Game of thrones: Final Season: Winter finally arrives....

[MagisterCultuum]

That dragon went down way too easily. Sure, they said he was already injured, but still he should have been tougher than that.

It was incredibly stupid to let a dragon fly into combat before healing enough to carry a rider. Keeping one dragon in reserve would have been fine.

It would have been better if drogon was the one who fell, making Jon's claim to the throne even stronger as he would be the only who who has ever ridden the last living dragon. It would have been much more interesting if the battle turned because Denaerys herself fell with her beast into the sea and had to be fished out.

The execution at the end should not have been a decapitation. Cersei should have personally pushed her to her death, like Jaime did to Bran in episode 1.

I feel like this episode was too bright, like they were overcompensating for last week.

The stress level last weak was so high that the lack of tension for most of this episode seemed striking.

 

[Kyriakos]

I actually liked this episode. Maybe because its first half was utter garbage so i didn't expect it to improve. Nice build-up though

Row row row your boat, Gendry down the stream

 

[Zack]

Somehow I forgot to mention the scene where Sansa expressed a weird sort of gratitude for all the abuse she suffered, and the Hound just smiles in response then we cut to the next scene. As if rape was nothing more than a mildly distressing event that gives you XP to level up your character. Made me uncomfortable how casually that was included.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, i don't expect good, or even logical writing in this show, so when at least some believable acting and build-up happens i think it is the most you can get here.
Of course the episode again had loads of problems (i didn't know you could hide ships from airplanes, for example), but imo the first half was just cringe so some decent dialogue and a tense scene (albeit making no sense strategically; they could fire balistas at least at the dragon) still made it better than the other s8 episodes imo.

 

[Colon]

Somehow I forgot to mention the scene where Sansa expressed a weird sort of gratitude for all the abuse she suffered, and the Hound just smiles in response then we cut to the next scene. As if rape was nothing more than a mildly distressing event that gives you XP to level up your character. Made me uncomfortable how casually that was included.

People get over their traumas pretty quickly in Westeros. Just look at easily everyone turned to feasting.

I think the opening shot of Euron's fleet is supposed to indicate they were hiding behind (very tall) rocks, although that then raises the question of how they could get a clear line of fire.
At least there's consistency in the level of military incompetence, even on the other side. Why wouldn't you finish the job and kill or capture the remnants that made it to the shore? And maybe take Dragonstone?

You're left wondering if we wouldn't be better off with Cersei on the throne. Dany is an emotional basket case and Jon is an insufferable idiot.

 

[Camikaze]

This was probably my least favourite episode of the season. I liked the other episodes, E2 in particular which I thought was one of the highlights of the entire series. I had some nitpicks with E3 but quite liked it overall. I think I have been very happy with this season so far because for the most part it has taken its time. I have read complaint that the Night King plot was rushed to a conclusion, and that may be so, but none of the episodes were rushed - it's just that the threat happened to be dealt with at an earlier stage of the conflict than may have been anticipated. In this episode, it was good at the beginning that they allowed the scene to marinate, although the exchanges were less satisfying than in E2. But then the second half the pacing was very off. It fast-forwarded through major set-ups and complications. The Bronn stuff was weird and no doubt both him and Jaime will make it back to Kings Landing next episode at roughly the same time as everyone else, but the most egregious issue was the bewilderingly quick progression from "Dany's going to Dragonstone" to "Dany's in a fight at Dragonstone" to "everyone except Missandei washed up and Euron's fleet has for some reason disappeared as quickly as it appeared" to "Dany and 30 unsullied are now standing in front of Kings Landing, where they have somehow managed to get despite all their ships being sunk and being washed up on an island". The notable highlight to the second half of the episode was the Tyrion/Varys scenes, which were great and which I hope carry through well to the end of the season (it will be a shame if it's just resolved in one half-baked scene of Varys attempting a last ditch, hopeless assassination or something). So probably my least favourite episode since the north of the wall stuff last season (which is the only time in the series I have actually disliked an episode), but at least as far as I can tell this episode has enough in it to ward off much of the incredibly irritating "this show hasn't been good since season 4, I liked it before it was cool" critiques for one more week. As a fan of Lost, that's important to me.

 

[Sommerswerd]

That dragon went down way too easily. Sure, they said he was already injured, but still he should have been tougher than that.

