'Game of Thrones' Fan Petition for Final Season Do-Over Snowballs (variety.com) 494
A petition by an angry fan demanding that HBO remake the final season of "Game of Thrones" has now been signed by more than 502,000 people. From a report: Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are the target of the petition, which asserts that the pair, who have shepherded the HBO hit from the beginning, "have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on." The show first moved beyond George R.R. Martin's ongoing book series in the sixth season. The online petition, which was started on Change.org by a user called Dylan D., is titled "Remake 'Game of Thrones' season 8 with competent writers" and states that fans of the smash-hit show deserve "a final season that makes sense." [...] The petition originally began with a target of 15,000 signatures, which was reached on Wednesday. A revised target of 300,000 was surpassed Thursday, and a newly revised target is now aiming at half a million signatures. By 8:30 a.m. ET, the petition had been signed by 350,000 "Game of Thrones" fans, with the number of signatories continuing to grow rapidly. Just two hours later it hit 400,000 and by 02:10 p.m. ET it was up to 502,000.
People are so entitled. (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously? Whatever happened to just disliking a thing? Why does everything have to have an online movement?
Re:People are so entitled. (Score:5, Funny)
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Obama was horrible for America
Yep, what a horrible thing of him to clean up the economic fuckup of the previous administration.
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The economic fuckups of the previous administrations _plural_. Bush screwed up by not shutting down the bubble but it was created created by Clinton. _Many_ people warned that letting those who couldn't afford it leverage themselves into buying homes they couldn't afford was going to create a dangerous bubble but were shouted down as being socially unjust.
Re: People are so entitled. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re: People are so entitled. (Score:5, Funny)
No you're completely silent
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No you're completely silent
Same AC here. I caught that stupid typo right after saving the comment. Derp. Nice quip.
Re: People are so entitled. (Score:5, Informative)
He didn't give any money to Iran. He just released Iran's own money (Iranian assets that had been frozen under sanctions).
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And those people also are unable to accept the outcome. Obama was horrible for America but at least Trump is trying to make America not be the dumpsite for the worlds rejects.
See this is why weed was illegal. Legalise it in a few states and you start getting comments like this.
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Re:People are so entitled. (Score:4, Insightful)
No, not everything, just frivolous things like the plot of a TV Series. People get much angrier, and put WAY more energy into protesting this sort of thing rather than, say, unforgivable human rights violations or worldwide starvation.
Re:People are so entitled. (Score:4, Insightful)
People get much angrier, and put WAY more energy into protesting this sort of thing rather than, say, unforgivable human rights violations or worldwide starvation.
Ok doofus, the difference here is there is theoretical chance of changing the first one, the latter requires nukes or willingness to give own life for the cause, or at very least a truck bomb.
Re:People are so entitled. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not unreasonable for customers to complain about bad products or service. It may not be the most important thing in the world but it's still fine.
At least it's a petition and not the usual harassment on Twitter.
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put WAY more energy
False. The energy put into things is quite similar. Someone ticked a button on a website. Whoop de do. The reality is we're reading about a once off event, whereas there is almost a continuous and never ending stream of protests with slightly varying wording talking about climate, human rights abuses, displeasure with governments and yadda yadda yadda.
But we don't hear about them nor count the collective responses because of observation bias.
Make no mistake, people are putting the bare minimum into this cau
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You're absolutely right, but watching the churn is entertaining.
But just think -- piss off too many people, and you lose sales of the inevitable blu-ray collection and kill any spin-offs. Just goes to show, it doesn't pay to get lazy in the final season of a hit show.
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Well it may not, now.
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Missa think it cudda be worse!
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Spoiler alert (Score:2, Funny)
Just wait till next episode when the fans discover that Jaime Lannister survived. That will make the petition go crazy.
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Just wait till next episode when the fans discover that Jaime Lannister survived.
Sandor Kligane as well. In Game of Thrones, it's always seemed like - if you aren't beheaded, you're likely to return at some point.
But this petition... I understand their frustration, but do they honestly think it would go better the second time around?
Re:Spoiler alert (Score:5, Interesting)
I understand their frustration, but do they honestly think it would go better the second time around?
Well, if GRRM ever gets off his fat ass and finishes the series, it will go much better the second time around. I thought we'd never see the series finished, but now I have hope this ending will piss off GRRM enough to get him back to the typewriter he lost somewhere in his piles of money.
