Octopus Overlords

Rumpy wrote:Yeah, but it makes them less bingeable. Also 8 episodes makes it sound like there'd be less content, but there's not. You could effectively split the longer episodes into making more episodes to spread things out more. The tactic of a longer episode I see working best with the finale.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:16 pm Yeah, but it makes them less bingeable. Also 8 episodes makes it sound like there'd be less content, but there's not. You could effectively split the longer episodes into making more episodes to spread things out more. The tactic of a longer episode I see working best with the finale.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:25 pm No, you're right and I don't even generally do that. It's just that at those extended lengths, I'm less likely to watch an episode in a single sitting. It's hard enough for me to get time for an hour with the TV in the evening, let alone an hour and a half. I'm not the only one in the household and we only have one TV. It tends to get occupied for large blocks of time. To get the TV for that long not just for one episode, but 4 weeks in a row is going to require some strategy.

Grifman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:12 pm People worried about the writers doing something crazy should rest easy. The ending has been described as "surprising, but satisfying". Killing off all our heroes and letting Cersi or someone of her ilk take over wouldn't be satisfying.

So here's my prediction:

Spoiler:

Dany wants to "break the wheel" that has cause constant turmoil among the great houses and suffering for rich and poor alike. She has also been questioned by Tyrion about the succession and put him off. The problem is that the Iron Throne itself is the problem. Sure, she or John would be a great/good ruler but what about afterwards? The "goodness" of the Iron Throne is too dependent on who holds the Iron Throne, as history amply shows. To "break the wheel", you actually to break it, not just put in new spokes. The obvious solution, hinted at by her treatment of the slaver cities is a constitutional monarchy, a king with limited powers, with representation of the great houses in a Senate/House of Lords, and representation for the commons in a House of Commons. Each two lets of the triad will keep the other one in check.

You can't go full republic/democracy because as her experience in Slavers' Bay shows, you can turn society upside down all at once. You have to ease people into, which is what a constitutional monarchy would do. Over time the monarchy would become less and less powerful, more of a figurehead, and the same with the House of Lords (as seen in Great Britain).

Will, this really happen? Probably not, but I think it makes the most sense given her publicly stated goal.

Grifman wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2019 6:12 pm People worried about the writers doing something crazy should rest easy. The ending has been described as "surprising, but satisfying". Killing off all our heroes and letting Cersi or someone of her ilk take over wouldn't be satisfying.

Finally, I was sent for an MRI, a brain scan. The diagnosis was quick and ominous: a subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), a life-threatening type of stroke, caused by bleeding into the space surrounding the brain. I’d had an aneurysm, an arterial rupture. As I later learned, about a third of SAH patients die immediately or soon thereafter. For the patients who do survive, urgent treatment is required to seal off the aneurysm, as there is a very high risk of a second, often fatal bleed. If I was to live and avoid terrible deficits, I would have to have urgent surgery. And, even then, there were no guarantees.

I was taken by ambulance to the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, a beautiful redbrick Victorian pile in central London. It was nighttime. My mum slept in my hospital ward, slumped in a chair, as I kept falling in and out of sleep, in a state of drugged wooziness, shooting pain, and persistent nightmares.

I remember being told that I should sign a release form for surgery. Brain surgery? I was in the middle of my very busy life—I had no time for brain surgery. But, finally, I settled down and signed. And then I was unconscious. For the next three hours, surgeons went about repairing my brain. This would not be my last surgery, and it would not be the worst. I was twenty-four years old.

Jaymann wrote:I'm afraid that Arya has to go. She is way OP.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 2:39 pm I'm afraid that Arya has to go. She is way OP.

msteelers wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 2:21 pm I am pumped for tonight! We watched the season 7 finale last night as a quick primer for season 8. There are so many potential endings, I just hope they stick the landing.

I have no clue what will happen. The only thing I feel certain of in my bones is that

Spoiler:

Cersei gets killed off. I don’t know how or by whom, but she has to go.

Outside of that, if I was forced to predict how it’s going to end I think I would agree with Grifman.

Holman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 10:36 pm Just watched S8e1.

Impressions:

Spoiler:

Meh.

There was a huge amount of reunioning, which makes sense as stage-setting, but this meant that most of the episode was characters announcing each other's names and/or the camera dwelling on their emotionally conflicted faces as a sign of all they've been through over seven seasons.

Dialogue suffered too, basically because so much of it was exposition or demonstrative reaction to exposition.

Jon and Daeny continue to lack chemistry together, so their dragonride and Huge Big Kiss were almost embarrassing.

The Hound's reunion with Arya was especially disappointing. Their earlier dynamic was probably the best single thing about the series so far, and here it was played for just a few seconds of "Well, whaddya know?" Nothing of how each character has changed (and the changes have been significant, or so we thought) was evident whatsoever.

Sam's big news for Jon deserved much more than a firelit back-and-forth. This is exactly the kind of story-changing info-dump that set-piece flashbacks are made for.

Oh, and nothing we saw indicated that Euron has earned that queen.

I still think S1e1 was one of the best first episodes of any show ever. That was probably because it owed so much directly to GRRM. Nowadays we have no idea where he is.

Still, I gotta admit that the Jon/Arya reunion was very sweet, and the Jaime/Bran encounter was superb.

Holman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 10:36 pm Just watched S8e1.

