I wish this show was a weekly release. I wanted to sit with some of these episodes for a few days but I couldn't get on anything without seeing spoilers.
This entire season was great. I saw it more as two seasons, separated by episode 6. The first half was the characters getting broken down, more character development, as they tried to stumble their way to the restaurant. Second half you started seeing it come together, stressful as it was, but there was a light. Good story, even though it lags at times. Some minor over/under acting in spots, but overall good performances. I loved the parallel in season 1 and 2's finales where something goes wrong in the kitchen and it's suddenly all hands on deck. Really hoping the show gets renewed for season 3 and the quality is as great as the first two seasons.
So many great character moments. I like how this show simply refuses to let every character be winning or losing at the same time. I personally enjoyed how there were episodes dedicated to fleshing out a specific character and growing as individuals.
Carm's symbolism of him being a "bear" stuck in a "cage" was interesting and a call back to season 1. I like that visual of someone/something breaking Carmy out of his ice box.
The scene with Pete and Donna was just gut wrenching. Her leaving was truly a great moment. She realized she was toxic and could not express her feelings without coming in like a wrecking ball, so that self reflection was touching.
I didn't mind the Claire storyline as much as others but I do think she was more plot device to get Carmy out of the kitchen and into a relationship than character, which was annoying. People keep saying scenes like that were irrelevant or boring when in all actuality it paid off dividends to see Carm in a new environment like that. People also said Claire was boring or flat, but that’s the point. I thought that she intentionally felt out of place because she was supposed to be a “distraction” of sorts from the restaurant. I think the writers could’ve handled the breakup better.
For the love of God, please do not let this show have Carmen and Sydney have any kind of romantic relationship. Why does every male+female relationship on television have to be romantic? I think their storyline as working partners and friends feels enough and complete to me. I'm really 'shipping' a healthy, non-sexual, platonic, supportive friendship between the two.
What the hell happened with Ebra’s story? We barely saw him this season.
All in all, the season had its ups and downs.
What a finale. Watching everyone come together and use what they have learned and prove to themselves and each other how capable they are felt so good, while on the flip side of that we see devastation in Carmy. The restaurant recovers and runs smoothly without him as he sits alone, cold, and while falling victim to his insecure self-worth and ultimately inadvertently ruining one of the best things to ever happen to him in Claire. I knew the fridge issue would come into play in the finale, but didn’t expect it to happen like this. The rich complexity is that Carmy isn’t necessarily wrong. His focus given to Claire took him away from the restaurant, but Claire is also so incredibly good for him otherwise. She made him a better person, but in some regards also a worse leader during a critical time in his professional life. I hope that he can eventually find the right balance, repair things with Ritchie, and find happiness in his personal and professional lives. I think he needs to learn to relinquish some of the control he holds over the restaurant and lean on others around him who have proven themselves capable. His presence in their lives and pushing/challenging them has helped all those around him grow, and he just needs to give himself credit for that while also not putting so much pressure on himself. He’s shaping up to be a fantastic character and I can’t wait for more. Season 3 better be announced soon.
This whole episode focuses on the wedding and wedding night, mostly out of sequence. And it makes the episode that much more personal.
We start the episode with Claire's first wedding as a contrast to her present. To what she is most emotionally tied to and at odds wiht her current situation.
After the second wedding, Claire and Jamie must consumate the marriage in order for the wedding to be valid. Using Claire's reluctance to sleep with Jamie, an excuse to have Jamie and Claire get to know each other. Most of the episode is just them talking, about why Jamie agreed, about their families, about themselves, most of the storytelling shown in flashback scenes for the benefit of the viewer, to break the monotony and give breaks and flow the pacing. Outside of a technical point, having these two get to know each other is a lovely, to have them sorta speed date, trying to get to the deeper parts of conversation that would normally take weeks, if not months to get to. With each story, Claire sees Jamie for who he is (concerned for her emotional well being given the situation, reassuring her she is safe, and the more she sees, the more she truly starts falling for him. She sees the kind, soft, earnest young man who adores her. No longer sleeping with a stranger, but at the very least now someone she cares about. It's beautiful to watch the flashbacks to their wedding as Jamie recounts it with such awe and reverence, such importance, much like he sees Claire.
Though they have intercourse several times, each makes sense to where they are at with each other, in trust and emotions. The first time is all about consumating the marriage and all about Jamie's first time. It's awkward, over before it starts, and a bit uncomfortable for Claire. Jamie is so ready for this, as he truly loves her, but Claire has only gotten to the like him, but she also knows is still hung up on already being married. Though she has gotten to know Jamie, she still has a wall within her, still unsure. We also get a post conversation of Jamie's misconceptions about sex (which shows us how inexperience he is, as a whole, knowing little to nothing about sex), but it's also endearing when he asks Claire if she enjoyed it, how he shows that it's important that she enjoy it as much as him. He cares for her and love for her to care back.