Re:Spoiler alert (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately, GRRM himself is the type of writer who does not know how to end things in a satisfying fashion, and it is his own knowledge of his limitations, and fear of fucking this whole thing up that has caused him to delay finishing the series. He writes seat of the pants style, letting characters grow and develop organically. This leads to top notch characterizations that are very believable and "true to life." Sadly, this writing style is about as good as real life at delivering satisfying conclusions, i.e. not very.
From what I understand, this ending is GRRM's idea, and he laid out every major plot point he planned on hitting way back, so D&D could finish the series and stay true to his vision. So every unsatisfying thing like Dany's breakdown into genocide was planned by GRRM and will be part of the books.
GRRM gave D&D his outline. They diverted even from that. When GRRM had suggestions to make the show better, they told him to get lost. Character prominence (and even who dies when) in the show was driven by audience appeal of actors. Arya offing the Night King was totally D&D's idea. All of the teleporting around of characters, armies, and fleets for plot convenience are all D&D.
As you say, GRRM is great at characterizations. It's not about whether Dany goes bad, that's been telegraphed for some time. It's about how and why she goes bad. It's the journey that matters here.
Plus, I'm sure that in the books Winter will actually come, the Night King will be hard to kill, Tyrion won't suddenly be an idiot, nor will Petyr Baelish, nor will Varys. Heck, pretty much every character became an idiot once D&D overran the books, because they can't write a character less stupid than they are.
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Arya offing the Night King was totally D&D's idea.
I had no problem with having an surprise character killing the Night King. But after seven seasons of playing up Arya essentially becoming a ninja (even earlier this season, John asked her "how did you sneak up on me?"), they don't have her noiselessly get to the King to attack without him even noticing... no, they have her yell and leap at the guy - assumedly just so they could do that "we came up with a cool knife-drop-then-catch thing".
Yeah, this petition is definitely stupid. Yeah, it's just a TV show.
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we came up with a cool knife-drop-then-catch thing
It was telegraphed in an earlier episode.
Re:Spoiler alert (Score:5, Informative)
If you liked GoT season 8, you'll love the new Star Wars movie D&D were given.
Fans: The Last Jedi was the worst Star Wars ever.
Bob Iger: Hold my beer!
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If you liked GoT season 8, you'll love the new Star Wars movie D&D were given.
Wizards of The Coast are making Star Wars films now?
I assume there will be a flashback scene on The Falcon with the droids and Chewie playing Magic...
That’s cause a droid don’t pull people’s arms out of their sockets when they lose...
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Clearly Chewie cast Tarmogoyf.
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it was utter, total, trash.
People say the visuals were nice. I found them uninspired. For all the prequels were hard to sit through, visually they were original and compelling (and I'll admit to actually liking the first prequel, but then I like RotJ better than ESB so I'm already a heretic).
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The prequels had a solid story told terribly. If Lucas had given a competent director those stories, the prequels could have been even better than the original trilogy.
I must be the only one.... (Score:3, Insightful)
I didn't think the last season is that bad? Gotta end it somehow, and while I was mildy bummed at the night king episode, I didn't think the rest of the season has been bad.
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It is too bad you did this as an AC. I am also not finding the final series to be bad. The characters are still behaving in a manner that is consistent. The purpose of this season is to tie things up and eliminate the loose ends. It seems to be doing that well.
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So like the last five minutes of a Star Trek episode.
The last 'plot complication' shows up, they 'reverse the tachyon stream' and viola, everything neet and done.
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Re:I must be the only one....[SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!] (Score:5, Insightful)
It is too bad you did this as an AC. I am also not finding the final series to be bad. The characters are still behaving in a manner that is consistent. The purpose of this season is to tie things up and eliminate the loose ends. It seems to be doing that well.
It's been 4 days since the last episode but I'm warning anyway: SPOILERS!!!!
People seem to be flipping out about that fact that none of the prophecies are coming true. And I wonder, maybe that's the point. How are people hundreds or thousands of years ago really going to get predictions right? We are not what people foretell us to be, but what we make of ourselves. Arya was supposed to be a lady, she's a badass assassin. Jon was supposed to be just a bastard son, now he has the best claim to the throne. Dany was going to unite the Seven Kingdoms and free the oppressed and decides to go crazy. Jaime had a clear path to redemption but gave it up. Tyrion could have been nothing more than a drunk, forgotten embarassment but is now apparently the only Lannister left and has shown he actually cares for others-something very unLannister-like. They've all had to make choices, and it's those choices that are defining them.
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Prophecies are bullshit, and GRRM has beaten people over the head about that. But people still cry about Azor Ahai and the Prince that was Promised and Jaime killing Cersei because they're morons.
