While I do admit it's a factor, I don't think it's such a relevant one precisely because they've done such a great job adapting the first three books. Rushed moments such as the sand snake's taking of Dorne or Daenery's quick fix of the Slavers Bay situation (that they built up for three whole seasons) would look…

It is, but characterization matters, and big moments have to be earned. I don't want this last episodes to be a breathless string of resolutions, because that's not what Game of Thrones is about. But sure, as long as they keep these big leaps in story advancement a season finale thing, I'm still on board.

A few decades, I guess. That's assuming he won't back down when he realises there's no way he's finishing it before leaving this world.

he's said a lot of things (and he's admitted that the rights will eventually go to someone who's going to allow that for money)…

nah, they'll have another writer finish the series using Martin's now after he dies. that's like a foregone conclusion by now.

yeah, and it might be the only one we get for a few decades :/ and the books aren't prefect either, they have the exact opposite pacing and plot resolution problem.

I want to have fun and not to overanalyze shit, but it''s just so obvious how different Weiss and Benioff's vision is from Martin's, and which one's poorer. If they keep going for the easy solutions like they did for the entirety of last season with Dany's storyline, I'm not sure if I'll be able to enjoy this…

I loved the first few episodes of season one. They had the perfect balance between realism and zaniness, and they treated every character as actual human beings. Then it got real corny real fast, and characters we were not supposed to like became caricatures to make things less complicated (like Piper's fiancé who…

I felt like season one's finale had a lot of closure. I'd dispute the idea that you need a central story to move the season forward, or that season one lacked structure. As long as "people living their lives and dealing with their shit" dramas go, it was cohese enough for me.

I think it was messy precisely because of the supernatural elements. What I meant is that season one was more contained and focused on telling a pretty straightforward story. From season 2 onwards, they sort of let it loose on the plot department and focused on striking imagery and histrionic moments.

What in season one compares to excursions to the afterlife, chasing after a murderous God in a lion-themed orgy boat, or tracking aboriginal songs to stop the end of the world? The only supernatural element was the departure itself. It was a pretty standard drama, with realistic (if sometimes boring) arcs.

Right? I started watching the show this February and my friends that knew it were like "please don't give up on season one, it gets better!". When I watched it, I wondered why they thought I might give it up. It was one of those cathartic, deeply emotional entertainment experiences, like Six Feet Under levels of "wow…

prestige tv shows have an intense monologue quota to hit, so "show, don't tell" will have to take the back seat.

As much as I liked it, I couldn't help but feeling let down by this last season as a whole. I think the show is very inconsistent when it comes to plotting, and puts aesthetics and raw emotion over structure (and that wouldn't really be a problem for me if I felt that's what they were going for from the get-go, but…

Yeah, I found it frustrating because it made no sense for the character, but now it's frustrating because it's a fucking cheap trick.

Interesting, I think season one was the most put-together and contained of the three.

I was pissed when I thought she killed herself because it made no sense for the character to do it. Now I'm pissed that the didn't because that was just such a ridiculously cheap move. I mean, come on, all the Judas allegory, the way Brenneman played it, fucking 1-800 Suicide in the opening credits?! Jesus, people.

They totally Life of Pi'd it.

They did the same thing with the past two season finales (that they wrote as possible series finales). Everything's miserable and nothing makes sense, but then there's meaning and solace to be found on family and love.

Sure, they have their constraints, but that doesn't justify every shaky decision they've made in the plot department. And they definitely put themes over plot (which is fine, just means that sometimes things won't make too much sense).