Season 7 was the one of the biggest seasons of all, from CGI effects to monstrous production values, marketing and hype everything was topnotch from a technical standpoint. Yet as it concluded with its finale yesterday, people were getting mixed feelings. Not the usual separation anxiety of waiting for the next one, but something was off about this season and i'll show you why.
Here be Dragons and Spoilers!
#1 Too much Fanservice
From emotional reunions(there's a lot), to satisfying deaths(as usual), epic battles and CGI, and tying up loose strings from the previous seasons, there's a lot to like about this season. You can see it everywhere, reactions being recorded from GOT viewing parties, people cheer, jeer laugh and cry. People love it, too much however to a fault...
FANSERVICE
If the word isn't too familiar, you're probably not much of a fan of Anime. It's a term used when producers opt to create scenes or favor the plot for the audiences delight. You can spot it from a mile away, unnecessary and(or) excessive love interests, panty shots or sexy scenes, and other eye candy scenes included. As the word implies, its to serve the fans rather than the Art of movie making or the story itself.
They even showed Jon Snow's ass again(a double i heard) much to the delight of the ladies
While GOT hasn't been shy in giving it out in the previous seasons, it was in little spurts and had no impact whatsoever with the main story line. The romance of Daenerys and Jon Snow, heck even their sex scene was forced. The reunions of Brienne and Jaime, Sansa and Arya, Hound and Brienne, Gendry and Thoros, Cersei and Tyrion, Jaime and Tyrion, Bronn and Tyrion, Jorah and Dany, Sam and Bran, Hotpie and sansa, Jon Snow and Sansa, Arya and Nymeria, Theon and Jon, The clegane brothers reunion and their scene was just awkward and forced.
While it does make the heart happy, the fans happy, too much of it hurts. Feels like a fan directed the season.
Perhaps the best fanservice scene of em all, but the build up and timing was just right
You don't get the fans wanting for more, because you've given it all. There's a beauty in not giving and saying no. The red wedding wasn't fanservice in the least but it gave fans frustration and passion, you make them choose sides where there were none. Then this season sort of ended that when Arya killed all the Freys in cyclical fashion.
Revenge was supposedly sweet, but was it?
And while people might say it's the show's way of starting to tie up loose ends and uniting everyone against a common foe, this season was rushed for it. A mere preparation for season 8, which leads me to my next point.
#2 It's rushing to the finish line
It's the shortest season ever, with fewer episodes but supposedly boasting longer run times. Next season will be even shorter with 6 episodes. With that said, 60 episodes in, you try and tie them all up in seven to finally prepare for the final season what do you get? A rushed plot with too many holes it could sink a tanker.
What happened after Greyworm and his merry cockless men were trapped and left without food stores?
Fast track to the season finale episode 7 where they were never heard of or even mentioned since episode three and voila
Ah there they are perfectly healthy and cockless!
It's presumed they were able to mobilize after Euron's navy were called off. You then have the plot hole of on how they survived and if Euron did indeed besiege them after destroying their ships? Too much and too glaring not to even mention.
Speaking of ships...
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Tada! 1000 ships
Euron's ability to create 1000 or so ships from scratch from the previous season. Where did he get the manpower? the iron born are torn between Yara and him, if they weren't even able to hold the north with their men, how were they able to amass and man so many ships with a civil war brewing in between? An armada that size would require a lifetime to build even with the right personnel. Not to mention how he is able to teleport his navy from King's landing to Yara's fleet for an ambush.
Speaking of teleportation...
Just in the nick of time eh?
No respect for time and space at all. So many characters teleport from one place to another, makes the pacing feel rushed. Dany saving Jon snow and co is a DEUX EX MACHINA, a no no for fiction book lovers, oh wait there's no book.
The seasons is littered with these nuances and while the previous seasons patiently covered different perspectives from different characters which gave everyone a well rounded development, it narrows down to the popular ones leaving the rest feeling rushed and incomplete. This is not the Game of thrones politicking we used to love.(more on this on my next point)
#3 The politicking has dumbed-down
I could also rephrase that as, "The writing has dumbed-down"
I miss this guy already...the Season 1-6 guy
The script is odd, the conversations are predictable, feels like they were grabbed from a fictional reddit GOT fan page. Character development as ceased, and has narrowed down like a speeding bullet.
It's as if everyone has been laid bare, no more mysteries(there are some still left) and no more backstabbing or scheming. Sure there was Littlefinger doing his thing at Winterfell but that pales in comparison to what he did with Ned, what the Lannisters did with Robb, what the Night watch did with Jon Snow.
There were parallel arcs who were moving at the same pace since season 1, Some characters haven't even met yet. When they merged it for this season, they failed to produce others overarching arch and made it look like your typical save the world fantasy.
