Current Events > What was the worst part of the later seasons of Game of Thrones? *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

For me it was the fact that no one important died at the battle of the wall (that we also couldnt see cuz it was so dark)

There was no reason characters like the nerd self insert big boy should have survived that episode

Not true they killed the show at that battle.

That was pretty bad because it messed with one of the central throughlines of the show, that a true, existential danger that didn't care about politics or beef or heroism was coming from the North and would devastate everything, even if it could be defeated.

But my pick is how everyone lost their ability to make plots and schemes or say or do anything smart. Especially the schemer characters, Tyrion, Varys, Littlefinger, etc.

The dialogue maybe

Everyone's character was massacred long before the battle at the wall.

Arya walking off half a dozen knife wounds to the gut and parkouring across Braavos a day later was the show's nadir.

But like a previous poster said, I think the thing that's most unforgivable is how they did Tyrion's character so dirty in the last few seasons, making moronic decisions and being constantly obsessed with Varys' junk; Peter Dinklage deserved way better than that. Littlefinger got the same treatment of course, but they clearly missed the point of his character as early as S2, so that wasn't so much of a letdown.

Clearly it was the coffee cup that was forgotten in the edit.

Arya killing the Night King was the most anticlimactic end to a series long threat Ive ever witnessed

When they had all the badass characters meet up north of the wall to go on a mission. Felt very contrived, even if they had cool dialogue with each other. And their motivation was very flimsy. Capture a zombie to bring to Cersei to prove that zombies exist. As if shed give a shit. Bad writing all around.

*looks at screen* Im the man who killed Jaime Lannister. - The Man Who Did Not Kill Jaime Lannister

Dany inexplicably snapping at the sound of bells and killing everyone for no reason. I get theres supposed to be the Targaryen insanity gene or whatever but there was zero lead up to it.

The scene that stuck with me was when Arya was trading blows with Brienne. Look I know we all loved Arya, but that shit was fucking stupid.

theAteam posted...

Dany inexplicably snapping at the sound of bells and killing everyone for no reason. I get theres supposed to be the Targaryen insanity gene or whatever but there was zero lead up to it.

She definitely had it in her to order/go on murderous rampages, but usually it was directed at people who were irredeemably cruel or sadistic like slavers.

Going full Targ at the sound of bells, when she had just got what she wanted was really out of fucking nowhere.

Probably not he worst (there were so many problems that it's hard to pick 1), but still worth a mention: turning Euron Greyjoy into a frat boy jock.

Worst for me would probably be the character assassinations of the Lannister bros. They spent all that time building Jamie up as if he was going to completely turn against Cersei, only to have him go crawling back to her. Then with Tyrion, he suffered the same fate as Varys + Littlefinger where they didn't know how to write the exceptionally smart characters and had them making dumb decisions constantly.

Assassinated Tyrion's character
Dany Heel Turn
Dorne
Euron Greyjoy travesty

*gestures broadly*

Jon - "I don wan it."
Jamie - "I never cared for the people."
Varys- "yo Jon wanna commit treason with me?."

Every single scene with the sand snakes.

Littlefinger's teleporting machine.

Sams fat ass got Edd killed after he survived so long

Srk700 posted...

They spent all that time building Jamie up as if he was going to completely turn against Cersei, only to have him go crawling back to her.

Another example of a character inexplicably doing a mental 180 at the drop of a hat with no warning whatsoever. Just throwing away 7 seasons of development because they needed to shoehorn in the "dying with your brother" prophesy thing Cersei had.

The Arya shit is what annoyed me the most. She trains to be an ASSASSIN for what, a few months? And now not only can she 1v1 Brienne, but she also basically solos the Night King in under 10 seconds? AND she can summon not only plot armor to withstand an entire city burning to the ground around her, but she can summon a white horse to just whisk her away? Fuck off.

They should have stuck with her actual assassin stuff like when she fed that dude his own sons and poisoned the whole house, those scenes were actually good and fit her. She shouldn't have even been at the battle against the night king, let alone won it.

I remember the first really terrible thing for me was Arya vs The Waif. That whole encounter (the chase after Arya was stabbed, The Waif acting like The Terminator) and Arya's departure made me think there was no way it was to be taken at face value because of how stupid it was. Everything just got worse from there.

Quorthon109 posted...

I remember the first really terrible thing for me was Arya vs The Waif. That whole encounter (the chase after Arya was stabbed, The Waif acting like The Terminator) and Arya's departure made me think there was no way it was to be taken at face value because of how stupid it was. Everything just got worse from there.

I remember quite well the week between eps of Arya getting knifed and Arya confronting the Waif / leaving the Faceless Men. Fan theories and conspiracies were running a mile a minute, because there was no way - no...fucking...way - that the show / writers would be so profoundly stupid as to have things play out at face-value.

