Not possible.

Im hoping we see Arya use a "mask" on someone again. Dany perhaps?

I totally missed that Varys tried to poison Dany. I thought he just had his little bird run surveillance. I'll have to rewatch the episode because this changes a lot. I couldn't understand why Jon wasn't standing up for Varys as I thought all he was doing was supporting Jon over Dany as ruler.

I was questioning Dany's actions wondering why she was destroying her own, soon to be kingdom and all her subjects, but then chalked it up to genetics. She's reached the age where paranoid schizophrenia begins to rear its ugly head. I had a good friend, and saw it consume him in his mid to late 20s.

I enjoyed this episode much more than the other season 8 episodes. It's amazing the difference between the episodes 4 and 5. Last episode Euron and the Scorpion harpoons were extremely effective in thwarting dragons, this episode not so much. Cersei really blew it by not taking them all out when she had the chance.

Euron pulled a Red Viper prince Martell move. When you have a man incapacitated you keep out of range from his sword and let him bleed to death. Of course, Jaime then got his second wind.

Then, at one point the camera pulls out to a hill overlooking the city where Hot Pie has set up a food cart for the spectators and is serving them a selection of find handheld pies and ale as they watch King's Landing burn.

Arya, Gendry, Podrick and Hot Pie gather up the pies, turn towards the beach and climb into Gendry's rowboat. As they row out to the horizon, the narrator chimes in: "maybe the true throne was the friends we made along the way."

for all of you that were disappointed with the season, the New America has a solution:

https://www.change.org/p/hbo-remake-game-of-thrones-season-8-with-competent-writers

Bunch of cry babies that weren’t happy that things didn’t go the way they wanted. It is a great show.

Haha, This is great!

And of course this one:

Dude, you're effing insane. I bet your favorite band is Nickelback.

One of if not the greatest ever...

You must be one of the cry babies.

I disagree.

Everyone is criticizing the shows writing for the last 2 seasons, I’ll agree that’s been poorly done. But, the show overall is still fantastic. It’s would be hard for anyone to criticize the acting, set design, musical score, costume design, cinematography, special effects, ect.

How can you criticize a scene with no dialogue? Without words you can feel that emotion coming through, the actors have portrayed the characters well. The blame lies in writing, nothing else. Dan and dave didn’t have the creativity to properly see the show through to completion as well as GRRM (probably) could have. But we won’t know until the books are complete, it might turn out that the books end relatively close to the shows ending. I doubt it, but we won’t know for sure until the books are finished.

I think this is a great show.

No you don't. We both agree. It is a great show, or was before the series strayed from the books. Somehow my quote was misquoted or taken out of context. I was rebutting a posters claim that just because people have criticisms of the show doesn't mean they are whiners and hate the show.

Starbucks.

You can have the best sets, CGI and actors but if you don't have a great story and dialog it doesn't matter.

Star Wars prequels come to mind.

The last episode made up for the prior two lackluster ones though I thought a few of the characters were out of.. well character. Your going to tell me Arya is going to back up now when she is on the cusp of killing the queen? A motivation she has had for years? And just Dani frying Kings Landing after freeing the slaves in the other city? She has nothing to gain by doing this, everyone is already scared witless by the women with a fire breathing dragon who has just laid waste to an army. I know, madness runs in the family.. which Jon is part of.

Can't have it both ways.

And yes Euron coming ashore unwinded and unwounded after being blown out of a boat and swimming his ass across the bay just as Jamie comes ambling by was ridiculous.

Just some lazy writing.

The end of the character arcs have left me with some head scratching for sure.

After 7 seasons:

The Hound - evolved to move away from revenge on his zombie brother - only to return for CleganeBowl?
They could have fought in the season 7 courtyard meetup but didn't because he knew his brother was already dead and it was no longer important.
Brienne - A noble warrior finally becomes a knight, but the last shot of her is sobbing like a baby over Jamie?
Varys - outsmarted by a queen who didn't even know he was the traitor?
Dani - She felt so bad about Drogon killing the innocent Sheppard boy that she locked up her dragons, but now goes scorched Earth on all the innocents of kings landing just 15 minutes after she agreed to call off the attack if the bells ring.
Bronn - Fought with the brothers & saved their lives many times, but now decides to drop friendship & loyalty for assassin gold? Is this the same Bronn that taught fighting skills to Podrick?
Tormund - After multiple battles with Jon, up and leaves before the biggest final battle?
Sam - just says goodbye and disappears
Tryion - After 7 years of brilliant insight and manipulation suddenly can't figure out how to play Stratego?
Cersei - A completely ruthless person who takes advantage of every situation, but doesn't take advantage of the wall meet up to attack Tryion or Dani, but instead stands by for 20 minutes while the city is destroyed?

