I reckon its due to budget but if it wasnt, could lead to a funny scene
Cersei and elephants marching with pride and arrogance, and in one swoop they are all toasted by a flying dragon.
Television Game of Thrones (TV) • The watch has ended
- Thread starter ha_rooney
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to talk about United's dreadful home defeat at the hands of Big Ange's Tottenham Hotspur. Should this have been the end of Ten Hag? How long does he actually have left? And does Nik finally want ETH out?!
I reckon its due to budget but if it wasnt, could lead to a funny scene
Most people in the UK/Europe haven't watched it yet. It was at 2 am, and it's a workday.
The episode was okay. The highlights behind Sam and Jaime, two of the few good actors left on the show. John Bradley nailed it, heart broke for him.
Maisie Williams was a phenomenal child actress but is now probably the worst thing about the show. Literally all of her reactions are over the top and her interactions aren’t believable. She’s atrocious.
The dragon riding was so cringe worthy it bordered on comical. Army of the dead on the doorstep and they make time for that Rom-Com bullshit. I honestly think there’s a lot feeling among the cast/directors to get this over with. The writing is so sloppy at times even after two years to prepare. And some of the actors have clearly lost interest – Dinklage has been phoning it in for 4 years, a few scenes aside. It’s been a long haul for them so it’s understandable. I expect a lot more blatant fan service this season.
All this drama about Jon’s lineage/claim is also hilarious given that shit clearly when out the window when Cersei declared herself Queen.
Maisie Williams was a phenomenal child actress but is now probably the worst thing about the show. Literally all of her reactions are over the top and her interactions aren’t believable. She’s atrocious.
The dragon riding was so cringe worthy it bordered on comical. Army of the dead on the doorstep and they make time for that Rom-Com bullshit. I honestly think there’s a lot feeling among the cast/directors to get this over with. The writing is so sloppy at times even after two years to prepare. And some of the actors have clearly lost interest – Dinklage has been phoning it in for 4 years, a few scenes aside. It’s been a long haul for them so it’s understandable. I expect a lot more blatant fan service this season.
All this drama about Jon’s lineage/claim is also hilarious given that shit clearly when out the window when Cersei declared herself Queen.
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I feel that, as the story has naturally built towards a climax and a conclusion, it's lost a lot of what was engaging about it in the first place. It basically started as a political thriller set in a fantasy world (most of the praise of the early books especially compared it to the War of the Roses or Imperial Rome) and by series 6 it had evolved into a full-blown high fantasy series (albeit one with swearing, sex and gore). The problem is that the latter doesn't lend itself to good writing and good performances to the same extent as the former does. Ned Stark trying to negotiate courtly intrigue is simply a more interesting premise than a war against an evil army of the dead. Which isn't to say the show is bad or that I won't watch it, it's just very different to the show we started watching 8 years ago.
Well the promo for the next episode showed a lot of action, so I'm guessing there will be some shite hitting the fan
I think the next episode will be the last of the preparation. The Battle of Winterfell will be episode 3.
I also think the Winterfell battle may be a distraction as the White Walkers head south. I think it’s all leading toward a split in the Jon/Dany camp – Jon will want to go south and fight alongside Cersei and Dany will want to wait and let them destroy her.
I also think the Winterfell battle may be a distraction as the White Walkers head south. I think it’s all leading toward a split in the Jon/Dany camp – Jon will want to go south and fight alongside Cersei and Dany will want to wait and let them destroy her.
Interesting theory but I can't see the whitewalkers flanking past winterfell. I think they just destroy everything in their way and Winterfell is right in their way to the south.
1st episode seemed a bit rushed but given only 5 episodes after this so it's understandable I guess . Jon and Dany romance is bit of a boring part . Jon's 1st Dragon ride should have been in middle of the war and not a date ride . That way it becomes cooler and more dramatic . Sam was the highlight in the episode since he got the big bad news and then gave the good big news . His track in the episode was clearest . Sansa seems to be plotting something too not sure what it is yet . Jamie and Bran stare in the end was perfect ending to the episode .
Bran's job is just to advance the plot.
He can't walk, asshole.
