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Rant & Rave Season 8 [Spoilers]: When you are cool like a cucumber, as evil as the mother of madness, but never as perfect as the pet!


The Fattest Leech

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1 hour ago, Suzanna Stormborn said:

Also problems I am forseeing, why wouldn't the King WW just blast Bran with ice dragon fire? just light up the entire godswood instead of trying to kill bran by hand? this is the dumbest plan I have ever heard, just wanted to throw that out there.

I still can't get over that it's not ice he breathes... apparently undead dragons turn into Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender and just breathe blue fire.

And Bran, like... if you're willing to risk your lives, why not go, oh, a reasonable existence outside the castle rather than luring the WW into the walls of Winterfell?

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On 4/23/2019 at 4:19 AM, Lord Varys said:

Bloodraven said Bran must live because winter is coming. He said nothing about (him) saving the world.

One assumes Bran has to play an important role, but he is far to insignificant a character in the books to be the great hero.

He might figure some things out they need to know and provide some magics to help them doing stuff but he isn't the great hero. In fact, if he was able to defeat the Others they would have long ago taken care of him. A greenseer might be a nuisance, and a very powerful greenseer might be even a pretty great nuisance, but if it was clear that Bran - or somebody like him *must never* reach the cave then there wouldn't have been just a bunch of wights at the entrance of the cave. Because those Others are not stupid. They have yet to make a single mistake in the books. Up to this point everything has been playing into their hands.

But this is all moot considering since nobody in the show ever built up Bran as a great or even important hero, nor did he do anything relevant (i.e. anything a diary or old dusty book couldn't have done, either) since he got out of the cave.

He isn't insignificant.  GRRM has confirmed that he struggles to write Bran, especially now that Bran potentially has access to all this revealing knowledge.  Therefore I fully expect to get less Bran POVs, but don't take that as him being insignificant or him not having a crucial role to play.

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1 minute ago, Ser Gareth said:

He isn't insignificant.  GRRM has confirmed that he struggles to write Bran, especially now that Bran potentially has access to all this revealing knowledge.  Therefore I fully expect to get less Bran POVs, but don't take that as him being insignificant or him not having a crucial role to play.

He is insignificant in the sense that he has, up to this point, done pretty much nothing to influence the overall plot of the story. This certainly will change, one hopes, but he is still not the great hero. And him getting even fewer chapters will diminish him more as a character, even if he were to start to move events behind the scenes some more.

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23 hours ago, The Scabbard Of the Morning said:

Furthermore. they plagerized they entire Viserion raised by NK scene from WOW WOTLK trailer.

 

 

 

 

I think a lot of their stuff feels derivative of other things. Even last episode, a lot of those scenes felt eerily familiar to Peter Jackson's version of Helm's Deep. And Leaf's death felt lifted straight out of Aliens when Lt. Gordon and Vasqeuz blow themselves up to try to stop the Xenomorphs. 

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On 4/23/2019 at 7:46 PM, The Scabbard Of the Morning said:

Furthermore. they plagerized they entire Viserion raised by NK scene from WOW WOTLK trailer.

 

There is a reason why he is called the Lich King.

And Arthas Menethil definitely has more depth than half the cast of the show.

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On 4/23/2019 at 10:21 AM, Dragons Are Real said:

Alright, Episode 2 down.

If episode 1 was a dumpster fire, episode 2 was the marshmallows roasted over that fire.  Sure, you'll get a nice blast of sweetness from it, but like all marshmallows, it absorbed the flavor of the fire it was roasted over.

I will say we saw some legitimate acting for the first time this season from someone not named Jamie Lannister, which was a pleasant surprise.  Even Danny managed to move her eyebrows a bit here or there, which hasn't happened in about three seasons, so that was pretty impressive.  In all honesty, this episode was better than the previous one.  It felt as if the actors were actually enjoying themselves for the first time in a long while.  Perhaps it's all the meetups and chit-chat, or perhaps the director loosened the reigns a bit, but something was definitely different.

Highlights:

Theon and Sansa reunion actually tugged at the heartstrings.  Who knew that could happen?  And Danny managed to look surprised rather than dully amused.  Bonus points.

Toromund arriving and immediately raising the eyebrows of appreciation while asking if the big woman was still around.

You know what?  Let's just call this episode the Eyebrows of the Seven Kingdoms.  It's like everybody watch season 1-3 of every Tyrion scene and decided to steal his best gimmick.  Which is fine by me.

Jamie and Brienne.  Despite the fact they were given a shit-sandwich level of dialog to deliver, they sold it by actually playing the parts and saved every scene they were a part of.  I mean seriously, "I never wanted to be a knight" immediately followed by "do you want to be a knight or not?"  Wordsmithery must not come easy to the Ds.

The group sitting around the fire talking felt mostly genuine, despite the garbage they had to spout.  Toromund's background story was ridiculously over-the-top.  When he said when he was ten he killed a giant I was just waiting for him to complete the sentence with, "with my cock."  I was actually shocked they didn't go there.  But it's alright, they immediately made up for it by him talking about sucking down massive quantities of giantess breast milk.  *SHUDDER*

Tyrion and Jamie having a moment was quite enjoyable.

