Game of Thrones (TV Series) Beyond the Wall (2017) User Reviews

"Game of Thrones" goes Hollywood in a most predictable possible ways

[851222 · 8/10 · 21 August 2017]

Greetings from Lithuania.

So "Game of Thrones" have finally hit the Hollywood in every meaning of this word in "Beyond the Wall". "Beyond the Disbelieve" - this is how this episode should have been named. As much as spectacular and at some points breathtaking this episode was, i was like "NO FUCXXX WAY THIS IS POSSIBLE" constantly during second half of this episode. I won't spoil it (although i would like to), but it is NOT possible any way it turned out here, even in a fantasy genre. I mean do they have like a GPS and teleport in that world? How much time it takes to simply travel in there?

Now for 4 seasons "Game of Thrones" was the only show that almost literally could shock my and pulled a rug from viewers - it was unpredictable like anything out there. But from last season and especially this one, i do believe we will see a happy ending in this show overall. Sure some side characters will die, but it won't be as effective as in the past, because they don't have time to properly show it! This season is rushed as hell and i do believe that future book / books will be even more popular by simply telling this story in non rushed way.

Overall, as much as spectacular "Beyond the Wall" was, i can not rate it any higher then 8 (and that is only because of great craftsmanship of the scenes) because of how unbelievably predictable it all turned out. And predictable in a most simple "Hollywood style", like we have seen in countless forgettable great looking movies. As it looks now, happy ending is not far away.

Death is the Enemy

[adarshbohra69 · 10/10 · 20 August 2017]

There Might Be Some Little Flaws But It's absurd to compare Game of Thrones to the artistry of a Sopranos or a Wire by this point, but it's unparalleled in terms of thrill When I Think About Now There are Just 7 Episodes Left After This,I will miss it very much when it's gone So All The Pepole Who Are Spreading Hatred Towards It Just Chill Guys It's A God Damn Fantasy Afrer All.

Somehow I Always Knew Night King Will Get One Of the Daenerys's Dragons and I Thought It Will Be Fun,But Watching Viserion Dying Just Broke My Heart,As We All Know These Dragons Are The Only Children Daenerys Will Ever Have,Watching His Child Dying So Viciously Reminded Me Of The Red Wedding's Brutal Night. Now Some Pepole Saying Why the night king attacked the moving dragon instead of the one lying down on the ground,Reason Was Viserion Was In Sky And Killing Hundreds Of Walkers So He Tried To Stop That One First,There were some Joys I experienced during the episode Is Jon And Dany's Chemistry, Tyrion said wise things like "fear makes their power brittle because everyone beneath them wants to see them dead"! Tormund is consistently hilarious! This Episode is shot beautifully! The costumes look incredible! The dragons are badass! The ice dragon Will Be Even More more badass!

I don't need to tell you guys 'don't miss it' or 'best episode of the season' because we all know every episode is great and there is no way any of you will miss it.Instead,I have a message for anyone who hasn't watched Game Of Thrones ever and is reading this, people will tell you how great Game Of Thrones is,you should listen to them, because they are right. Game Of Thrones continues this journey with confidence, compelling story-telling and characters that are written with convincing development and actions. It is great stuff.

So 10/10 For Sure

Summary of the problems with GoT recently

[hekeprkl · 8/10 · 27 August 2017]

Some spoilers from both the series and the books.

Problem 1: The story is not told from the eyes of a certain character like in the previous seasons (1-4 particularly). Instead they show also what the "baddies" are doing. They don't need to. Even whole movies are made from the point of view of a single character. This removes the shroud of mystery and the fear of not knowing. I'm not really spooked by the White Walkers anymore at all. Jon can smash them quite easily and more Valyrian steel and dragon glass is coming. Even the wights seem to fallen to the fighting level of their Walking Dead counterparts. They also now show them in bare daylight and in close- ups too. Boring... It started with showing the Night King for the first time when the Craster's babe was taken to their ring of ice shards. They were still scary though even after Sam killed one because it was shown from Sam's point of view.