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Daenerys actions, torching innocents are hardly consistent.
Cersei's demise was written by someone with no imagination.
Arya saves the day with an attack on the Night King that's totally out of character
The battle against the Night King was filmed by some moron who thought we should all squint at the screen and see nothing because he wanted it to be "realistic".
Bran, for all his foresight, did next to nothing other than act as bait.
Maybe they'll surprise me in the final episode, but for me, this season has be
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Emilia Clarke actually did a really good, believable job when she went postal in the last episode. And yeah, it fits with the whole Targaryen thing. So other than the "reunion" aspect the season was taking, it's not as bad as the last 2 seasons.
(this is of course contingent on her not waking up in a sweat, because it all just a bad dream on the eve of battle. If that's the case, then.. well i have no words)
Re:I must be the only one.... (Score:5, Funny)
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her father (i think it was father, perhaps uncle? apparently i didn't follow along closely either) was killed by Jaimie because he had developed a sadistic fetish for burning people alive.
What you are describing didnt happen to dani in the show. The key word that once missing (because it doesnt apply) destroys your argument is... "developed"
Great culture of America (Score:3, Insightful)
Says a lot about the culture of USA today. GIMME GIMME GIMME
GIMME? (Score:5, Insightful)
These people are asking to pay HBO for another year (or two) to maintain their subscriptions til GOT8(revised) comes out. HBO would be stupid not to do it. They were already planning like 5 spinoffs. How often do companies get the ability to immediately do a reboot by 500,000 customers demanding to keep paying them??
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This is stupid (Score:3, Informative)
None of these douchebags could do better. I've enjoyed this season as much as any other. The biggest complaint that I've heard that's valid is that they moved the story along too quickly. We went from "Winter is here" to "Winter is over" to "Dragon queen is nuts" in three episodes.
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I think that is the whole problem, it is too quick, 2 episodes of nothing happening just waiting for the battle. A battle where you knew what was going happen, they even stated it in beginning that there only hope was to kill the Night King. 7 years of buildup comes down to a few seconds of the Night King being killed. The dragon queen went nuts too quickly too, oh she saw home and decided to kill everyone, not take her dragon and go after Cerci, no she left her alone. You could have had her win the battle
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Kind of. A fan theory gaining traction is that the show made a critical misstep when it dropped Young Griff. Without Young Griff, Dorne wasn't relevant, and the Lannisters are still the power in King's Landing. Young Griff was in book five, but dropped from the show, and it appears that Cersei took over for him (Golden Company, power in the South, etc).
In the books, Dorne is alm
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Yep, we only started GOT 6 months ago, so the pacing change is even more nuts to us. Its like they are fitting in half a season per show, or JJ Abrams got hold of the script.
Is that you, Peter Jackson? (Score:3)
You'd think GoT fans would have learned that good fantasy stories can be stretched [wikipedia.org] too [wikipedia.org] far [wikipedia.org]...
Re:This is stupid (Score:5, Insightful)
* Spoilers *
There were some really bad bits of writing. One of the stand-outs was when Dany's second dragon was killed off. Somehow the fleet of ships managed to stay hidden, even though it was right next to her former stronghold, and hit a moving target at considerable range from a moving platform, with weapons that clearly could not reach that far.
It was incredibly lazy and actually made the next episode suck too, because now one dragon is taking out the entire fleet and the rampart mounted bolt throwers without getting a scratch. Why not have that be the point at which her second dragon is killed off, then the snap decision to torch all the innocent citizens would have made a little more sense too.
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Then perhaps they should have expanded the finale to eight episodes rather than six so things went more smoothly.
Considering the money they've made on this series, they could afford it.
P.S. I have never seen GoT since I cut the cord. I don't really care what happens to it. But following the overall arc, to try and wrap everything in six episodes is ridiculous. They should let the characters develop into their final form rather than,"Bang! You're dead. Bang! You're dead. Launch the harpoons at dragons a h
Re: This is stupid (Score:2)
So? (Score:3)
Get over it... (Score:2)
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Have you even watched this season? It's going so fast, it's gaining momentum like a star headed toward a black hole.
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Don't get too attached (Score:4, Insightful)
When writers are changed during airing of the series, the storytelling usually take a different turn. This was expected after running out of the original material. And it happens in all kind of mediums, so I would suggest the fans to just move on, or wait for the books to be written, which would probably be much better to their liking.