2 years and we still get nothing but some more exposition in the opening episode...fkin disappointed
Totally! I think that was the Producers way of going "hey, erm... we kind of ran out of money...."
I think the problem is that while the story started out somewhat straight forward GRRM just kept adding layer upon layer to it until it to the point where even the format with multiple books struggles to contain/tell it. It must be an utter nightmare to cram it into a TV show with a dozen episodes per season, let alone wrap it up with even less in the final season.
They could have saved that money by cutting out the utter dross that was theTotally! I think that was the Producers way of going "hey, erm... we kind of ran out of money...."
Dragon date
John just casually getting on a dragon. That should be a bigger thing with more intrigue and a lead on from why Drogon was chill with him on the cliff touching him. A lead on in to his heritage. They just flew past it like anyone can fly a dragon for what seems like them flexing the budget so they can have that undoubtedly very expensive flying sequence
I get that they need to move things along at a pace so they can cram it all in but they are bypassing most of the intrigue that made the show so great. The battles I’m sure will be awesome, but one of the things I’ve been looking forward to the most are the meetings and interactions between certain characters and they were all just a really big disappointment.
Ok so watched it this morning. That jump scare was horrific. Setting the scene, expected no fireworks.
Agree with the others who says episode 3 will be the battle of Winterfell. I can't help but feel Dany and Jon will die, one maybe killing the other in the aftermath. Or because Drogon eats Ghost. 
Ok so watched it this morning. That jump scare was horrific. Setting the scene, expected no fireworks.
Agree with the others who says episode 3 will be the battle of Winterfell. I can't help but feel Dany and Jon will die, one maybe killing the other in the aftermath. Or because Drogon eats Ghost.
Think they're setting the stage for Danny to bit the dust with that Sam's questions, "would she give up her crown to save her people"
They just don't have the time left to be able to do it justice, you can't really have meaningful interactions with a simple 20/30 second scene. Early GoT the scenes were far longer and allowed proper dialogue whereas now they have so many characters interacting and meeting for the first time in a while that it has to be rushed or some characters get sidelined. In a way, they've made it difficult for themselves by having so many characters still alive at this point. Personally I had no problem with the Dragon Date, you can't have Jon jump on a Dragon in the middle of a battle, that would be dumb as feck. Daenerys obviously wanted to encourage him on them before everything got super serious, I don't really see an issue with it. I know it's not what people want to see as some really don't like Daenerys, but this is required material. You can't just build up their romance and then bench it in the final season. We have to see it so when he eventually falls apart it actually means something. They're obviously building up a conflict between the pair later on in the Season imo so they need to show them having a good time and being happy before it all falls apart.
Possibly, but I think the fact that pirate girl is going off to retake the Iron Islands suggests that Daenerys will survive and flee back to them, leaving the North and Jon on their own. Providing Jon with enough evidence that Daenerys is a bad Queen and thus will take up his mantle as the true King.
I thought it was either that or Yara's goodbye in the series. But it's pretty clear Dany isn't great and possibly could end up mad. A burn them all scene? Though that would be rushed I guess.
I completely expected the show to end like a popcorn flick with none of the complexity of the books but seriously Dany expecting Jon to ride a dragon with no regard for the Targaryen bloodline and the lore of it was putrid writing. It would have mad a ton more sense if it was done after everyone learns Jon's lineage.
But this is what I’m saying. They actually wasted so much time on special effect moments with the
dragon date and the prolonged march in to winterfell
That scene just made it come across like a Disney film with how horrible and cheesy it was and in all honesty the scene when they are being
overlooked on the balcony as they flirt on the battlefield did more than that rubbish dragon date.
Not saying the dragon ride has to happen during the battle but we know there are a few battle sequences this season and this could have been done after she knew his heritage or at the end of the first battle.
Don’t even want to get started on the samwell, Egon stuff as that was utter tripe as well.
Not saying the dragon ride has to happen during the battle but we know there are a few battle sequences this season and this could have been done after she knew his heritage or at the end of the first battle.
Don’t even want to get started on the samwell, Egon stuff as that was utter tripe as well.
All in all to me that is quite comfortably the worst episode there has been.
