[tv trailer] Game Of Thrones - Series 8

[sonofsanta]

I'm only watching it for the spectacle now. I'm not really invested anymore. Stuff is happening on too short a timescale--we get at most one episode of foreshadowing before Big Thing and All Its Consequences happen, and stuff that was foreshadowed is over without a blink (e.g. big bolt throwers fired from ships = 100% accuracy, building up the battle at Kings Landing... only for all of them to miss spectacularly for no special reason, wth). And yeah, there's been hints of $character's latest turn, but... also lots of hints in the other direction. This felt forced. This felt cheap.

 

It feels like characters are just acting in the way the plot demands they do now, not the way that makes sense for them. I can't believe Jaime's arc ended the way it did after 6-7 seasons pointed the other way. I can't believe Cersei just stood there and accepted everything happening without a trick up her sleeve--seriously, that was a massacre even before the bells rang, what a one-sided affair after everything.

 

Anyway, going back to episode 4 and all our complaints about the bolt throwers: someone ran the numbers, and to be as accurate as shown they'd need to be flying 2000m/s (twice as fast as a sniper's bullet) and would hit an altitude of 74,000 feet if they missed. Maybe not, eh?

Edited May 14, 2019 by sonofsanta

[LTurner3692]

I can't get over how poor this season has been (probably the only one to think this). Everything feels so rushed. The scene gets built up in 5 mins to spend the next 40 watching a fight!

 

Cearsi has always had a trick or two up her sleeve, you can't tell me shes all of a sudden got nothing.

 

Not sure i want to see how it ends any more.

[FishCustard]

I'm only watching it for the spectacle now. I'm not really invested anymore. Stuff is happening on too short a timescale--we get at most one episode of foreshadowing before Big Thing and All Its Consequences happen, and stuff that was foreshadowed is over without a blink (e.g. big bolt throwers fired from ships = 100% accuracy, building up the battle at Kings Landing... only for all of them to miss spectacularly for no special reason, wth). And yeah, there's been hints of $character's latest turn, but... also lots of hints in the other direction. This felt forced. This felt cheap.

 

It feels like characters are just acting in the way the plot demands they do now, not the way that makes sense for them. I can't believe Jaime's arc ended the way it did after 6-7 seasons pointed the other way. I can't believe Cersei just stood there and accepted everything happening without a trick up her sleeve--seriously, that was a massacre even before the bells rang, what a one-sided affair after everything.

 

Anyway, going back to episode 4 and all our complaints about the bolt throwers: someone ran the numbers, and to be as accurate as shown they'd need to be flying 2000m/s (twice as fast as a sniper's bullet) and would hit an altitude of 74,000 feet if they missed. Maybe not, eh?

 

I agree entirely (well, I may disagree slightly about Jaime - sometimes redemption arcs don't take - but I do agree that it wasn't handled well). Also, Jaime killed Aerys II 'Mad King' Targaryen to save King's Landing, and now he "doesn't care about the people"?! Wat?

 

Clearly Weiss and Benioff rushed the ending so that they could bugger off and get that sweet Disney cash for making a Star Wars series. I hope it gets cancelled after the backlash to this, but I doubt it. They think they're hot to trot and big names now, despite presiding over this garbage.

 

The entirety of S8 deserves Dracarys IMO.

 

 

EDIT: I also have another physics problem. The dragonfire in this episode was able to destroy walls and the ballistae with almost explosive force - as if they were blown apart from the impact force. When have we seen that before at all?! How does that make sense? It's fire, not a bunch of stones flying about!

Edited May 14, 2019 by FishCustard

[sonofsanta]

Also, Jaime killed Aerys II 'Mad King' Targaryen to save King's Landing, and now he "doesn't care about the people"?! Wat?

...

EDIT: I also have another physics problem. The dragonfire in this episode was able to destroy walls and the ballistae with almost explosive force - as if they were blown apart from the impact force. When have we seen that before at all?! How does that make sense? It's fire, not a bunch of stones flying about!

 

Jaime: I know, right? So many actions are in contradiction with earlier established character beats. And dragon fire: how much of it does one dragon have?

 

My only hope at this point is this Twitter thread. In short: GRRM writes by coming up with characters and seeing what they do. Benioff and Weiss write by coming up with what they want to happen then arranging events to get to the destination they want. Both are valid approaches, both have their strengths, but the reason this all suddenly feels unsatisfying compared to the first few series is that we've switched from one style to the other, and so where stuff like Ned losing his head or the Red Wedding felt surprising-yet-inevitable before, now we're feelikg like characters are acting in idiot ways just to create a spectacle. Because that's exactly what they're doing.

 

But if they are writing this way, there's probably a grand and amazing finale they have in store, and everything has had to be this artificial and forced in order to set up this mind-blowingly good last episode.

 

...maybe. Or maybe it will still be terrible. I dunno. A man can hope though, right?

