Violator wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2017 4:50 pm
Now, I'm not starting this thread because I'm heavily critical of this season. In fact, I have mixed feelings about it, but I do think it had weaknesses that could be discussed and seeing as we have nothing better to do, how would/ could the following have been improved?
(1) The Winterfell Plot
(2) 'Robo-Bran'
(3) Fast travelling
(4) The Wight Hunt
(5) Jon and Dany's romance
Just to clarify, I'm not saying these are or aren't areas of weakness but they have been widely identified here and elsewhere as being so.
You've already identified some really good ones. I'll add my list:
6) Complete waste of a great character with Littlefinger in seasons 6 and 7.
7) Jaime sticking with Cersei for far too long. It made him look stupid. His portrayal is done far better in the books.
8) Sticking with Vladimir Furdik and not going back to Richard Brake (Season 5) was a big mistake. Brake was a far more menacing Night King and Furdik just seems wooden to me. It would have made for a far more compelling S07E06.
Season 6 was at least a tie for my favorite of the show. Aside from Arya's duel with Waif, I loved every episode in Season 6. Season 7 was good, but didn't measure up to 6. Seasons 1-4 were all great, and I thought (with the exception of Hardhome - second only to Winds of Winter) Season 5 was weak.
How could Season 7 have been better? The biggest problem I had was the entire Winterfell plot, which was a complete mess. I didn't like the whining from Sansa in Season 6, and then in Season 7 she actually got what she wanted - control of Winterfell. Then Arya returns home and I completely failed to understand why there had to be tension between her and Sansa. And the show utterly failed to make the tension compelling. The one thing I would have grasped was Arya questioning why Littlefinger was still around, and the show never really addressed that. They fixed it in the finale, but Arya/Sansa was crap the entire season.
Bran was also awful. They ditched Meera, a favorite that I don't think anyone would have wanted to disappear. They could have made great use of Bran's flashback ability throughout the season and it never happened. They could have used Season 7 for Bran to give a full rundown of snippets from Robert's Rebellion, starting with the Tourney at Harrenhal, to explain the progression of Rhaegar/Lyanna. We got nothing except for a half-assed 30 second clip in the finale. Bran was boring the entire season and he really didn't teach us anything. He was even wrong about Rhaegar's marriage to Lyanna until Sam told him what he knew.
I don't think anyone would argue that Littlefinger was completely wasted in Seasons 6 and 7. This is a guy who went from nothing to nearly Warden of the North, and it's never fully explained why he stayed in Winterfell for so long. The second Jon threw him against a wall and threatened his life, he should have tucked tail and ran back to the Vail with his army. Instead he followed Sansa around like a puppy dog, getting ignored and chastised by her. Made no sense to me. And if that wasn't enough, Bran even called him out saying "Chaos is a ladder." Littlefinger was a lot smarter than that, and I hope the books does a better job of his demise.
The whole idea of hunting for a wight to prove it to Cersei was dumb. Yes, I know why it had to be done, to give the NK a dragon to blast the wall, but it was an insane risk for a crazy woman who everyone knows had no intention of teaming up. It would have been one thing if it was Cersei's idea, like "Hey guys, if you're serious about an armistice, go get one of them and bring it to King's Landing." But no, Tyrion suggested it. Bad writing. I did like the episode, since it introduced the Brotherhood guys to Jon and it was very cool to see the Hound, Beric, Thoros, Tormund and Jorah fight alongside Jon.
There were some things that worked very well in Season 7. The season was dominated by Jon and Daeny and their budding relationship, and I thought that part was done very well. I enjoyed every scene they had together, and Drogon charging at Jon and sniffing him out in that one scene was awesome. It would have been even better if Rhaegal was part of that scene. The Spoils of War was a fantastic episode. I don't know if it was intended, but Spoils of War was the best one of the season, outshining Beyond the Wall. The scenes of Drogon flaming the wagon train and the Lannisters was shot beautifully.
Winterfell is what kept Season 7 from being great. There were a lot of things I liked, but Bran/Arya/Sansa really disappointed me and I couldn't wait for those scenes to end. And I was angry about wasting Littlefinger.