HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones - Thread 2. There are a lot of nerds.

it was v corny but i liked the part where melisandre asked arya "what do we say to the god of death" and she said "not today"

it was nice that Carice van Houten had a few more notes to play than usual. now everyone go watch Black Book

Yes that was adorable xp

I rewatched the last half-hour or so and honestly it's really amazing. I take back what I said about Djawadi's score too, it's really moving in places

Jorah's death really choked me up on second-viewing

And honestly! having had no interest in Melisandre's arc? nice conclusion well done

I’d be interested in reading about how reasonable the tactical decisions being made would seem to a historian. I really palpably felt, in the past, especially with the Battle Of The Bastards, that there were some surprising and yet logical tactical decisions being made. It all made sense and felt real.... but then I thought it seemed really weird to start the battle by spurring on the cavalry into the darkness right away, but maybe not?

― flamboyant goon tie included, Monday, April 29, 2019 10:33 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

As requested: how not to do engagement area development at #Winterfell in #GameOfThroneshttps://t.co/iWiNASP4CR

— Angry Staff Officer (@pptsapper) April 29, 2019

lmao so wait for the rest of the show they're going to fight a pregnant lady and a pirate

— 'Weird Alex' Pareene (@pareene) April 29, 2019

Watching it again on HBOGO today as opposed to live via FiOS last night and this is almost a completely different show except for the closed captioning. Orders of magnitude better in sight and sound. Jesus.

I’m wondering if the last episode will be reserved for Scouring of the Shire-style thing up of loose ends/epilogue

it'll be a Lady Stoneheart episode

So where, exactly, did Arya come from? I mean, wasn't the NK basically standing in the middle of an open area? Was she hiding in the tree?!

Also, the dark/muddy picture was obviously a kind of cost-saving measure...doing that makes special effects look better.

i thought the melisandre ending was good however i feel like that whole thing is never going to be adequately explained - is the god of light (or whatever he's called) just a metaphysical divine presence who appears to help fight the night king during the winter and he has no other motivations? it felt like it should be much more than that.

The lord of light also requires the death of key children

will there be another night king next winter?

I DO like the idea of Arya doing the deed...just think showing her leading up to the climax would have been more exciting than her leaping out of the darkness.

Also wish there was more NK backstory/explanation. But then again I guess we don't get a LOT of Sauron's history in the LOTR movies...at least we have Tolkien to fall back on there.

I think the general sense that the show is uncomfortable with the fantasy elements is probably slightly unfair since they are not fantasy guys and their lead on this front (Martin) kinda left them out to dry. Still, make an effort!

x-posts--god of light obv axial transcendental monotheism...never to be explained...deus absconditus and all.

what an amazing monotheistic deity to care so deeply about saving the lives of all these pagans

I’ve decided in my head-canon that there are no gods in the world of Game of Thrones, just some general universal magic that humans and creatures have figured out how to tap into, and that they explain with gods. Melisandre and the red priests/priestesses really do get visions, but they aren’t sent by any being. The faceless men really can change faces, but the power isn’t endowed upon them by anything sentient.

The point that drove it home for me was the explanation of trial by combat as a means of divine justice early in the series.

xpost

x-post: Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundations? And, uh, lit swords on fire?

I don't know how much more NK history we needed--

He was a weapon killed its makers:

a man turned into a White Walker by the Children of the Forest as a defense against the First Men, then he eventually destroyed the CoF and set out to kill the 3 Eyed Raven, probably in order to bring permanent winter to the world.

People had a lot of theories, (like that he was a Stark and was really coming back to Winterfell to find his bride in the crypt) but they were kind of dumb.

oh yeah I hated that "Bran is the NK" theory

it never had any chance of being true, especially since nothing seems to make the showrunners happier than pooping all over show-only theories

remember that time the night king was going to turn the population of king's landing into an army?

I suppose (re: NK). I am pro-fantasy though and the whole appeal of fantasy is the lore and the show routinely skimps on that stuff. I still think the best thing associated with the show is the little historical featurettes narrated by the actors that give a lot of the background stuff!

just watched the episode, and lol Jon Snow still knows nothing.

I loved everything about Arya, but come on, they telegraphed her role so heavily with the "blue eyes" bit with Melisandre. and she can sneak around white walkers easily cause she's small and a freaking FACELESS ASSASSIN. (I actually thought for a moment that there was going to be a fake-out and it was actually her and not Bran in the wheelchair).

remember that time the night king was going to turn the population of king's landing into an army

I still think this would have been fucking dope tbh

the little featurettes with the interviews with Benioff and Dan Weiss are the worst things on film - wish they'd just do the interviews with the actors

That's too smart a plan for this crown (re: Arya as Bran).

The trenches were a good idea. Was idly thinking how you'd defend against an enemy like that and a series of concentric barriers that funnel them into kill zones is clearly the way to go.

Benioff and Weiss literally seem embarrassed by the show in those interviews.

