GAME OF THRONES (*SPOILERS ALERT*)

[Integrity28]

Predicted to my wife: Dany will execute Tyrion the same way she did Varys, he won’t burn, and that’s how they’ll reveal Tyrion as a Targaeryan. 

Nope. Too creative I guess.

[ZachEY]

Obviously, overall a disappointment.  But this episode specifically was fine by me, considering where we were at the start.  It gives a lot of credence to that thread Tom posted... Clearly this is where we were headed, and the prior episodes were jamming in everything that needed to happen to get there.  Sad thing is that with as little as 2-3 more episodes, I feel like it could have been done well.

[Peace Frog]

45 minutes ago, IndianaJet said:

Jon - a return to the “Night’s Watch”where he always wanted to be. 

And he’s going north of the wall, always wanted to be a raider (?) and not a steward. 

[Integrity28]

1 minute ago, TeddEY said:

Obviously, overall a disappointment.  But this episode specifically was fine by me, considering where we were at the start.  It gives a lot of credence to that thread Tom posted... Clearly this is where we were headed, and the prior episodes were jamming in everything that needed to happen to get there.  Sad thing is that with as little as 2-3 more episodes, I feel like it could have been done well.

Think of all the extra gif-ready scenes they could have packed in!!!

More episodes wasn’t gonna fix uninspired writing. The issue, along the lines of that pantsers vs plotters bit, is that it began as creative writing and ended as a honey-do list of chores.

[ZachEY]

2 minutes ago, Integrity28 said:

Think of all the extra gif-ready scenes they could have packed in!!!

More episodes wasn’t gonna fix uninspired writing. The issue, along the lines of that pantsers vs plotters bit, is that it began as creative writing and ended as a honey-do list of chores.

But I do think the to-do list was, at least somewhat, a byproduct of time.  There’s undoubtedly a way to have it all play out more naturally.  Obviously having the source material helped meaningfully, but it’s not like a better show was impossible without it.  And frankly, we can’t be certain Martin had/has any other great twists up his sleeve.  Bran kind of said it to Jon, everything happened along the way just as it was supposed to.  It is what it is.  Like I said, disappointed with the season as a whole, fine with the conclusion based on where we were at 8:59 last night.

[Integrity28]

2 minutes ago, TeddEY said:

But I do think the to-do list was, at least somewhat, a byproduct of time.  There’s undoubtedly a way to have it all play out more naturally.  Obviously having the source material helped meaningfully, but it’s not like a better show was impossible without it.  And frankly, we can’t be certain Martin had/has any other great twists up his sleeve.  Bran kind of said it to Jon, everything happened along the way just as it was supposed to.  It is what it is.  Like I said, disappointed with the season as a whole, fine with the conclusion based on where we were at 8:59 last night.

I am glad for one thing, Bran as a chosen king, nobody on iron throne, wasn't pandering to the fanboys. 

[Scott Dierking]

4 minutes ago, Integrity28 said:

I am glad for one thing, Bran as a chosen king, nobody on iron throne, wasn't pandering to the fanboys. 

But Bran IS on an iron throne. 

[Bleedin Green]

37 minutes ago, TeddEY said:

But I do think the to-do list was, at least somewhat, a byproduct of time.  There’s undoubtedly a way to have it all play out more naturally.  Obviously having the source material helped meaningfully, but it’s not like a better show was impossible without it.  And frankly, we can’t be certain Martin had/has any other great twists up his sleeve.  Bran kind of said it to Jon, everything happened along the way just as it was supposed to.  It is what it is.  Like I said, disappointed with the season as a whole, fine with the conclusion based on where we were at 8:59 last night.

Yeah, definitely agree with this.  Didn't like the season as a whole, but last night's episode wasn't particularly bad, rather just a bit uninspiring.  Ultimately, it was their 1 hr 20 min version of the 5-10 minute wrap-up scene that comes at the end of a movie.  It would have been far better received if not for the overwhelming disappointment most had in the season itself.

