Topic: Game of Thrones Season 8 Discussion [SPOILERS]

[The Latinist]

This thread is for openly discussing aired episodes of S8 of GoT. If you haven’t yet watched the latest episode an don’t wish to be spoiled, please don’t read this thread!

You have been warned.

[The Latinist]

TBH, I thought 8.1 was a bit of a mess.  They had so many reunions to deal with that none of them really hit home, and so much plot to set up that nothing really happened. I was disappointed.

[Captain Video]

TBH, I thought 8.1 was a bit of a mess.  They had so many reunions to deal with that none of them really hit home, and so much plot to set up that nothing really happened. I was disappointed.

They teased us with a battle then we had another reunion.

We had a good time anyway. When you watch with a few friends and make it a small party its always better. There were some serious moments we were happy about, lots of woos and yeas hollered out loud.

[wastrel]

I guess I am very easy to please.  I didn't feel let down at all.

[moj]

We enjoyed it, but yes it was all pretty much setting the stage for the next ones. So far I'm number two in our fantasy league. A friend set it up but makes it more fun to follow.

https://www.fantasizr.com/

[Rai]

I was also underwhelmed. For an hour-long episode, the plot did not really move forward, but there was also little time for proper character moments. There were reunions but they were all kinda short and they weren't milked for any emotional punch. Jon's reveal especially fell flat. They wasted an inordinate amount of time on CGI dragon flying and instead of at least using that pointless scene to seed the thought in Dany (she should know that only Targs can ride dragons) to be reveled later, it was blurted out in a monologue. Because buildup and "show not tell" is for shows with less writing Emmys.



A few nitpicks:

- It was refreshing to see that the first bit of dialogue was a dick joke. It was, in itself, worth an Emmy.
- If I understand it correctly, last time we left off, Dany's army was still at Dragonstone or around King's Landing. That is three times as far from Winterfell as Eastwatch, but they somehow managed to comfortably arrive before the army of the dead that don't even need to rest or seek provisions.
- No interaction between Lyanna Mormont and Jorah? Not even a wave?
- The show seems to continue with the constant vilification of Sansa, who is clearly the smartest person in the North. I suppose asking perfectly legitimate questions and being distrustful of random Southern floozies is a bad thing nnow.
- Was the little boy in that castle Microjon Umber? It wasn't quite clear to me.
- Does Bran ever move from the courtyard?
- Why was Sam upset that his father was dead?
- Were they CASTING dragonglass (obsidian) in a regular forge? How does that work?

[CarbShark]

Bran was waiting for Jamie


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[Paul Blevins Jr.]

Viewers who thought this episode was "boring" or "slow" are exactly like NASCAR fans who watch only for the wrecks or hockey fans who watch games only for the fights. Don't worry, kids. There'll be plenty of fighting and big battles later. But y'know, you gotta have character time so viewers can care about the people doing all that fighting.

I thought this episode was fine and did exactly what it was supposed to do. We have so many characters with history with each other, many of whom have been widely separated for years/months storytime now coming back together. We needed to see the  reunions between Anya and Jon, Anya and The Hound, Sansa and Tyrion, no matter how brief.   

Responding to Rai:

- You complain that this episode was slow and did nothing to advance the plot...do ya really want to see an episode of Dany's army on the match and scourging for food? It's called the magic of movies (or TV in this case). We never see how Carl Denham transports King Kong to New York from Skull Island. It's not really important to the story. All that matters is that he does.  Hasn't it been established that The Unsullied are possessed of incredible stamina and determination? Still, I'm sure they were exhausted and hungry by the time they reached Winterfell. I'm sure the route they took to get there was extensively hunted out (between the winter and the wars, Westeros fauna is going to take a major ecological  hit). Do we need to see all that? How many people complain the Lord of the Rings movies are nothing but walking? Sometimes you just have to fill in minor details in your head.

-I think Sam was more upset at his brother's death than his father's.



 

[Rai]

Responding to Rai:

- You complain that this episode was slow and did nothing to advance the plot...do ya really want to see an episode of Dany's army on the match and scourging for food? It's called the magic of movies (or TV in this case). We never see how Carl Denham transports King Kong to New York from Skull Island. It's not really important to the story. All that matters is that he does.  Hasn't it been established that The Unsullied are possessed of incredible stamina and determination? Still, I'm sure they were exhausted and hungry by the time they reached Winterfell. I'm sure the route they took to get there was extensively hunted out (between the winter and the wars, Westeros fauna is going to take a major ecological  hit). Do we need to see all that? How many people complain the Lord of the Rings movies are nothing but walking? Sometimes you just have to fill in minor details in your head.

My comment was mostly about how the writers still don't give a crap about time and space, resulting in characters continuing to teleport around the world. It was a very egregious issue last season and it seems to have only gotten worse.

[Tassie Dave]

This was mostly a re-introduction and set-up episode. I expect we'll get much more action for the rest pf the season.

- Was the little boy in that castle Microjon Umber? It wasn't quite clear to me.

Beric does say "it's the Umber boy"

[wastrel]

I was actually surprised Jon found out his true heritage in this ep.

And Tinyjon going all blue-eyed shrieky at the end was great imho.

[The Latinist]

Viewers who thought this episode was "boring" or "slow" are exactly like NASCAR fans who watch only for the wrecks or hockey fans who watch games only for the fights. Don't worry, kids. There'll be plenty of fighting and big battles later. But y'know, you gotta have character time so viewers can care about the people doing all that fighting.

But this episode didn’t really develop character, either.  There were so many things they crammed into this episode that none of them received the attention it deserved and I was left feeling that we were just spinning our wheels.

[Captain Video]

I just watched it again,

Will Bronn kill the Lanister brothers with the crossbow?

I think yes

Will he give Tyrion a chance to match the price?

I think yes, depending on how this works out they mite be able to afford it.

[Paul Blevins Jr.]

Responding to Rai:

- You complain that this episode was slow and did nothing to advance the plot...do ya really want to see an episode of Dany's army on the match and scourging for food? It's called the magic of movies (or TV in this case). We never see how Carl Denham transports King Kong to New York from Skull Island. It's not really important to the story. All that matters is that he does.  Hasn't it been established that The Unsullied are possessed of incredible stamina and determination? Still, I'm sure they were exhausted and hungry by the time they reached Winterfell. I'm sure the route they took to get there was extensively hunted out (between the winter and the wars, Westeros fauna is going to take a major ecological  hit). Do we need to see all that? How many people complain the Lord of the Rings movies are nothing but walking? Sometimes you just have to fill in minor details in your head.

My comment was mostly about how the writers still don't give a crap about time and space, resulting in characters continuing to teleport around the world. It was a very egregious issue last season and it seems to have only gotten worse.

I certainly hope the prequel series or Amazon's LOTR series have time-stamps up the wazoo. Every scene transition, a time stamp: "one day later", "several weeks later", whatever. Even when a character walks from one room to another in the same building ,"two seconds later" super-imposed on the screen.  Evidently they are highly needed. People just can't fill-in elapsed time in their heads, I guess.

Tho I WILL admit the show fudged time pretty good  in the episode with Jon and company trapped on the lake by wights and Gendry running to get Dany's help.

[Harry Black]

Bran was waiting for Jamie


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But for how long I believe is the point? Did he leave to use the bathroom?

I dont see it as a problem though, time and space stopped mattering ages ago.

Idk. The show is just fan service now as opposed to the trope subverting story with consequences to actions that I got on board with originally. If it had been this all along I would have liked it but they set this up as a world where nuts and bolts mattered and now they dont.