Game of Thrones

[Ravyn Rant]

I think the lesson that all future producers can learn from GoT is to never adapt an incomplete series. While I'm still sorting out my feelings concerning the writing choices, I have to say that I'm going to miss this beautifully scored, visually stunning series.
The finale left me with a lot of questions. Like, where did Arya's horse go? How did Tyrion climb that pile of rubble? Did the Unsullied and Dothraki multiply after the battle at Winterfell? How did the council get to the Dragonpit so quickly? The whole episode was like that for me. Going back over the previous seasons I can see where they dropped little anvils about Dany having the potential to go full Mad Queen eventually, but they really didn't take enough time to show that descent effectively. So many storylines were given short shrift while they raced to the ending. I wish the season had been longer.

 

[Manitou]

Like, where did Arya's horse go?

The horse was a biblical symbol. It came out of nowhere and then disappeared to nowhere. That's the entire point.

How did Tyrion climb that pile of rubble?

Just like that. There was enough opening on the top for him

Did the Unsullied and Dothraki multiply after the battle at Winterfell?

That's a kind of a true question.

How did the council get to the Dragonpit so quickly?

There was a weeks/months time span between killing Dany and the council. Didn't you see a change of weather and Tyrion's and Jon's long beards? I think that Unsullied imprisoned Jon for murder and the entire politics started to take place. The Dragonpit scene was just a conclusion of that politics that have been going on since the murder.

Going back over the previous seasons I can see where they dropped little anvils about Dany having the potential to go full Mad Queen eventually, but they really didn't take enough time to show that descent effectively.

The transformation has been going on for quite a while. I think only Dany's rabid fans didn't see it. As Tyrion says: love is the end of reason. She was increasingly obsessive with this "bend the knee" nonsense for the entire time. For the last two seasons she lost all her liberator's appeal and was obsessed with only one thing - throne and power. Since liberating Meereen she has been pompous, arrogant, entitled, annoying and focused on her own power literally all the time. I knew she would turn to Pol Pot even during the previous season.

 

[fabienne1996]

The horse was a biblical symbol. It came out of nowhere and then disappeared to nowhere. That's the entire point.


Just like that. There was enough opening on the top for him


That's kind of true question.


There was a weeks/months time span between killing Dany and the council. Didn't you see a change of weather and Tyrion's and Jon's long beards? I think that Unsullied imprisoned Jon for murder and the entire politics started to take place. The Dragonpit scene was just a conclusion of that politics that have been going on since the murder.


The transformation has been going on for quite a while. I think only Dany's rabid fans didn't see it. As Tyrion says: love is the end of reason. She was increasingly obsessive with this "bend the knee" nonsense for the entire time. The entire last two seasons she lost all her liberator's attraction and was obsessed with only one single thing - the throne and power. Since liberating Meereen she has been pompous, arrogant, entitled, annoying and focused on her own power practically all the time. I knew she would turn to Pol Pot even during the previous season.

Again that was bad writing since the funny thing is it seems that those writers kinda forgot that at the end of season 6 she gave away the iron islands to yara, and she toldntyrion when he asked what would come if the other kingdoms asked for it to and she just said they can ask? So yes those writers kinda forgot that when she arrived at Dragon stone. Also again they forgot to edit out a water bottle . Like really?

 

[andromache]

How different people can be! I thought the scene with Brienne was one of the most touching scenes ever. She was wearing his uniform, obviously she has taken his position as King‘s Guard, and it was her duty to finish his story, which was a painful task. She omitted herself from the story altogether. Instead wrote „died protecting the Queen“ and restored his honor. It was sad and beautiful.

But I am one of those few who loved episode 5 and am still processing episode 6 before pronouncing my verdict. Overall, it feels like 5 was the real finale, while 6 was the epilogue.

I hated Brienne's ending - it was too Jaime-centric. What about BRIENNE'S story?? She deserved better.

The best/worst part for me was when Sam presented the Song of Ice and Fire book. It was SO CHEESY AND BAD.