 

Bonus Twitter idea that would have been way cooler:

[mikeprice]

OK - having had time to think - I enjoyed the episode but only because I have lower expectations than I used to

 

The thing with the anti-dragon arrows was dumb - anyone with any knowledge of warfare at that time would have used them like normal arrows in order to guarantee a hit - i.e. fire them as a volley - then the dragon would have no chance to dodge - firing them one at a time would give them no chance as we saw last night. The previous episode was the daft one where they hit far too eaily.

However the concept that one dragon was hit last week so she backed off and didn;'t risk the last one (and herself) was kinda OK - and now she has thought it through and worked out the best attack angles etc etc.

 

Still far weaker than earlier episodes - I'm more thinking of it as the James Bond /Die Hard version than the previous $muchbetterwriterthatIcantthinkofatthemonent

 

still going to watch next week

[FishCustard]

I totally agree about that idea - we thought of another last night. What if Rhaegal hadn't been summarily offed by Euron 'magic trick shot' Greyjoy, and was still around.

 

Cersei "surrenders", and the dragons land (or just stop flying about). Suddenly Qyburn reveals a hidden scorpion battery and kills Rhaegal (why he wouldn't aim for Daenerys herself is another question, but meh). He tries to shoot Drogon too, but misses. Drogon and Dany fly off. Perhaps Drogon is injured, but Dany is flaming mad. One of her children had just been murdered in a fake surrender.

 

To be honest though, your idea is even better.

 

Wildfire goes off, injuring the dragons, but killing lots of people. Dany goes flame happy, but at the end she can quite happily say "Cersei killed as many people with wildfire as I did with dragonfire trying to stop her". There's a nice parallel there, that they may be two sides of the same coin.

 

Instead we got.... Daenerys Stormborn, breaker of chains, mother of dragons, committer of war crimes.

[mikeprice]

I totally agree about that idea - we thought of another last night. What if Rhaegal hadn't been summarily offed by Euron 'magic trick shot' Greyjoy, and was still around.

 

Cersei "surrenders", and the dragons land (or just stop flying about). Suddenly Qyburn reveals a hidden scorpion battery and kills Rhaegal (why he wouldn't aim for Daenerys herself is another question, but meh). He tries to shoot Drogon too, but misses. Drogon and Dany fly off. Perhaps Drogon is injured, but Dany is flaming mad. One of her children had just been murdered in a fake surrender.

 

To be honest though, your idea is even better.

 

Wildfire goes off, injuring the dragons, but killing lots of people. Dany goes flame happy, but at the end she can quite happily say "Cersei killed as many people with wildfire as I did with dragonfire trying to stop her". There's a nice parallel there, that they may be two sides of the same coin.

 

Instead we got.... Daenerys Stormborn, breaker of chains, mother of dragons, committer of war crimes.

 

yeah - the whole 'she's going mad' think is a bit grating - not as rushed as some other things but I think it would have been done better in previous series - like I said - this is the James Bond series

[phreak]

I watched the commentary afterwards and they were saying how Dany was driven mad by the closest people around her either dying or betraying her and that if her child not been murdered, her friend had not been killed, had John not betrayed her by telling his sister (or been able to get over the fact that they were related and just made out with her a bit), had all these things not happened then she would have been more amicable to the idea of mercy. But it was the combination of these factors that in fact drove her to rage out as she did.

 

But yes, I echo the sentiment here that it does feel a bit rushed, the fact that Dragonfire seems to be able to cut through stone like butter now, that hawkeye must have been manning that first crossbow yet now they can only afford stormtroopers to man them, that the Sersi death was a little wet etc... etc..

 

Although I must admit I did find the Hound/Mountain fight/death scene quite satisfactory if nothing else.

 

And yes, I will still continue to watch.. I have invested too much time into this thing not to see it through.

 

Oh btw, anyone else see a spinoff tv series coming? Prequel? Or perhaps a the aftermath as seen from the view of Dorne?

[sonofsanta]

Oh btw, anyone else see a spinoff tv series coming? Prequel? Or perhaps a the aftermath as seen from the view of Dorne?

 

Already confirmed: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a12438310/game-of-thrones-prequel-spin-off-series-news/

[Dos_Box]

I'm just a bit narked that they seem to think that just because they have a surplus of major characters they need to off as many of them them as quickly as possible.

Yes, at the battle of Winterfell it was expected, but now it seems that they are not trying and apart from the Hound's fight with his brother the rest of the episode was rushed.

There was no real explanation of why Daenerys decided to torch the entire city. I thought she was just going for the tower and Cercei which would have made more sense.

I'm seeing it through to the end, but it all feels horribly rushed now.

[mikeprice]

Already confirmed: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a12438310/game-of-thrones-prequel-spin-off-series-news/

 

Hmmm - would have been excited but is this going to be true to the first set of series with complex interlining stories and plots that evolve in unpredictable ways or is it going to be based on the latest James Bond concept?

