• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

*UNMARKED SPOILERS ALL BOOKS* Game of Thrones |OT| - Season 7 - Sundays on HBO

Magnus

Member
So, I'm so glad I didn't see the official poster for the season two months ago. It fucking shows the Night King sitting atop an ice-breathing dragon.

What in the Fuck.

My friend just showed it to me. Said he saw it in May and kept it to himself thankfully.
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
He's simply rewriting them based off the shows. Not sure why book readers expect a drastic masterpiece.

Sure some characters will be in different places or at different events but overall it's going to be similar.
What nonsense is this? Do you seriously believe that? The plots are already quite diverged and have been since Season 5.

My biggest problem with the episode was the long, extended scene of pulling a dragon out of the water. I mean, I'm sure everyone saw it coming even before it got killed, but that was just pointless. All you need to do is cut to the Night King lowering his hand and a blue dragon eye popping open to end the episode.

The rest of that scene was a waste of time, and even worse killed the impact of it.

Still enjoyed the episode a lot though. All of the beyond the wall conversations were great.
We people deceive nitpicky, this is like the definition of it.
Yeah but George was hoping for 3 seasons out of Feast and Dance which LOL.
I mean they did do two seasons, and that's with rushing it, and cutting out major plot elements.
 

TTG

Member
So now that they have an ice dragon they can just fly it over the wall anytime they want and open the gate from the other side. I'm just tallying up what this zombie capture mission has cost the living:

-a dragon
-the wall
-get out of jail free card in Benji

But it's cool because Cersei is gonna take one look at the zombie and see the light.
 

Tuck

Member
He's simply rewriting them based off the shows. Not sure why book readers expect a drastic masterpiece.

Sure some characters will be in different places or at different events but overall it's going to be similar.

...Did you even read the books?

Theres so much more going on in the books that this simply is not possible.
 
If Sansa has known Littlefinger this long, knows what he's capable of, and has supposedly become the player of the game, rather than the student...

Why is she still getting played by him? He gave her to Ramsay to get raped and abused so that he could gain favor with the north. Stockholm syndrome?
 

thefro

Member
That wasn't good. The plan was obviously incredibly stupid. Competent action but I think it was lacking on that front.. I didn't feel like our hero group was a bunch of badasses. I did like the character banter in the first half of the episode.

Gendry running because "he's the fastest" and the double Deus Ex Machina were dumb. Coldhands should have taken out more wights than he did (he takes out only one or two before biting it). Didn't the wights crawl on top of other wights before? Some ice collapsing shouldn't stop them.

The Sansa/Arya stuff is ridiculous unless it's a swerve on Littlefinger bro. The person who pointed out Bran is there is correct. Not sure why Brienne is going anywhere. Also makes no sense for Littlefinger to stir something up in the first place (if anything, he should be plotting against Jon), but bad writing.

Tyrion should probably be fired as hand at this point. Varys basically hasn't done shit all season, for someone who has a great spy network.

Not sure why the dragon that died couldn't have crashed elsewhere so that The Night King didn't have to stop by Chains R Us to get the huge chains to pull him out.

Luckily most of this stuff won't matter for the next episode.
 

Tuck

Member
My biggest problem with the episode was the long, extended scene of pulling a dragon out of the water. I mean, I'm sure everyone saw it coming even before it got killed, but that was just pointless. All you need to do is cut to the Night King lowering his hand and a blue dragon eye popping open to end the episode.

The rest of that scene was a waste of time, and even worse killed the impact of it.

Still enjoyed the episode a lot though. All of the beyond the wall conversations were great.

But then people would be complaining that they didn't show how they got the dragon out of the water.
 

Afrodium

Banned
It's really apparent this season that they're just working off of a list of high level story beats from GRRM.

And it's also really apparent why TWOW is taking so damn long, as his remaining story beats alone can fill up multiple seasons of TV. I can see tonight's episode being Jon's plot for an entire book.
 

Dmax3901

Member
It's fun seeing people annoyed about the exact same things I was when I watched the leaked ep.

