This is about the episodes of season 8 up to the "Battle of Winterfell." I have not seen episode 4 yet but will do so this afternoon. If you have not yet seen these episodes and would like to, get the frack outta here because
Spoilers lie ahead!
I still believe that Game of Thrones is the best TV series made....ever. It is just amazing and it has come a long ways. It was a massive gamble years ago and the amount of money per episode has grown a lot since the beginning. Like everyone else I am disappointed that this is the final season but all good things have to come to an end. I think it is better than allowing it to fizzle out the way that the LOST TV show did, they seriously should have ended that several years before they did. Anyway, here are some problems I have with season 8.
The first two episodes are basically a reunion
While I was happy to see the people get back together, particularly the Starks, did this really need to take 2 hours to accomplish? It seemed to me to be kind of lazy writing. The final season is already much shorter than the other ones but now (IMO) the first 2 episodes were spent almost entirely on moments of "I haven't seen you in a while!" or "thought you were dead!" moments.
The Dothraki are too easily dispatched
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The Dothraki are presented as being ruthless, powerful, nearly unstoppable warriors yet they are completely wiped out in less than 30 seconds. I understand this was meant to be visually pleasing and it definitely was that but honestly, the entire lot of them eliminated that quickly? Come on!
Named characters on the front lines
Remember when the first wave of whitewalkers crashed into the front lines and it was basically a wave of bodies that was unstoppable by any warrior? You trying to tell me that everyone is killed by this except the main peeps? This is just a Star Trek "red shirt guy" moment and I don't like things like this because it is just too impractical.
Silent Arya Stark library sneak scene
What was this all about? There is the loudest battle of all of Westeros going on right outside yet this scene is so silent that it becomes a question of sneaking past basically zombies (and I don't like the white-walkers being presented as such - you know how i feel about zombies.)
Jaime and Sam definitely would have died
This is not to suggest that I want them to die and I realize that Jaime is probably being saved for some emotional showdown with his sister. However, he is quite rubbish with his one hand and Sam was never really much of a warrior.
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We actually don't know if Sam is dead or not but I predict he isn't because we all know how much GOT loves to off major characters in a brutal fashion. I don't think Sam would just disappear into the night. At the end of the battle, we see Jaime surrounded by white walkers but he is successfully fending them off with his one hand. I find this preposterous and would have preferred if the had used his brain to find some sort of higher ground or advantageous position to preserve himself, perhaps helped Brienne get to the same place rather than pretending that he is capable of fending off a hundred armed white-walkers with one hand.
Trebuchets on nearly the front lines?
Who is in charge of the strategy here? I was excited to see siege weapons being implemented into the battle because those are always fun (probably a nightmare for the special effects team) but you don't have to play many RTS games to realize that these weapons NEVER belong on the front lines.
I know i am nitpicking here but I found this to be very frustrating. Aside from their initial volley when the Dothraki were unceremoniously wiped out, they weren't really used again. They would have been far more useful on the other side of the trench. Oh well, whatever.... it's a TV show, not an actual war.
Overall, i was quite disappointed with the first 3 episodes of this season and I realize that I may have expected entirely too much from my favorite TV show of all time. I also understand that people have pretty strong emotions about this show and it is not my intention to piss anyone off. This is just my opinion and it is the only opinion that is in my head. If you feel differently than I do I welcome your comments.