MovieChat Forums > Game of Thrones (2011) Discussion > The “jump the shark” moment for me

The “jump the shark” moment for me

posted 6 years ago by BrunoAntony (1198)
3 replies | jump to latest

The nonsensical zombie quest which served ZERO purpose (Cersei never even allied with them after being shown the zombie) / dragon being conveniently killed so the Night King has some way of breaching the Wall (what was his plan if nobody brought a dragon to him?) / Benjen appearing out of nowhere to rescue Jon (big deus ex machina) / the huge chain the zombies just happened to be carrying / Tormund and Beric surviving a nuclear strike.

It also played complete havoc with the geography of the show (ie the speed with which Gendry, the ravens and the dragons travelled).

I think a lot of people gave this episode a pass because, visually, it looked ridiculously cool. Which I think was I intentional to distract everyone from the genuinely cheap writing.

[–] Scape (527) 6 years ago

I agree on many points, especially the magical chain. But the one thing that bothered me most about that episode - was Jon dicking around fighting pointless zombies instead of hopping on the dragon. Everyone was on the dragon and like “dude, lets go”, but he just kept going further and further away...

[–] spurtle467 (1558) 6 years ago

It was just so they could get Benjen back in the picture one more time to save Jon, which was also ridiculous and lazily written, not only because he comes out of nowhere at the last minute, but there was plenty of time for him to ride with Jon on the horse. It was pointless having Jon get left behind anyway, we all know by that point he is going to survive no matter what.

They should have just had Benjen meet up with them at an earlier point, like when they captured the wight, then Benjen and Jon could have exchanged more dialogue, Gendry could have gone back to the Wall on Benjen's horse making the chronology of the dragon's arrival look a little more realistic, there'd have been one more good fighter in Benjen fighting with them against the dead, making that look a little more realistic, and maybe then Benjen could have sacrificed himself so Jon could get on the dragon.

[–] BrunoAntony (1198) 6 years ago

Benjen meeting up with them at an earlier point, giving his horse to Gendry etc would definitely have fixed some of the glaring issues in the episode.

Instead, they went with the lame surprise of Benjen suddenly appearing to “save” Jon, the hero.