Unique this week in that I didn't get that immediate feedback on watching it.
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
What she did was not turn into a psychopath. She also didn't threaten Sansa. She didn't scare her shitless. She also didn't get played by Littlefinger like a complete moron. She also didn't forget she had the ability to change her face while snooping on somebody else.

It's more about what she hasn't done.
Arya: "I have a bag of faces I can use to disguise myself as but I'll follow LF without using any of them."
 
He's simply rewriting them based off the shows. Not sure why book readers expect a drastic masterpiece.

Sure some characters will be in different places or at different events but overall it's going to be similar.
No. He's not rewriting the books to match the show. The books and the show have already diverged enough that they barely resemble each other outside of very broad strokes.
 

duckroll

Member
If Sansa has known Littlefinger this long, knows what he's capable of, and has supposedly become the player of the game, rather than the student...

Why is she still getting played by him? He gave her to Ramsay to get raped and abused so that he could gain favor with the north. Stockholm syndrome?

Maybe Sansa and Arya both know he is playing them and are acting even in private to keep the scam going before he overplays his hand and GETS OWNED! Just like how Arya only faked getting stabbed and fell into the river to trick the waif as part of her master plan to turn the tables on the assassin. Oh wait...
 

Cruxist

Member
Man, you guys are vicious. Not sure what everybody else was expecting, but I thought it was pretty clear that the show would inevitably swerve towards traditional fantasy at some point. And the show has always been a big source of fanservice, that's why I like it! Thought it was a good episode apart from Arya and Sansa having a terrible plot. But overall, still really enjoying the show. When cool characters like the Dornish and the Ironborn were relegated to non-existence or charicature, I knew what the show was about.
 

emag

Member
So, about the zombie dragon:

1. Will "I've seen everything" Bran bother to warn anyone?
2. Will the scorpions be modified to use dragonglass bolts?
3. Will Dany weild a Dragon(glass)Lance from atop Drogon to put down her undead child?
 
The Sansa/Arya stuff is ridiculous unless it's a swerve on Littlefinger bro. The person who pointed out Bran is there is correct. Not sure why Brienne is going anywhere. Also makes no sense for Littlefinger to stir something up in the first place (if anything, he should be plotting against Jon), but bad writing.

It's just as bad, even if they're playing Littlefinger.

"Remember that stupid plot line for half the season? It was all just a trick to catch Littlefinger!! Wasn't it all worth it!?"
 

Tuck

Member
It's really apparent this season that they're just working off of a list of high level story beats from GRRM.

Agreed, this is it in a nutshell. They just have the major story beats to go off of, and it shows.

Plus I think all the stuff they cut in previous seasons came back to haunt them, with not enough going on to fill all the characters time.
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
After re-watching Season 5 this week, and making mental notes while watching it. I was pretty positive Season 7 had to be worse than Season 5 (this is without seeing the episode this week). This takes the cake though.
 

MoeDabs

Member
Maybe Sansa and Arya both know he is playing them and are acting even in private to keep the scam going before he overplays his hand and GETS OWNED! Just like how Arya only faked getting stabbed and fell into the river to trick the waif as part of her master plan to turn the tables on the assassin. Oh wait...

Yeah the waif incident taught me to accept most of Arya's story at face value.
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
Dopey

I get it

I was a (probably louder than I should've been) advocate of the condensing of the Sansa/Jeyne Poole plot

But we're far, far beyond the point of attributing Littlefinger's machinations to the good writing.

Everything Littlefinger's done in Winterfell has relied almost exclusively on them specifically undercutting everything they've written about the characters involved.

It's actually hard to imagine them writing a more hamfisted Winterfell plot

no shit he's undercutting characters. IT'S WHAT HE DOES. He has made it clear before he wants everything. That means complete power. Chaos is a ladder, and he's trying to create that chaos.

Hey, maybe by your standards, Cersei will be completely reasonable next episode because hey, there's white walkers, no time for political machinations, amiright?

But no, the characters have their motivations and Littlefinger is still pursuing his goals like he always has. Regardless of your feelings.
 
So, I'm so glad I didn't see the official poster for the season two months ago. It fucking shows the Night King sitting atop an ice-breathing dragon.

What in the Fuck.

My friend just showed it to me. Said he saw it in May and kept it to himself thankfully.