Impressions:

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:02 am

Holman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 10:36 pm Just watched S8e1.

Impressions:

Spoiler:

I couldn't read her well in that scene. She flashed a look of disgust when Euron left the room. Is she disgusted by him? Is she disgusted that she had to resort to sleeping with him in order to get what she wants? Or does it have to do with his comments about getting her pregnant?


I read it as she is thinking of possibly claiming Euron is the father of her unborn child.

Jaymann wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:49 am

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:02 am

Holman wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 10:36 pm Just watched S8e1.

Impressions:

Spoiler:

I couldn't read her well in that scene. She flashed a look of disgust when Euron left the room. Is she disgusted by him? Is she disgusted that she had to resort to sleeping with him in order to get what she wants? Or does it have to do with his comments about getting her pregnant?


I read it as she is thinking of possibly claiming Euron is the father of her unborn child.

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:02 am

Spoiler:

Sam's big news for Jon deserved much more than a firelit back-and-forth. This is exactly the kind of story-changing info-dump that set-piece flashbacks are made for.

The set-piece flashback was done in the season 7 finale. It would be forced to repeat it there. Plus, it wasn't an info dump to the audience. We already knew everything said. The only thing we didn't know is how Jon would handle it. The camera focused right on what we cared about: Jon's reaction.

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:21 am

Spoiler:

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:35 am

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:02 am

Spoiler:

Sam's big news for Jon deserved much more than a firelit back-and-forth. This is exactly the kind of story-changing info-dump that set-piece flashbacks are made for.

The set-piece flashback was done in the season 7 finale. It would be forced to repeat it there. Plus, it wasn't an info dump to the audience. We already knew everything said. The only thing we didn't know is how Jon would handle it. The camera focused right on what we cared about: Jon's reaction.

On the flashback we've already seen and what we haven't:

Spoiler:

You're talking about young Ned at the Tower of Joy, right?

I can't seem to recall, but have we ever seen Rhaegar and Lyanna (sp?) together? Was there a brief flashback at some point to the scene at the tourney where he gives her the flower or whatever?

I have a dim memory of it, but I know we haven't really seen R and L together and in love. Considering that theirs is supposed to be one of the great love stories of this world (and one of history's turning points, in that Robert's jealousy at it is how the world really goes to shit), it seems like it deserves more than a few lines of explication spoken in the dark.

Show us the drama, peoples!

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:38 am

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:21 am

Spoiler:

I didn't think it was slow. I thought it was rushed.

Too much important stuff came and went perfunctorily.

I didn't hate it, but it wasn't anywhere near the standards of the greatest GoT episodes.

Holman wrote:

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:02 am

Spoiler:

Sam's big news for Jon deserved much more than a firelit back-and-forth. This is exactly the kind of story-changing info-dump that set-piece flashbacks are made for.

The set-piece flashback was done in the season 7 finale. It would be forced to repeat it there. Plus, it wasn't an info dump to the audience. We already knew everything said. The only thing we didn't know is how Jon would handle it. The camera focused right on what we cared about: Jon's reaction.

On the flashback we've already seen and what we haven't:

Spoiler:

You're talking about young Ned at the Tower of Joy, right?

I can't seem to recall, but have we ever seen Rhaegar and Lyanna (sp?) together? Was there a brief flashback at some point to the scene at the tourney where he gives her the flower or whatever?

I have a dim memory of it, but I know we haven't really seen R and L together and in love. Considering that theirs is supposed to be one of the great love stories of this world (and one of history's turning points, in that Robert's jealousy at it is how the world really goes to shit), it seems like it deserves more than a few lines of explication spoken in the dark.

Show us the drama, peoples!

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 10:46 am

Holman wrote:

msteelers wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 9:02 am

Spoiler:

Sam's big news for Jon deserved much more than a firelit back-and-forth. This is exactly the kind of story-changing info-dump that set-piece flashbacks are made for.

The set-piece flashback was done in the season 7 finale. It would be forced to repeat it there. Plus, it wasn't an info dump to the audience. We already knew everything said. The only thing we didn't know is how Jon would handle it. The camera focused right on what we cared about: Jon's reaction.

On the flashback we've already seen and what we haven't:

Spoiler:

You're talking about young Ned at the Tower of Joy, right?

I can't seem to recall, but have we ever seen Rhaegar and Lyanna (sp?) together? Was there a brief flashback at some point to the scene at the tourney where he gives her the flower or whatever?

I have a dim memory of it, but I know we haven't really seen R and L together and in love. Considering that theirs is supposed to be one of the great love stories of this world (and one of history's turning points, in that Robert's jealousy at it is how the world really goes to shit), it seems like it deserves more than a few lines of explication spoken in the dark.

Show us the drama, peoples!

We have seen R+L together. Their marriage, the childbirth, and L telling R their baby’s name. That was all last season. We haven’t spent a ton of time with them, but we’ve seen what we needed to.

JCC wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2019 1:01 pm (Not hiding stuff in spoiler tags - not that I am going into that many details.)

I thought the episode was great. Loved all the reunions.

I took Cersei's changing her mind to simply wanting a roll in the hay and then perhaps having a way to futher manipulate him. We all know the man she truly wants isn't available. Cersei is cold and calculating (even if she is sometimes/often wrong). I didn't see it as a sign of weakness at all - but that's just my take.