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[Rant] So are D & D just playing damage control, or are they actually stupid?


Beardy the Wildling

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Now, it should be noted that when I say D & D, I also refer to the creative team in general, including Nutter, Cogman, et cetera. So my question is this:

Have D & D legitimately drunk their own coolade, after years of getting their asses licked and emmies being thrown at them for screenplays containing 'Smalljon Umber likes Jon's balls' and whatnot? Because their tone on 'Inside the Episode' always feels high and mighty, self-indulgent, so completely certain everyone will fawn over yet another episode of retcons, character assassination, worldbreaking and disappointments.

So when people ask them 'Hey, why isn't Euron concerned about his supposed child's parentage' or 'Why didn't Daenerys see the fleet coming despite being in the air?', they answer with, respectively, 'Euron wasn't paying attention, uh, the scene wasn't really about that', and 'Uh, Daenerys just uh, forgot about the teleporting fleet that killed half her invasion forces', do they seriously expect to be taken at their word? Anyone with half a brain cell knows what they're really saying is 'WE'RE NOT STUPID, GUYS, THE CHARACTERS ARE STUPID, REALLY!' I get that admitting they're shitty writers would cost them their careers and Star Wars writing deal, but looking at Inside the Episode, they're so self-congratulatory. It's like they legitimately believe people will just... accept everything they say as word of God.

'Uh, we've known for, heh, three years that Arya would be the one to kill the Night King, she's uh, just the perfect assassin'. Oh really? You've known for three years, huh? When you neutered Arya's time in the House of Black White, training to become an assassin, into a body cleaning montage, yelling 'Oysters, Clams, and Cockles', and beating Arya up with a stick, that was all with her killing the ultimate threat of the show in mind? How about when she walked around Braavos in broad daylight, then went with a suspicious random old lady alone to get predictably stabbed? Then have said stabbed girl pull the genius move of jumping into a disease-ridden canal? Was this you building up an ingenious fucking assassin?

How about when she inexplicably started plotting to kill her sister for the crime of... liking pretty dresses, needing to be stopped by Doctor Branhattan and leaving her face bag to be discovered? Was that to show her ingenious cunning, too? And speaking of cunning, Tyrion. He's supposed to be smart and witty, right? So why are all of his plans patently absurd? Why would he think starving civilians is any better than burning them? And why, after the backlash Season 7 received regarding that plan, did D & D double down on this in Season 8? Sieges aren't more moral than straight up sacks, you imbecile. But no, I'm sure D & D will claim that just like dumb Euron and forgetful Daenerys, Tyrion is supposed to be dumb. Or something. Also, cock jokes aren't witty.

Anyway, ranting aside, the crux of my question is thus: When Dan and Dave hastily make excuses for writing that makes the Amazing Bulk look competent, are they just doing it to save face? Or do they actually think they're brilliant, suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect? The fact they keep repeating their mistakes (teleporting fleets, underutilised/moronic 'geniuses', heroes that are dumb and equating that with nobility, etc) makes me think it's the latter. Personally, I think if they can say 'Creatively it made sense because we wanted it to happen', 'Themes are for eighth grade book reports', and 'Damn it, we want that wight polar bear' and still think they're hot shit, they can only be delusional, but maybe you guys have a different take on it.

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They really think they are brilliant and that they can improve on the original, or be as good as George. Not very surprising. You have to be a kind of mild megalomaniac egotist to be a scriptwriter and basically think you're better than the bulk of writers who came before. Otherwise, odds are that you wouldn't do that job. Peter Jackson and his pals doing LOTR and the Hobbit was another case - way better managed when it came to LOTR -; new Star Wars trilogy as well, where we've seen two different scriptwriters/directors in action.

Of course, to an extent, this also applies to GRRM, who's been both writer and scriptwriter during his long career - the key being that, sometimes, you actually have a genuinely great writer who thinks he's doing good stuff, more often you have okayish guys that don't ruin the original or the franchise, and most of the time you get just bad writers.

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50 minutes ago, Clueless Northman said:

They really think they are brilliant and that they can improve on the original, or be as good as George. Not very surprising. You have to be a kind of mild megalomaniac egotist to be a scriptwriter and basically think you're better than the bulk of writers who came before. Otherwise, odds are that you wouldn't do that job. Peter Jackson and his pals doing LOTR and the Hobbit was another case - way better managed when it came to LOTR -; new Star Wars trilogy as well, where we've seen two different scriptwriters/directors in action.

Of course, to an extent, this also applies to GRRM, who's been both writer and scriptwriter during his long career - the key being that, sometimes, you actually have a genuinely great writer who thinks he's doing good stuff, more often you have okayish guys that don't ruin the original or the franchise, and most of the time you get just bad writers.

So you'd say D&D are just going full Dunning-Kruger at this point, then?

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16 minutes ago, Nowy Tends said:

This is plain boring 

EXACTLY!!!

It was just drogon burning things… 

And I have no idea why she attacked after the city surrendered!

And I have no idea why jon pushed her away after saying he loves her

 

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19 minutes ago, divica said:

EXACTLY!!!

It was just drogon burning things… 

And I have no idea why she attacked after the city surrendered!

And I have no idea why jon pushed her away after saying he loves her

 

I think I know the answer to #2 - Jon pushed her away because he cannot, just cannot, be intimate with his aunt.

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2 minutes ago, lakin1013 said:

I guess.  It is not the first time he has pushed her away.  He did it once at Winterfell.  I think we are supposed to guess that that is why.

well my guess is that he found out that she has crabs...

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Well, you know, I think I know the answer to my own question now.

Yes, D&D are just dumb. Episode 5 was a complete dumpster fire and it's honestly farcical at this point. I hope HBO gets afraid to do sequel/prequel series. Afraid to recommend D&D's services to Disney/LucasFilm.

I hope they're regretting ever pouring money into a pair of moronic, talentless hacks.

They took two years to come up with this shit! Two years!

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