Game of Thrones

[Gorthon616]

No, the whole point seems to be that even in the face of obviously pending global doom, some people will still be assholes and continue screwing over everyone else for their personal gain. Some people might see a metaphor there for the current political climate in our real world.

Do those people view George R. R. Martin as a divine prophet who can see the future? Because the books (of which the foundational plotlines of the show are based upon) weren't written during the current political climate in our real world.

[sunofdarkchild]

I just have one question. What the hell was Bran doing the whole time he was warging? His ravens played no role in the battle, he didn't summon anything to help. So why bother with having him go all white-eyed for a huge chunk of the episode if it does absolutely nothing? They could have just had him sit there without warging and nothing would change.

[Forseti]

Do those people view George R. R. Martin as a divine prophet who can see the future? Because the books (of which the foundational plotlines of the show are based upon) weren't written during the current political climate in our real world.

The concept of global warming predates the first novel by 2 decennia. Late stage capitalism critiques more than half a century. Maybe Martin has been paying more attention than you have?

[Gorthon616]

The concept of global warming predates the first novel by 2 decennia. Late stage capitalism critiques more than half a century. Maybe Martin has been paying more attention than you have?

Martin has stated that the wall/white walkers are not a global warming analog. Also nice try shifting from "current political climate" to "late state capitalism critiques." And also GoT is a "late stage capitalism critique?" Oh yeah, I guess the red wedding is metaphor for the consequences of moving off of the gold standard!

Please, tell me more. It's funny, in a depressing I-don't-want-to-live-on-this-planet-anymore sort of way.

[Gorthon616]

I just have one question. What the hell was Bran doing the whole time he was warging? His ravens played no role in the battle, he didn't summon anything to help. So why bother with having him go all white-eyed for a huge chunk of the episode if it does absolutely nothing? They could have just had him sit there without warging and nothing would change.

For a moment, given how he clearly did something, but it ended up achieving nothing, I entertained the thought that maybe he was on the white walker's side. Which wouldn't make sense, but at this point, I don't know if that would really matter.

[sunofdarkchild]

For a moment, given how he clearly did something, but it ended up achieving nothing, I entertained the thought that maybe he was on the white walker's side. Which wouldn't make sense, but at this point, I don't know if that would really matter.

I rewatched the scene, and he sent the ravens to the Night King. I guess that explains it. He was laying the bait. It just seemed so unnecessary since they already explained that the Night King always knows where Bran is thanks to the mark. And he did not need to warg for such a long time if that's what he was doing.

[Forseti]

Martin has stated that the wall/white walkers are not a global warming analog. Also nice try shifting from "current political climate" to "late state capitalism critiques." And also GoT is a "late stage capitalism critique?" Oh yeah, I guess the red wedding is metaphor for the consequences of moving off of the gold standard!

Please, tell me more. It's funny, in a depressing I-don't-want-to-live-on-this-planet-anymore sort of way.

You're barking up the wrong tree. I wrote "Some people might see a metaphor there for the current political climate in our real world" in that exact manner because I'm not among those people. I don't credit Martin with much depth to his writing at all.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

Yeah, I’m a little surprised at how many people thought the NK was the real final bad guy.

As soon as Cersei made it past season six I knew she would be the one the show would end on.

Regardless, I appreciated the subversion working for the good guys this time. So many “good” characters have died because GoT subverts tropes and people get shanked easy in real life, that finally seeing one of the big ‘bads’ go down without plot armor was nice (and he went out while still being a badass and scary the entire episode).

I mean, think about it: If GoT was real and people can afford to pay Faceless Men to kill actresses in bad plays, there is literally no way Cersei would still be alive.

Or Tywin after the sacking of King’s Landing.

Or Joffrey for as long as he was alive. Or Robert for the matter. Or the Mountain.

The truth is the bad guys have had way more plot armor in the show than good guys to make the show appear ‘brutal, realistic, and making no character safe’. The NK going down in one episode after a fantastic amount of damage is fine with me.

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

Yeah, I’m a little surprised at how many people thought the NK was the real final bad guy.

As soon as Cersei made it past season six I knew she would be the one the show would end on.

Regardless, I appreciated the subversion working for the good guys this time. So many “good” characters have died because GoT subverts tropes and people get shanked easy in real life, that finally seeing one of the big ‘bads’ go down without plot armor was nice (and he went out while still being a badass and scary the entire episode).