Could be she sees people she loves die and panics as her army starts getting destroyed so she orders a retreat and they all flee. I mean she has two objectives after all and she can't see her entire army and dragons all die even if they do win because then Cersei will just destroy her. Especially when it becomes apparent that Cersei betrayed them all, Daenerys is after all obsessed with the throne. Her fleeing after watching a large portion of her army destroyed would be in character. That would be the required kick up the arse for Jon as well. Her reaction to the Cersei betrayal will be important next episode to understand what she'll do in the next few episodes I guess (assuming she survives that long).
I think that's a separate issue but certainly a valid point. It's a gargantuan undertaking to write storylines for so many characters (even after killing a bunch of them off!) and GRRM has clearly struggled with it. In a post-script for Feast for Crows he basically said that as he was writing the book it became clear that he couldn't fit all the character arcs for the timescale into a 700 page book, so he would bring out another book (Dances with Dragons) the next year to cover the other characters. That book ended up taking 6 years to write and was over 1000 pages. You'd need a lot more screentime to cover all that content than is reasonable to expect of a TV show and it would be too complicated to be marketable. That's why as a book fan I'm generally not too critical of the omissions the show has made.
My point in my other post was more that the strong point of the series for me when I first started watching/reading and for most reviewers was the factional politics, the characters and the world-building and that that's not what the show is anymore (maybe the new books will be different I don't know). As of season 7 it's a typical high fantasy story where factions with pre-existing emnity have to work together to fight an intractable evil. The story that led us to this point was engaging and established strong characters, which is why people will keep watching, but the current arc only superficially relies on that story. In terms of the overall arc of these last two seasons, knowing details such as, for example, the reason the Starks hate Cersei is no more necessary than knowing why Men, Dwarves and Elves hate each other in any other high fantasy series. The narrative path the story has taken has basically relegated all the good stuff to being backstory to a pretty generic ending.
I agree the march into Winterfell took a bit too long, everything else in the episode I was happy with. I thought the Sam scenes were done really well and i'm personally happy that it was Sam that told Jon and not Bran. Sam is more of a brother than Bran was, so i'm glad it came from him and it's also interesting to see the side plot of the Northerners whispering in Jons ear that Daenerys is a bad Queen. Which is precisely the opposite to what Jon said when he bent the knee after she came and saved everyone during the Expedition episode last season.
It certainly wasn't the worst episode, i'm not sure what people were expecting for the first episode back after a 18 month wait. Of course it was going to be slow. They've always been slow.
It certainly wasn't the worst episode, i'm not sure what people were expecting for the first episode back after a 18 month wait. Of course it was going to be slow. They've always been slow.
Hes got a wheel chair right? He can have someone wheel him around instead of sitting in the cold looking glum all day
The climax comes at the end.
Possibly, but we've already seen her losing a portion of her army (the ships) and with so few episodes left I don't really see how they'd fit in her fleeing to the Iron islands then back down south for Cersei. I think they are edging towards Jon realising she's actually a mean bitch and that's the cause of her doing whatever. Seems sure she'd head to the Iron Islands at some point, I agree with that, I just don't know how that could possibly work for the story in the time left, or what the actual point would be tbh.
The point would be that she abandoned the people of Westeros for her own selfish reasons. No doubt she'll argue that Cersei can take the White Walkers on and it was her that abandoned them and she's simply evening the odds. It would be done to break up the Jon/Daenerys love angle and for Jon to have a valid reason to accept his lineage. I think he wont accept his parentage while in love with Daenerys and would want it kept secret, note we havent seen his reaction to that reveal yet. She can then come to Kings Landings rescue and perhaps die saving Jon after realising she fecked up. I imagine there would be enough time for that as they'll probably do some time travel to speed shit up. As surely the climax of the series will be the White Walkers attacking Kings Landing? To do that they'll need to speed shit up to get them down there as its a blood long way to march!
If you go to an internet forum and specifically a thread about Game of Thrones after an episode has aired expecting no talk about what happened, you are kinda asking to have shit spoiled.
No but as many haven't seen the episode due to the delayed broadcast internationally we asked that people used spoiler tags for an extra 24hrs to avoid spoiling s8ep1 for many.