After the awkwardness and nerves of the first time, the walls continue to crumble between them. Jamie describes their wedding, as Claire was VERY hungover for it. Claire gets further into who Jamie is, how he sees her, what he feels for her and alot of it us love. And you can start to see her fall for him, maybe not in love, but def in like. The second time it's more lust filled, full of raw energy but also reverence. Taking their time to get to know the other's body. It's all about their enjoyment of each other.
The last moment is much more emotional. Jamie has given Claire his mother's pearls, a show of how much he will honor and charish her. It's one of the few things that he values, his last connection to his mother, are now hers. Something precious for someone precious. Their last moment is soft, slow, basking in the warmth glow of the fire. There is no lust, just love. Claire's walls have crumbled and she has let Jamie in.
All of the scenes are beautifully shot, trying to focus on the emotions each one conveys, nothing voyeristic or scandelous about them, just a focus on the characters and where they're at psychologically.
The ep ends with Claire finding her first wedding band, each ring on one hand and her in the middle. Torn between two lovers, two marriages and two fates.
Love the softness with which Claire treats Jamie after he feels disappointed that she didn't enjoy their first time. And how he's trying to be good for her.
This episode is disappointing.
With the action, it’s tiresome and a considerable downgrade from the first episode’s kick-ass opening. It’s short, full of tedious banter and only shows people punching and throwing each other off trucks.
Similarly, the episode’s revelation has little weight; since the episode doesn’t explain why it matters, I don’t know why I should care. Also, they introduce a new character, but we don’t learn why she’s a threat to our heroes or why Sam and Bucky need to catch her group.
Worst of all, though, the character dynamics are awkward. Despite understanding its origin, I found the conflicts messy and confusing. I mean, why the therapy? What’s with this therapist?
On a positive note, I like the social commentary, even if the episode doesn’t explore it that much. In the first episode, the show comments on racial discrimination and they continue it here; I appreciate it.
Finally, the pacing is sluggish, and as a result, I struggled to get through the episode’s runtime. If there were more action, I’d forgive the weak writing, but alas, I’m left disappointed.
Likewise, The Star-Spangled Man feels undercooked, dissatisfying, and left me disappointed. Not only has the storytelling quality faltered, but the action has too, which is all I’m looking for in this TV show. Hopefully, this is the only bump on my FWS journey.
TECHNICAL SCORE: 6/10
ENJOYMENT SCORE: 5/10
I can see why Marvel wanted to start with this show rather then WandaVision. I liked Wandavision, but this show felt more like the movies and had more of a direct relationship with them. It dealt more with "the blip" and seems like a more natural beginning of phase 4. Episodes of this length and substance are also more rewarding to watch week to week then the short run time of the wandavision episodes, especially given you had no clue what was going on until a few weeks in.
The opening action sequence was great, they made a good choice starting this story with Falcon and moving to Buckie mid way in. It was great learning a little more about Falcon being that they've really shed very little light on his story at all in the movies other than his loyalty to Steve. We know more about Bucky, so the focus here was correct. I like that these shows add more substance to the characters then the movies can fit in, it was sad watching Bucky come to terms with the damage he caused, but something his character needed since he was really only used for action scenes since the winter soldier all those years ago.
Very solid start for this show, I can't wait to see more but also felt satisfied with what I got which is something I struggled to feel with the short and mostly irrelevant WandaVision episodes.
And then the ending comes where everyone let out a collective "oh hell nah."
What an absolutely botched ending to an otherwise strong show. Spoilers: Monica and Darcy are completely tossed aside, Evan Peters is entirely wasted as Quicksilver in favor of a dick joke, the writers show zero creativity in leaving characters to die and Wanda has ultimately learned nothing about her magic, ending the show exactly where she stood 8 years ago before 'Age of Ultron'. What a complete mess devoid of consequences, leaving characters storylines wide open for projects years away instead of tying character arcs up. Wanda apologises to the town members after tortuing them for weeks and we're supposed to feel bad when her fake children are erased? No, sorry, you're responsible for that. Monica really told Wanda the town should be grateful.... after she released them from their torture slavery. Wanda belongs on the Raft, Avengers need bodycams after this abuse. This is exactly what the Sokovia Accords were for. This isn't a show, it's a promotional ad to go see the next Marvel thing. I thought they were doing something special when the show began, embracing the wierd and unexplained magic in the MCU, but by the end the Marvel formula is intact and the story falls into laziness.
Who the hell was the missing person Jimmy Woo had in witness protection to begin with?
