All in all, I think the most disappointing part of this season is that it's missing a lot of what made GOT great in the first place - the unpredictability. There's no Red Wedding moments here. All of the main characters have had insane plot armor and it's become way too predictable. I know some will say that my expectations were too high, but they set that bar in the first place and they've failed to meet it. It's still good TV, but this entire season just feels way too rushed. So many chances to be better and they're focused on Hollywood effects instead of the story.
I think GoT being as great as it has been was always a joint effort - and more of a two-way street than people have been making out. GRRM's work is obviously terrific and his characters are layered and the plot revolves around the choices those characters make in an extremely well developed world. But the guys who did the show are brilliant TV guys in their own right and they did a great job of bringing everything to life and honestly cutting through some of the more unwieldy parts of the books (and let's be honest, it's not secret I'm being polite here lol). I remember we talked about this back in like season 5 on the old forum, that the show didn't quite feel the same as it did in the first few seasons. The exact episode where that came up was the Battle of the Bastards, when Jon lifted his sword and ran straight into the Boltons' line and I never once felt like he was in any kind of danger. The plot armour has been pretty well covered - the crossbows going from elite to stormtrooper, the Winterfell battle deployments and general logical issues that really only make sense for the plot.
Overall not much has changed for my opinion of the show since those days. I've still got it in the same ball park as The Wire just behind Breaking Bad as my favourite. It's funny that back then people felt like I was underselling GoT but now I suspect they'll feel like I'm underselling The Wire haha. It's still very good TV and it's really not the trainwreck so many people seem to be making it out to be (then again there shouldn't be anything surprising about people on Twitter whinging about non-issues). But I do agree that it's gone from a very organic story where decisions and characters drive events to one where events drive characters and that's taken quite a bit of what made the story what it was. That said though, I have to wonder if the books will run into a fairly similar problem given GRRM knows how he wants it to end.
As to my thoughts on various parts of the episode (and season to date).
1. I'm not surprised to see Danaerys go Mad Queen in the slightest, considering they've been foreshadowing it for almost as long as the whole R+L=J thing. She was always a low-key pyromaniac and I've always wondered how a similar story from Aerys II's perspective would have played out (as viewers/readers we see her justify her decisions but I'm sure Aerys would have felt like he was justified with doing the horrible things he did). With that said I can agree with others that the whole thing felt a little rushed, considering even the Mad King took years to descend into madness and went through far more trauma than she did. All things considered it was probably as good as it could have been, but I think it's a bit of a microcosm of this season. Great ideas that end up being too rushed but making for good TV (for better and worse).
Also, something I found (mildly) funny. My flatmate's psychotic girlfriend (still can't believe he took her back after the saga I mentioned in the Dump Thread but I digress) went straight to rationalising Dany doing her thing - that she suffered trauma and it justified the decisions she made and so on. So I guess the GoT characters aren't yet full-blown tropes lol.
2. I've been going back and forth on the whole Cleganebowl thing. The Hound's arc was one of my favourites with the way he'd started to move on from all his hate and anger (I felt there was some symbolism to him dying in the wilderness), so in a sense it feels like they threw his arc away. But at the same time watching the fight it did feel like a fairly neat and fitting end for him. I also quietly liked the Frankenstein's monster shoutout.
3. Casting aside Jaime's arc was a big letdown though. The whole fight scene with Euron was a bit odd. But going back to Cersei to be with her and comfort her and stuff seemed to disregard how far apart the two were moving (another highlight of the whole story). Cersei not getting a cinematic death I can live with and I think the chalky feeling that leaves in your mouth was by design (how many terrible dictators die of old age). I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see GRRM do something similar in the books though. And an aside I'll say Lena Headey was brilliant.
4. Arya's story was actually pretty good I felt. The first thing I said after the episode was that she just added a name to her list, so I can understand the focus. But I think getting caught up with the people trying to escape the Red Keep is also a catalyst for rediscovering her human side after spending so long becoming an emotionless death machine.
5. I get the Jon arc, but I'll agree with everyone else who's said he's been up to fucks this season in particular. I get the idea of him being the better ruler, but he's been pretty mopey and one-dimensional in the show pretty much since season one. I'd be interested to see how it would have gone if the actors for him and Robb Stark had been switched because I think you could pass off Kit's sullenness as the whole weight of leadership thing. Had we not been told he was loved by everyone else there'd be no reason to get hyped about him.
6. I agree about Varys. I think they give him the Petyr Baelish treatment. They both ended up going pretty out of character for their deaths and neither really sat right with me. I still think the Martells (Oberyn aside) got screwed the hardest by the show though.
Despite the issues I have with the show though, I've still mostly enjoyed this season to date and I'm still looking forward to the finale. But it definitely changed once it switched from being a books and TV thing to just a TV thing and I guess the show is what it is at this point.
One last thought is actually a comment I came across. Someone said that Shakespeare was meant to be watched and ASOIAF was meant to be read - and that definitely stuck with me. It'll be a tragedy for sure if GRRM doesn't live long enough to get A Dream of Summer out and the best we end up with is Aristotle notes. But if that does happen, personally I'll still see the show as a big net positive (even the last seasons).
