Game of Thrones, Season 8 (spoilers allowed)

I haven't read a favorable review of last night's episode yet. Everyone is saying what we are on here: I couldn't see the show.
It's kind said what should have been the series' climax is forever going to be a dud.

I think the Night King's demise was too abrupt. It's like he was absent the whole episode, showed up, and a minute later Arya comes from out of nowhere.

How about some interaction with the three eyed raven to convey what this was all about.

 

Leaves it wide open for the prequel though. I'm sure that show will have it laid out.

 

I'm betting we get more history in one of the prequel series they're working on.

 

He did have scenes earlier in the episode. He attacked Jon and Dany on Viserion and he stopped to raise more dead before going after Bran.

Oh, and Ghost is in the trailer for the next episode, but he's in the background and kinda tough to see. Then again, plenty of stuff is tough to see on this damn show!

 

Thinking/hoping that bran tells who/what the night king was. Not holding my breath.

I guess that is my frustration. Since the first scene of the series, we have been getting this entire “the white walkers are coming to destroy Westeros.” Instead, they don’t get past winterfell. They’re the Georgia Bulldogs of the last 15 years. Everyone talks about them and the don’t deliver.

And yes, now we have the story arc of who gets the throne, but I wanted more white walkers.

 

I’m starting to get tired of everyone calling this the greatest show ever.

It’s good. Really good at times. It’s not a GOAT.

It was death porn for years and now it’s a Bud Light version of what it was, which was masochistic television.

Georgia is a good example.

 

I 'm more looking forward to last night's episode of Billions, which I'll watch later tonight.

 

Said this on Twitter and will repeat it here: This show is this decade's LOST.

It's good. Kinda. Sometimes it fooled you into thinking it could be great. But it was not a great work of art, overall. It is in no way as artfully pieced together as the Big Four: The Wire, Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad. (Deadwood could steal BB's spot depending on how it wraps.)

LOST painted itself into a corner it couldn't escape, just like this show. I actually think after reading a bunch today and thinking about it more than Arya's heroics were set up well throughout the series. But the idea that the Great War we've been told was the most important part of the show, the real reason this whole series exists, was over in one episode with minimal character deaths was bad. Fan service stuff. The show did lose its way when they ran out of books as source material, even if Martin supposedly told them how he planned to end it. ]

GOT is a fun cultural water cooler show. People keep saying it might be the last gasp of monoculture, and they might be right. (Probably not.) But it's definitely overrated as art for anyone who thinks it's an all-time great show.

 

I think that Lost was way more iffy in the last couple of seasons. They could not figure out the mythology or the storylines in a coherent way.

Here, the fault is that they had time to explain at least some of the mythology and haven’t. The Night King was killed before we learned what he or the White Walkers were about.

 

They were the embodiment of death. We heard it over and over again, including multiple times in last night's episode. I don't know that there was anything deeper than that. I do agree that despite the heavy cost of the battle to the armies of men, to have the entire thing build to just end in one episode doesn't work very well.

 

You’d be surprised, or at least it seems people forget, that budgets sometimes dictate artistic or storytelling choices even in the biggest shows. The budget for last night’s episode must have been enormous by TV standards but not limitless. You could tell watching the first two episodes this season that they were saving money for last night. Those White Walkers must have been expensive as shit. Even GoT couldn’t afford a multi-episode war arch.

 

To add to DD’s list of shows well above GOT...

Broadchurch seasons 1 and 3
True Detective season 1 and 3
Sharp Objects
Band of Brothers
Sherlock season 1
Parks and Rec in its prime
30 Rock in its prime
The Office in its prime
South Park in its prime
Simpsons in its prime
The Night of