Arya and Gendry felt rushed and silly, and Arya was way too pushy, but I suppose that's what they think is bad ass now and Arya is all bad ass all the time just because.

My main disappointment was that Toromund and Sandor couldn't get back together for another lesson on euphemisms for male genitalia.  I honestly have to admit that their moment last season inspired the absolute best worst lines of this entire series.

"Cock?  I LIKE IT!"

"Yes, I'll bet you do."

Shakespeare this ain't.

The conversation between the Night's Watch leftovers was fun, them joking about with each other like old times.

Jon got back to legitimately brooding again, which was all he did for about five seasons of the show so it's nice to have that back again.  NOT.

Danny literally saying her "entire life" was about the Iron Throne was a bit galling as there was nearly an entire life of giving less than zero fucks about the Iron Throne until she decided to give more than zero fucks because dammit I want mine, but whatever.

Varys, the actual smartest man there based on the show's history, gets nada/zippo/zilch.  Sure, why not.

I'm glad the Arya sex scene didn't get more graphic.  The scars they did show made absolutely no sense at all based on injuries we know she had, but who gives a crap?  We're not the least concerned with consistency of character, a couple Frankenstein level stitch jobs around her side instead of stab wounds in the belly are perfectly fine.

Brienne's little fit about Jamie always insulting her rang hollow, but at least she sold it.

Davos' soup kitchen scene was meh.  I get what they were going for, but it just fell flat for me aside from Gilly stepping in for a moment.

I'm not sure if this episode was actually better than the previous one, or if the first one lowered the bar so far that it was easier to swallow, but I didn't feel quite as meh'ed out this time around.  I'm glad we saw small glimpses of who these characters used to be before the impending murder/death/kill routine.

Speaking of which, did it seem silly how often everybody kept mentioning they were going to die tomorrow as if they were mentioning they were going to have to clean tomorrow?  No terror.  No fear.  No anger.  Just casual and reluctant acceptance.  I would have liked to have seen some variety here or there.  Not everybody is going to face that sort of situation with the exact same reaction.  Some will be hopeful, some will be terrified, some will be bemused, some will be angry, just SOMETHING to differentiate the people into individuals would have been nice.

Oops, I forgot.  These aren't characters anymore.  They're extensions of the Ds alter-egos.

I almost hoped during the fire slumber party discussion that they would come to the conclusion that if they were all going to die anyway, why not just give in and let themselves be taken so that at least the Night King's army would be strong when it got to Kings Landing.  But that was too much to hope for.

Here's to next week.  Bring on the dead!  I'm ready to see these cardboard characters turned to ash!

EDIT:

TOTALLY FORGOT!  Creepy Branbot the catch-phrase repeating media player on wheels.  Priceless.

I'm not even finished reading but I have to say.........I think I love you, and I am glad you are back with your episode review/recap.  Hopefully, that didn't come off as pushy as Arya might have, LOL 

Ok, I'm going to finish reading your review/recap now, I'm fairly certain nothing in it will change my feelings. 

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7 hours ago, Ser Drewy said:

I think a lot of their stuff feels derivative of other things. Even last episode, a lot of those scenes felt eerily familiar to Peter Jackson's version of Helm's Deep. And Leaf's death felt lifted straight out of Aliens when Lt. Gordon and Vasqeuz blow themselves up to try to stop the Xenomorphs. 

Damn right. I brought up how similar it was w/ the Battle for Helm’s Deep as well. It felt a bit too familiar, but whatever. At this point I wish they had ripped off from more sources, and a lot more often! :D

 

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6 minutes ago, Zorral said:

But the books themselves are derivative of other things, including Pern, The Accursed Kings, and so much else, so there ya go.

No, they aren’t. Martin drinks from many sources, and the books are full of references, shoutouts, sources of inspiration, homages, Easter eggs, etc. A rip off is something else entirely. 

ETA: also, Rant & Rave. Or else! :P

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1 minute ago, kissdbyfire said:

No, they aren’t. Martin drinks from many sources, and the books are full of references, shoutouts, sources of inspiration, homages, Easter eggs, etc. A rip off is something else entirely. 

ETA: also, Rant & Rave. Or else! :P

.  Didn't say rip off, said derivative. Derivative does not = rip off.  :P

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5 minutes ago, Zorral said:

.  Didn't say rip off, said derivative. Derivative does not = rip off.  :P

I know. I said rip off, and when I did I was talking about the show. :)

 

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On 4/23/2019 at 1:46 PM, The Scabbard Of the Morning said:

Furthermore. they plagerized they entire Viserion raised by NK scene from WOW WOTLK trailer.

 

 

 

 

Well, ya know, when upjumped nannies do the writing for a 15 mil per episode show, this is their source material :dunno:

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2 hours ago, kissdbyfire said:

Damn right. I brought up how similar it was w/ the Battle for Helm’s Deep as well. It felt a bit too familiar, but whatever. At this point I wish they had ripped off from more sources, and a lot more often! :D

 

They do, and it's almost always inappropriate. Like waif-1000 was basically trying to copy Terminator, when the Faceless Men are all about striking from the shadows where noone knows it's them, not about chasing down their victims in open daylight for the world to see.

