Game of Thrones, Season 8 (spoilers allowed)

I think seeing Endgame in the same weekend as that GOT episode is like having the Stones or young Bruce in their prime open for you. You are just not topping that.

 

TV money has improved vastly but it’s not movie money. You can compete and even win in the writing and storytelling, but you’re not competing on budget. $7 million is a really healthy budget for an episode of hour-long drama. That’s a $14 million movie. That’s a flush indie, basically. GoT has a huge budget by TV standards but they still have to make an entire season for the budget of one big movie. I’d wager it’s one of the reasons last night’s episode was so dark. That would have lowered the CGI budget.

 

My wife made a good point that the show is about the Game of Thrones. It's always been about the battles between Houses for the Iron Throne. The White Walkers' purpose in the narrative was ultimately to bring together Dany, Jon Snow and their respective armies and followers, who otherwise would have warred. It took an existential threat to humanity to bring them together. The White Walkers served their purpose and now the story shifts back to the main objective: The Iron Throne.

It did feel abrupt, but when she put it to me like that, I had to agree that Cersei's fate was always going to be more meaningful than that of the Night King.

 

I saw them both in the same day, and I'm absolutely certain that had an effect on my enjoyment of the episode. I liked it, but I certainly wasn't blown away. When the episode was over, I was right back to thinking more about Endgame.

 

I love the people who barely watched or jumped in late coming in and shitting on the show with no real clue what it's about. Or maybe you've been watching for years and just didn't get it.

The show was NEVER mainly about the battle against the Night King. There have always been two equal, parallel storylines. One was the Night King showdown. The other was the Iron Throne. The final story was ALWAYS going to be about who would sit on the Iron Throne. Some theorized it would be the Night King killing everyone. They clearly were wrong. It will come down to the Starks/Targaryens vs. Cersei. That's been where it's headed for years and what it needed to come down to. The Night King was always a part of prophecy but not the end of it.

As for it not being art, it's one of the most well pieced together pieces of epic television of all time. There have been hints dropped throughout the series that paid off last night. There have been story threads that came together last season after years of work. NO show has ever managed to tell a linear story for this many seasons with this many players and parts. I don't think you'll be able to fully appreciate what it's accomplished until it's all over and we see how the threads all come together.

And as for them not telling enough about NK and the White Walkers, I think there's a two-fold issue there. 1) Martin hasn't fleshed it all out himself. As OOP said, the background is simple -- they're death. But 2) there's talk that some of that will be the focus of one of the prequels that's in development. It wasn't central to the main thrust -- who ends up on the Iron Throne -- so it wasn't included here, but it could be part of lore added with additional series down the line.

 

I was thrilled that got to see Endgame in the Luxury Lounger on Sat. Night then GOT on Sunday night.

 

And I say all of that as someone who loved the Wire and Breaking Bad and thought they'd never be equaled.

 

Weird. I haven't read a single negative review. Guess we follow different pages on Facebook.

 

I'd also add that while I will always give the Wire and BB the nod for better acting overall, there has been some incredible acting on GoT. Tyrion's speech at his trial. Varys's story of the wizard. Cersei during the opening of the episode where she blows up the Sept of Balor. Jaime in the bath with Brienne. Those are just the ones off the top of my head.

 

I don’t know anything about anything, but I always assumed that a show called Game of Thrones was about who got to sit on the throne.

 

Theres no way we’re straight up done with the night king and the undead. Itd be a huge “all that..... for that?” Too many loose ends, I think some will be tied up.

For me, the shows better when its character driven and dialogue driven. The battle epps are not my faves and this one, hyped to hell as it was, wasnt even as good as hardhomme or blackwater. Which is fine, whatever, the last 3 will be story based and I’m fairly confident they’ll end the series the right way.

Having said that there is pressure. Years spent waiting to get the characters all together, to reveal R+L=J, so far theyve left people saying “we were waiting for.... this?” and thats bad news.

In some ways its impossible to live up to the “fantasy booking” of internet board theories but its also gotta be better than dues ex arya out of no where

 

I do think certain flaws showed once they moved past the books, but I don't believe the show has dropped off nearly as much as people think. I'm wondering if the war against the dead will be more complex in the books. That assumes Martin ever finishes another one.

I think it important to remember the show is Game of Thrones, but that is only the title of the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. It would make sense for the show to focus more heavily on the fight for the throne while the books could be more balanced.