Is the quality of this season low?

[Mordor]

Today's episode has currently 73% and last week Long Night has 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Do you feel D&D seems to be rushing things? I can't believe they can just write so mediocre after last season, where the average RT score was from 87-97%. 

[SuperMario]

Yes the quality of the season is low. And yes, I can believe D&D are writing so poorly.

[Angel Eyes]

2 hours ago, Mordor said:

Today's episode has currently 73% and last week Long Night has 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Do you feel D&D seems to be rushing things? I can't believe they can just write so mediocre after last season, where the average RT score was from 87-97%. 

I'm surprised they'd be rushing things, considering they had the better part of two years to get things settled out. Game of Thrones hasn't quite reached a 'rotten' rating this season, that would be "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" from Season 5, which had the infamous Sand Snakes fight scene (which got a Benny Hill backing) and Ramsay raping Sansa.

[Damon_Tor]

2 hours ago, Mordor said:

I can't believe they can just write so mediocre after last season

If you think this has a clever ending, you haven't been paying attention.

[Suzanna Stormborn]

Yes it is low AF.

[btfu806]

Visually (with the exception of most the Long Night fight) has been pretty nice. Compare it to season 1. So that quality is high. I think the music has been good and have enjoyed it.

Literally everything else has been a train wreck.

[Ser Gareth]

7 hours ago, Mordor said:

Today's episode has currently 73% and last week Long Night has 74% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Do you feel D&D seems to be rushing things? I can't believe they can just write so mediocre after last season, where the average RT score was from 87-97%. 

It's exactly why D&D are correct in ending it now.  The whole thing has probably gone on a season too long.  Even the most popular shows start suffering from fatigue at some point.

The show first starting getting it when the audience was getting fed up of Dany's arc not moving fast enough but they managed to stall that by speeding up her arrival and Hardhome.  Now I think viewers are getting fatigued again.

Also you have to remember that by now people are emotionally invested and what the ending they want.  Nothing is going to be as divisive as an ending.  As the cast have said themselves, some will love it.  Some will hate it.

[Lady Rhodes]

Some people have valid grievances against the show for changing storylines and plotlines with varying degree of success. I am willing to give the writers a pass on much of this - for the sake of clarity and continuity on a TV show, I get the need to cut and combine.

My big beef is the shortened seasons for 7 and 8.  I think both seasons have been piss poor, frankly, with their narrative storytelling and I think it completely boils down to condensed episodes.  I have ranted about this before, but things like characters having conversations around dinner, traveling, etc. MADE the earlier seasons of the show.  I think that is why Episode 2 of this season is one of the strongest of the past few years (since Season 4, I'd wager) because it went back to the shows roots of slow, small, intimate moments.

The shortened seasons have led to lazier storytelling, in my opinion.

[Vaith]

20 minutes ago, Lady Rhodes said:

Some people have valid grievances against the show for changing storylines and plotlines with varying degree of success. I am willing to give the writers a pass on much of this - for the sake of clarity and continuity on a TV show, I get the need to cut and combine.

My big beef is the shortened seasons for 7 and 8.  I think both seasons have been piss poor, frankly, with their narrative storytelling and I think it completely boils down to condensed episodes.  I have ranted about this before, but things like characters having conversations around dinner, traveling, etc. MADE the earlier seasons of the show.  I think that is why Episode 2 of this season is one of the strongest of the past few years (since Season 4, I'd wager) because it went back to the shows roots of slow, small, intimate moments.

The shortened seasons have led to lazier storytelling, in my opinion.

The dialogue in episode 2 was pretty crappy, though. Somehow, despite having only 6 episodes, they manage to make so much of it seem like filler. The way that they write dialogue is just shoving two characters together and finding the number #1 most basic thing to talk about, like Beric and Jon talking about being dead when they were in a scene together in "Beyond the Wall."

I mean, they're not exactly wordsmiths. "A proposal is what I'm proposing," "They're bad. Really bad." And may I mention our infamous "happy shitting," and "bad pussy."

The episode last night, for instance, failed from lacking an entire second act. It was 50 minutes of setup in Winterfell, a 2 minute boat scene, then 30 minutes of action in the Crownlands with no travel times slowing them down, no buildup, nada.

[Red Dragon10]

13 minutes ago, Vaith said:

The dialogue in episode 2 was pretty crappy, though. Somehow, despite having only 6 episodes, they manage to make so much of it seem like filler. The way that they write dialogue is just shoving two characters together and finding the number #1 most basic thing to talk about, like Beric and Jon talking about being dead when they were in a scene together in "Beyond the Wall."

I mean, they're not exactly wordsmiths. "A proposal is what I'm proposing," "They're bad. Really bad." And may I mention our infamous "happy shitting," and "bad pussy."

