Poll: Winter Is Coming - HBO's A Game of Thrones [READ WARNING]

[Andrew_McP]

The problem with this series is it has all the usual elements we enjoy, but we keep getting tripped up by timetable and storyline shortcuts written by a five year old.... "And then the Night King dies!" "And then the dragon dies!" "And then the Dothraki all die!" "And then half the Dothraki are back!" "And then Bron appears!" "And then Ghost goes to live on a farm!" And so on.

I swear the writers must have scripted this series after playing the Tiny Tina DLC for Borderlands2.

 

[easyrider]

GOT turns into scooby doo

 

[robfosters]

Some people just have awful critical judgement. People who think this episode or Season 8 in general is "really good" are a prime example of this.

That sounds like a diplomatic way of saying anyone who enjoyed it is stupid.

 

[MookJong]

The anticipation between episodes and speculative stories you make up in your own head are the best thing about this season. The episodes, not so much.

In the past I had no clue what would happen, I really never speculated I was dragged along at the spectacle unfolding. Now I feel like I could write and pace the episodes better myself which is really sad.

 

[Random Guy Esq.]

I saw a fan edit of Rhaegal's death. It was far from perfect, but recycling only the footage that they actually used for the episode, it was still markedly better than what actually went out (imo).

 

[Andrew_McP]

The anticipation between episodes and speculative stories you make up in your own head are the best thing about this season.

We're tied to the chair, the bucket's in place, and the rat's coming whether we like it or not. But we can still choose whether to beg or not, and what pitch to scream at when the inevitable happens!

I'm favouring an F#, two octaves above middle C and just short of total hysteria. (I'm holding something back just in case I need to cry like a girl -- or boy, what with this being 2019 -- in 11 days' time.)

 

[ZXSpectrum]

Just a wish/Speculation based on a scene in the trailer for the next episode.

Spoiler

I am hoping that the sound of a dragon in the final scene is a misdirect and i really hope that Eurons' shocked/scared look is his reaction to Yara, who has retaken The Iron Islands and build a huge dreadnought of a ship to decimate his fleet.

 

[Rids]

I saw a fan edit of Rhaegal's death. It was far from perfect, but recycling only the footage that they actually used for the episode, it was still markedly better than what actually went out (imo).

The thing with that scene is that it was so easy to do it better.

Have one of Danys scout ships or Dany herself spot the Iron Fleet closing to engage. All the giant crossbows are covered up with tarps.

Dany decides to engage to safeguard her flat while they disermbark.

First pass gos as planned, burning iron men, sorted.

They're circling around for a second pass, triumphant music playing... giant crossbows out of nowhere, whole salvo of them, most miss, couple nail Rhaegal and dead dragon. Shock value 80% intact.

Dany attempts to go for another pass, another salvo heads her away, she has to break off, resume the destruction of a portion of Dany's fleet, some of whom had closed to engage.

This gets over the "surprise fleet" issue, and the laughable 100% accuracy of the first 3 bolts.

 

[Midlife Crisis]

That sounds better

 

[Dup]

I'm not nerd levels of invested in the lore of GoT, however the "bittersweet" ending we are led to expect in my opinion will end up in the iron throne being destroyed and that there will be no one overall power mad ruler in the end and it falls only to a regional. I also expect there is an side story ending with Bran and the White Walker weirdness. Feels like there's still too much to tie up in such little time and a worry some of it will be pushed into spin-offs.

There's not many shows I have really got invested in so I'm excited to see the culmination, however I can't see it being what the series deserves. It's been a long slog and very enjoyable regardless though. Prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Apparently someone did the numbers on the ballista bolts. It makes for a good read

 

[iamtheoneneo]

Some people just have awful critical judgement. People who think this episode or Season 8 in general is "really good" are a prime example of this.

Well I don't know many saying that apart from the typically Reddit circlejerk. The declining quality has been noted for a few seasons now, especially as we went from a slower pacing to a pretty full on affair and lost the reliance on the books.
I felt this episode actually spent time on character stories, which we havent had for a while. Like when was the last time we saw Tyrion and Varys having a good bit of banter - it had been quite a while.

I was entertained (more so than ep3), but the flaws were very obvious.

 

[Washout]

Some people just have awful critical judgement. People who think this episode or Season 8 in general is "really good" are a prime example of this.

That sounds like a diplomatic way of saying anyone who enjoyed it is stupid.

I'd almost take offence, but then he goes on to say...

Purely in the context of GOT and the seasons up to now, it was the worst hour of TV in GOT history...

Which would be fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But when their "critical judgement" of the worst hour of GoT ever is... mostly wrong:

...
So many wtf things happened:
1) Jon about to tell his sisters about his secret then the camera cutting away.
2) Sisters then telling everyone about his secret three scenes later.
3) Jaime and Brienne's cringeworthily awkward and 100% unnecessary sex scenes.
4) Jaime throwing away seasons of character development and rendering himself pointless to run back to Cersei. Utterly bizzarre.
5) Jon leaving Ghost without so much as a pat or a hug.
6) Arya running off to join The Hound on a merry jaunt despite spending seasons trying to get away from him or kill him.
7) Bronns utterly bizzarre appearence and cringingly awkward dialogue. Everything was so out of character it hurt.
8) Daenerys not seeing an entire fleet waiting just around the corner from where they knew a fleet would/should be.
9) Euron Greyjoy managing to destroy a fleet of ships by machine-gunning ballistae bolts.
10) Danerys's fleet was seemingly wholly destroyed, washed up on the beach, then appearing in front of the city as though nothing has happened. How many died?
11) Daenerys standing in front of a city with her dragon sitting within range of every ballistae on the walls. The army standing within range of every archer on the walls. Daenerys having zero archers or units with ladders capable of breaching/scaling said walls.
12) Missandei standing there with only her hands loosely shackled directly next to Cersei while knowing she would shortly be killed. Being the brave uberwoman she is surely she could have struck or grabbed Cersei and jumped off the wall?
...

