Now that we all had some time to calm our broken hearts after a mess that has been Game of thrones s08e04 let’s discuss it. This particular episode caused a lot of buzz for several reasons but mostly because it sucked by many viewers opinions. Most commonly episode four is described as bad writing.
So what was wrong with Game of thrones s08e04?
First of all, I need to address this:
There is a major difference between bad writing and you not liking where the plot is going.
Sadly many people confuse those two and the question is whether episode four was really just bad writing or we’re all just disappointed.
I believe the main issue is that we got ahead of the books and that season 8 is gonna be the last season for the main story. That left the writers with the unpleasant task to somehow give closure to 7 years of making in just 6 episodes.
All of the events occurring in s8 so far are so brutally fast-forwarded.
7 seasons of character development is thrown out of the window. Shock value becomes an every episode thing because there is just 6 episodes to do that – so why not.
By this point, there is no arguing that shock value is an undeniable part of GOT. It’s the one that keeps us all watching. You might get upset. You might get angry. But you are still here and you are still watching because you love it.
Love the feeling of surprise, anger, and astonishment that makes you forget about your real-life problems just for a while.
The massive impact GOT has on its fans is proven each Sunday. Hours before the episode premiere Game of thrones is trending worldwide and it remains the main topic even 2 days after. Even though there are obviously more important things to talk about than a fantasy TV show.
I pity HBOs security every Sunday. This Sunday it was no different, but the leaks were up too early for my liking. It was noon in Europe and I already knew Rhaegar and Missandre would die.
Oh yeah, spoilers alert but what the hell. Unless you just log in on the internet there is no way you could have missed those spoilers.
By the end of the day, I read a shit ton of potential leaks and only some of them were true. Just a reminder that the premiere in my country is 3 am Monday morning. Therefore I have to wake up really early to watch GOT. The fact reminds me I spend the whole Sunday on game of thrones tag and the whole Monday as well. Just a show am I right.
I must admit I did cry during this episode and it was much more emotionally traumatizing than the last one where they all were literally fighting death.
Once I overcome the first handed shock I realized this was just really really really bad episode.
Let me point out a few of the bad writing moments of these episodes
- Rhaegars death made no sense besides shock value and pushing Danny to here new and so forced Mad Queen status. There is just no way Danaerys could not notice Eurons fleets from up above, considering Euron had somehow clear shot to fire that many arrows from around the corner (like how do you do that?) and somehow miss Danny on Drogon even when they were at a better position to get shot. Missing Drogon and shooting Rhaegar 3 times. Gosh, the writers could at least put him at the far left side so it would make slight sense.
- Euron is boring. GOT proved they can write bad guys like no one else. Just remember Joffrey or Ramsay. Euron is plain flat and takes way too much focus. He lacks depth.
- Emilia Clark overcome 2 brain aneurysms to come back and have her character disrespected like that.
I say burn them all down girl.
The level of bad writing showing on Daenerys is stunning. 7 years in the making and you expect us to believe in this major character transition in 4 episodes. They took literally everything from her in the span of a few screen hours. What a waste of hard work. I’m all for Mad Queen Danny but the writers just gave her justification for all of her future action. Wouldn’t it be better if she turned bonkers while she still has factors and people who helped her build-up to where she is now? How is killing them all and crushing the surviving ones’ faith in her in one episode even believable?
- I was never more convinced that the show is written by 2 white men with that Sansa and Sandor scene. Sansa started playing the true Game of Thrones in season one and to claim she is the bad bitch she is now is because of the rape and emotional manipulation is embarrassing. All of the hard work put into the strong female characters of Game of Thrones gets washed out with allegations that their strength is the result of the abuse. Women are strong before and after they get dicked down. Such backward writing.
Gendry who?
- So I know you don’t have to be familiar with how bastard surnames work in the Game of Thrones universe, but just so you know you don’t assign them by random.