If it was the ending to a great season, it would be seen as a satisfying end, even if not particularly exciting.  Instead, it would have needed to make up for an impossibly long list of issues to recover the show's ending from what we had gotten to this point.  Long-term this show will simply be known as another of many that was great for its first few seasons, then trailed off over time.  It's basically turned into this decade's Lost when all was said and done.

[bitonti]

51 minutes ago, TeddEY said:

 And frankly, we can’t be certain Martin had/has any other great twists up his sleeve.  

it should first be noted GRRM is a genius and it's way easier to be a critic than to create

but everyone is crucifying D&D like the slavemasters of Meereen - that's like blaming the contractor for not being able to build MC Escher's designs 

 

when this whole thing started everyone was like "HOLY **** what detail in this world, how many characters, dozens of prophesies, hundreds (?) of plot lines, it's so awesome!"

Here's a crazy thought: authors don't try to write the sprawling epic tale, not because they are lazy but because it's stupid hard. Almost irresponsible,

put it another way Evel Kanievel is awesome especially the hype but the landing has to be perfect -  and GRRM attempted the writing equivalent of jumping over 17 school busses or whatever. 

[bitonti]

10 hours ago, Pac said:

 

"Brann the Broken"?  Kind of insulting, eh?  Why not just call him Lord Wheels.

there was a moment when Samwell Tarly suggested democracy 

Everyone laughed it off saying stuff like "Maybe I'll ask my horse!" 

We watch this living in a democracy all high and mighty

but in fairness to the naysayers, have you looked around and seen everyone? As a group, they're terrible.  And not just in King's Landing. 

[IndianaJet]

12 minutes ago, bitonti said:

there was a moment when Samwell Tarly suggested democracy 

Everyone laughed it off saying stuff like "Maybe I'll ask my horse!" 

We watch this living in a democracy all high and mighty

but in fairness to the naysayers, have you looked around and seen everyone? As a group, they're terrible.  And not just in King's Landing. 

There's a lot of people who would argue that we'd be better off if horses could vote and some people couldn't.

[maury77]

2 hours ago, IndianaJet said:

I thought it was great.  

Once again Game of Thrones surprises you and gives you something you did not expect.....a happy ending. 

Just about every character we cared about got what they wanted and what they were destined to become. 

Jon - a return to the “Night’s Watch”where he always wanted to be. 

Sansa - the queen she always wanted to be. 

Arya - the adventurer free from the confines of being a “lady”

Tyrion - the hand of a worthy ruler

Bron - a cutthroat lord

Tourmond - back into the real north, leading his free folk

Pod - a Knight

Brieanne - A Knight of the Kings Guard 

Sam - the archmaester

Bran - the ruler he was groomed to become since the first 15 minutes of episode 1

Even Jamie, in his death, got the recognition and honor he always wanted and came to deserve. 

I agree with everything else you listed, but I'm not so sure about the bolded part. 

[IndianaJet]

2 hours ago, Scott Dierking said:

The Dragon-His lifeless mom in his clutches

I think Drogon got the ending that was best for Drogon.

As a wild beast, he is now free to roam the world with no constraints.  Just like he did when he escaped confinement by Dany at the end of Season 4.  If Dany had lived and ruled the Seven Kingdom's eventually she would have had to do something contain Drogon. 

[Integrity28]

4 minutes ago, IndianaJet said:

I think Drogon got the ending that was best for Drogon.

As a wild beast, he is now free to roam the world with no constraints.  Just like he did when he escaped confinement by Dany at the end of Season 4.  If Dany had lived and ruled the Seven Kingdom's eventually she would have had to do something contain Drogon. 

They stole that story close from How to Train Your Dragon, which actually wrapped their franchise with a much better ending.

[bitonti]

9 minutes ago, IndianaJet said:

I think Drogon got the ending that was best for Drogon.