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What used to be the Game of Thrones, is now a game against life and death
The beauty of the earlier seasons was that you can root for just about anyone, and each of their actions were justifiable for the sake of their houses and their selves. No lines were drawn, the game is fair play for everyone, now you're face. Now it's against good vs evil, living and the dead.
While there was indeed foreshadowing ever since episode one that it would reach a climax wherein people must set aside their differences for something greater, this is no excuse for Game of Thrones to turn into Lord of the Rings.
#4 It no longer respect the books
Casterly Rock was supposed to be a huge city comparable to King's Landing. Instead we see a glimpse of it impregnated from the inside. Highgarden as well, They were mysteries since the previous season and gave a sense of how expansive and immersive the GOT experience is.. That is until they were shown haphazardly and as mere footnotes. Could be a logistics problem, a budget problem, it is a TV series after all.
Is Jon snow Aegon Targaryen VI or VII? whatever
Jon Snow being revealed as Aegon, would be a big slap to the book since Aegon VI the son of Rhaegar and Elia Martell was known to have survived and reemerge as Young Griff who allegedly is Daenerys' nephew and Jon's half brother. Either Jon was meant to be Aegon VII or the producers have no plan in introducing a character this far off in the series with no proper development. Either way, it's not following how Georeg R.R. Martin mapped it out to end.
Then there's Arya stark fulfilling what should've been her mother's role.
The books aren't finished, an while GOT and co has survived long enough without back bone material, you can't help but connect the dots if the outlandish writing is due to the producer's covering up the book and creating their own.
#5 There's bravery then there's stupidity
Tactics all over the place.
Plot holes continue to hurt. Venturing north of the wall while you're king with no raven being sent whatsoever to Winterfell, All for the sake of forming a "Suicide Squad" which screams fanservice by the way is by no means a very stupid idea. Capturing a wight to convince Cersei? Her body guard is a monster! She'd mistake it for sorcery and magic rather than the Night king fairy tale.
What was the original plan of the Night King? was it to wait for a dragon to just fly by and shoot it down? Was he able to predict the stupidity of mortals that they would fly a dragon there so he could steal it to destroy the wall? What if Jon Snow didn't go? What if Dany didn't go? The whole finale and possible the season opener for next season hinges on those questions and it sucks. While you can choose to ignore it and just enjoy the show, you can;t help but ask... why?
Taking Casterly rock with spears on ladders? Good luck with that
Euron knowing where Yara's fleet is while Highgarden not noticing an army mobilizing against it is just stupid. It's like scouts applied to one and not with the other.
Mycroft.. i mean the Ironbank... Siding with Cersei despite the opposition's three dragons
As if the Iron bank hasn't see those Dragons in action back in Essos.
#6 The Mystery is gone
This is inevitable i must admit, but some things are left unsaid.
She spilled the beans... could've added more drama had she not
The white walkers revealed all but their true intentions, who killed Joffrey, who owns the dagger that was used in the assassination attempt to Bran, Jon Snow's Lineage, Robert Baratheon's rebellion was a lie, Jon Snow solidifies himself as the Azor Ahai(yet to be revealed however but is a giveaway at this point)
While most of those things have been mentioned or implied, it's literally screaming at our face right now.
In Conclusion
The holes, the inconsistencies, the oversimplification of tactics, the stagnation of character development, all break the immersive Game of Thrones experience. Instead of looking at it and say this is practically what people at that age would've done
Don't get me wrong Game of Thrones is still by far the king of fantasy television, heck even fantasy itself. It's just sad to see it veer off from good writing and the politicking that we've all grown to love.
Let's hope that the six final episodes are not more of the same, there won't be a remake anytime soon.
P.S. I loved Spoils of War and Dragonstone, they had their moments.
Photo Links
https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Jon-Snow-Daenerys-Sex-Scene-Reactions-43932175
http://www.businessinsider.com/game-of-thrones-finale-death-was-foreshadowed-three-years-ago-2016-6
https://zombiesruineverything.com/2014/09/29/mbti-joffrey-baratheon/
http://elitedaily.com/entertainment/game-of-thrones-casterly-rock/2030530/
https://www.ablogofthrones.com/episode-recap-season-6-episode-10-winds-winter/9/
https://moviepilot.com/posts/3981088
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rains_of_Castamere_
http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Olenna_Tyrell
http://legionofleia.com/2017/08/game-thrones-recap-review-s7-e4-64/
Hell yeah, my thoughts exactly!
It's clear that what we saw is a different story made by different people. Maybe screen writers just can't proceed with the story on previous level knowing only main plot twists from Jeorge.
It's really different, they did good with the season finale last time and that wasn't even in the books yet. The season is growing more outlandish by the episode...
I agree this isn't wasn't the best season from a story telling, but I think you're reaching a bit as per plot holes.
