OFFICIAL Game of Holmes Season 8 Thread - A Dream of Flat Tops 4/14/19

[Osmosis]

Sansa is one of the only characters that makes any sense

 

[Tasha And]

 

[42 Monks]

the fukking maester killed himself tryna get stannis away from that shyt. Davos was prepared to die for that shyt as well. And Stannis a 2x kinslaying bytch that nikka ain't honorable. Nobody honorable on the show doing shyt like that.

most maesters are maesters for a reason

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

i expected shyt from the moment they announced that during season 6, that said, i'll never forgive it. they are wholly responsible for this bull, people keep wanting to talk about HBO producing weak final seasons, the GOT season isn't on them, it's on punk ass D&D

 

[Rickdogg44]

i expected shyt from the moment they announced that during season 6, that said, i'll never forgive it. they are wholly responsible for this bull, people keep wanting to talk about HBO producing weak final seasons, the GOT season isn't on them, it's on punk ass D&D

Couldn't they (HBO) have just fired D&D and kept it going a few more season? Or they were afraid D&D would pull some bytchassness and leak the GRRM ending?

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

Couldn't they (HBO) have just fired D&D and kept it going a few more season? Or they were afraid D&D would pull some bytchassness and leak the GRRM ending?

no clue, being that it didn't happen D&D probably had some exclusivity rights, or they were just arrogant about their vision and felt they could finish it properly in 13 episodes and pulled the wool over HBO's eyes/didn't give them a chance to replace them

 

[Osmosis]

They could have easily replaced them with Bryan Cogman if they didn’t acquiesce to HBO’s request for more episodes. They didn’t want to end the series because they believed it was a sufficient time to end the story, they ended it because they were burned out and wanted to move on to other ventures.

The biggest travesty is that HBO likely believed D&D was the reason why the show was successful, they couldn’t dare replace them or put any pressure on them. They felt like they had to give in to their demands because they were the showrunners that brought them the most popular program in television history.

 

[Tasha And]

That entire article is scathing

If the showrunners were rightabout the series’ natural lifespan, their decision to walk away would be commendable. But the past two seasons strongly suggest that they’re pulling the plug prematurely, ending it all when the story had lots of fulfilling life left.

In practice, though, the series is speeding so quickly toward its denouement that the characters we care about are being given short shrift too. Jon and Ghost aren’t on speaking terms. (Narrator voice: Their parting did not play out “much more powerfully that way.”) Bran’s mystical makeover has made him more of a meme than a fascinating figure with thought-provoking powers. Tyrion’s intelligence fluctuates from week to week. In the span of a single episode, Jaime goes from good guy to dirtbag—admittedly, not for the first time—deserting a suddenly boy-crazy Brienne. Crucial scenes are omitted entirely: In “The Last of the Starks,” the camera cut away from both Jon’s defiance of Dany in telling his supposed sisters that he’s actually cousin Aegon and Sansa spilling the same tea to Tyrion.

Granted, we can infer what was said in both of those scenes, so if D&D were trying to strip the script down to its studs to save time, those exchanges were logical cuts. But why, when handed a blank check and a creative license with no expiration date, would they put a higher priority on trimming the running time than presenting two emotional, momentous, long-in-the-making moments? And why, when faced with those self-imposed constraints, would they choose to parcel out some of the screen time in such a frivolous fashion? If there’s room for a foursome and an Ed Sheeran shout-out, isn’t there space to see Sansa and Arya react to the revelation of Jon’s parentage and claim to the throne?

If the show’s characterizations were the lone casualty of its sprint to completion, tight plotting could still save the season. But because the pace is so accelerated, many corners are cut. Characters come and go without purpose or preamble. (Hi, Bronn. Bye, Bronn.) The Golden Company, which may play a pivotal role in the fight for King’s Landing, has barely been seen. The world of Westeros, which once seemed so big, has shrunk to a pinhole: Yara retakes the Iron Islands (and presumably learns about Theon’s demise) off screen, additional updates on the political picture arrive via low-effort lines like, “The new prince of Dorne pledges his support,” and the commoners Varys pledged to protect are abstract, faceless fodder for the fighting queens’ ambitions.

Euron repeatedly pops up to even the odds, bearing weapons we didn’t know existed (except in a far less effectiveform). Dany “forgot about” his fleet, which she was warned about in the previous scene. (We have ample evidence that Jon, while brave and skilled at swordplay, is legitimately bad at battle strategy, but someone should be better at this.) Those legendary dragons are easy fodder for projectiles, and Dany doesn’t hold off on her strafing run until nighttime or simply circle around from the stern. Cersei, never one to be bound by propriety, passes up a chance to take a shot at Dany (or at the very least, her hand) instead of beheading the dragon queen’s personal assistant. And Euron doesn’t react when Tyrion announces that he knows about the baby Euron believes to be his son.

