[Spoilers] Rant and Rave Without Repercussion

[moey reed]

what the hell was that trainwreck???

and i seriously get tired of explaining major plotlines to my non-reader friends while watching cause DnD keep messing things up, so that the viewers get all confused at all the stuff they try to hint at.

[The Boastful Knight]

I've been mostly absent from these threads this season because there wasn't very much to talk about the individual episodes themselves. Everything happened the way that I believe most viewers expected to happen, even the unsullied.

All in all, I would call this season the Season of Fanfiction Wankery and Plot Convenience. Like the last three seasons, but this one was extra fanfiction-ey. I hope the books will differ in at least some major plot points, first of all, so that the show didn't ruin everything and second, so that they won't be this stupid. I mean, talk about bad writing! This season was D&D's finest in that it was the worst. 

Where to begin? I'll just go through the main characters, it'll be enough to demonstrate this rampage of stupidity. Bran, just out of the blue, is an emotionless weirdo, who is also a very important oracle of some sorts, because he is now the "three-eyed raven". I'm sorry, but I don't remember the old man being like this EVER. Sure he was stoic I guess, but he wasn't an ass like Bran is now. And why in the hell didn't he just tell them about Littlefinger being the turncloak asshole that he is UNTIL THE VERY END?!!! He knew!!! He sees the past now!!! What, did he just want Sansa and Arya to come to the same conclusion?!!! What if they didn't?!!! What if Littlefinger's plan to turn them against each other really worked?!!! What then Brandon the "Three-eyed raven" Stark huh?!!! And of course he knows all about Jon's parentage, but he didn't know Rhaegar married Lyanna (what stupidity that is also, I REALLY hope it'll be different in the books). WHY?!! Sam had to tell him, but we NEVER SAW Sam get this realization, he even ignored the information when Gilly read it to him OUT LOUD because he was busy bitching about something. Huh?!! I guess he put two and two together when Bran told him the truth about Jon, but then again, it seemed like he already knew. Whatever...

Ok, next. Arya, well she is also weird now and can beat Brienne in a swordfigth. WHEN DID SHE LEARN THAT AND WHEN DID SHE BECOME LIKE THAT?!!! Last season, when she left Braavos, she was pretty much her old self after deciding on not wanting to be no one (that whole "she is no one" thing still confuses the hell out of me but I digress). OK she killed the Waif and Meryn Trant before that but she didn't have this strange demeanor oh and she wasn't this super-duper master assassin either. She became that between episodes, how I don't know.  Anyway, all she had this season was this fake animosity and rivalry with Sansa. And we know it was fake, because they worked together to bring down Littlefinger. So why did we have all those scenes where it seemed like they really hate each other? Even when there was no one else there. Hell, the majority of their scenes were like that. To trick the audience, you see! Well, OK, but it's not tricking the audience when the scenes themselves convey one very clear thing and then after pulling a 180, it's turned upside down. It's just stupid. Well, what if at first they really hated each other but then later figured it out? Well, that's a possibility but the show never gave any clue to the audience on that. It was literally one thing then it became another.

Speaking of Littlefinger, he is finally dead, which is good, because show LF was a moron, who deserved to die. What is not good is how stupid his death scene was. He was literally executed without a formal trial and without real evidence. There were just two witness testimonies, one of which was a vision of a crippled boy, who everyone believes now I guess. The honourable northmen just wanted him dead I guess, because none objected to what happened. Or rather, D&D wanted to kill off a character they didn't know what to do with so they did what they do best, write something stupid. He didn't even ask for a trial by combat, which would have been easy enough (before you ask who would have fought for him, he could have easily payed someone, the Starks didn't have a Gregor Clegane at their disposal after all). But D&D just didn't wanna deal with him anymore. But still, good riddance I say.

On with the Starks, we have Jon, who really is Aegon and OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!!! First, he boinks his aunt, but that we could see from a thousand miles away (because D&D know subtlety like I know quantum physics, which is to say NOT AT ALL). His dad is Rhaegar and his mom is Lyanna. We also knew that. But, here comes the stupid. Rhaegar married Lyanna IN SECRET! What a TWIST! So Jon isn't really a bastard! He is, in fact, the true King of Westeros! What a brilliant piece of writing! D&D are truly great masters of their craft!!! It's not at all a twist because of a tired, clichéd and overused trope that completely nullifies seven seasons of supposed character growth and development for Jon, whose entire arc rested on the premise that he was a bastard, a fact so central to his identity that it defined and influenced every decision he had ever made, even going to the Wall in the first place. No, no, no it's quality TV writing. No, it's even more than that. It's HBO writing! Get the f outta here!!! 