 

Still - worth looking out for

[LeMarchand]

Well I enjoyed that ep. Dany has previously been shown as being a bit up herself, and there had been enough hints that she was gonna go off the deep end for me. I also quite liked that Jamie ended up with his one true love (as disturbing as his choice was). What I enjoyed most of all was that it portrayed the battle as completely indiscriminating in who gets hurt. If more people thought that war was like that, rather than the "good" side defeating the "bad" one, maybe they'd be less willing to go to war.

[mikeprice]

One thing the series has got right is that in most battles being on the the loosing side meant being hacked to death (almost) and then left to die over whatever time it took

 

Loosing was a bad idea in those days - surrender was possible in some cases - but the best most could hope for was slavery - or possibly castration - unless you were an officer who could be ransomed. I believe that the crusaders (.e. deeply moral christians) took a lot of prisoners in one battle and lined then all up to be beheaded - there is a famous painting of it

 

Of course women in the cities could live for a while longer - I'll leave the rest of that

 

I'll take Brexit any day - well actually I'd rather not but if it is a choice

[LeMarchand]

It's a bit inconsiderate of HBO not to have held off the start of the season for a week; then staying up for the finale might have been an option. Might have to wear ear muffs next Monday.

[6Foot2]

Link: Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers [Change.ORG]

 

At the time of posting this petition had 483,792 signatures.

[Zoatibix]

The undead dragon did use his breath to knock great chunks out of The Wall last season. I wasn't sure if that was because he breathed magic blue but still hot fire or magically cold fire...still seemed a little strange.

 

But this week, the dragon has obviously levelled up and put all his points into Concussive Blast Breath Weapon Trait.

 

What I find particularly bad is that - as others have said - we've gone from characters moving the plot forward in the earlier seasons to plot-driven characters in the final one. It's a very jarring change.

 

For example, Jon 'I don't want to be king' Snow going around telling folks he's the rightful king* which seems to me to be exactly the opposite of what he should be doing, if that's what he wants. Shut yer trap, Jon. Swear the other two to secrecy and spare a lot of unnecessary death. You know, like Eddard Stark did to protect you, his sister's baby.

 

So many characters this season are just turning their back on all of the hard-won lessons they've learned over the previous seven series.

 

*Although, this is seems like a pre-medieval multiple claims by birth, plus force of arms, etc situation. So I don't think Dany has a clear claim anymore than Jon or Gendry.

[AJWhite1970]

I think the biggest issue is that this is the final series and all the open threads have to be closed and in true Highlander tradition, "there can be only one" at the end. As many are saying, the plot is now all but gone and like a game of speed chess, pieces are being put in position regardless of who or why just so everything can fit in the remaining time.

 

Personally I think I can see where this is going with neither of the current "the throne is mine" front runners actually sitting on the throne when the end credits roll on Monday....

[Shadow_Walker]

Are we allowed to post spoilers in here or not?

[HarryMonkey]

No! And as I won't watch it until Monday evening, I would appreciate no talk from Monday's episode until at least Tuesday.

[Zoatibix]

I've avoided any spoilers but I'm personally betting that given her plot arch and character development we could end up with Queen Sansa.

 

Or the writers pull a Blackadder Goes Forth finale...everybody dies...and some leftfielder takes over...OMG...they could do that exact ending with the Faceless Man....

[Shadow_Walker]

When I say spoilers i mean from the last episode, just in case anyone has not seen it!

[mikeprice]

I have been wondering if the faceless men might be brought into it - but it would require some subtlety that is missing at the moment (or just be rubbish - not impossible)

 

However, a left field candidate that would actually make a good monarch is a possibility

 

 

how about Tyrion??

 

(I have no prior knowledge - so this is an idea - not a spoiler!!)

[PlantHead]

Left field would be Gendry I reckon. Son of a king after all.

[JJonas]

Oh are we doing predictions on who is going to sit on the Iron Throne?

 

I will go with Bran if there is indeed a throne left to sit on.

[LeMarchand]

Link: Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers [Change.ORG]

 

At the time of posting this petition had 483,792 signatures.

 

Please see my Change.org petition: Over-entitled fans should have to put their money where their mouth is and make their own vision of whatever has annoyed them.

 

Are we allowed to post spoilers in here or not?

 

When I say spoilers i mean from the last episode, just in case anyone has not seen it!

 

Do you mean the finale (which I believe has leaked)? If so, I have but one word: Dracarys!

 

 

If you mean "The Bells", I'd still be somewhat cautious.

 

No! And as I won't watch it until Monday evening, I would appreciate no talk from Monday's episode until at least Tuesday.

 

Me too!

 

I have been wondering if the faceless men might be brought into it - but it would require some subtlety that is missing at the moment (or just be rubbish - not impossible)

 

 

 

However, a left field candidate that would actually make a good monarch is a possibility

 

 

how about Tyrion??

 

(I have no prior knowledge - so this is an idea - not a spoiler!!)

 

Imma going for Ayra, but wearing Jon's face; condemned to a life that isn't her own to save Westeros.