How are they enhanced? Who did the enhancing?

Martin's been teasing The Winds of Winter for years now. Sadly there's still A Dream of Spring after that. I'm on my second reading of the series right now. If you've already read them there worth going through again. There's so many things you catch the second time.

I am still not sure how I feel about the turn the show has taken this season. Since going "off-book" the pacing has gone completely off the rails. Part of me likes that things are coming to a head, but at the same time it's all too fast.

Also, the saving of Jamie, the dropoff in the lake, and the return in the next episode where they held their breath long enough for the battle to die down and Dany to leave without trying to finish Jamie off just seemed ridiculous.

Love the show, but hope things tighten up a little bit to finish things off.

Also, the saving of Jamie, the dropoff in the lake, and the return in the next episode where they held their breath long enough for the battle to die down and Dany to leave without trying to finish Jamie off just seemed ridiculous.

Love the show, but hope things tighten up a little bit to finish things off.

^^^^^^ this annoyed me too. How in the hell with all that armor on and sinking so far down in the water .Not sure how jamie even approached her while trolloping through the waters edge found such a deep spot . Held his breath and swam away from there without a scuba tank. unless the Lannisters are equipped with gills //lol still love the show, and the CGI guy couldn't keep the dragon wings above the tree the dragon wing seemed to pass through on the way to burn the Scorpion / Was nice to see the dragon fly but having the wing go through a solid tree and not doing some edit magic was stupid

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Last i read, he's saying maybe 2019 for WoW, i think. At that pace, he'll be dead before he ever finishes another.

Lol, imagine how many things you catch by your 5th reading? Not sure I want to start a 6th from the beginning. Might just reread the 5th book again since I have only read it twice.

Since going off book the show has been way more straight forward. Fans keep predicting all these twists and turns, and wild theories, but that is more George Martin's writing. Beniof and Weiss have written a very predictable storyline, made for ratings, feel good show, with very obvious foreshadowing that even a 10 year old would pick up on. And like others have stated, the Jaime sinking into the Mariannes trench 2 feet from shore and then coming up for air a mile away from the action really bugs me. That was just plain lazy.

Mirri Maz Duur. Geez haven't you read the books?

Just kidding, great recap!

I wholeheartedly support this recommendation (it's Kingkiller Chronicles, though).

I swear I'm not trying to be a nitpicker!!

It REALLY makes you wonder why they needed to shorten the last two seasons. There's clearly enough material for them to have filled out two full seasons. They're rushing through so much stuff it's crazy. Like you, I like that things are finally starting to happen, but it feels like they just got cancelled and have to fit everything in, rather than HBO begging them to extend it for more seasons.

2019...my goodness...he makes Douglas Adams look like the Flash... I really hope that is not right.

He did say late 2018 or 2019. Rothfuss is taking after him, too.

There's been A lot of lazy writing this season. Whole armies marching and sailing around Westeros without been seen? There's not a single scout in Westeros? Also Davos and Tyrion sneaking into Kings Landing. That whole part seemed half-assed.

Totally agree. Did HBO give them a deadline? I don't understand the logic behind forcing a finish line to a show with this kind of popularity and a following that is very willing to tolerate a wide array of characters and a slow burn on story.

Granted, the last season will have nigh 90 min episodes, but why change the pace so much? I feel like the last episode would have been spread out over 3 if it were in the early seasons.

Sometimes, enhanced audiobooks means adding musical score and using multiple readers for the characters. That would be really nice for GOT.

Sandkings was really good. I forgot that was GRRM!

I could go all day on KKC theories too!

I would think the Hound has to come back to battle his brother. The brotherhood, besides the Hound, and Jorah will not make it, which is too bad as they are interesting every time they are on the screen...although Dondarrion's isn't even alive in the books anymore.

I can't believe their plan is to give Cerci "proof". Her army was just destroyed - what does she have that the need?

It is apparent that their source material is gone (Martin's books), as the writing is starting to be so one dimensional. I can't believe of all of the political and stratergy discussions that are missing.

Yep. It's been dumbed down for the masses. G.R.R. Martin sold us out for the money.

I would like to think that the hound is killed by a stray arrow and his last words are, "well fuck", and Aria is stuck in the gut by Sansa as Sansa says, I am
noone!