Problem 2: Redshirts. They have stopped naming new characters that accompany even a smaller band of wight captors. They also don't have any dialogue and even their faces can barely be seen. This just screams "expendable". Why did they even have those few men with them? Did they have some particular skill that was needed? It's so much easier to prepare for the deaths of the few main characters because I can expect the writers to use their deaths "to a value". I don't really get the argument of "they don't want to introduce new characters this late in the story" as that would actually make it more continuous and we wouldn't be expecting the normal TV and movie tropes and clichés, hero's story etc.

I would love the show to still have so many characters and continuously new ones that I notice some more on second and third view times like with the first seasons. This all begins to smell like either the grand finale of the show will be a crazy huge spectacle that clearly ends things regarding the story, like in many movies. Or else the very last episode will be a kinda boring epilogue that is going to be annoying to wait for another week after the actual spectacular ending. I'd like the whole thing to feel like a continuum and the story basically only ends for a couple of characters we have followed.

Problem 3: Space and time. It seems as if the characters are more into having a dialogue than actually making a sound plan. They rarely show any consideration anymore for where and how far certain things are and how long it takes to get there. It seems lazy to not include even just a mention of consideration of those things. Robb still had a good map in season 3. And although they showed the map when Tyrion explained his plan to take Casterly Rock, it didn't really make sense why they would take the Rock. And how come Dany's and Euron's fleets didn't cross paths before that? They should have seen Euron's fleet going to King's Landing after they had settled to DragonStone. I would have wished a similar landing to Westeros as Jon Connington had in the books.

As it is I have to make the events work with my imagination eg. they actually spend multiple nights on that rock and that the White Walkers can bring the cold if they want or maybe they only "bring the storm" in the show. This episode particular was a bit of a challenge to make work and it still left me hoping I interpreted the scenes correctly. Unlike that one time when Jaime should have been captured after being pulled from the river. I was just disappointed even though the dialogue and acting worked.

Completely different show

[wishpishh · 22 August 2017]

I don't want to focus here on the large number of plot holes or the absurd level of suspension of disbelief necessary to take anything in this episode seriously. That's been done thoroughly by others already. Instead I want to emphasize how far from the earlier seasons this show has come.

A quick reminder, here are the things that made Game of Thrones an amazing and unique show that both hardcore fantasy fans and those not so much into fantasy could enjoy, for at least four seasons:

• Scheming, plotting and politics. There were so many layers of betrayal, intrigue, and loyalties (and lack thereof). How many times we were shocked to see key characters unpredictably turn on each other. How sophisticated the political relations that did not treat the audience as idiots.

• Truly gruesome violence and head-turning sex scenes. Few movies or shows have displayed such graphic deaths. Sure, there are splatter and gore movies that are "worse", but it's a completely different thing to see it realistically portrayed and happening to characters you're heavily invested in. GoT has on multiple occasions left me trembling from shock.

• Multi-layered, deep, interesting characters. None of the characters felt like stereotypes or flat. They were always surprising you with new depths and character development. They were smart, deep and interesting. Compare Tyrion in the first two seasons to the Tyrion in the last two. He's completely uninteresting, a shadow of his former self. Same thing with Jaime. And it's not because of their character arcs. They've just become bland, stupid Hollywood stereotypes, completely hollow.

• Unpredictability and sense of danger. There's been no other show where you always felt that anything could happen, any time, to anyone. And just when you thought that you'd hit bottom and surely a sweet revenge story would start and things would get better. Nope. Things get worse. And worse. And gruesome, heartbreaking and still surprising.

All of this is gone now. It's become totally predictable, stupid popcorn entertainment. There's barely any intrigue left, all characters are boring and one-dimensional, nothing really shocking. I started feeling it in the sixth season, but that still had its highs. Now this episode. Not only is it a bad episodes, it's actually so poorly written that it lifts the veil off the preceding episodes of the season as well. It was still possible to ignore the worrying signals, until now, but this episode actually manages to remind me of how far off the track this show has gone. It's really, really sad.