This was a hard one for me- The dragon and Dani were literally in her sights.. and she does nothing? War would have been over on the spot. The crossbows were in easy range compared to the shots from the ship that killed the other. They could have killed the dragon and rained death down on Dani and crew with ease.

And her brother whom she was paying an assassin to kill is standing right there and does nothing?

The only point I could argue would be that Dany's lineage and inbreeding has finally caught up with her. Paranoid Schizophrenia often rears its ugly head in the mid to late 20's.

Kings landing being torched to Metallica’s for whom the bell tolls

This one has been a real sticking point. lol. They could have had Cersei at least TRY to take them out and the story wouldn't have had to change much - she could have even paused dramatically and returned to the wall with (another) evil grin as though realizing she's missing the opportunity. That little band of Unsullied could have easily sacrificed themselves to cover the retreat, and the major characters could have barely escaped. Dragon could have gotten another hole in its wing from a near-miss or whatever. Ah well.

I got to say I think the writing is still excellent. I rewatched Sunday night's episode 2 nights ago. Last night, I re-watched episodes 1 & 2 of this season.

No one in the North takes a liking to Dany when she firsts arrive. She gets paranoid about who John Snow really is, because now everything she has worked up to, will be taken away. Her armies held off the Night King, yet, John Snow gets all the credit. Her closest friends are killed. She knows word got out about John Snow. She figures out someone on the inside is trying to take her down...just look at the ambush when they were arriving at Dragonstone. How did Euron know to go there? Varys. Look at how subtle it was that Varys was trying to kill Dany in the last episode.

Dany even says to John Snow, she doesn't have love, only fear. The only way to get people to take the knee is through fear.

Let's not forget the meeting at Dragonstone, where it opens up with Tyrion begging Dany not to burn the city down. We missed the previous part of the conversation that would lead Tyrion to say that. My bet, was Dany saying "If the townspeople don't take a knee, they will be burned alive." Then we see Tyrion saying "Don't burn down the city. The people will abandon Cersei, just give them a chance."

I know people are complaining about how easy it was for Euron to take out a dragon. They didn't know what hit them. This time, Dany was prepared. She attacked with the sun in the Iron Fleet's eyes. By the time they knew she was on them, it was too late. All the scorpions were out of position. Those are long range weapons, not short range.

Don't forget too, the recap from the previous episodes. They played a lot of talking words, over Dany watching her friend get decapitated.

I forget what season it was and who Dany was talking too, but she vowed to take back what was taken from her family by burning it down.

Not sure about everyone else, but I plan on rewatching the whole series after this week's episode.

Just my 2 cents.

Prediction...Arya kills Dany. I think Dany puts the order in to have John Snow killed. And Arya will kill Dany before the order can go through.

Yeah...the characters just don't seem like the same characters from the other seasons. The hound was the most disappointing. He just became so likable, and his ending was stupid and pretty much unnecessary.

Was watching Etertainment Tonight a couple of days ago. They were doing a little feature on GOT. They showed all the characters around a table shooting the sh-t. Then they showed Dany in front of a green screen and the director or one of the production crews says, “that’s Emilia’s last shot” (everyone clapped). Well she was not dead. Hmm

couldn't disagree more - he was always likable as a character, just vicious and mean, but changed as the seasons went on (for me at least). But whatever floats your boat as they say - I've enjoyed the hell out of this season. I have not (and won't at this point) read the books though - so maybe that is part of the reason I think it's been fantastic.

One thing I would like to see this Sunday is an Arya fight - maybe Arya v. Grey Worm?

If you look at the (very brief) clip they released for Sundays show, the scene where MQ is walking up, and you can see her army in the background - it looks like there are a bunch of people between them? Wondering if that is 'bend the knee or die by Dothraki' time?

We here in Houston have two big tournaments this weekend, and then, the finale. Can't wait.

I guess he was always likable, just became more likeable (to me) when he developed his relationship with Arya. I read 2 of the books long ago, but they were a bit too depressing for me to continue. Watching stuff that's depressing is a bit easier than reading for me. I'm glad people are enjoying this season. I think it's just ok, and i'm happy that it is ending.

