Game of Thrones [thronies rejoice! XD]

Tonight's episode (S8E2) leaked a few hours early. I watched it a couple hours ago, have been thinking about it constantly, and honestly feel like this was one of the best episodes in seasons. Everything about it was fantastic. The acting, tension, and emotion in key scenes was executed perfectly. It drew parallels to some of the best scenes in fantasy like the build up to the battle for Helm's Deep in LOTR: TTT and a particular scene you will instantly recognize if you remember Minas Tinith in LOTR: ROTK. I enjoyed the episode so much I plan to re-watch it tonight.

A few scene highlights I absolutely loved about this episode:

Brienne. Just every scene with her. It is no doubt looking like a bit of a send-off for her in the battle to come, but the scene where she was knighted was wonderful.

Tyrion's return to being Tyrion. It's been too long since Tyrion has had writing this good. His scene's with Jaime, Danny, and Brienne et al. were fantastic.

Sansa and Danny's phrenomenal acting during their one-on-one.

Podrick singing while they prepared for battle. This was without a doubt inspired by Pippin singing in ROTK while Faramir and his men took Osgiliath.

Jaime effectively being told by Bran that he is going to die.
 
Another week of dodging spoilers online until I get home roughly 6 hours after the episode aired. Unfortunately I am on vacation next week and I have no idea how I'm going to watch it on my iPad (if someone can point me in the right direction, it'd be greatly appreciated.) Sucks too because it's going to be the long-awaited battle.
 
My lord easy to see why podricks such a womaniser with vocal chords like that

Good episode, Only lads i'm not prepared see die next week are gendry, jaime and bronn. They're 100% all pulling through tho

Whys no one scared at the thought of the wws killing another dragon :pikuh: or dead ppl in the crypts :pikuh: or the fact they already have one dead dragon:pikuh:
 
8 seasons of buildup and the Night king gets offed in one episode without getting any backstory (atleast for show watchers).
Feels like the writers gave up on any sense of series continuity after season 6 and just said "hey lets see how much COOL STUFF we can fit into every episode."
 
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I know the ending will divide some people but come on, this episode has more good than bad. A great episode in my opinion.

Good:
-Choreography. It's Game of Thrones. It's a given.
-Theon completing his redemption arc from Stark Ward to traitor to Reek to redeemed Theon Greyjoy. Him protecting Bran and charging to the Night King is the best scene in my opinion.
-Jorah died protecting the one he loves. Dany weeping for him and Drogon paying respect was touching.
-Dothraki having their weapons lighted with fire then having them immediately extinguished when they charged was breathtaking to me.
-Lyanna Mormont vs the giant wight. Gotta love that girl's guts.
-Unsullied sacrificing themselves to protect the retreating warriors.
-In a way, Jon and Dany not accomplishing much is quite good as it gives the spotlight to the other characters in the show.
-Arya Stark. I wasn't a fan of Arya Stark before but season 8 (and this episode) made me love her.
-Sansa and Tyrion's characters have better chemistry this time around.

Bad:
-As said above, the ending will divide people. As awesome the ending sequence is, the Night King ended off pretty underwhelming + some people wanted Jon to be Azor Ahai.
-Brightness. It's a bit hard to watch it during the day. Watching it at night is much better.
-Not getting (but almost) Jon Snow vs the Night King battle.

----------------------------------------------

In the end, the Night King is the penultimate villain and Cersei is the ultimate villain. The "Ice and Fire" portion has ended, now we move on to the ending of the "Thrones" part of the series. It makes sense to revolve the ending around the Iron Throne as the show is named Game of Thrones, after all.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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Mixed feelings. To me the worst sequence was the whole Arya in the library thing. Like I get they needed a change of pace but like wtf. Overall the show has definitely lost its balls. More main cast needed to die.

Overall the worst part of the episode was the very end where everyone is dead but miraculously most of the main cast survived, and only the main cast.

Am personally not disappointed with how the ice king went down, but they definitely needed to have John fight the ice king and lose, badly. And then have Arya jump down out of the tree or something (it's branches hang way over the castle wall in the book).
 
Wasn't bad, a bit too dark visually on occasions though.
I was hoping for some Valyrian Swordsmen vs White Walker action, so disappointed in that regard (they did nothing). Also Brann can influence the past (Hodor), so I really expected some sort of time-reset when the Night King wins the first time.
 

shade

be sharp, say nowt
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thought the ep was cinematically great, story-wise complete dicks

you know that pic thats a drawing of a horse and the back half is detailed and artistic and the front half is just a stick horse? thats this tv show. we're all too invested now though. lets see how the stick horse dies
 
Everything about the poor writing regarding this episode is pretty well known and apparent so I won't really touch on that. but now I'm going to have a really hard time buying into any sort of threat when they Cersei or that anyone is going to die.