Huh? He took 3 ballista/scorpion bolts! Including one directly to the heart/chest, and another through the neck! What man or beast could survive that? Anyway, Viseriyon died from one hit from the Night Kings icicle/spear.

By way of comparison... for your considration:

One hand drawn bolt, from a makeshift, whatever the hell that was... and the most powerful dragon in history goes down for the count.

 

[Kyriakos]

People get over their traumas pretty quickly in Westeros. Just look at easily everyone turned to feasting.

I think the opening shot of Euron's fleet is supposed to indicate they were hiding behind (very tall) rocks, although that then raises the question of how they could get a clear line of fire.
At least there's consistency in the level of military incompetence, even on the other side. Why wouldn't you finish the job and kill or capture the remnants that made it to the shore? And maybe take Dragonstone?

You're left wondering if we wouldn't be better off with Cersei on the throne. Dany is an emotional basket case and Jon is an insufferable idiot.

Sadly that is also the only consistency (that nothing actually makes sense in the show). Those rocks weren't something like the tower of stone where the Scylla lurks; they were shown in that scene to be quite low. They could (if you don't mind overthinking this) be missed by other people on ships, but not by an airplane/dragon.
Balista fire seems to be entirely unrealistic; you can't really shoot balista arrows to the skies like that, this isn't a cannon.
Furthermore, if it was so easy to kill dragons with balista, the whole 'Targaryens rise to power' (let alone Valyrians conquering vast parts of Essos) through dragons is just ridiculous. Iirc even Dorne had a balista and hit a dragon hundreds of years ago.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

aurochs

Huh? He took 3 ballista bolts! Including one directly to the heart/chest, and another through the neck! What man or beast could survive that?

By way of comparison... for your considration:

One hand drawn bolt, from a makeshift, whatever the hell that was... and the most powerful dragon in history goes down for the count.

But that arrow hit a small spot where the dragon was missing scales.

That arrow hit a spot where the dragon's scales were already missing.

Dragon scales are supposed to be virtually impenetrable. The weak spot should be the eyes and perhaps wing membranes, not the chest and neck.

Although, now that I think of it GRRM's "Fire and Blood" does say that while the scales of a full grown dragon are virtually impenetrable, a juvenile dragon's scales are not so tough.

Aegon III had a young dragon named Stormcloud who, the first time he ever managed to carry the 11 year old Aegon III or anyone else, was shot with countless arrows in his belly and a scorpion bolt through his neck. That was fatal, however Stormcloud managed to carry Aegon III back to the shore of Dragonstone first and it took him nearly an hour to die.


Drogon and Rhaegal are called "full grown dragons" by some characters on the show, but based on the timeline from the books they really should still be juveniles barely large enough to carry a teenager on their backs. Honestly the concept of a "full grown dragon" does not make much sense, as dragons continue to grow for as long as they live. Balerion the Black Dread could swallow aurochs whole when Aegon I rode him, and could swallow Mammonths by the time of his death 94 years later.

 

[rah]

While I think the whole killing the one dragon went down to easy and was a tad absurd, minimizing the advantage of the dragons was important to adding any suspense to the final conflict so I can grudgingly go along with it. It also served the purpose of showing her a bit more crazed which will feed the conspiracies which we know must go forward since Varys death has been mentioned many times in the plot.

 

[Fippy]

I usually dun mind some unrealistic events in movies / series, but telling us that Dany and her dragons (or ships) never saw that attack coming..
and next they walk into reach of their Ballistas again.
Really difficult taking this serious.

 

[Lexicus]

and the most powerful dragon in history goes down for the count.

Smaug was actually a lesser dragon, the most powerful dragon in history was Ancalagon the Black, destroyed by Eärendil the mariner during the War of Wrath in the First Age.

 

[civvver]

Somehow two dragons flying in the sky from a great vantage point were completely oblivious to the huge fleet sitting right in front of them, even though said fleet was apparently close enough to rip off a series of extremely accurate ballista shots to kill one of the dragons. Then the other dragon charges in, but twenty ballista shots all miss I guess. The show loves cheating to help Euron achieve stunning feats and victories that seem implausible (he's the new Ramsay in that regard).

