[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202911458

Every season of GoT has some clunky dialogue and more clunkier episodes. It’s more a matter of which seasons had the least amount. Season 2 is when I found the Lanisters, their exchanges and their relationships most intriguing. I also liked quite of bit of the Baratheon brothers. It felt more like a complete season to me, as opposed to season 3, which felt a lil’ more cobbled together and all over the place. I don’t see seasons 2-4 as all that far apart.

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[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202911440

I thought Bran’s and Dany’s arc in season 3 (outside of getting her Unsullied) was mostly a bore. The finale I though was incredibly dull. And the first half of the season was mostly drab. Season 2 had probably the most consistent dialogue and overall writing of any season. And season 4 might have been the most consistently entertaining season. I’m also not as big of a fan of “The Rains of Castamere” as some, though its power is undeniable.

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[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202911423

My season rankings:
1>2>4>3>6>5>7>8

I don’t feel the show had a singular great season. But I do think the second half of season one was its peak. Seasons five and six were overall messes. But each had a couple of top tier episodes and enough powerful moments. Seasons seven and eight were just taped together spectacles. But at least season seven was only half nonsensical and featured “The Spoils of War”, which is a top ten episode for me. Season eight didn’t do anything for me outside of initiating some eye rolls and making me appreciate Clarke more.

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[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202904924

I think the controversy helps to push Clarke as a nominee but will ultimately hurt her chances of winning. Had Dany’s descent been less swift and less full of contrivance and had we seen several episodes of her being the “Mad Queen”, her chances would be greater.

[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202903869

This finale makes sense from a thematic standpoint I guess. It’s how we got there that is so problematic.

These last two seasons were full of so much shit dialogue, nonsensical character decisions, contrivances and fan service. Even as someone who hasn’t been a legit GoT fan since season 2 I certainly expected it to conclude stronger than this.

I could get behind a Clarke victory in lead, which is something I never would have thought a couple of years ago. It’d certainly be better than Oh.

[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202898753

Jus wrote:

I guess the show wants to tell the story of love&obsession. Each season will put them into the next level of hell (or heaven, depends how you look at it) and it will eventually lead to their “end”.

Waller Bridge said that for her it was always a love story. Toxic, unhealthy and naughty, but a love story and I think that’s the kind of story they are trying to tell. It doesn’t work for everyone, and I totally get why some don’t buy it and are bored with it. But I like it and I’m ready for more. Even tho I saw some shortcomings in both s.1 & 2.

That’s one of the things that make me uncomfortable with this series. It seems almost anti-gay, where “queerness” is constantly presented as the destructive, lustful, outrageous, desperate, toxic, secretive, unsustainable alternative to “boring” hetero-normalcy. We see this presentation frequently even beyond the two main characters. And none of it is given any nuance or backstory, which makes it problematic in my eyes. There’s no romanticism, practicality, emotional connection or depth to Eve and Villanelle’s relationship. I’m surprised more “proud to be” gay/bi/fluid/queer/whatever people aren’t seeing what I see in the series or rather aren’t expressing their discomfort. It’s all about passion, obsession and “naughtiness”. And that has already become drab because there’s not much else to the story or characters.

I’m up to episode 4 of this season. The show remains entertaining enough. But there’s nothing special beyond Comer and the visuals. The first season at least had a pointed story and momentum building.

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[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202892583

I’m not really looking to change anyone’s mind. As I’ve said, I have never thought this was a great show. And everything that’s happened this season has been pretty well telegraphed. So, it’s not the story I find confounding. I’m big on characterization and things making sense in the world the show creates. As much I was critical of the series from the beginning (even when I thought it was overall good) I still gave it props for its world building and fleshed out, earned character arcs. That’s been ripped to shreds. And since there’s little else I feel the show does well there’s nothing for me to enjoy but visual effects.

[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202892552

The more I think about it the less this season amounts to anything sensible.

You built Cersei up as this “great villain”, and she’s been at least the most consistently engaging and acted character in the latter half of the series. Yet, in the final season she does nothing. And her death is lame.

You pile a bunch of tragedy on Dany, give her consistently incompetent advisers and come up with a bunch of plot contrivances just to try to make her “mad” turn seem somewhat reasonable.

Tyrion goes from being wise, clever and cynical to a sentimental, simple dumbass once we hit season 7.

Jon is built up as the ultimate hero just to sit in the background for the last season.

You built the WW threat as the ultimately threat since the beginning of the series just so it could end in a one episode battle in the middle of the final season, a battle people could hardly see.

You indulge a shit ton of annoying fan service in seasons 6 and 7 then say fvck the fans in season 8.

Never mind all the little character, plot and dialogue eye-rolling moments and just the rushed, chopped up nature of it all. These last couple of seasons have just been a mess. I feel bad for people who were genuinely invested in this show and actually felt it was a great and intelligent series at some place and time.

