Game of Thrones: the last series [SPOILERS]

[sheridan]

He went up that tree like a rat up a drainpipe as soon as he thought no one was looking. The big reveal of this season is that he was never paralysed, he was just really fucking lazy.

[Leigh S]

I think it worked a lot better than I had dared hope - if any shark jumping occurred, I would put that back last series with the icey island, "give that man a dragon" stuff....

I do think there is unresolved stuff with Bran, though I confess maybe a rewatch would make it clear why the Night King was so obsessed with getting him and why his waging and three eyed raven powers havent really been much use in the fall of the blue fellow

As far as Arya is concerned, I thought it was pretty neat that she did the deed, though a scene showing her being stalked by a White Walker (or at the very least showing the White Walkers split up, so she could pick one off) would have been top of my list for the purposes of setting it up

[radiator]

Season 8 / Episode 3 episode had some cool moments for sure (from what I could actually discern on a 55" HD TV anyway), but it was a bit of a shark jump for me.

My reading of 'Game of Thrones' has always been in the description- a frivolous game played by narcissistic mortals, but ultimately irrelevant to the millennia old threat beyond the wall, now making it's play (backed up by the onset of a severe ice-age).
That has been the underlying narrative, as the viewer was made aware in the first few minutes of the first scene almost 10 years ago.

That threat was summarily negated in this episode, over the course of mere hours, with relatively little cost to mankind (or the main cast) and with a completely unsatisfying one-punch kill.

Whats next for A Song of Curry and Rice?
Our heroes take on Cersei and Pop-Up Pirate (who joined the cast 20 minutes ago) then have a final kerfuffle among themselves over who gets to sit on the melted swords?
Underwhelming.

I'm kind of in the same boat. Viscerally thrilling from moment to moment, but narratively unsatisfying in the grander scope of the story after so much build up. I get it from a plot expediency pov, but to me it still totally deflates the existential threat of the White Walkers given that they were dispatched in a single battle by the first organised force they came into contact with.

It's similarly dramtically underwhelming as when last season it transpired that it was indirectly Jon and Dany's fault that the White Walkers were even able to breach the wall in the first place. It got the plot from a to b but also totally undermined the wider narrative (arguably the key plotline of the entire saga) that Jon and Dany are the prophesied saviours of Westeros.

As for Bran, my understanding (though i couldn't tell from the episode itself) is that he was using the crows to harass the night king and assist Jon and Dany. As for motivation etc we almost certainly won't be getting any further explanation as for why he was the target of the Night King beyond the line last episode about Bran being a trove of human memory and the night king wanting to destroy him because of that.

[shaolin_monkey]

Anyone still on edge after that episode? You can check out a short but chilled rendition of the theme played on the harp by my tutor Glenda here!

https://twitter.com/scowlingmonkey/status/1123328606548180992?s=21

[JayzusB.Christ]

That's a thing of beauty. Love it.

(Also makes me think of how GoT may be the only show whose opening titles are an essential guide to understanding the geography of the story.)

[JOE SOAP]

My reading of 'Game of Thrones' has always been in the description- a frivolous game played by narcissistic mortals, but ultimately irrelevant to the millennia old threat beyond the wall, now making it's play (backed up by the onset of a severe ice-age).
That has been the underlying narrative, as the viewer was made aware in the first few minutes of the first scene almost 10 years ago.

That threat was summarily negated in this episode, over the course of mere hours, with relatively little cost to mankind (or the main cast) and with a completely unsatisfying one-punch kill.

Whats next for A Song of Curry and Rice?
Our heroes take on Cersei and Pop-Up Pirate (who joined the cast 20 minutes ago) then have a final kerfuffle among themselves over who gets to sit on the melted swords?
Underwhelming.

I think the bigger point of that futility still stands and has not been negated – Winter is still coming. The only thing that's gone is the self-appointed embodiment of it – who used to be a Crow and declared himself King. As another narcissitic long-time player he's been wiped off the board, but no matter what, Winter cannot be beaten and it's still coming to King's Landing. I'm still not sure that Night King story is fully over but there's the possibility that no-one gets out alive, and even if they do, there won't be much to rule over when it's finished.

[Richard]

I really don't understand the criticism that Daneyris is the reason why the Night King was able to breach the Wall. Does anyone really believe that he didn't have a plan to get past that before he sent his army on the move?

