Agree with this?
Winter isn’t coming because it’s already here. This being said, spoilers are coming.
Lots of them.
Much like Jon’s legitimate claim to the Iron Throne, we’re all in agreement that Game of Thrones is brilliant and even a ‘bad’ episode of the show is still better than 99% of other TV shows.
On that note, there were moments in Season 7 that really made our jaws drop. The battle sequence in ‘The Spoils of War’ was absolutely epic and there were individual moments throughout the season that really stood out – Viserion being killed and resurrected, Olenna Tyrell’s farewell, the hilarious meeting between The Hound and Tormund in ‘Beyond the Wall’ and as for that final scene with The Night King at The Wall, well, we can’t wait to see what happens in Season 8.
Simply put, having a pop at Game of Thrones is like critiquing Messi or Ronaldo, but yet, there are weaknesses and issues.
When compared to previous seasons, the most recent one wasn’t as good. Again, we’re not complaining because GOT is amazing but some fans are justified when they complained that it felt like certain characters were just ‘teleporting’ from one location to another throughout Season 7.
Granted, the show is approaching its finale and the pace has quickened, but certain meetings, reunions, and events did feel a bit rushed – Jaime and Tyrion’s encounter at King’s Landing is a fine example of that.
On that note, the renowned Game of Thrones fansite, Winter Is Coming, asked their readers to vote for their worst moments from the most recent season and you might not won’t be surprised to hear what it is.
26% of people said that entirety of ‘Beyond the Wall’ was forgettable, but with regards to specific moments, one segment of that particular episode topped the list.
18% of those polled absolutely hated the ‘Gendry runs back to Eastwatch in the nick of time, Daenerys shows up at the frozen lake in the nick of time, and Benjen saves Jon from the wights in the nick of time’ approach that the creators pursued.
Rounding off the top three was the arc which saw ‘Arya and Sansa are at odds for…some reason.’
Yep, Littlefinger is an expert at playing the game of thrones but that plot did feel underdeveloped, clunky and rushed.
With regards to the perception that characters were just ‘warping’ from one location to another, Alan Taylor, the director of ‘Beyond the Wall’, has already adressed some of these complaints.
Speaking about this with Variety, Taylor said: “We were aware that timing was getting a little hazy. We’ve got Gendry running back, ravens flying a certain distance, dragons having to fly back a certain distance…In terms of the emotional experience, [Jon and company] sort of spent one dark night on the island in terms of storytelling moments. We tried to hedge it a little bit with the eternal twilight up there north of The Wall. I think there was some effort to fudge the timeline a little bit by not declaring exactly how long we were there. I think that worked for some people, for other people it didn’t. They seemed to be very concerned about how fast a raven can fly but there’s a thing called plausible impossibilities, which is what you try to achieve, rather than impossible plausibilities. So I think we were straining plausibility a little bit, but I hope the story’s momentum carries over some of that stuff.”
Regarding the concerns from fans, Taylor says that the creators are comfortable with the criticism. “It’s cool that the show is so important to so many people that it’s being scrutinized so thoroughly. If the show was struggling, I’d be worried about those concerns, but the show seems to be doing pretty well so it’s OK to have people with those concerns,” he said.
In a show that has dragons, magic, an army of the undead and resurrection, a small jump in the timeline isn’t too much of a leap of faith to make, but the complaints are valid.
In previous seasons, the timelines seemed plausible and they added to the sense of drama and payoff.
After the penultimate episode of Season 7, GOT fans were seriously asking themselves questions about imaginary geography, how hard would it be to run on snow, and the potential flight power of ravens and magic dragons.
This is what Game of Thrones does to us! Long may it continue.
You can see the whole list of issues that people had with Season 7 here.
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