A really good episode, great conversations

[ledmore · 10/10 · 15 August 2018]

Firstly, I lament the outpacing of the books, we all knew it, so stop your winjing about the writing. You'll get the next books soon enough and be satisfied. What we have in this episode, Beyond the Wall is a fun adventure that brought a lot of main characters together. The writers chose some well written, and funny, dialogue. I enjoy watching this episode as an arc of three from #5-7 of this season, arguably one of the best multi episode spans since the last two of season 4. This episode brings a lot of characters together and the writers and actors I'm sure had fun with it. Among my laments is the way early seasons depicted the vastness of the world, yet we must allow the suspension of this in later seasons to move the story (Maybe they should have planned 9 seasons, or 10, but the producers knew that without GRRM source material, it would be impossible to go that distance). Remember though... they were not really that far from Eastwatch. Ok the raven to Dragonstone, maybe they picked the fastest. Dragons are huge and probably can move very fast. How do we really know how long they waited...? Jon can survive the cold of the water, he is a Stark and cold does not kill them. "What kind of producers would do that?" "The one we got." My favorite conversation is the one about winjing. Or Beric and Jon, touching. Haha, I degress. Watch this episode again and enjoy it for what it is. A fun adventure beyond the wall.

Unrivalled scale and thrilling actiom

[jenhardyyy · 10/10 · 20 August 2017]

Another masterful penultimate episode for game of thrones. No surprise there. There are however plenty of surprises within the episode itself and i trust any fan of the show will be absolutely thrilled. It's not without its problems, nor has this season or any season before it been. For example, season 7 has some plot lines I am not quite sold on. The Sansa and Arya line isn't hitting the mark for me. It just doesn't make sense up to now and unless it has me entirely fooled and all pays off to be some sort of masterstroke of epic proportions I'll be forever disappointed. It just makes no sense that there'd be this much bad blood over something that neither child could help at the time.

That being said, this season has been mindblowing thus far, save for those pacing issues everyone loves bringing up. And yes, this episode only makes those more prominent and will only enrage people more. I won't spoil the events of the episode in this review but there are a few things that happen that require you to suspend your disbelief a little more than usual. What i can say however is that I understand why it's happening this way. We are almost at the end of the show and can't expect too many filler episodes any more.

All in all, prepare for one of the most thrilling and action packed shockers the show has given us ever. It is truly fantastic TV rivalling anything put on the big screen in terms of scale and talent and effects. The team that go beyond the wall do not disappoint. Game of thrones will go down in history if it keeps these kinds of episodes coming for the rest of its air time.

Winter truly has come. My rating would be 9.5.

Am I the only one that thinks the writing is good ?

[popistaniuliu · 10/10 · 21 August 2017]

It really is a good episode. Great lines, great acting, great action. The timeline ? Well, there are more than 24 hours since Gendry starts running until Danny arrives. So it is more than enough for the raven to fly and the dragons to fly back. Why does the Knight King attack Viserion and not Drogon ? As you see if you pay attention, the scene in which he walks to get closer, has Drogon in the background. So he intends to hit Drogon. Then, Viserion turns and comes towards the Knight King. Only then he targets Viserion. You can see the spear going almost vertically towards Viserion and hitting him from below. So Viserion was almost above the Knight King when the spear hit him.

The Arya - Sansa dialog I think is on purpose as it is. We will see in the season finale why... (I hope).

Now, the Knight King has a dragon. What will he do with it ? And how fast will he do it ?

I can't wait !

Oh ! And by the way, what are some of you guys whinging about ?

Terribly written...yet keeps you at the edge of your seat

[jacksongoodman-21092 · 8/10 · 6 July 2020]

While there is no possible way that the raven flew to Dragonstone and then Dany flew north to help save Jon and his crew, it was an epic finish.

The cinematography was awesome and the writing was not as great, a theme that has been a constant this season. The plot with Arya and Sansa right now is very oddly written, yet weirdly intriguing.

This episode was beautifully done and was quite a ride of emotions, but to make this better I feel that one of the characters on the island should have died. I understand that Thoros, Benjen/Coldhands, and one of the dragons were taken out by the wights, but I feel that Beric could have done something cool or gone out in an epic way, but I was not given that pleasure.

I am constantly amazed by how realistic the wight walkers and the army of the dead look and how fluidly they move, as they look entirely like real dead people walking.

Overall the episode was entertaining, and that is the only reason I would give it this much credit.