Also, when Tyrion found his siblings' bodies - there were plenty of places in that area that were not covered in any rubble. Why didn't Jaime and Cersei just move a few feet to the left and not get crushed?

This entire season has been bad and the finale was laughably bad. D&D (the showrunners) are in charge of a new Star Wars movies series. Disney should fire them.

 

[Manitou]

D&D (the showrunners) are in charge of a new Star Wars movies series. Disney should fire them.

Stars Wars is not HBO. It's a PG rated Disney. It's a Hollywood for kids with a moral message and positive role models. Almost like a Sunday school. It's a completely different corner of Galaxy.
Can you quote a single cool dialogue from Star Wars? Maybe except: "Ghhhh ghhhh, Luke, I am your father..... ghhhh ghhhh".

 

[hanyuufan5]

A wild end to a wild ride. It seems like I'm practically the only one in the entire English-speaking world, but I liked season 8 and the ending. (Fortunately for me, there's plenty of appreciation in Japanese.)

My main thought going into the last episode was, Anyone but Tyrion... or Jon or Arya or Brienne, but anyone but Tyrion. Pleasant surprise that all four of them lived!

My favorite scene was when it looked like Jon was going to be barbeque, but Drogon turned on the throne instead. Smart dragon! Can't exactly fight and kill over something that doesn't exist, can you, silly humans?

I can't believe everyone (well, everyone still alive) sort of had a happy ending! I was hoping for that, but not remotely expecting it.

 

[Mathman]

I guess I am alone in all the world in being satisfied with the ending. It brought to the fore the fact that this whole thing was, in fact, a Game. The Game of Thrones. All these nightwalkers, dragons, magic swords, etc., didn't really amount to a hill of beans.

In fact, it wasn't even a game. It was a TV show about a game. Who has a hidden immunity idol, who will be voted off the island. The last episode was the final Survivors sitting around the tribal council reminiscing about the season and voting for who gets the million dollars.

The best line in the discussion of who should be king. "Maybe we should let the people decide?' "The people?! Who should we ask next, my dog?"

 

[Baron Vladimir]

The transformation has been going on for quite a while. I think only Dany's rabid fans didn't see it. As Tyrion says: love is the end of reason. She was increasingly obsessive with this "bend the knee" nonsense for the entire time. For the last two seasons she lost all her liberator's appeal and was obsessed with only one thing - throne and power. Since liberating Meereen she has been pompous, arrogant, entitled, annoying and focused on her own power literally all the time. I knew she would turn to Pol Pot even during the previous season.

Yes, Danys transformaton begun a long ago, from 3rd/4th season probably. I mean, that was the point of the show from the very begining, that anyone who want to sit on that throne will do anything to be there. Desire to be on the iron throne is a curse, it changes you, and it is explained in details throw Danys journy. So it was kind of predictable that the one who will rule in the end (by not sitting on that throne at all) is the one who doesnt have any desires and who is not quite a human. Also the one with whom the all story (from the show) begin with.

 

[Amei]

A wild end to a wild ride. It seems like I'm practically the only one in the entire English-speaking world, but I liked season 8 and the ending. (Fortunately for me, there's plenty of appreciation in Japanese.)

My main thought going into the last episode was, Anyone but Tyrion... or Jon or Arya or Brienne, but anyone but Tyrion. Pleasant surprise that all four of them lived!

My favorite scene was when it looked like Jon was going to be barbeque, but Drogon turned on the throne instead. Smart dragon! Can't exactly fight and kill over something that doesn't exist, can you, silly humans?

I can't believe everyone (well, everyone still alive) sort of had a happy ending! I was hoping for that, but not remotely expecting it.

My favorite scene was Tryion digging up Jamie and Cersei, and him confronting Dany over her slaughter of King's Landing - the way he walked up to her I thought he was going to attempt to kill her himself.