Honestly, with how dire that situation was with each of the non-fodder characters being overwhelmed 15 to 1 and living, is baffling. Not everyone needs to die, but how much do people like Tormund, Gendry, Brienne, Greyworm, Podrick. The Hound really matter in how the rest of the series plays out. They can't all be really important to wrapping up the show, just kill some of them off at least that way when the Cersei fight comes around there might some feeling of tension.
 

Tokyo Tom

Somewhere between psychotic and iconic
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Since the show moved past its source material it's been all about pleasing the fans. They probably won't do any terribly surprising kills like in the earlier seasons, and that's why Podrick will probably never die because he's a fan favourite (for better or for worse)
I assume the Hound has to survive to complete the Cleganebowl arc, while Jaime has to survive to full-circle the Kingslayer arc. Gendry I think has the highest chance of all non-obvious characters at the crown at the end of the show. Definitely thought Brienne would die after getting knighted in the last episode (her character development seems complete) but since she didn't I don't really think they will kill her off at this point. I also expected Grey Worm to die (because he was talking about his future with Missandei and that really didn't seem to bode well) but I would still put money on him dying by the end of the show. I also swear Sam died like 8 times during the fight because he was just rolling around for 45 minutes. Maybe the lord of light brought him back

Also - what's with these battle tactics?
  • Randomly charging the Dothraki into the darkness with no backup when you know you're already heavily outnumbered (would've been cool if they did some sort of LOTR-esque "Rohirrim charge" from the side or circled the Dothraki around to hit the White Walkers who are literally always way behind the main army. Like isn't that why you gave everyone obsidian weapons? Isn't the point of cavalry to use their mobility to flank opponents? Or at least wait until you know what's going on?)
  • We have a huge barricade surrounding the castle that can funnel in enemies (because we're heavily outnumbered) and can also be lit on fire (is supposed to be lit on fire because that's what the whole signal to Daenerys is for, right?). Cool! Let's stand IN FRONT OF IT
  • We don't want to deal with the Night King's armies, we only have to deal with him. That's why we're using Bran as bait to draw the Night King out so everyone doesn't have to die. However, let's put Bran in a place deep within Winterfell's walls, so by the time they get to him that means they would've already breached the walls and killed everyone
  • Jon and Daenerys wait in the godswood at the start of the battle. Daenerys is about to leave to help the soldiers. "Wait," Jon says, "the Night King isn't here yet". So basically they weren't intending to use the dragons against the wights at all? What about when Daenerys has to light the barricade?
 

EV

Banned deucer.
Why didn't they perch a few archers in the tree above Bran and stick the Night King with a couple of Dragonglass arrowheads as he approached?

AFAIC, the HBO series is over. From my perspective, it was always about Ice v Fire. I understand adaptations take some liberties with the source material, especially when the source material well runs dry, but these liberties were too off course for my liking. Now my fingers are crossed GRRM finishes ASOIAF with this showdown rather than Cersei v the world, as it should be. The series (both book and show) opened with the coming of Winter and it should end with that being resolved. What a let down.:blobtriumph:

The good guys lose at Winterfell. The Night King captures/kills Bran, maybe loses a few walker lieutenants along the way, and the allies are scattered with a tiny fraction of their original force. More main characters are dead (Brienne's arc was complete!/Sansa's pretty useless now). They regroup south, maybe nearby King's Landing. Cersei seizes the opportunity to exert herself but while she's exposed, the Night King rolls into town with 10x the original mass of undead. There's Olenna shambling about! And Tywin, and Joffrey, and other deceased characters from past seasons! Cersei is torn to pieces as Jaime stupidly attempts to save her. Maybe he dies, too. The Hound kills the Mountain with a Valyrian sword? Qyburn gets gobbled up. Euron's fleet is smashed by Asha. The entire Golden Company is swarmed by a million zombies. And then, just when it seems like the Night King will consume King's Landing and eventually the world, JON SNOW stabs him while Arya, disguised as a white walker, distracts him.

In the coming months, the survivors rebuild the Seven Kingdoms under King Jon/Aegon & Queen Daenerys. And they name their baby Shrek.
 
Damn, Euron has excellent aim sniping Rhaegal like that. In the sky and behind a couple of rocks nonetheless.
Missandei could've ended the war instantly, by just grabbing Cersei and jumping off. That would've been epic.
Setting up Dany as the mad queen seems a bit too predictable to me, so I'm hoping for some type of plot twist next episode.
 
