I've thought about it a bit more, and read some explanations on reddit that made more sense. For the first 7 seasons of this show, it's not been your typical fantasy story of good vs. evil. Which for me is a big reason why it has felt so realistic even though we're talking about dragons and zombies. There's been little plot armor issues just to keep specific characters alive. There's been no saving the day against all odds. In fact, we've been conditioned for the opposite. During Ned's attack and execution, he was a pivotal character. We felt the feeling of dread during his beheading when you realized that nobody was going to save the day here, and his kids are going to have to watch this happen with no chance of a happy ending. No different than Rob Stark's Death. No different than the Red Wedding. When that began, you deeply hoped that somebody was going to bust out of the woodwork and help these characters we've come to love. Nope, they all are brutally murdered. When Hodor got overrun, again the hope of unrealistic avoidance of a main character succoming to death was inevitable. The Mountain vs. Oberyn. Nope. For 7 seasons, it's been pounded into our heads that nobody is above getting killed off for whatever reason. Actions have consequences regardless of who you were. This was GoT, and it was realistic battle where popular good guys and bad guys really died and new main characters were introduced.

But this episode completely spun that trend on its head. After spending silly amounts of time during the last episode to seemingly give many of these main characters some rounding out of their story arcs. Instead, we got an evil wight army that took out the entire Dothraki army in under 2 minutes, but then battled a collection of a dozen of the popular good guys who hold off that same wight army for the rest of the episode. We saw Jaime, Brienne, Tormund, Jon, Sam, Arya, Jorah, Pod, Theon, etc. get bumrushed by dozens of wights at a time, and then just slug through to impossibly survive when they realistically should not have. It just felt so weird and different from everything we've previously seen. It was still enjoyable for sure. But it felt like they really deviated from what made the series great to get to this point. They've got more to go, so who knows. But this just felt off for me.

This is why I thoroughly enjoyed GRRM's storytelling. I love this sort of in depth look at politics and policies and the small council meetings. Now finish the damn books! :D

Agreed. There's an interesting theory about how Tywin purposefully didn't pay off his debts in order to gain leverage over the bank. The Banker was throwing shade at Cersei the whole time and she didn't pick up on it.

Also because the Golden Company wants to return from exile. They know Cersei has a losing hand.

The counter to Cersei is Sansa. She's practical and extremely resourceful.

Theon charging at the night king was like Johnny running directly into daniel laruso's crane kick.

It was a little different reading the books. Early on I realized that Ned was likely doomed, because his character is a carbon copy of Duke Leto from Dune - the noble house leader thrust into a dangerous political mess far beyond his ability to understand or fight. After that, I realized that POV chapter characters never died - at least (in the case of Jon and Catelyn, who in the books was resurrected by Beric) not permanently. Robb, for example, was always a secondary character in the books because he never had a POV chapter, and you always saw his actions through the eyes of somebody else.

I thought that Theon's frontal attack on the Night King was ... ballsy.

FAX

I agree

:spank:

LMAO Naw, it was pretty awesome.

My favorite part was when Dany stupidly kept her dragon on the ground for way longer than necessary so we could have more action.

https://media.giphy.com/media/65os7odbIW6pa/giphy.gif

Like many people, I became interested in this show and picked up the books. Then I became intrigued by the complexity. Then addicted.

Now, after a 7 season investment in these characters, the world they inhabit, and the various, interconnecting plot lines, my expectations grew in a way proportionate to the quality of the writing ... which has been awfully damn good.

But this season has been, for me, a disappointment. It's subjective, of course, but I've noticed a noticeable decline in story-telling since the source material dried up.

8/3 was a shoot in the dark that turned this epic saga (from the medieval soap opera I saw in 8/2) into a medieval night of the living dead. Once fascinating character arcs are now flopping about like decapitated limbs.

Remarkably (and based on internet feedback), millions of people are apparently rationalizing and justifying (not that I blame them) instead of "enjoying". That's sad and I fear that a "Lost" ending coming our way. Hope I'm wrong.

FAX

If there's any solace in all this, it's that GRRM and the creators have said they've done everything they can to avoid a "LOST" ending and want the direct type of ending that Breaking Bad gave its fans.

What was it that happened at the Three Eyed Raven's cave? Weren't there skeletons throwing weird exploding things? This episode kind of felt like that.

I liked it.

