Game of Thrones – The Calm Before the Storm

Man, did this video age poorly

now that the 7th season is done… whats you point of view ? are you satisfied?

there's a completely different reason why there are so many parallels in the show and why the North suddenly seems to be on a winning streak. After the finale next year you'll probably know what I mean with this comment (might even be after S07E07 already).

Maybe we can actually get into some fantasy and away from it being a glorified period drama.

You make some good points and I hate to be negative here but you really have to admit that the current writers on the show are just not good writers. So many of the plot lines in the last season were really poorly thought out and written, there were just too many characters suddenly having 180's in their personality for the purpose of the plot. Their 'strong female characters' are disappointing because they are all exactly the same as each other in personality and are empowered and all girl power until the plot demands that they not be, i.e sansa being outspoken and always trying to bring something to the table until shes mysteriously silent when everyone starts yelling for jon to be king despite her and jon being very clear all season that they are fighting for sansa to be in charge. then just dany and cersei's plot points being the exact same but getting completely different treatment by the end of the season, cersei gets a lvl 15 warlock outfit out of that sweet lootpile from the sept and jamie glaring at her while dany gets a hopeful uplifting musical score. theyve also botched the whole moral ambiguity thing, instead of complicated morally grey characters who you can disagree with while seeing where they're coming from and finding them compelling we just get a bunch of selfish, violent arseholes that are all for the most part motivated by revenge.

apparently lyanna is still alive.

The Waif action scene was a pretty weird one though. I don't want action like that.

Not exactly a first for pop-culture — the first Fullmetal Alchemist series overtook the manga it was based on and the anime makers fabricated their own ending out of the elements they already knew. (of course, because it's an anime, they got to come back and make an all new FMA series that was more faithful to the tail end of the manga)

Great video, glad to see I'm not the only GoT fan who thinks that the good guys deserve a little break from all the tragedy and horror that has held them down.

Personally, season 6 is my favourite season of this series so far, and DnD has passed with flying colours in proving themselves capable of continuing the story without George RR Martin's books as a crutch to stand on. I love how the characters have continued to move and evolve, I enjoyed Aryas journey of taking back her identity, even though the landing was less than gracious. My favorite development was probably with Jaime, and how he's being set up for a very dark path to walk on. It's so tragic how his choices and his circumstances lead him further and further to the abyss.

In a way, I feel that in doing so they've been able to take more advantage of the mediums strengths, namely acting (or emoting might be a better word). Before, I always felt I could feel how the series was adapted from a book by how much of the intentions and feelings of the characters were conveyed more from dialogue and monologue (early seasons just loooved that monologue) than from the actors themselves.

That's not to say it was bad, far from it, it was quality television. But I always felt that adhering to the books always hampered it a little from being its own story, its own creation. Now, however, I felt that it soared higher than ever, not as a visualization of the books but as its own tv series which it really should be. I hope for the best with season 7 just around the corner.

Creating chaos and tragedy early on in the series is a great way to keep people on their seats and work towards satisfying and meaningful resolutions. It's not something you can do in the final two books of a series without making the story highly nihilistic and arbitrary.
R Martin is clearly doing this for a good comeback story and though characters may keep dying their deaths will become more meaningful and sacrificial. He's creating a chiasmus, what the first three books unwinded is what the last three books will consolidate.

I just discovered your channel and I like it very much – just keep it up. However, I'm very critical of the show since S5 and I'm gonna tell you why. It's not just about gratifying audience's wishes. I'll even omit plot and timeline inconsistencies. BUT.. what matters is the characters and the way they're portrayed – the dialogue especially. Just watch the very first episode of the show and any episode of S6. The difference is astonishing, it's like it's not the same show. Same actors and universe, but very different writing. Compare also shots at faces. Facial expressions matter a lot in first seasons of GoT, but now they do very little, because the substance, depth, internal conflicts, unexpressed feelings, where facial expressions do the talking, they're no longer there. There's little substance for actors to act, they just recite their replicas in a one-dimensional manner in which they are meant by the writers.

Remember how we loved Tyrion's dialogues with Cersei or Tywin? Now he's a plot device for Daenerys' storyline. There wasn't a single dialogue between him and Dany which would in any way resemble building-up a relationship, yet there is this awkward scene at the end of the season where Tyrion admires her. We see why he cares about Shae or longs for Tywin's approval, but he's been just having "joking" scenes with Missandei and Grey Worm all season, so why does he suddenly care about Daenerys? Hint: Because they're both fan favourites and they want to get this scene, not minding if it actually feels real. They want to be fooled that much.

