Game of Thrones begins....

[The Larch]

And where in gods name did the giant mounds of dead bodies come from? WTF was that?

Straight out of 300! 

That was the most ridiculous part IMO.

[viper37]

Fuck Rickon, run in anything other than a perfectly straight line and the shot becomes basically impossible.

yes, it is often the case in any kind of movie or tv series, wether they shoot bullets or arrows, the victim runs in a straight line.  Wtf are they thinking?

And where in gods name did the giant mounds of dead bodies come from? WTF was that?

6000 on one side, 2000 wildlings + the 62 from Bear island + a few more knights on the other.  That's roughly 8000-9000 warriors in there fighting each other, plus the horses.  It climbs quickly.  They gave the numbers two weeks ago.
Just before the battle, Ramsey said Jon had less than half his men.  And we know he had around 6000, they gave the numbers two weeks ago.

And the Masters are the opposite of Westeros villains. Just complete imbeciles in every way.

Yep.  This is why Dany outsmarts them everytime.  Though to be honest, Cersei ain't too bright either.  Joffrey wasn't too bright either.  Ramsey was a smart psychopath and Tywin Lannister was a great & ruthless strategist.

[Berkut]

I was kind of struggling not to laugh at the scene of the Sons of the harpy in front of the gates just hanging out, murdering women and stuff, because you know, that is what they do. Outside the city gates. At that particular moment in time. For no particular reason.

And here come the Dothraki! yeah!

I totally thought that entire scene was the result of some writers meeting where they were wrapping up the plan for this episode and the next and then someone said "Ahhh, fuck! We forgot about the Dothraki! Aren't they supposed to be back as well????"

So they threw in this low budget scene of a dozen Harpies apparently doing Evil Things for some CGI Dothraki to kill.

[Josquius]

Battle was stupid.
But cool.
So no more giants?

[viper37]

I was kind of struggling not to laugh at the scene of the Sons of the harpy in front of the gates just hanging out, murdering women and stuff, because you know, that is what they do. Outside the city gates. At that particular moment in time. For no particular reason.

the army being on high alert, it is doubtful that, in their light armor, they could stand a chance against the armored + shielded unsullied.
Given that the masters wanted to retake the city and not specifically burn it to the ground, being outside, terrorizing people was the best place for them.  had they been inside, they would have had to cope with the Unsullied on high alert + the fire balls raining on the city.  A tad too dangerous.  So what you have is people trapped inside the gates by the fire, and those who managed to flee outside are slaughtered in front of the gates, totally helpless.

The intent is to terrorize the people into submission.  And for that, they are doing their job well.  They could not know Daenarys was back with a horde of Dothraki, so, with the Unsullied + the fire inside, outside was the safest place for them.

[viper37]

So no more giants?

unless there was an injured one back at camp, no.

[Berkut]

I was kind of struggling not to laugh at the scene of the Sons of the harpy in front of the gates just hanging out, murdering women and stuff, because you know, that is what they do. Outside the city gates. At that particular moment in time. For no particular reason.

the army being on high alert, it is doubtful that, in their light armor, they could stand a chance against the armored + shielded unsullied.
Given that the masters wanted to retake the city and not specifically burn it to the ground, being outside, terrorizing people was the best place for them.  had they been inside, they would have had to cope with the Unsullied on high alert + the fire balls raining on the city.  A tad too dangerous.  So what you have is people trapped inside the gates by the fire, and those who managed to flee outside are slaughtered in front of the gates, totally helpless.

The intent is to terrorize the people into submission.  And for that, they are doing their job well.  They could not know Daenarys was back with a horde of Dothraki, so, with the Unsullied + the fire inside, outside was the safest place for them.

Yes, I am sure a bunch of women can get outside the gates, along with the actual Sons who can get outside the gates, to then be killed by those exact same Sons, but the army or police inside cannot possibly step the 20 feet necessary to get outside. The victims can, of course. And the Sons. They can both get there, and the Dothraki.

But only them. And it just so happens that the Dothraki show up at that one particular moment in time. Because presumably the Sons what...followed this small group of civilians out the gates, maybe with their masks hidden in their pants or something?

You have to work pretty hard to figure out a way to justify such lazy writing, and I commend you for the effort at least.

