It definitely felt like everything sort of fell into place very easily. The condensed nature of the shoe now has everything happening at warp speed to get us to the end game, logic be damned.
Who knew Gendry was a wilderness sprinter?
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I don't think it's that unpopular of an opinion! Completely agree about storytelling. I think it's pretty obvious they're just going through the motions at this point and all sense of nuance or development is out of the window.
The teleportation is a perfect example. Things happen when people travel. Look at how the relationship between Jaime and Brienne developed as they went back to King's Landing, or indeed Jon and Tyrion as they went to the Wall. Likewise from Winterfell to King's Landing in Season 1 saw us learn a lot about the Lannisters and the power dynamics between them and Robert. And heck, the whole reason the Red Wedding happened was because Robb needed to marry a Frey to cross a bridge.
Actions no longer have consequences either. The Wight capture plan was stupid and they should've all died, but instead Dany came riding in on dragons to rescue them - what is her investment in that, by the way? She barely knows Jon and has a little crush, and Jorah is a friend she's tried to exile a bunch of times, doesn't know the others - and bail them out. Similarly when Jon falls for Ramsay's traps and the Ride of the Rohirrim has to save him. It's all a bit cheesy and not in keeping with the previous seasons. It's fun, though, and I guess that's the thing.
I enjoy it as a standalone thing full of set pieces, great music, effects and acting, as well as just straight up giving us what we want. Oh yeah, let's bring Gendry the rower back! Ha ha, look at this badass little 8 year old girl saying badass things! Bronn, Bronn doing things. Hey, let's have a magnificent seven made up of fan favourites going on an adventure together! It's not what made the show great at all, but I take it with a pinch of salt and am just enjoying the ride.
Honestly, when Tyrion said Jon's in love with Dany, it pissed me off. No he's not. He likes her and thinks she's hot, but he's known her for all of a minute. That's not LOVE.
I agree that the writing is way more forced lately. I think Psy is right that the biggest culprit is that the show is working at a frantic pace trying to tie everything up in time (amusing considering that's the exact opposite of Martin). All subtlety and slow development is sacrificed for teleportation and EVENTS, with the last episode full of deus ex machina, in such a tropish way that it's almost surprising from this show. I also agree with Jinx that the "love" between Jon and Dany was, at least until this episode, a lot more telling us than actually showing us.
It's a shame, but they also don't have an infinite amount of time left. The writers also no longer have new source material that uses Martin's characteristic excruciating, painfully slow development, and only have the remaining big plot events as guideposts. And a lot of the criticism of the earlier seasons was the slow pacing and extended traveling time, so I suppose there was bound to be an over-correction. In Martin's style, Jon would've been at Dragonstone for an entire book flirting with Dany, with the next book being returning north of the Wall.
Like why send Gendry off running all that way alone and without a weapon? Clearly to worry the audience into thinking he might die. That was a bit stupid.
Then having Uncle Benjen conveniently appear to save Jon - a forced and cheap way to close off that storyline. I actually groaned when that happened and didn't feel any sense of excitement. A cheap way to wrap up what has been quite a large part of Jon's arc...
The ravens being sent left, right, and centre yet nobody has written to Winterfell to let Sansa know what's going on... and she's not written to Dragonstone either?
The action is great - superb effects and really fun action... but it feels like a slap in the face sometimes too when the story is just so full of holes that it's as if Arya Stark went to town on it.
I wouldn't mind the rushing through it if that had ALWAYS been the pace but it just kind of ruins the immersion for me :(
I'm also re-watching from the beginning again and yeah the show is completely different now for sure. I wonder if had this season been 10 episodes would it have been better? Possibly.
It feels like there aren't really any stakes anymore. We thought we lost Jamie last episode but no - that ended up being just a cheap cliffhanger with a terrible follow up with him and Bronn just escaping just cause....
Yeah, the breakneck transporting has been bothering me for awhile. But usually it's been easy to handwave and say, "Well, we don't know exactly how much time is passing during each episode, it could be weeks". But Gendry running to Eastwatch, them sending a raven, and Dany flying to their EXACT PLACE IN THE NORTH MIGHT I SAY IT IS HUGE in what was literally two days time...unforgivable, HBO. Really.
Eh, real birds traveling those distances could do it in a couple of days in the real world, and no one has a damn clue how fast birds are in a world with dragons and other magical trout (and honestly, they've fudged the raven travel time throughout the entire series), and we certainly have no idea how fast dragons are. So considering they weren't that far out past the wall and we're talking about a situation which may have really taken three or four days tops, not to mention Gendry probably having a good idea where they were when he left them, I'm not really going to give a trout if they fudge it and do it in two days instead.
As for sending Gendry off without a weapon: if he's actually the fastest guy then it makes perfect sense. He's literally the only hope they have of getting help and he needs to hoof it. If he carries his weapon and the dead catch him he's dead anyway (the dead don't tire). If he takes too long because he's carrying a big damn hammer everyone else is dead. So either he runs fast enough to make it or they all die. And if no one else can keep up with him there's not much point sending anyone with him. Yeah, you could argue you want to send a couple of guys in case one doesn't make it, but if you're letting nits that small annoy you then nothing would likely satisfy you.
I just want to know how Jon knew Gendry was the fastest. He's also only know him for a hot minute, and his physique is built for lifting and fighting, not running. But, whatever.
And I'm sorry, you might be able to accept the dragon thing, but STILL. And she got there at the EXACT right time. It was fun TV, but pretty cringey.
Don't get me wrong, over all I enjoyed the episode, but that. That was just abysmally bad.
I tell you what is still 11/10 on this show and that's the costume design. Arya and Sansa's Winterfell outfits are perfect.
Okay so the early leaks I read were right which kinda pissed me off to be honest that I got spoiled the way I did. I originally stumbled on them and as alike "Oh that'd be neat" but kinda ruined the moment for me when it happened.
I'm really kinda grumpy about all these leaks. Ruins the entertainment of it.
I interpreted that not as anyone in the show actually thinking Gendry was the fastest, but as Jon and them using that as an excuse to get the youngest and least experienced fighter out of immediate danger (considering someone needed to run back anyway).
Although for all we know, maybe they chatted about running speeds in the 0.3 minutes it took to travel to the Wall. That was the least of the issues I had with some of the writing.
I mean, it's not a major thing, just something that I noticed at the time. x)
I really wanna be in a Jon Snow and Gendry sandwich though like I'm not gonna lie they are both just daaaaaamn. I like me the dark haired boys yesss.
Also, as it hasn't been touched on what's going on with Sansa and Arya? I think Arya knows what's what and is testing Sansa tbh.
As long as Jaime and Yara are left for me tbqh.
I really enjoyed this episode of The Walking Dead.