...their ridiculous sex scene in that fake-ass looking "natural" hot tub.
You may have thought it was fake-ass looking, but it was real. That was filmed in location at an actual hot spring.
Am I the only one who finds the whole watch/wall/wildlings storyline... boring as shit?
Yes, you are. If you'd read the books and caught the clues, you might, like a sizable portion of fans, think Jon Snow is possibly the most important character, for reasons I will not spoil here.
The "wall storyline" is basically the only thing that matters in the series.
The rest is just the frolics of a bunch of power hungry rubes. Once the dead invade, who gives a mummer's fart whose bony ass decorates the Iron Throne?
@3 I'm with you, and think @5 is right as well. I see the wall is a device to juxtapose against the pointlessness of the kingdoms' fighting and infighting. However much I've enjoyed the series though, I think we're past due for a punchline.
It's literally the only part to the story that's internally important. The rest is all petty, gory, power seeking distractions. that's the point of the frustration of Jon Snow and The Black Watch. They've been sounding the alarm and nobody is listening.
I really hate that they included Areo Hotah (completely pointless since they cut the Queenmaker plot) on the show just as a prop to be killed, and yet they cut Strong Belwas, who is the best character in the whole damn series. Honestly, they whole Dorne arc is pretty meaningless so far without the Queenmaker plot. I suppose they need to give you the background though.
Hotah is also a great character, but why even include him in the show simply as a part of the set?
A fair idea - Game of Thrones could survive as MERELY a fantasy-tinted period political drama/thriller in a world where PTSD is literally the air they breath. They don't need Dany's fire dragons or the icy Others to up the stakes.
#3 nailed it. The wall gang was the most promising from last night. Besides, they have the Onion Knight! But while on the topic of cutting plots, can we please not have any more Sandsnakes? Dorne & Meereen/anything Danaerys conquers is too detached for me to care.
Additionally: Arya is boring the crap out of me and where the hell is Littlefinger???
I know people that regularly whine that this show is nothing but a medieval soap opera. And you would have the show runners remove the most badass thing I can reference to refute that characterization? No sir. Not on my watch, sir.
You Know Nothing Dan Savage, the Wall and White Walkers will be the vessel for the whole finale....but I would love to see that shit prideful Danearys Stormborn thrown to the Dire Wolves.
They could probably reduce the amount of screen time it gets, however.
There is also some benefit to not jumping between characters/regions quite so often. Stay a little longer with each character, even if it means you get to fewer per episode (this is mostly about rearranging the order of scenes through the season).
The title sequence seems to be unchanged from last season, suggesting that no major new locales will be introduced in the current one. That may be good news if it means each remaining character gets more screen time; the possible bad news is that we could spend at least as much time at Castle Black.
I am just so incredibly annoyed that they are INTRODUCING all the stupid shit from Pike and the Drowned God and the Greyjoys this season. That plotline was almost as boring as Bran's in the books, and I was very happy that the show seemed to be skipping it all other than Asha/Yara, Theon's sister.
GRRM started writing the series after Beauty and the Beast because he wanted to write something which wasn't filmable. He may still be right, unfortunately.
This is amusing to me, because I've always thought a major theme of the show was the deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic quality of scheming over who sits the Pointy Chair, while the White Walkers pose an existential threat to all of human kind.
Everybody saying that the watch & wall & white walkers are structurally essential is right on.
Problem is, once you actually show images of the looming existential threat, and it's a dude wearing a goofy latex mask, the illusion becomes a bit too glaring. I can't really fault the show — I don't know how it could be executed any better — but all the supernatural shit is really powerful when it's off-screen (and possibly literally real but just as possibly superstition or a hugely distorted case of medieval telephone) and kinda underwhelming when made concrete & visible.
@27: This is one thing the show REALLY messed up: by personifying the Other threat in the Night King, they have basically made it far less threatening and mysterious. We only see about two White Walkers in the book, and there is no mention of any kind of power structure.
By essentially making the Others an army with a general, they have made them more human and less Other which totally messes up the underlying terror and unknown quality of the threat.
Same difference.
You may have thought it was fake-ass looking, but it was real. That was filmed in location at an actual hot spring.
Am I the only one who finds the whole watch/wall/wildlings storyline... boring as shit?
Yes, you are. If you'd read the books and caught the clues, you might, like a sizable portion of fans, think Jon Snow is possibly the most important character, for reasons I will not spoil here.
The rest is just the frolics of a bunch of power hungry rubes. Once the dead invade, who gives a mummer's fart whose bony ass decorates the Iron Throne?
Now, that said, could we do with about HALF as much wall shit? Yes. Yes we could.
/R+L=J
It's literally the only part to the story that's internally important. The rest is all petty, gory, power seeking distractions. that's the point of the frustration of Jon Snow and The Black Watch. They've been sounding the alarm and nobody is listening.
Familiar, huh?
Hotah is also a great character, but why even include him in the show simply as a part of the set?
Additionally: Arya is boring the crap out of me and where the hell is Littlefinger???
They could probably reduce the amount of screen time it gets, however.
There is also some benefit to not jumping between characters/regions quite so often. Stay a little longer with each character, even if it means you get to fewer per episode (this is mostly about rearranging the order of scenes through the season).
I could happily lose the mother of dragons and her endless wanderings.
GRRM started writing the series after Beauty and the Beast because he wanted to write something which wasn't filmable. He may still be right, unfortunately.
Problem is, once you actually show images of the looming existential threat, and it's a dude wearing a goofy latex mask, the illusion becomes a bit too glaring. I can't really fault the show — I don't know how it could be executed any better — but all the supernatural shit is really powerful when it's off-screen (and possibly literally real but just as possibly superstition or a hugely distorted case of medieval telephone) and kinda underwhelming when made concrete & visible.
By essentially making the Others an army with a general, they have made them more human and less Other which totally messes up the underlying terror and unknown quality of the threat.
or
"A Song of and Fire" (The Dan Savage edit)