Sam ran from White Walkers in the middle of a blizzard for several hours straight. Can you imagine if they did that shit now?
Ghost disappeared beyond the wall for a while when Jon went off with the Halfhand and then was back at Castle Black...I don't remember if they ever mentioned how that happened. Or did he wind up at Crasters with the mutineers first?
There are toooonnnnnns of moments that are no different from what is happening now that are just accepted as fine because they were earlier on. The super fast pace is without a doubt the clearest difference compared to earlier seasons, maybe that makes weird moments stand out more because they are happening back to back? The best episode of the season being the slowest might not be a total coincidence.
If this ends up being the poorest reviewed season I hope HBO takes that as an indication for future projects. There was supposed to be nine and I feel like a lot of the problems with the last two seasons (maybe even the two before that) would be alleviated with that extra time.
Mmm think of what a full seasons 7, 8 and 9 could bring us. We could spend less time with Arya in Braavos and use it to establish Euron and VIctarion earlier on, and replace Dorne with, well, Dorne. Mmmmm Omg George finish Book 6 please Ineed this
Better time management should absolutely be a priority going forward, and maybe don’t give these particular showrunners total control of anything ever again. The best aspects of the show seem to come from everyone else involved, and the parts that are the most worthy of true criticism straight from their brains. Not a good combo.
Honestly while it’s normally a sign of disaster, the more I get into it the more I really wish they had switched the crew up back when GRRM bailed. Some new blood and passion and a different perspective could have been huge for maintaining the care and energy for a full run.
I mean its a very enjoyable show but its never been GOAT territory. The dip in quality of dialogue and storytelling in the last few seasons is also very noticeable imo. The show now basically relies on a huge budget and the payoffs its been teasing for 7 years and people will enjoy them even if their execution is flawed, myself included. Criticism of sub-par writing from a show that can afford to do whatever it wants should be expected, especially when they don't learn from their glaring mistakes in treatment of sex/women/minorities. I do hope the books get finished and this story does end up getting told in a way that justifies what had been set up. And I guess since our anecdotal friends matter more than the internet I'll say that may friends seem split. Book readers do seem to disproportionately be critical and negative about the show though, which makes sense.
Like I said before, I think some of the equally whacky shit that happened in earlier seasons was probably easier to write off because so many of the episodes had a handful of storylines instead of just one. Now, every episode is like a movie with a singular, linear plot line. Whenever something stupid happens it’s way more noticeable and disruptive. Also, being earlier in the show, there was more mystery and it seemed like things might get clarified down the road. You could look past inconsistencies because you might get answers later on. Now people are realizing that that’s not really going to happen. The White Walkers ended up coming and going in one episode and that was it lol
Exactly! That’s what I mean about the emperor’s new clothes and all that. It’s a perfect storm for people taking their anger out on a specific episode when it’s really the entire story that they’re actually frustrated with. What happened last week is no worse than the suicide mission, but that wasn’t the end of the NK so everyone gave it more of a pass.
I don’t think I trust GRRM to finish this story satisfyingly either Not that I trust he’ll finish at all
In some peoples eyes the last good book was ASOS which came out 18 years ago. I’m not in that group though I think it would have been way better to combine the last two. It’s definitely not a given that the books end well.
I think AFFC gets a bad rap from original readers because it was the first book in 5 years and it introduced a whole bunch of a new characters and didn’t have a lot of fan favorites. Since I didn’t start reading until the show and thus could “binge” them, I really didn’t find AFFC all that bad.
ADWD is definitely #2. AFFC is definitely #5. AFFC is a slog at times, that's all. The events of that book are still good and I wish we got it in the show.
I really need to try the books one of these days. I actually own them (except maybe the newest one?), but I always feel like I need to commit to reading them all at once so I don’t forget things and that’s so daunting. I see the little box set staring at me and then end up reading something else every time.
I read the first one like 3-4 years ago. Started the second then put it down for a year. Still trying to work my way through it
Ha, that’s my exact fear. I don’t think knowledge of the show would even really help bridge any gap there.
I was literally going to edit my post to mention Davos as being a huge reason I still really want to try. I need mooooorrreeeee.