Possibly a contrarian opinion, but I'm starting to get a little worn down by a show that so heavily panders to the super fans in hopes their gushing will trickle down to the masses. You're supposed to be telling me the story, not showing glimpses of things and then hoping I'll read wiki pages and fandom entries just to know what the hell is going on.
Case in point, we've seen Monica as an operative for SWORD, but she walks through the Hex and now has glowing eyes and can stand toe to toe with Wanda. So now you expect me to read wiki entries on whoever the fuck "Spectrum" is just to understand what the hell just happened? Or are we all supposed to have a resident Marvel super fan who can just rattle off who these people are you're introducing at the speed of light?
Agatha is also another prime example. After this weeks episode, it feels like the intended reaction from the audience is "OMG THEY ARE DOING AGATHA HARKNESS?! OMG OMG OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY'RE DOING AGATHA!!". I simply do not know who Agatha is or what her connection is, but all the comments online would have you believe this is the second coming of Christ.
A fly on the wall in one scene is apparantly a confirmation of either Mephisto or Nightmare. Who? What? Oh right, more wikis and fandom pages.
Despite a very, very few valuable moments this series is still a showcase. The one kind that want to sell everything with blood, gore, and semi-complex reflection of our world, but practically that's it? The disapproval of capitalism and all netting media corporations is the thing that keeps it afloat, needless to say, that's counterproductive because thats how the show is sold to us in the first place. The characters are shallow with 2 exceptions, and they are not created in a way that I would have shed tears if any of them died, because I get only so few brief windows to know and invest in them, if there is any, that is. Kimiko died and woke up, then went dancing with Frenchie like nothing happened. There are too many characters and the focus among them is not shared enough to have more than a handful of meaningful moments, especially if their moments are not really about them, but about showing some fucked up mechanism moving our world. The Deep's storyline? It told us more about the collective (and fake churches in real life) than about Deep or A-Train, only to have one scene that binds them to the main story. It's like the show is so in love with its concept what how it thinks it's full of contemporary relevant stuff, that it rarely does anything truly noteworthy besides the creative merchandise they can shine in every 15 minutes.
This finale feels like not just a finale for Season 2, but Season 1 as well. It wraps up the plot that has been worked on since Season 1, and in some ways turning it to full circle, e.g. Butcher's quest for Becca, A-Train subplot, Hughie's self-discovery, and the rest of The Boys's relationship with each other.
As usual, The Boys does the best job when they take a jab on current corporatist-political climate.
“People love what I have to say. They believe in it," Stormfront confidently said. "They just don’t like the word Nazi." A racist superhero is Vought's darling - one that casually screams lingos like "white genocide" to young boys. Seemingly contradictory considering Stan Edgar, who would be target of racism, is Vought's CEO. But Edgar insisted that it is not about him. "I can’t lash out like some raging, entitled maniac," Stan Edgar responded as he smiled when confronted on what he did, "That’s a white man’s luxury." Anger drives demands for securitization. Demands for securitization drives demands for Compound V. Vought just "play with the cards we're dealt." Like Maeve's bisexuality that Vought plays, racism is just another card to eventually drive profit. Be it racism or empowerment, they are all smoke and mirrors.
But of course the thickest smoke and mirror is not a mere woke capitalism - something we can already obviously see. The thickest smoke is one that makes us think that within this war of attrition, another hero existed, and they would fight for our cause. We follow them as they march - our symbol of hope. This episode reveals something that has been foreshadowed very early in this season: "it's a fucking coup from the inside," said Raynor, before her head got blown into bits. Neuman, an obvious parody of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, raised into the spotlight as an opposition toward Vought and Homelander. But as it is revealed that it was her who was blowing people's head, and she has blown the church leader's head too as soon as she knew he has files on supes, it is revealed that she is actually a controlled opposition by Vought. Like the politicians who hail from Democratic Party, a part of ruling oligarchy, The Boys takes another jab that we should really never trust heroes, be it in the form of supe or another.
This reveal is also a very nice setup as it closes the arcs on Season 1 and 2, and prepares for another arc coming in Season 3. It gets interesting as I had myself asking, "can Homelander end up being our hope now?" This sort of dilemma is what piqued my interest in The Boys; we can't really easily label one as evil and another as good, as - like in real life - today's enemy can be tomorrow's ally, and vice versa.
That being said, I do not think this episode is a perfect ten. Butcher's quest for his wife, for example, was quite unsatisfying. Becca, despite having a lot of screen time, does not possess actual agency, and more like a side character who happens to be involved in Butcher's bigger story. Despite revolving around his infatuation with his supposedly long-dead wife, the way the subplot climaxes leaves much to be desired as Butcher seemingly sidesteps Becca's death. How would Butcher reconcile with such heavily emotional feeling, after years of losing her, finding her, and now he is losing her again? How would Ryan, her son, react to the loss of the only guardian he ever knew in all his life? Those questions remain unresolved. We get to see more time of Hughie and Starlight bonding - while it resolves the tension in their relationship, there is not much resolution or development going on in that aspect.
