the show was pretty bad from season 5, and I don't think anyone really cares about the lore or the world. they care about the characters and the story Martin wrote. I don't think other writers can do that very well, and I certainly don't want that more than I want original stories
Season 5 has rough patches for sure and is definitely the weakest season, mostly because they absolutely butchered Dorne just to hit their goal of being done in 8 seasons or whatever, and also because they decided to put Sansa in the North and handled that not so well, to say the least. But the season still has some really strong episodes IIRC...Kill the Boy had great scenes with Jon and Aemon, we saw a glimpse of Old Valyria, Barristan finally gets to be a badass before they made the bad decision of killing him. And the last 3 episodes are off the hook. Season 6 I think was overall pretty great. Jon come back, Tower of Joy, family reunions, Hold The Door, The Hound, Arya completing her training (though of course the training itself was a downside of the season), and again the final two episodes just being redonkulous. 7 and 8 were weak, though I still don't think 7 was as bad in hindsight, at least half of it. They started rushing things but it wasn't THAT bad. 8 was great entertainment but bad writing and, again, the ridiculous rush to get to the end ASAP. Went from a meticulously detailed show to a popcorn summer blockbuster but in TV show form. I have heard multiple accounts now from people who have binged the show all the way through weren't as turned off by season 8 as the long haul watchers seemed to be, and I wonder if that's because they didn't have 7-8 years to get used to a watching a show that made it a point to storytell instead of just going for the big moments. Maybe getting all that out of the way in a few months time softens the blow a bit? I'm still not ready to do a proper re-watch but I'm interested to see if I dislike Season 8 less when I do. I think there are a lot of other great characters in Martin's world that people can really like. I don't know if Corlys or Nymeria are those characters, but I think HBO thinks they can get at least a few million viewers out of Martin's fans to sit down and enjoy watching their nerdy world get put into action. I don't think they're wrong. I doubt any of these shows will do GOT numbers but 2-3 million for a couple of seasons like Season 1 of GOT did definitely seems doable. With the bigger shows like House of the Dragon definitively capable of doing more.
idk man....that Dorne storyline in 5 is just rough. But it also has the last 3 episodes which include Hardhome so.
If you're interested in the world at all, check out the World of Ice and Fire book. I think I'm like 385353503 times more excited for ideas 1 and 3 because of that. There's a lot of cool stuff that's touched on in the book, different countries and cultures and mysteries and etc that could be really cool to see. I'm especially excited about the idea of seeing Sothoryos and Leng/Yi-Ti. Corlys also went to Asshai I think.
I’ll never forget because so many alumni are in other stuff. I’m so happy Pedro has had such a great career thus far. I think the main person I miss seeing is Charles Dance.
They’re marathoning the show I guess for the 10 year anniversary. First season just started. Wild how different it is from what it became. A virtually perfect season too.
this is the first time I’ve watched anything since...i think I caught the last season again when they replayed it randomly last year or something like that, but I haven’t seen the older seasons in a couple of years now, longest I’ve gone. Episode 4 is about to start now and goddamn I forgot how great all the set up was. Just getting all the players in place this first season is so fun, it’s easy to see how it ended up roping so many people in
I always wonder if there's some study on how/if this show's brand value dropped after the last season.
i don’t think there’s any reason to assume that. looking at the shows getting greenlit in the aftermath, it seems quite to the contrary
I feel almost certain that season 8 dvd sales had to be bad, and probably hurt their merch sales a bit....but yeah HBO is pushing ahead with the Westerosi Cinematic Universe so they have to assume there's still a fanbase there that will watch and buy shit. Theres gotta be at least a couple million of the book readers out there who will both 1. Have trust in Sapachnik since he directed most of the best episodes, and 2. Won't be as worried about the story being "Ruined" since it'll all be based off of a light history of fictional historic events and not a detailed book series.
a top 3 television moment for me. the pure shock of what i was witnessing, no exaggeration i legitimately sat on my couch in the dark in silence for several minutes with my mouth hanging open. the only other show that has ever given me that kind of just dumbstruck dont-know-what-to-do was Lost.
Top 3 book moment as well. I still remember reading the first book and it wasn't until several chapters later after Ned's death that I realized that yes, he actually was dead and yes, this was going to be a difficult series to read
I also sat there stunned in silence for like 5-7 minutes after the episode ended other than saying "Waht the fuck" very loudly and repeatedly. My wife was a book reader and knew it was coming. I was all in on The King in the North, and loved screaming it out at bars and at music festivals lol. The summer before that at Firefly Festival, it was so easy/fun to get "The King in the North" responses or full on chants going lol. Same with bars at the beach. The Firefly Festival that came right after the Red Wedding it was just as good for it. Just a fun time to be a fan.
Now nothing about it is fun The only line people will ever remember from this show is how I feel thinking about it "Shame"