In a way, I still blame GRRM for this even though the show's writers are clearly more directly to blame. I have no idea how he will be able to get to the ending he clearly planned (Jon and Dany heading north to defeat the NK) without having to start keeping characters alive through "plot armor." The world's just so complex that I don't know if even he knows how he's going to get out of it.

As slow as GRRM is, he already provided mountains of better material than meriting rushing to an artificial end date.

Benioff and Weiss are coming off like;

http://www.gifbin.com/bin/082014/140..._dive_fail.gif

Sure it was impressive how they tackled this massive project, but when they find themselves facing their artificially imposed end date without author input, . . . . well

I don't buy that all the stuff they cut or synthesized down was fluff. They could have built the world for years, instead they have the hot chick in their bed and are splooging on her knee.

Also a fair point.

Alternatively, I think they'd have faced a fan revolt. Lets not forget season 3 (maybe 4?) when they had a fanbase getting pretty pissed off at them for dawdling.

This is a 'don't know what you've got' kind of moment. Fans, perhaps many of us included, didn't realize that the full-scale immersion in the world and the slow burn was precisely what made the show good. Those that hoped things would speed up are getting what they asked for.

And frankly, it pretty much sucks.

I look forward to no comment from you on next weeks finale as you will obviously not be watching come Sunday.

Sure I will. I'm pot committed at this point. Apart from the hundreds of hours spent on the books alone, I've watched the show also. Every last one of us is guilty of watching halfway through the movie, realizing it ****ing sucks but sticking around to see the end just because (King Arthur: Legend of the Sword was my most recent one - what a piece of shit that was).

But I don't have to gleefully lap it up. And that's my point - had THIS been the quality of the show from its commencement, it would've been cancelled 4 years ago. D&D were handed an incredible property and told to make it their own. They don't have the chops for it.

If you can't acknowledge that the GOT folks are engaged in objectively shitty storytelling at this point, I just don't know what to tell you. They're doing a bad job.

To be fair, people were similarly pissed at PT. 1 of Season 5 of Breaking Bad, no one remembers this because PT. 2 of Season 5 was absolutely spectacular.

I'm hopeful that GRRM's conclusion is strong enough that D&D can conclude with a satisfying finale.

Can't totally agree here. GoT is so popular because it appeals in so many different ways. As a book reader you appreciated the competent worldbuilding early on. There's scads of viewers who simply revel in the no-holds-barred spectacle.

If you know what's being left out and are looking for the plot holes, you're starting to be disappointed. If you sit down for eye-popping visuals with a passable underlying narrative, you're still a pig in shit.

It's still superior to most blockbuster cinema out there.

I was disappointed that the Hound saved Tormund. Not because I wanted to see Tormund die, the fact that I didn't want to see him die is why they should have done it. The show established early it wasn't afraid to kill off fan favorite characters but now it seems like some of those characters are safe.

Would you rather have seemingly bulletproof characters over the last seen episodes, fleshed out new characters to replace killed ones, or one or two main characters supported by faceless redshirts?

We're in the homestretch. The Wildlings have already been brought south of the wall and largely assimilated into the area. The walkers aren't gonna be brought down by a bunch of largely untrained free folk swinging dull blades.

What purpose can Tormund possibly serve to the story at this point? As a pure storytelling device, the highest and best use of his character right now is to kill him off and keep the audience tense.

But again - bad storytelling.

There's plenty of characters to finish the show, killing off liked characters gives the impression that anything can still happen, not this guy was a gonner but gets magically saved.

Well, they seem to have all the ducks just about lined up where they want them now. Hopefully they can stop trying to get all their chess pieces placed on the board for the finale and actually do some quality showrunning.

Has a single POV character been killed off yet in the books? Id almost argue the main characters have more plot armor in the books than in the show.

I felt the exact same about Bronn in episode 4. You want to add a real emotional blow to that battle? Have a dothraki screamer gut Bronn as he prepared the death blow to Drogon as Jaime watched. That could have been what compelled the Kingslayer to go on a suicide ride against Dany.

Only Ned. Even Catelyn is still alive in the books.