[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202891493

I’ve never been a GoT fan really. But I did think the show had enough great moments and was unique enough to pass as a “good show”, at least up until season 7. This does feel like George’s ending. But how we got here and the execution now that we are here just feels lame and unearned. They had to have a bunch of dumb shit happen, quickly get rid of the WW threat, turn Tyrion into an complete incompetent who doesn’t understand his sister at all and quickly turn Dany from a flawed character to someone who doesn’t give a sh*t. Then you get the fan service-y and unnecessary Cleganbowl and Arya going back to the capital for whatever reason. Both Arya and the Hound getting there at just the right time to witness (and survive) Dany’s rampage. And we didn’t even get a proper Cersei death scene. It’s a mess, and it really didn’t have to be. More episodes and slightly better writers could have done it at least some justice.

[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202661993

Anonymous wrote:

my friend saw the queen movie across the pond and said while Malek is ‘committed’, it is some serious heterowashing bullshit. Basically Freddie’s queer lifestyle = his demise and the sentiment is very ‘oh, if only you had stayed in a loving hetero relationship and with your safe bandmates, and didn’t go to the dark side’. By the time he starts living his ‘authentic self’ (literally somehow magically happens the day of Live Aid) the movie is over. She said the movie was ‘revisionist bullshit with homophobia woven into it’.

I’m gonna wait to see the film to give my judgement (though I won’t be paying for it). However, I’ve been telling people this for years. Hollyweird is full of “queers”. But perhaps the majority- both closeted and open- contend with internalized homophobia or hetero worship, or are megalomaniacs (if not flat-out predators), or they don’t genuinely believe in a “gay lifestyle” or genuinely believe in same-sex love and commitment. That’s partly why we keep seeing the same type of “queer stories” being told, why we keep seeing a de-gaying of characters and real life figures, and why we keep seeing a lack of non dysfunctional same-sex couples on screen.

[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202624504

Pulp wrote:

Fade wrote:

I know some people wanted Jodie Comer to be nominated over Sandra Oh, but that Killing Eve scene shows Oh’s deservedness over her. They both gave great performances, and ideally, both should have been nominated, but Oh’s material forced her to be the show’s anchor. Without her, the show would have collapsed onto itself.

Completely agree

Both barely missed my personal top 6. However, I do prefer Oh. Comer gave a showier performance, but it’s a fairly one-note chareacter and kinda undemanding.

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[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202617952

Both are stories focused on women, aired on HBO and have some type of mystery going on. Sure. But the ambitions of both projects are completely polar opposite. And honestly, I had problems with BLL (as I had with this). However, its soapy factor wasn’t one of its bigger flaws.

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[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202617915

Anonymous wrote:

I appreciate Sharp Objects more than I enjoyed Big Little Lies. BLL was a soap opera anchored by Kidman’s stunning performance. Sharp Objects was a harrowing, southern gothic tale of women.

I hope all 4 females are nominated next summer. Scanlen needs to win.

The two projects really aren’t that comparable. Very different tone, focus, story and characterization. Besides, I thought Witherspoon was the anchor of BLL.

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[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202616428

Anonymous wrote:

Just so you know, I did come in 503/3328 predicting the Emmy winners last year, so I didn’t do too terrible. I’m sure some people who regularly comment on these threads did better than me, but I did make some solid calls in close races like THT in Series, Writing, and Directing, as well as Dern over King and Skarsgard over everyone else in his category. If you want to copy off of any of my predictions, feel free. The only winners I had as low as 3rd were San Junipero in Writing and Dowd for THT. The rest I either called correctly or at least had in 2nd.

I as well saw THT’s big night coming and Skarsgard’s win.

I don’t see #MeToo helping Wood. She wasn’t at the forefront and unlike Moss, her show doesn’t have immediate social connection to it. I’m not seeing her getting the passion votes that Maslany and Rusell will pull or the name check factor of the rest.

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[IckyParticipant Joined: Jun 28th, 2012 Topics: 23 Posts: 4896 View Predictions]

#1202615674

Ivo Stoyanov wrote:

Icky wrote:

I feel the writing was lacking for Russell character in the first three seasons. Elisabeth was mostly presented as a foil to Rhys’s more sympathetic and “complex” character. We rarely got to see Elisabeth deal with any internal conflict, which we got plenty of in the last several seasons. And Russell’s best moments early on was when she was dealing with motherhood, which we also got plenty of in the last seasons.

This is absolutely not true, is not even a matter of opinion. She is one of the best characters on TV since season one. She had a numerous internal conflicts, the best episode of the first three seasons – “Do Mail Robots Dream Of Electric Sheep?” is dedicated to her and to her internal conflicts. SPOILERS In the first season she deals with her marriage problems and with her love towards another man. In the second she is deeply affected by the murder of her spy family friends. In season 3 she deals with Page and the discovery that she makes about their real profession among other things. Elizabeth has plenty of action scenes, we often see her play other characters since episode one. We see her having a different conflicts during the ENTIRE show.

Well, that is my opinion. And it’s something that I noted frequently throughout the first seasons and had no problem being at odds with The Americans’ fan base over it during those years. I thought the writing for that character and sometimes Russell’s performance was lacking. That doesn’t mean I didn’t think she had nice moments or even was perhaps nomination worthy for a couple seasons, just that I thought the character could be better and wasn’t worthy of a win. However, I was rooting for a Rusell victory a couple years ago and am rooting for her this year.

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