What are you watching?

[El Jefe]

Game of Thrones continues to be a How-To manual on "Ways to Never Write a Show." Also, for a show that goes out of its way in the media to talk about its "authenticity" experts, they clearly haven't hired someone with the level of tactical understanding to be able to win a single round of Starcraft. Or played any RTS ever. Or even glanced in the direction of a chess board. Or know what tactics means. Or how to spell it. Or probably even managed to figure out Tic Tac Toe.

Jon Snow is still one of the worst characters ever put to the screen, and the actor continues to deserve to be continually pelted with garbage, particularly about his stupid, mopey face. Most of the rest of the actors are fucking champions, working through pain of some of the worst writing and directing over the last decade of television.

The bonus is that one of the recent episodes was just 60 minutes of staring at a black piece of paper in a lightless room after all light in the universe has been consumed by Cthulhu. It might have been their best episode yet for the fanbase's sanity, because they didn't have to see the mess on screen.

The writers decided that all of their terrible writing leading up to this point was clearly a "HOLD MY BEER" moment. So brace yourself, because Sean Bean is so goddamn glad he isn't coming in this show again.

[Phoebe]

[Mike]

For what it's worth, Jeff, you are allowed to not watch the show. I was a big fan of the books, but I finally quit the show in season 5. Just had no urge to keep going. And at this point, it's all left such a bad taste in my mouth that I don't see myself reading the remaining books, IF he even gets around to finishing them.

You can decide to NOT consume it, and then you aren't required to have an opinion on it.

[El Jefe]

My broken brain won't really allow for that. The moment I stop something I put this much time into, I'll spend the next eight years going nuts over.

Plus, to be fair, it's become a really cathartic hate-watch, while dealing with everything in life falling to pieces around me. I mean, it's a fantastic show to watch when you want to rant, because the creators will never disappoint on giving you plenty of rant-worthy material. You know, like having dragons fly like they are rail shooters in Galaga.

[Phoebe]

Stop trying to talk him out of hate watching and then posting his life giving rants. Jon Snow and his actor are insufferable and we need Jefe to affirm this regularly.

[Bonefish]

So, I've got a low bar for fantasy or medieval shit. You get some dudes with swords, maybe some supernatural hit, I'll watch the hell out of it. I'm part of the reason Hercules and Xena were popular. We don't get a lot of fantasy stuff, so I'll eagerly swallow up any swill you throw me.

But seriously? This is just generic fantasy[tm]. It's like somebody took the Players Handbook and wrote down their npc descriptions. Cool characters, but, shit. The rest s looking threadbare.

[mimekiller]

I respect taking Euron Greyjoy, possibly the most unequivocally evil and terrifying book characters, and making him Cyrus from Trailer Park Boys

[WillyGilligan]

I still enjoy the show, but I keep feeling like the books would/will be covering a lot more details on some of what's going on. I really only need them to not screw up Clegane Bowl at this point and I walk away entertained. But I may be disappoint.

I also have some crackpot dream where Martin finished Winds of Winter a while back and has just been waiting for it to not compete directly with the show. Then three months after the final episode he's like "oh hai, marks" and drops it like its hot.

The last book, of course, is a horcrux and will never be released.

[mimekiller]

ABSOLUTE apocalyptic DEATH AND DISMAY on GOT, LMAO to every ditzy parent who named their kid the dragon queen or anything like that aka fantasy hitler.

Seeing that Dragon burn THOUSANDS alive was and is the best moment of media in 2019. Can't see it being topped, filled with HATE HATE HATE hahahahaha

[El Jefe]

Not much worth saying this week. Supernatural managed to have a decent season ender for the first time in roughly nine seasons. Still helmed by two of the stupidest characters outside of the Thrones-verse, but not really the fault of the actors there. (Plus, anybody with that beard and that hair can be forgiven for a lot. And for once, I wasn't talking about Bobby. But seriously, Bobby, rrowr.)

