[user104658]

I was wondering how, even with the time and distance discrepancies, it was in any way realistic that...

Spoiler:

Daenerys and the dragons could reach the Fellowship of the Zombie before they froze to death

... But then I looked up theories and calculations about the dragons, and the estimate is that they can probably fly at up to 200mph with a passenger and even faster without. Now, how realistic it is for Dany to be comfortably riding a dragon at that speed without a windscreen, or at least a helmet / goggles (as apparently some open cockpit propeller planes did go at those sorts of speeds) is another matter. I guess you could assume there's some mystical / magical element that protects the rider from wind and G forces...

[Tom4784]

I've had some bits spoiled for me on facebook so now I'm gonna have to ****ing watch it before some twats decide to spoil the rest for me.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

I've had some bits spoiled for me on facebook so now I'm gonna have to ****ing watch it before some twats decide to spoil the rest for me.

Tbf I don't think there were any huge moments to spoil?

Spoiler:

As soon as they showed the Wight Bear, near the beginning, it was obvious that they were hinting at a Wight Dragon. It was always pretty obvious that the Fellowship was going to run into trouble and Danny was going to ride in to help. It was also always obvious that one of them wasn't going to make it back... And IMO pretty obvious who it would be (because of the implications for Beric).

So while it was another brilliant episode; I personally don't think there were too many surprises? It was also pretty obvious that Jon, Beric and The Hound and (because he's only just come back ffs) Gendry would survive. I was worried for Tormund at one point though

Highlight of the episode was Tormund and The Hound talking about Brienne. "... You DO know her!" .

[user104658]

As for the quality... I'm def going to have to rewatch. The resolution is good but the colour is washed out and it has a (quite bad, IMO) frame stutter in fast paced scenes. That was an old problem with early Netflix rips, which has since been solved.

It's a pretty raw rip, not properly refined and encoded by a decent team. It's also running at about 110% speed same as the last one, you can hear that as soon as the theme starts.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

As for the quality... I'm def going to have to rewatch. The resolution is good but the colour is washed out and it has a (quite bad, IMO) frame stutter in fast paced scenes. That was an old problem with early Netflix rips, which has since been solved.

It's a pretty raw rip, not properly refined and encoded by a decent team. It's also running at about 110% speed same as the last one, you can hear that as soon as the theme starts.

i noticed this too

[Smithy]

Quite an interesting thought for next season

Spoiler:

Obv now that Viserion is dead (RIP :'( ) he'll begin to rot, whereas Drogon and Rhaegal will continue to grow, i imagine the night king is only going to use him to bring down the wall and doesn't actually expect him to be much use afterward

[RileyH]

re the leaked episode:

Spoiler:

Arya was annoying af reading that note, I knew one of the dragons would die eventually but maybe in a later episode, happy Benjen saved Jon, Thoros dying was tragic, Tormund hilarious as always, Dany made a stupid move taking 2 dragons, we need more Missandei, and probably more but that's all I can think of atm

[Tom4784]

After seeing the quality of the leaked episode, I think I'll just wait.

[Locke.]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

After seeing the quality of the leaked episode, I think I'll just wait.

There are 2 versions, depending on where you're looking. The one I watched was HD with perfect sound, but the first one I attempted to watch was pretty average quality with terrible sound.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Locke.

There are 2 versions, depending on where you're looking. The one I watched was HD with perfect sound, but the first one I attempted to watch was pretty average quality with terrible sound.

But the HD one is washed out quite badly (blacks are an obvious mid-grey) and the stutter on action and camera panning is so bad that I actually lost track of who was who in a few battle scenes.

My wife didn't notice either issue though so it might be down to the individual.

The stutter is less on the "tinkered with" SD version, but still present, and the resolution is worse than 480p.

For anyone who can dodge the spoilers I'd say wait for true 720/1080p on Monday. I'm going to try my best to if there are any more leaks .

[Locke.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

But the HD one is washed out quite badly (blacks are an obvious mid-grey) and the stutter on action and camera panning is so bad that I actually lost track of who was who in a few battle scenes.

My wife didn't notice either issue though so it might be down to the individual.

The stutter is less on the "tinkered with" SD version, but still present, and the resolution is worse than 480p.

For anyone who can dodge the spoilers I'd say wait for true 720/1080p on Monday. I'm going to try my best to if there are any more leaks .

I didn't notice any of this tbh. But then again I don't have Sky Atlantic in HD so I usually watch episode in worse quality than this leak anyway.

[Denver]

Im going to start season 1 tonight

[Jamesy]

There's a lot of problems with the writing this season, although I can't imagine it's easy for the writers, now that the show has gone beyond the books and they have no source material to work from. I doubt when they started making Game of Thrones they believed they would be writing everything themselves towards the end. GRRM obviously gives them the plot points, but it must be difficult to fill in the blanks.

I can't help but feel the show could have done with another series or two. After 6 seasons that have moved slowly, to this season which is moving as sonic speed and characters are teleporting across the world between scenes, I'm finding it difficult to be as immersed in the storyline.