In addition to that, while watching girls trio beating up Nazi is fun to watch (though it seems to lean more on the cathartic side too much) - and especially funny since it is another parody at Marvel, the forced "girl power" scene in Endgame - Maeve's appearance seems a bit too convenient, deus ex machina that resolves not just the issue with Stormfront, but also Homelander. The Boys has been sort of weak in the last three episodes in employing deus ex machina, something I wish could be worked on more on the next season.
All in all though, this is a much better finale than Season 1's.
The Boys does its job best when they jab at mockery of how the show biz operates. The first thing Vought does then they know that Queen Maeve is bi is to capitalize it: make her sexuality as a performance in their newest movie. But not only that; they need to make Maeve not just a bi, but a lesbian, and her partner - Elena - has to be made to wear men's fashion. Because "lesbian is a bit more easy to sell" and "Americans are more accepting of gay when they are in clear-cut gender role relationship". Companies like Vought, like its real-life counterpart (Disney), cares much more about how something sells than the nuance behind it. This parody is even funnier considering that they have a Jon Favreau look-a-like and a guy named Joss (Whedon?) who handle the Dawn of Seven movie production.
Aside from that, the episode continues the tense relationship between Starlight and Stormfront, and we start to see how Stormfront attempts to pull strings to maintain her position in The Seven.
Two things I notice though: the part where Homelander murdered a bunch of civilian in the public, that turns out to be an imagination feels a bit like cop-out, however it is interesting that it parallels Hughie's frustration when he lost Robin back in the first eps. of Season 1. The way Noir and Butcher confrontation is handled also feels a bit too easy, especially after the big build up about them being Vought most wanted in earlier episode.
The most obvious best part in the episode is of course Stormfront. The show doesn't pull punches. Stormfront makes a really good portrayal of today libertarianism: social media savvy, all about women empowerment a la Sophia Amoruso's "Girlboss", but does not care with the have nots, and is extremely prejudiced towards marginalized groups (e.g. ethnic minorities). Casting a female Stormfront (instead of a male one like in the comics) is a good touch as it highlights the point that without class or racial sensitivities, you'd get people that talk of empowerment as long as it only benefits them.
However there is another part, a slightly minor scene in the big move that drives the plot forward. When it is revealed that Starlight successfully leaks Compound V to the media, A-Train confronts her. She justifies her action: "there is much more than having good cars, houses, etc" (the things possible when the supes rose into stardom). Disappointed, A-Train cut her short, "the only people who say that are the people who grew up with money."
This short conversation shows what The Boys can do best: nuance. A-Train might be a jerk, but he too is a victim of the system. Like the blacks Stormfront murdered later in the episode, A-Train came from lower class background. His supe power helped him to climb the socioeconomic ladder, being an athlete in place of his brother and of course being a part of The Seven. This is in contrast to Starlight, who was raised by relatively affluent mother - who was obsessed with getting her child into stardom herself - always in spotlight and sufficient wealth since a young age. Starlight yearns for a meaningful life; A-Train desires a luxurious life he never got before his rise to supehero status.
A-Train was introduced as a jerk, no-good drug abuser; but after the anticlimactic conclusion in S1, with limited screen time he's been having in S2, we are shown more layers to A-Train's perspective. The show does this sort of nuance well with Maeve too.
The only obviously antagonist in the last episode is Homelander - as he went into more a narcissitic, mentally unstable character that may explode at any given time. But I hope even with his unpredictable deranged action we can still see the way he handles conflicting expectations he will face in the following episodes, esp. with the appearance of Stormfront, like when we saw him juggling between his individuality and personal branding in S1.
AAAAAH! Such a beautiful and emotional show!
I thought Alma’s passing was heartbreaking but then Mr Shaibel’s happened. It was so precious seeing how he kept up with her all these years and he was so proud of her!! However it was super sad and even infuriating that Beth never tried to reach out to him again and she still owed him $10, I know it’s silly but obviously he cared about her, but at least at the end he got his recognition but I’ll never get over of Beth no paying him back but at the same that he obviously didn’t mind so that’s what makes everything more emotional and YES IM CRYING WHILE TYPING THIS.
And JOLENE!!!! I’m so thankful for her presence and helping Beth, and like she said, it’s not about I owe you and You owe me, it’s about family!!