We all know what happened to that main host when they ran into the Dothraki and Drogon. With the main force defeated, the unsullied would have easily defeated the small army boxing them in. They could also have gotten reinforcement from the Dothraki who are all on horseback making them a very mobile army. No holes there.
As for Highgarden, they saw the army coming, they just couldn't do anything about it. The Tarly's had bent the knee to Cersei and that gave the Lannister army the numbers. That was clearly conveyed with the scene with Lady Tyrell looking down on the Lannister army from her balcony with a defeated look on her face.
They knew they were coming. They did was any smart army would do. Play defense inside a stone castle and hope the fortifications make up for your lesser numbers rather than leave the safety of the castle and make things easy for the enemy.
K, I'll stop there. This is getting rather long.
Yeah, the whole "suicide squad" thing was stupid, no defending that. They didn't even take horses. I think we can all agree that the entire beyond the wall fiasco was the worst-written segment in the history of the show.
What kind of broke ass king roams around without a horse?
Dany should have been there earlier...
Her not having scouts to inform her, what is happening is just stupidity on the writers part..
It's something like over a thousand miles March and there's One road !!!!
the only reason the show had them completely take HighGarden is because of the Jeoffrey Confession...
Hey thanks for the long reply :) must've been a while for you to type that.
Well my point in the Grey worm affair is that it really wasn't tied up as well as it should, from episode 3 to episode 7, they left too much for the imagination, we're all left with "could've" and "might have". It just fast forwards to, hey they're there when they're supposedly starving to death defending Casterly rock. I'd also like to know the source of the fraction of the Lannister army staying to keep them boxed in as i might have missed on that. The Unsullied were considered long gone by Dany, as she mentions quite alot she has already lost the unsullied and her two possible allies in Dorne and High Garden.
High garden scene was really shown as a surprise attack from a viewer's standpoint as it was symbolically parallel to the Euron ambush. The scene was also shown as something Jaime supposedly learned from experience from fighting Robb Stark.
The Lannister army didn't have siege weapons, and it's no easy feat besieging a fortification as seen in the siege of Riverrun, so it's safe to assume High garden wasn't much of a Castle but it should've been according to the books. With that said, if not for ego, pride or just plainly giving up, it was a bad move defending that place nor ask for reinforcements If they did indeed saw them coming, no ravens for Dragonstone? How long was the place standing? a few hours? it lasted for a few seconds in the episode, that my friend is rushed.
Still doesnt' explain how Euron fast traveled from King's landing then into intercepting Yara and how he got those ships in the first place.
Exactly how I felt when watching the season finale. There were a lot of unexplained scenarios that i couldn't fathom. The unsullied magically appearing and so much more others.
I'm guessing HBO do not want to prolong the GOT series. Maybe it'll lose it's credibility if they keep acting the scenes they cut out.
But they should have least tried a little harder with the scripts.
I wonder what George R.R Martin would think.
ikr?! they could've used one more season, probably add another but i think the weight of the production is starting to put pressure on them. It's like creating one full length movie per episode, both production, logistics wise.
The viewership however has been stagnant in the US but it's still strong.
George refuses to talk about Game of Thrones at all now!!!
I enjoyed your review of GOT season 7. I agree with most of what you have described. However, episode one, in my opinion was the best episode all episodes. I have been waiting for the time when Arya would step up her game and show some real action.
Yes! i mentioned it in my last line that i enjoyed episode 1 and 3 :) the season had its shining moments i agree
I have to say this was the best review I have seen so far. Vote for curie as a witness :)
upvoted! :) many thanks!
I started to watch the movie 2years ago but I deleted it along the the line. Your well constructed criticism is very much on point. With the craze and success the movie created, maybe they forgot that it was their ideas and not that of the fans that brought the success in the first place. Yes you have to give the costumers what they want sometimes, but sometime, they don't know what they want until you give them what you have, and they will want that (Steve Jobs).
Nice analysis @goldygood. My Name is Arinze( @arizonawise) from Nigeria. And i like the way you write.
Yes! so true! i'm glad you saw it my way too :) there's reason you don't please the fans too much, such is the bane of sequels. Hi @arizonawise! thank you , will check out your posts as well.
True..still trying to build my niche here..but am working on some blog show recently, will let you know when its done. This is also my user name on steemchat.
Like always I am the least critical person in the universe and just think that the season is a great 10/10 despite any of these plot holes you mentioned. Just too short, way too short. I missed an episode of the epicness of Battle of the Bastards. Apparantly that was the reason for making season 7 shorter: to have more fights like that.
What I don't get is that talk and the link about the sex scene between Daenerys and Jon. All I have seen was him entering her room and the door closing.
It was made shorter i heard, because of the huge salaries of the stars as well. They were paid per episode. OH? did you see a cut version perhaps? They were doing it, quite rushed i would say. They were just staring at one another for the previous episodes then boom
Ah right, it happened during the Bran speech of Jon's true heritage. I didn't pay attention to the visuals and concentrated on the voice.