Really doesn't mean anything as shots are not done in order (casting, weather and location conflicts have to be worked around not too mention they streamline as much as possible to save money) and multiple different endings were shot.

One reason to defend against leaks ruining the planned ending and I bet focus group testing to see which ending got the best audience reaction.

Yes. In that moment, with the castle crumbling all around her, the reality of what she's about to do had set in. The Hound hammered the point home that if she continues up those stairs, she is going to die. I think with her skills & all she's been though (all the times she's been able to cheat death before), she reached the point where she felt invincible. She may be all about killing her enemies, but was she willing to die to achieve that ultimate goal? Doesn't she have something to live for, like her family, unlike The Hound?

The answer is obviously yes. And in that moment, she came to realize it & reality set in. She didn't want to die. She recognized that Clegane was truly her friend after all. She called him by his real name & thanked him. It was a great moment of the show IMO.

All the moaning I keep seeing about the show reminds me of the ending of the Sopranos.

Same situation. A massively popular show with a huge following of fans who had invested years of their life into the show & the characters. Everyone had an opinion or theory on how the show would end. Fans felt like they knew these characters personally. Impossible to make everyone happy. So what did David Chase do? Gave us one of the most brilliant endings in television history. Cut to black & let the viewer make up his own mind. At the time I was so upset, I thought it was terrible, as did the majority of fans. Now I think it was brilliant. They teach classes on it in film school.

No matter how GOT ends on Sunday, you can guarantee that a large portions of the fans won't be happy. Personally I'm rooting for Dani's death. But as time passes and fondness for the show grows, most of the gripes will be forgotten.

They would film it like a movie, so not in order. Her last shot would not be her last scene. Nothing spoiled.

Moby Dick.

Her whole path and arc has been nothing but vengeance since Ned Stark's head was removed, sad it was not followed through.

Arya has had so many kill in the series, I'm perfectly fine with The Hound convincing her to turning her around. I viewed that scene as her final lesson.

The Soprano's end left it up to the viewer's interpretation to decide how it ended......lots of people didn't like that....and that could possible happen with the end of GOT. But it will leave lots of people longing for more....

I think this article explains the biggest problem, just a complete shift in style of writing:

https://www.wired.com/story/game-of-thrones-plotters-vs-pantsers/

The Hound was on her kill list the entire show and...GASP....she never killed him.

Is this horrible writing & complete disrespect to her character & motivations?

Or perhaps she had a change of heart that developed in her character arc, and in the end, she decided that vengeance wasn't more important than living after all.

This is exactly what I love about this show. Good guys go bad, bad guys go good, characters change/die & everything is a grey area. You literally have no idea what's going to happen, which makes all of these fan complaints all the more ironic.

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/game-of-thrones-fan-petition-remake-season-8-1203217025/

https://www.change.org/p/hbo-remake-game-of-thrones-season-8-with-competent-writers

If Martin can get his books out, then I think all is good. Problem is no one believes he is able to finish them.

She left him for dead, after robbing him. Perhaps that was enough.

Yeah, this paragraph sums up how I feel. "They took uncharacteristic actions and made uncharacteristically bad decisions so the required events could unfold with the appropriate stakes. Characters were spared the deaths they'd sown so they'd be available for later scenes. Organic consequences gave way to contrivance. Gone was the conflict between complicated people with incompatible goals. Grey morality turned black and white. Characters rushed through their foreshadowed arcs for the thinnest of reasons, or in some cases reversed their arcs entirely. The characters just weren't in charge anymore. The ending was."

ESPN video "discussing" the fall of King's Landing.

https://www.facebook.com/ESPN/videos/417515505470816/

Marcus

If you didn't see last weeks episode ...

Tough! GoT LEGOs (resized).jpg

There should be pieces of minifigs all throughout the piles.

It's substantially different because Sopranos didn't have 3 seasons of increasingly sloppy and massively accelerated storytelling and character development at the end. It seems to me that it kept a pretty consistent level of quality right to the end. GoT had a pretty substantial drop in season 6 and has kept dropping in writing, pacing, and character development. It's especially obvious if you rewatch from the beginning after the later seasons.

Well that really sucked for John Snow, seemed like he was the only one that got screwed on the whole deal.

Well he’s going to be running the show up north, so it’s kinda like he’s king of the free folk, Sansa is queen of the north, and bran gets to rule the south.