Game Of Thrones: Season 8

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McBain said:
The show has been consistently the same since the very beginning, and every season has been fantastic, building the story up to this point.
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Clearly, demonstrably and unarguably untrue.

The quality of writing took a nosedive shortly after the decision was made to veer off of the various narrative arcs GRRM had spent years planning and carefully revising. Seasons 5, 6, and 7 have had some excellent moments, but these have mainly been individually superb performances, rather than the cleverly-planned plot development for which the show achieved its initial acclaim. Go back to seasons one, two and three for some really well-written drama, and then compare that to the trope-filled, cliche-ridden, mindless hollywood set-piece that was the Battle of the Bastards - absolutely no question that there's been a sharp drop in quality.

That's not to say it's rubbish now. Far from it.

But a show that used to be a 10/10 is now no more than a 7/10. And the reason is that the people who should and could have decided to slow the pace down and NOT prune entire subplots instead got swallowed up by their own egos and decided they could write something better in a year than the source material that has taken more than a decade to craft. That's the same source material THEY loved so much in the first place that they paid for the rights to film it.

Enjoy the rest of the show, as I will. Then, after a few months, start reading the books. Weep for what could have been.
 
Prevenger17 said:
I think it's fair to say the series isn't anywhere near the consistent heights it used to hit. I think the dialogue and pacing has been a good deal off since it unhitched itself from the books. But then again, the last two books were fairly garbs too. Still a step above most TV out there and still capable of delivering those individual keg episodes that live long in memory (Battle of the Bastards, that one where Dany attacks Jaime's convoy etc.)
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Interesting take.

The Spoils of War (Daenerys and the Dothraki obliterating the Lannister army) was a spectacular episode: harrowing, written well and totally devoid of cliché.

The Battle of the Bastards was, in contrast, very poor indeed (with the exception of some stunning camerawork). Cliché after cliché after cliché. The sort of battle scene an A-Level film studies student would write. The plot armour for John Snow in this episode was absurd, and that's saying something for a character who is renowned for plot armour.
 
Tree13 said:
Clearly, demonstrably and unarguably untrue.

The quality of writing took a nosedive shortly after the decision was made to veer off of the various narrative arcs GRRM had spent years planning and carefully revising. Seasons 5, 6, and 7 have had some excellent moments, but these have mainly been individually superb performances, rather than the cleverly-planned plot development for which the show achieved its initial acclaim. Go back to seasons one, two and three for some really well-written drama, and then compare that to the trope-filled, cliche-ridden, mindless hollywood set-piece that was the Battle of the Bastards - absolutely no question that there's been a sharp drop in quality.

That's not to say it's rubbish now. Far from it.

But a show that used to be a 10/10 is now no more than a 7/10. And the reason is that the people who should and could have decided to slow the pace down and NOT prune entire subplots instead got swallowed up by their own egos and decided they could write something better in a year than the source material that has taken more than a decade to craft. That's the same source material THEY loved so much in the first place that they paid for the rights to film it.

Enjoy the rest of the show, as I will. Then, after a few months, start reading the books. Weep for what could have been.
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I feel like your seeing something different as a fan and reader of the books.

As an objective non reader of the books, the pace, direction and narrative of the show has always been consistent. Its where the series divorced from the books which is noticeable to you? Its become more way more polished, but thats just a natural product of series Telly.
 
McBain said:
I feel like your seeing something different as a fan and reader of the books.

As an objective non reader of the books, the pace, direction and narrative of the show has always been consistent. Its where the series divorced from the books which is noticeable to you? Its become more way more polished, but thats just a natural product of series Telly.
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It's definitely less polished in terms of plot development and narrative arc than it was up to the end of season 3. It's become very predictable since they deviated from the source material (mid-to-late season 4?), and the pace has been ramped up alarmingly since the same point, sacrificing several interesting characters for no reason (Barristan Selmy, The Blackfish, Stannis) neutering others (Tyrion) and botching entire subplots (Dorne).

It's not really possible for someone who hasn't read the books to accurately assess the impact on quality that has arisen from the decision for the show to deviate from the source material, because someone who hasn't read the books doesn't know where that point is in each of the subplots and character arcs. Surprised to hear that those who have only ever watched the show think that the storytelling is still as good now, but I suppose book storytelling and tv storytelling are different beasts, aimed at different audiences.
 
McBain said:
Why do you watch it? Honestly, if I didn’t like even an episode of any series I wouldn’t watch it, let alone be on the 8th season.

The show has been consistently the same since the very beginning, and every season has been fantastic, building the story up to this point.

Sure, I get ‘the book does it this way’ etc but A haven’t we been ‘off page’ for a long time now, and B to tell an exact page for page of any book would be the most boring thing you’ve ever seen. To be falling out with this epic a series, this far along, and this close to the end don’t make no sense.
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You put this many seasons into a show, and you kind of feel the need to see it through. I recognize that it is very difficult to keep a story fresh for 5 seasons let alone 8, and that is only compounded by Martin refusing to finish the novels.

I think the biggest problem of all is once any series gets popular, it affects the writing as well. You are writing for a broader audience, so of course it’s going to be simplified or changed a bit. I’ll still enjoy it, just not as much
 
I still don't get this thing that people have for Stannis...... He was boring, grim, little personality and just over all 'meh' in my eyes.

Didn't like him in the books and didn't like him on the show.
 
Tree13 said:
veer off of the various narrative arcs GRRM had spent years planning and carefully revising.
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I disagree. Martin originally conceived his series to be about 5 or 6 books in length and ended up saying it could be 8 or 9. In a Feast for Crows and a Dance with Dragons you can see why. He basically threw in a bundle of tangential sidequests and meaningless new characters and, while it will be impossible to be certain since he will never finish the series, A Dance with Dragons read like a man who had literally lost the plot. The show has tied up loose ends, badly in some cases, but it was more than it ever looked like Martin was going to do
 
I like the scheming and politics. The zombie apocalypse and supernatural stuff has put me off completely. The first 3 or so series were so much better. They didn't need full blown battle scenes to make it a good watch.
 
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