The rest of his stuff war serviceable, Kit Harrington's performance even seemed better than before this season, but maybe that's just because he was paired with better actors this time (NOT meaning Emilia Clarke, sadly, but I'll get to her). His quest beyond the wall and its conclusion was idiocy yet again, though. Firstly, everyone teleports now, not just the Original Teleporter, Littlefinger, who strangely enough stayed at the same place this year. But back to Jon. So he and everyone else teleports to everywhere (maybe unlike me, D&D DO know quantum physics, if not writing) and Jon started by teleporting to Dragonstone from Winterfell, then back to the Wall and beyond. How much time did all this take? No idea, I'm sure even D&D don't know. The characters move at the speed of the plot. That should be good enough for everyone. If not, tough luck. 

More importantly, watching his Merry Band of Fanfiction Circlejerkery  go on the quest was an absolute joy. We had everyone, I mean everyone who had funny one liners BY SOME DIVINE MIRACLE (Berric says that much in the show) on this quest.  It was a battle of funny one liners inside of a real battle! Aren't you glad, dear viewer? Didn't you want to see the Hound and Tormund crack jokes at each other? Didn't you?!! Well no, actually, what I wanted was less fanservice and more substance. But if you did, then D&D are here to satisfy your every need of fanfiction, because that's what they've been feeding you for some time now, and some rotten, spoiled one at that. 

The quest itself, yet again, was so by the numbers, so generic. A zombie bear! Then more zombies! They catch one! Thoros dies! Who cares? Gendry runs! The Nightking comes! They send a letter to Dany! She flies beyond the wall and she finds Jon's team easily! It's so easy to do! How fast can a dragon fly? Didn't she freeze up there? Didn't Jon's team freeze? Who cares? Dragon, battle, burning zombies! The Nightking kills a dragon then raises him from the dead! He is practically a poor man's Lich King now (with way less cooler armour and weapon)! Yay!!!

It seems like all is lost and Jon is dead but out of freaking nowhere Benjen comes and saves him! How did he know he was there needing saving? Who cares? He's dead now, even though he was already kinda dead or wasn't he?!! It doesn't matter, Jon is saved and he serves Dany now. Because she saved his team I guess. 

Everyone in universe praises Dany this season but other than saving Jon's and his team's asses she didn't do very much aside from listening to Tyrion's plans, carrying them out and watching them fail. Why is she employing him again? The only time she should have listened to him was when she burned the Tarlys, that was quite stupid of her if she wanted to project a different image than her father had. I don't like how the power levels of the war's participants are changing from episode to episode. First, Dany is in the lead, then three of her allies are taken out so that puts the Lannisters in a better position. But she has dragons! So she wins ONE battle with them and suddenly the Lannisters are losing again. But she had dragons from the beginning!!! So why didn't she use them? Oh because she didn't wanna burn King's Landing! Fine, but why didn't she try to find and burn Euron's fleet for example? That would have been useful! 

Okay so, then we have Cersei, who goes total psycho, she is very ruthless, you guys. I hope the show made it clear. If not, I'll say it again: she is ruthless and cold! Her last piece of humanity died with her children! D&D said so. Weren't you listening?!!! Oh but she"s pregnant! So that humanizes her again I guess. And she agrees to Dany's terms! Or does she? No, she acts like a moron and double-crosses them and Jaime (the first for show Jaime in a long time) tells her like it is, and then ragequits. 

What else? Euron is crazy, people, very crazy. He is crazy!!! Did I mention that he is crazy?

To be fair, there were some things I liked, even individual scenes that I liked. It's just the way that they are connected that bothers me. For example, Jon's conversation with Berric about their duties. That was nice, it had at least a little bit of meaning and substance behind it. Oh and Theon's conversation with Jon was also very good, Alfie Allen was really shining there, that's who I meant for example when I said that Harrington was paired with better actors. 

The effects also look good, they undoubtedly blew a big chunk of their budget on the last scene alone, I would guess. Fewer episodes also helped I'd imagine, more money for each one. 

[Greywater-Watch]

7 hours ago, Oursisthechicken said:

Why is Bronze Yohn still in the north, there are two mad queens with teleporting armies raging war all over the country but the Vale army sees no need to protect their home and liege lord.