For example:
- Anime does filler episodes, or even seasons when they catch up to Manga. I used to just skip over them most of the time and don't consider it part of the story. Here being the final season I think it would not apply
- Video Games do this on occasion. The largest outrage was over Mass Effect 3, which had led us fan to believe our actions mattered (that was the main theme), but we just got pallet swapped R/G/B endings. Outrage did not help much, since the updated DLC endings were rehash of the same thing
Anyways, get a life and move on, there are always more entertainment to consume.
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Anime does filler episodes
Yeah, that's what we need - the bathing suit beach trip episode featuring Sansa, Arya, and Danaerys. And every five minutes the same comic relief character will get toasted by Drogon after looking at Dani's bikini and getting a nosebleed.
Re: Don't get too attached (Score:4, Funny)
I knew it was going downhill when the cool dragon jumped the shark tank on his motorbike.
Talk about first world problems (Score:3)
I really wonder people's lives are like who get so upset over nonsense like this.
I say this as some one who does watch and enjoy GOT.
not surprised (Score:2)
The first sign the show was in trouble was last season, where they shortened the number of episodes by three. At the drop of a hat, Snow is on a first name basis with the conniving head of state who burns men alive with her dragons and orders crucifixions.
The clusterfuck started with S8E3 (Score:5, Interesting)
MayuLer has a good video analysis of everything wrong with S8 E3's clusterfuck. [youtu.be]
You sat through that rant? (Score:2, Insightful)
Seriously man, don't you have better things to do?
I turned it off after about 15 seconds.
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Better htings to do than nerd culture? Bite your tongue.
Boo-hoo the mean TV show hurted my feelings (Score:4, Insightful)
Daenerys' whole character arc has been about challenging expectations about women in power and doing what it takes to seize that power. Frying some peasants and nobility in King's Landing included.
Whatever ... (Score:2)
I think George R R Martin who wrote the books in the series is very much involved in the TV series on HBO, and aware of everything.
He has even co-written several scripts in the series, in season 6 on-wards -- which are set after any of the original published books in the book series.
I therefore see it as very probable that whatever the petitioners are complaining about -- is something that Martin has OK'd. It is possibly something from Martin's mind in the first place.
Personally, I don't care. I'm a fan of
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You mean all the wieners?
Truth is, I've only watched the South Park.
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I'm sure the general idea was GRRM's but the pacing and execution was not. The fact is, this season was rushed, and it shows.
When fandoms go toxic (Score:2)
Story is Fine/Greed was the problem/LIVE WITH IT! (Score:5, Insightful)
It's unfortunate that the decision was made to break up the last book into two seasons. I think everything could have been brought together in Season 7 and there wouldn't have been any complaints as long as the following changes were made:
- I thought Season 7 dragged in places and could have been tightened up by one episode.
- The first three episodes of Season 8 could have been compressed into one and I think things would have flowed better. Ideally the battle should have taken place during the day but I guess the Night King wasn't going to work with the camera crew.
- It was a bit of a leap for Daenerys to go full paranoid city-burner but the hints were there all along. Losing Missandei unhinged her.
Maybe HBO felt that putting everything into Season 7 was going a bridge too far, but splitting things the way they did dragged some things out a bit too much.
Regardless, people are complaining about something George R.R. Martin has been writing for 23+ years. If you don't like how it ends, then spend the next twenty five years of your life coming up an epic medieval/fantasy series and get it right (in your mind) - I suspect that after you do that and it is filmed, you'll find 300k people complaining about the story.
Re: Story is Fine/Greed was the problem/LIVE WITH (Score:2)
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Where has the story "vastly" deviated? There are a few subplots missing and I don't miss Brienne's walk about in Book 4 but I think it's been pretty faithful.
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- The first three episodes of Season 8 could have been compressed into one and I think things would have flowed better. Ideally the battle should have taken place during the day but I guess the Night King wasn't going to work with the camera crew.
I don't get why people thought it was so dark. I could see fine. Also, if you look, the Night King never attacked in the day. It was always at night or morning/dusk with a snowstorm. Not to mention, your army is literally zombies, and half of the effectiveness of fighting the dead is that they are dead, and having a dead guy pop up on you at night is much scarier and more effective. My only problem was that he pulled the classic evil villain blunder. Shoulda just let his undead horde rip Brann apart in
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What I heard was that most of the people complaining about the darkness were watching the episode on a laptop.
I use a projector and could see everything fine.
Please repeat to yourself (Score:4, Informative)
Numbers Say the VAST Majority is Happy (Score:3)
17,400,000 people watched this past episode of GoT and 500,000 are complaining - that's less than 3%.
It was startling to see Daenyrs going all Aerys on Kings Landing, but it's not totally surprising given her history and what she's experienced.