The sneaking around the library scene felt extremely Resident Evil in a momentarily appealing way (it was funny in retrospect to think that there was a stealth-horror game going on for ten minutes while the warriors had their backs against the outside wall surrounded by zombie hordes)

― flamboyant goon tie included

i was reminded of the ur-text of modern drama, jurassic park

https://i.imgur.com/8nYzs7C.jpg

The trenches were a good idea. Was idly thinking how you'd defend against an enemy like that and a series of concentric barriers that funnel them into kill zones is clearly the way to go.

one of the many "but why did THAT happen?" moments of the episode was wondering how they intended to set the trenches aflame. were they just counting on melisandre to cast Wall of Fire and roll a 20?

the dragons. but they couldn't see the signal.

the little featurettes with the interviews with Benioff and Dan Weiss are the worst things on film - wish they'd just do the interviews with the actors

― these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Monday, April 29, 2019 1:30 PM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

very very otm

Sansa didn't get to use her dragonglass dagger, right? So unless the writers are admiringly inept (always a possibility), that's a Chekhov's dagger waiting to be used.

but agreed with whoever said upthread (maybe fgti) that the moments when she was unsuccessfully trying to cast the spell were some of the most captivating of the series.

I liked that they killed the Night King in this one, and it was what I was hoping for. IMO the whole point of the Night King and the White Walkers was not some LotR kind of battle against good and evil, so he didn't need a personality or a motivation any more complex than simply wiping out humankind. He was mostly just a force of nature (literally created by accident by nature spirits), and the main point of this plot was not the fight against White Walkers, but how the various characters would react to their threat.

And IMO that worked fine, a lot of character development came to a nice climax: Beric's resurrections, Melisandre's prophesies, Theon atoning for his sins, Arya's entire character arc and training leading to the moment of killing the Night King. It's true that you had too many scenes of named characters surviving impossible odds, but again, this isn't a series about good vs. evil, this all about the character relations and power plays, so killing most of them in a final battle wouldn't have been in the spirit of the series. I'm most definitely interested in what the various folks we've followed for so many seasons will do in the aftermath.

For example, Jon's entire arc has been about taking the threat of the White Walkers seriously when almost no one else did, so now that the threat is over, will he happily step aside, or will he try to pursue his newly discovered family legacy after all?

And yeah, thematically it makes more sense if the final conflict will be with Cersei. The power struggle for the throne have the main driving force in the series after all, not the zombie fight. And Cersei has proven to be the best at playing it, by being both pragmatic and incredibly ruthless. If a whole bunch of her enemies are gathered in one place waiting for her, why not burn them all with fire, regardless of collateral damage? And if the rest of her enemies wanna fight zombies, why not let them, and then deal with the survivors? Sure, she was lucky the living won, but with the Dany's army in shambles and her dragons wounded, Cersei seems to have the upper hand again. So that, to me, makes a more interesting conflict than if the Night King had been spared until the very end.

The power struggle for the throne have the main driving force in the series after all, not the zombie fight.

totally agree with this and i've argued it in the past, but it's often seem like the show has been torn between these two impulses. season 6 was all about the political machinations, and season 7 was all supernatural preparing for war against the night king--so now i guess this season is literally divided in two between machinations and apocalypse. and since the apocalypse is inherently more dramatic and spectacular, i'm worried these next three eps will feel like the last 45 minutes of return of the king (the movie)

Lyanna Mormont's death was the only big moment that got to me. Badass to the end.

I'm annoyed we never got to find out what the hell Bran and Tyrion talked about in the last episode.

also fuck you Jon, watching Sam getting mauled by wights and just strolling by (kinda just want Jon to die now lol).

one of the many "but why did THAT happen?" moments of the episode was wondering how they intended to set the trenches aflame. were they just counting on melisandre to cast Wall of Fire and roll a 20?

oh, that's right, thanks!

and not only that, but a bunch of foot-soldiers also attempted to reach the trench to set it on fire, but were taken down by zombies.

Their original plan as stated above was to have the dragons light the trenches on fire, but the snowstorm killed the visibility. And unless the trenches were drenched in pitch, arrows were very unlikely to start them burning.

xposts lol: No it was the dragons! The arrows were the back up plan.

i thought dragonfire was supposed to be stone-meltingly hot, wouldn't it just reduce the wooden trench to cinders?

kinda just want Jon to die now lol

he does too, clearly. yet another instance in this ep of him trying to die...presenting himself in front of the dragon-wight.

i thought dragonfire was supposed to be stone-meltingly hot, wouldn't it just reduce the wooden trench to cinders?

(I actually thought for a moment that there was going to be a fake-out and it was actually her and not Bran in the wheelchair).

me too!!!

and she can sneak around white walkers easily cause she's small and a freaking FACELESS ASSASSIN.

the zombie team-building, i mean, bridge-building might have been the best thing about the battle

yeah, not gonna lie i jumped up and did a little whooping sound when arya came out of nowhere

i kinda figured she would be the one who did it because of her custom weapon (even though that's not what she ultimately used) ... also she trained for this shit