Calling Gendry RIVERS was either a mistake or a call out – and with 90milion$ per season show, you just don’t make mistakes like that.
Either the writer is implying Gendry was born in Riverlands and not in Kings Landing as was suggested in the show or books so far. Or else I have literally no fucking idea what is going on. It’s true that the show never assigned Gendry a surname, as it shouldn’t have cuz he was not recognized as a king’s bastard by the king aka no last name for you lad.
All of the fans all around the world have been referring to Gendry as Gendry Waters because he grew up in Kings Landing. We know by now that the last names of bastards are assigned by their mother’s site. All we know about his mother is that she was a low born who had golden hair and used to sing to him. She died when Gendry was young and since then he was a blacksmith in the making in KINGS LANDING. We truly don’t know if Genrdy was born in Riverlands but neither should Gendry.
You got to expect hardcore fans would dig into it. That’s just lazy writing.
Writers clearly thrown this information in our directions like that because fuck us.
Staying on Gendry topic. Even though his love confession and proposal to Arya was sweet but it was so cringy oh my god. So rushed. I don’t think her turning him down right now would have any impact whatsoever. Arya was torn between love and duty before, this just messes with her a bit and lets Gendry reconsider his new lord status. I believe he would give up being a lord, he never wanted that anyway. All he wanted was to be worthy of Arya. The second he became high lord he tried to turn Arya into a lady as well. Well, we all know that’s not happening. But his excitement was heart-breaking. Great job Joe Dempsie.
My biggest hope is that Daenerys is able to break the wheel alongside all of the titles and houses so everyone can just chill and be with whoever they want.
The cup.
- Even mainstream media addressed the cup thing. Aka at the post War of Winterfell feast we could clearly see a modern-day coffee cup with a plastic lid and unclear logo at the table next to Daenerys (poor barista).
So let the memes begin.
The next day after a massive shitstorm of how-could-they-forgot-the-cup HBO announced that it was truly a mistake on their part and edited the cup out the next day.
Ok. First of all, do you remember a few paragraphs above when I told you about the 90 milion$ budget for the season? That makes 15 000 000$ per episode.
Honey do you really think the show as big as Game of thrones would leave a Starbucks cup (not confirmed but that is where everyone’s mind is going) like that?
They have a shit ton of people working on the show.
And you are telling me HBO did not notice the cup?
Of course, it’s a product placement. Of course, it’s an ad. I just wonder how much did it cost Starbucks to sneak coffee into a fantasy world where dragons are real. Managing to add plastic cups to the Game of thrones feast takes a lot of creativity. Hands down they got me there with that writing. My theory is sustained by the fact that it took HBO 2 freaking days to edit their mistake. Enough time for everybody to notice.
It’s truly a disgrace to all of the fans but still funny though.
We are witnessing the major fall of 7 years of hard work because of lack of time, too much pressure, big expectations, and bad writing.
I’m afraid the next 2 episodes would be even worse since they have JUST 2 episodes to solve the big Game of thrones and give the fans the ending of the show that will not satisfy them anyway.
Next Sunday’s episode trailer.
For my previous GOT reflections:
Lets reflect on Game of thrones s08e01
This was an interesting read.
Hello! Thanks for “liking” my recent post (and, I think, one or two previously) but I’m curious: are you really reading the material? It seems so different from the material you post, which is well-written but deals with the kind of subject matter I never address (excepting the times I address these subjects critically), especially all things relating to TV. If your English is this good (referring to the post this comment is attached to), I can only imagine how well you express yourself in your mother tongue… which makes me lament the fact that TV has stolen from Literature the benefit of a great mind’s attention. What do these massively-hyped, porno-Soap Operas (laugh) do for people? Is it more than escapism?
Here’s hoping my bluntness doesn’t offend you but, after your “likes,” I became genuinely curious.
Thanks,
S
PS I won’t take it personally if you think this comment disrupts your blog and therefore choose to delete this.