[sheridan]

Season 8 / Episode 3 episode had some cool moments for sure (from what I could actually discern on a 55" HD TV anyway), but it was a bit of a shark jump for me.

It's Westeros.  They jump the Stark, surely?

[sheridan]

I think the bigger point of that futility still stands and has not been negated – Winter is still coming. The only thing that's gone is the self-appointed embodiment of it – who used to be a Crow and declared himself King. As another narcissitic long-time player he's been wiped off the board, but no matter what, Winter cannot be beaten and it's still coming to King's Landing. I'm still not sure that Night King story is fully over but there's the possibility that no-one gets out alive, and even if they do, there won't be much to rule over when it's finished.

Is Winter still coming?  I thought it was supposed to be tied up with the Night King and/or the wall (admittedly the wall is mostly still in place, but at least some of it is now gone).

[radiator]

I really don't understand the criticism that Daneyris is the reason why the Night King was able to breach the Wall. Does anyone really believe that he didn't have a plan to get past that before he sent his army on the move?

Huh? If the White Walkers had another plan to get around the wall, why didn't they enact it thousands of years ago? I think it's pretty firmly established in the show that the army of the dead got past the wall for one reason and one reason only - they got their hands on a zombie dragon to bust a big hole in it.

They were only able to get that dragon because Jon (and then Dany) went beyond the wall in a harebrained scheme to capture a wight.

I don't think for one second that this was a deliberate consequence of that plotline on the writers part - and neither the nor the characters ever address it - but it is what it is.

The only thing that's gone is the self-appointed embodiment of it – who used to be a Crow and declared himself King

He was never a crow. He was created before the Night's Watch was IIRC.

[JOE SOAP]

He was never a crow. He was created before the Night's Watch was IIRC.

You're right I'm thinking of the Night's King.

[JOE SOAP]

Is Winter still coming?  I thought it was supposed to be tied up with the Night King and/or the wall (admittedly the wall is mostly still in place, but at least some of it is now gone).

The climate is unpredictable in Westeros: Summer lasted 9 years and the next Winter could last just as long. It's never really declared that the Night King is the cause of the Winter, only that he uses it.

[radiator]

Is Winter still coming?  I thought it was supposed to be tied up with the Night King and/or the wall (admittedly the wall is mostly still in place, but at least some of it is now gone).

The climate is unpredictable in Westeros: Summer lasted 9 years and the next Winter could last just as long. It's never really declared that the Night King is the cause of the Winter, only that he uses it.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure George RR Martin has stated that the irregular seasons and the white walkers are inextricably linked, and the details will be made clear by the end of the (book) series. Not sure whether that means winter itself will be averted on the show, though.

Looking at the trailer for the next episode, it certainly seems like that little dusting of Snow falling on King's Landing in the season 7 finale was a one-off and things are back to normal... which would be a bit of a shame imo.

[JOE SOAP]

the details will be made clear by the end of the (book) series.

Looks like we'll never know.

[Link Prime]

Is Winter still coming?  I thought it was supposed to be tied up with the Night King and/or the wall (admittedly the wall is mostly still in place, but at least some of it is now gone).

The climate is unpredictable in Westeros: Summer lasted 9 years and the next Winter could last just as long. It's never really declared that the Night King is the cause of the Winter, only that he uses it.

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure George RR Martin has stated that the irregular seasons and the white walkers are inextricably linked, and the details will be made clear by the end of the (book) series. Not sure whether that means winter itself will be averted on the show, though.

Looking at the trailer for the next episode, it certainly seems like that little dusting of Snow falling on King's Landing in the season 7 finale was a one-off and things are back to normal... which would be a bit of a shame imo.

I can't say for certain if there was ever an inextricable link between the the Army of the Dead and the onset of 'winter' (an assumed Westerosi form of ice-age) as depicted in the show, in my mind it just seemed to present an opportunistic time frame for the Night King / White Walkers to make their move.
Regardless, I'd agree that the prospect of an impending winter would still hold some dramatic weight in the final episodes.

I suppose this crux of my disappointment in the current direction of the show is this; until the latest episode, humanity in Westeros faced an existential threat - a two pronged extinction event was heading southward, and it wasn't going to differentiate between social standing or allegiance.
Now we're not even sure if they need to bother breaking out the Aran cardigans.

The stakes have been lowered by an incredible degree.
Although there will undoubtedly be some entertaining scenes to come, for me personally it reduces the final questions the show will pose to veritable triviality.