We know our way around this world, so maybe it makes sense for the series to fast-forward through tedious travel or yadda-yadda Dorne in the interest of sustaining excitement as the climax nears. But excising those slow moments still comes at a cost. Although the fates of the core characters are almost certain to be decided, events are unfolding with so little time for reflection that Thrones is in danger of not being about anything. Maybe the message is that it’s easier to talk about breaking the wheel than to do it when the throne is truly attainable. But with another large-scale conflict looming, we’re running out of time to see our aspiring rulers wrestle with their inner needs and desires.

If we can’t count on complex characters or satisfying storytelling, we’re left with little except obligatory battles, box-checking death scenes, and CGI spectacle (provided direwolves aren’t involved). The anachronistic coffee cup that sneaked into Sunday’s episode would have gone viral regardless of the circumstances, but the timing made it a metaphor. Although it may have been unfair—this wasn’t the first time that the show has flubbed a production detail, and that oversight isn’t necessarily indicative of other ills—the cup seemed to symbolize the sloppiness that’s plagued the rest of the season. And unlike the coffee cup, frustrating writing can’t be wiped awayafter the episode airs.

If Thrones loses its last war because its stewards wanted their watch to be over, the series’ rushed ending could be remembered as one of TV’s all-time unforced errors. Shepherding Thronesis a draining responsibility, and D&D can’t be blamed for wanting to do something different after working on the show for more than 12 years (although they can be blamed for Confederate). Handing off the series they started to someone else would have been a difficult decision, but it may have been the best one if their hearts and minds were far, far away. Pushing to end a series sooner than the network and audience dictated isn’t always a worrisome sign, but the only winner will be George R.R. Martin if the results in this case are closer to Lost’s than Breaking Bad’s.

There’s still time to avoid a Lostlike legacy. And even in abridged form, Thrones remains riveting because of the investment viewers have made in its characters. But that deep identification makes it seem like a bigger betrayal when those characters act in ways we don’t recognize—especially when those deviations arise because the showrunners are seemingly more eager to exit this world than we are. Asked before the premiere about his plans for the finale, Benioff told EW, “I plan to be very drunk and very far from the internet.” Considering the responses to Sunday’s episode, that bender may begin earlier than planned.

In his recent spot on 60 Minutes, Martin said that to be faithful to his books, the show would have to run for another five seasons. That might be a bit much (not that we wouldn’t watch), but the show’s abbreviated endgame has made it more movielike in its choices about what to skip past. We’d forgive the show for eliding the odd prophecy or failing to tie up every last loose end; after all, Martin may never finish the books (although he vows that he will), whereas D&D are delivering at least some resolution. But based on what we’ve seen so far, the series’ final season may leave fans pining for a compromise between never finishing and finishing too soon.

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’s Rush to Finish ‘Game of Thrones’

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

it will never happen, but i wish HBO just pulled a hollywood "reboot" on GOT and gave us a proper season 8 & 9. in addition to the fans, i feel bad for the actors, their characters have been stripped down and this last season is how we'll remember "their story"

 

[Sensitive Christian Grey]

Shout out to Lena Headey still, no fukks given

 

[Long Live The Kane]

I place blame on the double Ds and GRRM...one of the podcasts I listen to says it all the time that the show runners didn’t necessarily sign up to write ASOIAF fan fiction...you adapt this epic fantasy story, then run outta source material halfway through...whatever the fukk is preventing the old man from finishing the story, D&D sure as hell weren’t equipped to get pass it if he wasn’t...they’re out of their depth

 

[goatmane]

That entire article is scathing





































David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’s Rush to Finish ‘Game of Thrones’

I noticed this shyt when the Starks finally reunited in Winterfell in season 7

So after 6 seasons apart... no mention of the Red Wedding: a place where their mother and brother were brutally murdered, while Arya was outside waiting to be reunited with them. No discussion of the fact their father was beheaded in front of both of them.

No old Ned stories? Like the characterization isnt there.

Not even wondering how the entire House of Frey got massacred? Nope

 

[ReasonableMatic]

The actor for tywin was great

Top 5 of the show, CLEARLY

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

I noticed this shyt when the Starks finally reunited in Winterfell in season 7

So after 6 seasons apart... no mention of the Red Wedding: a place where their mother and brother were brutally murdered, while Arya was outside waiting to be reunited with them. No discussion of the fact their father was beheaded in front of both of them.

No old Ned stories? Like the characterization isnt there.

yea, i mean, when they were watching this back, they don't realize how ridiculous it is to have arya talk all this family shyt and then bounce and say she's never coming back, not just within one episode, but like five minutes later that weak ass jon/arya reunion, not showing us how arya/sansa reacted to jon's news. jamie smashing and dashing brienne all in one episode - that moment/relationship had zero time to breathe.

dudes aint even making a story at this point, they're just giving us a filmed version of a wikipedia article - nothing but the highlights.

 

[Osmosis]

I don’t really see why people have an issue with the Jaime/Brienne stuff. I thought Jaime leaving made sense and we still don’t know what his motives really are. I just think they should have never made them get together, their relationship was better when it was platonic.