I don't know. Something that is unexpected, pisses you off, keeps you watching, makes you yell at the television,... the same emotions that got you into this hot mess.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Dondarrion is a goner on this expedition and probably one or two other as well. Certainly Jon and the Hound will survive and likely Lord Friendzone as well. I hope Gendry lives, he's just too darn likeable for them to just pull a "Rickon" with him,but who knows.

Agreed, that's definitely one of the stupidest plot motivations I've heard in awhile, but I'm just going with it at this point ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That makes no sense. She kills Stark, she blows up the House of Baylor, every chance she gets, she plots and backstabs. She is much worse in the books.

What does she have that Jon/Dani need? Nothing....and for then all to believe that bringing her some corpses is going to prove anything to her is idotic. If anything, she would use the dead to kill her living enemies.

Typical lazy TV writing.

And Martin had his shot and blew it. He should have finished his books so he could have a say. As of now, he is irrelevant.

And what they did to Rickon and the Wildling who protected him (can't recall her name) was a waste.

Ohhhh Shiiiiiiiiiit!!!!!!

I don't care what you haters want to happen with this series. Nick pick this, nick pick that...go pound sand. GOT didn't become popular overnight and George RR Martin isn't going to stay young forever. they need to speed it up, they don't have an endless budget and it took them 6 seasons to develop it for this 2-season finale.

That said, holy balls! That was a good episode.

Blue eyes have never given me such fear and simultaneous excitement.

Marcus

My nitpick. The whole Winterfell Sansa/Arya storyline has become unbelievably stupid. Are we supposed to conveniently forget that Bran can see everything in the past and can tell his sisters what the other was doing? It feels like the new writers are trying to give it a Martin twist but they're lacking in Martin's writing talent.

Gendry-first a rower, now a marathon runner. The dude is multitalented.

From my understanding, 'new' writers aren't driving the show. It's still Benioff and D.B leading the path under Martins vision of the unfinished books.

Bran is the 3 eyed raven. He can just go tell everyone what's going to happen but that's not his role to play in this. The Sansa/Arya is lord Baelish pitting them against each other; he's always been conniving. What his motives are still isn't quite clear besides wanting to get into Sansas pants. I hope Arya takes him out, but I have a feeling he, and Vaerys, will be the last two standing so to speak in keeping the wheel turning. They're the ones playing this 'game' of thrones.

Questions from this week...
How fast can a guy run in the snow?
How fast does a raven fly?
How fast do three dragons fly?
How fast does water freeze?
Where does a zombie army get four 200 yard lengths of chain?

Hardhome Depot

Also, does a turned dragon breathe ice?

How does ice break in a perfect circle like that?
How does one fall into that icy water and not get hypothermia? Must be the wolfskin.
How come the wights couldn't go through the water to get the Seal team 6 but could get in the water to put those massive chains around Viscerion?

Don't get me wrong, I'm still enjoying this season. I'm just not a fan of the "deus ex machina" that the new writers have injected in the plot. Did anyone really think that Tormund or Jon were going to die? That's the cool thing about Martin's writing, no one was safe.

Not real plausible on the details. But a blast to watch. It was a friggin awesome episode. Guess we know how the wall is coming down... blue fire...

I'm thinking it has to be ice right? I can see Drogon facing off head to head against this undead dragon next season.

i never questioned how fast a guy can run in the snow, but rather how freakin' close the undead are to the wall! The group really didn't travel far or long before they met up with the undead. I think the undead bear was just a preview at the fact that animals can be turned, hence our newly found undead dragon.

The elite group were at a standstill for what looked like at least a day if not more based on the lighting and cold effects of our heroes. In either case, that's still one fast raven - the unsung hero in this episode by far, no? I thought in the early seasons they mentioned how fast dragons can fly, but I could be mistaken.

I really did think Tormund was a goner. Would've been much more true to the original writing. Who all died during that raid? Thoros and all the unnamed wildlings. Shocker.

Who was wearing red??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=92&v=yx9dRL1BCCQ

Love these behind the scenes videos.

Basically ever single movie or show can be picked apart with impossible acts and things.

I love game of thrones, but this whole season has gotten really predictable and somewhat dumb. Like you knew Jon wasn't going to die, the dragons would come, and that now there's a dead dragon on their side that I assume their leader will now ride into battle. Did they really need to go over the wall to get that walker, like that seemed like the stupidest thing ever to grab one soldier from a huge army and won't change anything, just an episode to make the bad guys even stronger through stupidity. The whole sisters fighting thing also seems super weird. I was kind of cringing a lot during this episode, like they added in the bear just so you knew that animals are fair game (when I think all the dead horses gave that away long ago).