The episode last night, for instance, failed from lacking an entire second act. It was 50 minutes of setup in Winterfell, a 2 minute boat scene, then 30 minutes of action in the Crownlands with no travel times slowing them down, no buildup, nada.

YES.  I just couldn't understand everyone loving episode 2.  For sure, it had the potential to be great, but they just can't write dialogue to save their lives.  Just horrendous scripts.  So many missed opportunities with characters being together and then saying a bunch of stuff that isn't worth saying. 

EDIT - in regards to the OP question:  yes, I think the quality this season is definitely reduced, but it has been falling for years (regardless of what rotten tomatoes thinks)  I think a lot of it is too much to wrap up in too little time.  The poor writing/dialogue.  Rushing things that are really important and spending too much time on stuff that isn't. 

Visually, I think the show looks great.   

[Lady Rhodes]

16 minutes ago, Vaith said:

The dialogue in episode 2 was pretty crappy, though.

I actually didn't mind it.  Nothing struck me as astonishingly bad.  Even the quote you use referring to Gendry saying "Bad, really bad", Arya mocks him for his word choice in the scene, so I think that was intentional. 

Still, I blame it on condensed seasons. 

[State Trooper]

Isn't this the same for every major TV series, people finding fault with them? It certainly is with some of my other favourites.

The Sopranos - People went mental about the ending, which I thought was fine, but the thing that "annoyed" me was I thought they dragged the final season out too long, splitting it into two parts, like they have with GOT, and seemingly dragging everything out as much as they could.

Mad Men - Same thing, dragged the show on far too long and IMO it should have ended it after season 6, and they seemed to go over the same ground again and again.

Boardwalk Empire - People up in arms because the last series was only eight episodes long and jumped forward quite a bit, whereas I thought it was absolutely perfect.

 

So in conclusion, I guess we all like a good moan and, as someone once said, "you can't please all of the people all of the time."

[Keyser94]

That depends if you are a Jon Snow fan or not.

[Mordor]

The episode is now at 60% score on RT. Could it be the first rotten since Unbow, Unbent, Unbroken?

[Clueless Northman]

It's not this season. The quality has been going down with each new season since basically Season 2 :p  As soon as D/D don't rely on Martin's books, they come up with stupid incoherent stuff that doesn't make sense and isn't even consistent with the stuff they took from the books. This being the last season and probably the one where they rely the more on their crappy fan-fiction, it's logical that it's the worst scripted.

[Cas Stark]

11 minutes ago, Mordor said:

The episode is now at 60% score on RT. Could it be the first rotten since Unbow, Unbent, Unbroken?

It's interesting, because I thought ep. 3 was much worse, I wonder if this is a delayed reaction.  

[Keyser94]

24 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:

It's interesting, because I thought ep. 3 was much worse, I wonder if this is a delayed reaction.  

You aren't being all hypocritical? Because let be honest, the only reason why some many Jon Snow fans become enrage about that episode is because their stupid Power Fantasy didnt become reality, they have nothing say about Season 6 and Season 7 when everyone else was screaming about how generic the show was becoming, because they didnt give a shit as their nice boy toy Jon Snow continue to behave like a Mary Sue.

[azor_ahaiii]

Visually and entertainment wise it's an 8 or 9 for me. Lack of Ghost/direwolves still pisses me the fuck off but that's a problem I have with the show in general. Also Cersei and Euron are shitty villains.

Certain things have happened that make no fucking sense but I've just decided to roll with it at this point.

[Elayis]

15 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

It's interesting, because I thought ep. 3 was much worse, I wonder if this is a delayed reaction.  

I disliked "The Long Night" as much as any Rant & Raver here, but from a casual fan perspective it's a generic, fan pleasing episode where the good guys win, Arya gets her "girl power" moment and the deaths were expected and a long time coming.

With "The Last of the Starks" however, the character assassinations have hit warp speed. Jaime left Brienne heartbroken, Jon ditched Ghost, everyones plotting to overthrow Dany and Rhaegal & Missendei were brutally killed out of nowhere. 

It's not hard to see that fans had a more visceral reaction to episode 4, as it seems purposefully designed to shock, depress and anger people.

For me, this was the last straw. I've been a hatewatcher for years now, but this was the moment that poisoned any remaining goodwill I had for the early seasons. I can't see myself ever watching this show again once it's finished.

[bloodsteel bitterraven]

19 hours ago, Keyser94 said:

That depends if you are a Jon Snow fan or not.

Or a Dany fan, or a Sansa fan, or a Tyrion fan, or a Jaime fan.  They are butchering characters left and right.  They are Arya stans and are trying hard to make everyone else look bad.