The journey beyond the wall to kidnap a wight has to be the worst plan in the history of television.
See, this is where I think the twitter thread comes into it. HBO have come out saying they wanted more seasons, and me as a fan would have been happy. However I think the current directors were hoping they would be more focused on adapting, rather than writing and planning when they took the project.
From all accounts ive seen, from the first four seasons, there were some elements of stuff that wasnt in the 'other medium' (heh), but they added which was fantastic. I think I remember reading Hardhome was one of the things they added. But most of the other parts were adapted or modified.
The reason I give them a bit more leeway than some others on the internet do. I do think they worked backwards from the endpoint (next episode) and worked on what they wanted to show (Danys turn, NK falling, wight being presented to Cersei, two dragons being taken out, Jons parentage and identity).
From that yeah they joined the dots. At the same time I do wonder, if they didnt want to continue it, maybe HBO could have brought in people to take over and continue it. But at the same time, would that have been a good idea? Im sure Dexter (as example) changed directors after season 4 and most of us know what happened there.
These guys seem very very good at adapting and constructing set pieces. Writing 'from scratch' as opposed to 'adding' isnt their strong suit seemingly. Could they have just hired writers? Who knows. Its seems an obvious yes, but I think they were fed up or just wanted it to end. Which caused a rush and lots of time skipping and lots of conveniences or illogical moves (the episode beyond the wall).
I also do wonder about the actors in this. I think this will be the biggest project for most of them. I also wonder how many feel like Jack gleeson or want a break from it all too.
Im also mixed because some changes here and there wouldnt have affected budget and had a bit more logic around it. eg the death of the second dragon, Sandsnakes overall, Euron and him being a parody act. It didnt even need a lot of time spent on it, cos some adjustments would mean they still end up at the same place.
Overall, (need to see finale first), if I look back at this show in a few years, im going to have so many episodes or scenes I can watch as a standalone episode and be thrilled (and that includes the latter years). I get some people being disappointed (and why), but before this season started, I did say theres gonna be a lot of disappointed people and a lot of happy people (cos I never saw them being able to please everybody).
For me, Im going to look at the show overall and still rate it very highly in terms of story and spectacle (and be more focused on that than the negatives).
