You know, now that I think back on it, my complete inability to see what’s going on (I watched it on a crappy laptop screen) for quite a bit of the episode may be why I have a negative feeling towards it.
1 Like
Yeah it was the same for everyone actually, they did that deliberately to make it like ‘true dark’
I think the episode was always going to be disappointing to a degree. I actually didn’t mind the darkness and snow storm aspects all that much. We got some moments of clarity, but I think the lighting and inability to see added to the drama. I mean, how many anonymous zombies do we really need to be seen hacked up?
I think the biggest issue was the pacing of the episode. I think we could have used more time with the characters we know fighting a ‘higher stakes’ fight. Like Brienne and Jamie teaming up to take out a white walker or something, have them buy some time in the Godswood and duke it out with a couple more of the walkers before Arya shows up. Make it all feel earned.
1 Like
I rewatched it on my laptop, and it was actually clearer but then again my laptop screen isn’t bad.
I think it’s the streaming quality of it, the compression HBO uses isn’t all that good and then you consider how many people have been streaming these last few days…
1 Like
Yep the compression of it was a bit shit through Foxtel here. Few dodgy looking bits
As for the episode, pretty bloody good but would have been good to see more main characters lose their heads or turned into ice zombies.
I didn’t have any issues seeing anything unless it was intentional (the snow storm). I also figured out within the first 30 seconds that I was going to need to watch it in the dark, because I couldn’t see shit with the lights on in my living room.
1 Like
I’d like to call complete bullshit on those crossbow shots last night. I know we’re suspending disbelief for zombies and dragon stuff, but reinventing physics for the accuracy/reloading/damage kind of hurts. I’d expect those shots maybe from some kind of modern sniper rifle, not something made out of wood from the fake middle ages. Also, it was lucky that the ~15 people they showed survive Winterfell somehow multiplied significantly afterwards. I actually liked episodes 2 and 3 but we’re getting back to season 7 levels of stupid now.
1 Like
It is pretty apparent we have TV show level writers now. Without Martin’s books this is what happens. He’s 50% to blame here.
The other 50% goes to Disney. FUCK Disney. The money they are throwing to the show runners, to other actors to be in their stupid fucking Marvel and Star Wars films is partly to blame for GOT moving quickly to end the series.
The power and accuracy is probably not unrealistic. They were made illegal in Europe in the middle ages (with mixed/limited/no success, like all gun control) because they’d rip right through a suit of armor and you could take out a knight from a couple hundred yards.
And giant siege crossbows are a thing: called a “ballista”.
It’s the reloading that was not accurate. To get the kind of power depicted, you have to have some kind of mechanical advantage applied – crank, pump, screw, lever, something. It’s a slowish process, regardless. Not like a bow.
There are actually modern versions in military use today to fire grenades (mainly improvised).
Interesting stuff, but when you think of the distance, elevation, and wind (as it’s a giant stick now)… there’s just no way. The construction couldn’t be that perfect, and then there’s the aiming/timing of it too. Ah well, silly thing to argue about I guess, just hope next makes more sense. At least there was a good amount of grumpy Hound lines.
1 Like
Who cares about the technical marvel of GOT’s ballistas? I’m more blown away that the dragons, who must hunt for the food aerially and have solid vision, and the rider of said dragons, did not see a fleet of black ships in broad daylight approaching at any point on the journey, from said aerial vantage point.
Also, are ships known for their ability to quickly turn? Seems like the fire breathing WMD has much better maneuverability to outflank floating wooden vessels. Didn’t the fire breath completely pulverize the ships in slavers bay like 3 seasons ago?
I get that it’s over and people are just tuning in to see how it ends (me), and apparently there’s no longer money in it. But damn if that’s not just amateurish execution.
1 Like
Hah, this aged well.
So about the whole incest thing… Like if you already banged your aunt, you have committed incest, so is it any worse to continue banging said aunt now that you know she’s your aunt?
The Hapsburgs (Austrian and Spanish) did this for centuries to keep bloodlines “pure”.
Incest in the middle ages isn’t exactly unprecedented.
This is why it is odd in the show. Even Varys brings up how the Targareans(sp?) used to intermarry for that purpose, and it wouldn’t be weird. But Jamie bangs his sister and they all freak out. Then Jon bangs his aunt and only he freaks out.
The Targaryens weren’t from Westeros so… different customs?
Well, no one else knew. And Tyrion says that the people of the North don’t nor would they accept it
I can’t work out if I’d prefer Cersie to win or the dragon lady to annihilate Kings Landing and have Jon Snow arrive as she is killing the innocent.
I guess Cersie had to lose but first time this season they’ve set up a power fork in the road. I think that last 20 minutes saved this episode, dragon physics or not 
1 Like
This show hasn’t been very good since S6E10. I’m pot-committed at this point, having spent literally hundreds of hours on this series (combined books and shows), so I’ll watch til the end; but there hasn’t been a holy shit moment for me on this show since Tommen jumped out the window.
I’m expecting very little from these last two episodes.
1 Like
I now suspect that, when Martin supposedly gave the show-runners the ending to the story, he gave some very specific information (Jon Snow is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, Dany eventually turns into her father), but very little else.
I think the fundamental problem is that the story is a deliberate subversion of many commonly used tropes, but they work because they work from a character stand-point- it makes sense that Tywin would orchestrate the Red Wedding for example.
But the show-runners had to rely on tropes as they ran out of material because, at the end of it, this is a t.v. show.
It’s why I abandoned the books half-way or so into Feast of Crows. I started to get the suspicion that Martin had no idea how to write the story anymore. At the end of it, it’s still a story, and all stories must have a protagonist and a beginning, middle, and end.
For the longest time, A Song of Ice and Fire had no actual protagonist. It had a bunch of characters that you thought might be the protagonist (Eddard, Robb, Catelyn, Jon Snow, Tyrion, Dany are the most obvious, though Brann and several others probably fits there too). The story killed a bunch of them off and left others in limbo. Heck, at this point Victarion feels like he’s going to be extremely important in the future. The problem is that he was introduced half-way into the story and is extremely unlikable.
You cannot continue to subvert the narrative and be sneaky- you’ll write yourself into a hole. I think Martin did this, and that’s why he hasn’t released a new novel or gave any information about it in the last 7 years.
2 Likes
From every interview I’ve ever read of his he always had Snow going this far, a long with Dany, and Cerci since he always loved the Lanisters so I’m not sure what you mean?
Guessing Jon snow being the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna was the final reason Martin gave the two show runners his blessing. It was how they proved to him they knew his books, and had a grasp on the overall story arc.
I’m going to try and view the show in its entirety before passing judgement on a single season.
Yeah, 7 and 8 feel too short, and things are moving too fast, but remember how many people complained that GOT took forever to get to major plot points? You can’t please everyone.