[Poll] How would you rate episode 801?

[Lyanna<3Rhaegar]

Gave it a solid 5. 

+1 for the opening credits, they looked amazing

+1 for Tormund's "My eyes have always been blue!"

+3 for Jaime staring at Bran at the end. That was good. 

The rest was rushed with no feeling. There has been little to no time developing Jon & Dany's relationship but tada! Sansa even knows Jon loves her. 

The actual dragon riding was cool to watch but the lead up to it should have been more intense. 

The reunions were ridiculous which makes me very sad because there was some great potential there with Jon/Arya, Arya/The Hound, Sansa/The Hound, Arya/Gendry. All of these have on screen chemistry & could have made the show. 

Cersei & Euron are blah. 

Apparently Ghost has just fallen off the face of the Earth & not even Jon wonders where he is? 

[Heartofice]

I gave it a 4. The writing is really minimal now. Every scene steadily ticks all the relevant plot boxes whilst never feeling alive. 

Characters trot out lines which tell you what the plot is but do little else. There is no spark or wit.

Watching Sam find out about his family it really occurred to me how little build up this event had and how little time we had to feel anything, and then suddenly we are off to tell Jon about his lineage. It’s all so rushed and there is so little effort spent on creating tension or momentum.

Otherwise it did look nice, I enjoyed Jon and Aryas reunion.

Dragon flying was simply embarrassing. It looked better in Never Ending Story 

[A Time for Starks]

Gave it an 8/10

 

Overall, I thought it was a good first episode of the season.  Didn’t have a lot of action, but did set the stage for the rest of the season.

 

Favorite part of the episode:

Sam breaking the news to Jon that he is the rightful heir in the Crypts.  I thought this was wonderfully acted, and had a lot of weight to it.  This sticks out as the highlight of the episode for me. 

 

Other parts I liked:

Bran mentioning that he’s “waiting for an old friend” then Jaime shows up.  Seems to imply that Jaime will have some significance in the fight with the Night King.  I don’t believe Bran is waiting for him because he has a score to settle.  Instead, he must be waiting for him because there is some importance to the battle against the dead.

I liked the Cersei – Euron interaction.  When she was walking away, she realized that if she doesn’t give in to him, she seriously risks losing her only ally. 

For the opening scene of them arriving to Winterfell, loved the music throwback

 

Parts that I didn’t like too much:

Jon and Arya reunion didn’t move me like I thought it might.  As a matter of fact, pretty much all the Stark reunions going back to season 7 were underwhelming.

Jon riding Rahegal for several reasons – a lot of people have already pointed these out.  The whole thing (including the waterfall scene) felt cheesy and non-GOT-like, for one.  Also, no reaction from Dany and Jon that he was able to ride a dragon?  Surely, this would imply that he’s part Targaryen but it didn’t dawn on either of them. 

Theon’s rescue of Yara.  I don’t have a problem with the scene as much as I have a problem with what I expected.  I expected Theon rescuing Yara to be a major plot for Theon this season.  I expected it to coincide with real growth in his character.  But it happened so quickly, it ended up being a let-down for me.  Side note: did anyone else think that Theon looked a little like Luke Skywalker with his new longer hair?

[legba11]

18 hours ago, Clan Lindsay said:

7

I absolutely hate how Euron is on the show.

Call him Urine, he is not the same guy as in the books.

 

I agree, he is awful and drags down every moment he is grabbing the camera and mugging into like he is a professional wrestler.  I hope he is just still around to give Cersei some mini-boss to kill before she goes down.

[Ser Gareth]

34 minutes ago, legba11 said:

Call him Urine, he is not the same guy as in the books.

 

I agree, he is awful and drags down every moment he is grabbing the camera and mugging into like he is a professional wrestler.  I hope he is just still around to give Cersei some mini-boss to kill before she goes down.

Thankfully.  Book Euron is one of the worst characters I've come across in any form of literature ever.  His absurdity would look even worse translated on the screen.

[Dragon in the North]

55 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Watching Sam find out about his family it really occurred to me how little build up this event had and how little time we had to feel anything, and then suddenly we are off to tell Jon about his lineage. It’s all so rushed and there is so little effort spent on creating tension or momentum.