That wasn't official I believe, though I think someone on the cast re-tweeted it or something as a fan thing even if it did turn out right. They wouldn't of given something like that away on a poster.
 

Hazmat

Member
No. He's not rewriting the books to match the show. The books and the show have already diverged enough that they barely resemble each other outside of very broad strokes.

Yeah. Hold the Door is the only thing that I 100% buy is from the unfinished books. I think they're going to be a lot different (if they ever come out).
 
I get that the Arya narrative isn't hitting it's mark, but I feel that her beefing with Sansa is misdirection. I think she is pushing Sansa to use a Face against LF. The handing off of the dagger from Arya to Sansa was basically consent to use her stuff.
 
I get that the Arya narrative isn't hitting it's mark, but I feel that her beefing with Sansa is misdirection. I think she is pushing Sansa to use a Face against LF. The handing off of the dagger from Arya to Sansa was basically consent to use her stuff.

I'm trying to imagine what this would look like. It would be fantastic if it was Littlefinger just creating political suicide. That's all it would take.
 
I think GRRM probably told the writers that the Others get an ice dragon. But, I think it was up to them to figure out how to get there.

And they did it in the dumbest way imaginable.
 

Tuck

Member
Yeah. Hold the Door is the only thing that I 100% buy is from the unfinished books. I think they're going to be a lot different (if they ever come out).

Hold the door
Great Sept of Balor going boom
Ice dragon

Thats 3 I can think of

4, if you count the "Jon is a targaryen" twist even though literally everyone knew it.

EDIT: Plus what TTG says in the post below.
 

Kettch

Member
I had actually completely forgotten about Ghost while watching this. Guess that really highlights how little screen time he's gotten, that I don't even think to complain about it anymore. He basically just doesn't exist in the show.
 
No. He's not rewriting the books to match the show. The books and the show have already diverged enough that they barely resemble each other outside of very broad strokes.

Exactly why all the delays are occurring. He's trying to match it up as much as possible. He needs to figure out the reasons (side stories) where some of the characters deviate from book and show and bring them together with what we are watching. It's happening.
 

Dmax3901

Member
Maybe Sansa and Arya both know he is playing them and are acting even in private to keep the scam going before he overplays his hand and GETS OWNED! Just like how Arya only faked getting stabbed and fell into the river to trick the waif as part of her master plan to turn the tables on the assassin. Oh wait...

Yeah despite being well and truly done before this is the only way I can see this storyline being resolved satisfactorily.

That said, it would be kinda lame for LF to finally 'lose' to something so boring.
 
QpKTbQt.jpg

This has already been made, hasn't it?
 

Hazmat

Member
Hold the door
Great Sept of Balor going boom
Ice dragon

Thats 3 I can think of

4, if you count the "Jon is a targaryen" twist even though literally everyone knew it.

I'd count Jon as something that has already happened in the books.

Ice dragon will happen, but probably won't happen like that. And might not even be one of Dany's.

I'm unconvinced of the sept of Baelor explosion. It's possible, but if GRRM has killed off that many characters in one act it's even more inexcusable that he hasn't finished this damn book. Plus, Kevan is already dead, either Loras or Lancel (I can't remember which) has been seriously hurt elsewhere, and I don't see seven year old Tommen jumping out a window.

Edit: And Jon's as dead in the books as a Final Fantasy character that you haven't yet used a Phoenix Down on. If you count that the. You have to count "Arya returns to Westeros" and "Littlefinger still wants to fuck Sansa."
 

Hinchy

Member
Hooh.

I like this show. I've been enjoying this season.

But that was a straight up badly written episode, for the most part.

Shame. Shame. Shame.
 

Pkaz01

Member
I get that the Arya narrative isn't hitting it's mark, but I feel that her beefing with Sansa is misdirection. I think she is pushing Sansa to use a Face against LF. The handing off of the dagger from Arya to Sansa was basically consent to use her stuff.

I kind agree with this without the face stuff I think she is telling Sansa to put up or shut up when it comes to Littlefinger and wants her to make the final decision on killing him or not. In a you are either with me or with him way.
 