Slow? Sorry I don’t get that as for me it was moving way too fast. It was just poorly done in my opinion trying to cram too much in to that 1 episode to what seemed like just get it out the way. If anything this should have been 1 of the longer episodes to build the intrigue and stuff.
I too am glad it was Sam, he’s really the only person it would have made sense coming from but to me that was poor. I would have had it so that Bran and Sam had called them all in to a meeting early upon their arrival. Just the family, Dani possibly Tyrian and Jorah and tell them what they’ve learned. And in the build up to that I would have shown more of Jon and Dani’s interaction as they traveled to Winterfell to show they now have a relationship and then destroy it with that 1 scene or at least throw a massive spanner in the works.
However I think it looks like they are setting them up for a rivalry between the two so I’m hoping this just isn’t something that Jon is going to sit on and it’s brought up in the next episode. I fear we are going to get an oh i’m Pregnant, oh I’ve got something to tell you blah blah blah reveal. Or a standing in front of Leeana’s statue with Dani and her saying something like so she is the reason my brother went to war for or some Helen of Troy like stuff, your Aunt is quite a woman. Not my aunt... my mother... looks at Dani all pensive scene, Dani looks at Jon shocked blah blah blah.
However I think it looks like they are setting them up for a rivalry between the two so I’m hoping this just isn’t something that Jon is going to sit on and it’s brought up in the next episode. I fear we are going to get an oh i’m Pregnant, oh I’ve got something to tell you blah blah blah reveal. Or a standing in front of Leeana’s statue with Dani and her saying something like so she is the reason my brother went to war for or some Helen of Troy like stuff, your Aunt is quite a woman. Not my aunt... my mother... looks at Dani all pensive scene, Dani looks at Jon shocked blah blah blah.
Which is why the spoiler tag request was just that - a request - due to international broadcastimg being delayed.
I feel like the dragon riding was probably in there because at some point during a battle Jon is going to have to jump on one to save everyone or something. I hope it wasn't just there for the purpose of this episode anyway.
Spoiler rule is stupid. Just avoid the thread until watched. I want to come here and discuss the episode but I’m scared an actual spoiler for future episodes is in some of the spoilers.
The Ice Man cometh, don't be hating
He's the worst actor on the show and has been since Series 1, he seemed like he was getting better for awhile but now he's gone back to the level he reached in that Silent Hill Movie.
Wasn't as bad an episode as many on here are pointing out. Think they tried to come on hard with the Jon/Dany romance because as Varys said "nothing lasts". They couldn't have foreshadowed a split/falling out anymore so maybe that's why they did it.
Firstly there was the Varys line. Than the Arya line about family in the Godswood and finally Sam basically pointing out she's power hungry bitch who puts more importance on the crown than the people. I think it strongly implies one of them is not getting out alive as most people would have predicted. I'll be disappointed if it ends without a Jon/Dany conflict.
The original Stark casting is coming back to haunt them now because they are such vital characters and none are up to the standard of the lesser characters/better actors around them. They stick out like sore thumbs.
Looks like Bran has turned into the tree instead of three eyed raven.
Maisie Williams has turned into Calculon from Futurama.
Kit Harrington still just can't act.
Firstly there was the Varys line. Than the Arya line about family in the Godswood and finally Sam basically pointing out she's power hungry bitch who puts more importance on the crown than the people. I think it strongly implies one of them is not getting out alive as most people would have predicted. I'll be disappointed if it ends without a Jon/Dany conflict.
The original Stark casting is coming back to haunt them now because they are such vital characters and none are up to the standard of the lesser characters/better actors around them. They stick out like sore thumbs.
Looks like Bran has turned into the tree instead of three eyed raven.
Maisie Williams has turned into Calculon from Futurama.
Kit Harrington still just can't act.
You just have to click a button to see the posts.
Yeh but the issue is some people are talking about future episodes.
Which they title the spoiler with 'speculation/ep 2 preview' no?
Anticlimax of an episode
Maisie has gotten worse at acting seems like. She was better playing a child.
Sansa is alright, I guess.