I saw Sam telling Jon about his lineage as a continuation of him finding out about his father and brother. It didn’t seem rushed to me. 

[Dragon in the North]

8 minutes ago, Ser Gareth said:

Thankfully.  Book Euron is one of the worst characters I've come across in any form of literature ever.  His absurdity would look even worse translated on the screen.

Agreed! Show Euron isn’t great, but at least D&D aren’t trying to turn him into a main antagonist, like Martin seems to be doing with Book Euron.

[xander_blackfyre]

Give it a solid 7.

It was basically what I expected lots of backstory and setup, the same a the previous 7 season openers.

It had it moments, where you laughed, it had its oh please moments, but it also had it OMG moments.  Nothing to overwhelming but it did get me looking forward to what to come and that is the basic idea really get the audience to come back for more.

[Dolorous Gabe]

11 hours ago, Ser Quork said:

An underwhelming start. 

Good points:

Interesting new opening credits that'll be worth watching.

Two good scenes without dialogue (opening and closing scenes).

Always like a bit of dragon CGI.

John Bradley's scenes.

Bad points:

Poor dialogue.  Testicle jokes.  Tits and arse for no good reason.  Unfulfilling reunions. Pacing off.

Telling us Sansa's smart rather than showing us (as she's been pretty dumb for seven seasons).

Making all women, even Lyanna Mormont, snarky and petty.

Dragon riding as comedy.

Can't go better than 4/10.

Exactly my thoughts, right down to the 4/10 mark.

[TyrionFan82]

8/10 for me.

 

I think it's a good start to the season. We see all of the players & conflicts set up. There's not much to go on now but I'm sure it'll get better each week. I did like Sansa & Tyrion's scenes as well.

 

[Potsk]

This episode is just unnaturally comedic. Why are they aiming for the "funniest season of all" in the literal apocalypse? It completely undermines everything that happens in this episode

[maiden of tarth]

I’m not happy that Ghost is missing. Fans even set up a Just Giving type pageto pay for the CGI  so the show could include Ghost and they still seem to be leaving him out. The amount of money this show has made, for the creators/producers/whoever to turn round and say they can’t fit Ghost in because of costs is quite frankly an insult. 

[maiden of tarth]

12 hours ago, Lyanna<3Rhaegar said:

Gave it a solid 5. 

+1 for the opening credits, they looked amazing

+1 for Tormund's "My eyes have always been blue!"

+3 for Jaime staring at Bran at the end. That was good. 

The rest was rushed with no feeling. There has been little to no time developing Jon & Dany's relationship but tada! Sansa even knows Jon loves her. 

The actual dragon riding was cool to watch but the lead up to it should have been more intense. 

The reunions were ridiculous which makes me very sad because there was some great potential there with Jon/Arya, Arya/The Hound, Sansa/The Hound, Arya/Gendry. All of these have on screen chemistry & could have made the show. 

Cersei & Euron are blah. 

Apparently Ghost has just fallen off the face of the Earth & not even Jon wonders where he is? 

Can’t agree more. The reunions were rubbish. 

[João Carlos]

4.

Characters serving the plot. Again.

[Panther2000]

I say that this was a really good episode.  But it is just setting the table.  I don't think that there will be any fillers come this season( There better not be) 

 

My # is an 7.5 or 8 the most

Edited April 16, 2019 by Panther2000
missing info

[Count Balerion]

GOT, season 8, ep. 1:

It's nice to get back into the series. As usual, thibgs looked cool (although there's always been a bit too much grey).

Tension between Sansa/Northerners and Dany: The North has become rather rambunctious, after having been fairly inert under the Boltons. Odd that they were more frightened of Ramsay than of Dany and her dragons. It does make sense that the North would need to be "wooed". We'll see how the thing between Sansa and Dany develops.

The reunions were often a bit awkward. Jon-Arya moving enough, but perhaps slightly underwhelming. I did like her defending Sansa, except ... they're telling rather than showing again. Has Sansa in fact done anything particularly clever? I appreciate the intention, though.

Oh, and Arya-Gendry was a cute little scene.

