolts of the plot rail. (5.5)

Tyrion addresses some logical concerns with Dany w.r.t. her not being able to have a successor thing, and her plan realistically requiring more than one generation.  Dany tells a smalldick joke w.r.t. Jon before apologizing to Tyrion for the "little" pun.  Really, show?  Scene recovers as Dany correctly establishes she doesn't want to put the succession cart before the taking the throne horse.  She also gets understandably heated at Tyrion and gets kinda paranoid about how much he seems to be thinking about her death.  Dany doesn't totally trust Tyrion and with how crap his plans have worked out for her, she honestly shouldn't.  +.5 because it's always nice when the director lets Emilia Clarke put an emotion besides The Badass Lack Of Emotion into the character. (6)

Remember when Sansa was talking shit about Ned and Robb being dumb a few episodes back?  IMMEDIATELY AFTER WE ESTABLISH KEEPING BRIENNE AROUND IS A GOOD IDEA AND SANSA ACCEPTS THE LOGIC SHE SENDS BRIENNE AWAY AS AN ENVOY TO KING'S LANDING JUST BECAUSE CERSEI WRITES TO THEM.  Now this is a dumb remove your protection move that is worthy of standing alongside classic Stark blunders of seasons past.  And Sansa should know better than anyone not to trust Cersei for a second.  And we JUST ESTABLISHED THE OPPOSITE OF DOING THIS IS A GOOD IDEA.  Minus a point and a half, because it's one thing to have a stupid plot contrivance in a show, it's another thing to imply something is stupid in a previous scene and then do it anyway.  (4.5)

Team Suicide Mission runs away, gets stuck on some thin ice and then has to run across it anyway, towards a convenient island of proper land in the middle.  Now, I'm not going to complain about how the ice holds for our heroes and not for the horde since there is, after all, a vast difference in weight between 8 dudes and THOUSANDS.  But man.  "Hey if we take out that leader they'll all drop."  "No!  We need to keep this one animated so we can show it as proof."  FIRST OF ALL, how the fuck you gonna get to the Night's King from here.  Second of all, if you could, you wouldn't need to prove shit to Cersei because you'd have dealt with this whole undead menace on your own.  So they're surrounded by a big ass horde and we get a standoff.  Thoros eventually either freezes to death or he's finally heard one too many dumb lines of dialogue and his brain peaces the fuck out.  Gendry, and coherent writing, have escaped clean.  Beric's super convenient omnitool sword which cauterized Thoros earlier now easily burns him.  Sandor kicking the wight POW at one point during the standoff because it won't shut up is funny, but otherwise this is pretty terrible.  We know SOMEHOW they're getting out of this but this show used to not put characters it means/needs to survive in situations where their survival is completely illogical.  minus 1 point (3.5)

Gendry collapses right before the Eastwatch Gate but close enough to be seen and dragged in because of course he does.  WASH.

Hey, you know who'd have been useful in relaying information from the Suicide Squad to Dany and also would be able to act far enough in advance to make it more plausible she could actually arrive in time?  BRAN.  Where the fuck is he and why isn't he tailing these guys with a crow all the while?  And come to think of it why is he letting Sansa and Arya misunderstand each other?  This is the problem with omniscient characters.  You have to come up with a reason WHY they don't act, or at least acknowledge that it's WEIRD they don't intervene and let the audience wonder why that is, and establish teasers and hints that we'll eventually figure it our or see why.  But no Bran this week.  -.5 (3)

Dany gets the message remarkably quickly Tyrion tells her to buckle her seatbelt or whatever but Dany's done listening to Tyrion because she's a strong woman who don't need a man and well actually Tyrion's kinda been full of bad advice for her so far, which she points out, so she should blow him off at this point.  Also clearly she gives a fuck about Jon and that's part of her motive here.  Then again, if she was worried enough about Jon to fly off and back him up.  Why.  Didn't.  She.  Leave.  Earlier.  Whatever.  WASH.  (3)

Sandor throws a rock and hits a jawless wight in the face and then calls it a dumb cunt.  Okay that's fucking hilarious.  He throws another rock and it lands short, which establishes the ice isn't all the fragile (somehow) so now the wights rush across the lake and we get an epic battle in which 7 stand against thousands and only take a redshirt casualty.  Jon shouts "fall back" at one point and everyone watching the world over immediately sasses their TV/computer screen "LOL TO WHERE?" Honestly at this point I'm FFWing to when Dany shows up only stopping if it looks like a named character is in the process of biting it, so I may have cheated myself out of the effect of the Tormund death fake out.  But then didn't they do a Tormund death fake out during Battle Of The Bastards?  Anyway Dany rides in and roasts some fools, and every body piles on Drogon's back without buckling up (Sandor, however, wisely skewers the POW Wight on a convenient spike on Drogon's back).  Oh but what's this Jon is playing hero ball for some reason, and that reason is so we can do another heroic sacrifice that ends up not actually being a sacrifice because Death Fakeouts Are Cool.  Drogon flies away with everybody except Jon, who gets dragged under and then left alone by the horde.  Jon holds his breath in freezing ass water for like 10 minutes or whatever and drags himself out after everyone has sadly flown away.  Visually fun but man is this show's downturn in writing showing.  -1.5 (1.5)