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. Initially I think it's decent. The main issues for me are:

1. Jon not petting of hugging Ghost as he gives him to Tormund.
2. Bronn got to Winterfell is 2 days and somehow snuck in to meet with Tyrion and Jamie without anyone seeing him. The conversation isn't necessarily bad, but Bronn's character feels so weird now. The Lannister brothers obviously can't guarantee him High Garden, but he doesn't really question it and leaves??
3. Dany gets her dragon killed, which in itself isn't bad, but didn't she just get told about the Euron fleet right before they leave? Missandei get captured, again not bad, but how is she capture and not anyone else?
4. I really hope Jamie doesn't go back to fight against the North, that would completely ruin his character arc. It didn't sound like it, but we'll see.

Despite all that, this easily the best episode this season.
 
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That was the worst episode of GoT since the majority of S5/S6 and that's saying a lot coming off of S8E3.

Jaime is not fighting for Cersei. He's going to kill her. At least, that's how it should end.

Danny is about to go full Daddy on King's Landing and that was pretty much confirmed by Missandei's last word.

Jon will be forced to to kill Danny, finally fulfilling the Nissa Nissa prophecy, which quite honestly should have happened against the white walkers but lol yeah.

The only thing I'm excited for at this point is Cleganebowl but I'm sure even that'll be butchered with Arya flying into the fight Rey Mysterio style and killing The Mountain.
 
You'd think after the Battle of the Goldroad, Daenerys would think twice before flying down to not one, not two, not three... (you get the idea) Scorpions. Alas, her plot armor saved her, but that scene was largely wtf and didn't really serve any purpose.

Two translators are on a sinking ship, the first says, "Do you know how to swim?" The second says, "No, but I know how to shout for help in 19 languages."
Welp.

Also, I understand that Qyburn has all of Varys's little birds, but if only they had someone who could see everything happening in the past and present who could've warned them about Cersei's and Euron's plans beforehand, or at the very least that they had dozens of improved Scorpions... If only...
 
That was the worst episode of GoT since the majority of S5/S6 and that's saying a lot coming off of S8E3.

Jaime is not fighting for Cersei. He's going to kill her. At least, that's how it should end.

Danny is about to go full Daddy on King's Landing and that was pretty much confirmed by Missandei's last word.

Jon will be forced to to kill Danny, finally fulfilling the Nissa Nissa prophecy, which quite honestly should have happened against the white walkers but lol yeah.

The only thing I'm excited for at this point is Cleganebowl but I'm sure even that'll be butchered with Arya flying into the fight Rey Mysterio style and killing The Mountain.
At this rate, I bet its not even Cleganebowl and its just one of them mercy killing the other
 

EV

Banned deucer.
Man that was fucking stupid. The writers really hate this show.

If Dany is so worried about claims to the throne, why would she legitimize and elevate Robert Baratheon's bastard to lord, cementing his future line's claim to what was taken from them? It flies in the face of everything she's been whining to Jon about since she discovered he's the rightful heir.

Why doesn't she ever scream or show any emotion when one of her dragons dies? She just stares. And right after #2 got popped in the air, she dove head first toward Euron's fleet, dodged a barrage of scorpion bolts, and then just decided, "nah," and flapped away. Why didn't she wheel behind the fleet and incinerate it on the spot? Unless there were mounted scorpions on the stern, the ones we saw on the bow wouldn't have been able to see through the sails if she flew in from behind. And does she think King's Landing won't have anti-aerial defenses? I mean, she saw them for herself later in the episode, so....

Jon really needs to drop the Ned Stark levels of honor trope now that he's fully aware Ned isn't his father. Him telling Arya and Sansa who he is against Dany's wishes after telling Dany he'd always support her is the same dopey Ned move that got him killed. The series is all about challenging the "traditional" notions of chivalry in fantasy and Jon clinging to it so desperately is nauseating. Also fuck Jon for not getting any sort of closure with Ghost.

Lul at Tyrion trying to reason with Cersei at the gate to King's Landing. Fuck off with that.

Greyworm always looks like he's smelling shit. Sansa's "rape made me stronger" response to the Hound saying he could have protected her was detestable. Somebody kill Bran already. God bless Arya for spurning Gendry. Podrick's doofus smile at that girl in the dining hall saved this episode from being a total waste.
 
Brann is this almighty psychic that knows everything that happened and will happen. But instead of him giving advice on how to win this war without bloodshed, he sits there looking at people and talks about his 250-year old chair fml
 
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Bran is legit the most useless character in the show LOL. What even is this purpose? We got all this build up of him becoming the 3-eyed Raven for him to just sit there and maybe have 1 line per episode.
 

Inflikted

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Daenerys and the dragons appeared to be flying over 50 meters / yards high and the projectiles came from the front on their left side. 3 shots from Euron's fleet reached them in quick succession, so at least 3 ships had a line of sight. So how did the fleet not get spotted?
 

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