Game of Thrones begins....

[celedhring]

Yeah, but that's the same as Romeo and Juliet (love forbidden by the institution the lovers are part of), and nobody is going to call that story "sociological*". I think the writer sees a different storytelling model where there's just theme (the struggle for power as inherently destructive). Imho, GoT is conventional storytelling, and very good at it.

Again, his larger point, how conventional character-driven storytelling shapes our worldview in possibly detrimental ways, is a valid one, and a very interesting topic.


*I find "dialectical" a better word and the one I've seen more used when discussing this kind of storytelling, but I guess the writer doesn't want to use Marxist words 

[grumbler]

Yeah, but that's the same as Romeo and Juliet (love forbidden by the institution the lovers are part of), and nobody is going to call that story "sociological*".

Interesting that you use that example, because Romeo and Juliett has been taught for decades in US high schools almost exclusively, as far as I can tell, as a sociological story.  It's generally the first of these that students encounter, so teachers use it to show how the sociological tale works and what it takes to fully understand one. 

(It's been replaced as the first sociological work by Things Fall Apart at my school, since sophomore year is about world geography, history, and literature)

[jimmy olsen]

Yeah, but that's the same as Romeo and Juliet (love forbidden by the institution the lovers are part of), and nobody is going to call that story "sociological*".

WTF? That's the only thing that's worth talking about in that play. It's trash, one of Shakespear's worst works.

[grumbler]

All those stories about how the everyone was crying after they read the script? Now we know the reason.

[Zoupa]

This was really bad    Like, Dexter level bad.

I feel bad for the actors, especially Emilia Clarke. What a shit sandwich they made them eat.

[katmai]

I can't believe Bran really is the Night King.

[FunkMonk]

Wow, can't believe Ghost is the one to sit on the Iron Throne

[Berkut]

My initial gut reaction is that it isn't that bad - not nearly as bad as the previous couple of episodes. The finale was always going to be somewhat anti-climatic. The writing, of course, was shit. If they knew it was going to end up with Bran on the throne, they sure as hell didn't act like it.

[Zoupa]

Bran: I don't wanna be king

Tyrion: Come on dude be king

Bran: why do you think I came all this way?

[Sophie Scholl]

My initial gut reaction is that it isn't that bad - not nearly as bad as the previous couple of episodes. The finale was always going to be somewhat anti-climatic. The writing, of course, was shit. If they knew it was going to end up with Bran on the throne, they sure as hell didn't act like it.

I'm of the same mind.  We'll see how I feel in the morning.  I have a whole host of issues with the final season(s), but the finale did manage to at least put things in a nice trash can that hides some of the smell.

[Valmy]

My initial gut reaction is that it isn't that bad - not nearly as bad as the previous couple of episodes. The finale was always going to be somewhat anti-climatic. The writing, of course, was shit. If they knew it was going to end up with Bran on the throne, they sure as hell didn't act like it.

Well I guess the leak was right after all.

But I guess if you have a basically super human all-knowing being you might as well put it in charge.

[Razgovory]

That was unexpected...  Why would would you send someone to protect a wall with a big hole in it from a people who are no longer there?  What's the night watch suppose to do?  And how does the King have authority to send someone to the Night's Watch when he no longer is suzerain of the North?

[crazy canuck]

So basically  move along, nothing to see here

[FunkMonk]

So, uh, was the point of the last 2 seasons to show us how Bran manipulated the course of events to become King of Westeros?

[grumbler]

Just realized the meaning of the final scenes in the show:  there was no Night's Watch.  The story of Jon's exile to it was just to shut up Grey Worm.  Jon was exiled beyond the wall, but that's where he wanted to go anyway.