I’ve been re-reading Steven Hyden’s Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation? series, and it really shows just how far downhill this site has gone. Does anyone know any other sites that focus on that kind of long form music writing? Er, any that aren’t Pitchfork.

I hear you, and agree. We had no clue they weren’t anything but large children or maybe 18 year-olds; finding out the truth did not change a thing.

Did AV Club abandon ship on one of the best reviewed shows of the year so far? If so, that’s a bummer. The last two episodes of the season were some of the best TV I’ve seen. That last episode, that last scene...whooo, cathartic, heartbreaking perfection. 

This was fantastic. This kind of thoughtful, long-form analysis that explore different angle than every other thinkpiece out there is what made me fall in love with A.V. Club in first place. Also, someone told me if me got enough upvotes, me would get free cookie! Me still waiting for that cookie...

There’s always just enough guys. The same way the Dothraki got schwacked at Winterfell but there were loads around this week and last week. Or Euron rebuilt the Iron Fleet in a few days.

What really disappoints me now that I’ve had a night to sleep off the immediate vitriol this episode stirred in me, was the exploitative nature of the show for the last two episodes regarding the commoners of the realm. What made the sacking of KL so terrible, were the horrifying deaths inflicted on the poor. They…

For all the talk of changing the face of fantasy, Game of Thrones resolved the Night King via a dimestore version of the Witch King’s defeat in Lord of the Rings and resolved the Iron Throne question via a dimestore version of Leto II’s ascension in Children of Dune (complete with Mad Queen Regent Alia).

How there even any Northmen alive? Think about how many Northmen were slaughtered at Red Wedding, then in Battle of Bastards, then in Battle of Winterfell, then in Sack of King’s Landing, not to mention countless battles fought in between. Who even still left to fight? 

He is truly Azor Ahai, which it turns out actually translates as “The Petter of Good Boys”. The whole Red God/Prince-Who-Was-Promised thing was all just a wacky series of transcription errors.

Yeah, Yara’s support of Dany was contingent on Dany recognizing the Iron Islands as an independent kingdom. What made her drop that demand?

On Westeros things are different. 

In the spirit of the Sonic the Hedgehog row (and more distantly, the Mass Effect 3 ending hate), I’d like to offer nervous HBO executives an easy strategy to appease the haters.

Seems to me they have bestowed the Azor Ahai role to Arya. How else to possibly explain the bizzaro ethereal scene with the white horse? That area where Arya arises virtually unscathed to find a horse, was burnt to a fucking crisp - I mean completely torched. Bodies melted together. Yet a few feet away, there’s Arya…

I agree the execution wasn’t great, I’m specifically commenting on this column:

About Laurence’s question:

Even with one episode to go, we can safely say that Jon Snow alias Aegon Targaryen has been the dumbest, most ineffectual main hero in the whole history of the fantasy narrative, possibly beyond.

“Nothing reminds me of Missandei more than hurting unarmed, unprivileged women”.

[Enters Anthony Hopkins]

No, no, no, you all have it wrong. The cup is a clue that Game of Thrones is, in fact, another park in Westworld, and none of them could see the cup because their programming prevents them from seeing anything that doesn’t belong in their world.

I loved her on Casual too (man, what a great show). I binged all the episodes of PEN15 in one sitting and it’s really really good. Funny (just the fact that they are 31 year old women playing 7th graders for starters), and heartbreaking at times. Amazing work.