[TV/Books] Game of Thrones ***SPOILER Discussion***

[Mavick]

I write briefs for a living. They literally spend a whole year long course on being able to construct an argument in law school - at my school it was called Legal Research and Writing. Like storytelling, it relies on internal consistency, and moving from one conclusion to the next in a logical fashion. Unlike storytelling, it's quite boring. That's why I said "just not of fiction."

Didn't ask, and sure as hell not relevant anyway.

[RobertoCarlos]

Also, as they explained in the after-show extras, the point of the episode, from Arya's perspective, was to show how she started out confident, then in the face of the overwhelming odds to become afraid, which is where she's at in the wight-library. Then, Berick and the Hound help her escape, and the Red Woman gives her the right words to prod her to her role in this, filled with confidence again.

Yeah I liked the library scene a lot, it was well shot and very suspenseful. Plus you need those quieter moments among the chaos.

[Thelxi]

Halfway through I started wondering where the hell this could go for the remaining season and started suspecting that the NK might die this episode. I was pretty surprised at how few people died, pretty much everyone is still alive. I did not see Arya coming at all. I laughed out loud when Lyanna got knocked out of the way by the giant, I'm sure many people derived much pleasure from that scene. I loved Theon's heroic death and story conclusion. I liked that they totally deceived us starting with the trailer by making both misandei and grey worm survive. Most of all I'm happy Drogon is still alive and kicking.

Overall though the episode was dark and murky as fuck. I could barely see a thing. I watched it in 720p because I was so immersed that I forgot to switch to the 1080p when it finished downloading, so maybe that made it worse. But very hard to see stuff, in contrast to the battle of the bastards where every gory detail was in full view, and I kinda hoped/expected this episode would be very similar to that one.

Overall I am glad the night king is dealt with and we can now end this show at a more familiar tone. I'm sure many people will find plenty to complain about, but this episode was masterfully written imo and a great crescendo to what was built up over many years. I love this show. And one thing is for sure, there won't be any murky darkness during the king's landing battle.

[eschatological]

I honestly don't know how people are having such a hard time grasping her ability to sneak up on someone and kill him, as that's kind of what expertly trained assassin's do. It's literally like saying "I have a problem with her wearing dead people's faces and appearing alive". There's probably a bit of magic involved, I don't know, it's not clearly explained. But what IS explained is that she's very, very good at killing people unawares, and she has. Chalk it up to good Faceless Man training, it's really that simple.

The Faceless Men have never been shown to be able to stealth through a silent grove filled with supernatural beings. I suppose the idea is to call back to two episodes ago where she sneaks up on Jon in the very same location, but it's a world of difference. This very episode showed the wights (not even the White Walkers), hear the gentle drip of blood from her forehead onto the floor.

What, did she jump over them from behind? That would be like a 50 foot jump, and she would have needed like 10 feet of clearance to get over the White Walkers safely. It's absurd.

The point of the Faceless Men is that they can magically change faces. There's no indication they can be magically silent. They are masters of being seen without being seen, the whole point is to become "no one," which in the context of the FM, means having someone look directly at you and see through you, not noticing you. To be unobtrusive. They are not ninjas.

[IIamaKing]

7 seasons of "winter is coming" lols, got longer winters in Wisconsin in April.

[Dizson]

You mean run and jump?

She fucking teleported behind him. What a bunch of bullshit. Dude had hundreds of zombies and his generals right beside him, and no one noticed her? And where did she fucking jump from they were in the middle of an open space, the castle walls were too far away. Come on.

[Collegeguy]

I see a lot of people disappointing with NK being killed early, but I'm so happy that everyone didn't die myself.

I expected a massive retreat with maybe Jon and Danny being the only main survivors, but we would need far more episodes in order to wrap it up in that fashion.

Or some monstrous ending where everyone joins the NK and go kills Cersei, no one would watch those final episodes and HBO knows it.

[Mavick]

The Faceless Men have never been shown to be able to stealth through a silent grove filled with supernatural beings. I suppose the idea is to call back to two episodes ago where she sneaks up on Jon in the very same location, but it's a world of difference. This very episode showed the wights (not even the White Walkers), hear the gentle drip of blood from her forehead onto the floor.

What, did she jump over them from behind? That would be like a 50 foot jump, and she would have needed like 10 feet of clearance to get over the White Walkers safely. It's absurd.

The point of the Faceless Men is that they can magically change faces. There's no indication they can be magically silent. They are masters of being seen without being seen, the whole point is to become "no one," which in the context of the FM, means having someone look directly at you and see through you, not noticing you. To be unobtrusive. They are not ninjas.

And you assume that by a show's metric we've seen every single little act of coolness that the Faceless Men are capable of? I explained in an earlier post the very showrunners reasoning for having Arya sort of break down in the middle like that, out of fear. Why is it so hard to assume that someone with her training is capable of coming at someone out of the blue like that? You have to be working really, really hard to be critical of nothing for that to work in your brain.

[RobertoCarlos]

I was sweating bricks for Arya when she was getting chased in those tunnels, even though I knew the hound was gonna help her.

Her and Brienne (apart from a few too many fan service scenes) are actual "stronk" female characters that I like in this age of PC culture.

Arya's entire arc has been training for this moment and Brienne just wailing like a madman and going full zerk mode in battle makes me excite

before the NK kill, Arya had her "glory moment" using her new weapon, but she was quickly nearly knocked out and had to hide so it wasnt complete eyeroll where characters are OP cause female

[IIamaKing]

She fucking teleported behind him. What a bunch of bullshit. Dude had hundreds of zombies and his generals right beside him, and no one noticed her? And where did she fucking jump from they were in the middle of an open space, the castle walls were too far away. Come on.

