Game of Thrones final season [spoilers]

[Shell B]

It was Hodor.

[Clueless Morgan]

[Amarok]

Hodor had one job and did it 

[arewethereyet]

I guess people are really pissed about how the last episode went. On a local garage sale site someone is offering their framed pictures of the maps from the series/books.

[Homeless Nutter]

Yeah, fans sure are losing their sh*t. 

Season 8 has audience score of 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with 97-87% that previous seasons have. 

Over 750 000 people (so far) signed a petition: Remake Game of Thrones Season 8 with competent writers.
 Yeah, that's totally going to happen...

To be fair - many people were going to hate the end of the show, however it played out. Massively popular high-budget shows tend to become victims of their own success. And this one needed at least a couple more seasons in order to feel not quite so terribly rushed - and even then large percentage of viewers wouldn't have their expectations met. But it seems that these last few episodes managed to upset more than their fair share of fans.

The thing is - bleak, disappointing endings are kind of G.R.R. Martin's thing, and the standard of writing on the show has been going down for years, so I - for one - am not really surprised. And people throwing tantrums about it on the internet seem to have drastically differing opinions on what exactly they're mad about. Personally, while I have numerous problems with the show's writing, I must say I'm quite pleased, that we don't seem to be getting a fairy tale ending, with Jon and Dany getting married and living happily ever after.

[Clueless Morgan]

To be fair - many people were going to hate the end of the show, however it played out. Massively popular high-budget shows tend to become victims of their own success. And this one needed at least a couple more seasons in order to feel not quite so terribly rushed - and even then large percentage of viewers wouldn't have their expectations met. But it seems that these last few episodes managed to upset more than their fair share of fans.

I don't know. I think it would have been a better move to have kept the season at 8 episodes rather than 6, and spent more time on the writing and planning the battle strategies so they didn't make the characters look like idiots.

The thing is - bleak, disappointing endings are kind of G.R.R. Martin's thing, and the standard of writing on the show has been going down for years, so I - for one - am not really surprised. And people throwing tantrums about it on the internet seem to have drastically differing opinions on what exactly they're mad about. Personally, while I have numerous problems with the show's writing, I must say I'm quite pleased, that we don't seem to be getting a fairy tale ending, with Jon and Dany getting married and living happily ever after.

I don't have an issue with not getting a fairy tale ending; I have an issue with getting an ending that doesn't present a conclusion that fits the themes of the story. So far, I'm unhappy with aspects of how they're telling the story but not necessarily with the where things look like they're heading. But there's still one episode left so I can't say 100% one was or the other whether I'm happy with the ending.

[Aegon]

Yeah, I'd like to reiterate that the literal events that have transpired are not what I'm upset about; rather, the way the show has written them is very bad. But I've discussed this with so many people, IRL, that I'm sick of talking about it so I'll just leave it there.

[Aegon]

I think this article does a solid job of summing up the problems the show has had this season (and the last couple IMO)

https://www.wired.com/story/game-of-thro...TF_qi5FZkM

A show that had been about our inability to escape the past became about the spectacle of the present. Characters with incredible depth and agency—all the more rope with which to hang themselves—became whatever the moment needed them to be. They took uncharacteristic actions and made uncharacteristically bad decisions so the required events could unfold with the appropriate stakes. Characters were spared the deaths they'd sown so they'd be available for later scenes. Organic consequences gave way to contrivance. Gone was the conflict between complicated people with incompatible goals. Grey morality turned black and white. Characters rushed through their foreshadowed arcs for the thinnest of reasons, or in some cases reversed their arcs entirely. The characters just weren't in charge anymore. The ending was.

[Silver]

Millions of GoT fans expected to call in sick after S08 finale

People are already dreading the end of Game of Thrones but it looks like there's another way that the series finale will affect the world. A new report claims that millions of workers will be taking the day off after the premiere of the final episode.

The report comes People citing a new poll by the Workforce Institute at Kronos. Interestingly, the poll predicts that an estimated 10.7 million American will "call in sick" on the Monday after Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 6 airs on HBO. The study claims that employees will skip work by calling in sick. Alternatively, some might use a last-minute vacation day to get over the shock of the series finale.

Of course, there's still a few that might decide to come in for work on Monday. However, there is a huge possibility that they could arrive late or work remotely. Either way, the show is still expected to affect productivity on Monday.

Nope, it's not satire.

[Homeless Nutter]

I don't know.  I think it would have been a better move to have kept the season at 8 episodes rather than 6, and spent more time on the writing and planning the battle strategies so they didn't make the characters look like idiots.

A couple more episodes would have helped - the White Walkers could have put up more of a fight, for one thing, but - personally - I'd have liked the show to have taken more time with its last few seasons, as well as this one. Many plots were cut short, in a fairly abrupt and unsubtle way and without much explanation, or consequences. And this last season is pretty much bare-bones in terms of story - almost all the remaining characters are in one location and have pretty much the same goals and the rest of the - once rich and diverse - world might as well not exist. It's way too linear for my taste, never mind the (relatively) break-neck speed with which major events unfold and a lack of sense of the passage of time, which makes the world of Westeros feel small.

I believe GOT should have had at least 10 seasons, considering the wealth of source material, though I doubt that was ever a realistic possibility, from the financial perspective. Of course - that in itself wouldn't guarantee that it would have been better, or that the ending wouldn't be disappointing, because quality of writing doesn't necessarily improve with quantity.

I don't have an issue with not getting a fairy tale ending; I have an issue with getting an ending that doesn't present a conclusion that fits the themes of the story.  So far, I'm unhappy with aspects of how they're telling the story but not necessarily with the where things look like they're heading.  But there's still one episode left so I can't say 100% one was or the other whether I'm happy with the ending.

Sure, but we already know, that the main threat, that set the tone for the entire story, is gone. Seemingly - so are the other remaining main villains. And while the "Mad Queen"  could have been an interesting plot development, there's not enough time left for it to go anywhere. At this point I can't see how we can get a fitting ending to the story - unless we decide, that the theme of the show is stabbing misbehaving monarchs. I hope I'm wrong and that there's a twist coming, but I'm pretty sure, that - whatever the ending - the reaction of fans will be much more entertaining...