Because Sansa wanted the Vale army to be stuck in Winterfell. Shortly before the auction for teleport licenses begun, she told Lord Royce to take care of the fur inlays for armours, so he missed the auction.

[Armand Gargalen]

2 hours ago, darmody said:

If we had omniscient, magical, tree-worshiping raven-people in real life, then we wouldn't need trials. But that doesn't exist in this world, nor was it known to exist in the Universe-os until like two seconds ago.

We don't even know if Sansa and Arya know about Bran's superpowers, let alone the whole court. There's no reason for most people to believe they know for sure Littlefinger is guilty of most of the crimes of which he's accused. 

Even if Littlefinger confesses, which he did to killing Auntie Lysa, there would still be an official process, I should think. Which is a good thing, no matter how certain are those passing judgement. 

Well said. I have started a thread about this issue, and the dire consequences it has for the narrative. Once it is approved I will include a link in this thread, because I think this is a fascinating issue to debate about.

[Nowy Tends]

1 hour ago, The Boastful Knight said:

His dad is Rhaegar and his mom is Lyanna. We also knew that. But, here comes the stupid. Rhaegar married Lyanna IN SECRET! What a TWIST! So Jon isn't really a bastard! He is, in fact, the true King of Westeros! What a brilliant piece of writing! D&D are truly great masters of their craft!!!

How can you be sure that this marriage will not occur in the books to come?

[Armand Gargalen]

8 minutes ago, Nowy Tends said:

How can you be sure that this marriage will not occur in the books to come?

Because GRRM holds a degree in History and it is perfectly aware than a secret marriage is an oxymoron.

A marriage is a public contract between two families, and it is done publicly for the whole of the society to acknowledge it.

A secret romance is plausible, a secret marriage makes no sense.

[Raven Banner]

13 hours ago, Snormund said:

Pretty sure I came up with Todd Snow on my own

I stand corrected

[RhaenysBee]

This is what the world has come to.

I mean if this is the general opinion, I don't think I want to live in this world. I mean how dumb are people actually? And I suppose D&D feel justified.  Oh god... 

[Maid So Fair]

4 hours ago, darmody said:

Just think of the logistics. They're acting like the Army of Dead is coming tomorrow. (And they're right, thanks to the dragon they gifted to it!) Before going North, they travel to King's Landing. Which isn't far from Dragonstone, relatively speaking. But it is far from Eastwatch, where Dany and Jon were a second ago.

It's pretty far away from Casterly Rock, where the Unsullied were hanging out last we checked. The Dothraki were nearby, having recently destroyed the Lannister/Reach army. (I think?) But there are like 100,000 or whatever of them. At least that's a figure I remember hearing once. They have to ride in, screaming for some reason, to sit before they match where they're needed. 

A giant undertaking for a bit of theater. Especially when, if you have threatened to burn the Red Keep down should negotiations fail, you have your high-speed transportation and Death from Above machines at the ready. 

I've been trying to ignore logistics because thinking about that tends to give me a headache, but you are of course absolutely right.

Dany, Jon & co, being perfectly aware that the AoD is a short run away from Eastwatch cross half the continent to go have a chat with Cersei in KL. It's like they're asking for the Wall to fall and basically desertion of their people. For some reason, Tormund and Beric even look surprised when the NK inevitably shows up. 

And while I never thought of this until you mentioned it, the fact that instead of telling her troops to march North immediately Dany would rather send them to KL (that she has no intention of attacking apparently) to waste time is even worse. Hell, this would have been a great way to set up some tension if Team Dany walked into the meeting knowing their armies are far away and their only protection if Cersei pulls some shit is Drogon and a few mooks they took along. As always, spectacle over logic.

[Mister Stoneheart]

Can we talk about the ridiculous amount of dick jokes the showrunners employ?

No, actually, it would be nice NOT to talk about it.

Dick jokes are part of their arsenal; dick jokes are in their blood.

Theon winning the fight because he has no dick!!!  Hahahahaha.  What a fun plot element (not).

Hey Tormund says 'I like dick' to the Hound, about the usage of that word instead of cock, but we the audience laugh as it's totally inappropriate, and he has no idea what he's really saying.  Hahaha, dick joke!  A homophobic one, too!