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4 hours ago, kissdbyfire said:

Damn right. I brought up how similar it was w/ the Battle for Helm’s Deep as well. It felt a bit too familiar, but whatever. At this point I wish they had ripped off from more sources, and a lot more often! :D

 

I see a lot of potential with Bran for a rip off of this scene, I am hopeful.

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On 4/22/2019 at 8:19 PM, Lord Varys said:

Bloodraven said Bran must live because winter is coming. He said nothing about (him) saving the world.

One assumes Bran has to play an important role, but he is far to insignificant a character in the books to be the great hero.

He might figure some things out they need to know and provide some magics to help them doing stuff but he isn't the great hero. In fact, if he was able to defeat the Others they would have long ago taken care of him. A greenseer might be a nuisance, and a very powerful greenseer might be even a pretty great nuisance, but if it was clear that Bran - or somebody like him *must never* reach the cave then there wouldn't have been just a bunch of wights at the entrance of the cave. Because those Others are not stupid. They have yet to make a single mistake in the books. Up to this point everything has been playing into their hands.

But this is all moot considering since nobody in the show ever built up Bran as a great or even important hero, nor did he do anything relevant (i.e. anything a diary or old dusty book couldn't have done, either) since he got out of the cave.

When George began writing this story, it was Bran's story.  He's far from insignificant.

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21 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

There is a reason why he is called the Lich King.

And Arthas Menethil definitely has more depth than half the cast of the show.

Arthas? :lol: Even current WoW characters have more depth than half the cast of the show, and WoW's writing isn't exactly fantastic.

A couple of years ago, I was comparing Cersei's crowning to Sylvanas being named Warchief. Both scenes are roughly two minutes and a half long, both are about an evil scheming bitch being put in charge over a nation. In those two minutes, the bloody in-game cutscene manages to communicate why she gets the title, address the fact that she was an unlikely choice, show us the reactions of the other leaders (who in this case were potential claimants themselves!) and show her rallying some of the people behind her. At the end of the clip, you buy that she's in charge.

By comparison, Cersei's clip feels like empty weight. We are served a jarring plot development with no explanation. We don't see the lords or the people reacting to this, the only reaction we get is from Jaime, and he's mostly confused! They didn't even bother to add a simple "By the laws of gods and men" at the start of Qyburn's speech to at least establish on the spot that it is an accepted practice in Westeros for the dead king's mother to inherit the throne. No, that bum straight out "proclaims" her queen and that's that. Cue the music!

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6 hours ago, bloodsteel bitterraven said:

When George began writing this story, it was Bran's story.  He's far from insignificant.

The story grew in the telling.

@The Coconut God

Well, Arthas was a good guy corrupted by evil who even had some sort of convincing failed romance. There is more to WoW than meets the eye... ;-).

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14 hours ago, Lady Fevre Dream said:

I'm not even finished reading but I have to say.........I think I love you, and I am glad you are back with your episode review/recap.  Hopefully, that didn't come off as pushy as Arya might have, LOL 

Ok, I'm going to finish reading your review/recap now, I'm fairly certain nothing in it will change my feelings. 

Ah, dear lady,

I pray thee hold thyself, for I am already spoken for.  Though our online affections may exist in isolation, nary a moment of contact shall exist between us.

(Sorry, sometimes the inner writer gets the best of me.)

11 hours ago, The Scabbard Of the Morning said:

They do, and it's almost always inappropriate. Like waif-1000 was basically trying to copy Terminator, when the Faceless Men are all about striking from the shadows where noone knows it's them, not about chasing down their victims in open daylight for the world to see.

My word I hated that garbage.  That scene and the followup felt like the entire show was trying one-up it's stupidity with each moment.  I swear the only thing missing from that chase scene was a plate glass window being carried across the street for them to slam into.  While there were points before where you could see the writing on the wall, that was the moment where you knew they'd flat out given up any pretense of holding onto the plot.  Just toss whatever garbage you think of on screen and cross your fingers.

Bleh.

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24 minutes ago, Dragons Are Real said:

Ah, dear lady,

I pray thee hold thyself, for I am already spoken for.  Though our online affections may exist in isolation, nary a moment of contact shall exist between us.

(Sorry, sometimes the inner writer gets the best of me.)

My word I hated that garbage.  That scene and the followup felt like the entire show was trying one-up it's stupidity with each moment.  I swear the only thing missing from that chase scene was a plate glass window being carried across the street for them to slam into.  While there were points before where you could see the writing on the wall, that was the moment where you knew they'd flat out given up any pretense of holding onto the plot.  Just toss whatever garbage you think of on screen and cross your fingers.

Bleh.

Oh, fear not, the Good Ship Lady Fevre Dream has it's own home port, LOL  I just really enjoyed your recap and review. 

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