"Beyond the Wall" 7x06 Game of Thrones Review

[@qtunicorn2123]

I did not like this episode at all. Also, Jon calling Danaerys "Dany" felt like cheesy, horrific fanfic dialogue.

[@Robertgtdf]

Lately KZbin has recomended me some scenes with Ygritte and Jon. After whatching (and refreshing) those scenes I think that Dany & Jon is even more laughable :D

[@lunac6094]

I'm no book nerd - hell, I am only just approaching the end of AGOT - but it is obvious even to me that ever since the show left the books behind (which was an inevitable and necessary thing of course) it has definitely declined in quality. The majority of the audience don't look too far into plotlines and characters like I assume everyone who follows this channel and others like it do, and so for a while now it seems like the show is less focused on writing well thought out plots and developing characters in an interesting way, and more focused on providing a "spectacle" if you will. Lots of great shots and dragons and ice zombie polar bears, basically a whole bunch of "wouldn't it be cool if we had _____". And while I can't say I blame the writers, since as I said the majority will eat up these big battles and shocking deaths and love it, it makes me sad that it's no longer really an adaptation of ASOIAF, and that us fans of what made the show so great early on have kind of been forgotten.

[@alexhodgkinson6718]

Luke F It depends on what you like. I'm a film student and heavily analyse Game of Thrones episodes and, while the writing in the first three episodes was pretty awful, everything else has been stellar. People seem to think that writing is the only thing that matters. One person writes a script, hundreds work on other things in the production of an episode. Costume design has been better than any show I've pretty much ever seen in history this season, the cinematography has clearly took huge steps up in the past few seasons, and the writing has been good. Very good, in fact. I'd be willing to bet that when GRRM writes half the shit happening this season in his books, fans of the books will quickly change their opinions and call it ingenious writing. Let's not forget that the last three Song of Ice and Fire books were not even that good.

[@johnnystevens1248]

well, alex, i already disagree with your statement that the last three books are bad. You also say, that on a film maling stand-point got is a fantsatic show. But heres the thing: the heart and the meat of a piece of fiction is the story, especially in one so complicated. Also, I can compare GOT with something that is written much better: the books! I can't do that with stranger things or rick and morty for example. And the fans being biased and calling GRRM a genius despite what: GRRM writes his characters in a way thet their actions are natural and human. D and D do not try that. They want to do what the fans want.

[@alexhodgkinson6718]

Johnny Stevens The story and writing isn't the most important aspect. It's one miniscule aspect of a production. Writing books is easy because it's one person sitting at a desk, whereas a film or TV show has tons more going into it, made by sometimes well over a hundred people. Game of Thrones gets everything right. This year the costume design has been better than any show I've ever watched, I'd say.

[@agentmysterian1461]

@@alexhodgkinson6718 I have to heavily disagree. While for some very specific films writing and story might not be as important, this is a TV-Show that gained popularity because the writing was so good in the first 4 seasons and because the characters were all realistic, grey and complex. Not too mention that the worldbuilding was rich and excellent. Actions had consequences and it was different than most fantasy stories. In later seasons however Game of Thrones lost what made it special. Yes the costumes and cinematography were excellent, no one denies that, but the writing and characterization was so absolutely horrible in seasons 7 and 8 that I cringed at almost every scene. It felt like a generic fantasy blockbuster. TV Shows usually are popular because the writing is so engaging, the writing is an incredibly crucial part of them. And if the writing quality declines so drastically, of course fans are angry, and rightfully so. Theyve been lured with great writing and cheated out of a satisfying ending.

[@agentmysterian1461]

@@alexhodgkinson6718 Another point: The last two books were slightly controversial, but only because they were somewhat slower than the first three (and I personally love Book 5), the quality of the writing was still the same. And Book 3 is regarded as the best book amongst the fans. And anyone that says writing a book of that scale is easy clearly has never written a book.

[@kiramoth2766]

I usually defend the show. I was holding my head in my hand the whole episode. This was really, really bad.

[@kiramoth2766]

They stretched the plot SO hard to make an ice dragon fit in it. It created so many plot and character holes that it's not Games of Thrones anymore. It fell down to a basic fantasy show plot with high production values. I was cringing the whole episode, during Arya's scenes which is the most stupid and useless plotline of the whole show (we all know bran is gonna talk, arya will probably kill littlefinger with the valyrian dagger and that's it), to the ice lake which is a plot disaster. It boils down to pure fan service and waving action sequences, dragons and fanfic level romance in our face, thinking we'll eat that and completely forget what made the show good in the first place.