 

[Interspectator]

I wasn't terribly invested in the ending because I wasn't watching the show from the very beginning till the end. i liked Dany as a whole and understood that the character arc was obviously going to end with her becoming an EVIL QUEEN and a Tyrant from several seasons back. --Which is something that says more about the writers going for the obvious low hanging fruit plot wise than trying to go for a creative more nuanced character development and plot development. The depiction of her as a character in these last few episodes was not well done and it's understandable why fans are angry at how she was dispatched in the finale.

This is a problem I've encountered as an avid reader since childhood. I found very few female characters I liked. -Many male characters I found to be well rounded, had light and shade, relatable, heroic, villainous, lovable. Most of the female protagonists and villains just seemed...wrong to me. I couldn't like them, I couldn't relate. I thought for years that it was normal for me to dislike most of the female characters until I realized, duh, the writers were simply not good at creating a relatable female character. Recently I've found a few strong female leads in fiction and movies which has been a huge relief.

I still enjoyed this last season of Game of Thrones, Bran was a King I didn't predict, so I liked that.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Such a sloppy final season.

The season has no nuance or intriguing surprises, except maybe Arya and the Night King (which itself made no sense how she snuck by all those white walkers). Everything was predictable and things that were surprising (like Missandei captured or Yara randomly rescued) were done in such haphazard ways.

I hate what the writers did with Danaerys' character -- sure it was inevitable but it was, like everything this season, done without buildup or thought. It was like "oh there's only 1 episode left gotta make this happen". She was a purely developed character and she was thrown to the wayside because the writers love Jon and had to diminish Dany in order to make way for him/the Starks running things (like, augh, Sansa). The only saving grace is that the perpetual idiot that is Jon Snow wasn't made king, which would have been the ultimate humiliation to end this show.

I'll still try to remember the show for great characters and genuinely shocking/badass moments like the Red Wedding (and Arya avenging it), the Septa explosion, Joffrey's death, anything Olenna Tyrell said... but this season was garbage and grossly un-GoT as the previous seasons had been. The dialogue was blah and the treatment of its strong well-developed female characters especially was appalling (I can't even with Brienne writing Jamie's aggrandized wikipedia page instead of her own story). It was a whimpering end to an otherwise fantastic show that could have been one of the greatest shows ever had they just taken the time to think. The Starbucks cup and water bottles say it all.

 

[ancientpeas]

As I said previously I thought Jon would end up back in the North with Ghost. In that way I think it was the right end for him. He didn't want to be King and ultimately he is not good at the game of thrones. Arya, Davos and Brienne all surviving was on my list of what I wanted and that Drogon wasn't killed made me so happy in the end I nearly didn't care about anything other than Ghost.

Dany's going mad is totally in keeping with the books. It is always hovering there as a specter and a possibility. I do not think Dan and David executed it well. I actually think it would have made more sense to have Arya kill Dany and Jon kill the NK but whatever. Dany has a messiah complex and with the possibility of her going mad she would have become a Galadrial with the ring kind of figure. I didn't want Dany to go mad but I don't think anyone who reads the books can be surprised that it happened. It is heavily foreshadows. Never forget that even in season one she was willing to unleash the Dothraki who would have raped and enslaved the people in Westeros so she could have her throne back.

The thing that really, really disappointed me was the lack of pay out with the White Walkers (the Others in the book). All that lore and history and then they just did nothing with it.

Bran being king also makes sense. George said in the beginning that everything we need to know about the end we can find in the first book. The first book opens with Bran (Chapter one) and that it all ends with Bran makes sense. I'm just glad he didn't have to become a tree.

In the end I thought the main flaw with this last season is that they rushed it and focused too much on battles and spectacle rather than character development. The best episode was 2 and it mostly focused on the relationships between characters and it let the plot breathe. I think Dan and Dave were done with the series awhile ago and just wanted to wrap it up. I can live with the ending. I wasn't as miserable and I thought I was going to be.

Long live Ghost and Drogon!