It's still one of the best shows on TV and I love the characters and battle scenes. I feel something is missing this season though, compared to previous seasons.

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Jamesy

There's a lot of problems with the writing this season, although I can't imagine it's easy for the writers, now that the show has gone beyond the books and they have no source material to work from. I doubt when they started making Game of Thrones they believed they would be writing everything themselves towards the end. GRRM obviously gives them the plot points, but it must be difficult to fill in the blanks.

I can't help but feel the show could have done with another series or two. After 6 seasons that have moved slowly, to this season which is moving as sonic speed and characters are teleporting across the world between scenes, I'm finding it difficult to be as immersed in the storyline.

It's still one of the best shows on TV and I love the characters and battle scenes. I feel something is missing this season though, compared to previous seasons.

Either that or they should have sped up other parts of the show earlier, towards the end of S5 it felt like they were dragging it out as much as possible in the hopes that by the time S6 started the next book would have been released and it wouldn't have been as much of a spoiler for book readers, now obviously they're past that point so it just feels like they're steaming ahead

[Tom4784]

That was probably the worst episode of GoT ever.

Spoiler:

And it was all because of the poor TV-esque forced conflict between Sansa and Arya as well as the continued out of nowhere Dany paranoia at the beginning.

Neither Arya or Sansa are dumb but they are being made purposefully dumb in order to force this storyline along. Arya would have understood Sansa's perspective if this was any other season and Sansa wouldn't have been dumb enough to buy into Littlefinger's obvious plot. It's contrived and it's piss poor writing. The plot should fit around the characters, characters shouldn't be changed to fit the plot.

Dany questioning everyone that has stuck with her thus far for no other reason then to create a bit of conflict is equally annoying especially considering her scenes in the last half of the episode where she felt like a completely different character. The paranoia scenes go against everything they've developed with Dany so far and they stick out like a sore thumb. She's a positively schizophrenic character at this point and it's purely down to these poorly written scenes. It makes no narrative sense for Daenerys to doubt Tyrion after everything, it's just another forced plot contrivance.

The rest of the episode with the Westeros Avengers beyond the wall was really good but the bad writing in the other scenes just completely ruined the episode for me. I liked how it ended although I admit I'm getting quite bored of the White Walkers, there's only so much you can do with a villain that is essentially a force of nature rather than a character especially in a show like this which is very much character focused. Unless the Night King suddenly becomes chatty and interesting, I'm not looking forward to a potential season of him. I'm hoping my theory from last week is correct and they are dealt with quickly as the main narrative pull of the White Walkers is seeing how everyone will work together and the writers have set up that alliance already and it'll probably happen in the next episode. Anything else in the White Walker storyline ultimately feels like padding.

Viserion's death was well done and sad although the first trailer for this season that showed a dragon with blue eyes spoiled the twist and we could have done without. It's nice that the writers remembered for a few moments that Daenerys isn't a random paranoid mess too and I liked the cementing of the alliance between her and Jon.

Poor Thoros gettting such a crappy death.

[ChristmasNeeve]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

That was probably the worst episode of GoT ever.

Spoiler:

And it was all because of the poor TV-esque forced conflict between Sansa and Arya as well as the continued out of nowhere Dany paranoia at the beginning.

Neither Arya or Sansa are dumb but they are being made purposefully dumb in order to force this storyline along. Arya would have understood Sansa's perspective if this was any other season and Sansa wouldn't have been dumb enough to buy into Littlefinger's obvious plot. It's contrived and it's piss poor writing. The plot should fit around the characters, characters shouldn't be changed to fit the plot.

Dany questioning everyone that has stuck with her thus far for no other reason then to create a bit of conflict is equally annoying especially considering her scenes in the last half of the episode where she felt like a completely different character. The paranoia scenes go against everything they've developed with Dany so far and they stick out like a sore thumb. She's a positively schizophrenic character at this point and it's purely down to these poorly written scenes. It makes no narrative sense for Daenerys to doubt Tyrion after everything, it's just another forced plot contrivance.

The rest of the episode with the Westeros Avengers beyond the wall was really good but the bad writing in the other scenes just completely ruined the episode for me. I liked how it ended although I admit I'm getting quite bored of the White Walkers, there's only so much you can do with a villain that is essentially a force of nature rather than a character especially in a show like this which is very much character focused. Unless the Night King suddenly becomes chatty and interesting, I'm not looking forward to a potential season of him. I'm hoping my theory from last week is correct and they are dealt with quickly as the main narrative pull of the White Walkers is seeing how everyone will work together and the writers have set up that alliance already and it'll probably happen in the next episode. Anything else in the White Walker storyline ultimately feels like padding.

Viserion's death was well done and sad although the first trailer for this season that showed a dragon with blue eyes spoiled the twist and we could have done without. It's nice that the writers remembered for a few moments that Daenerys isn't a random paranoid mess too and I liked the cementing of the alliance between her and Jon.