I don't think it was rushed. Every single conversation they had was sparkling energy. The way Jon behaved throughout the entire season made Daenerys step by step fall in love with him. I think it was well done. Jon didn't show much affection until before he went to north of the wall and particularly when he got wounded. The speech to Cercei sealed the deal and she knew it was him. They had their final talk in the dragon pit where they were standing super close and full of affection for each other. The final scene of them with Jon knocking on her door was indeed a bit rushed but on the other hand it was done with style and didn't feel out of place at all. By then they had already discovered each other which was evident through all that happened.
Well as far as medieval romance goes, that may be it. Still, you can't help but think this is what the fans wanted, two souls never meeting since Season 1, finally cross. Hostile at first, then starts to fall in love. This is a common plot line in most stories and that's called "Boy Meets Girl"
They were teased from the beginning, by Davos to Jon, then by Missandei to Dany. A lot of scenes were kind of forced, like the scene where Jon came back from the North, Dany waiting for him on the wall, Dany waiting on him to get well in the cabin.
If those scenes somewhat make you shriek for joy, then that's what the producers wanted at the expense of the story as a whole. Love cheapens, and I got that from an interview from a certain Japanese animator when asked why his characters doesn't have love interests.
There's a term, we use in our country, it's rough translation would be a Mexican soap opera, combined with fantasy and that is what GOT is becoming.
Haha, I guess you are right. I was indeed pleased about that whole thing. So much that all my buttons where pushed. Not just by the two of them meeting but by all these ruinions in this season. It was a list of many finally! moments.
By the way, I also wrote an article about GoT but in a way that you probably don't expect. Check it out although I assume you don't need it considering the level of nerdness you radiate. ;)
click -->
oh for sure! will check. many thanks! :)
My "finally" moments were the reunion of Jon and Sansa, and probably the first meeting of Dany and Jon. Both of which you can attribute as fan service but at that point it wasn't as glaring
Really good post.. it's crazy having to put up so many spoiler alerts since the Season is finished already... if you haven't watched it by now; just go watch it on www.alluc.ee
thank you! yes! people are still sensitive about that and i understand :) some wait for the dvds or whatever.
I just wanted to see the undead dragon and his true blue flame
haha who doesn't? now the question is if it's magic, if its blue flame(hotter than the usual red one) or its breathing explosive ice!
explosive ice sounds better
way better :D
I'll go with explosive ice too here!
I really like the kingdom-based movie as it used to be. I hope this year a lot of new movies about life in the kingdom, the action of the kingdom is a marvelous act, let alone pasthe history.
I really like his friends @goldygoody
thank you @nasrud I miss the politics in kingdoms as well. it kinda lost it along the way but we all saw it coming.
I think the problem with Jon and Dany is that attractive as they both are, they have zero chemistry with one another. I never thought either was a particularly good actor to tell you the truth, although to be fair Jon is always supposed to be a miserable git so Kit Harington isn't given much to work with. As for Arya and Nymeria, there may be a reason for that if the books have anything to do with it.
I enjoyed it. It wasn't without it's problems and it clearly was rushed but I've thought it was incredible all the same. The first battle with the dragon was amazing I think the rest of the season struggled to live up to it.
As for the books it was obvious the show was going to have to simplify a lot of it...a lot of plotlines and characters have had to be dropped for the sake of brevity. The show would never end if it went the same way as the books.
Jon Snow in the books should've been more broody and less idiotic haha i agree with Nymeria and Arya but usually they would at least drop hints of it before the season ends. When the next season starts, Nymeria would be a mere footnote in an epic story line, a small subplot if there are any, similar to what Littlefinger experienced in this season.
I too enjoyed episode 3, i think that's what your mentioning :) don't get me wrong, I love the season, the direction, not just how it panned out.
You are right about a lot of this, they are definitely rushing it, but I guess that's what happens when actors get so famous they can demand multimillion dollar contract renewals and when actors age faster than shooting occurs. Also, I do not think anyone could have predicted how Martin didn't get his shit together and write faster once he knew the show could catch up, lord knows he has other project stuff he's been working on, but it's his story, if he wants to damage it, all we can do is frown, writing is tough, I'm sure this story more than others.
It should have been 10-12 seasons, ideally. Some of the major plot points of the season felt really forced and the whole season felt a bit dumbed down from the past, and a bit more typical. I think this is all kind of inevitable though when they build up to tings for so damn long.
I wrote a kind of analysis on the series as a whole and some of my favorite points. Feel free to check it out
https://steemit.com/fiction/@whatamidoing/not-just-a-game-of-fucking-and-fighting-why-game-of-thrones-is-cool-spoilers
will read this for sure when i get back from work :)
Well i dont blame George, you can't rush art, and writer's block is pretty common. It happens alot with other published works that have movie adaptations.