Or Sansa and Davos. They both become plot devices for Jon, which means they don't really feel like characters anymore. Does Davos suddenly not care about Stannis? Doesn't he at least need a closure to his relationship with him? And well, Sansa, one of my favourite book characters – nothing about her makes any sense. Why doesn't she tell Jon about army from the Vale? (Not mentioning how could they get there so fast and of course, the timing is very convenient. And I know we could say the same about Tywin's arrival to the battle of Blackwater, but the S6 is filled with moments like this). They shared a family, even though they may have not liked each other, so where's any dialogue that shows some dynamics between them?

A lot of the same can be said about Jaime and some others. What about Cersei's apparent carelessness about Tommen's death? Her love for her children seems rather pathological, but no one can deny she cares about them. I could go on and on and on. The characters no longer feel like characters and what used to be GoT's strenght (dialogues) is now its weakness. It's not that much about whether Jon, Dany and other fan favourites survive the odds, it's about characters not feeling like actual humans.

the hound being alive it's on the book. Or at least there is a really good theory about it

Season 6 was by far my favorite season. Y'all are sadists wishing for more violence or "realism". Yes, yes, being surprised is fun and all, but I don't find myself rewatching the scenes that fooled us (Ramsay and Theon, Neds execution), the ones I can watch over and over are the hopeful, inspiring scenes.

You, Sir, make video essays on par with one of my favorite YouTubers : Nerdwriter1

Everything from your insightful and impeccably delivered commentary to your editing, sound mixing and that understated caffeinated sexy accent… F-ing perfect.

Seven blessings on you, Sir. And thank you for doing what you do 🙂

the writing of the detailes, like dialogue and character, was the problem with this last season, not what you're talking about !

"The first four season were dutifully faithful to the source material, only making minor changes…"
This is not true. As someone who watched the show first, then read along as I watched the show a second time, I can definitively say that there are tons and tons of minor and even major changes throughout the first four seasons and beyond. The showrunner's did not seem to understand George's characters, because they were constantly making little tweaks that dramatically changed many of them. As a show watcher first and a book reader second, I can say that the books are different, and they are better overall.

I could list some of the major ones, but even that would be a long list. Here's a few:
The lack of The Tower of Joy, Lyanna Stark haunting Ned, or the phrase "Promise me Ned" from season 1.
Arya's time at Harrenhal
Jon's first meeting with Mance Raider.
Stannis's lack of guilt over killing Renly in the show.
Stannis in general in the show…
Kevan is lame in the show while he is pretty cool in the books.
Jaime gets shafted in the show from season 4 onward.
Davos has this incredible moment of sadness in the books after the Battle for King's Landing that is cut from the show.
When and why Catelyn Stark releases Jaime from his cell.
Rob's reasoning for marrying the woman he knocks up.
The Red Wedding.
Basically everything about Sansa after season 3.
And on and on.

3:36 what's the sad song playing here?

Calm before the storm? Yes. doesn't mean it's good, these past couple seasons have had many issues, including Sand Snakes/Done plotline, plus many random issues that ruin the show for me like bringing a Giant in a planned battle without a weapon what so over, I mean he at least got a tree when they had to unexpectedly fight the Whights. I still really like the show but these issues building up is slowly ruining it for me.

i think they're both masterpieces in their area of their own. some stuff George did better in the books, some stuff i like in the show better. in a whole, i don't feel they're that different. the tone has been always the same.

I just want them to remember that a story is being told here. This isn't a game, don't just kill of beloved characters for shock value, only if there's a reason to.

Rowling? For a series starting out as children books it got rather gritty…

I think season 6 was amazing! Great videos in general too!

I get some of the things that you are saying, but trying to lure us into a sense of security at this point seems unlikely, i think most people have learnt their lesson an that's why this wish granting feels weird. Also there are cool moments where even if its a bit cliched, they make sense in the story progression ,like the battle of the bastards, and then there are complete fuck ups that make no sense like the whole Arya story in season six, she decides to betray an order of assassins and instead of taking precautions she just walks around to get stabbed, then she miraculously survives even after being exposed to the dirty waters of the city, gets to do parkour to escape the terminator, kills the terminator, then the leader of the assassins just tells her that its cool she is no longer in trouble and gets to do whatever the fuck she wants. That there is for me the worst part of season six. I'm still a bit hopeful of the next seasons being better.

it's about time something good happened in the north

Equating "hopeful" with "cliché" is such an annoying habit of the internet. What kind of a notion is that, to think a film, or a book or a TV series only has merit when it's all miserable?

if anything season 6 restored my faith…come at me original book lovers

It makes the story telling seem lazy if it's just a series of peaks and troughs of the state of the characters. They seem so far off the source material at this point, that making predictions of the show based on previous seasons seems illogical because previous seasons of the show were based on the books. Also, this isn't a first for pop culture having the adaptation overtaking the source material, the original Fullmetal Alchemist series got ahead of the manga, and obviously FMA isn't as big as game of thrones, but in Japan, it is, and for anime fans, it is. I liked the video, thank you.