7.7/10 :/

GoT Following Its Pattern, Making 2nd Last Episode Most Stunning and Thrilling of The Season

[nazgulz · 10/10 · 20 August 2017]

*NO SPOILERS* AND DON'T READ ANY SPOILER BEFORE WATCHING THIS EPISODE When I watch a great episode of game of thrones, I always think what would it feels like when they will make a better episode even than this. I will not lie, sometimes I just lose sense what just happened and just get stunned….literally. Yes, this is one of those episodes, so before watching it, have your pop corns ready, keep bottle of water/cold drink near, take a leak or whatever because you will not want to leave your seat after it get started.

You can call this episode game changer of entire series. The fight beyond the wall is epic. There hasn't been any better fighting scene in game of thrones than this one. Me personally was only shocked like this in episode Baelor (S01E09) and Rains of Castamere (S03E09).

So friends just watch and do not read any spoilers. I unfollowed Game of Thrones Twitter because of it.

You have to see to know.

[adrenilinmatt-56062 · 10/10 · 20 August 2017]

No spoilers included. In what is possibly the most thrilling episode of game of thrones to date (with exception to the masterful winds of winter) everything changes. Nothing will ever be the same. I can't rightfully say this episode was perfect but .5 increments aren't possible on IMDb. My true score would be 9.5, due to some pacing issues and plot lines I don't quite agree with. The fast travel has been taken to some new extremes here and I can almost understand people being a little dismayed by it. I can see the critics of the new pace only getting louder with the airing of this episode.

This episode on a whole, however, is truly thrilling. My heart was racing for 90% of the run-time and again we truly get to feel like nobody is safe. The visual effects have never been better and the dream squad did not disappoint. One more issue im taking with the show lately is how they have seemingly dumbed down the violence, I miss the graphic gut spilling combat of earlier seasons. To go back to what i mentioned earlier in this brief review, the fast travel is to be expected, we are nearing the end of this story and can't spend full episodes on traveling. So, not perfect. But absolutely thrilling and visually stunning.

Next week can't come quick enough.

White walkers are really dangerous!!

[oguzhan-192-780370 · 10/10 · 20 August 2017]

I had no idea why white walkers were dangerous until this episode. From the beginning of the show, it was always said that white walkers are the real threat for the seven kingdom but we haven't seen something that could be really threatening. They just transform people to some kind of zombies and control them. Come on!! What can some zombies do against a dragon? How can white walkers fight with three dragons? Well, I found the answers in this episode. I saw how dangerous white walkers can be. I don't wanna give a lot of spoilers so I am going to say just one more thing: This episode made me think that do dragons really have a chance against the white walkers?

Good Stuff But Still Flawed Compared to the Other Episodes.

[Johnny-the-Film-Sentinel-2187 · 9/10 · 7 September 2017]

I actually quite enjoyed Beyond the Wall; I'm not gonna lie though, the pacing was fine at times and others it was too uneven. But in the end though, this episode along with its follow-up The Dragon and The Wolf proved to still be a very good slice of television. Beyond the Wall has some impressive fight scenes but the sense of Deux Ex-Machina is noticeable (or maybe Lord of Light Ex-Machina); however there are set-ups for some of the things that happen. It's not all just coincidence, with the exception of Benjen Stark saving Jon Snow from the White Walker 'zombies'.

Is this Season Seven's best? No. Is it the worst Game of Thrones episode? No. Is it flawed but still competently done storytelling? Yes; I'd certainly say so.

The following episode is undoubtedly stronger in my eyes, but this one provides the set-up of a re-animated dragon set to blaze Westeros.

Supersonic raven

[earl-52854 · 7/10 · 4 February 2019]

Work this out. Our heroes are surrounded by the walking dead. Gendry runs to the wall, tells his story to the night's watch, a message is composed and sent by a raven over a thousand miles to Dragonstone, Daenerys Targaryen gets organized and flys back ... all in 1 night. That has to be the fastest raven ever.