Bronn, who in my opinion, serves as the voice of the showrunners (past forty, juvenile, an aging frat-bro, loves dick jokes), gets a good guffaw at DICK-on!  Haha, his name has DICK in it!  *chortle*

There's more examples but I don't even want to go there.

I fully expect everything to wrap up in the fifth episode next year, and the sixth episode will be all the cool one-liner bros topping each other with dick jokes, and then wrapping it up with lighting their farts on fire, while the only females left in the show (probably Arya, Sansa and maybe Brienne) watch on stoically as proud strong women.  Somewhere in there, Arya or Sansa or perhaps both will start making out with Brienne because that's what strong women do. 

Can't wait.

[Lady Fevre Dream]

22 hours ago, 7th-key said:

 Holly Macaroni's animated ep07 recap:

I really loved the point about Viserion feeling more fulfilled and recognized within his new job in the White Walker enterprise.

LOL  I love the Kangaroos just hanging out for Sansa's court.

[Armand Gargalen]

54 minutes ago, RhaenysB said:

This is what the world has come to.

I mean if this is the general opinion, I don't think I want to live in this world. I mean how dumb are people actually? And I suppose D&D feel justified.  Oh god... 

Quote

What do you think of Jon and Dany?

A. I ship it. They´re meant to be.

B. It´s super gross. Incest!

C. It´s badly written and acted. It´s cliched, predictable and boring. Their characters and their romance make no sense whatsoever.

[digiFemme]

I don't understand what they are doing with Bran. There are all these awesome ways he could've used his powers to aid in the war or even the zombie hunt but he just tells them the 'zombies are coming'. No sh-t, sherlock. If I had the power to see what everyone was doing, I'd use it to help people, not say stuff to make others (ex: scene with sansa) angry. I am sure he has a purpose, I just can't figure out what it is right now :/ While I like Bran's character, I am more than a bit disappointed and bored with what I've been seeing of him. If only they made use of the warg powers a bit more...don't all the Stark's have them with their wolves or something? 

I don't understand Jaime. He's so surprised that Cersei is backing out of the truce? When he's been with her his whole life and now his 'eyes are open' to how she is- in just that one instant? I know love is blind, but this is way too much. He should've taken more issue with her once she blew up Baelor and all the people in it, not anytime after that. But he won't even hear anyone (dame Olenna) say anything bad of her? 

The scene in the last episode where they have their last meeting- Daenerys looked pretty afraid of Cersei there. Why on earth did they direct the actress emilia clarke to look afraid- when there is no reason the character she is playing should be? Dany is in KL but she bought her whole army with her, not to mention her dragons...and for Cersei to call her a usurper and not have Dany answer back seems pretty out of character for Dany. Compare how docile she is in this scene with how she is with every other character. The time she meets jon she is pretty feisty, always has a rebuttal for everything he has to say. What happened? 

I get why people are unsatisfied with the Littlefinger exposition scene. While I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't happy with the outcome (he had it coming) there were better ways to execute it. I agree with the poster that suggested Sansa should have laid all her cards on the table...maybe tell Lord Royce and the lords of the vale everything about what happened in the Eyrie so that it couldn't be used against her. I notice that the writers tend to favor plot twists that surprise the audience even if they don't work well for the narrative. I had a similar issue last season when Arya faced the waif. She pretty much looked like she was in the losing end during the entire Braavos arc when she was training with that girl..but she turns out to be the victor in the end? I have no doubt that she did* turn out to be a fine assassin, I just can't figure out when it happened. Because we aren't allowed to see how she got from this point to the next- all so we can get anxious til we get to the plot twist in the end.

[Nowy Tends]

1 hour ago, Armand Gargalen said:

Because GRRM holds a degree in History and it is perfectly aware than a secret marriage is an oxymoron.

A marriage is a public contract between two families, and it is done publicly for the whole of the society to acknowledge it.

A secret romance is plausible, a secret marriage makes no sense.

Yes, theorically. but, err… there are plenty of people who marry "in secret", because their respective family wouldn't agree… or for some other reason:

In 1683 King Louis XIV married secretly Françoise Scarron, grand daughter of poet Agrippa d'Aubigné (a hughenot rebel)…

[Armand Gargalen]

1 hour ago, RhaenysB said:

This is what the world has come to.

I mean if this is the general opinion, I don't think I want to live in this world. I mean how dumb are people actually? And I suppose D&D feel justified.  Oh god... 

Some shocking responses:

Quote

 

What did you think of the pace?

