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Thread: Game of Thrones (The Final Season / 8 )

  1. #126
    Sunrise, Sunset Wryan's Avatar
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    Good gravy. That was the Maggie-shot-Mr.-Burns of this tv show.

    They should have worked on the lighting a bit more before wrapping the bow on this episode.

    But! Lots of spectacular moments. Great stuff overall. Who would have thought this episode would be less Helm's Deep and more World War Z.
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  2. #127
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Poor Mormont family.

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  3. #128
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    All hail Grey Worm for making it alive. He may get to Dorne after all.

    The buildup to the battle was as good as anything the show has done. The first attack and the use of the flames only to see them eventually die out was also quite terrifying.

    Sapochnik definitely has a handle on battle scenes, separating characters, and then using them to not only tell us geography of Winterfell, but progress the battle as well. All the sides were well done, but I still wonder what the heck Bran Stark's warging served except to benefit the audience.
    The crypts were as scary as ever with everyone trapped down there. Did Gilly survive? I don't recall seeing her. (Turns out she survived).

    Several of the predictions all come to fruition here for The Hound, Beric, Arya, and Melisandre. Whether people want to believe in this Lord of Light or not...

    Sometimes annoying seeing characters that you're fairly sure had died, only to find out that they weren't quite killed. Brienne at the beginning, Gilly in the crypts, Samwell wrapped in corpses... But the terror was real.

    Definitely a cheering moment for Arya. Although I think it could've been cooler if she had a White Walker Mask, and surprised the Night King... but nonetheless, a very cool moment.

    And what, like 100 people left in Winterfell + one suffering dragon?

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  4. #129
    Director bac0n's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    Poor Mormont family.
    At least they both went out Klingon Style


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    Losing is like fertilizer: it stinks for a while, then you get used to it. (Tony, Hibbing)

  5. #130
    The show is in full Hollywood blockbuster mode, for better and worse. Good production elements (sans lighting) and an exciting finish for sure, but I’m surprised they let every noteworthy character walk away from this. A decade of white-walker myth-making culminated in a rote — though well-done — battle scene. It seems so straight forward given the build up. Hoping for something unexpected in the final games that lives up to the story’s subversive roots.
    Last edited by DavidSeven; 04-29-2019 at 08:13 AM.
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  6. #131
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    I enjoyed the episode, but yeah, some underwhelming writing and wtf lightning). I normally think that the show's writing for battle episodes have always been sharp, intimate, and surprising, but between this and Beyond the Wall, it seems like they have a real problem with writing one with White Walkers (Hardhome is more of a straight-up slaughter) and more fantastical elements. Now hoping that the one in episode 5, fully with only humans this time, delivers. This is exciting and all, and when there is a source of light it's fucking beautiful (Sapochnik has a great eyes as always), but the only moments that really grab and/or move me are from just Arya and Lyanna Mormont (man, the latter's scenes both kicked ass and broke my heart).
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  7. #132
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    That Arya library scene was awesome. (i posted this in the wrong thread last night from my phone)

    Agreed on the lighting and when the snow storm hit, you couldn't see a fucking a think.

    And there was a period of time where Jon Snow was just sitting on a dragon watching; I thought to myself, shouldn't you be burning the fucking undead army that's invading your castle.

    Also, Melisandre comes out of nowhere and is basically a Dues Ex Machina for this episode.
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  8. #133
    Sunrise, Sunset Wryan's Avatar
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    There were certainly some major deficiencies in this episode. The rushing tsunami of wights when the show can use its impact versus a much smaller number of individual opponents when the plot requires it. Several people being shown absolutely surrounded or crushed with their backs to a wall (and at that point having been fighting for a while so they are certainly exhausted beyond measure) but nah they survived, it's all good, son. They are going to need to work some major Clue "here's what was happening the whole time that you didn't see" with Bran's warging, otherwise it's a silly way of tidying up the mess.
    "How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?"

