I like to think common sense would prevail alongside general courtesy and posters in this thread would assume that spoilers (which are not leaks) include the relevant, honestly released material to date. In this case, the books and anything up to and including S08E04.

I like to think that, but then this is my first day on the internet.

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I, like most, haven't been enjoying this season. It's rushed when it didn't need to be. This is the most popular show in the world - HBO would surely have funded another season or two. Do we think the showrunners honestly just wanted to wrap it up and move on to other projects? Do we think they knew they couldn't maintain what quality remains by stretching it out into a few more seasons? Do we think they think they're crushing it? I don't know. At this stage, I think the finale may still be satisfying, but in the same way that masturbation will do when the girlfriend or her sister is out of town.

 

I'm not sure another season would have made things better. Game of Thrones' biggest appeal was serialized storytelling where big things happen and actions have consequences. That's a formula that can only last so long, if only because the show will eventually kill off all the major characters we actually care about to meet the major character deaths quota. Serialized storytelling requires each season to have an arc and purpose that's ultimately building to something. Dragging it out more wouldn't help.

Also, I'd say Game of Thrones had more than enough time to close out all its plot threads if they were executed properly. I still stick by my opinion that Season 7 should have been the end of Cersei, and Season 8 focused on the Night King. Trying to cram the resolution of both plots into a single season is where all the pacing problems in this season ultimately come from.

As far as budget goes ... well HBO is certainly going to keep the series going as long as it brings in money, but the budget GoT requires is certainly hard to overlook. Part of why Seasons 7 and 8 had fewer episodes was HBO's reluctance to move past spending $100 million for a single season of the show. There's plenty of room to argue about how effectively that budget's being spent (The Battle of Blackwater was a far more engaging battle, despite having a bit over $2 million spent on it; probably less than 1/10th of the budget of the Battle of Winterfell). I'm sure HBO isn't wild about spending more money to get less episodes out of it, especially if the trend were to continue into a ninth season.

 

There's also the question of actors. Some might simply want to move on from playing the same character for a decade.

 

GoT is HBO's milkcow. D&D were offered 10 episodes but they have decided to wrap things up in the stupidest way imaginable.

 

Leaked image from ep 5

 

Honestly, I have a bad feeling I'd find that more enjoyable than what we'll actually get in the episode.

 

I just had a realization that I wish I didn't, but now it's in my head...

The tail end of GoT is like The Last Jedi--very well produced trash.

Oh well. We'll always have the first 4 seasons.

 

The Real episode 5 leaks.

 

Yeah, I'm sure part of why Game of Thrones has become such an expensive show is the actors. If Peter Dinklage says "I'm not playing Tyrion next season unless you increase my pay by a million dollars" he's probably getting that extra million dollars.

 

I have read that Margaery Tyrell was killed off because Natalie Dormer wanted to move on the other things.

The writers who are adopting The Wheel of Time for Amazon should be happy that unlike ASoIaF they are not going to get bogged down towards the end. Considering how bloated the later books are they would have to think of all the things they should cut off.

 

I ran across this twitter thread which suggests that the shift in quality boils down to GRRM being a "pantser" (what I would call a discovery writer, someone who figures things out as he goes but may have trouble ending) while the show-runners who took over when they ran out of source material are "plotters" (writers with a firm end goal and stations they want to hit along the way, devising the steps necessary to get there.)

It's just speculation, but it resonates with the feeling I've been getting this season. There's been the definite sense that characters and events are being forced towards a given conclusion. I'm still hopeful that the final episodes will be reasonably satisfying, though the journey to get there has been sometimes disappointing. They must have a good reason to be torturing the narrative, right? Right?

Also: I should have put money on Arya dying. There's just no way her "I am become death" arc is going to end some other way.

Varys on the other hand is going to live forever.

 

Qyburn's ultimate weapon of war

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/bnhxfg/giant_mechanical_elephant/

Edit: nope, this is the ultimate weapon after all

 

The director of the last episode, David Nutter, explained some of his choices.

For example getting Sansa and Arya's reaction to Jon's parentage was a waste of time because it's just repeating an information the viewers already have. That pretty much sums up that the show isn't about characters anymore since their emotions and behaviours are less important than moving a plot along.

Sansa didn't tell Tyrion, just give him a hint and he figured it out. That wasn't an impression I got from their scene.

Euron didn't ask Cersei how Tyrion is aware of her pregnancy because he wasn't paying attention and it would interrupt the scene. I agree with the second part, but in my opinion it should be included if they have any scenes together in the fifth episode.

 

He knows how many people know so they evidently had a bit of a discussion about it.

 

A good point. I'm not even sure why the director said she didn't tell him directly when it doesn't change her intention and they didn't bother with a subtlety for some time.

 

It's so Sansa didn't break her promise, of course.

 

Euron's out there playing with hypersonic velocity projectiles. So that's fun.

Also this is what it looks like when a 24lb cannonball hits a wooden sailing ship. Note that the ship does not, in fact, break the fuck in half.

 

This explanation is possibly even stupider than the episode itself.

Who the fuck hires these hacks?

This guy somehow directs stuff like Mother's Mercy, gets a fucking Emmy, and then makes this pile of shit?