[@bereal2479]

Totally agreed.

[@evelynbasham1673]

Danzie, your review was fair. Don't ever worry about being honest and ignore the Fanboys and the trolls.

[@Swatyo]

This was the episode in which it became obvious that d&d basically said "we don't give a fuck about this, we just want to end this and move on".

[@GhostOfAnAvatar]

I actually wouldn't've minded a practical marriage between Jon and Dany for political purposes. It's totally a thing in the world they live in so it could've easily been done realistically, especially if they spent more time as rivals with their different goals and interests that eventually led to that point.

[@tomarmstrong7446]

I kinda enjoyed the exchanges between Jon and Jorah and Jorah and Thoros. With Jorah and Thoros especially, it just added a bit of depth to the story by adding the bit of history and lore. We rarely get to hear about historic moments in the show, compared to the vast array in the books. So i guess it was just nice to hear some reminiscing from the characters.

[@maxmustermann9058]

I loved that they brought up the heir question at all. One of my biggest gripes with book Daenerys is that she is willing to wage a bloody war on westeros to reinstall the Targaryen dynasty, when she at least thinks herself infertile and expects the dynasty to end with her, which is also likely to result in another civil war. It is infuriating that this is not really discussed in the books.

[@JasperLane]

You know it's going to be a fun review when she starts of with "The OKAY"

[@niklasthaler4335]

While i watched this episode, my only thought was: "Danzie will destroy this, danzie will destroy this."

[@joesoly1234]

I completely agree with you regarding this episode! I've disagreed with your negative points in the past but this ep was not very good at all. It felt like the writers had never even seen their own show. Especially when they sent gendry to run back to the wall. "You think you know this place and it'll kill you... I've lost good men who have fallen down a crevasse they didn't see coming" - the halfhand (paraphrased). If a viewer can remember this important piece of dialogue, then a writer should too.

[@jersonona7961]

At last, a review that tackled all my problems beyond the wall.

[@yovliporat8608]

I honestly waited the whole week thinking "What's Danzie going to say about the ep? I'm not the only one who didn't like it, right?". I wasn't disappointed. Thanks, Danzie, for always giving your honest opinion.

[@aaronluke1993]

I won't be surprised if this season gets an Emmy for best show of 2017.

[@Pataclysm]

Show apologist here, so i have a few reasons/theories to defend the beyond the wall scenes. (Even though i agree that there were illogical plot holes galore) I think a lot of the plot holes can be explained by brans connection to night king. Obviously night king is aware of bran and his powers, and can even manipulate bran while using these powers. Which makes me believe that night king is also a greenseer. He can see past present and future, and thus would make this entire episode a trap. The scouting party of wights with one staying alive was meant to get them to send a raven to dany. The whole island stand off was to give her time to come. The fact that night king calmly threw the spear at the flying one shows how confident he was in the outcome. Also while benjen was there for plot armor, he could have been sent by bran somehow, and as far as him dying then and there, it was anticlimactic but if he cant pass the wall and the dead are about to pass it, how else were they gonna finish his story? It makes sense that he would want to die after saving his family. I also want to believe that the reason jon has so much plot armor, is that he doesnt actually, and that under the ice and maybe when he was trampled at the BOTB, he died and was resurrected because of unfinished business. Just a thought. Also the weapons they used were dragon glass, which i know in the books doesnt do much for wights but in the show they kill them instantly. I thought this episode had a looot of questionable things. But as of right now, im hoping these are the reasons behind the choices

[@danielleb5016]

A very fair and honest review. I enjoyed your analysis as always.

[@ClintSprayberry]

I always enjoy hearing what you have to say. You call it what it is, and I genuinely appreciate that fact! I look forward to any and all GoT/Nerd content you choose to produce 😁

[@JasperLane]

I actually like the scenes with the magnificent 7 talking back and forth. It brought some conversations up that I didn't know I wanted. Like Tormund and Sandor. But I will agree with you on every one of your points that it was overall a jumbled up mess. I never liked the Romance between Jon and Danny simply because. Well, I hate Danny, Jon was never my favorite character but I still like him and hoped he could do better then a psycho bitch.

