Like an extended "previously on..." Before you get too offended by my rating, please understand I'm not someone who rates everything between a 5 and 10. I use the full scale and if it dips below a 5 it's because I didn't enjoy it. The show is still a high quality production.
So where did it lose points from being average? Pretty much every scene just recapped something we already knew. Very little new information and very little forward momentum. When it does this it puts the characters in danger of becoming stale and predictable, and you suddenly realize that the premise set up six seasons ago - that the white walkers were about to attack from the north while the rest of the country fought among itself - is finally happening. Six seasons later. So long has it taken that they're all but finished fighting with only a few factions left. For a show that is known for surprises it's getting remarkably drawn out and predictable.
I'm sure part of that is from finally running out material from the books to work from. And since that happened, the plot twists have become a little more predictable and familiar. Ever seen someone toast a group of people only to actually be poisoning them all? You may have if you watched Breaking Bad. Which also felt oddly referenced in the cleaning chamber pots montage. Overall I don't think either sequence worked.
And Ed Sheeran? Really? That scene was flat out terrible. Forced dialogue, ("Are you old enough to drink?" - I think pretty much anything goes in the world of Game of Thrones, so I'm not sure when they added a drinking age); pretty stilted acting; and as with many other scenes, not a lot of new information.
I trust the show will pick up and the plot will get moving again, but you're pretty safe from spoilers when everything that happened was basically the completion of an action we saw started in the previous episode. Previously on Game of Thrones, watch someone get on a boat, this episode, see them get off it.
So where did it lose points from being average? Pretty much every scene just recapped something we already knew. Very little new information and very little forward momentum. When it does this it puts the characters in danger of becoming stale and predictable, and you suddenly realize that the premise set up six seasons ago - that the white walkers were about to attack from the north while the rest of the country fought among itself - is finally happening. Six seasons later. So long has it taken that they're all but finished fighting with only a few factions left. For a show that is known for surprises it's getting remarkably drawn out and predictable.
I'm sure part of that is from finally running out material from the books to work from. And since that happened, the plot twists have become a little more predictable and familiar. Ever seen someone toast a group of people only to actually be poisoning them all? You may have if you watched Breaking Bad. Which also felt oddly referenced in the cleaning chamber pots montage. Overall I don't think either sequence worked.
And Ed Sheeran? Really? That scene was flat out terrible. Forced dialogue, ("Are you old enough to drink?" - I think pretty much anything goes in the world of Game of Thrones, so I'm not sure when they added a drinking age); pretty stilted acting; and as with many other scenes, not a lot of new information.
I trust the show will pick up and the plot will get moving again, but you're pretty safe from spoilers when everything that happened was basically the completion of an action we saw started in the previous episode. Previously on Game of Thrones, watch someone get on a boat, this episode, see them get off it.