Can't understand how this episode is above 9

[Qwertyuiop0987 · 3/10 · 13 June 2019]

I will write all the incoherence in the writing of this episode 1. Everyone go to the expedition without horses and dragonglass 🤔 2. They found a little group of WW traveling with his boss and when they kill him all the other explotes and only one survives the only one they need 🤔 3.they get surrounded by thousands of WW because magically the ice all around them breaks and our heroes have a little more time to get rescue 🤔 Gendry escape running and he get to the wall in 5 minutes why they don't tell us that he is flash 🤔 4. The raven from the wall to dragonstone also reach there in 5 minutes I guess it is the flash pet 🤔 6. Daenerys reach beyond the wall also in 5 minutes to rescue the group that where almost kill, I swear that I think that all of them were going to die 🤔 7. The night king grabs a superpower spear and shoot the farthest flying dragon because he is a thug and we need to see one dragon fall from the sky that will be more epic 🤔 8. Jon is 2 meters from Drogon so he can escape but no he needs to show off with daenerys and stay and kill more WW and he is pushed to the coldest water in westeroes but super Jon never dies and he rises from the lake 🤔 9. Uncle Ben saves Jon jajajajajajaj he was watching the fight from far 🤔 10. Everyone saw Jon fall into the lake surrounded by thousands of WW but they have the hope that he was going to rise from that lake kill all the WW while he was freezing, find a horse and ride to the wall 🤔 11. This was the worst for me, now the WW are divers and the night king is a magician that appears enormous chains so they can pull out the dragon form the lake 🤔

This episode get me depressed for weeks, this is not GOT

Makes total sense

[josephyohannes · 9 August 2020]

A raven can travel 100 miles in 1 day. There are 2,000 miles between Dragonstone and beyond the wall. That's 20 days just to get to Dragonstone. Somehow that and the added time of Dany and her dragons getting ready and flying back all happened in one night.

Top tier writing

One of the saddest death

[Aman_Goyal · 10/10 · 16 November 2018]

"More emotional, more better" has always been the key element of this amazing series. The deaths of Ned Stark, Oberyn Martell, Rickon Stark, Ygritte, Hodor, Myrcella and of course The Red Wedding made us love this show. But I never thought the death of a dragon would also make me cry. It was heartbreaking. It proved the writing wasn't poor at all. Well! at least we will get see another version of Viserion.

Great episode

[jonhorridge-18172 · 10/10 · 21 August 2017]

Great episode. This review posted to counter some of the more stupidly-nit-picking reviews. No indication was given how long they were on that rock. So all these timeline complaints are nonsense. Night King has a logical reason for going for a flying dragon, if he hits it, he still has time to go for a second, since a landed dragon is slower. It's logical to go for a landed dragon last in this situation. They got the chains from the giants, and from Hardhome. Try watching the show if you want background.

Beyond the wall

[mohdmak-01035 · 10/10 · 16 May 2019]

Amazing episode full of suspense, and the death of the dragon was such a shock

I enjoyed it, but it was strange...

[potzenfeter · 8/10 · 21 August 2017]

When I saw this episode first I thought it was great. But after watching it again I must say there are indeed some points that doesn't fit at all.

It was a strange mission for a strange reason. To convince Cersey to fight a war against the night king. Why would Jon risk his life for that? Not even likely Cersey would agree if she sees the undead. Not even likely that she might be a big help at all (Hasnt she and her army just lost a huge fight?) All for the reason that Daenerys cannot fight two wars at the same time. All she has to do is to take her three dragons, fly to Kings Landing and burn the place down, Cersey lives in. Should be possible in like 20 minutes. At least in Game of Thrones time. Then she flys to the Night King with her three dragons. Flys over the big army first time to spot the Night King. Then second time she burns him into ashes with three dragons. Kindom saved. Check.

Many people here say, that it was a plan by the night king to get the dragons there. Because he needed the dragons. After rewatching that episode one can surely say that this was not the intention of the writers. The army attacked Jon and his group after the hound threw a rock on that ice. Then they realized and attacked them and tried to kill them. Lets say Daenerys would have come 10 minutes later...Nothing would have been left from Jon and his group. She would not even landed with her dragons and the night King couldn't easily kill one dragon. Anyway the night king didn't look really prepared for his mission to kill a dragon. It was more like a.."Give me that icy spear and I show that stupid dragon something.." IF it was something like a plan..Why didn't he hand out more of that spears to his generals..I mean there were three possible dragons to turn. It just doesn't fit.

