Honestly, what do you think about Season 8? Mod warning post #1/#410

It was always going to be a little disappointment to a degree with the ending no one was going to be 100% happy, as everyone over two years has been writing their own stories with their friends.

But I personally am really enjoying it. I like where they have gone with Dani, was always going to happen.
A little rushed, but I am entertained and looking forward to each episode.

Looking forward to sitting down and watching season 8 in full flow with no episode breaks as it feels like its properly a constant film style narrative now.

It’s not that bad. It’s a bit disappointing in parts but to give up at the very end seems a bit silly imo.

It’s entertaining but quite different in pace to previous seasons. Storylines that have been carefully built up over several years / seasons are rushing to a conclusion, it all feels very hurried. They really could have done with one more season to wrap it up properly.

That said it is still one of my favourite shows ever and I will be sad to see it finish up next week. No doubt there will a plethora of prequels and spin offs but it’s doubtful that any will hold a candle to the original. It really has been eight seasons of absolutely spectacularly good television.

Well, there's the rushing and the teleporting and the lack of light and bad dialogue and absurd plotting (dragon/scorpions - twice ) and a whole rash of sudden personality reversals and previously important characters just standing looking at each other. That said I liked episode 2 for its tension!

bumders wrote: »

Awful just awful. The whole show was excellent except for this season.

Is Danerys on her period or something?

Cersis death was just crap, too many conincedences as well

Are you 12 or something?

Honestly, I'm gutted and incredibly pissed off at Benioff and Weiss. I've been invested in A Song of Ice and Fire for over a decade. I was one of the sad sacks that turned up to a midnight release of A Dance with Dragons and took holidays from work to read it the next day.

I was thrilled when HBO announced they were going to make it into a series and that GRRM was involved (he even wrote a few episodes in early seasons). I've probably watched the first season 5 or 6 times at this stage (doing re-watches before each season came out)

The quality of the writing has been on a downward curve since Season 5 and, at first, I accepted a lot of the short-cuts seeing them as the necessary evils required to bring a story written to be unfilmable to the screen (ASOIAF was, after all, literally born out of GRRM's frustration with show-runners telling him the budget couldn't stretch to the scale of his first drafts of episodes he was writing for their shows). The plummet in the quality of writing when the show is at it's most successful, and when HBO were only too happy to fund a few extra seasons is galling though.

Benioff & Weiss had the Star Wars trilogy dangled in front of them and abandoned the show that should have been their masterpiece. Instead of doing the decent thing and handing it over to new show-runners who would take the time to conclude it properly, they decided to give us the cliff notes version of the story's ending, forgot all sense of internal consistency and ruined it. They were perfectly capable of finishing this series well. They chose not to and I'll never forgive them for it.

Edit: I honestly feel sorriest for the Cast and Crew. They've done stirling work and the show looks amazing. It's become style over substance.

The story is winding down, there isn’t really anymore scheming that can be done (Varys’ betrayal could have been fleshed out a bit better though). Certain big things have to happen. It’s shocking that Dani burnt thousands of people but it’s not too unbelievable considering her history and what has happened. Jamie returning to Cersi is disappointing but not terribly surprising considering he loves her.
All this stuff has been built up over the seasons. Yes it’s rushed and perhaps executed poorly but it has to come to an end

I'm honestly not surprised that it is so badly written. I've felt in my gut for a while that D&D are just not interested in it taking up more or their time. Their writing isn't up to snuff and shame on HBO for not sacking them and bringing in better writers. I suppose they've made their money though so who cares, spin offs r us.

Everything else on the show is being let down by honestly god awful writing and continuity. It's a shame. I hope George doesn't leave us with this as the end to his story and I hope he has something ready to release.

That said, I left my expectations for this show to be good way way back in season 6. So I am watching the episodes purely for the spectacle now, and episode 5 did not disappoint. I was blown away by 99% of it. Dany flipping and the white horse aside it was unreal from start to finish.

I'm still mostly hugely enjoying it. There are definitely some valid complaints, and a few more episodes to make some of the decisions the characters are making would have helped them feel a lot more organic would have made a world of difference. But overall I think unless something completely stupid happens in the final episode, this season's dip in quality won't tarnish the show as a whole and will still be worth a rewatch in a few years.

Peatys wrote: »

It feels like two completely different sets of people made the first 4 series to the second 4.

