HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones - Thread 2. There are a lot of nerds.

turns to camera, winks, takes big swig of water from plastic bottle

the bran election was really bad and i had to look away it was so cringe - basically every time tyrion started talking it felt like this episode of Boston Legal (iirc) where spader (iirc) says that the trick to a closing statement is to keep talking until you win the audience over so they just had tyrion talk hoping they could salvage something but that whole speech about stories and shit was so embarrassingly awful. however i thought the final shot of the wildlings heading back into the wilderness was among the best they've done and touched on what made the show actually great and they def picked the right image to end the show on.

blooper reel!

Another negative was that this series could have the subtitle “God’s Plan”, so that blows

But on the whole I was thought they closed out things in a semi-coherent way, which I was beginning to think was impossible. And the stabbing scene + drogon rage were season highlights

Looks like I am going to end up pulling a True Blood on GoT. I read all the books, watched all the seasons and then bailed from watching the last couple of episodes.

It was painful to watch Jon walk around aimlessly, having meaningful conversations with people. It reminded me of Stardew Valley.

But I loved Arya and her Reepicheep ending (even if she's going west rather than east) and I agree that seeing the free folk go home and take Jon Snow with them was great.

The “stories” speech sounded like those bits at the oscars where they talk about writers and the magic of cinema.

^^YES

I was trying to place it. That’s exactly right.

Also close to that nonsense M. Night Shyamalan pulled with "Lady in the Water," where a character was literally named Story, and a writer (played by Shyamalan DO U SEE) had to be protected because he was going to write a book that would inspire presidents.

xpost

The student council election ending in Bran’s King hood was weird as fuck, too. Didn’t they film three different endings to avoid spoilers? When they filmed those scenes I imagine everyone involved assumed it would never be seen

...actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright, like most of the audience, surely didn’t expect as much. “I genuinely thought it was a joke script and that (showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss) sent to everyone a script with their own character ends up on the Iron Throne. ‘Yeah, good one guys. Oh shit, it’s actually real?’” he told Entertainment Weekly.

I was very happy with the choice of Bran for king, but very dissatisfied with Tyrion's speech to that end. I do think there was an amazing parallel between Littlefinger's rapacious desire for the throne and Bran just floating his way into the position with effectively the same process. Again, it's an issue with seers-as-devices but I can't help but think that there was a subtly sinister way that Bran's arc concluded.

I didn't like Arya's denouement and had hoped for better.

I actually loved the Jon/Dany resolution, Drogon's reaction.

Bran is like the guy in those Rap Battle parody videos:
https://media1.tenor.com/images/5b1de781effe18d7df84d35e315369f2/tenor.gif?itemid=5518154

did anyone think the fascist rally bit at the start was a little racist even for GOT?

did I miss the racism?

the more i think about it the more i think that while having Daenerys destroy King's Landing was a pretty sick burn on Cersei and co, i also think the choice of not showing her while she was doing it was a slight (and perhaps unintentional) cop-out. They never had to deal directly with her turning from a hero we identified with into a genocidal villain, and even her post-massacre dialogue was either a fascist rally speech or vague justifications that didn't handle what she did head-on.

I think it was extremely interesting how the narrative POV shifted from us identifying with her and joining her on her journey and ascent to power, and moved into viewing her from the outside and as a figure to be feared. It was a really compelling decision narratively speaking, but it was all just too abrupt getting there. I think this kind of device can really work (to cite something completely different: what Friedkin did with William Peterson's character in To Live and Die In L.A.) but here, as much as I liked a lot of it, it was too easy.

SANSA: hey btw my brother's dick doesn't work. everybody keep telling me your private stuff, i'm cool

hahahah!!!

"did anyone think the fascist rally bit at the start was a little racist even for GOT?"

there was something that made me uncomfortable about the portrayal of the dothraki as 'savages' (through the entire series frankly) and greyworm as the angry black guy and yes, as I said above, the seeming warning about socialism. It wasn't overt but it was there enough that I thought "oh fuck some people on the right are going to really love this'

oh, right! ... i watched a documentary about Stalin after this episode, and there were definitely parallels.

Maybe better for the Biden thread, but
https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/60446985_10156952879206708_4145052742433374208_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&_nc_oc=AQkS5zAXvyvPlMChMhvLf9l1N998_I98j2fBQgAJElTDeVAWB1VRlUCng9T0_9hL5os&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.xx&oh=ca7e0ac2be4405e0958617d77ba67144&oe=5D9FBB8C

works better with Booker imo

also when sam invented democracy i laughed out loud remembering fgti's post

:)

Just ignoring the Dothraki reaction re Dany's death was weak.

Don't really see why Drogon should've been so relatively chill with Dany's death and kinda wanted the final shot to be him flying into the sunset in curious pursuit of Arya's ship.

I gather there may have been other weaknesses...but dug it all in all - enjoyed the last four episodes much more than first two.

also, since the night king posse got defeated, why does the night's watch still exist?

Again, it's an issue with seers-as-devices but I can't help but think that there was a subtly sinister way that Bran's arc concluded.

He’s the guy who knows everyone’s secrets and what’s going to happen, it’s totally sinister. And as people have said upthread, he at least foresaw the burning of King’s Landing. And he knew the outcome of telling Jon about how parentage.

