I hear you. I guess for me the previous seasons feel like ages ago, and this season they've seemed to try to establish Varys as more intelligent and concerned than scheming. I am letting them basically wipe away his past, rightly or wrongly, because he seemed sincere and benevolent this time around. Even if he was possibly trying to poison her? Yeah, even that I don't feel like he was doing for his own position or power.
I agree that it was deliberate on her part and to me that would make this far more interesting than the mad queen aspect but that would take several more episodes to play out. Even the previously on opening segment showed a close up of Dany's face as she reacted to the beheading of her advisor, whose name I'm not sure how to spell, and voice overs were heard from discussions on the show questioning her sanity, but were played as if Dany was hearing all this in her head. I think they have written themselves in to a corner so to speak where the only way out is for Dany to be killed. Martin has said it will be a bittersweet ending. To me that indicates Jon kills her. He is the only one that can get close enough and the only one Drogon would allow. It also fulfills the prophecy of he who was promised I think, if that is even a storyline at this juncture. As much as this season seems rushed and character is sacrificed for plot, I'm still going to miss it.
I actually agree with you, but that’s a different perspective than the post I responded to. I was responding to the idea that fans were surprised that Dany went “nuclear” when I tend to think they (and me) were more surprised because the groundwork wasn’t suitably laid out to suggest that she could be evil.
Wasn't one million per episode what the actors and actresses made on the TV series Friends (toward the end of the series)?
Yeah, I agree. I've never liked her character so her decision didn't shock or bother me. But it's not "madness" any more than Cersei's actions have been "mad" in past seasons. I've never read the books but my impression was that the truly "mad king" was literally schizophrenic, hearing voices and so on. Dany is just spiteful, extremely vain, and, unlike Cersei, childish and impulsive.
'Game of Thrones' Petition for 'Competent Writers' Grabs 400,000 Signees Petition for HBO to remake season eight with competent writers.
Just rewatched the last episode. I think Arya checked out at the end. I know we see her in the final promo, could it be some Shyamalan 6th Sense ****?
Was just going to post that. Obviously, the petition won't accomplish what it desires, but I wonder if the show will incur some lasting damage to its reputation because of it. Pretty remarkable to get half a million people complaining about your show in less than 100 hours. I wonder how high that number will go.
I haven't seen any of the show outside the first season but have been waiting for it to wrap up to see they "Lindelof" the ending. If the online consensus is that it is as bad as or worse than the finales for True Blood, Battlestar Galactica and Lost I won't be bothering.
The white horse did raise questions of symbolism. And it does appear that it was the same horse they made a point of showing earlier being obviously killed. Arya is in next week's preview though.
Did they not suffer a 50% casualty rate against the white walkers? her army looks bigger now than ever.
Some white horse symbolism: white horse (with a pale rider) from revelations? white horse for a (cowboy) hero? white horse for a Valkyrie? They all work for me.
When watching Dany burn the city down, my mind connected her actions with the actions of the 20th century dictators, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. Like them, she is a Utopian in that she wants to build her idea of what would be a perfect society. Like them, she needs to absolutely smash the old order to do so, hence her comment about breaking the wheel. Like them, she’s willing to inflict horrible suffering on those presently living to create a better future. To build her new society, she needed to destroy the biggest symbol of the old order, the entire city of King’s Landing, just like how Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge emptied the cities of Cambodia to destroy the old order there. I don’t think she’s crazy, I think she realized finesse wouldn’t work in Westeros because the people didn’t worship/love her and the only way to fulfill her dreams was to kill and burn them into reality.
The N-value is not particularly high on the question of those who don't love her. Varys and Sansa, sure, but the rest of Westeros? Jon kept telling her that the Northerners don't know her. What did she expect? People bestrewing the road into Winterfell with flower petals upon her entry? Just because Jon not wanting to bed his aunt is not good evidence that she's not loved. She's bat sh%t crazy. Totally unnecessary slaughter.
It's interesting how her downfall begins almost the moment she arrives in Westeros. She all too quickly forgets the work that went into earning her the love she had in Essos. Even after she freed all the slaves she wasn't widely accepted until she had the priests selling her name on street corners. When she arrives in the North she is dumbstruck to discover that no one is all that bothered about her even though a couple of Dragons are flying around. This is where she becomes more and more isolated despite everyone around her trying to remind her that this is just what the north is like. Even Catelyn Stark says in the first season that she still feels like an outsider after living there for all those years. Seeing all this love for someone that she just learned has just as good a claim to the Iron throne as herself she can't help but be threatened by him completely forgetting that even he had to earn that admiration. She even forgot that he risked losing all their support just by bending the knee to her which she obsessively insisted on (which is a red flag reminiscent of Stannis in season 5). I think Aegon should have shot down her keep everything a secret plan as well from the start, it was an idea doomed to failure because unless she accepted him as he was she would inevitably become more and more suspicious of him as time went on. I know people will say I give them too much credit (the writers) but I think Aegon was more turned off by this than her being his Aunt as he could see it in her as soon as he told her the truth.
Never thought I would say this, but the speculation on why KL was destroyed, and how it ends - has got entered a new level of boredom. It will end, maybe we will guess it, maybe we won’t. Either way GOT is about 8 million times better than the Lost storyline. One good series followed by a load of pap. GOT has been 3 or 4 excellent seasons with 4 great ones. And the books are still good fun.
I think they're going to do this shortly after last year's NFC Championship game (Saints/Rams) is replayed.
And I submit to you that is a example of lazy writing - that instead of writing scenes that illustrate a descent into madness they have a character spout some Westross chestnut to justify behavior that goes against the character's previous actions. They could have written scenes showing a growing paranoia such as having Sam killed once John told her that he knew of John's true birthright. Katherine Starks sister was a truly "mad" character and recall the subtle way the writers were able to do that. Other examples of lazy writing; Arya literally falls out of the sky to kill the Night King after seemingly unable to escape mindless zombies in her family's own castle for 10 minutes. The Army of the North apparently multiplied after the Battle of the White Walkers including a large contingent of Dothraki who are brought back seemingly to just provide a visual of them ride through the streets of Kings Landing to murder innocent civilians. Tyrian is alive and well even after freeing his brother Jamie on the eve of the big battle (with his sister) and having been previously told his next mistake will be his last. I could go on but based on this thread and other fans I have spoken with people are either giving a pass to issues with this season or are like me were expecting better.