Theon finally atoned. He did well.

Two questions:
How is Sam not dead?
Why is Sam not dead?

Bonus question:
How can we make it so Sam gets dead?

There is a chance Dany will see to that. She has a talent for burning Tarly's fresh from a battle.

Here's what i think:

I think this show was a lot more ****ing enjoyable before reading you ****s.

I appreciate this positive outlook.

U new here brah?

It's like people (and the directors) have forgotten that Game of Thrones was just the first book. The series is called Ice and Fire for a reason. The white walkers were supposed to be the "big bad."

Don't be mad at us that the writers suck ass.

I actually did not realize that the wights attacking everyone in the crypts were the old Starks, I thought they had broken in from outside. I couldn't see anything happening on the screen well enough to know any differently.

This show has never been truly about the damn throne or the Lannisters...

It was always about families and houses squabbling over a throne that quite frankly doesn't matter while the real huge threat was brewing in the north and kept creeping closer and closer.

The hubris of all of Westeros should ultimately have been there downfall but nahhhhh we need social media reactions and MEMES.

Hodor: Holds the Door.

Beric: The Beric-ade.

Yeh

(Don't throw things at me, but there's reason to suspect GRRM planned for that title to refer to Jon and Dany).

I'll see myself out.

Fair point.

I'll go on the record with this.

I wanted the NK to win. I wanted Dany to take out a handful of survivors on Drogon and Jon on Rheagal. I wanted them to be separated, with all hope feeling lost, and I wanted them to converge on King's Landing when the NK began to wreck the city, Cersei, and shit-eating ShowEuron.

But, the more I look into GRRM's quotes - I just don't that that's where he's going with this thing. The show NK isn't really even in the books. The show just made him as a personification of the WW threat. The problem, I think, is that while George chooses to eschew writing POV accounts of Hardhome and instead gives subtle hints of the horror there, the show chose to actually go there. At the time, this was praised as a wonderful deviation. However, it was done so ****ing well that the NK antagonist altered the show's center. The politics that made the show (and there are good moments of those politics in S6) immediately took a backseat to the WW - so much so that that WW threat became prioritized above all else to the viewer (for better or for worse). I’d also argue that this is where the show exploded from a super successful HBO show to the global phenomenon that it is now. Season 5 actually had been declining ratings wise from Season 4 - then Hardhome happened. The NK became embedded in the show’s lore, when he was never a true character in the books. On a personal note, this is how I’ve hooked two of my friends who gave up on the show after being “bored” with Season 1 - but they LOVED Hardhome with zero context to Jon’s development and multiple characters who were featured in it.

I've accepted last night's WW fate the more I read into GRRM. He just loves the idea of politics and ruling and how the elite class will always be a factor in our world, always, even in the face of extinction.

However, my opinion of this episode will likely forever hinge on the next three. If there is a Hodor level twist coming (possibly something to do with the foreshadowed burning of King's Landing we've seen in Bran and Dany's plots) and stick the landing (meaning a satisfying enough ending that doesn't betray the arcs of the main characters), I'll be happy with the episode.

But if I just don't care after this, if we just get a 4 hour Scouring of the Shire like epilogue to the series that honors GRRM's planned ending after last night, then D&D will have failed and needed to realize that the Game of Thrones show ultimately went a different direction than the ASOIAF. That's what the HIMYM showrunners couldn't accept. The characters in the show went a radically different direction in 9 seasons of development than when they filmed the original ending in S2 (when they thought it was a 3 season series). However, all of the GOT showrunners seem confident with the ending, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was so good for the characters that it's keeping me hopeful that they're going to stay true to them in the ending - especially since these characters are what make up the fabric of the series.

We'll see. Valar Morghulis and what not.

both George RR Martin and D/D have said there is a conclusive ending. That doesn’t mean we get resolution on every character just who sits on the iron throne at the end. Or what comes after the throne.

like others mentioned as an analogy, Breaking Bad ending was trashed by many but now viewed as brilliant.

Unfortunately, I have the same bad feeling. They have to wrap up the story in 3 episodes...one of which will obviously be a battle for the Throne.

Too many developed characters to properly give them enough screen time to resolve each scenario in a natural way. Not having any major characters die yet...has me worried it'll be all Disney and roses.

They need a full 10 episode season to conclude this properly...