 

[SkateSand]

I've mostly loved Game of Thrones and was disappointed in the final season. Maybe the final two seasons (pretty much anything after they ran out of source material). I think that the characters all end up kind of where George intended, and I don't have a problem with that (okay, in my heart-of-hearts I wanted Jon to end up King, but I can rationalize that he would really be happier up north with the wildings and Ghost. I thought, based on the writing of the producers, that Sansa had proven herself as the best choice for rule. Bran has been mostly a cypher so it seemed to come out of left field to have him King. Again, I'm sure George will probably lead us there much more intelligently. The production and the acting were mostly first-rate as always. My major quibble is the last two years and especially this last season were really rushed and undeveloped, and I'm not surprised that the producers are tired of the show and want to move on to Star Wars. But I think they owed the last two seasons their very best effort to wrap up the series, and should really have worked more closely with George to make it less seemingly nonsensical in terms of character development and storyline. There were so many moments when the writing and plot changes were just ludicrous. C'mon, George - finish the books!

 

[Baron Vladimir]

Speaking about the negatives, what i agree with is that pace of the story could have been done better in that final season. My bet is that it was planned to be done in 10 episodes originaly, if someone wanted/had enough money to pay for all of that But even without better pace, cinematography and scenography of that final season was truly magnificent I kind of disagree with people who wanted more of a buildup for the 'planned story' of some characters, because with more of that the end of the show would be totally predictable and not interesting to watch at all.

 

[heyang]

HOnestly, this was my prediction after episode 5:
Sansa as Queen
Tyrion as her hand
Aarya as head of her knights guard
Jon goes north to live with the wildiings.
Dany dead, but not sure how.

So, I was somewhat right in Sansa being Queen of the North, Tyrion as hand, Jon going north and Dany being dead.

I didn't feel that Dany had gone mad, but I do think she was set on vengeance. She lost 2 of her closest advisors (Mormont, Missandei) and 1 more of her children. During the celebration, she looked around and saw that everyone else had a family - the Lannisters with Brienne and Podrick, Jon with the Wildlings and Starks, etc. ….and she knew that Jon had a stronger claim to the Throne and that if any of her enemies found out, she would be usurped (i.e. Sansa would want Jon on Throne instead of Dany). when Jon said he couldn't not tell the Starks, she felt betrayed. Then she lost a dragon and Missandei - leaving Grey worm and Varys as her trusted. Then she found that Varys betrayed her.... then Tyrion let Jamie free (even though it didn't hurt her in the end) and refuted her...… at that point Dany's only focus was ensuring that the she controlled the kingdom that cost her everything else. Her act of vengeance by killing the people of King's Landing after they surrendered was what lost her the game for the throne - without that act, Tyrion and Jon would've remained her supporters.

the writers are getting a lot of criticism but you have to consider that they didn't have the author's source material to guide them. They did consult George RR Martin - while may not have matched his exact ending, I don't think they did anything that he would've objected to. According to GRRM's blog, he didn't appear upset with their ending and he says that books can provide a lot more detail than TV and movies - he intends to include endings for in his books for many characters that weren't in the series, as well. Given the cost of the final 6 episodes/8 hours, I suspect that they budgeted as such and perhaps later realized that they could've used more story.

Since I only read the 1st book, I just sat back and enjoyed what they made. Loved the reunions during episode 1, Enjoyed the last night before the battle, seeing all the various bonds come together and appreciate each other. Stunning battle against the Night King, it was an roller coater for me. Stunned when Jon stabbed Dany - beautiful Drogon mourning his mother.

I think the only thing I didn't like was Cersei dying without being confronted by anyone.

 

[fabienne1996]

Speaking about the negatives, what i agree with is that pace of the story could have been done better in that final season. My bet is that it was planned to be done in 10 episodes originaly, if someone wanted/had enough money to pay for all of that [emoji3] But even without better pace, cinematography and scenography of that final season was truly magnificent [emoji144] I kind of disagree with people who wanted more of a buildup for the 'planned story' of some characters, because with more of that the end of the show would be totally predictable and not interesting to watch at all.