[viper37]

Yes, I am sure a bunch of women can get outside the gates, along with the actual Sons who can get outside the gates, to then be killed by those exact same Sons, but the army or police inside cannot possibly step the 20 feet necessary to get outside. The victims can, of course. And the Sons. They can both get there, and the Dothraki.

It's a large city.  There could have been people caught outside before the gates were closed.  They could have fled the city after the first rain of fire.

The army was concentrated in the palace, the easiest place to defend, as per last week's episode.  The Sons of the Harpy did not know that, so they had to play safe.

But only them. And it just so happens that the Dothraki show up at that one particular moment in time. Because presumably the Sons what...followed this small group of civilians out the gates, maybe with their masks hidden in their pants or something?

Remember in the arena, when the Sons of the Harpy jumped from everywhere with their masks?  Did you see any masks before that?

As for the Dothraki, Daenerys would have left them in reserve, ready to strike as she gives the signal.  Presumably, "When you see the dragons and the fleet burning, strike at them".  Or she sent a dispatch as she walked out to meet the representatives of the slavers telling the Dothraki to launch their attack immediatly.

Generally speaking, you don't want to commit your entire force in one strike, that is way too risky, you try to keep a reserve.  See Jon Snow going head on toward the Boltons, everyone agrees it was a dumb move because he saw red.

You have to work pretty hard to figure out a way to justify such lazy writing, and I commend you for the effort at least.

I don't see lazy writing.  We knew Mehreen would not fall, we knew Daenerys would arrive in the nick of time, with Drogo and the Dothrakis, to save the day.  She was one week away from Mehreen two weeks ago.  Once we saw her inside the temple, we knew she would free the other 2 dragons and attack the fleet.  We just did not know how it would shape exactly.

Did you really expect Mehreen to fall?  Daenerys reduced to slavery?  Tyrion's head on a pike?
C'mon.  This show will have a happy ending.  They need Daenerys to defeat the White Walkers, we saw it in Bran's vision.

[Berkut]

Of course I knew the outcome, that isn't the point at all.

The scene outside the gates made no sense, and was clearly thrown together. That can be true even though we all know how the overall story arc is playing out.

[Berkut]

Why exactly is Daenerys letting the city burn for a couple of hours before acting?

The writing is pretty stupid sometimes.

deploy the troops, free the dragons, plan a counter attack, make sure everyone understands their part.

The thing is she doesn't need to do any of that - the dragons alone basically make everything else moot. And notice how it worked out - once she has control of the dragons as a military force, nothing else (in that particular situation) made any difference whatsoever. not the troops, not Tyrion, not Grey Worm. She could have ended the entire thing the moment she cam flying in on a dragon. Everything else was just theater.

[viper37]

Everything else was just theater.

And that was Tyrion's plan.  To show them they are at her mercy.  Leave only one scared dude to return home and tell everyone how pointless it is to fight against her, and how lucky he is to be back alive.

The masters have had many setbacks before, but they always came back.  Now, they won't.

It's not enough to defeat the ennemy, they have to know they are hopelessly outmatched.  The dragons alone are not sufficient for that, those who don't see the dragons will think it an exageration.  Now you have a direct witness who peed his pants.  A noble.  She decapitated their leadership, leaving only one who is apparently an outsider to the other group.

With a bit of luck, and that Tyrion's speech to the soldiers, it will create unrest in their cities, and they will have a tougher times maintaining order.  Hence, their fighting capability is crippled on sea and on land.

[LaCroix]

I think the theater (everything else) was required for the collapse of the masters' armies. the dragons spent a lot of energy burning down one ship. I'm not sure there was a whole lot of fire left in them, at least not enough to burn the whole fleet down. the dothraki horde + killing the leaders + the dragon show = masters' military abandoning the attack.

the show is guilty of speeding things up and not showing every step, but that's more out of necessity to quickly resolve conflicts before moving onto other storylines.

[viper37]

exactly.   

[Berkut]

I think the dragons didn't burn the entire fleet down for one reason, and one reason only:

She wanted the ships.

[LaCroix]

rewatch the scene and look how much fire those three dragons spewed to kill one ship. during the scene, I was like, "how long can they really go on for?" remember, we haven't seen any indication that these are fully grown dragons. they're still children.