Cersei: I do like some of Cersei's lines. "Good." "If you want a wh*re, buy one." But I disagree with her on Euron; he *is* kind of boring. And Preston's right; he does look like a rock star, and not in a good way. He does manage to be kind of creepy in the scene with Yara.

Yes, we got a gratuitous sex scene -- worse, with Bronn. Looks like they might be doing something mildly interesting with him, though; we'll see.

Wow, Theon is *fast*. My notes say: "What? Did Theon *just* rescue Yara?" Yes, he did. That was brief.

Varys is decent. Tyrion still tells bad jokes. The trouble being that he was established in earlier seasons as witty, on account of GRRM's writing. Now we don't have that, except possibly in outline; but he still has to be witty. So the writers soldier bravely on with the bad jokes, not being able to replicate the actual wit in the books. He also makes speeches. Someone pointed out there's no particular reason why the Northerners should listen to him.

Dany-Jon did have its cute moments, and even some amusing dialogue. "Then I've enjoyed your company, Jon Snow." The dragons are cute and the scenery spectacular. It was perhaps a little long ("We don't have time for this", says Bran). And I still don't quite see them as a torrid Love Couple; more like friends, or maybe brother and sister (aunt and nephew?).

I couldn't help thinking of current events when Sam asks for a pardon. Dany: I killed your father and brother. Can we lampshade this?" Sam: "Sorry, but no." Sam was actually pretty good this episode; Bradley can do some decent acting when he's given something non-stupid to do. His scene with Jon was also good (if fast).

And yes, "I've always had blue eyes!" Some decent dialogue. Scary wight scene (I did wonder what the WWs were up to all this time).

And a really good ending with Jaime and Bran.

Where on earth is Ghost? Nymeria? I guess the others are dead.

I guess I'll end up with a decent 7. I'm somewhat hopeful for a better season. Part of the trouble with last season might be that they had to come up with filler; so they did, and it didn't make much sense.

[PetyrPunkinhead]

7/10

I was hoping for a bit more action in the opening since it's been two years since any new GoT. However, I really dug how they tried to give the first episode of the last season symmetry to the first episode of the first season.--both with plot points and character interactions. Looking forward to a pretty epic throwdown in S8E2 though. 

[Talking Hodor]

First episodes are always a bit slow--it's to be expected. Still, this episode had its moments: The Night King pulling an Umber and scaring the shit out of the Wildlings, Night's Watch, and everyone watching was noteworthy. Sam vs. Dany vs. Bran vs. Jon was great! I though it was a good way to impart that knowledge to Jon, and his reaction was perfect. Jaime finally pulling up and seeing Bran first of all was good. Wish they'd had a little more time to see how that panned out. Guess we'll have to wait until next week. And watching Drogon hate on Jon while he was smooching his mama was hilarious. No child wants to see its parents do that. Get a room!

[Talking Hodor]

On 4/15/2019 at 1:13 PM, Guest said:

Can a wight army be quielty moved across the whole map? Maybe in the show, but not in real life or the books where an attmempt at reality matters.

Hell yeah they can be moved quietly! The walkers and wights don't need to use words to communicate. One look in to their smouldering blue eyes, and whightey knows what's expected of him. The only thing anybody might here is the clacking of old bones, which one might mistake for tree branches. KL, filled with the noises of moaning whores, chamber pots being dumped out of gigantic castles, clanging hooves, and minstrels plying their trade is totally going to drown out the approach of those undead ninjas. Besides. NK is going to lead with zombiedragon. Ain't nobody along the way standing around outside either. It's cold as fuck out there. The city watch might see them about 500 yards before they close with the walls, but by then it's too late.

[cirah1712]

A solid 8/10 for me. Brilliant first episode. Loved all the reunions, especially Jon/Arya,Gendry/Arya and Jaime/Bran. Loved when Jon found out who he really was and I am glad Daenerys told Sam she killed his family, because thats something that could've easily been forgotten and never mentioned again. Bran was hilarious throughout, I don't even think he meant to be. The scene at Last Hearth was terrifying and really hit home just how close the dead are getting to Winterfell.