Thrones was on the air. That's about all I can say. None of the fire like for last week, and I still don't really have the spoons to do a proper takedown of that mess from a week ago. CleganeBowl (which I legitimately didn't know what that was until about ten minutes ago, because I completely forgot that the Hound and the Mountain were related, because neither of them are worthy of remembering anything about at all) was a thing that happened. It was mostly a boring thing that happened. So...yay, I guess? The writers forgot that character agency was a thing through most of the show, but that's kind of normal by now, I guess? Jon Snow's face is still pretty horrid. The episode was just went back and forth between meh and boring, but anytime you have the two legitimately poor actors on the show trying to hold up the spine story...this is going to happen.

Netflix wise: I'm still never going to get why Happy is so popular, or how anybody made it past episode 3. Or 2. The Highwaymen is the movie I most want to watch, that everytime I sit down to watch I just go "Maybe tomorrow."

Oh, I was sort of happy when I got to the end of season 3 of Colony and found out the show was canceled. Because that last one was right up there in quality with Supernatural seasons 6-onward or all of the Thrones.

I got a free movie ticket, so I think I'm off to try Endgame for the second go around tomorrow.

[Bonefish]

Like, how is it that you are watching the show, but you don't know who Sandor Clegane is. He's literally had the best fight scenes in the entire show. His showdown with Brienne is quite possibly the best fight scene of the entire series. He did his absolute level best to protect the Stark girls and see them to safety, despite his really hard depiction as an amoral killer, he actually displays the ideals we associate with hounds: loyalty, courage and honor. I mean, I don't know how he can be forgettable, especially in comparison to Honor mcHonorable.

I get how the Mountain is forgettable. Three different actors were used for him, and the only one with any real speaking parts looked nothing like the other two. So, I get how his character is pretty much a wallflower.

[El Jefe]

I lied. I forgot the best part. Game of Thrones is now literally just Game of. Because trolling your fanbase is cool, I guess?

[Bonefish]

Yeah, but what's the specific complaints? Is it about the substitution of violence and rape porn, all excused by the name of "realism"? The unbearable WASPiness? Is it the goofy battle scenes and fights? Is it a complaint about the generic fantasy tropes?

[Phoebe]

[Phoebe]

While I sit here waiting for this perverted, inverted chili to simmer, not that anyone is going to eat it even if it were delicious, let me inform you Amazon prime havers that Fleabag is a freaking HILARIOUS show. Season two is happening but not on Amazon yet, so I rewatched season one. It was rather less impactful after I knew what was going to happen, but I saw so many other glorious details that were so funny! The main actor/writer/creator of the show is named, of course, PHOEBE. Damn. One thing right today. Well, two, because my physical powers continue to grow until I shall smite things with a polearm. Not there yet, not yet.

[El Jefe]

It's over. And things happened. They were filmed. The writers don't know the meaning of the word compromise, nor own a dictionary. So, yay, I guess? Meh? I'm not really sure what the best synonym for meh is here. But that.

[Bonefish]

Oh man. That was funny. Now we can wait two decades for the nerds to tell us how it "really" ended. Ahahahahahahahaha.

Oh. good stuff. Good stuff.

Man pet doggo, all things good.

[Phoebe]

I have watched the first episode of the second season of Fleabag and it promises perhaps even better things than season 1. Absolutely hilarious. I love this woman. It's like, one feels less alone in the world both because she's a like mind and she sees how things are. It's breathtaking at times, the weight of all the honesty. I love that the characters seem to be exaggerated, but the beauty of it is... They're not! We deal with these people!

OK - update: watched the whole thing (it's a short series of episodes) and it was SO GOOD. I laughed, I cried, it was beautiful. Season two builds on season one on a satisfying way, yet goes in new directions, and all the characters grow in an ... interesting way.

[El Jefe]

One thing that was cool about Thrones (other than never needing to see Snowface again) was how it all came down to the creation of a surveillance superstate. That was a nice touch. Unexpected, but still nice. Some of the writers appear to have helped build a backdoor pilot for the birth of Warhammer 40K: the Series.

[Phoebe]

We got the HBO free trial and watched the rest of it. The letdown was not quite as bad as Lost, but wowww I never thought I would say that I wished for George RR Martin to write something instead of someone else. I don't get the surveillance thing but I was pretty sleepy by the end. That's the weirdest thing about it - how boring it was!

I feel like a lot more people would have died if Martin would have written the book for this last season.