[@ds22342]

Lyanna is a little girl.Jorah is an experienced knight,of course Jon would try to give the sword to him instead of her.

[@maxmustermann9058]

True, but Jon would still be more likely to give it to her, because she has the better claim and she would then give it one of her trusted men. Or Jon could give it to any other soldier, Jorah is the last person to get it from Jon, even Jorah himself did not consider himself worthy, which is why he left it behind.

[@nikolafeschiev3399]

jorah is a known for slaver trades lyana is the head of the mormont house and jorah have never been the best fighter or something so its more logical to give it to their rightfull owner or to the best fighter like tormund lets say

[@TheMan-je5xq]

ds22342 I did like that scene between them myself but now that Jorah has refused the sword I'd like to see him offer it to Lyanna. Heck does she even know he has Longclaw?

[@GhostOfAnAvatar]

You make a lot of good points. Personally I give somewhat more leeway toward actions characters take during battles, as more irrational decisions can be made realistically in the heat of the moment.

[@chronnolink48]

Great review, i liked the banter between the fellowship, but I agree the show lacks direction w/o martin...

[@thekiddo115]

The dialogue scenes were my favorite parts of the episode, but other than that i was constantly being distracted by elements that did not add up.

[@huskizzle]

100% agree with you. This was one of the worst and most frustrating episodes in recent memory. Even the dialogue scenes beyond the wall before the y encounter the wights were pretty forced and fan servicey. It was hard to get excited about anything here, and I fear that this quality dip might continue into the final season.

[@EliJadeG]

Danzieeee, where's the 7x07 review? We need you!!

[@kriseriksen7706]

Sounded more like the Beyond the Wall stuff belonged in the Okay category than in the Bad.

[@TiroX517]

Ah I was waiting for your review on this episode, you seem to be one of the few youtubers daring to point out where the show is falling short the last few seasons and especially this episode. The entire episode was aweful, but the stuff beyond the wall was just horrible beyond words.

[@noahorakwue2653]

Danzie why haven't you released the season 7 finale yet?

[@DanzieReviews]

It's coming soon. :)

[@jeffbenefiel180]

Yeah, at this point finding fault with these episodes is like hitting the broad side of a mountain, you can do it with your eyes closed. It's a shame for the actors who have a worm's eye view and can't possibly see the big picture when it all gets put together, they're simply going from instance to instance. Nope, D & D own this mess, but some of that is on Martin for being a lazy sod, counting his money and not writing. You can see when this show went off the rails, about where the books ended and Martin stopped contributing.

[@bereal2479]

Shush Lady, all you spoke about was only truth. The only thing where it could make sense Is Arya being colder before all what she lived through,so she isn't that emotional and soft as a sister should be. Otherwise I fully agree with you,there were so much stupidity,and they just showed the action to make It look amazing,but real fans who care about content and good story know that this episode was terrible.Man I was so hyped before sixth episode... I loved fifth... I was so freakin hyped that I listened white walkers theme for long time,that was made amazing,but here we go,It came to It and It was so freaking forced.

[@thegaycatholic4739]

You review was warranted, ever since the show surpassed the novels and even a bit before that the show has just fell apart

[@tiradegrandmarshal]

At the time I watched this episode, I remember thinking how fucking illogical it was from start to finish, and that GoT couldn't possibly shit the bed any worse than this. And then Season 8 happened.

[@deck444]

The show is not bad, is just not Game of Thrones anymore. The directors are favoring the drama and spectacle more than the history telling and character development aspects like any other popular TV show. I saw it coming way back in season 4 and now I´ve grown used to it and I watch the show with the right amount of expectations, so this episode was just a "meh" episode for me. In "Game of Thrones standards" it was pretty bad.

[@Cannedbeef]

I'm waiting to see Tyrion vs Little finger

[@Samaru163]

I don't think Ice Dragon is the right word for Viserion now. He's more of a Zombie Dragon, since Ice Dragons are supposed to be able to breath frost, and Viserion is most likely still going to breath fire so he can bring down the wall. Plus Ice Dragons are a different species. And yeah, this episode was not good. Some of the conversations were decent, such as Tyrion and Daenerys, but all the logical problems just sucked me out of the episode. I swear, I actually yelled at the screen when those giant chains appeared.

