TV: Game of Thrones | Season 8 | Part IX -TV talk ONLY -NO Books, Spoilers, NO LEAKS

[Lshap]

I'm guessing the first big death tonight will be the dragon. Once it's gone, the story can be decided by angry, righteous, noble people rather than a magical beast.

 

[Lshap]

Up until her destruction of King's Landing I think most people would say the opposite. She's actually a good person that has done some questionable things in pursuit of her goals. A large percentage of the "good" characters in this universe fit that description. Even now it's very tough to simply describe her as "bad." Maybe at this point she's more of an anti-hero?

They took great pains to cast Dany as evil by focusing tightly on innocent victims being torched by her rage. The message of The Bells was unambiguous: This character has fully embraced the Dark Side. Of course there's a backstory to her actions, but she is tonight's bad-guy.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

They took great pains to cast Dany as evil by focusing tightly on innocent victims being torched by her rage. The message of The Bells was unambiguous: This character has fully embraced the Dark Side. Of course there's a backstory to her actions, but she is tonight's bad-guy.

I don't see it that way at all but to each their own I guess..

 

[bobholly39]

My biggest issue with the last season is how important Missandei's death has turned out to be. It's fine if as a viewer we find her death truly devastating and are all upset about it/want to discuss it, etc.

But within the context of the story itself - her dying should have been barely a blimp on Danerys's state of mind. Same for Jorah dying too. She's leading tens of thousands of people to their deaths. How many way, waaay more horrible deaths happened to other women, children even in the past 1-2 episodes alone. In Winterfell - how many children and innocent women were slaughtered by zombies, how many innocents were raped and tortured in the war, etc. Why is the leader of such an army reacting this way when two of her close friends die. Why is the general of the army (grey worm) - similarly so impacted when someone he likes dies - but all his soldiers and such, it's fine. That's so insanely stupid. When other people die for you it's fine, business as usual, even if it's tens of thousands. But when someone you care about dies - even 1 single person - it's the end of the world.

 

[discostu]

Happy finale day everyone.

Regardless of where everyone sits on the season thus far, I think it's safe to say that most people in this thread have gotten a lot off enjoyment out of this show over the years. There really isn't anything else that I'm watching that becomes this consuming.

I'm not sure what the next big pop culture show will end up being, but I know I would never have predicted a show like this to resonate this strongly with general audiences.

 

[bobholly39]

My one wish for tonight's episode.

Near the very end - I want it to cut to a scene in a nice villa somewhere....have some nice easy music in the background...and all of a sudden you zoom into a 8 month pregnant woman with a big belly...and you hear a voice and you turn around and see Jamie with his golden hand. Turn back - the lady is Cersei, both having escaped and living happily in Essos.

Depending on what happens with Tyrion in tonight's episode - him being a part of that scene with a glass of wine in hand could be fun too, if he had to escape too and joined them.

In the end - the Lannisters escaped and start over again.

 

[Lshap]

Happy finale day everyone.

Regardless of where everyone sits on the season thus far, I think it's safe to say that most people in this thread have gotten a lot off enjoyment out of this show over the years. There really isn't anything else that I'm watching that becomes this consuming.

I'm not sure what the next big pop culture show will end up being, but I know I would never have predicted a show like this to resonate this strongly with general audiences.

Yup. I'm too old to give a **** about cultural phenomena, but it's cool to be cresting the GoT tidal-wave with so many people of so many different ages. Unlike hockey where everything reboots each season, this show has been a long-term relationship that's about to break up with me for good.

Sucks that next week I'll be hunting for a good rebound relationship...

 

[Rabid Ranger]

My one wish for tonight's episode.

Near the very end - I want it to cut to a scene in a nice villa somewhere....have some nice easy music in the background...and all of a sudden you zoom into a 8 month pregnant woman with a big belly...and you hear a voice and you turn around and see Jamie with his golden hand. Turn back - the lady is Cersei, both having escaped and living happily in Essos.

Depending on what happens with Tyrion in tonight's episode - him being a part of that scene with a glass of wine in hand could be fun too, if he had to escape too and joined them.

In the end - the Lannisters escaped and start over again.

Well that would trigger one thing....a mass cancellation of HBO subs.

 

[Lshap]

Well that would trigger one thing....a mass cancellation of HBO subs.

I'm guessing lots of folks joined HBO just for GoT and planned to cancel the moment it ended, regardless of how they felt about this season.