And then when that reporter was like excuse me... and that reporter turned out to be TOWNES!!!!! (However I still don’t understand if he is gay? Or bisexual and currently with a man? I didn’t quite got that because sometimes I need shows to explain things in an obvious gay, I just got that they didn’t end together as a couple but that they’ll remain friends and that’s what matters)
And then ALL THE BOYS!!!!!! To all the boys I’ve loved thank you very much!!! That was so heartwarming!! Obviously they admire and respect her but also care so much about her. And HARRY! So cute, so good, so precious!
The ending was good and nice, and we truly needed that, we deserve to have good things once in a while, I’m so used at watching such dramatic shows that I was mentally prepared for Beth to lose, be abused, overdose, lose her money, end up alone and every possible awful outcome, That’s how traumatized I am. But I love that even tho they showed real and emotional issues they didn’t let them cloud the good aspects of life.
Maybe I would’ve liked if the ending scene was set a few years later or like the last shot showing her older and living her best communist life. But we know she is in recovery, she made peace with her past, and she’s letting people be in her life, has a home and money and friends so she probably is gonna be okay!
And now imagine, part two in a few years, Beth is a secret agent who uses chess tournaments as a cover up for her missions!
The only thing I didn’t like was the wigs, know they aren’t that relevant, but sometimes i was just focusing on them.
Finally something actually happened after they dragged the season for absolutely nothing.
After four mediocre episodes in a row with three of them being filler, this episode is decent enough. Those previous episodes serve no actual purpose other than waiting for the plot to trigger itself by that call.
The dialogues in this episode could be better and so could the way the scenes are cut, especially for the first half. People seem too eager to join The Mando in his quest for the sake of moving the story. However the last 5-10 the minutes is quite watchable with enough tense. The brute killing in the last scene seems to suggest they're going with the "evil Empire" cliche, but I wish they could do better than that next episode.
It seems like the story just started to be set in motion and we will be left with more questions as Season 1 ends, which unfortunately seems to be Disney+ business model: just make cute Baby Yoda stuff for moms and Star Wars reference for dads, figure things out later in Season 2.
On positive notes, it's nice that they attempt to do more world-building like shocktroopers having signature tattoo, each Imperial province having their own insignia, and the Imperial warlord trying to convince people that the world is better with colonialism.
Compared to previous episodes, this episode is not bad, but still dumbly written.
As usual, a supposedly professional team of mercenaries turns out to be incompetent just-for-laugh bollocks, as shown by one person destroying a droid for fun in a ship they know are extremely guarded by, well, droid's connectivity. And no one seems to be troubled with that. Apparently recklessness and naivety are traits commonly shared by supposedly 'fighters' in this show - we've seen people ranging from bounty hunters, ex-rebel shock trooper, and even the Mando himself, who consistently failed to notice obvious traps (eps 5), wasted their time for overly convoluted plans (eps 4), or simply appeared to took the same marksmanship class as stormtroopers (eps 3 & 5).
Oddly, for a ship supposedly to be extremely secure, barely any droids patrol the ship. Even when the ship was on full emergency alert. The droids conveniently only appear as distraction as the plot needs it; for a heist/rescue episode, this leaves no stake on breaching the ship at all.
Speaking of stake, the characters also consistently make questionable decisions. Despite knowing they are limited on time, they just waste it for squabbling between themselves, hunting for each other down to the last of it, instead of focusing on running away from the ship.
But the worst offender is our titular character.
The Mando turns out to be a Disneyfied, Sunday morning, family-friendly bounty hunter, as he refuses to hurt people from New Republic but oddly has no qualms killing/hurting people who happen to be on the side of other factions (stormtroopers, bandits, fellow professionals, or even just a person who happens to have a huge debt - eps. 1).
It appears that the "hunting" in bounty hunting is only legitimate, as long as it doesn't involve one of the "good guys". Good guys according to who? No in-universe explanation is given except that according to Disney, New Republic must be the good guys. This show seems to be the opposite of Star Wars: The Old Republic (the online game, not the single player RPG): where the game aligns bounty hunter in the "evil" faction just because Boba Fett worked for the Empire, this show aligns bounty hunter in the "good" faction just because Mando is the protagonist.
The Mando also always consistently failed to realize that leaving Baby Yoda alone always means a bad thing. I mean, this is his damn third time doing that.
That being said, the action is quite well-done. The Twi'lek girl is choreographed nicely. The Mando has some cool action with his gears. The ending has some tense, though the last order from Ran feels a bit cheap. Unfortunately, those still can't save the episode from its below-average screen writing.
Nothing makes sense in this episode.
Dialogues feel forced. Like the previous episode, everything is shoved just to make the plot moves. Especially terrible every time the rookie has a conversation.
This episode and the previous feel like series of unrelated events. Nothing literally happened in these two episodes. There are some cool throwbacks and references (cantina scene, dune sea, Amy Sedaris blurping Star Wars jargons, etc) but it's all fanservice. It appears the show is directed by people familiar with Star Wars universe but has zero sense of screen writing.