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  9. #134
    Screenwriter Lazlo's Avatar
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    Yeah, I was really not a fan of this episode. A sampling of the text conversation between my girlfriend and I:

    Anna:
    WTF GoT
    Griffin:
    In what way
    Anna:
    Just felt a bit ‘oh, that’s it?’
    Griffin:
    Oh it was a flat out terrible episode.
    Just the sloppiest storytelling, most incomprehensible filmmaking, stupidest battle planning, and unnecessarily padded runtime.
    And, to your point, thoroughly underwhelming and mind-bogglingly inconsequential feeling.
    Anna:
    it looked terrible!
    Griffin:
    Yeah their obsession with trying to make night look more realistic is a total failure.
    And they’ve done excellent night battles in the past. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    Criminal misuse of the dragons in the battle plan.
    Melisandre shows up to do nothing important at all other than to give Arya a pep talk.
    Bran wargs into ravens for no reason at all. Not Ghost, not a dragon, not something else useful. Is Raeghal dead or not? Unclear. Seems like the only people who survived are the people we can name minus Jorah and Lyanna and Theon (who is NOT a good man, Bran who can see all the horrible things he’s done). Why did Arya need to Jurassic-Park-kitchen her way through the library for five minutes? Bleeeechhh
    Night King motivation not expanded upon at all. Melisandre dead having achieved nothing. Boo hiss.
    Anna:
    WHY DON’T WE KNOW MORE ABOUT THE DAMN NIGHT KING
    Agreed on all this
    Griffin:
    Bran better have gone somewhere interesting beyond just those stupid ravens
    Anna:
    WTF was Bran doing that whole time? Why does it matter if he’s the three-eyed raven if that’s all?
    for reals
    Griffin:
    UGGGH just thinking about how poorly planned and executed the battle was is infuriating. These are the finest military minds Westeros has to offer and they send their cavalry into blackness to die? They withhold their air power inexplicably? I mean, I guess their whole deal was to hold on long enough for the Night King to show himself, but no way did so many people have to die. Dragon fire vs. wights was super effective!
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  10. #135
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    Quote Quoting DavidSeven (view post)
    The show is in full Hollywood blockbuster mode, for better and worse.
    For real. This went from being one of the shows with the smartest writing in TV history to almost a guilty pleasure. That's a weird trajectory.

    Quote Quoting Lazlo
    Why did Arya need to Jurassic-Park-kitchen her way through the library for five minutes? Bleeeechhh

    Hey, this was actually the highlight of the episode for me. Great scene.

  11. #136
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    I don't mind that we don't get to find out about the Night King. That's part of what makes them terrifying.

    But going forward, two episodes from now looks to be another "biggie" as far as battles will go.

    What's funny is that people talk about how predictable it is, but most missed their predictions of who would be killed. I went 1/5, and not really taking Lyanna and Edd into account as "bigger" characters.

    With that in mind, probably the remaining deaths this season:

    Euron - 1000000000%
    Cersei - 100%
    Mountain VS. Hound - 1 goes
    Qyburn

    Something better happen to that damn bank.

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  12. #137
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    Quote Quoting Grouchy (view post)
    Hey, this was actually the highlight of the episode for me. Great scene.
    It just felt like a waste of time to me. Maybe cool in a vacuum, but it didn't drive the story. The only purpose it seemed to serve was to have a change of pace or sense of variety.
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  13. #138
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    I don't mind that we don't get to find out about the Night King. That's part of what makes them terrifying.
    Mystery can be frightening but here it felt soulless. Which had been a relatively popular critique of him in the lead-up to this that I'd not subscribed to, expecting a payoff. There needs to be more to Bran's actions in this episode. His off-hand remark last week about the Night King wanting to erase the memory of human existence was just not enough and his warging into ravens was completely useless except to give the show an excuse to change its POV.
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    freaky - 7

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  14. #139
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Lazlo (view post)
    Mystery can be frightening but here it felt soulless. Which had been a relatively popular critique of him in the lead-up to this that I'd not subscribed to, expecting a payoff. There needs to be more to Bran's actions in this episode. His off-hand remark last week about the Night King wanting to erase the memory of human existence was just not enough and his warging into ravens was completely useless except to give the show an excuse to change its POV.
    Bran's pretty pointless for sure.

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  15. #140
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    Bran's pretty pointless for sure.
    But the thing is that he shouldn't be. The show is embarrassed by its fantasy elements to the point of being unclear and underwhelming. If you're going to have this dude and spend so much time and effort, he needs to feel essential. If he's just a walking library, what's the point?
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    the muse - 7
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  16. #141
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    Spectacular in execution, but also spectacularly ordinary from a writing point of view.