It's also a bit anti-climactic, after just having this epic battle with a super-natural villain that can control the dead...to have another war episode with Cerise Lanister. I mean she's a wicked woman and all...but she's no Knight King.

I think they screwed up by not having them take the capital first, paint a picture of potential peace for the 7 kingdoms...then having an epic good vs. evil ending against the dead...who threaten to take it all away and have a dragon.

The major threat is already dead....

I’d like someone to put put a “regular” lighted episode out so we could see what was happening.

It looked great on my 4K Samsung...but then I saw the "making of episode 3" on my computer and couldn't make out much detail.

I think you need a high contrast screen to view it...

Theories:

Only Jon or Dany will be alive at the end. Jon for the more fairy tale ending or Dany for the darker ending with more war to come once winter is over.

Sandor dies after killing the Mountain.

Tyrion and Sansa remarry. The bring in the Vale and Riverlands and form the Kingdom of the North.

Arya and Gendry head off to Braavos particularly if Dany is the one on the throne.

Sam is appointed as lord of the reach. Could have strained relations with Dany or cordial relations with Jon depending on who survives.

Jamie dies doing something noble.

Brienne becomes commander of the Kingsguard.

Tormund is given a lordship in the North.

LOL

FAX

ROFL I spent way too much money on my TV. State of the art.

:hmmm:

I was hoping at the end of Episode 2 where we see the White Walker generals but not the Night King, maybe he was flying his ice dragon south to take out Cersei in a sneak attack. This would have been a way to clean up the story so it's not cramming two wars into a very limited number of episodes.

<iframe width="1519" height="514" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Z1k8s4edBDs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Is it properly calibrated? You SHOULD be able to see those dark scenes on a quality 4K.

You could create a preset just for that episode...

white walkers, winter, long night, night king... all of that had been built up for years. but when it came down to it; Arya, the level 9 assassin, took out the biggest threat that multiple dragons couldn't touch. she did it with a knife trick. yippee

i can just imagine the next Nan

Oh me little lord, what do you know about fear? fear is for the winter when the snows cannot be written in with your pee. Fear is for the long night, you'll be snuggled up in your safe space for an hour and a hoff. Children will be born and die and take undead giants out along with them. your teenage sister will save Westeros and never let you live it down. That's something to fear

HOLY ****

https://i.redd.it/690ze1ijqav21.png

Doesn't Dany have green eyes...?

100 percent. Popping into this thread was a terrible mistake.

Placed that could still raise a sizable Army....

- The Reach (Sam is now the lord of High Garden
- Dorn (no connection)
- Vale (Stark connection)
- Riverlands (Lord Tully)
- Westerlands ( Jamie is Lord of casterly rock)
- Meereen ( Dario)

So they might be able to form at least a army of a couple thousand.....

But that’s it Westeros is spent....

Was hoping for Lannister boy and brienne to knock out a couple white Walker lieutenants

She still has the 2nd Sons, they could sail for Westeros

The midair dragon battle. Brightened up and slowed way down....

I never noticed that Viserion gets half his face eaten off, and the blue flame was puffing out of the hole in the side of his face instead of his mouth during the scene(:59).

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Its not going to be how big of an army Danerys can raise. Thats not how they defeat Cersi.


After all this time, they are not going to kill the 1 million innocent civilians caught in the cross fire. There will be some kind of battle but not a full scale assault on the walls of Kings Landing.

Either the Golden Company and the Iron bank turn on Cersi and stand down while Westeros fights among themselves or join the Dany/Jon troops or...........

Arya has already found a way to get out of the castle through the sewers in season 1. Just go back in that way. Tyrion knows the sewer tunnels to get in too. Bronn turns on Cersi. We get Cleganebowl. The hound wins but mortally wounded. Maybe Jamie dies in the attempt. Arya takes his face and kills Cersi. Or some version of that...

We watched on my Vizio E series 4K 70". It's hardly a state of the art TV, and I just bought it because it was huge and relatively inexpensive.

Had zero issues seeing what was going on in the episode. Of course I have the settings all set to optimum. ( I suppose you could say calibrated).

somebody already stated this in the thread but i didnt see the knights of the vale at all in that episode. I could have easily missed them but yeah to my knowledge they weren't there

Did Ghost make it out alive? Next episode I'm kind of hoping to see Bran warg into Ghost and come flying into King's Landing riding a dragon, catching a biscuit thrown by Hot Pie in his mouth, while taking out Cersei.