I think the non-importance of Jon’s background in the end is straight from the books - like in standard fantasy he’s the prince that was promised who gets the throne etc, but because it’s this series he’s back freezing his arse off north of the Wall again.

I agree with the final shot and it gives it a nice sendoff considering the very first scene in this series was set north of the Wall too.

the set-up and pacing for the Jon kills Dany going into the council meeting was way too abrupt and wtf considering everything else. ... i was happy to see the hot dude from riverrun, though I thought the Lannisters had killed him ... I had also forgotten he was dumb. Still nice looking tho.

Honestly, apart from the lol sam invented democracy bit, the best part was Jon getting to pet Ghost ... my expectations were obviously super low

Instead of lingering on a bunch of scenes of characters staring at chairs or whatever, yes I too would have loved to see the chaos and confusion of the Dothraki and unsullied learning that Dany was dead all of a sudden. However this whole season they've been using cutaways to get away with not showing how exactly scenes played out and forcing the audience to assume the middle portion. Again a yadda yadda yadda narrative copout imo...

also, since the night king posse got defeated, why does the night's watch still exist?

night's watch basically rebranding as a new Proud Boys chapter

nothing about this dumb fucking thing made much sense, but this particularly irked me: did jon go downstairs and find white worm and say, ""hey i stabbed the queen" or were there surveillance videos or what? Because no one was there and yet everyone seems to have understood pretty clearly what happened in some detail. Why didn't Jon just say the dragon freaked out, burned the throne, grabbed dany and took off?

Because it's Jon Snow. He pouts and is honest to a fault.

But yeah, they did that ALL over the place this season. If anything was too hard to figure out they'd cut to commercial break and fast forward.

The “stories” speech sounded like those bits at the oscars where they talk about writers and the magic of cinema.

Maybe Bran told everyone what Jon did (time wise it felt like we jumped weeks ahead, Jon's dishevelled look in the cell another indication of that), figuring it might leat to him being given a chance to rule - apparently it's why made the journey to the Dragon pit.

Not sure the Night's Watch did still exist and thought the implication was Jon was supposed to re-instigate it. It felt vague to me whether he was going beyond the Wall permanently with the free folk too - maybe just escorting them because of his deep Tormund love. It's not clear why Tormund and Ghost were there either other than for blatant fan service reunion.

Yeah greyworm showing some Buddha like restraint not killing Jon esp in light of the ease with which he killed the random Lannister dude a half hour prior ???

yeah, Jon got freed from obligations, got his dog back, and will inevitably hook up with another foxy redhead wildling because who the fuck is gonna enforce what he does/doesn't do with his dick at this point?

Because it's Jon Snow. He pouts and is honest to a fault.

Iron Bank Mark Gatiss should've popped up at the King's council meeting too really, if only just to grin condescendingly at them all - just any indication as to what people in Essos make of it all would've been nice.

I actually loved the Jon/Dany resolution, Drogon's reaction.

I was lmao from this point on. I immediately texted my buddy, “I heard you like symbolism, dog.”

Yup. He may be Rhaegal and Lyanna’s son but he’s Ned Stark’s boy.

It's a show about nature vs. nurture. Vs. prophecy.

yup. if I’m the Iron Bank I’m like “technically the huge debt Cersei ran up is owed by the crown. we approve Bronn’s plan to generate new revenue with state-owned brothels”

Because it's Jon Snow. He pouts and is honest to a fault.

He pouts, and doesn't know things.

Dragon should have winked and said to the camera, No more thrones, no more games.”

Remember all those theories that Bran was going to go back in time and drive the Mad King mad with whispers? He probably made Dany crack so he could have the throne. The best player wins.

during Tyrion's "stories" speech when he said "and Bran became the three eyed raven" I expected at least half of them to say what the fuck are you talking about

i guess once the star wars and sequel casting is done that's when we can expect a more steady stream of actors talking shit about this season?

xpost It's a bit like, "You know who'd make the best President? This guy who says he was abducted by a UFO and turned into the Great Tuning Station."

I also liked the final scene of the Jon and the wildlings entering the same woods as the Night Watch folks in the beginning of the very first episode. However, since everyone on the internet seems to be coming up with these fanficcy scenarios of how they would've fixed season 8, I also wanna present my idea of how the that ending could've been even better:

The final scene. The Wildlings are about the enter the woods. Jon stops to gaze at them, turns at Tormund, and says:

"At least we won the war against the dead. These woods are safe now."

Tormund smiles, but then all of a sudden something jumps from behind the trees and attacks him! The camera reveals the attacker: it's a wight! In fact it's the same little girl wight who attacked the Nights Watch patrol in that very first scene!

Jon runs to help Tormund, and as he's doing that, in the distance we see a shadowy figure on horseback. The camera begins to zoom on the figure... It's a White Walker! Then we see it has horns like a crown... But it's not the Night King, as we now see that it's a woman! The camera pans on her face, and... It's Ygritte!

"You know nothing, Jon Snow."

Fade to black. End titles.

was Joffrey a symptom or an aberration

Not sure the Night's Watch did still exist and thought the implication was Jon was supposed to re-instigate it. It felt vague to me whether he was going beyond the Wall permanently with the free folk too - maybe just escorting them because of his deep Tormund love

i think he was permanently heading north of the wall, but i only say that because of the long shot of the wall/gate closing behind him as they left. it seemed very "this is the last glimpse he'll ever have of the south of the wall"