[@alexhodgkinson6718]

In my opinion, we're supposed to disagree with Arya. She's very young, and grew up with an entitled sister who couldn't be more different to her. She came back to Winerfell for Jon and got Sansa. I mean, just put yourself in her shoes for a minute. Of course she's not being diplomatic; everything she's saying is out of spite for Sansa, trying to undermine her and make her feel bad. She sees Sansa as the enemy. And she's young. You can't put your own judgement on all of them and expect them to act as you would act. They're not all diplomatic and wise like Olenna. Arya is a child with no understanding politics and a deep resentment of he sister. It'd be out of character for her to understand Sansa. She needs time to think it over and see the progress Sansas made.

[@alexhodgkinson6718]

The narrative is demonizing Arya at the moment, because she's young and bitter. Why on Earth are you expecting a child like Arya to have reasoning powers that even Tywin didn't have? The first three episodes of this season were pretty shit, but the last three have been well written with everything in production being excellent. And people who only discuss the writing have no idea about film and TV.

[@TheMan-je5xq]

Alex Hodgkinson I was starting to think maybe this person isn't Arya something about her seemed very off. I was starting to consider the theory that this Arya is the waif she "killed" back in Bravos

[@bereal2479]

This Season started off just great! You are just fake fan who needs action and battles,no story lane at all! Get out and watch some fantasy movies.

[@nirmalpatel8976]

Hey danzie long time no video pls make one

[@reeloykenjins2835]

I laughed at seeing rotten tomatoes score of the episode where Sansa gets sexually assaulted by Ramsay. It was controversial but I think there should've been at least one scene where Ramsay does sexual assault in the show because the books kept mentioning the fact that he's a rapist, not that it should've happened to Sansa who never married him in the books.

[@reeloykenjins2835]

Though I'd much prefer that someone is shown being flayed on-screen over that.

[@Semper_Liberi]

The mannis will be back, don't you worry...

[@joesoly1234]

Why didn't tyrion recommend a marriage between Jon and dany? That's what he's there for, to advise her and it would make a good match politically

[@redwolf1511]

I have followed you for years, Danzie, and I was always a little annoyed at your rampant criticism of the show (although you have always brought up interesting points which is why I kept watching). This season you have been, for the most part, dead on! And this episode in particular. This was the episode I felt the full weight of the writers pandering to their casual fan base. True fans see the loss of complexity that made Martin's work and the show so engaging.

[@rpproductions6241]

To be fair, normal weapons could always kill wights (albeit with some difficulty), but this entire episode was just fan service and poor writing.

[@thekiddo115]

Where is episode 7?

[@alexhodgkinson6718]

Dany reached them in three nights, not one. And Benjen? I'm sorry, but I'm sick of reading that ridiculously stupid argument. The horse could not have outran the wights with two men on it's back, and Benjen can't cross the wall anyway. He'd get killed when he got to the wall.

[@joesoly1234]

Alex Hodgkinson then why can the wight they took across the wall? Or the first two back in season one?

[@bereal2479]

if it was 3 days they would've been all dead,no exceptions. It was written shitty.

[@SuperWindsage]

with Jon and Danny. why I'm not opposed to them getting together I WISH FOR THE LVOE OF GOD that they first coached it in terms of a Political marriage. a thing of PEACE you know? let love GROW from duty. but that would take to much effort and bring up the akward fact that the MOMENT Danny is dead they are FUCKED when it comes to leadership. she can have no children, house Targaryian dies with HER. unless they do a surrogate thing alla Abraham and his wife through the slave..... and even that.... dragons? moment she's dead what are they going to do? but a lot of it... meh. could have been BETTER. and yeah Jon and the your a slaver thing. WHAT EVEN. course could be your a ally of this queen thing make her happy and jorah is an actually good fighter? giving it to baby Lyana Mormount when she is... like five and cant fight with it? and YES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Logistical issues! their was a good episode in there SOMEWHERE I swear but they SQREWED IT by the fact they kept MESSING THINGS UP.

[@madmau]

You sounded so sad in this video.

[@DarkKing009]

i thank Benjen Stark wanted to die

[@tae523]

For sure the worst episode in the entire show