Winds of Winter

[Brock Beauchamp]

Also, I must be the only one not bothered by how dark it was.

 

It was dark out......it gave us a sense of what the characters experienced, imo. I kind of enjoyed it, rather than the artificial light we get in most night/cave scenes*

 

*note, I'm not arguing that all scenes should be that way.....

I didn’t have an issue with the dark as much as how bad it looked on my 4K HDR television streaming over a gigabit connection.

 

But the dark made the streaming deficiencies MUCH worse. The entire screen was artifacted, banded gradients at points.

[TheLeviathan]

I chalk at least some of the battle prep to them having to rush through it.

 

Nothing explains the death of the Dothraki other than budget concerns...

[Brock Beauchamp]

I chalk at least some of the battle prep to them having to rush through it.

 

Nothing explains the death of the Dothraki other than budget concerns...

I suspect many of the worst decisions were because of budget.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Yeah, the plot armor was thick in the second half of the episode. I’m pretty sure I went five minutes without seeing a single warrior who wasn’t a named character in the show.

 

there is no way that Sam should be alive, or Grey Worm. You can maybe argue that Jaime and Brienne kept each other alive by standing by that wall.....

 

And why the bleep does blue dragon fire take down walls, but not curve around them to kill Jon? That whole sequence was lame, imo.

[TheLeviathan]

I suspect many of the worst decisions were because of budget.

This show has done so many amazing things that I think people forget it’s still a TV show with a TV budget. That makes a lot of things, especially fantasy elements, very difficult.

[Mike Sixel]

 

I chalk at least some of the battle prep to them having to rush through it.

 

Nothing explains the death of the Dothraki other than budget concerns...

 

I don't know. The art/cinema/suspense of the lights going out was really a cool idea. Bad battle strategy, cool idea.

 

We don't see the wolf packs due to budget though.....Why the heck was Jon's wolf not by Bran?

[TheLeviathan]

I don't know. The art/cinema/suspense of the lights going out was really a cool idea. Bad battle strategy, cool idea.

 

We don't see the wolf packs due to budget though.....Why the heck was Jon's wolf not by Bran?

Didn’t we hear that the biggest challenge of the battle of the bastards was the horses? Maybe I’m misremembering....

[Mike Sixel]

 

Didn’t we hear that the biggest challenge of the battle of the bastards was the horses? Maybe I’m misremembering....

 

Oh, I'm not arguing it wasn't mostly about budget.....but it was cool cinema also. 

[TheLeviathan]

Oh, I'm not arguing it wasn't mostly about budget.....but it was cool cinema also.

 

Definitely. That slaughter, without seeing it, was an early let down.

[Mike Sixel]

One article on the strategy:

 

https://www.tor.com/2019/04/30/breaking-down-the-battle-of-winterfell-from-a-military-perspective/

[Vanimal46]

I didn’t have an issue with the dark as much as how bad it looked on my 4K HDR television streaming over a gigabit connection.

 

But the dark made the streaming deficiencies MUCH worse. The entire screen was artifacted, banded gradients at points.

Yeah they did a bad job compressing the file on their app. I heard it was better to watch live off the app.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Yeah they did a bad job compressing the file on their app. I heard it was better to watch live off the app.

 

Interesting.

 

My tv is one of the last plasma tvs....and we get a good bit of banding on black scenes, I always figured it was the tv......

[Mike Sixel]

Man, my 21 year old hated that episode! For all the reasons the internet did.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

This show has done so many amazing things that I think people forget it’s still a TV show with a TV budget. That makes a lot of things, especially fantasy elements, very difficult.

I don't mean to bash it, I'm just saying the episode let me down because of technological restraints and a bit of dumb****ery.

 

There was no excuse for the battle to be quite as stupid as it was and the episode was sooooo close to magnificent... then the streaming got in the way and made all those budget constraints really apparent.

 

It was a bigger letdown to me because I absolutely adored the first two episodes.

[TheLeviathan]

 

I don't mean to bash it, I'm just saying the episode let me down because of technological restraints and a bit of dumb****ery.

 

There was no excuse for the battle to be quite as stupid as it was and the episode was sooooo close to magnificent... then the streaming got in the way and made all those budget constraints really apparent.

 

It was a bigger letdown to me because I absolutely adored the first two episodes.

 

Oh I agree, it was anti-climatic for me as well.  It's a testament to the show that they built up such lofty expectations.  It's also fair to criticize when they don't live up to the ones they set too.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Oh I agree, it was anti-climatic for me as well.  It's a testament to the show that they built up such lofty expectations.  It's also fair to criticize when they don't live up to the ones they set too.

But I'd like to take a moment to talk about how f-ing brilliant the first two episodes of the season were and how beautifully they played out.

 

I so loved those episodes. To me, they were far more fulfilling than the battle episode because they were were a distilling of all the elements of the series and making those elements fuse together. I loved every minute of it.