    All Dothrakis - dead in under 3 minutes. Samwell Tarly - still hacking away 8 hours later.

    Meanwhile, the Lyanna Mormont scene was kind of cool, but just didn't feel like it belonged in this world. She's a brave little girl, not a superhero.

    And it's a huge cheat to have Arya just jump from off-screen like a cat in a horror movie instead of giving us an idea of how she got there.

    This is the kind of stuff that this show used to critique with its meticulous verisimilitude. It's not that it's "bad", it's just that it's the typical fantasy stuff we let writers get away with because they're feeding our senses with pretty pictures and sexy characters.

    The bright side is that this episode can't possibly spoil the books because there is no way any of this would be in Martin's story.
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  17. #142
    Director bac0n's Avatar
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    I thought that Samwell pointed out his importance last week pretty succinctly - Bran represents the memory of mankind. The Night King not only wanted to destroy humanity, but erase all memory of them as well.
    Losing is like fertilizer: it stinks for a while, then you get used to it. (Tony, Hibbing)

  18. #143
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    I disagree that Melisandre did nothing. She did two things.
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  19. #144
    Screenwriter Lazlo's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Dukefrukem (view post)
    I disagree that Melisandre did nothing. She did two things.
    Neither of those things were things only she could have done. Strafing run from the dragons lights that trench. Arya arguably shouldn't have needed a pep talk.
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  20. #145
    Screenwriter Lazlo's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting bac0n (view post)
    I thought that Samwell pointed out his importance last week pretty succinctly - Bran represents the memory of mankind. The Night King not only wanted to destroy humanity, but erase all memory of them as well.
    Okay, but why is that the thing he wants to do? What does he gain? What are the stakes for him if he fails? That's-just-what-he-does is a weak motivation. I liked that explanation from Bran, but figured there'd be more to it. And maybe there will be. Bran's time travel abilities have been completely absent this season.
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  21. #146
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    Quote Quoting Lazlo (view post)
    Arya arguably shouldn't have needed a pep talk.
    But it wasn't just a pep talk, right? She was giving her the idea to use the Faces to get close to the Night King. At least that's how I read the "blue eyes" line. Arya disguised herself as one of the Wights.

  22. #147
    Screenwriter Lazlo's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Grouchy (view post)
    But it wasn't just a pep talk, right? She was giving her the idea to use the Faces to get close to the Night King. At least that's how I read the "blue eyes" line. Arya disguised herself as one of the Wights.
    I don't think there's much to support the use of faces like that. In Season 3 Melisandre told Arya that she'd close many eyes and it was a callback to that. Maybe pep talk is a little too flip. But if all Melisandre was there for was to light that trench and remind Arya of their conversation from many years earlier, eh, somewhat underwhelming.
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    the muse - 7
    freaky - 7

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  23. #148
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Lazlo (view post)
    I don't think there's much to support the use of faces like that. In Season 3 Melisandre told Arya that she'd close many eyes and it was a callback to that. Maybe pep talk is a little too flip. But if all Melisandre was there for was to light that trench and remind Arya of their conversation from many years earlier, eh, somewhat underwhelming.
    I was annoyed by their relationship. This episode didn't have a "Previously on GoT" intro like most episodes do. So I couldn't remember if they had even met before and under what circumstances.
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  24. #149
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    Even though the nature of using faces is kept mysterious, I get the sense that at least some preparation period is needed and you can't just grab a face on the go.

    Plus, my guess is that they're saving that trick for Cersei this season.
    Coming to America (Landis, 1988) **
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    Us (Peele, 2019) ***1/2
    Fugue (Smoczynska, 2018) ***1/2
    Prisoners (Villeneuve, 2013) ***1/2
    Shadow (Zhang, 2018) ***
    Oslo, August 31st (J. Trier, 2011) ****
    Climax (Noé, 2018) **1/2
    Fighting With My Family (Merchant, 2019) **
    Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013) ***

  25. #150
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Spinal (view post)
    Even though the nature of using faces is kept mysterious, I get the sense that at least some preparation period is needed and you can't just grab a face on the go.

    Plus, my guess is that they're saving that trick for Cersei this season.
    I'm convinced more than ever that Jamie is going to kill Cersei.
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    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

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