As a wild beast, he is now free to roam the world with no constraints.  Just like he did when he escaped confinement by Dany at the end of Season 4.  If Dany had lived and ruled the Seven Kingdom's eventually she would have had to do something contain Drogon. 

At this point in Drogon's life he's not really containable... what would that look like even? 

Drogon got the best ending for the writers room
"hey guys... what if he just flew away?" 

 

[IndianaJet]

Just now, bitonti said:

At this point in Drogon's life he's not really containable... what would that look like even? 

Drogon got the best ending for the writers room
"hey guys... what if he just flew away?" 

 

Best ending for the writers...and best ending for the budget.....Yay! the last 40 minutes we don't have to do any complicated computer graphics!!!!

[bitonti]

3 minutes ago, IndianaJet said:

Best ending for the writers...and best ending for the budget.....Yay! the last 40 minutes we don't have to do any complicated computer graphics!!!!

they saved $30,000 dollars by lopping an ear off of Ghost 

 

My other favorite moment of the finale was when Bronn "the master of coin" was prioritizing brothel reconstruction 

Bronn 2020 the people's choice 

[JustInFudge]

And everyone lived happily ever after...

[IndianaJet]

3 minutes ago, bitonti said:

they saved $30,000 dollars by lopping an ear off of Ghost 

 

My other favorite moment of the finale was when Bronn "the master of coin" was prioritizing brothel reconstruction 

Bronn 2020 the people's choice 

I would watch another 8 years of this show if it was just the day to day affairs of the new small council.

 

[bitonti]

1 minute ago, IndianaJet said:

I would watch another 8 years of this show if it was just the day to day affairs of the new small council.

 

You the MASTER of Grammar now, too? 

[section314]

5 minutes ago, IndianaJet said:

I would watch another 8 years of this show if it was just the day to day affairs of the new small council.

 

Would be Barney Miller, Night Court and Cheers rolled into one. But better.

[RutgersJetFan]

25 minutes ago, bitonti said:

At this point in Drogon's life he's not really containable... what would that look like even? 

Drogon got the best ending for the writers room
"hey guys... what if he just flew away?" 

 

They report to Bran he was spotted flying East. Pretty clear he’s taking Dany to Essos. I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on that given your self-declared literary adroitness. 

[Scott Dierking]

When Tyrion was readying the chairs for the council, I was so ready for this scene.

 

[T0mShane]

Pretty fitting that the last episode included a  labored speech from Tyrion about storytelling, followed by them arbitrarily deciding the most two-dimensional character of the last three seasons gets to win for no real reason/,

[chirorob]

2 hours ago, bitonti said:

they saved $30,000 dollars by lopping an ear off of Ghost 

 

My other favorite moment of the finale was when Bronn "the master of coin" was prioritizing brothel reconstruction 

Bronn 2020 the people's choice 

Bronn is the master of coin.  I realize it's fantasy, but "Let's make the guy who can't read or write, and probably can't do numbers in charge of all of our money."  Cause you know, they have to rebuild the entire capital.

I'm late, but my thoughts.

Drogon, that was fine, what else could they have done with that.   Dragons are smart (more in some of George's books), and that reaction actually goes with what they may do.   

After years of buildup, Cersei dies from a brick, and Danny gets stabbed by Jon while kissing him.   I just thought they could have done more than that. 

Offers the Unsullied land, "Start your own house."   All they know how to do is fight, and they have no balls (literally).   What kind of house are they going to start?  OK, they are all going to leave with the horse guys.  On what ships, they all burned.   Even Queen Grey Joy only had a couple of ships.  

We will make a King with no heirs.   That's great, as soon as he dies you are starting a new Civil War, because there is no way the rebuilding houses are going to agree on a new king. 

[chirorob]

9 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Pretty fitting that the last episode included a  labored speech from Tyrion about storytelling, followed by them arbitrarily deciding the most two-dimensional character of the last three seasons gets to win for no real reason/,

That was bad.