Is this episode written by 16 years old?
This episode wanted to be Seven Samurai but ended up as that terrible The Walking Dead episode where everyone gets slaughtered (they're not though in Mandalorian, since this is a Disney series).
There is no development and no build up at all in this episode. Like the previous episode, everything is self-contained. All are introduced and resolved in this same episode. A lot of things happened in this episode but nothing actually contributes to the plot - except for exposition dump.
The bandit raid is a terribly weak, villain of the week setup. They just show up as some evil nuisances - no motives, no goals at all. The Mando teams up with an ex-rebel, which debunks a tired cliche, but at this point this feels like a try-hard attempt to make The Mando as a morally righteous hero. There is a half-assed attempts at romance here, but it feels forced as it happens so sudden. Despite being self-contained (or maybe because it is) the episode lacks closure by the end, and the nifty little scene regarding one stray bounty hunter seems like something that appears just because they still have several episodes to go.
The dialogues are terrible: it's a tonne of exposition dumps. I don't have any idea why the writers think it makes sense for the characters to suddenly ask a stranger, "when was your last time you open your helmet?" and, in return, open up a heart-to-heart "hey I got a tragic story" past to a stranger. The banters with Gina Carano's character is okay, but it feels like they have to slip backstory every now and then. As if they're not having a real, human conversation. Every dialogue feels so forced and hurried as if they have to make it fit into this episode.
Also, it seems like they have no idea what an AT-ST is. It's a vehicle, not a droid.
FULL OF SPOILERS: As I was thinking, nobody died, no one major. No Tyrion, no Jaime, no Samwell, no Brienne. If they survived this far and against monsters, I highly doubt it they are going to die against mere mortals. I think the producers are going to play it real nice and all the major characters are going to live. Probably only Cersei is going to die.
I'm rating this episode a little lower than usual and think that the last 2 were better. I think they did not handle the Night King death very well. This was a very important moment and the deus ex machina solution at the last minute to resolve all this, did not work very well. We all knew that killing the Night King will resolve everything but they should have played it better. Arya jumping out of nowhere at the last minute was not elegant or satisfying. All the other White Walkers or the undead were carrots standing there? Allowing Arya to come close?
The best death was Lyanna Mormont. It was purposeful and believable. You say why she is going close, why she is willing to die crushed in the hands of the giant zombie, then you realize why she did that.
Something similar or more thoughtful should have been done for the Night King's death. Maybe it was Bran's job to resolve all this for such an important story-line or even if it was Arya alone, it should have been done in a better way.
Best lines
I’m waiting for an old friend - Bran
You left me for dead - Hound
I also robbed you - Arya
I’ve always had blue eyes! - Tormund
Whatever they want - Dany
but
It had its moments - Sansa
They need wheelchair ramps in Winterfell. They left Bran in the courtyard overnight!
Parallelism between Season 1 Episode 1 and Season 8 Episode 1
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ S08E01 Jon: "Where's Arya?" Sansa: "Lurking somewhere."Foreshadowing (from different Seasons/Episodes.)
01. S03E05“ “Let’s not go back. Let’s stay here a while longer,” Ygritte tells Jon. “I don’t ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow.” S08E01 “We could stay a thousand years. No one would find us,” Daenerys says to Jon.02. Sam is suggesting rebelling against the Targaryen because they burned his father and brother alive. Similar to when Robert's Rebellion, began when Rhaegar Targaryen, allegedly abducted Robert's betrothed, Lyanna Stark.
This wasn't a very funny episode. Most of this was straight up, if occasionally lighthearted, drama. There is something unbelievably sad about seeing someone be both self-destructive and hurtful to the people they care about in the choices they make. From the second BoJack took Penny on a driving lesson, I was convinced they would hook up. It's kind of how television works and he already sort of pulled this trick with Sabrina from Horsin' Around.
But the show convinced me that's not where they were going, and then yes and no and yes and no that by the end of it, I was not only convinced that BoJack and Penny weren't going to hook up, but I was actually proud of BoJack for turning Penny down, not only when he was still fairly right-minded and knew she was feeling weak after the prom, but then again after he was feeling down and vulnerable after being told to leave by Charlotte.
But that just made the finish, where Charlotte finds them about to go at it, all the more horrible and disappointing. The last five minutes or so of the episode, where BoJack and Charlotte seem so close and he seems so happy, transitioning to Charlotte's inevitable realization that it's not good for him to be there, on to the terrible betrayal of finding him in bed with her daughter, was powerful and dark and--to use a word I keep coming back to when talking about this show--devastating.
