I was more referring to him saying that they should let Ramsay "buckle their center" and that would then have him surrounded on 3 sides. Wasn't that apart of the Cannae battle?

 

Which is why it is 'sort of' allowing your centre to be buckled works only if the numbers can compare. Otherwise your centre is ripped and without proper cavalry support and decent infantry it is not complete encirclement,the opposition would outnumber you a lot and could move back. The plan could have worked if Ramsay-Sue had wished to attack a well defended position with secure flanks
(which we did not get to see).

 

wtf you guys smoking. That episode was hella awesome. There's explanations for all the nitpicking. And the dragon part being boring? Please.

 

The visual effects for the episode were incredible, some truly breathtaking and the acting was fairly great all-round ,just a bit disappointed by the writing for how the battle went down.

 

Game of Thrones has lost in intrigue this season. The episodes have become mostly predictable. No shock and awe in season 6. Also, RIP WUN-WUN.

 

Do we know where Ghost has been this season?

 

He's been keeping the show's CGI budget in mind and been staying off screen. How thoughtful of him!

 

No but seriously, when was the last time we saw him? Is his absence explained in some way?

 

Honestly, I think society has broken down so much by now that there just isn't time or energy for intrigue and plotting. It is complete chaos and with that comes bloodshed and all open war. No one has time to play games anymore.

And no shocking things? I thought Hodor revelation was shocking, as well as tommen deciding to join the faith, no mountain Vs hound... How white walkers were created. I feel like people are now expecting shocks every episode, as that is what game of thrones is known for. If every episode was as shocking and awe inspiring as the red wedding, no one would still be alive.

It's time for all the threads to come together to save the day. This means less crazy plots but direct action.

 

I have to say, the action sequence with Jon amidst the cavalry was terrific. A lot better than I expected. Like the kind of thing I'd expect from a blockbuster movie, not a series that has long avoided large-scale combat sequences.

 

The writers cited Cannae in the after-scene commentary.

 

Whenever people think of encircling they think of Cannae. Still, that ignores how Hannibal set the situation before hand (every encirclement is not Cannae).
The cinematography of the battle was smashing(it was the battle itself that was the problem) and the dragons in flight improved a lot from the previous seasons.

 

That's probably the single best portrayal of a medieval battled I've ever seen on screen. As mentioned above, Jon in the middle of the cavalry battle was a thing of beauty.

People saying that season six has lost its appeal reeks of hipster to me. It's as if what was once a cool show that many people in the know liked got too popular and now that it's moved away from the source material, people are twirling moustaches and sscreaming "SHIT."


Don't mind me.

I'll just be over here enjoying the incredible acting, writing and cgi thoroughly.

 

GRRR I HAVE TO WAIT 7 MORE HOURS TO WATCH THE BASTARDBOWL FUCK TIMEZONES ARGH.

Ya'll lucky fuckers you.

 

Spoiler

They're laying wildfire on way too thick. And seriously, if Tyrion knew about it, there's no way it would still be lying around - to say nothing of him using it in the siege of Kings Landing, it's absurd that he'd tell his brother, who was like 8 at the time, before his father or Cersei. And even more absurd that Tyrion would agree to keep it quiet.

The whole point of it relies on Jamie's messed-up psyche and obsession with being the Kingslaying villain. Add anyone else to the mix and the wildfire wouldn't stick around.

 

Seratin says what?

Was the Sand Snakes so far incredible acting or writing? Was Sansa's story this season incredible writing? Was Brynden Tully's reappearance incredible? Was Rickon Stark's long belated return incredible? Was the Tower of Joy incredible? Was Tyrion Lannister's usage this season incredible? Varys? Was Daenerys's wipe-out of the Dothraki chiefs incredible? Was Ramsay Bolton's just casually murdering his father in front of his bannermen incredible? Was Euron incredible? Was Tommen Baratheon being a little bitch incredible?

There's been a lot of good acting, that's to be sure. And the CGI has been great in places even as they obviously cut the budget down RE the wolves. But you cannot in anyway defend the writing of the last two seasons as being incredible. I would be fucking astounded to see you try.

I mean fuck, do you love the last season of Arrow as well?

 

The Sand Snakes I'll give you but I have no real issue with any of the other examples.

I get that you're a lover of the text, I'm in the same boat. At some point you have to sit back and accept the fact that the show and book are two completely different beasts now. Comparing one to the other will inevitably lead to disappointment because, crucially, they're not the same stories.

If the shows interpretation of a character is different then that's acceptable because it's essentially a different universe.

You can rage and rage and froth yourself towards an early grave or you can sit back and enjoy a good TV show without being a salty bastard.

 

This season saw Dorne being cut in a strange manner almost as if the writers did not know what to do with it once they had introduced it in season 5.
Essos was full of fillers made up of jokes and drinking games. Ramsay-Sue got hyped pretty high because they wanted to wrap up this bit of the plot and with Roose killed off, they tried too hard to show his 'cunning'.
Without the books it seems that the writers want a certain outcome but do not stitch the story well and do not care if their story is acceptable in the scenario they already have.

 

Defend Arya's two-season character arc, then. Defend Sansa's two-season character-arc. Defend Ramsay Snow's invulnerability. Defend Brynden Tully's return. Defend how utterly nothing Mereen has been. Defend the hamfisted way Daenerys is getting both a fleet and an army. Please defend any of the complaints I previously wrote, since you have no issue with any of it.

It's not even about the books. I've developed my dislikes of the books over the years and with some of GRRM's flaws. Objectively speaking, the show is terrible. It has been since last season and most of the characters have been worse off for it. Fuck, I could go back as far as season 3 for things the writers should have changed from the books in adapting to television, simply because GRRM dun goofed.

They could have avoided the Mereenese Knot and gone with the Golden Company and Aegon for example. They could have used Sansa in the Riverlands as a replacement for Lady Stoneheart. They could have cleared out the Sand Snakes at the start of this season and sent Trystane to Mereen to get Daenerys with a Dornish-Norvosi fleet. They could have made use of the Northern Conspiracy to flesh out the Bolton storylines. They could have used Bran's flashbacks more effectively than just showing Hodor's origin story and teasing R + L = J. They could have handled Stannis's war against the Boltons far more effectively. Made Ramsay more realistic and less obviously protected as a Joffrey replacement. Explained why the Others are just so happy and content to sit on their asses for multiple years at a time.

And that's just off the top of my head.

Or I can be a salty bastard because I'm justified in being salty at poor results from a crew that should be much better than they currently are.