I remember the leaks, sharing them with a friend and we both laughed at how unrealistic they sounded, and it sounded crap.

The leaks were all true.

Dan and David ceasing to care about writing internally consistent characterizations and plotlines, and being unable to treat the setting as a whole world with things in it beyond what was actively being shown onscreen at any given time.

I think for me the final throw up my hands and just give up on this shit moment was the infamous Dany sort of forgot about the Iron Fleet scene. Just absolute dog shit writing.

In the past, if showrunners weren't on board with the show anymore the studio would just get new showrunners.

Weird that it didn't happen here I wonder why. Since D&D clearly didn't want to do it anymore, I'm surprised the execs didn't get people more passionate to spearhead the show.

But honestly there has always been crap moments. Lol shirtless ramsay fighting squid family gang. Lol "you crave the bad vagina" . Lol that kid that just walked out the window. Lol cersei blowing up temple and going welp I'm queen now and everyone is like "seems legit"

Its always been bad, but it got egregiously bad in season 5, when the previous 4 seasons were just tolerably bad. Season 6 had highs but mainly crap too.

masterpug53 posted...

I remember quite well the week between eps of Arya getting knifed and Arya confronting the Waif / leaving the Faceless Men. Fan theories and conspiracies were running a mile a minute: "There's no way that was Arya, it had to be a patsy somehow wearing Arya's face to lure the Waif out!" Because there was just no way - no...fucking...way - that the show / writers would be so profoundly stupid as to have things play out at face-value.

I held on for quite a while thinking Arya must be dead and it was the Waif wearing her face. It made no sense but neither did what was on the screen.

How horribly rushed it was and how D&D completely bastardized important characters arcs so they could move on to Star Wars, which they also lost because of how badly they handled the ending of GoT.

Making Barristan go out like that was the start of the downfall.

masterpug53 posted...

I remember quite well the week between eps of Arya getting knifed and Arya confronting the Waif / leaving the Faceless Men. Fan theories and conspiracies were running a mile a minute: "There's no way that was Arya, it had to be a patsy somehow wearing Arya's face to lure the Waif out!" Because there was just no way - no...fucking...way - that the show / writers would be so profoundly stupid as to have things play out at face-value.

I personally think it was because arya suddenly became a talented mega ninja on par with jaqen hgaar at the same time as bran suddenly becoming an all knowing wise seer after just a couple episodes, not even a training montage to at least show development of each's respective super powers. So it was really jarring. Then for the rest of the series both are rolling around with laughably cringe stoic faces and given the direction that "no emote means very cool beans" by the showrunners I'm assuming.

Revisited posted...

I personally think it was because arya suddenly became a talented mega ninja on par with jaqen hgaar at the same time as bran suddenly becoming an all knowing wise seer after just a couple episodes, not even a training montage to at least show development of each's respective super powers. So it was really jarring. Then for the rest of the series both are rolling around with laughably cringe stoic faces and given the direction that "no emote means very cool beans" by the showrunners I'm assuming.

For me, it was the simple fact that Arya - a girl previously praised for her intelligence by one of the most intelligent lords in Westeros (all while successfully hiding her identity from said lord), who was able con a professional assassin into doing her bidding - was so monumentally stupid as to be walking around Braavos undisguised in broad daylight after having just pissed off a group of world-renowned shapeshifting murderers, with very predictable results.

Arya ninja'ing out of a tree and killing the Night King was beyond ridiculous.

I thought the Unsullied had no penises.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8524366c.jpg

Block_that_Kick posted...

I thought the Unsullied had no penises.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8524366c.jpg

That was just a banana in his pocket.

Revisited posted...

In the past, if showrunners weren't on board with the show anymore the studio would just get new showrunners.

Weird that it didn't happen here I wonder why. Since D&D clearly didn't want to do it anymore, I'm surprised the execs didn't get people more passionate to spearhead the show.

But honestly there has always been crap moments. Lol shirtless ramsay fighting squid family gang. Lol "you crave the bad vagina" . Lol that kid that just walked out the window. Lol cersei blowing up temple and going welp I'm queen now and everyone is like "seems legit"

Its always been bad, but it got egregiously bad in season 5, when the previous 4 seasons were just tolerably bad. Season 6 had highs but mainly crap too.

I know everyone praises the end of season 6 but it was so insanely fucking stupid I could never comprehend it

Cersei murders hundreds of lords and the bulk of the primary religious order of Westeros and everyone just goes along with it

masterpug53 posted...