The thing is HBO wanted more seasons or more episodes and the writers declined it.

 

[Baron Vladimir]

The thing is HBO wanted more seasons or more episodes and the writers declined it.

Which would be a reasonable thing to do too, if its true. They just didnt have a material for the story to go on, didnt they?

 

[fabienne1996]

Which would be a reasonable thing to do too, if its true. They just didnt have a material for the story to go on, didnt they?

Well they could have used 10 episodes as before, then those last 2 seasons would not have reeled so rushed. Besides they had so much book material in the earlier seasons that they never used. Like the fake aegon, like a bit more martell story ect. And the book author said in an interview that he told them that with the book material they could have gone for 10 seasons. But from the beginning they said only 7 now they did 8

 

[Manitou]

Such a sloppy final season.

The season has no nuance or intriguing surprises, except maybe Arya and the Night King (which itself made no sense how she snuck by all those white walkers). Everything was predictable and things that were surprising (like Missandei captured or Yara randomly rescued) were done in such haphazard ways.

I hate what the writers did with Danaerys' character -- sure it was inevitable but it was, like everything this season, done without buildup or thought. It was like "oh there's only 1 episode left gotta make this happen". She was a purely developed character and she was thrown to the wayside because the writers love Jon and had to diminish Dany in order to make way for him/the Starks running things (like, augh, Sansa). The only saving grace is that the perpetual idiot that is Jon Snow wasn't made king, which would have been the ultimate humiliation to end this show.

I'll still try to remember the show for great characters and genuinely shocking/badass moments like the Red Wedding (and Arya avenging it), the Septa explosion, Joffrey's death, anything Olenna Tyrell said... but this season was garbage and grossly un-GoT as the previous seasons had been. The dialogue was blah and the treatment of its strong well-developed female characters especially was appalling (I can't even with Brienne writing Jamie's aggrandized wikipedia page instead of her own story). It was a whimpering end to an otherwise fantastic show that could have been one of the greatest shows ever had they just taken the time to think. The Starbucks cup and water bottles say it all.

I would even tend to agree with all your statements, but I disagree with the reasons. For you the reason is your strong pro-feminist bias, while for me it’s just the show didn’t make logical sense. I don’t give .. about feminism.
My seven year old grandson would come with a better battle plan for Winterfell. That was simply amateurish and I bet the producers wanted to save on military experts. Denerys has been turning twisted and evil for several seasons already, so for me her turning to Pol Pot was absolutely expected, but the problem was that all the characters lost their depth and became completely flat. I wished Dany dead from the beginning of the season not because she was evil, but because she was simply annoying and was acted terribly by Clarke.
Tyrion all of a sudden turned idiot and completely flat too. Just everything made no sense. Including Bran as king and Arya going for discovering America. Just stupid.
The most scary part was when Sam started talking about democracy. That would be the most cliche and ridiculous resolutions ever.
I think I will start writing my own book titled “Arya Discovering West Of Westeros”. I may come up with a more catchy title later. It will include sirens, cyclops, primitive hostile natives and unicorns. Maybe King Kong. And zero PC. I hope HBO will notice. If not then maybe Hallmark.

 

[Edwin]

My binge watching the whole of GoT over the past two weeks has come to an end.

It was quite an experience I can tell you.

The nudity gets quickly toned down by HBO as accustomed.

The violence is so intense at times of fighting it dumbs your senses down. Not that hand-to-hand combat in any culture is ever nice to watch, accustomed as we are to clean 'computer game' wars using remote control drones nowadays.

There have been very emotional moments for sure, the senseless human sacrifice of Shireen Baratheon to her father's lost cause hit me hard.

The finale wrapping up of all threads came over as a bit silly, but crying over spilled milk is of no use as there will never be a remake of this most impressive series as a whole.

I am almost finished with book two. The books to me are darker still, even HBO cannot put on screen the darkest aspects of human nature the author wrote down.