I've decided to post this here mostly to vent my frustration at the show. Bay12 seems to be the only place on the internet that is divided on the show's quality rather than praising everything mindlessly; I was trying to articulate some of these points to my family and they think I'm crazy. Here goes.
Beginning with the Lannister/Frey/Tully siege, I'm absolutely livid that the Blackfish was killed offscreen. He's a legend in-universe, and as one of the only survivors of the Red Wedding and the last remnant of Robb's rebellion he's fairly important to the narrative as well. The show has spent several episodes reestablishing his stubbornness and building up the conflict here, and it's resolved without any payoff at all, without even having the decency of killing him onscreen. The show has been like this from the beginning, but the difference between this and Jamie's off-screen defeat back in Season 1 was that everything in this story arc was building this moment up and the only payoff we get was the Blackfish's offscreen defeat! It would have been nice if the show established some sort of friction between the Blackfish and his soldiers, because besides Jamie's offhand comment there was no foreshadowing or hint that the Tully soldiers weren't behind the Blackfish one hundred percent. What was the fucking point if this entire trip north ends like this? It remains to be seen if Jamie is changed by this at all, as even when Edmure was doing his best to talk Jamie down it fails and Jamie rallies himself pretty decisively. It feels like a waste of time, and while their presence in the North might have an effect on the upcoming Bastardbowl somehow I feel like everything about this story arc was waste of my time.
I was excited about Sandor's return last episode, and the dubstep and airhorns were going off in my mind at the end when he grabbed his axe and got ready to fuck shit up. Even then, through the hype, I realized that the writers were fucking this story arc up from the beginning; we're introduced to this new character that saved Sandor's life, and in the span of a few scenes we need to both establish what happened to save Sandor's life and grow to care about these new characters before they die at the end of the episode. The actor did a good job, but there simply wasn't enough time to process things and form any sort of emotional connection before it all ends. I feel it would have been better to space Sandor's scenes out over a few episodes so that we had time to understand and care. Despite that, I was at maximum hype at the beginning of this episode and it did everything it could to douse my excitement. It all feels horribly rushed as an excuse to bring Sandor back into the picture, as over the course of two episodes and what can't be more than twenty minutes of footage we get this entire mini-arc where the payoff at the end looses any visceral or emotional meaning because Sandor has to stop and bicker with the Brotherhood. I was looking forward to Sandor skullfucking his way though some vengeance, but if he's forced to stop and banter then it looses all its momentum very quickly. Last episode I was more hyped for Cleganebowl than I ever was before, and this episode I'm left with a bitter taste in my mouth as they dance the Sandor-shaped puppet in front of me in the hopes that I project all of my feelings for him onto this mockery of a story.
The real kick in the balls was Tommen's announcement that Trial by Mortal Kombat was no longer allowed. It neuters Cleganebowl completely and utterly, which is probably a good thing; getting Sandor into a situation where he was both willing and able to champion the Faith couldn't be done in any reasonable amount of time without fucking everything up even more. My only recourse is to hope that Cercei and Q decide to hightail it out of there before her trial and end up throwing the Mountain at a pile of easily-gibbed fanatics. I will admit that it was a good move by the High Sparrow, as there was no way he would ever be able to find someone who could both realistically defeat Gregor in battle and would be willing to help him do it.
The real shitshow was with Arya. I was having Prometheus flashbacks as our plucky heroine partakes in a chase and action scene despite having just received a debilitating gut wound, and Arya doesn't even have the excuse of bullshit sci-fi healing magic. The death of Lady Craine was predictable and failed to move me in any way; every time the shot lingered behind her I was expecting the Waif to jump out and knife her, so I wasn't surprised when it finally happened. What gets me more than anythign else, though, is the final 'fight' between Arya and the Waif. We have been shown, consistently and without question, that the Waif is a better fighter than Arya in almost every way. Arya is wounded and bleeding, and wa barely able to run while the Waif cornered her. She picks up the sword and swishes the candle and THAT'S IT. We are just supposed to accept that Arya wins? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS? Arya has spent these last two episdoes ont he run, at a complete disatvantage! She is at her lowest point when the Waif corners her, and this tension is wasted by a fucking cut to black! Arya beats the Waif because the Waif couldn't penetrate her fucking plot armor, not because Arya outwitted her or outfought her or anything! There's this vague suggestion that she used some of the fencing moves she learned way back in Season 1, which would make a little bit of sense and underline the fact that she's embracing her past as Arya again, but we don't SEE it! I'm having a hard time articulating the reason thsi makes me angry without using caps and swearing, but this is some of the worst writing I have ever seen! The writers cut to black at the point where all of the setup and time should have been used to create a compelling climax and they skipped the most important part! I'm not angry that I missed a cool fight scene, I'm angry because the fight scene was the climax of Arya's story here in Bravvos and they didn't care enough to film it!
I was so hyped at the end of Season Five, and now I feel drained. I don't care what happens next episode because I know what will happen; Jon will fight and loose until Littlefinger comes in to save the day. A lot of people in this thread are giving the show flak for excessive feminism, and while I see their point I think the horrid pacing, gaping plot holes and utter idiocy of our protagonists fucked it up a lot more.The writers have gone to great lengths to destroy any excitement I have for this next episode and I am uttering the dreaded words; I don't care what happens to these people any more. I'm watching now out of inertia and the wild hope that my otp, DanyXYara, comes to pass.
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Topic: A Game of Thrones: Every time somebody uses the spoiler tags take a shot. (Read 205661 times)