Poor Thoros gettting such a crappy death.

I did love the episode but

Spoiler:

I agree with you about the Arya/Sansa scenes, I hate that they're making me dislike Arya when she's been my favourite character from the start

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

I did love the episode but

Spoiler:

I agree with you about the Arya/Sansa scenes, I hate that they're making me dislike Arya when she's been my favourite character from the start

Spoiler:

My hope is that it'll all turn out to be some sort of ruse against Littlefinger... like they've been onto him from the start and know he's hiding in the shadows watching (not least because it makes ZERO sense that Arya wouldn't know she's being watched) and so, knowing that his plan is to cause division between them, they're "playing along" to let him think that he's winning. Once they figure out what he's actually up to they'll both turn on him.

That's my hope anyway . Otherwise they've just undone 7 seasons of character development for both of them .

[ChristmasNeeve]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Spoiler:

My hope is that it'll all turn out to be some sort of ruse against Littlefinger... like they've been onto him from the start and know he's hiding in the shadows watching (not least because it makes ZERO sense that Arya wouldn't know she's being watched) and so, knowing that his plan is to cause division between them, they're "playing along" to let him think that he's winning. Once they figure out what he's actually up to they'll both turn on him.

That's my hope anyway . Otherwise they've just undone 7 seasons of character development for both of them .

Yeah, that's literally the only scenario that will redeem all this stuff tbh

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Yeah, that's literally the only scenario that will redeem all this stuff tbh

It's him standing watching Arya that really gets me! Like there was an entire half season long storyline where she was blind, for several months... it was a huge part of what made her into such a great assassin... it was what allowed her to defeat The Waif in a fight completely in the dark... and yet she doesn't know that Littlefinger is hiding in the shadows 10 feet away when she comes out of Sansa's room?

[user104658]

Spoiler:

I do feel like they've set up a potential swift end to the Walkers now, with the realisation that killing a walker kills all of those "under" that walker... And so if someone can kill the Night King, the rest will be dust. Most likely scenario would be Dany et al leading a huge battle as a distraction while Jon gets in close for the kill.

I just sort of wonder where they go after that though? Switch back to the war for the throne? There's not that much of Westeros left to rule at this point... Half the ancient noble houses are extinct and no one really cares anymore

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Spoiler:

I do feel like they've set up a potential swift end to the Walkers now, with the realisation that killing a walker kills all of those "under" that walker... And so if someone can kill the Night King, the rest will be dust. Most likely scenario would be Dany et al leading a huge battle as a distraction while Jon gets in close for the kill.

I just sort of wonder where they go after that though? Switch back to the war for the throne? There's not that much of Westeros left to rule at this point... Half the ancient noble houses are extinct and no one really cares anymore

Spoiler:

Thankfully, in my opinion. I feel like the only juicy part of the White Walkers storyline if it lasted a season would be how you'd get everyone working together and they've set how that will happen up in the space of two episodes. I say give us a big feature length episode with everyone vs the White Walkers next season and be done with it. The White Walkers are basically a plot device for big spectacles, I don't think there's a need to drag their storyline out any further and risk the spectacle getting boring and overplayed.

The rest of next season will be about Dany vs Jon, a second Dance of Dragons, if you will. Jon's true heritage will be revealed and they'll end up turning on each other. The whole shipping of them this season is setting them up for a tragic storyline next season I think.

[Smithy]

Jon doesn't want the throne, why would he turn on her

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Smithy

Jon doesn't want the throne, why would he turn on her

Out of necessity.

Spoiler:

He's the rightful king if the Targaryen line takes the throne again which is going to lead to conflict with Dany since his existence invalidates her claim. Jon will likely have to go to war as a means of defence as Dany will reluctantly have to fight for her right to rule. I think it's going to be the main conflict in Season 7 which would be interesting since it would be different to the wars in previous seasons since there wouldn't likely be a clear cut villain and hero as it would be a war of circumstance and necessity. Neither side want to hurt the other but only one of them can survive.

[user104658]

I read a theory that

Spoiler:

Jon will ride the Wight/Ice Dragon. With the dragons connection to the targaryen bloodline extending beyond death, Jon will manage to take control of it in battle and it will turn on the walkers. Apparently there's been a theory about an ice dragon floating about for ages; some speculating that there might be one frozen inside the wall... But it'll now probably be viseryon.

.

It does make sense for the "song of ice and fire", with Jon being g "ice".

[ChristmasNeeve]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I read a theory that

Spoiler:

Jon will ride the Wight/Ice Dragon. With the dragons connection to the targaryen bloodline extending beyond death, Jon will manage to take control of it in battle and it will turn on the walkers. Apparently there's been a theory about an ice dragon floating about for ages; some speculating that there might be one frozen inside the wall... But it'll now probably be viseryon.

.

It does make sense for the "song of ice and fire", with Jon being g "ice".

Oh I love that theory, I hope it happens