I defended the previous episode The Long Night. It had a couple of minor flaws but I found it amazingly intense and superb overall. This episode has much more glaring flaws that are difficult to ignore. But, at this stage, sanity has left most 'fans' and reviewers on IMDB. Instead of weighing the pros and cons of this episode, the hordes of undead blue-eyed fans seem to be stricken with a plague of borderline personality disorder, where any flaw means it's all garbage. Where they invent new flaws based on poor logic and weak imagination. And where, when things don't go exactly they way they fantasized, it means the show is worthless. That, and the unbelievably arrogant approach of voting down an episode (even before it was broadcasted) just because the previous one didn't go the way they wanted.
This review will actually weigh the pros and cons based on the writing and not on personal fantasy, and is strictly for the handful of surviving sane watchers, not for the undead hordes of spoiled ex-fans obsessed with their own fantasies and bad reasoning.
(spoilers)
The problematic issues first (because it is a shorter list):
The ambush-battle between Euron and Daenerys's returning army has issues, but CAN be accepted with a bit of thought. Daenerys was feeling over-confident. This wouldn't be the first time that a general lost a battle due to over-confidence. This is a surprise ambush. Daenerys was flying low over the ships as usual, not high up, was feeling confident and happy and not scouting. You can see this in how they filmed her in order to make this point clear. Euron was hidden behind huge jagged rocks (look at Dragonstone again right before the attack from her point of view). The ambush makes sense and COULD work. What is hard to believe is that they managed to fire from behind those rocks without being seen first, but it could be done if they had the finger on the trigger and if Daenerys wasn't actually looking out. So as I said, difficult, but not impossible. A tiny bit of suspension of disbelief and it's fine.
(As to the ability to fly behind them and burn the ships, the scorpions are fully pivotal. So she couldn't have done that without dying. Once again, fans prefer their imagination to actual 'reality' in GoT).
The much bigger problem is the final meeting with Cersei. They seemed to rely on her honor not to kill them or their last dragon. And yet it's Cersei we are talking about, and she killed their friend right in front of them, so killing Tyrion, Daenerys and the dragon would have been well within her character, it would make much more sense, and seemed possible. The only thing I can think of is that the writers assumed they were out of range, except it didn't look that way. If you think about it, they did look out of range of the archers, but not the scorpions, and it's obviously impossible to kill an agile small human with a bulky scorpion from so far away. But she could have killed the bulky huge dragon that was on the ground, as well as Tyrion. In short, this IS a plot-hole.
(As to the ability to 'teleport' between different locations: Just insert a few missing weeks of travel between the scenes and we're fine. Stop whining.)
Now let us compare these flaws with the rest of this fascinating episode:
The growing tension between Jon and Daenerys is marvelously handled. Once again there is a clash between Stark-style honesty, moderation, family and honor, and between the more hot-blooded style of Daenerys as well as Sansa's emotions and traumatized distrust. This clash ripples out amongst Sansa and Arya, each reacting consistently with their characters, as well as with Tyrion and Varys causing a heartbreaking and very understandable split of ideals between them. Daenerys's ambition and fire which we have always seen in previous seasons and which have caused some concern, now are growing to worrisome proportions in very realistic developments. Daenerys hasn't gone bad at all, and is just misguided, due to her hot blood. All of the moments and dialogue between these characters are superb, tense, fascinating, and consistent with their characters. The superb way all of this was handled more than overshadows the previously mentioned flaws.
Jamie's fall seems surprising at first but is very deep. It does make sense after so many decades of dishonor that he could fall again and turn back to his self-destructive obsession. It's very difficult to just walk away from such a dark obsession. It is a very provocative, dark and thoughtful turn of events consistent with GoT. His interaction with the honorable and broken-hearted Brienne is strong stuff. Jaime may turn back again though. We'll see.
It's wonderful to see Arya and the Hound back together again on a mission. Possibly the best pair this show has produced. Their dialogue is always priceless.