I usually dun mind some unrealistic events in movies / series, but telling us that Dany and her dragons (or ships) never saw that attack coming..
and next they walk into reach of their Ballistas again.
Really difficult taking this serious.

I really enjoyed the episode except for this. Euron forever has made zero sense. He's just some total badass who shows up out of no where basically and in a couple months has the best fleet in the world, and then somehow shoots a dragon idk how far, 1000 yards away? Right in the chest, then reloads and hits it right in the throat in flight. At that distance aiming that ballista seems impossible. It was ridiculous. But for plot reasons, I begrudgingly accept it. However they then show the ballista strong enough to wreck entire ships, yet dany are her 50 or so unsullied walk clearly into range of them to negotiate with cersei. Why didn't cersei just shoot them all right then? That part also made no sense. But I'm not going to get hung up on those, the pacing and character development I really enjoyed. Thrones is best when it has gray areas and I liked varys in this episode, and showing a darker side of Dany. And I liked how Jon is basically a noble idiot like his adopted father, and Sansa is scheming once again. Like I have no idea what's going to happen now. I thought that Jamie was going to kill Cersei and all the good guys would win but now that's all up in the air. Varys might murder Dany for all we know. I'm really excited for the final two now, they did a good job drawing up some new twists.

 

[rah]

Dany really needs better generals.

 

[Fippy]

Dany really needs better generals.

Not only that, but i had hoped at least the dragons were smarter
So one was hurt, and they enjoyed a bit of salty sea air..but they still went into a war. Felt like they were on holidays.

I took this a bit personally (silly i know), dragons should not act careless or stupid, and they should not be shot down by a char who hmm..yep question, who is actually interested in Euron here? Having this guy as new badass, and Cersei who gets everything handed to her easily for whole seasons now, feels like a huge step back from fighting against a mysterious figure like the Night King.

For other stuff, the Hound was my favorite char in this one.
Arya also acts refreshing anti-heroic.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I mostly liked the episode, even though some things were really dumb.

Can none of these idiots keep a secret ?!

Jaime and Brienne seemed like the writers just wanted to tick off a box.

Flyers getting ambushed by ships. Not as dumb as charging unseen, fearless undead with light cavalry, but still dumb even by the show's standards.

Pointlessly cruel (writer cruel, not character cruel) minor character death. I hate those.

Somehow I forgot to mention the scene where Sansa expressed a weird sort of gratitude for all the abuse she suffered, and the Hound just smiles in response then we cut to the next scene. As if rape was nothing more than a mildly distressing event that gives you XP to level up your character. Made me uncomfortable how casually that was included.

I actually really liked that scene. People rationalize their past decisions and suffering all the time as a coping mechanism.

People get over their traumas pretty quickly in Westeros. Just look at easily everyone turned to feasting.

That wasn't just a happy party feast. Many characters we've never seen get drunk before got completely wasted. That's a clear sign that they're still traumatized.

Dragon scales are supposed to be virtually impenetrable. The weak spot should be the eyes and perhaps wing membranes, not the chest and neck.

Although, now that I think of it GRRM's "Fire and Blood" does say that while the scales of a full grown dragon are virtually impenetrable, a juvenile dragon's scales are not so tough.

They're probably not "full grown" yet.
I haven't read Fire and Blood. Is it supposed to be "neutral and "reliable" or is it in-universe propaganda that might portray dragons as tougher than they actually are ?

 

[Synobun]

I enjoyed the episode. It was good.

I was going to say that I would have preferred Jaime and Brienne to have a more brother-sister relationship, but maybe they do.

 

[civvver]

I saw the interaction between Sansa and the Hound as this: Clegane feels guilty that he didn't just take Sansa with him and that bad stuff happened to her as a result. Underneath all his tough exterior Clegane is actually a big softy. Sansa saying what she did was her way of saying thanks for helping me back at kings landing, and I forgive you it's not your fault, I chose to stay behind.

 

[Colon]

That wasn't just a happy party feast. Many characters we've never seen get drunk before got completely wasted. That's a clear sign that they're still traumatized.

That's possible. I was also thinking of Sam though. He seemed remarkably chipper, despite having been in the same building, or even in the same room, as the woman who just executed her father and brother.

 

[rah]

That wasn't me, that was GoodSarmatian That said that. I somewhat agree with it though.