It's devastating to watch someone burn their own life, their own chances for happiness down. BoJack was never going to get back together with Charlotte. She's right to point out that she doesn't know him anymore, and that BoJack's idealized something as a salvation. She's also right that he's trying to run away from deeper problems when his real issues are internal. But he could have had support. He could have had friendship. He could have had the real connections with other people, albeit platonic ones, that help make a person feel loved and whole. Instead, he not only couldn't sustain that, but he had to sabotage any chance of that with Charlotte and her family, hurt a friend who's shown him nothing but kindness, and try to exorcise the demons of his past with a young woman whom, he admits in his more clear-headed moments, doesn't know what she wants.
It's not comedy. It doesn't have to be. To be frank, a lot of the comedy doesn't really work in this episode. The jokes about Trip's boner are pretty lame. Kyle is basically a non-entity. The sitcom-esque intro to Charlotte's life was just kind of there; the high school drama element is fairly cliche, and really only Maddie's delivery of the word "society" gave me a chuckle. But the character work, and the dramatic elements in the episode's close really carried the day. It's not the last minute gut-punch of my favorite Futurama episodes; it's a core of sadness that runs through BoJack and eventually dissolves into wherever he is and whatever he touches.
It's sad. It's really sad. And the episode's final moment that juxtaposes him with an equally sad Dianne isn't promising for BoJack not making any further bad decisions. But it's still damn good.
The romance between Mike and Eleven was a bit unnecessary i think. I get that it should heighten the stakes and the finale but i like Millie Bobby Brown so much as Eleven that i didn't really need it. Anyway, now that we have it i am very pleased with the execution. It felt so innocent, so sweet. They are friends, but they feel that they feel more for each other without really knowing that.
The chase and the whole beginning before the intro were excellent. This is 80s-Spielberg at it's best. .
I have a question about the Lando-Theme that Dustin evoked: He said "That doesn't feel good" repteadly in this dialog. But wouldn't it make more sense if he would say: "I have a bad feeling about this", like Han Solo, who was betrayed by Lando? Did Disney or Lucas Film trademarked that sentence?
Also, is Mr. Clark a CIA sleeper? He knows about sensory deprivation tank and how to build one, about multiverse-theories but acts like a really average guy. That is very suspicious! Maybe we should open this curiosity door.
At the end of the episode, where the two henchman of the lab, the woman and the man appeared i had one thought: Anti-Mulder-and-Scully.
Game of Thrones is a show that thrives on violence. The visceral thrills of the show, from Ned Stark's beheading to the various battles that have constituted the series' "special event" episodes tell stories, but don't skimp on the swords and sangre to help fill them out. Westeros is a world founded on violence, once where those in power gained it, and kept it, by waging war, and killing, and trafficking in the kind of brutality that wins kingdoms and helps break ratings records.
So when Dany mounts Drogon and leads her tripartite team of dragons to destroy the slavers' fleet, it's new and different since our winged-beast attacks in the show so far have largely been much more limited in scope, but it's also part and parcel with the show's usual M.O. It's a fist-pump moment, not only because it's the first time we've seen all three dragons engage in this type of badassery, but because we believe in Dany and her cause. Flame reigning down from the sky, trying to guarantee that Meereen never again becomes a land of slavers, feels righteous.
But then there's that little voice in the back of your head that says the people on those ships are probably slaves too. Sure, it's a necessary evil, a show of force that is required to ensure the other masters of Slaver's Bay don't get any ideas and think twice before they challenge Dany's regime. Those deaths, however, take on a new light. They're not just the end result of some awe-inspiring dragons; they're human beings consumed by fire and left to die a horrible death.
Then, after an appropriate bit of pre-battle planning at Winterfell and post-battle denouement at Mereen, we get to the titular "Battle of the Bastards." And it's cool to see Jon Snow face the oncoming cavalry only for his own forces to crash into them just as he steps into battle. It's cool to see a fight that we've been promised for so long come to fruition. It's cool to watch as, within this chaos, John takes down enemy soldiers, and Torumund picks him up out of the dirt, and Ser Davos orders his men into the fray.
Then the camera pulls back and you see those piles of bodies. You see people begging for help and being trampled over. You see people flanked on three sides by spears and shields and blocked in the other by the amassed dead. You see behind Jon Snow's eyes as he begins to suffocate amid the bloody tumult around him. You see people grasping at their own viscera, the blood spilled all around, the crying suffering men in a mass of black and gray and red where friend cannot be distinguished from foe. This is not a triumph. This is not simply some thrill. This is hell on earth, and a horrific price for any of them to have to pay to resolve this conflict.
