Not using (f)Aegon really (f)ucked up the latter half of the show. Not only could they have stretched things out for another year or so, they ruined any logic behind Dany's turn.
The entire second half of the final season played out like a poorly written fanfiction from a 15 year old girl that ran out of steam after the first 300 words.
For me, I think it’s because I see how the ending works really well with Martin’s vision if it is executed properly. Basically, we got the ending Martin has planned without any of the build up which would have made it satisfying. Everything is kind of ruined now for me because I can see how they could eventually get to the endgame, but D&D ruined any type of character/plot development to get there.
Thats why I maintain the worst thing D&D did was try and be faithful to the ending they knew was coming. Instead of trying to quickly make sense of Bran as King. Dany going nuts, John killing Dany, Jaime going back to Cersei, etc, They should told the ending that made sense for the show, based on where their additions and changes led the characters.
Following some reaction channels on Youtube who are getting close to the end now and just watched a reaction to 7x7 and couple things... It's absolutely hilarious that they decided to present the full confirmation of Jon's lineage, being a Targaryen, right as he's balls deep in his aunt. I actually remember thinking at some point in season 7 that it would be really funny if they did that, like actually comedy. But I knew there was no way because this is a serious drama and that would just be fucking weird, right? Nope. They did it. And it was as funny and weird as you could imagine. And then seeing the Night King take down the wall on top of a dragon and trying to think of his motivations and what abilities he had because of how he interacted with Bran during visions and whatnot. Watching this reaction just now and I was thinking, man, I bet that dude's happy to be going home since he was one of the First Men. Just like Dany at the end of season 6 crossing the Narrow Sea. But we get nothing expanding on this. And the people who defend the lack of backstory for the Night King and the White Walkers and the whole Army of the Dead just say, "durr they're not supposed to have motivations or backstory or anything. They're just creeping death. That's it. Just a mindless machine of death." Just throw all the little moments teasing their behaviors and lore out the window. It's just a mindless death machine. Fuck. Thinking more about that Dany season 6 finale vs. NK season 7 finale comparison, Dany ended up just being a moronic, mindless death machine whose entire backstory was essentially thrown out the window too so it all makes sense. Alright, that should cover my GOT rant for this 6-month period. Hopefully I don't think about it again until sometime next spring.
The first 4-5 seasons are MCU adaptations of the source material, season 6/7 are WB adaptations of the source material The last season is Bruce Wayne screaming "MARTHA" at Clark for 10 hours.
Rewatching some episodes. How fucking good was The Winds of Winter? Imagine watching that and then watching The Last of the Starks or The Iron Throne immediately after.
Hardhome was awesome at the time. It seemed to have a lot of implications for down the line. But since it basically lead to nothing in the end it's kind of tainted. But I guess that's really the whole show.
Man people really like to dwell on endings they don’t like. 95% of the show is some of the best tv ever. Just like the good stuff and move on man
I think it's totally fair to criticize the ending of a series you invested eight years in. It's also totally fair to recognize some of its amazing moments (of which there are many).
95% is VERY generous fwiw. the back end of the show was mostly shit, it wasn't just a bad finale or something.
My top five would probably be something like this.... 1. Spoils of War 2. Hardhome 3. Winds of Winter 4. Blackwater 5. Battle of the Bastards Also, I honestly thought this was a joke but it's actually very serious: https://www.vulture.com/2016/06/game-of-thrones-episodes-ranked.html
I mean that’s 13 episodes from an 8 season run. Are we really going to argue over my arbitrary percentage? mom just saying don’t be that Star Wars fan. It was disappointing the last couple seasons but still looked cooler than anything else on tv, and I don’t see how it diminishes the quality leading up to it. Hardhome is fantastic regardless of the way the night king was handled 3 seasons later
The show went to shit after season 4. It was a progressive drop and had some good standalone episodes, but season 7/8 tarnished the whole series for me. It’s tough for me to rewatch any part of the series knowing that there’s no payoff at the end. Maybe if that fat fuck released another book (lol)
My top five: 1. Season four 2. Season three 3. Season two 4. Season one 5. Hardhome / Winds of Winter (tie)
Picked up the 4k set at BB today, Excited to watch all the dark episodes now that I have the best quality and OLED.
As much as I love this show. I have never thought to rank the episodes or even remember which ones were my favorites. I would need to re-watch and take notes....feels like work. Appreciate that others do so that I can specifically watch those episodes. LOL
Yeah the seasons run together as one long story so I'm the same. Except for standout episodes in the latter seasons, that is (Winds of Winter, Hardhome). Seasons 1-4 feel like four stories, not forty.
Winds of Winter, The Queen's Justice Jon Snow failed about every possible way a military commander could fail in Battle of the Bastards and only survived because of plot armor.
i fell down a youtube rabbit hole hate what they did to this series because some of the scenes and characters really were incredible. i could re-watch everything with tywin lannister a dozen times.