Who has the best story?   How about, the guy who was born of a secret love, actually isn't a bastard but is the true heir to the throne.   Grew up a bastard, learned humility, went to serve on the wall, became Lord Commander of the wall, was murdered, came back from the dead, made peace with the Free Folk.    Then united the kingdom to fight the undead, then helped lead the fight to kill Cersie, then had to kill the woman who blew up King's Landing.

That seems like a good story.

[Klecko73isGod]

12 minutes ago, chirorob said:

That was bad.

Who has the best story?   How about, the guy who was born of a secret love, actually isn't a bastard but is the true heir to the throne.   Grew up a bastard, learned humility, went to serve on the wall, became Lord Commander of the wall, was murdered, came back from the dead, made peace with the Free Folk.    Then united the kingdom to fight the undead, then helped lead the fight to kill Cersie, then had to kill the woman who blew up King's Landing.

That seems like a good story.

BOOOOOOORRRRRIIIINNNNG

[bitonti]

13 minutes ago, chirorob said:

 then had to kill the woman who blew up King's Landing.

 

this is where the story goes south 

you can't have a monarchy held by a queenslayer. it shows disrespect for the office

this isn't Rome 

[Spoot-Face]

Eh.

At least my hunch was right about Sansa insisting the North stay independent and become Queen.

It feels nice when I'm right.

[Spoot-Face]

15 hours ago, Bleedin Green said:

So how many of those finishes do you think HBO is going to desperately try to push into a spinoff?

"Hey... so Arya heading west, huh?  Sounds great, right guys?  Right?!?"

That actually seems like the only potential spin-off story that seems interesting, because we don't know what's out west.

But, yeah, it totally felt like they wanted an ending just where they could tease a bunch of future series, rather than wrap it up in a way that does justice to the story.

[Spoot-Face]

6 hours ago, TeddEY said:

Obviously, overall a disappointment.  But this episode specifically was fine by me, considering where we were at the start.  It gives a lot of credence to that thread Tom posted... Clearly this is where we were headed, and the prior episodes were jamming in everything that needed to happen to get there.  Sad thing is that with as little as 2-3 more episodes, I feel like it could have been done well.

That's been my exact thought while watching. They knew how they wanted the story to end, and had to write it in a way that arrived to that destination quickly and easily, but it didn't really come out organically.

[Spoot-Face]

6 hours ago, Integrity28 said:

Think of all the extra gif-ready scenes they could have packed in!!!

More episodes wasn’t gonna fix uninspired writing. The issue, along the lines of that pantsers vs plotters bit, is that it began as creative writing and ended as a honey-do list of chores.

Yeah, the last two seasons really came across as "we're kinda over this and want to move on to other projects, so let's just wrap this up as quickly as we can". Hence, the honey-do list feeling.

[Spoot-Face]

3 hours ago, RutgersJetFan said:

They report to Bran he was spotted flying East. Pretty clear he’s taking Dany to Essos. I’m surprised you didn’t pick up on that given your self-declared literary adroitness. 

Isn't that where Daario is? Maybe Drogon is gonna give him the body while it's still...

 

you know...

 

warm.

[Spoot-Face]

1 hour ago, chirorob said:

That was bad.

Who has the best story?   How about, the guy who was born of a secret love, actually isn't a bastard but is the true heir to the throne.   Grew up a bastard, learned humility, went to serve on the wall, became Lord Commander of the wall, was murdered, came back from the dead, made peace with the Free Folk.    Then united the kingdom to fight the undead, then helped lead the fight to kill Cersie, then had to kill the woman who blew up King's Landing.

That seems like a good story.

Gendry would've been a good choice. The bastard son of the original King in the story who's murder kicked off the entire series. It'd be coming around full circle.

[section314]

8 minutes ago, Spoot-Face said:

Gendry would've been a good choice. The bastard son of the original King in the story who's murder kicked off the entire series. It'd be coming around full circle.

That’s who I thought, too.Had most legitimate claim.