The plot is finally moving. It was great! 68%

 

Quote

 

What did you think of the Winterfell storyline?

Hated the fighting between the sisters, but Littlefinger's death was satisfying 66%

LOVED it all! It all made sense 29%

 

Quote

 

What is the best season so far?

Seven 39%

Six 24%

One 9%

 

This world is going to the dogs

[Lady Fevre Dream]

10 hours ago, Oursisthechicken said:

I´ve been lurking in these threads for 5 years,

But after this season I need to rant too.

Oh boy, where shall I start... 

- Why are the kingsguard all wearing black?

- Is there even a kingsguard?

- Drogon could/should've roasted Cersei and Euron right there, according to show logic when the head of the house dies all their armies commit mass suicide, for reference see the Reach and Dorne armies being non existant.

- Why is Cersei still alive? Why is she queen? My guess is that in the show if you kill someone you inherit all their titles, the sand snakes killed doran and Dorne was ruled by a bunch of bastards for awhile, I guess Arya is now the new lord protector of the Vale and Lord Paramount of the Trident. 

- Why is Bronze Yohn still in the north, there are two mad queens with teleporting armies raging war all over the country but the Vale army sees no need to protect their home and liege lord.

- Where are all the lords? Who controls the riverlands? Walder Frey is dead, LF the lord paramount is also dead and Edmure is MIA. Who controls the Stormlands? Who controls Dorne? There 7 Kingdoms and  yet in the show it seems Westeros is the size of a football field.

- Where is the night's watch?

- Arya trained to be an assassin! The main prerogative of being an assassin is killing your victims with stealth not challenge them to a duel, she has no business fighting on equal footing with the likes of Brienne.

- SO MUUUUUCCHHHH FAN SERVICE!! And memes WTF am I watching. One of my favorite characters from the book ( Lord Davos Seaworth) was turned into a meme machine sidekick.

- Robert's Rebellion was based on a lie??? ( I said this in the proper thread but I'll say it here too) The only lie about RR is the death of Prince Lewin Martel,l the man fought to protect the rights of his niece and grandnephew. But guess what Lewin? You died side by side with a douche that disowned Elia and her children and he didnt even had the guts to tell you, what a class act that Rhaegar guy was...

- Sam Tarly cured the motherfcking plague!!! A disease that has been killing people for centuries yet in this shitshow that fact was completly glossed over, like it happens every other tuesday.

- Emilia Clarke CANT ACT!! Watch any thing shes in and cringe,shes not just terrible has Dany, she was a terrible Sarah Connor and she was also terrible in Jude Law's Dom Hemingway.

- Mr Viserionchtev tear down that wall ( The night king is Ronald Reagan). Now seriously if he hadnt been gifted a dragon what was the plan? Roam the frozen wastes till some guy ( there is no nights watch) letf a door through the wall open?

- The show became boring, predictable and dumb, the exact opposite of ASOIAF. 

- Finally when you sacrifice plot consistence and logic to have cool cinematic shots ( the chains, the wight in KL not moving or making any noises and so) you enter the realm of the Fast and Furious franchise and that is not quality TV, why this garbage praised?

Thank you guys for five years of laughter hope to participate more in 2019 when S8 hits and hope that we all have TWoW in our homes by then.

Edit: Phrasing (Boom!) and syntax

I love your notion of Westeros being the size of a football field. 

[Armand Gargalen]

1 minute ago, Nowy Tends said:

Yes, theorically. but, err… there are plenty of people who marry "in secret", because their respective family wouldn't agree… or for some other reason:

In 1683 King Louis XIV married secretly Françoise Scarron, grand daughter of poet Agrippa d'Aubigné (a hughenot rebel)…

Well, I suppose that if you are powerful enough (Louis XIV is the epitome of the absolute monarch) and single and want to marry someone your family does not approve, you can pull it off. He did not really need a wife, he just wanted to have sex with her without being a sinner and not acknowledging the marriage. We know this happened because some people wrote about it afterwards. 

But any children they had would not have a bigger claim than a bastard.