As I said before, arya couldn't get past 10 wrights now suddenly she could among 50 or more and the knights and the night king. yeah thats really great writing.

From 50 to hundreds in just a few posts! Your hyperbole is impressive. I suggest glasses or a new TV if you have a such a hard time seeing what's happening when watching.

[eschatological]

And you assume that by a show's metric we've seen every single little act of coolness that the Faceless Men are capable of? I explained in an earlier post the very showrunners reasoning for having Arya sort of break down in the middle like that, out of fear. Why is it so hard to assume that someone with her training is capable of coming at someone out of the blue like that? You have to be working really, really hard to be critical of nothing for that to work in your brain.

Because her training didn't include that. Her training included selling fish as a fish girl and gathering information, and fighting blindfolded with a stick.

Hell, they hadn't even gotten to the part where she was supposed to learn face swapping, because she literally failed their training. And then she killed the girl training her, stole faces from the hall of faces, and used it to kill Meryn Trant and Walder Frey, (not by sneaking up on them, btw, but approaching them directly, disguised).

This stealthy assassin shit is literally made up out of nowhere.

[Mavick]

Because her training didn't include that. Her training included selling fish as a fish girl and gathering information, and fighting blindfolded with a stick.

Hell, they hadn't even gotten to the part where she was supposed to learn face swapping, because she literally failed their training. And then she killed the girl training her, stole faces from the hall of faces, and used it to kill Meryn Trant and Walder Frey, (not by sneaking up on them, btw, but approaching them directly, disguised).

This stealthy assassin shit is literally made up out of nowhere.

So again, you assume by a show's metric that we've seen every aspect of her training? Or that it would be illogical for an assassin to be trained to be able to sneak up on someone like that? Particularly when it's been remarked how quiet she moves in just a couple episodes prior?

[Independent voter]

The death of the Night King seemed too easy. They could've just stuck him with a dragon glass arrow from a hundred yards away.

The Night King raises the dead to fight for him. "Hey everyone, let's put the defenseless people in the crypt, you know, with all the dead people!"

[RobertoCarlos]

Because her training didn't include that. Her training included selling fish as a fish girl and gathering information, and fighting blindfolded with a stick.

Hell, they hadn't even gotten to the part where she was supposed to learn face swapping, because she literally failed their training. And then she killed the girl training her, stole faces from the hall of faces, and used it to kill Meryn Trant and Walder Frey, (not by sneaking up on them, btw, but approaching them directly, disguised).

This stealthy assassin shit is literally made up out of nowhere.

She trained blind mang, shes op with sight now.

Her time with the faceless men was basically her 100x gravity training chamber for Goku flying to Namek

[Dizson]

From 50 to hundreds in just a few posts! Your hyperbole is impressive. I suggest glasses or a new TV if you have a such a hard time seeing what's happening when watching.

Yes its a hyperbole so what? if you watch the scene there are a shitton of zombies around the tree there is no way arya could go trough that, but ofc she could, they don't even show how cus the plot is so fucking bad.

"READ and be less Ignorant."
That's ironic coming from you, since you didn't manage to grab the main point, get a brain.

Flaming isn't allowed. Infracted.

[Khaza-R]

Wow, that was really awful and I was already gripping myself to be underwhelmed.

Some cool scenes but the episode was full of so many terrible cliches. Also how can the NK not be harmed by dragon fire but melts when pricked by dragon glass. Makes 7 seasons worth of "Winter is Coming" completely pointless.

[IIamaKing]

Because her training didn't include that. Her training included selling fish as a fish girl and gathering information, and fighting blindfolded with a stick.

She was there for some time, like a year or more, we saw like maybe an hour of her training...lol. But yeh, Im sure world renowned assassins are not adept at speed and stealth. Especially a light waif of a person such as Arya. A girl who got her start learning to chase and sneak up on cats. Like do people even WATCH the show?

[RobertoCarlos]

The death of the Night King seemed too easy. They could've just stuck him with a dragon glass arrow from a hundred yards away.

they dont have legolas.

Plus it had to be the point he was stabbed already

[Collegeguy]

So much for all the theories saying the undead would just go south first and murder everyone out there to buff up their numbers. It's pure tunnel vision on the Night King's behalf. He even could have afked the entire battle and Bran still would have died.

I actually thought this theory was perfect, but then again how can you ignore two dragons on your rear.

[Dizson]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.9a7912e569cc
These visual missteps alone might have merely diminished a great episode, had this been one. But if “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” prepared us for the possibility that a significant number of important characters would meet their doom during this critical battle, the show seemed to lose its nerve and turn to the sorts of traditional fantasy tropes it had once upended.

Once, we knew that Arya’s training in the House of Black and White and the murderous road she’d walked to get there had morally deformed her. Now, her skills with Valyrian steel and dragonglass (not to mention her foresight in weapons design) have turned her into a mere badass. How did we get to a place where Arya’s assassination of the Night King felt like an intellectual letdown, where a big episode of “Game of Thrones” felt like badly shot and edited fan service rather than a genuine revelation?

But “The Long Night” was a powerful, late-in-the-game example of how its showrunners and directors have too often mistaken the show’s weakest qualities for its strongest. But if you asked me whether “Game of Thrones” is a genuinely great show, after “The Long Night,” I’d have to answer: not today.