 

[discostu]

I'm guessing lots of folks joined HBO just for GoT and planned to cancel the moment it ended, regardless of how they felt about this season.

I'm pretty certain it's been the routine for them for years. I pick up my subscription about a week before the seasons start. I'll probably keep it for a little while to watch some other hbo shows I've been meaning to catch. Barry seems up my alley, and my wife and I enjoyed Big Little Lies season 1, so we'll keep to around season 2.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Before I cancel HBO I need to watch Deadwood. First episode was good but never got around to watching the rest.

 

[Daisy Jane]

Happy Finale Day
while i am gonna be here for the prequels and whatever they fling our way - imma gonna miss this show.

 

[Puck]

I think there is a consensus building. Great book story from Martin, less than stellar screenplay execution from Benioff and Weiss.

In the end, Game of Thrones needed better writers

 

[GabeTravels]

Gonna guess Dany DOESN'T die tonight... But gets exiled to Essos to rule Dragon's Bay.

Maybe even leaves on her own, horrified at what she's become.

 

[RandV]

My one wish for tonight's episode.

Near the very end - I want it to cut to a scene in a nice villa somewhere....have some nice easy music in the background...and all of a sudden you zoom into a 8 month pregnant woman with a big belly...and you hear a voice and you turn around and see Hot Pie with his yummy bread. Turn back - the lady is Margaery Tyrell, both having escaped and living happily in Essos.

Fixed it for you!

See, now that's how you do fan fiction

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I think there is a consensus building. Great book story from Martin, less than stellar screenplay execution from Benioff and Weiss.

In the end, Game of Thrones needed better writers

What GOT needed most was GRRM to have finished the books prior to end of the show. Short of that, there needed to be a commitment from those associated with the show to at the very least opt for a full season-which didn't happen. Those two issues threw a huge monkey wrench into the works. Add in D & D's limitations and here we are.

 

[Blender]

I don't think that it's all that hard to take a fully fleshed out world and develop good stories within it. It takes talent, but less than creating everything from scratch. Take Star Trek: The Next Generation, for example. Gene Roddenberry created the characters, world, themes and tone and then, starting in season 3 and due to failing health, took a less hands-on role and mostly turned the show over to a couple of other people. That's sort of like the point when Benioff & Weiss ran out of Martin's material and had to plot the show on their own... but TNG didn't start getting worse; instead, it started getting better and better and reached its peak when Roddenberry had no involvement. That was a procedural show, not a serialized one, but I think that it still makes a point that losing the direct involvement of the creator and moving on without him isn't that hard if he gave you a lot to work with and you're somewhat creative, yourself.

I think that Martin's slowness isn't because the story is too difficult for even him to wrap up (after all, he knows how it ends because he gave his outline to the show runners), but because it's his world and he's a perfectionist. If you think that fans have high standards for the show, imagine the standards that he probably holds himself to in his writing. The dipping quality of the last few novels may be something that he's aware of and bothered by and, because of it, he's putting even more pressure on himself to make the final novels perfect. I can totally relate to that. Also, I think that it's the opposite of Benioff and Weiss, who were eager to get the series over with and compromised its quality so that they could move on. Martin, on the other hand, will probably retire from writing after he finishes the last two novels, so they're his final creative outlets and his legacy is on the line, which must put even more pressure on him to make them perfect.

I agree with your point that D&D signed on to adapt finished books and they did a very good job of that, and are not as good at writing their own material, but I completely disagree with the example comparison you made and don't think it's applicable in any way. TNG didn't have a set ending for the main characters and stories that Roddenberry has mapped out, but not figured out how to get there. That's what D&D were handed, a general outline of how everything was supposed to end, but with no real guidance on how to get there. Losing the creator and moving on without him is incredibly hard when you still have to rigidly stick to his vision and ending, which wasn't the case with TNG since they essentially scrapped the entire format of the series and did their own thing.