[digiFemme]

 

8 minutes ago, Nowy Tends said:

Yes, theorically. but, err… there are plenty of people who marry "in secret", because their respective family wouldn't agree… or for some other reason:

In 1683 King Louis XIV married secretly Françoise Scarron, grand daughter of poet Agrippa d'Aubigné (a hughenot rebel)…

I think Louis XIV marraige to madame Scarron was more of an open secret. From what I've read on it, everyone at court knew about it, and it was considered valid. Only that since Madame Scarron was a commoner, their marraige was morganatic- she couldn't inherit any titles (she couldn't be called Queen, etc) and neither could any children they had. It's a bit different from what Rhaegar and Lyanna had which only Ned Stark and the Septon knew about. Also, Lyanna is of noble birth and not a commoner.

 

[Lady Fevre Dream]

3 hours ago, The Boastful Knight said:

I've been mostly absent from these threads this season because there wasn't very much to talk about the individual episodes themselves. Everything happened the way that I believe most viewers expected to happen, even the unsullied.

All in all, I would call this season the Season of Fanfiction Wankery and Plot Convenience. Like the last three seasons, but this one was extra fanfiction-ey. I hope the books will differ in at least some major plot points, first of all, so that the show didn't ruin everything and second, so that they won't be this stupid. I mean, talk about bad writing! This season was D&D's finest in that it was the worst. 

Where to begin? I'll just go through the main characters, it'll be enough to demonstrate this rampage of stupidity. Bran, just out of the blue, is an emotionless weirdo, who is also a very important oracle of some sorts, because he is now the "three-eyed raven". I'm sorry, but I don't remember the old man being like this EVER. Sure he was stoic I guess, but he wasn't an ass like Bran is now. And why in the hell didn't he just tell them about Littlefinger being the turncloak asshole that he is UNTIL THE VERY END?!!! He knew!!! He sees the past now!!! What, did he just want Sansa and Arya to come to the same conclusion?!!! What if they didn't?!!! What if Littlefinger's plan to turn them against each other really worked?!!! What then Brandon the "Three-eyed raven" Stark huh?!!! And of course he knows all about Jon's parentage, but he didn't know Rhaegar married Lyanna (what stupidity that is also, I REALLY hope it'll be different in the books). WHY?!! Sam had to tell him, but we NEVER SAW Sam get this realization, he even ignored the information when Gilly read it to him OUT LOUD because he was busy bitching about something. Huh?!! I guess he put two and two together when Bran told him the truth about Jon, but then again, it seemed like he already knew. Whatever...

Ok, next. Arya, well she is also weird now and can beat Brienne in a swordfigth. WHEN DID SHE LEARN THAT AND WHEN DID SHE BECOME LIKE THAT?!!! Last season, when she left Braavos, she was pretty much her old self after deciding on not wanting to be no one (that whole "she is no one" thing still confuses the hell out of me but I digress). OK she killed the Waif and Meryn Trant before that but she didn't have this strange demeanor oh and she wasn't this super-duper master assassin either. She became that between episodes, how I don't know.  Anyway, all she had this season was this fake animosity and rivalry with Sansa. And we know it was fake, because they worked together to bring down Littlefinger. So why did we have all those scenes where it seemed like they really hate each other? Even when there was no one else there. Hell, the majority of their scenes were like that. To trick the audience, you see! Well, OK, but it's not tricking the audience when the scenes themselves convey one very clear thing and then after pulling a 180, it's turned upside down. It's just stupid. Well, what if at first they really hated each other but then later figured it out? Well, that's a possibility but the show never gave any clue to the audience on that. It was literally one thing then it became another.

Speaking of Littlefinger, he is finally dead, which is good, because show LF was a moron, who deserved to die. What is not good is how stupid his death scene was. He was literally executed without a formal trial and without real evidence. There were just two witness testimonies, one of which was a vision of a crippled boy, who everyone believes now I guess. The honourable northmen just wanted him dead I guess, because none objected to what happened. Or rather, D&D wanted to kill off a character they didn't know what to do with so they did what they do best, write something stupid. He didn't even ask for a trial by combat, which would have been easy enough (before you ask who would have fought for him, he could have easily payed someone, the Starks didn't have a Gregor Clegane at their disposal after all). But D&D just didn't wanna deal with him anymore. But still, good riddance I say.