Wonder if there's any Wildfire left over after the destruction of the Sept of Baelor?

I saw a screenshot on Facebook that showed him in one of the scenes from next week's preview.

I keep going back to how unimpressive the finale for the NK was.
The scene was awesome the sudden end was... just not what I expected.
I think in episode 2 when Bran explains what the NK wants and Sam expounds on it we or many of us took it a lot lighter than the writers expected. That scene I think was supposed to be one of those Jon comes back to life, Baelish gets executed type moments and it just didnt work.

Ya'll need new TV's or something, because all that shit was obvious when i watched it live.

Well...Sansa and Yohn Royce had spent a lot of time talking in the first two episodes. Maybe he took his troops elsewhere for a purpose.

I loved this whole episode. If you want to dissect every detail and worry about the height of the walls, then go on ahead. If you want to hate it that's none of my business. Im not gonna let people ruin my enjoyment of my favorite show.

Sam is George RR Martin's avatar in the story, and likely the one chronicling the books.

This is from the trailer for next week:

https://fsmedia.imgix.net/5f/05/be/0...compress&w=650

LMAO...

https://i.imgur.com/aexye1G.jpg

I'm a sucker for dogs so the direwolf scenes always make me smile. It's a shame the showrunners keep passing them off as mundane details. Let's just gratuitously throw them in a scene to appease the fans. They're total badasses in the book from what I remember.

Yeah, I think my wife will be getting me a new TV for my birthday.

How thoughtful of her. :D

Pretty good explanation here of the Iron Bank's thinking, perhaps.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pCL4HmdSIPs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

So...what happens the rest of the season?

3 episodes nearly as long as The Long Night seems like an awful lot of time left for going to King's Landing and taking out (or not taking out...) Cersei.

Lick wounds, deus ex machina an army, head south
fight Lannisters
Figure out iron throne amongst Dany/Jon with who is left.

3 way sex scene with Dany, Sansa, and Cersei.

- Who ever was willing to support the Targs over Cersei have already done so.

- Whoever was willing to fight on behalf of the Martell-Sands probably have already done so

- Knights of the Vale were probably wiped out by the AotD

- Tully's diminished by Lannister/Bolton/Frey alliance

- Lannisters diminished by dragons / Dothraki or loyal to Cersei.

Eh. Dany could just go full Aegon the conquerer and BBQ her way through King's Landing. The fact that two dragons survived mitigates the loss of her army.

My guess?

Episode 4 - Dealing with the aftermath of the Great War and planning the move/attack on Kings Landing.

Episode 5 - Attack on Kings Landing.

Episode 6 - Aftermath of Attack on Kings Landing. Who sits on the Iron Throne and then a brief look into the near future.

This is why I am wondering how much Wildfire is left in Kings Landing after blowing up the Sept of Baleor in season 6.

most people are assuming that the last scene of GOT is Sam writing down the story.

Okay, I can't verify the validity of this spoiler, but it's been around for a year or so, and it's from someone who's been on the mark in the past.

I'm tagging this obviously. I would recommend people not read it...

I read it and that would be completely ****ing stupid. That would ruin the entire show in my eyes.

Yeah, I wouldn't be a fan.

I thought that was a joke when I first read it.

The thing that worries me right now is what Bronn's going to do.

You know what they didn't show in the trailer for next week? Him, and the Golden Company.

I would love to think they all turn on Cersei. But that seems way too fortuitous for this show. Especially right after all these idjits survive the Night King.

nope, people assume George RR Martin is in love with the idea. Here’s how we know this happened. A writer. He has said many times that the person he most identifies with, most like him is Sam.

That may be a book ending though. I could see it being a good ending. Sam writing, Music playing, Arya and Gentry playing with their kids, Sansa, John, Danerys and anyone rise who survived we see them happy, how they ended up 5-10 years later maybe mourning the ones they lost at a memorial etc.

What this season needs is a classic GoT, brutal unexpected death of a popular character.

None of this noble dying on the battlefield like Jorah got.

We need a, "Oh looks like Sansa is about to get away! NOPE! She just got her ovaries crushed so hard that her eyes popped out of her skull" kinda death.

We need to BELIEVE Tyrion is gonna make it out ok, only to see his dwarf head on a spike.

Some of THAT.

Then it'll feel like GoT again.