 

The fireplace scene and knighting of Brienne is one of my favorite moments of the entire series. It meant so much, delivered by so many disparate characters who needed that moment to come together.

[PseudoSABR]

 

The fireplace scene and knighting of Brienne is one of my favorite moments of the entire series. It meant so much, delivered by so many disparate characters who needed that moment to come together.

I was weeping during the knighting.  Brienne's incredulity and deep-seated appreciation was so rewarding that I was sure she would die in the most recent episode. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I was weeping during the knighting.  Brienne's incredulity and deep-seated appreciation was so rewarding that I was sure she would die in the most recent episode. 

Oh, I was totally cry-face during that scene. It was beautiful, but to me it meant that Brienne was carrying the torch and would survive.

 

Funny how interpretation works that way.

[PseudoSABR]

Something I want to see in the next episode: House Glover gets its comeuppance for abandoning the Starks (again).

[Vanimal46]

Oh, I was totally cry-face during that scene. It was beautiful, but to me it meant that Brienne was carrying the torch and would survive.

 

Funny how interpretation works that way.

Like Pseudo I was convinced Brienne would die in the last episode. The usual formula we've seen from the series is a character getting their moment of recognition, then getting pierced by an arrow/sword.

 

I felt the same about Podrick last week too after his solo tune in episode 2. Thought he was a goner for sure.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Like Pseudo I was convinced Brienne would die in the last episode. The usual formula we've seen from the series is a character getting their moment of recognition, then getting pierced by an arrow/sword.

 

I felt the same about Podrick last week too after his solo tune in episode 2. Thought he was a goner for sure.

I also expected Podrick to get offed.

[PseudoSABR]

 

I also expected Podrick to get offed.

I'm psyched though that he's a pretty bad ass fighter now.  

[Vanimal46]

The tone is set for next week!

[PseudoSABR]

That episode was a bit bleh. Don't they have scouts? (or why travel by sea at all, stand together, they know Euron is out there).Lost another dragon for no reason. Tyrion is an idiot. Dany has lost her capacity to be a leader and it makes little sense (notwithstanding the Gendry moment). 

 

I'm souring on the showrunners. I hope they change my mind.  (I think the books (haven't read them), if they get written, end up very different from the show.)

[TheLeviathan]

The Dany heel turn is too fast, I'm not sure this will feel earned.

 

Might have been better stretching this out longer, though I'm guessing that wasn't possible.

[Vanimal46]

That episode was a bit bleh. Don't they have scouts? (or why travel by sea at all, stand together, they know Euron is out there).Lost another dragon for no reason. Tyrion is an idiot. Dany has lost her capacity to be a leader and it makes little sense (notwithstanding the Gendry moment).

 

I'm souring on the showrunners. I hope they change my mind. (I think the books (haven't read them), if they get written, end up very different from the show.)

I actually liked this episode more than the first 2 episodes of the season... But I also like this story more than the wight walkers and the night king. Which, they still haven't explained why he was there in the first place... Ugh.

 

Everyone is getting consumed by power now... Dany is losing it because she sees the way her followers look at Jon and she knows he's the true king. Sansa sees a slight opportunity to claim the throne herself and will play dirty to get it. Cersei is completely consumed by the power... That was not a face that looks prepared to surrender.

[Mike Sixel]

I liked it, but damn they are stupid bad at being at sea. They had to know Euron was around. Split the dragons. Have scouts. Just once, be smart at war.

[Mike Sixel]

I actually liked this episode more than the first 2 episodes of the season... But I also like this story more than the wight walkers and the night king. Which, they still haven't explained why he was there in the first place... Ugh.

 

Everyone is getting consumed by power now... Dany is losing it because she sees the way her followers look at Jon and she knows he's the true king. Sansa sees a slight opportunity to claim the throne herself and will play dirty to get it. Cersei is completely consumed by the power... That was not a face that looks prepared to surrender.

At this point, if every Lord and Lady was dead but Sansa, I'd be happy with that.

 

You could write some good books about the lesser houses pursuing power....

 

Is Jaime really going to help Cersei, or was he just pushing brienne away?

[Vanimal46]

At this point, if every Lord and Lady was dead but Sansa, I'd be happy with that.

 

You could write some good books about the lesser houses pursuing power....

 

Is Jaime really going to help Cersei, or was he just pushing brienne away?

I think Jaime was just keeping Brienne away from the situation. He needs to face Cersei alone... I think he realizes she's a monster and will do the right thing by killing her himself.

[gunnarthor]

The dragon was killed because the show needed to make things harder for the good guys. Cercei is able to arm King's Landing to the teeth b/c that's another obstacle for Jon/Dany to overcome. None of it makes sense anymore.

 

I've gotten to the point where I just ignore the stupid actions of the characters/plot, the show runners simply lost control of this ship. Just enjoy watching the battle scenes. I don't think I'm invested in any character anymore.