Kallor

Member
After re-watching Season 5 this week, and making mental notes while watching it. I was pretty positive Season 7 had to be worse than Season 5 (this is without seeing the episode this week). This takes the cake though.

What makes this seasons shittiness really hurt is the massive budget increase and the bringing together of characters and storylines decades in the making. All so they could haul ass through it all and get to the ending and move on to their next show.

GRRM must be turning in his grave.
 
I was ultimately pretty disappointed in this episode. Thinking back to the last two seasons' peunultimate episodes which culminated in some of the most amazing sequences on the show (Hardhome and the Battle of the Bastards) and I was hoping some cool fanfiction squadding up against the Night's Kingd would result in something equally memorable. But not really.

Instead, the interesting plot thread with Jon and Company is broken up by some of the worst writing the show has seen with all the Arya/Sansa forced drama. Yes, Littlefinger is trying to drive a wedge between you people, we get it. Can you please both realize this and kill off Littlefinger already? His scheming isn't going anywhere with how safe the show has gotten as of late.

And the actual stuff beyond the Wall looked nice and everything but... I feel like we've seen all this before? Hardhome was great because it was creepy as hell when the White Walkers had those spooky clouds float down from the cliffs and kind of consume all the Wildlings past the barrier. Then you had the discovery that Valyrian steel can kill the White Walkers and the Night's King raising all those dead. It was suspenseful and well shot and engaging!

Here, you have their whole expedition needlessly broken up with other scenes and just some boneheaded writing and plot contrivances like all the fast travel or the Night's King not targeting Drogon, that could have pretty easily been alleviated with better writing (Have Dany at Eastwatch on standby; have the squad bring some ravens to send in case they get in trouble, like they did at the Fist of the First Men; not have Jon randomly wade off into Wights instead of getting on Drogon).

Ultimately though it was just way too predictable. Even Hardhome where nobody major dies, you still had some of those minor Wildlings like that one lady who you thought maybe she'll become a more major character but nope, she got killed. Here Thoros dies. But that's it. I liked Thoros and all but him and Beric are a step above the random redshirts that died in terms of the show. The second Tormund wasn't dragged down underwater I had the feeling everyone was getting out safe. Jon falling under ice in probably 20 pounds of heavy freezing cold fur and armor? And able to climb out of thin ice no problem and ride for miles and miles back to the Wall? Really?

Without GRRM, the show has kind of completely lost it's edge and unrpedictability, which is a big part of what made the early books and seasons so fun. Robb didn't get some epic showdown with Joffrey, they were betrayed/poisoned when they didn't expect it. The problem is that with the show only having 7 episodes left now, any characters that die I think are getting pretty predictable deaths. Not the sort of Ned or Robb Stark deaths that resonate through the whole world and end up affecting plot points. What if Jon died there for good? Or what if Dany died in this episode for good? That would have shocked me and would have made for a pretty unpredictable final season.

At this point though, its really just fanfiction / fanservice through and through which I'm ok with when its done well. My problem with this episode is that the writing and plotting and direction just wasn't done very well, so all the fancy CG effects in the world can't cover that up.
 

Showaddy

Member
Exactly why all the delays are occurring. He's trying to match it up as much as possible. He needs to figure out the reasons (side stories) where some of the characters deviate from book and show and bring them together with what we are watching. It's happening.

All the delays are occurring because GRRM is a shockingly undisciplined writer who's easily distracted, types with 1 finger and has no concept of editing. It's really got nothing to do with the show.
 

Dysun

Member
Pretty hard to enjoy this episode even on the surface level with the fan service. Although the interactions between characters was pretty good.
 

Tuck

Member
Pretty sure they said the sept explosion was show only.
Oh? i could have sworn martin commented saying he hadn't written that scene yet (keyword 'yet') though maybe that was hold the door.

Exactly why all the delays are occurring. He's trying to match it up as much as possible. He needs to figure out the reasons (side stories) where some of the characters deviate from book and show and bring them together with what we are watching. It's happening.
I doubt it. Martin does his own thing. If he come sup with some crazy plot twist or side arc that excites him, the fact that it isnt in the show is not going to stop him. He writes what he wants.

The reason the books are taking so long is because closing plot threads is a lot arder than opening them, and he has a ton of plot lines (significantly more than the show) to tie together.