Sometimes I enjoy the slower more talking episodes better, especially if the reveal alot if new information. My friends think those episodes are slow And enjoy the over the top action episodes. This show has something for everyone

Good point about the undead horses. Perhaps the bear is then to symbolize that winter has consumed Everything north of the wall.

The sisters rivalry is showing how dangerous Baelish is in the political war. He's always up to no good to balance the threat of the wheel. He did it against the Lannister when they were getting too powerful, now he's at it again while the starks are gaining power. He saw how dangerous Arya is when she dueled Brienne. If Arya is smart, she'll step back in the shadows...she's getting a little cocky with her powers. With Brienne leaving winterfell, I think it'll be Arya that saves Sansa from some dangerous assasination or political overthrow of the north. I still suspect the dire wolves have a role to play before series end.

It's funny some people don't like this season, I get it, it's pinside and people are drawn into negativity and bickerness. But if you're really following this season, there's way more going on than just fighting. The final pieces are being laid out and there has been some good twists. Sure, we know Jon snow isn't going to die in the ice water, but uncle Ben coming to the rescue was bad ass! There are wars happening all over now, the wheel is peeking. In the early seasons we saw glimpses of those wars but the writers were developing the family roots of all houses than focus on all the battles. Now that those children are the leaders, the focus is on the wars. I understand it's a hard story to follow, I've watched the series twice through so far and plan to again. I get all my book related info from a co worker who knows both sides. One day I'll get the books on tape and have listen during my commutes to work. But there's a lot going on this season than just heroic battles.

Yup I agree. There is literally stuff coming together from all the other seasons. It's not all just action. I enjoy the spider web that is game of thrones.

"I drink and I know things"-Tyrion

If you watch the "making of a scene" bonus thing on HBO for this episode, they say they've been trying to get a zombie polar bear approved for years, but it was too much money to do, and they finally put their foot down and demanded one.

I think we will have to wait till next year to see more of the zombie dragon.

Gee, if it was that easy, why didn't they just go over with the dragon and pick up a zombie thingy?

Umm, Daenarys didnt fully believe Jon or understand the impact the undead army have. She even said it in this episode, something to the matter that she needed that to happen so she could see it for herself. She thought she could just swoop in thinking army of dead, lemme just take my dragons and be done with it.... The whitewalker king taking out one of her dragons in one swoop of his spear was enough for her to see how powerful this army is.

So ya, we all know going beyond the wall to get a white walker was dumb. Even Jon admitted to it; and we know it's not going to mean a dam thing to Cersi, she just wants people dead who are against her. But, getting the white walker wasnt just for Cersi - it was for Daenarys, the armies of the north who are behind Jon, everyone that wants to believe Jon but doesnt. Thats why Jon needed that walker...proof. You think Bran (jon's brother) can convince people that he see's everything and has seen the undead? The highest of the high Maestor's didnt even believe Sam (though that one kind of does), but they wouldnt have any part of it. The undead, like the first 6 seasons of the show, are still just a myth to everyone. Jon needed proof, not just for Cersi, but everyone. Daenerys finally got her proof and it cost one of her children, a dragon. But now she knows, there's a force out there stronger than her. And now Jon and her see eye to eye. Also Daenerys seeing Jon's scars was great.

This season is unfolding so great, so awesome!

When you read the books, you'll know exactly what alot of us are complaining about. Martin doesn't leave huge unbelievable plot holes that the current show writers do. I can still remember the first time I read the chapter for the Red Wedding. I was completely floored that they killed off Catelyn and Robb. I also remember when the episode aired, people talked about it for weeks. You don't have those plot twists now that the show is past the books. I'm frustrated that Martin got so far behind on his writing that we're left with other writers writing his story. To me, the current GOT is still great, but not nearly as good as it could be if Martin had finished the series. Also, where the hell is Ghost? In the books Ghost is an extension of Jon and is only away from him when Ghost is hunting.

I think next season will be killer. Obviously some big players are going to have to be killed off. The question is who and how.

Clegane Bowl! This Sunday! The Hound vs. the Mountain. This is the battle I've been waiting for for years.