Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u enter)

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ghostrunner
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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by ghostrunner »

thrill wrote:An organized infantry will always beat an unorganized cavalry if the numbers aren't overwhelming...except if there's a winged, armored beast that spits hot fire from the air.

Kind of hard to SMH about military and political maneuverings when dragons have always been the looming WMD's that can render that stuff irrelevant.

Also, we've been conditioned to expect drama and uncertainty, but like ghost pointed out, 9 eps left. At some point the good guys were going to do their thing. I'm sure plenty of bad things will still happen to allow for suspense and I definitely feel a little disoriented by this show that moved very, very slow for so long all of a sudden pressing fast forward too, but it's inevitable.

Last night's episode was incredible satisfying without becoming total fan service. LF pathetically trying to ingratiate himself to Bran, Arya getting to put on a combat clinic in front of everyone while bonding with Brienne & Pod, Jon & Dany being softly handsy in the cave (jon's home court advantage played well), Ser Davos with the jokes, Bronn being incredibly competent in battle, the Dothraki screamers cresting the hill, Sam's little brother being a good guy, Jaime still being able to hack it in a fight, and Meera laying the exposition groundwork for Howland to enter the picture and confirm, with Bran & possibly Varys, Jon's parentage were all incredibly satisfying. The only thing I didn't get was a quality Ghost scene or Jon bonding with Rhaegal, but that stuff will happen sooner rather than later now.

The deus ex machina of the cave glyphs was the only thing that veered too convenient but I'll take it to keep everything moving. Jon being able to be like, "hey you know that unbelievable stuff I've been trying to convince you is real and really struggling to articulate? Check this out (gently escalates physical contact with extremely hot aunt while his jawline and dark eyes are perfectly illuminated by the flickering torch light)" was very convenient for exposition's sake.
LOL

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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by Michael »

I'm on team Cersei and I dislike Dany, but those dragons were awesome and I couldn't help but root for them. It's amazing how good that battle FX was considering it's a TV show.

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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by go birds »

Michael wrote:I'm on team Cersei and I dislike Dany, but those dragons were awesome and I couldn't help but root for them. It's amazing how good that battle FX was considering it's a TV show.
considering the episode was only like 40 minutes, those special effects better be movie quality.

All in all, great episode. prolly top 5 of the series.

I'll echo the sentiments of others--all the politics and world building was great, but the clock is ticking. So i'm fine with things being sped up.

They built a nice world for 6 seasons. Now it's time to burn the mother [expletive] down!

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ghostrunner
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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by ghostrunner »

Dany as a character is really done a disservice by the show and to a lesser extent by the books. I don't think it's ever been clear why she wants to rule Westeros, after having grown up across the sea, falling in love with her husband there, then freeing thousands of slaves. It was a pain in the ass but at least there's a personal investment. Valyrian was the Targaryen ancestral home, and that's on the same continent. Westeros was her brother's goal. I'm sure the books made some effort to explain it, but not well enough that I remember it.

The show has her vacillating between wanting "to rule" and assigning herself all these titles, but then also has her talk about breaking the wheel (which seems like the opposite of what she's doing) and inserting speeches like Missandei's about choosing to follow her. Not sure how you square that speech with insisting that Jon bend the knee. Maybe it's an attempt to show strength and gather loyalty before turning rule over to the people? Sure doesn't seem that way though.

Emilia Clarke's performance vacillates too. Some episodes she's great. Anytime she has to go big and give speeches, she's awesome. She speaks Valyrian like a champ. I'd say she's worse in quieter moments, but then she has good scenes with Tyrion, and Olenna a couple weeks ago. Really enjoyed the scene of her interrogating Varys in that episode. I've heard disagreement on this, but I think she and Kit Harington work well together, and their relationship is probably the most compelling to me right now. I'm a traditional Team Jon and Dany so maybe it's because I want it to be, but I was fully prepared for their scenes to be disappointing.
Last edited by ghostrunner on August 7 17, 8:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by thrill »

I thought last week they had very little chemistry, but this week things were getting hot. Jon does his best work in caves, so it stands to reason, but I think last week left people cold because everyone had been so amped about "Ice & Fire" being in the same room that nothing could have realistically lived up to it. It would have been cheesy if they just fell into each other's arms. Even non book readers have been thoroughly inundated with the various theories, prophecies, and the "IT'S CALLED A SONG AND ICE OF FIRE SO NO DOY OBVIOUSLY THEY WILL FALL IN LOVE AND WIN" condescension by book nerds like me, so everyone knew it would be a big deal.

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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by Michael »

Ghost, I agree with your criticisms of Dany. Until this season her plot lines have been a bore. I'll also add she's ridiculously overpowered/inevitable and it feels out of step with the rest of the show. There's no army she can't overcome with relative ease. Just about every man falls madly love with her. Her followers are incredibly devoted and 100% believe in her.

Just about everyone else on the show has genuinely interesting struggles and it feels like they could fail at any time.

That's why I think it will be incredibly disappointing if Dany wins. She feels out of step with the ethos of the show. At the very least, if Dany wins, she needs to go all mad king on Westeros.

I also think Emilia Clarke performance has been 100% terrible, but I think she's turning the corner this season.

Team Cersei 4 eva.
Last edited by Michael on August 7 17, 9:08 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

I just find it odd that the show was painstakingly slow for 5-6 seasons due in no small part because of the time it takes to travel and now, all of a sudden Dany is able to sail a dothraki army onto the mainland and ride west before the lannister army can march east from highgaarden to kings landing.

And, do it in 0 seconds of screen time.

Well, I guess it took them about a minute to crest the hill and attack.

Also, was that scorpion bolt not poisoned? Even if we've gotten away from scheming and are just going with brute armies winning, surely when they stole the dorne technology they didn't forget to poison the arrow, right? Right? That dragon should be dead next episode.

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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by Radbird »

Dragon dies. Jaime lives.

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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

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jaime stripped of his armor, hand and gold.

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Re: Game of Thrones TV (Spoilers ahead-watch the eps b4 u en

Post by ghostrunner »

I think they're playing a bit loose with time in the editing, but yeah - they lose Highgarden, and word gets back to them in enough time for them to sail to the mainland with horses, etc.. and then cut off the wagon train. Nothing tops Euron building hundreds of ships in a couple weeks or months. though.

Have to say I'm also enjoying Tyrion not doing everything right for a change.

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