First is a world of epic proportions with naunced history spanning thousands of years, lately just feels like an extended action flick.

Still good in its own right, but not a patch on how the show was a few years ago.

When the tide goes out (i.e. you run out of GRRM material to adapt) you realise they have been swimming naked (i.e. the marked decline in the writing highlights how mediocre D&D are as writers to create original content).

Sleepy wrote: »

Benioff & Weiss had the Star Wars trilogy dangled in front of them and abandoned the show that should have been their masterpiece. Instead of doing the decent thing and handing it over to new show-runners who would take the time to conclude it properly

For me GOT is still the best TV show ever made. S5, S7 and S8 are not quite as good as the other seasons, like everyone else I agree the pacing in the last too seasons was too fast but I've still enjoyed EVERY episode of GOT, something good has happened in every episode. It's strange but after I accept they fecked up by shortening the last 2 seasons it comes down to every time I feel its going too fast its a case of saying to myself well they kinda have too move too fast as they have so much to cram in now

North of 32 wrote: »

It's spectacular television - outstanding set pieces, incredible SFX, great directing, great music, great editing.

The writing is dreadful.

Mirrors my own thoughts exactly. I am enjoying it, but my expectations are high and the writing is sub par based on previous seasons.

Six episodes was always going to be too short.

Cleganebowl should have gotten an episode all to itself, a big lead in,, an even bigger fight with out in the open for all to see. (with a twist maybe)
Cersei's death should have also gotten its own episode, The missed a big opportunity there.

I could go on, Varys and his ending might have been fleshed out more.

All in All,, they might have done better with two more episodes.

Rushed because the showrunners heads were turned by the Star Wars trilogy and they wanted to finish this up as fast they possibly could.

Season 7 and 8 could have been a slower build to the showdown with the Night King and and finish off the story with season 9 as the battle for the throne and a more drawn out descent of Dany.

I'm finding it underwhelming, but part of that is because so much of the past seasons have been such amazing story telling. It's still good, but in a "competent writers with loads of money to spend" way. Loads of other series are as good if not better. Some of the lines made me laugh, the sporty sort of hangs together but it's just not what made GOT such an experience in the past.

Many of my criticisms have already been made here, but one that hasn't (I think) and that I don't get at all is the p1ss-poor writing of battle scenes. Well, Winterfell anyway (I'm away this week and have been instructed to wait till we're all home this weekend to watch the latest episode so I can't say anything about the battle for KL. V dubious about Daenerys just forgetting about the Iron fleet mind.)

But back to the Battle of Winterfell. It was spectacular, absolutely, but it had so much wrong with it. Unforgivable, with that budget. Why didn't they get a proper military adviser in, it's not like they couldn't afford one?

For instance, why would you start off by sacrificing your cavalry in the open field against a superior number when you've got the castle as defence? The Dothraki went so far out that the catapults were no use as cover - and then the trenches? Flaming trenches, great - but shouldn't you put them far enough away to keep your own forces inside them, and use the narrow passages to pick off your enemy as they come through? Instead of having them act as a bottleneck allowing your own troops to be killed by the enemy as they try and fail to retreat to the castle?

I'm no expert, but this is not even very complicated stuff, wasn't there a film about Ancient Greeks managing a lot better than that a long time ago?

Oh and why didn't Bran warg to find out what the Dead were up to and where they were? Instead of sitting out in the wood waiting listlessly?

Thing is, they could have had a proper battle plan, and still, with the superior numbers of the Dead and their powers and so on it could still have been thrillingly close. Instead it stretched credibility. And that's the problem with the writing. It's effective as a spectacle, but it's not worthy of Game of Thrones.

That said, the non battle episodes have been better IMO, and I'll still watch to the end, but yeah, I'm disappointed with what they've failed to deliver so far.

Failing to meet the standards it set for itself in earlier seasons. Still very good at times, but has sacrificed story, consistency, depth, and even logic for spectacle a bit too often.

HBO should have relieved the producers adnnd got a replacement who would take it to ten season.

You could have one season for the long night,
One season for the battle of king landing and one season a battle between Danny and Jon.

So many of those characters deserved better send offs.

Jamie Lannister death deserved a better send off and it's own episode
Same for cersei
Same for the hound

None of the cast or grrm seem happy with the ending or the final two seasons.
These lads butchered one of the greatest tv shows ever produced