All the Martells have done since they were introduced is fail fucking miserably at every single thing they do, in incredibly dumb ways. Really shows the pedestal people put the books on.

A-men brother. People have been faaaar to harsh on this season. A lot of it is exactly the kind of bullshit bad faith criticism you describe: book fanatics with an axe to grind who’ve hated the show years ago because it’s not being written by The God himself. I can only hope that in a few years a lot of the sillier…

Of all of the problems to wave away by saying “magic,” this is obviously one of them. The Night King is basically a wizard.

So GRRM gives them the outline that includes the major memories Sean mentions above that he will remember for years and they all have to take place in this season.

I do think that the show’s dialogue and micro-plotting have suffered from not having GRRM’s text to work from anymore.

In episode 2F09, when Itchy plays Scratchy’s skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes the same rib in succession, yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we to believe, that this is a magic xylophone, or something?

Honestly? Right there with you, dude.

100% agree with O’Neal’s analysis. I haven’t read the books, and while the show has made them more of an intriguing prospect, I never will if the series isn’t completed. As such, I don’t have GRRM’s many words to taint my view of the show. And, I’ve actually enjoyed the past two or three seasons more than the first…

“I guess I’m one of those fascinatingly bad fantasy readers—actually, I know I am—because guild negotiations and the ins and outs of the grain trade are exactly the sort of stuff I usually find stultifying about the genre, and it’s why I’ve never been remotely interested in playing something like, say, Settlers Of…

He’s a zombie dragon. Who gives a shit about the logic of him being able to breathe fire?

I think the writers were trying to be subtle and suggest that it was Baelish’s cynical, conspiratorial and incorrect assessment of Arya’s motives that gave him away. Arya never wanted to be Lady of Winterfell, and Sansa knew that. In trying to set Arya up, he made it clear that he was the culprit. Pulling the facts…

In any case, the man has perfected the subtle art of whoosh intensity.