So, a few years ago, I mentioned trying to get through the first book, before I saw the show, and I just wasn't feeling it.
But I picked it up and thumbed through it a bit, and, of course, recognized all these characters and locations. Now, I'm REALLY fucking excited to read them.
I feel for him. Touring works much in the same way. You eat, sleep, and breathe one job for weeks / months / years on end, then one day you're back home with literally nothing to do and possibly nothing even lined up, and you've lost all sense of purpose and identity. I spent all of last year and the first few months of this year on the same tour. I *would* have had that sense of loss at the end, except I only had four days at home before the next tour started. And when THAT one ends, I get two days before the next begins. A personal wellness treat sounds like a far-fetched luxury to me, since I can't afford to put that cycle on hold. I'm glad he can, and I hope it helps him get balanced again.
"Yeah but he's rich, he can go do whatever he wants," I hear someone saying somewhere.
Spoiler alert: that doesn't help as much as you'd think. Sure, financial security can reduce anxiety about your ability to cover costs, but having money doesn't magically make every waking moment fulfilling and meaningful.
If anyone wants a really good take on this, watch Jim & Andy: The Great beyond on Netflix.
Hope Kit gets the help he needs, I imagine as a few of you have said, coming off this long haul production of such a huge show to 'what next?' must take quite a toll, and not the kind of emotions and feelings that plenty of cash can just make go away.
I watched The Last Watch the other night and it was great, it made me feel a lot better about the ending of it all, it was sure a huge amount of work put into the show, I cannot fault that.
Wow, big news.
HBO not going ahead with the prequel series.
I wonder how much this has to due with disappointment over the final season.
The season was poorly received, which makes it hard to believe the audience for the prequel would be that big.
Shame, cuz I enjoyed the final season and was looking forward to the prequels. Guess the haters are gonna ruin it for everyone else.
Well apparently it didn't sway HBO toooo much. Another prequel series has been greenlit titled House of The Dragon
They lost me with how they butchered the end of that glorious series, and I honestly don't think they can get me back, esp. with a prequel that will do nothing to rectify the mistakes that were made.
Well shit, I guess that means they should just shut the whole thing down.
I love you @neorev , but that was fucking hilarious, and I'm going to say it in the future.
"Oh, wait, YOU don't like Frank Ocean? Well, SHIT! We better call him and make sure that new album doesn't come out!"
Anyway, yeah, i'll give these fucks another chance. I look at the last show and think the journey is more important than the...you know, awful final season.
I'm not sure if anyone cares at this point. But I'm hoping they are able to capture some of the magic that the first show was. Yeah, they dropped the ball in the last three episodes. And season 7 wasn't perfect. But it was still one of the best shows ever made. Probably top 4 for me even with the last three feeling very off.
Original series started to have bad writing since S5 and S7 was every bit as bad as S8. The magic was only there for 4seasons out of 8. GoT is beyond overrated and woudn't even crack top 5 best HBO shows,let alone one of the best shows of all time. This prequel will probably be same phoned in garbage. Just look at the showrunners body of work before this gig...
^ Can I like this twice?
(lots of book / show spoilers follow)
I loved the early seasons, and after the fourth I finally picked up and read all of Martin's books. Doing so put in perspective some of the biased, wrongheaded, and questionable decisions the showrunners had made in adapting the material already - Tyrion is stripped off all his more regrettable traits to the point where he is basically a paragon of human virtue (and his delusional "relationship" with a teenage prostitute is entirely rewritten and re-conceived, mostly to absolve him for eventually murdering her), compared to the books Cersei is practically a protagonist, Catelyn is severely sidelined in importance and focus, Renly - an absolute scumbag in the books who believes he should be king because he has a huge army and coasts off of having extremely wealthy, well connected allies who have much to benefit from his claim - is portrayed as a kind and caring contender for the throne whose claim deserves support, and Stannis, one of Martin's most fascinating and morally complicated characters, is generally portrayed in the show as villainous and evil (Stephen Dillane was perfectly cast and brought nuance to the table but the writing for him was pretty weak from the start). Even so, I was very excited for season five. But by the end of "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" aka the awful Sand Snakes fight / ending with Sansa getting raped episode, I was disgusted and in denial about how badly it had gone off the rails. Surely they wouldn't have rewritten one of the strongest, most intense plotlines of the fifth book just so Ramsay could rape a more pivotal character? But they did.
In the books Ramsay is wedded to "Arya" - in reality Sansa's old friend Jeyne Poole, who went with her to King's Landing and was captured when everything went to shit - in order to consolidate the North "legitimately" and savagely mistreats her, in ways that are tolerated by the Northern lords because most of them know she isn't really Arya. Between that, and Theon's abuse and transformation into Reek, it is a storyline where a crucial theme is that human dignity is something everyone, regardless of name or importance or status or even guilt, deserves. And the showrunners read it and thought, "no one will care about Jeyne, Ramsay needs someone more important to abuse and rape."