For me, it was the simple fact that Arya - a girl previously praised for her intelligence by one of the most intelligent lords in Westeros (all while successfully hiding her identity from said lord), who was able con a professional assassin into doing her bidding - was so monumentally stupid as to be walking around Braavos undisguised in broad daylight after having just pissed off a group of world-renowned shapeshifting murderers, with very predictable results.

Par for the course with their writing. They completely forgot how to write intelligent characters after season 4. Case in point Tyrion + Littlefinger making idiotic decisions and Varys sitting around not doing anything.

It's a really good thing Tywin died in season 4 so they couldn't butcher him too.

Block_that_Kick posted...

I thought the Unsullied had no penises.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8524366c.jpg

Daneyraes stopped castrating new unsullied, she wasn't gonna keep up the practice come on man no way hose say.

You know, to this day fans still debating if in a song of ice and fire grrm is removing both the root and stem or just the testes and keeping the penis. Sometimes it seems like the whole thing, other times it seems like just the balls. I can't remember if grrm was asked this yet or outright confirmed.

DarthAragorn posted...

I know everyone praises the end of season 6 but it was so insanely fucking stupid I could never comprehend it

Cersei murders hundreds of lords and the bulk of the primary religious order of Westeros and everyone just goes along with it

I confuse 5 and 6. When was Jamie and Olenna's scene? I left after that. I'm a Tyrell supporter from the books. I hate that lead up. I hope the reveal is what I always suspected to what happened.

vycebrand2 posted...

I confuse 5 and 6. When was Jamie and Olenna's scene? I left after that. I'm a Tyrell supporter from the books. I hate that lead up. I hope the reveal is what I always suspected to what happened.

Season 7 ep 2 or 3 I think

ItsNotA2Mer posted...

Arya ninja'ing out of a tree and killing the Night King was beyond ridiculous.

It was an assassin's creed reference if I recall incorrectly because the showrunners loved playing the game specifically brotherhood

for me it was definitely how dark the scenes were. Like they might as well have just made the entire screen black and had a narrator tell us what happened.

shironinja posted...

for me it was definitely how dark the scenes were. Like they might as well have just made the entire screen black and had a narrator tell us what happened.

I think this was to save on budget

Most of season 3 was a slog. The Ramsay torture porn scenes were awful and all of Robb's scenes were just him in a tent talking to either his mom or girlfriend until the thing at the end.

not sure what you mean by later seasons tho. Season 7 and 8 had some really dumb stuff.

The long night being literally one night instead of an all out devastating war.

The jump the shark moment was the Sand Snakes killing Martell. That's the moment when I realized "oh there is no plan."

DarthAragorn posted...

I know everyone praises the end of season 6 but it was so insanely fucking stupid I could never comprehend it

Cersei murders hundreds of lords and the bulk of the primary religious order of Westeros and everyone just goes along with it

Honestly it was more how that scene (and the episode as a whole) was presented rather than the plot itself. To the best of my recollection, up to that point GoT had never been a soundtrack-driven show; it had a great soundtrack, sure, but it was more subdued and incidental. Then all of the sudden you have this beautiful somber piano playing dominantly over the opening act that keeps going and building the tension throughout the entire 12-15 minute scene. About halfway through that scene it's not hard to figure out exactly what's going to happen, but the rising dread and swelling soundtrack kept me on the edge of my seat anyway.

There was a particular level of care and artistry present in the s6 finale (and not just in the opening act) that honestly hadn't been in the show up to that point, even the 'good' seasons; it single-handedly convinced me to stick with the show after almost giving up on it entirely, just in case they ever put out another ep that was so finely-crafted (spoilers: they, um, did not).

bfslick50 posted...

The long night being literally one night instead of an all out devastating war.

The jump the shark moment was the Sand Snakes killing Martell. That's the moment when I realized "oh there is no plan."

if the Long Night was longer there would have been a whole season of people complaining it was too dark

thronedfire2 posted...

if the Long Night was longer there would have been a whole season of people complaining it was too dark

There's an easy solution to that

Revisited posted...

You know, to this day fans still debating if in a song of ice and fire grrm is removing both the root and stem or just the testes and keeping the penis.

There is no debate. The literal introduction of the Unsullied has the slave master explicitly state that they completely remove the penis and testicles and he even scoffs at people who only remove the testicles.

I think Jamie going back to Cersei was the worst singular plot choice, but the general dumbing down of the writing is the worst part. Like in relation to Jamie, that scene where Tyrion is guessing things about the others and when he guesses that Brienne is a virgin, she acts embarrassed like she's a teenage boy in an American Pie movie. She's a highborne woman, she's supposed to be a virgin.

There were some other issues at the time, but I think the crack that really cascaded the entire thing into ruin was Littlefinger giving Sansa to the Boltons. That misses the entire point of both characters.