On with the Starks, we have Jon, who really is Aegon and OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!!! First, he boinks his aunt, but that we could see from a thousand miles away (because D&D know subtlety like I know quantum physics, which is to say NOT AT ALL). His dad is Rhaegar and his mom is Lyanna. We also knew that. But, here comes the stupid. Rhaegar married Lyanna IN SECRET! What a TWIST! So Jon isn't really a bastard! He is, in fact, the true King of Westeros! What a brilliant piece of writing! D&D are truly great masters of their craft!!! It's not at all a twist because of a tired, clichéd and overused trope that completely nullifies seven seasons of supposed character growth and development for Jon, whose entire arc rested on the premise that he was a bastard, a fact so central to his identity that it defined and influenced every decision he had ever made, even going to the Wall in the first place. No, no, no it's quality TV writing. No, it's even more than that. It's HBO writing! Get the f outta here!!! 

The rest of his stuff war serviceable, Kit Harrington's performance even seemed better than before this season, but maybe that's just because he was paired with better actors this time (NOT meaning Emilia Clarke, sadly, but I'll get to her). His quest beyond the wall and its conclusion was idiocy yet again, though. Firstly, everyone teleports now, not just the Original Teleporter, Littlefinger, who strangely enough stayed at the same place this year. But back to Jon. So he and everyone else teleports to everywhere (maybe unlike me, D&D DO know quantum physics, if not writing) and Jon started by teleporting to Dragonstone from Winterfell, then back to the Wall and beyond. How much time did all this take? No idea, I'm sure even D&D don't know. The characters move at the speed of the plot. That should be good enough for everyone. If not, tough luck. 

More importantly, watching his Merry Band of Fanfiction Circlejerkery  go on the quest was an absolute joy. We had everyone, I mean everyone who had funny one liners BY SOME DIVINE MIRACLE (Berric says that much in the show) on this quest.  It was a battle of funny one liners inside of a real battle! Aren't you glad, dear viewer? Didn't you want to see the Hound and Tormund crack jokes at each other? Didn't you?!! Well no, actually, what I wanted was less fanservice and more substance. But if you did, then D&D are here to satisfy your every need of fanfiction, because that's what they've been feeding you for some time now, and some rotten, spoiled one at that. 

The quest itself, yet again, was so by the numbers, so generic. A zombie bear! Then more zombies! They catch one! Thoros dies! Who cares? Gendry runs! The Nightking comes! They send a letter to Dany! She flies beyond the wall and she finds Jon's team easily! It's so easy to do! How fast can a dragon fly? Didn't she freeze up there? Didn't Jon's team freeze? Who cares? Dragon, battle, burning zombies! The Nightking kills a dragon then raises him from the dead! He is practically a poor man's Lich King now (with way less cooler armour and weapon)! Yay!!!

It seems like all is lost and Jon is dead but out of freaking nowhere Benjen comes and saves him! How did he know he was there needing saving? Who cares? He's dead now, even though he was already kinda dead or wasn't he?!! It doesn't matter, Jon is saved and he serves Dany now. Because she saved his team I guess. 

Everyone in universe praises Dany this season but other than saving Jon's and his team's asses she didn't do very much aside from listening to Tyrion's plans, carrying them out and watching them fail. Why is she employing him again? The only time she should have listened to him was when she burned the Tarlys, that was quite stupid of her if she wanted to project a different image than her father had. I don't like how the power levels of the war's participants are changing from episode to episode. First, Dany is in the lead, then three of her allies are taken out so that puts the Lannisters in a better position. But she has dragons! So she wins ONE battle with them and suddenly the Lannisters are losing again. But she had dragons from the beginning!!! So why didn't she use them? Oh because she didn't wanna burn King's Landing! Fine, but why didn't she try to find and burn Euron's fleet for example? That would have been useful! 

Okay so, then we have Cersei, who goes total psycho, she is very ruthless, you guys. I hope the show made it clear. If not, I'll say it again: she is ruthless and cold! Her last piece of humanity died with her children! D&D said so. Weren't you listening?!!! Oh but she"s pregnant! So that humanizes her again I guess. And she agrees to Dany's terms! Or does she? No, she acts like a moron and double-crosses them and Jaime (the first for show Jaime in a long time) tells her like it is, and then ragequits. 

What else? Euron is crazy, people, very crazy. He is crazy!!! Did I mention that he is crazy?

To be fair, there were some things I liked, even individual scenes that I liked. It's just the way that they are connected that bothers me. For example, Jon's conversation with Berric about their duties. That was nice, it had at least a little bit of meaning and substance behind it. Oh and Theon's conversation with Jon was also very good, Alfie Allen was really shining there, that's who I meant for example when I said that Harrington was paired with better actors. 