Okay with that out of the way, the cool bits about this segment.  THE NIGHT'S KING GIVES NO FUCKS ABOUT YOUR DRAGONS.  There's a little detail that I really enjoyed, and that is there is, at one point, a line/wall of fire on the ground from burning wights.  Now, this time, mind you, it's actual dragon fire, not regular fire.  And again, we see the Night's King walk towards it and automatically snuff it out with his presence.  Even dragonfire isn't Walker Proof.  Taking these guys out won't be so easy after all   Anyway, as you'd expect from a completely alien intellect like The One True King of Westeros and Beyond, the Night's King is unemotional and unphased by the arrival of the dragons and their laying waste to his army.  He calls for an ice spear from one of his associates and grounds Viserion with one javelin throw that would put artillery fire to shame, let alone an olympian.  Which would be more ridiculous except we've firmly established this guy is super magical so why the fuck not.  Night's King flexing, I will always reward. +1 (2.5)

Jon resurfaces and the horde notices.  BENJEN STARK TO THE RESCUE.  Okay I didn't think to see that coming.  Anyway Benjen ends up making the heroic sacrifice because fuck it he's technically dead anyway, giving up his horse and drawing aggro while Jon runs way.  There you go Jon, you found your uncle.  Hah.  +.5 for actually surprising me. (3)

Sansa breaks into Arya's room and holy shit is this terrible.  First of all Arya keeps her faces in a messenger bag we've never seen on her in previous scenes.  Second of all the messenger bag is modern looking as fuck and I'm surprised they even remembered to make it out of leather (although to be fair the props department has generally done a really good job on this show even when the writing hasn't).  Third of all Arya does this "let's play a game" shit.  Then Arya peels off her mask to reveal it was really Ramsay all along.  And again Arya basically tells Sansa I am going to fucking kill you and then...doesn't.  And hands over Sansa the valyrian dagger Chekov.  What a wet fart of a scene. If Arya were actually going to go evil this might work better.  But it seems like they're trying to make Littlefinger's death "shocking" by not doing any set up to have make any sense.  In the meantime, Arya and Sansa should be literally getting ready to kill each other in self-defense.  Which would be tremendously powerful and tragic if they did it (much as I would hate to see it).  But they won't. -1.5 (1.5)

LOVE, however, the Dany/Jon scene. Tangent time:  Emilia Clarke's performance in the Dany role has gotten a lot of criticism over the years, here and elsewhere.  Her Dany has often been called wooden, and worse.  I've never thought the criticism has been completely fair.  Especially now, in later seasons, where I think it's more clear that there's a director/writer problem than an actor problem with several characters on the show.  TL;DR Clarke does bring a decent amount of believable emotion to the role, it's just that she is rarely asked to do so.  So I like scenes where Dany lets her public mask of stoicism slip and loses some composure; Clarke does these moments on the show really well, actually, they're just scarce moments.  I still don't really feel LOVERS chemistry from the Jon and Dany characters yet but I finally got to see FRIENDS from them this week, and much of that is due to an all-too-rare (i.m.o.) scene with Dany showing someone the real her.  Also, due to the circumstances of the scene Dany has seen Jon's scars.  She doesn't ask him about them yet but that's coming, I'm sure, since she can see "stabbed in the heart" isn't just hyperbole after all.  +1 (2.5)

Okay where the fuck did the army of the dead get those big ass chains?  -.5 (2)

HOLY SHIT ZOMBIE ICE DRAGON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Knew this was coming, of course, but the scene was well timed as far as giving the audience time to have anticipation and anxiety build up before the final payoff, of that giant dragon eye springing open bright blue.  +1 (3)

3 out of 10 overall.

Much like last week the show is good visually and musically and is consistently delivering on cathartic big moments and amusing character interactions, but the path it takes to get to those moments is terrible, as the writing is actively harmful to suspension of disbelief.  Once again the show is FUN without necessarily being GOOD, and it's painfully noticeable in relation to previous seasons.  This show isn't as good as it used to be and perhaps the most frustrating thing about that is it isn't too far away from being almost as good as it was, and yet that final step towards cohesion is no longer being taken.  Stuff like Jon forgetting that bringing a wight to Cersei is the means to an end (dumb as it is) and not the actual end itself.  Ugh.  Anyway this show used to reward the audience for paying close attention to detail and now it punishes the audience for it with glaring inconsistencies in internal logic.  I don't mind a show I have to turn my brain off to enjoy.  It's just weird and jarring to watch a show turn into that kind of show after making so much hay in early seasons by not being that kind of show. 

Whatever fucking zombie ice dragon \m/ \m/

 

 

I would just like to say I love your reviews! 

[Lya's Winter Rose]

7/10

+ Fantastic use of suspense and action

+ Great acting from Kit and Emilia

+ Jon and Dany's relationship and romance, albeit slightly rushed, has been almost perfect so far

+ Viserion's death

+ Finally addresses Daenerys' succession problem 

- Teleportation and time made no sense

- Worst writing since "foreign invasion"

- Saved by the bell trope is too cliche and Hollywood-esque 

- The continuous butchering of Petyr Baelish, Arya, and Sansa