The final few minutes with Cersei and Missandei and Tyrion's last-second desperate attempts to reach Cersei and avoid bloodshed is amazingly tense and pure GoT darkness and brutal honesty. Once again, consistent with everything that came before and written very well.
In summary: Look at the above pros, compare them with the cons. With so many powerful and fascinating scenes, it's obvious that anyone not rating this episode between, say, 6 and 9 is irrational.
This review will actually weigh the pros and cons based on the writing and not on personal fantasy, and is strictly for the handful of surviving sane watchers, not for the undead hordes of spoiled ex-fans obsessed with their own fantasies and bad reasoning.
(spoilers)
The problematic issues first (because it is a shorter list):
The ambush-battle between Euron and Daenerys's returning army has issues, but CAN be accepted with a bit of thought. Daenerys was feeling over-confident. This wouldn't be the first time that a general lost a battle due to over-confidence. This is a surprise ambush. Daenerys was flying low over the ships as usual, not high up, was feeling confident and happy and not scouting. You can see this in how they filmed her in order to make this point clear. Euron was hidden behind huge jagged rocks (look at Dragonstone again right before the attack from her point of view). The ambush makes sense and COULD work. What is hard to believe is that they managed to fire from behind those rocks without being seen first, but it could be done if they had the finger on the trigger and if Daenerys wasn't actually looking out. So as I said, difficult, but not impossible. A tiny bit of suspension of disbelief and it's fine.
(As to the ability to fly behind them and burn the ships, the scorpions are fully pivotal. So she couldn't have done that without dying. Once again, fans prefer their imagination to actual 'reality' in GoT).
The much bigger problem is the final meeting with Cersei. They seemed to rely on her honor not to kill them or their last dragon. And yet it's Cersei we are talking about, and she killed their friend right in front of them, so killing Tyrion, Daenerys and the dragon would have been well within her character, it would make much more sense, and seemed possible. The only thing I can think of is that the writers assumed they were out of range, except it didn't look that way. If you think about it, they did look out of range of the archers, but not the scorpions, and it's obviously impossible to kill an agile small human with a bulky scorpion from so far away. But she could have killed the bulky huge dragon that was on the ground, as well as Tyrion. In short, this IS a plot-hole.
(As to the ability to 'teleport' between different locations: Just insert a few missing weeks of travel between the scenes and we're fine. Stop whining.)
Now let us compare these flaws with the rest of this fascinating episode:
The growing tension between Jon and Daenerys is marvelously handled. Once again there is a clash between Stark-style honesty, moderation, family and honor, and between the more hot-blooded style of Daenerys as well as Sansa's emotions and traumatized distrust. This clash ripples out amongst Sansa and Arya, each reacting consistently with their characters, as well as with Tyrion and Varys causing a heartbreaking and very understandable split of ideals between them. Daenerys's ambition and fire which we have always seen in previous seasons and which have caused some concern, now are growing to worrisome proportions in very realistic developments. Daenerys hasn't gone bad at all, and is just misguided, due to her hot blood. All of the moments and dialogue between these characters are superb, tense, fascinating, and consistent with their characters. The superb way all of this was handled more than overshadows the previously mentioned flaws.
Jamie's fall seems surprising at first but is very deep. It does make sense after so many decades of dishonor that he could fall again and turn back to his self-destructive obsession. It's very difficult to just walk away from such a dark obsession. It is a very provocative, dark and thoughtful turn of events consistent with GoT. His interaction with the honorable and broken-hearted Brienne is strong stuff. Jaime may turn back again though. We'll see.
It's wonderful to see Arya and the Hound back together again on a mission. Possibly the best pair this show has produced. Their dialogue is always priceless.
The final few minutes with Cersei and Missandei and Tyrion's last-second desperate attempts to reach Cersei and avoid bloodshed is amazingly tense and pure GoT darkness and brutal honesty. Once again, consistent with everything that came before and written very well.
In summary: Look at the above pros, compare them with the cons. With so many powerful and fascinating scenes, it's obvious that anyone not rating this episode between, say, 6 and 9 is irrational.