Fantastic video essay! Love everything you've put out. I could not agree more about this last season. I was very happy when I noticed the pacing was dialed up- and things where happening and being payed off at a greater clip. I was actually stunned when you said it has it's detractors. But there's no pleasing the obsessed.

The harry potter comparison is interesting to me. Something that really fucking hits the nail home on how long it has taken george to finish the series is this:

Storm of Swords (the third book, adapted into seasons 3/4 of GoT) was nominated for a Hugo Award. However, it lost to Harry Potter and the goblet of fire. That was 17 fucking years ago. No wonder people are worried about the books not being finished. He's even been quoted as saying that it may take 8 books to finish the whole thing. Just think about how long away that could be.

I weep every time I hear the Platoon music come on 😭 Elias noo

You video essay are wonderful man. You learn so much.

What editing software do you use to make your videos? Premiere? After Effects?

I think there was way too much emphasis on killing of characters in the video. That's just part of story progression and Martin has done it both well and poorly. The Red Wedding was terribly written, for example. Forced character action that lead to a major twist in the action.
That's not what makes the show or the books great. That last episode was felt forced not because no major character died, but because it was wish-granting. It felt like a treat.
This season was particularly bad, unless you enjoy hearing a lot of bad dialogue in different accents. It had a few good moments throughout and an incredible episode (the battle of the bastards is my favorite episode of the entire show).

Really really nice video!
I'm such a fan of the show!
Though I recently start reading the books, I did not enjoy much of the last season, with the exception of the "hold the door" moment.

Great channel man!
I like your stuff,
Subbed!

i don´t know what people are complaining about. cersei killing half the royality of kings landing was a pretty big plot twist. i didn´t think they would pull it off, and got pleasantly surprised.

You do raise some good points, but I still think this last season was immensly lacking. Yes, it's good to have the heroes win from time to time, but when the show breaks rules and bends logic to make it happen, it's just upsetting. Season 6 was good, but not nearly as great as the show used to be. No matter how many pretty words you use to excuse this, it's just the conclusion I keep coming to no matter how I look at it.

Anyways, that was a pretty good video. Subbed and looking forward to more 🙂

I completely agree! 100% thought this when watching the last couple of episode of this season… At first i was put off/disappointed with the good guy beats bad guy trope showing up but remembering its probably a big setup for the epic final finale it kind of solidified that GoT is still holding on to the cliche smashing style of the past seasons. I understand what you mean as well, if they dont have the ramsay vs snow, super cliche battle then GoT becomes its own cliche,. Mainstream film/tv = good beats bad. Game of thrones = Bad beats good. Im glad they've done what they have so far…

Great video though, well made, natural likability, not only have I subbed but this I can say with absoloute certainty that this channel is on its way to the top! 😀

Great video! Keep 'em coming FilmRadar.

Kudoes video, if GRRM had dropped the surprise S6 events in his books first then D&D would be praised for FOLLOWING HIS GENIUS. But because THEY HAVE TO DO THEM FIRST and in the more TV production manner they get Blamed eviscerated. I ignore it as I only hated s5 because the writers list wasn't Cogman & D&D as much so the episodes were painful stereotypical set ups, characterizations and pathetic dialogues. Now S6 D&D have taken over the majority of episode scripts and better directors, so the outcome has returned to providing a fine TV version of A Song of Ice & Fire.

😀 😀 :D! The new one is out!! Great review as always Mr. Radar! I really loved season 6 of GOT, it was gratifying to watch some of the morally stronger characters doing well for a change; honestly the show needs that Yin-Yang element and GOT has at times over-sample on the Yin side of life. S6 also had wholesome shades-of-grey moments for example the Blackfish story-line was complex, especially with the added mix of Jamie & Brienne reuniting with opposing agendas. I & several other GOT fans are well aware of the problem of the show having to go on without the guidance of the upcoming remaining source material, but just as you have faith on behalf of the show creators, I too have faith in the creators of the show to provide an ending both true to the essence of the books and overall satisfying in a Game of Thrones kind of way. Likely it'll be a bittersweet epilogue.