I'd say a pretty good majority of people were shocked but are interested in seeing how things end.
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17,400,000 people watched this past episode of GoT and 500,000 are complaining - that's less than 3%.
It was startling to see Daenyrs going all Aerys on Kings Landing, but it's not totally surprising given her history and what she's experienced.
I'd say a pretty good majority of people were shocked but are interested in seeing how things end.
I just hope George R. R. Martin (a) bothers to finish the series now that he's rolling in cash and (b) doesn't feel in any way constrained to follow the HBO series. The books are fantastic and I'd like to see him finish out his vision.
"If you were expecting a happy ending, (Score:2)
you haven't been paying attention" - Ramsay Snow/Bolton
This is a series that has built itself upon characters giving in to their inner demons.
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Or as close as a happy ending a George R R Martin story could be.
Or were they expecting a classical Jon marries Daenerys scene, where they end up petting Drogo like a puppy and everyone laughs?
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you haven't been paying attention" - Ramsay Snow/Bolton
This is a series that has built itself upon characters giving in to their inner demons.
The showrunners have also said they don't expect everyone to be happy with their ending.
Only episode 3 was bad (Score:2)
The last episode (4) was a perfectly fine episode. There was nothing out of character or otherwise totally unexpected about what happened. There had been numerous hints and foreboding that this could and probably would happen. It made sense, at least from the perspective of the antagonist and their previous behavior and the events that had unfolded recently.
However, episode 3, The Battle of Winterfell, was problematic in many ways. I tend to be a stickler for half-ways realistic action sequences in which pe
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Many of the strategic decisions were just idiotic.
Right, like a cavalry charge in the dead of night across frozen tundra against an army of undead, which includes giants and dragons.
etc
If you don't like it; don't watch (Score:2)
There is literally soooo much content out there now. I don't understand why people spend time on something they claim not to like. By the way just because you enjoyed the first 7 seasons of something does not mean that you MUST watch the 8th if its not a satisfying experience for you!
I grew up watching Star Trek TNG; Loved DS9 and even liked Voyager; Loved going back and watching classic Trek and the original Six movies. (Well I was old enough to see The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country in the
I'll just be happy when it's over (Score:3)
Missing an important point (Score:3)
HBO is planning spin-offs anyway. If enough people are willing to sign a petition like this AND ARE REALLY WILLING TO KEEP PAYING HBO LONGER just to see it, HBO would probably be happy to give them whatever they want. They could always do the "JR wakes up and last season was a dream" thing:).
The only real issue is if too much of the cast is too sick of the whole thing for the money to be worth it to them.
The whole thing is just about maintaining subscripts and other sales avenues for more money after all.
At least that's my view as one not biased by having watched the show yet since I am still waiting for the books.
My hope is the ending has aliens or time travel (Score:2)
THAT would be soo awesome. Maybe a robot alien time traveler inside the dragon! Too much?
If only! (Score:2)
Has change.org ever actually made a difference? (Score:2)
I've seen dozens of petitions on the site that gathered an incredible following, but I can't think of a one that actually motivated any change, and I'd be skeptical if any exist at all where it wasn't going to happen already.
I'd give it less of a chance of making a difference than a "We the People" petition
Going about this all wrong ... (Score:3)
Of course, this is assuming they are all valid individual subscribers. If the subscription count is closer to 50,000 or less, then the impact on HBO will be that much less.
Re: Wah (Score:2)
Re:For crying out loud (Score:5, Funny)
This exactly. I feel like season 8 is being crammed up my ass but I'm enjoying the ride. Once the last show is over I'm going to wander over to my other favorite show, Lucifer. An life goes on.
Re:For crying out loud (Score:5, Funny)
crammed up my ass but I'm enjoying the ride
I probably could have worded that better.
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You must have missed the uproar over Missandei, the only black female character, being killed off.
Funny thing is, of all the deaths (of living people) the show has had, the 3 that were the most consequential were Ned, Tommen, and Missandei. Ned's death started the war, Tommen's death led Cersei to become queen, and Missandei's led to Dany literally nuking King's Landing from orbit because it's the only way to be sure. The deaths of kings and lords had much less of an impact on Westeros than that of Missandei, someone who rose from freed slave to trusted adviser and close friend of a legitimate claiman
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Everyone who is upset (like I am) should take this as a lesson learned that Benioff and Weiss know how to write actions sequences but they can't write character development and political espionage - and choose their future media consumption wisely based on that knowledge.
Actually, they don't do great on action sequences either. At least not at night!