I'd count Jon as something that has already happened in the books.

Ice dragon will happen, but probably won't happen like that. And might not even be one of Dany's.

I'm unconvinced of the sept of Baelor explosion. It's possible, but if GRRM has killed off that many characters in one act it's even more inexcusable that he hasn't finished this damn book. Plus, Kevan is already dead, either Loras or Lancel (I can't remember which) has been seriously hurt elsewhere, and I don't see seven year old Tommen jumping out a window.
I could see it happening, particularly as revenge against House Tyrell for Kevan lannister (just as Varys wants), who in the books Cersei was fond of.

Just might not be as "holy shit" because some of the characters that died in that scene in the show (i.e Kevan) are already dead.
 

Sotha_Sil

Member
I haven't been on board with all the hate the show has gotten so far this season, but this time I'm on board.

+Dragon down
+Hound/Beric/Jorah/Gendry/Jon/Thoros/Tormund conversations
+Beric and Thoros are some crazy motherfuckers - Thoros stumbles around North of the wall drunk, the two instantly light their swords and charge the bear while everyone else hangs back, Beric cauterizing Thoros' chest wound with a flaming sword, lighting his dead friend on fire with the sword, Beric talking about fighting the Night King one on one and looking forward to his death
+The gap between Drogon's kill count and anyone else keeps growing

-The Night King's army fucking sucks. 7 guys killed like 500 wights
-Timeline makes no sense with Gendry running to the wall, sending a raven to Dragonstone, and Dany flying up there all within approx. 1 day
-Arya/Sansa is boring. I missed several sections of the dialog entirely so bear with me, but did Arya pretend to be Littlefinger to suggest Sansa use Brienne to settle the argument.... and when Sansa did the exact opposite Arya realized she wasn't Littlefinger's puppet? It doesn't make a ton of sense but that was the impression I got from the bits and pieces I was there for.
-Hound being an idiot
-Maybe Jon survived his battle with hypothermia because he's a wight himself?
-Only one of the Expendables die and it's Thoros in boring fashion (froze to death in his sleep). Was expecting more fireworks there
-The worst offender of them all.... Benjen comes out of nowhere to die 30 seconds later
 

ryseing

Member
All the delays are occurring because GRRM is a shockingly undisciplined writer who's easily distracted, types with 1 finger and has no concept of editing. It's really got nothing to do with the show.

I'm convinced it's also because he simply has no desire to finish the series. Unfortunately that means hack TV writers are going to tell the only ending.

Until we get a remake in 30 years, hopefully by which time GRRM's notes will be out there and someone will do the story justice.
 

Wag

Member
That wasn't Drogon that was turned, was it?

So is the zombie dragon going to breathe ice now?

Also, Danny is in love with Jon? More incest I guess...
 

Euron

Member
I'm starting to feel like "kidnap and wight and bring it to King's Landing" is a plot point GRRM gave D&D but because of the changes they made in the past two seasons, they were far off from what GRRM might have planned for it in the books and tried to forcibly integrate it into the show in any way they could just to get a key plot point in there.

If TWOW ever releases it would probably make much more sense. Maybe Aegon takes the Throne and Jon (still up north and not king in the north) thinks he can convince this new king of the threat now that the War of the 5 Kings is over and the Lannisters are gone. His plot from this episode alone is probably his entire TWOW plot condensed.
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Hold the door
Great Sept of Balor going boom
Ice dragon

Thats 3 I can think of

4, if you count the "Jon is a targaryen" twist even though literally everyone knew it.

EDIT: Plus what TTG says in the post below.
1. Shireen burning 2. Hodor 3. Final twist
Exactly why all the delays are occurring. He's trying to match it up as much as possible. He needs to figure out the reasons (side stories) where some of the characters deviate from book and show and bring them together with what we are watching. It's happening.
This some serious trolling
"There isn't time!"
"I don't have time to explain, why I don't have time to explain."


Also I wish Jon Snow would have said "What the fuck, like what in the fuck!?" As he rode off on Benjen's horse. (Also D&D just call him Coldhands on Inside the episode). Like why lol
 
Top Bottom