Many people here although say, that they find it stupid that the night King didn't attack Drogon who was sitting on the ground and being a much easier target. I guess it was because the dragon who was hit, was flying. And when they fly they can be hit from bottom into their stomach, where their weak side is. Although that killed dragon was just firing. Maybe that was the reason it was a deadly hit. It looked like he burned from inside and all that fire he was breathing out..was inside his whole body. Made sense, at least for me.

A big lack for me is the speed of the show. They suddenly started to rush. I don't know why but they did. The more time will pass the more people will realize this. And it will be a big minus.

I think it was a great episode with a lot of plot wholes in it. The more you start thinking about them the more you find it annoying. Just try not to think about it. Though it becomes harder and harder.

There Will Never Be A Show Like this . Simply Spectacular!!

[choclate_bouy · 10/10 · 20 August 2017]

Amazing breathtaking and unexpected.Your jaw will drop to the floor.This episode perfectly sets up the nest season and what a thrilling way to dot it. The Actors specially Emilia Clarke Waooo she has outdone herself in this season I must say. A big shout out to Alan Taylor for his masterful direction and Imagination .Thank you to the creators of this show for giving us this Amazing Spectacle. Watch it drink it because you are going to be amazed.

What a great episode

[smohlaymen · 10/10 · 19 August 2017]

despite what all people said and all the time jumping and that stuff. HBO and D&D surpasses themselves each time. what a great episode and i feel bad for HBO with all the recent events of leaks. i hope we have a better unexpected finale and season 8 (if there's better than that). it's the best show on TV recently and in the past long years. the plot is unexpected and the writing and the directing are just great. thank the gods for Geroge R R Martin and D&D for making this masterpiece.

Epic Episode Easily Misunderstood? By Some Obviously

[HockeyFan13 · 9/10 · 21 August 2017]

Where to begin on this one. Spoilers below.

How can people writing reviews on here misunderstand what happened in this episode? People are complaining about the time line not understanding that they did not have to travel very far to get to the dead.

On the time line - They were there for a day and a half. They did not travel that far before encountering the dead.

On the chains - They were boat chains... Was Hardhome not a port?

The Night King has presumably been alive for thousands of years. Is he an idiot? He has obviously been defeated in the past when he attacked before (The wall exists for a reason) Now the armies of the south have Dragons. The Night King would obviously need to know he needs to kill/turn the dragons for his army to have a chance to conquer the continent. That is what this was. His army could have wiped out Jon and his Suicide Squad but they waited until Danerys was close so she would have to come to the rescue giving The Night King the chance to kill her dragons. He would also seem to have warg like abilities knowing when Brandon was watching and learning his location when he was in the tree in the episode Hodor died.

On the time period it takes to travel from one place to the next -

A Raven in reality can fly 50-60 MPH depending on size and wind conditions. If the presumed distance from Eastwatch to Dragonstone is 1500 miles as I have seen online a Raven could make the trip in 25 hours. They were stuck on that island for at least a day and a half. They slept there. maybe 36 hours? Maybe the Ravens trained to deliver messages in Westoros travel faster? Lets say 100 MPH. In a show with Dragons and zombies you need to suspend just a little disbelief. The Raven makes the trip in 15 hours @ 100 MPH then. Dany's dragons can presumably fly faster than the ravens, maybe 250 MPH? That is a 6 hour trip 1500 miles.

The time frame is not that far out of the rules that have been set up in this show.

The show is not the best episode of the series but it is a great episode. The plot holes people talk about are not plot holes when you think about the logistics of what the facts are.

Another Spectacular Episode

[claudio_carvalho · 10/10 · 22 August 2017]

Arya shows the letter she found and has an argument with Sansa at Winterfell. Jon Snow and his group capture Wight but ad horde of Wights hunt them down. The escape to a frozen lake and Jon sends Gendry to return to Eastwatch and to warn Daenerys. Jon and his group are under siege of the Wights that decides to attack them. Out of the blue, Daenerys come with her dragons to help Jon Snow and the hunting party. Will they succeed in escaping?

"Beyond the Wall" is another spectacular episode of "Game of Thrones". The segment of Arya and Sansa is promising, but the hunting of a Wight by Jon Snow and his team is magnificent. The attack of Daenerys and her "sons" is also great and the final plot point is totally unexpected. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "Beyond the Wall"

The show now lacks almost everything that made it great

[lou-45632 · 7/10 · 26 August 2017]

It is hard to come to terms with the fact that this show sucks now. Up to Season 5, it was one of the best I have seen on TV and I absolutely loved it, 10/10. Unfortunately, the show took a big dive from season 6 and it has reached a new low with this latest episode.