At the end of it, Jon Snow pummels the dastard Ramsay into the ground, leaving him gurgling in his own fluids. But the man is not dead. Sansa goes to visit him in captivity. He taunts her one last time, but Sansa stands there stonefaced, confronting the man who caused her unimaginable suffering. She aims for a little poetic justice, as Ramsay's starving dogs are turned against their master. This too is a horrible death, as we see his hounds chomp his face. The camera zooms close onto Ramsays hands as they drip with blood. Sansa turns away from the carnage, but the hint of a smile emerges on her face as she walks away.
Ramsay's words carry. "I am a part of you now." Sansa has been through so much. She has been under the bootheel, nearly driven into the ground, by so many cruel lords and ladies. She has been abused, manipulated, tortured, and lived through it. She is not, however, unscathed. How long can you commit violence on someone, can you show them that this is how the world works, that no one can protect anyone, until they take it to heart. How long can they witness such horrors, can they experience such tragedies until the abyss starts to take hold of them. Westeros is a harsh world, and perhaps the greatest indignity it imposes on those within its borders is how it makes them just as harsh, just as cruel, just as mired in the muck and the blood as those who inflicted it upon them.
"Battle of the Bastards" is a tremendous episode of Game of Thrones. It features some of the best shot, best directed, and best edited action scenes the show has ever done, that rivals many of its blockbuster Hollywood brethren. It keeps those conflicts meaningful, rooted in the characters we've come to know and their goals, inclinations, and motivations that we've witnessed over the past several years. But it also gradually invites you to recoil from the violence that in many ways has fueled the series. There are moments of joy, of excitement, of success that the audience is supposed to feel a sort of cathartic relief and happiness at. Dany is back in power; Winterfell belongs to the Starks once more, and Ramsay is dead.
But there is much talk in the episode of the hidden cost of all this. Tyrion warns Daenerys how her father aimed to kill the loyal and the rebellious alike. Jon asks not to be brought back again if he is killed, not to have to face more of this horror is it's meant to fell him once and for all. And Sansa makes a deal with the man who led her to such harm, and takes a moment to revel in the cruelty of her abuser's demise. Each of these leaders has a righteous cause. Each of them has legitimate grievances, noble reasons, and pragmatic motivations for why they do what they do. Each of them, however, also takes a step toward being what they hope to stamp out. As Sansa feels her soul darken just a bit, halfway across the world, Daenerys declares that the old regime is done, and that a new age will come. The regime being left behind is one built on those piles of dead bodies that seem so horrific. It is soaked in the blood of the righteous and evil alike. Let us simply hope that it does not stain those who would carry a new banner and break from the past before they have the power to do so, and instead find themselves perpetuating the wheel that has ground so many into the dirt, rather than breaking it.
Game of Thrones has jumped the shark. :|
While the 8th episode felt pretty great, I didn't really like the direction in which the show was going. I thought I could bare with it, but this... this was just stupid.
Nevermind the changes from the books and the shock value scenes gratuitously injected into the plot. This entire episode felt rushed, stale and contrived, and badly directed even. The entire Dorne sub-plot is cartoonish; The Stannis scene itself was a nonsensical abomination; Tyrion has been reduced to a trinket, while the whole Daenerys part felt staged, forced and lacked any weight or tension whatsoever. Editing, cinematography and special effects all seemed more amateurish than ever before.
I felt like I was watching a mid-week late night filler, like Game of Thrones started referencing itself and making the rounds.
I used to watch the show because it wasn't like all other television productions. It wasn't perfect, but you got the feeling that the writers didn't make up things as they went along. Characters were fleshed out and made surprising (but understandable) decisions. The story was well-paced and relatable.
All of that is not true anymore.
Looks like I'll finally get around to reading the books.
I've watched this series from day one and loved it until season 4. When season 5 started, with their major plot changes, I wanted to quit this show but this episode made me loathe this show to the point where I would literally beat up Martin for giving HBO the rights to change the story line this much. I'm personally disappointed with HBO for killing of such a lovable and adorable character in a way that it wasn't possible. Stannis would NEVER agree to such a thing (and if you remembered in the last episode, he turned down Melissandre without thinking twice). Why did the TV show drop in quality? I was ready to bear the fact that Lady Stoneheart wont be in the show (even tho she has a MAJOR influence in the books) but not this major flaw. Stannis is a weak man, unable to endure the seduction of a witch and the only thing that was able to cancel her manipulation was Shireen. For god's sake Selyse had second thoughts, the woman who hated her daughter more than anyone in the world but Stannis didn't, the man who showed so much love and pride in her daughter.
I'm rating this episode 1 because this is the last episode I will ever watch of Game of Thrones. I was able to survive "The Red Wedding" and Oberyn Martell because I knew this was coming but this... THIS... I'm disgusted.
EDIT: If the actress didn't wanna act in the series any more they (HBO) could have at least killed her via Ramsey Snow's 20 men sneak attack or something. This was utterly revolting. :/