The denial was broken by the fifth season's penultimate episode, where - after seeming like they were finally delving into the nuance and more redeeming qualities of his character - they did Stannis so absurdly dirty. The character from the books would sacrifice a child, perhaps even his own, if he thought it was a choice between that and the survival of the whole world. The character from the show immolates his daughter and only heir for a short lived tactical advantage, for "ambition" as the showrunners put it and to misread the character that deeply speaks volumes about their general reading comprehension. I stopped watching after season five and everything I have heard about it since then has validated that decision and my resentment of the show. It was so vindicating watching people lose it online about Daenerys, after suffering an implausible defeat at the hands of an illogically effective and plot-armored villain, suddenly and meaninglessly shedding all of her character development to become a one note monster, because it's exactly the bullshit I called when Stannis burns Shireen to stop flurries a short stroll away from Winterfell after Ramsay and "20 good men" magically make his camp's damp, freezing tents burst into flames (we literally just see the tents going up in flames and don't get any indication of how they do it because it makes no goddamn sense).
The fact they are even trying with this prequel is sad. Whoever is involved, they burned any goodwill they had, and it's all due to Benioff and Weiss destroying the original show by being pampered hacks who started thinking they were better writers than the guy whose incredible lore they were privileged enough to work with. I mean, my god, Benioff's track record speaks volumes - X-Men Origins: Wolverine showcases a Deadpool as laughably off-base as most every character in Game Of Thrones seemed to be by the end. And does anyone remember what they were originally planning on following Game Of Thrones with? Because fuckin' yikes.
Last edited by Deacon Blackfire; 10-08-2021 at 05:53 PM. Reason: spoiler warning
Just as I had watched Breaking Bad after it all ended, we've started on GoT recently. Unlike with BB, I actually knew a lot of spoilers beforehand (all the major plot points of s8) and as time went on I actually looked up even more because I couldn't wait.
I didn't have an urge to post about it, as the series was going great, but by the end of S4 I just have to let this out: Dany is fucking annoying. Her only redeeming quality is that I know she is going to turn evil and die. I always restrain myself from fastforwarding, then 10 minutes of "I love poor people. I help the poor. I will solve everything." I wish I did. The story of her makes sense; wanting to establish herself and practice ruling a small land area before she jorneys into Westeros, so I understand the delay. But she got too powerful too fast and it's like watching a petulant child. Joffrey - another petulant child - was written perfectly. I loved hating him, and he got slapped and burned around so I did not feel like watching a soap opera, where the cartoonishly evil characters never suffer any consequences until the very end. But Dany is like watching Greta Thunberg: an angry child who lectures everyone over matters that far exceeds her comprehension. I'm so glad Jorah is out of that mess... It's shown that she makes some bad decisions, but other than her sad face, we see no major consequences. She's the only character on the show whose only redeeming quality is that the actress is beautiful. I don't even care about the dragons, as they are just one more asset which makes all her struggles miniscule.
I liked her when she actually had to fight for things, though even by season 2, East was starting to get boring quickly. I know S8 is allegedly a travesty, but they spent so much time on her boring shit, that it's pretty much impossible to redeem it in the end. Whether she had won or lost, it would've been seasons too late.
And what were they thinking about replacing Dario with this muppet??? This new actor is so by the numbers boring. I really liked the old Dario, because he looekd mysterious. Yes, he was your average hunk womanizer on the outside, but you got the feeling that you can't trust him. The new one is like Tesco Oberyn. No charisma, boring acting, no depth.
On the other hand, Red Wedding deserves all the praise it can get. If I were to see it in isolation, without context, I would've sad meh, seen more exciting executions. But I am so proud of George that he actually made it look like 99,9% of all the other tv shows and movies (I know he wrote it as a book and not a screenplay, but still), where Rob's pregnant wife would be killed, or at least the children. They were so happy that it was coming from a mile away. And then bam. Amazing. That scene was spoiled to me and I still had goosebumps and anxiety; it must've been really cathartic (and sad) seeing it "live". Also, Rob was becoming more and more likeable and I was really rooting for Catherine to be reunited with at least one of her children before she dies.
I am sad that Tywin is about to die, he was one of my favorite characters. But I am basically enjoying every thread right now, even Jon's. He was unbearable in season 3, but finally did something in s4.
^^ The possibilities. Just give me more Tormund and Ghost please... Was always a gripe of mine how some of the Direwolves were treated. Bring Nymeria home
Liking what I'm seeing so far.
House of the Dragon pilot was very solid. Great acting all around, cinematography is there, and it is a breath of fresh air seeing Dragons on screen again! Cannot wait to see how everything unfolds.