I mean, think about it: If GoT was real and people can afford to pay Faceless Men to kill actresses in bad plays, there is literally no way Cersei would still be alive.

Or Tywin after the sacking of King’s Landing.

Or Joffrey for as long as he was alive. Or Robert for the matter. Or the Mountain.

The truth is the bad guys have had way more plot armor in the show than good guys to make the show appear ‘brutal, realistic, and making no character safe’. The NK going down in one episode after a fantastic amount of damage is fine with me.

I actually don't disagree with that, especially about Cersei after she survived season 6. But she still ended up with a **** ton of plot armor anyway. So 6 in one hand, half a dozen in the other. Besides I don't think people wanted NK to have plot armor. That's not what put people off.

[Cleric of Hell’s Brigade]

I actually don't disagree with that, especially about Cersei after she survived season 6. But she still ended up with a **** ton of plot armor anyway. So 6 in one hand, half a dozen in the other. Besides I don't think people wanted NK to have plot armor. That's not what put people off.

Sure, I can see that too I suppose.

[Gaelforce]

I just have one question. What the hell was Bran doing the whole time he was warging? His ravens played no role in the battle, he didn't summon anything to help. So why bother with having him go all white-eyed for a huge chunk of the episode if it does absolutely nothing? They could have just had him sit there without warging and nothing would change.

This bothered the heck out of me as well - I kept thinking 'well, who could the cavalry be if he sent ravens out?' I know he was bait, but that didn't mean he had to be comatose bait. He could have helped in some way.

Worse, he clearly knew how this was all going to end and he let Theon throw his life away in a valiant but doomed charge. He could have sent him to safety because he knew Arya was going to save his butt.

The reason this whole episode didn't work for me was that there were (a) too many main characters involved which meant they couldn't get the screen time they deserved, (b) the entire plot rested on a trope that has always driven me nuts - take down the main villain/field generator/computer hub/mother ship and everything else falls down, which led to (c) I didn't feel anyone outside of Dany/Jorah were in any real danger.

We kept jumping from generic 'they're in a bad situation in a battle' scenes for Tyrion, Sansa, Varys, Brienne, Jamie, the Hound, Samwell, etc., that you *know* they aren't going to be killed. Jorah clearly was done for the minute he began his heroic defense of his one true love, but they way they filmed Jon's scenes made it clear to me that either he was going to (a) heroically kill a dragon or (b) be saved by the death of the Night King. Once Melisandre talked to Arya and she was the only hero unaccounted for, I was not at all surprised by her last minute save.

I'm good with Arya getting a cool assassin kill, but the biggest failure to me of all was that this whole huge story arc centered on the Night King vs Bran and the mystery behind their relationship. In the end, the two finally meet and...stare at each other? Nobody says anything or does anything, they just keep looking at each other, not even some mysterious words from the Night King like 'we both know how this is going to end' or Bran saying 'we shall meet again', just this weird standoff. That, to me, is where I felt the whole arc fell apart.

I still don't know how it is Sam survived, and I would have loved to have seen at least some dialogue in a lull during the fight between Brienne, Jamie and Tormund, but all we got were loud grunts and a few 'got your back' scenes.

For the most part, I just didn't get a lot of tension out of the episode, and I felt let down by the lack of meaningful scenes between characters, especially Bran and the Night King.

[Arsenal]

I'd take almost any kind of kill over someone jumping from behind and stabbing him.

(And I described a failed physical confrontation, not too dissimilar to what happened to Theon, before several other factors culminate in his death).

No, you describe Jon & Jamie throwing hands with some mystic god creature and only winning because he was distracted by random fire ravens.

Having the NK slip and impale himself on dragon glass would be a more satisfying end than that.

[Punisher007]

Didn't Bran give Arya the dagger? I think perhaps he knew that this might happen, so he was just baiting TNK in.

Also RIP Lyanna, live like a little badass, die like a little badass.

[sunofdarkchild]

There were a ton of great moments. The Dothraki charge with their lights slowly going out was haunting. Lyanna Mormont getting one last moment of badassery by killing a wight giant, The dragon battle. The Night King just tanking Drogon's fire. Tyrion and Sansa's conversations. The Red Woman meeting Arya. Bran comforting Theon, Arya at the end. I think they could have found a way to end it so that the dead did not go all Phantom Menace when the Night King died though. That alone makes the episode kind of underwhelming despite all the great stuff.

[MiddleMan]

And now Team Winterfell has lost about 75 percent of its fighting strength

How are they planning to take on Cersei?