I'd already responded inside the quote earlier but just in case it was missed.
1. So? Do we the audience really need to have this news told to us for maybe the fourth time on screen?
2. Only Sansa and she's playing the game now. Being honest and honourable gets you dead Starks, she knows that after all she's been through and right or wrong can see Dany turning on Jon.
3. You think showing Brienne and Jaime are in a physical relationship is unnecessary? Two of the main characters of the show?!
4. Has he? Or could the news of the ambush have spurred him to head south because a military victory is now in doubt?
5. First good point!
6. But then you're straight in with your worst point. If you can't tell these two are close then I'm not sure your critical judgement can be trusted! Genuinely you don't think they're friends?!
7. Bizarre appearance? Despite him being sent to them earlier? Ok. Out of character to not kill them, because he's actually fond of both, and instead play the odds so he can get more? That's so out of character for Bronn it hurt? Really?!?
8. Why would they know about the fleet? Sure the sfx should have shown her lower or something to make it easier for her to miss them but they were hidden between two outcroppings of land. The whole point of the dragons going with the ships was protect them as they had no idea Euron would have scorpions capable of taking out a 747.
9. Second good point, but so what - it's a show about dragons. Whether it takes 2 mins or 2 hours to destroy the ships, story wise it doesn't make a difference.
10. & 11. You seem to be under the impression she's now there to attack. That's wrong, she's there to parley. Her army is still coming south with Jon. While the ships were meant for a blockade at sea of the city. The dragon is further back, presumably out of range.
12. She does that then Dany and her escort get attacked and probably killed, the dragon goes mad, lots of screaming and dying.

Give it 2 maybe 3 points out of 12 for that lot!

Like I said, I think the way ep3 played out people are trying way too hard to hate ep4.

 

[neoboy]

Just a wish/Speculation based on a scene in the trailer for the next episode.

Spoiler

I am hoping that the sound of a dragon in the final scene is a misdirect and i really hope that Eurons' shocked/scared look is his reaction to Yara, who has retaken The Iron Islands and build a huge dreadnought of a ship to decimate his fleet.

I was thinking that as I'm sure she'll make an appearance soon but he's looking up at the sky. Maybe they just use a giant kite to distract him and he's shocked when he sees it?

 

[MookJong]

The thing with that scene is that it was so easy to do it better.

Have one of Danys scout ships or Dany herself spot the Iron Fleet closing to engage. All the giant crossbows are covered up with tarps.

Dany decides to engage to safeguard her flat while they disermbark.

First pass gos as planned, burning iron men, sorted.

They're circling around for a second pass, triumphant music playing... giant crossbows out of nowhere, whole salvo of them, most miss, couple nail Rhaegal and dead dragon. Shock value 80% intact.

Dany attempts to go for another pass, another salvo heads her away, she has to break off, resume the destruction of a portion of Dany's fleet, some of whom had closed to engage.

This gets over the "surprise fleet" issue, and the laughable 100% accuracy of the first 3 bolts.

Totally agree and had already thought of something similar. I wonder just how much of what they are doing is to save money.

 

[ZXSpectrum]

I was thinking that as I'm sure she'll make an appearance soon but he's looking up at the sky. Maybe they just use a giant kite to distract him and he's shocked when he sees it?

Not if its such a huge ship and right on top of them with her at the front.

 

[Tombstone]

Totally agree and had already thought of something similar. I wonder just how much of what they are doing is to save money.

You would think, as one of the most successful tv shows in history, with an almost ludicrous amount of merchandising ranging to everything from Game of Thrones fridge magnets through Game of Thrones Monopoly sets to 3 foot high Game of Thrones character statues..that the need to save money wouldn't be quite so pressing.

 

[Destination]

The thing with that scene is that it was so easy to do it better.
Have one of Danys scout ships or Dany herself spot the Iron Fleet closing to engage. All the giant crossbows are covered up with tarps.
Dany decides to engage to safeguard her flat while they disermbark.
First pass gos as planned, burning iron men, sorted.
They're circling around for a second pass, triumphant music playing... giant crossbows out of nowhere, whole salvo of them, most miss, couple nail Rhaegal and dead dragon. Shock value 80% intact.
Dany attempts to go for another pass, another salvo heads her away, she has to break off, resume the destruction of a portion of Dany's fleet, some of whom had closed to engage.
This gets over the "surprise fleet" issue, and the laughable 100% accuracy of the first 3 bolts.

Indeed, and couldn't have taken much longer to make or produce one would have thought.

 

[IronSpider]

That whole bit was as stupid as the frontal assault on walkers in empire strikes back. Circle around and burn the lot of them from the back. But no she does a frontal charge. The tactics in that episode was like an episode of black adder goes fourth.

 

[smr]

I thought it was a very good and enjoyable episode. Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinion and critique but just skimming through some posts on the previous few pages.... it's just a show, I don't think it needs scrutinising or analysing so heavily. It's a fantasy show, enjoy it for what it is.

I thought the pacing again was very good, it's another build up / calm before the storm episode with some solid little sub plots, character developments and twists starting to form.

Most interesting of all is Daenerys and her realisation that everything is Jon Snow oriented, her dragon being killed and the battle that's shaping up between her and Cersei.

About the Jamie scene - it's obvious to me that he has changed and he's either going back to kill her, or he's going back because he thinks he still wants to be with Cersei but when he gets there he'll realise he's making a mistake and will turn back.