Also, season 4 wasn't the last book season, season 5 was. Funny how people always ignore that despite most of season 5 coming from book plots, they are just bad book plots that would have been impossible to properly adapt to the show without introducing tons of new characters and giving a lot of the main characters a season off. What they ended up with was pretty bad overall, but I also think what they had to work with was pretty bad. Season 6 was the first season they were completely past the books, and it's a huge improvement on season 5.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I agree with your point that D&D signed on to adapt finished books and they did a very good job of that, and are not as good at writing their own material, but I completely disagree with the example comparison you made and don't think it's applicable in any way. TNG didn't have a set ending for the main characters and stories that Roddenberry has mapped out, but not figured out how to get there. That's what D&D were handed, a general outline of how everything was supposed to end, but with no real guidance on how to get there. Losing the creator and moving on without him is incredibly hard when you still have to rigidly stick to his vision and ending, which wasn't the case with TNG since they essentially scrapped the entire format of the series and did their own thing.

Also, season 4 wasn't the last book season, season 5 was. Funny how people always ignore that despite most of season 5 coming from book plots, they are just bad book plots that would have been impossible to properly adapt to the show without introducing tons of new characters and giving a lot of the main characters a season off. What they ended up with was pretty bad overall, but I also think what they had to work with was pretty bad. Season 6 was the first season they were completely past the books, and it's a huge improvement on season 5.

It sounds like GRRM wasn't much help at all once his books got lapped. That's a very spot for D & D to be in. Shoot, with some plot lines it looks like they put book stuff in a blender.

 

[Blender]

Tywin’s sack of KL was terrible. The source for the song Rain’s of Castemere is too

I literally posted Jorah's quotes about arriving in King's Landing with Ned's army after the sack and being absolutely horrified at it the day after the episode aired. Jorah was trying to teach Daenerys a lesson and also make the case that using Unsullied would allow her to avoid the devastation and suffering inflicted on common people as a result of sacking a city, but she never really seemed to take this seriously since she spent so much time threatening to do that to cities later, and even before that.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I agree with your point that D&D signed on to adapt finished books and they did a very good job of that, and are not as good at writing their own material, but I completely disagree with the example comparison you made and don't think it's applicable in any way. TNG didn't have a set ending for the main characters and stories that Roddenberry has mapped out, but not figured out how to get there. That's what D&D were handed, a general outline of how everything was supposed to end, but with no real guidance on how to get there. Losing the creator and moving on without him is incredibly hard when you still have to rigidly stick to his vision and ending, which wasn't the case with TNG since they essentially scrapped the entire format of the series and did their own thing.

Also, season 4 wasn't the last book season, season 5 was. Funny how people always ignore that despite most of season 5 coming from book plots, they are just bad book plots that would have been impossible to properly adapt to the show without introducing tons of new characters and giving a lot of the main characters a season off. What they ended up with was pretty bad overall, but I also think what they had to work with was pretty bad. Season 6 was the first season they were completely past the books, and it's a huge improvement on season 5.

People forget that Season 5 was based on Feast and Dance. They purposefully kept it from starting any Winds stuff to give George one more year to possibly get Winds out.

It’s the actual reason the season was a mess.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think there is a consensus building. Great book story from Martin, less than stellar screenplay execution from Benioff and Weiss.

In the end, Game of Thrones needed better writers

It’s such a bunk argument. The writers have been around since day 1. There is no show without them. Many of everyone’s favorite scenes were show only stuff that they wrote.

They are just as responsible for the amazing stuff we got in the late seasons as for the mishaps.

In the end it is one of the biggest TV shows in history.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I'm pretty certain it's been the routine for them for years. I pick up my subscription about a week before the seasons start. I'll probably keep it for a little while to watch some other hbo shows I've been meaning to catch. Barry seems up my alley, and my wife and I enjoyed Big Little Lies season 1, so we'll keep to around season 2.

All the preshow sizzle reels are them trying to avoid this. Big Little Lies should keep some around.

I want to watch Chernobyl before I unsubscribe. I also kind of want to do one more rewatch.

 

[Blender]

People forget that Season 5 was based on Feast and Dance. They purposefully kept it from starting any Winds stuff to give George one more year to possibly get Winds out.

It’s the actual reason the season was a mess.

Your general show watcher would have hated it even more if they tried to make a more faithful adaptation of those plots as well.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Your general show watcher would have hated it even more if they tried to make a more faithful adaptation of those plots as well.

Why I would never wave around George’s desire for 15 seasons as a positive. Dude does not understand pacing.

Show would have never survived if he got his way.

 

[kingsfan28]

The Finale:

60 pct will love it
30 pct will hate it*
10 percent will be in the middle

* 1 pct will DEMAND it to be done over again because of whatever reasons.