The effects also look good, they undoubtedly blew a big chunk of their budget on the last scene alone, I would guess. Fewer episodes also helped I'd imagine, more money for each one. 

I do have to give you great props for noticing that Littlefinger, the original and originator of the Teleporter Extraordinaire being just about the only one stuck in the same place all season.  There's so much mess going on, sometimes it is hard to notice the little things.  Thank you for noticing, LOL

[Tadco26]

31 minutes ago, digiFemme said:

I don't understand what they are doing with Bran. There are all these awesome ways he could've used his powers to aid in the war or even the zombie hunt but he just tells them the 'zombies are coming'. No sh-t, sherlock. If I had the power to see what everyone was doing, I'd use it to help people, not say stuff to make others (ex: scene with sansa) angry. I am sure he has a purpose, I just can't figure out what it is right now :/ While I like Bran's character, I am more than a bit disappointed and bored with what I've been seeing of him. If only they made use of the warg powers a bit more...don't all the Stark's have them with their wolves or something? 

My prediction is that Bran never leaves the cave in the books and at best he sends messages to people through the Weirwood.  So even if he knew things, he couldn't communicate them as easily and as convincingly as in the show.  They changed it in the show so they didn't have to shoot seperate Bran scenes or try to come up with a convincing way for him to communicate with others, as well as a way to shoe horn in the Littlefinger trial where having an all knowing psychic allows them to have the gotcha moment surprise that barely makes sense even with the psychic on their side.

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I don't understand Jaime. He's so surprised that Cersei is backing out of the truce? When he's been with her his whole life and now his 'eyes are open' to how she is- in just that one instant? I know love is blind, but this is way too much. He should've taken more issue with her once she blew up Baelor and all the people in it, not anytime after that. But he won't even hear anyone (dame Olenna) say anything bad of her? 

For whatever reason the show writers decided to keep Jaime and Cersei together for much longer than the books.  Maybe the baby plot they are forcing in?  Soon a plot point from the books they want to include requires them to be broken up, so they are going to force the story to that point regardless of how illogical the path to get there is.

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The scene in the last episode where they have their last meeting- Daenerys looked pretty afraid of Cersei there. Why on earth did they direct the actress emilia clarke to look afraid- when there is no reason the character she is playing should be? Dany is in KL but she bought her whole army with her, not to mention her dragons...and for Cersei to call her a usurper and not have Dany answer back seems pretty out of character for Dany. Compare how docile she is in this scene with how she is with every other character. The time she meets jon she is pretty feisty, always has a rebuttal for everything he has to say. What happened? 

The more aggressive Dany is, the more people would wonder why she doesn't just burn the enemy leaders in the dragon pit.  Honor?  She didn't care about honor when she bought the Unsullied and then used them to kill their masters, including fake selling one of her dragons..?  I suspect that once again the real reason for this scene and the Cersei/Tyrion face off was to give the characters screen time and something to do, which ultimately would have no effect on the story even if you removed the entire plot line.  That's one of their favorite things to do with original scenes.  Make something up, then jump back to a book high light plot point that they like regardless of whether that plot line still makes sense as if the changes never happened.

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I get why people are unsatisfied with the Littlefinger exposition scene. While I'm not going to lie and say that I wasn't happy with the outcome (he had it coming) there were better ways to execute it. I agree with the poster that suggested Sansa should have laid all her cards on the table...maybe tell Lord Royce and the lords of the vale everything about what happened in the Eyrie so that it couldn't be used against her. I notice that the writers tend to favor plot twists that surprise the audience even if they don't work well for the narrative. I had a similar issue last season when Arya faced the waif. She pretty much looked like she was in the losing end during the entire Braavos arc when she was training with that girl..but she turns out to be the victor in the end? I have no doubt that she did* turn out to be a fine assassin, I just can't figure out when it happened. Because we aren't allowed to see how she got from this point to the next- all so we can get anxious til we get to the plot twist in the end.

The whole story line like most that have problems for the show, comes from trying to consolidate story lines and give actors something to do when their story line might not have anything particularly interesting going on individually, or they just don't have time to have separate story lines for each character.  Which makes sense logistically, I just don't think they do a good job with the combined story lines they make up.  Clearly they were much more focused on the audience gotcha surprise twist than they were on the twist being convincing if you spent any time analyzing why it happened the way it did.  It happened that way because the writers wanted a shock for the audience and as long as they got that they didn't really care if logic was a casualty in the process.