Clearly, D&D, the two show-runners and writers, have depended on GRRM's storytelling and it is now obvious that they are not up to the task of continuing the story on their own. For a long time I thought that D&D were swimming along just fine, but when the tide receded, it was revealed that they were swimming without a swimming suit all the time...

The show now lacks almost everything that made it great in seasons 1-5, notably:

1. Its darkness and unpredictability. It hit you in the stomach when you didn't expect it. It dared to take your favourite characters away from you. It shocked you with violence in both a physical and psychological sense. Situations very often ended in the worst possible way. But from season 6 the show feels very different. It has become tame and predictable, even a little boring. Bringing back Jon Snow was a bad idea as it is not true to spirit of the earlier episodes and unfortunately it got worse after that. Did anyone think Jaime was really dead after the loot train attack in season 7? Hell no. We know nothing is going to happen to him, and that's why this show is lame now.

2. What I liked most about the show was that it was well written. The story made sense, the characters were believable, there was logic and motivation behind people's actions. Compare this to the most recent episodes of season 7 and the difference couldn't be any bigger. Here people make incomprehensible decisions and their actions lack motivation. How come Dany doesn't believe Jon Snow about the White walkers when he tells her about it personally, but immediately believes everything when a raven arrives? If it was so fast and easy to travel North on the dragon, why didn't she do it before to see the army of the dead herself, rather than letting Jon Snow go on a suicide mission? Where in the world did the white walkers get those huge chains from to drag the dead dragon out of the ice lake? The plot silliness in this episode is endless.

3. The show used to be more of a drama/play than an action movie. In earlier seasons, we often didn't directly witness big battles, rather we heard the character's exchanges before and after a battle happened. Believe it or not, but there are people like me who appreciate the dialogue, the drama, the emotional interactions of characters more than sword battles and CGI-dragons. Unfortunately, the show-runners have turned it into a blockbuster action movie now. With GoT, it was the first time in many years that I felt a movie or series had intelligent, well written dialogue. But apparently it was all GRRM, not D&D. Tyrion's dialogue for example feels completely out of character since season 6.

4. All the characters that were cool in the earlier seasons just plain suck now. Jon Snow is a big wuss and makes the worst decisions ever after his resurrection. Attacking Winterfell when he is outnumbered? Sure. Personally leading a suicide mission North of the wall? Of course. Stupidly running away from his escape dragon? You bet. etc.. Arya does pretty much nothing except lurk around Winterfell. Wasn't there something with a list of people she meant to kill? Well, apparently she forgot about that and prefers to needlessly creep out her sister. Cersei just makes a stone face and otherwise does very little. Tyrion used to be one of the most clever characters in the story, who regularly outwitted others, but now doesn't do anything either except give bad advice to Dany. The conflict between Arya and Sansa seems forced and it is not convincing.

The reason I'm still watching is mainly to see how it will all end, as the end will assumedly follow GRRMs plot outline and will therefore be semi-official.

Not the same Game of Thrones

[brycethebeast16 · 5/10 · 20 March 2018]

I understand when they bring Jon back to life. It happend to Baric before and Jon is ESSENTIAL to the plot as (probably) azor ahai. This episode was a new low though, first off Tormund should have been dead. He got overrun by wights and got somehow saved by the hound? He's not absolutely essential so kill him off why not, sad moment and he's gone. It's just boring half the time now without any characters at risk of dying even if they make crucial mistakes or missteps. Ned, Robb, Catelyn, Margery all had made mistakes and they paid for it. Jon in this episode? Stays behind pointlessly fighting endless wights until Danaerys MUST leave him behind. Should be dead, or at least benjen could have came out of nowhere 1 minute earlier and gave him the horse/pulled him out of the water. Instead he shakes off what 4 wights, climbs out of the water after 2 minutes all alone and than the walkers come back? Okay cool action episode but it was predictable and not to mention that whole side quest Jon and the boys went on was rediculous in the first place