Worst moments in an otherwise great show/movie

[JonStark]

11 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

The actor they choose to play Harrison ruined it for me. Annoying twerp with no likable qualities or charisma. He gets the satisfaction of offing his dad and you're like after 9 season, Dex goes out at the hands of his annoying son with a rifle? 

That's fair. I thought the season itself was a perfect ending, but you're right that they could've gotten a much better actor. 

9 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

Still haven't watched GOT because I heard the last season was awful. Am I missing out?

Yes. It's still the best show I've ever seen, and even though the last season or two were more of a spectacle, they weren't as bad as everyone says. The last scene of the last episode wasn't good, but everything else was fine. It just didn't align with what people wanted to happen so they say it sucked when in reality, it was part of the arc all along. 

[JonStark]

51 minutes ago, BetterCallSaul said:

The ending did suck. But then they brought the show back in an attempt to "right the wrong" and it was great!

...until the second ending, which was worse than the first. Ugh....

I'd be curious how you think it should've ended. The entire series always said it was only going to end one of two ways, so unless you preferred the other (which would've been a huge letdown in my eyes), I'm not sure how else you can close the story out. 

[big_palooka]

4 minutes ago, JonStark said:

I'd be curious how you think it should've ended. The entire series always said it was only going to end one of two ways, so unless you preferred the other (which would've been a huge letdown in my eyes), I'm not sure how else you can close the story out. 

The creator commented on this after the first ending. His ending was something along the lines of Dexter gasps, wakes up and the audience thinks it's all been a dream only to find Dexter on the execution table with his victims as onlookers. Dexter reflection monologue plays, etc. etc. before he's executed.

Season 5 should have been this set up. They explore the "why" behind Rita dying at the hands of Trinity unraveling Dexters world which ultimately leads to his capture. 

But studios like money, so we had to suffer through Julie Styles, Collin Hanks, religious tropes, a mob syndicate and a sibling love affairs and the mother of all storms to wash it all away.  

 

[JonStark]

26 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

The creator commented on this after the first ending. His ending was something along the lines of Dexter gasps, wakes up and the audience thinks it's all been a dream only to find Dexter on the execution table with his victims as onlookers. Dexter reflection monologue plays, etc. etc. before he's executed.

Season 5 should have been this set up. They explore the "why" behind Rita dying at the hands of Trinity unraveling Dexters world which ultimately leads to his capture. 

But studios like money, so we had to suffer through Julie Styles, Collin Hanks, religious tropes, a mob syndicate and a sibling love affairs and the mother of all storms to wash it all away.  

 

Yeah I don't have a problem with the post Rita seasons (like I said, except for the love angle and final episode), but they definitely weren't great and didn't really further the story, so I can agree with you there. 

As for the ending, Dexter getting caught would've felt like the most anitclimatic thing they could do. Rule #1 was to never get caught and that supersedes anything else, so he was always going to do whatever it takes to not let that happen. Anything less wouldn't fit the character. In that dream scenario, are the feds just going to sedate him and take him right to execution without anything inbetween? There was always only one way for his character to end, and finding a way to give some closure to Harrison's character was a decent way of doing it. 

[BetterCallSaul]

1 hour ago, JonStark said:

I'd be curious how you think it should've ended. The entire series always said it was only going to end one of two ways, so unless you preferred the other (which would've been a huge letdown in my eyes), I'm not sure how else you can close the story out. 

It could have ended the same way every season before it ended (sans season 8). They didn't need to kill him off at all...especially by his own son, basically on a whim. I thought it was dumb.

[PARROTHEAD]

1 hour ago, big_palooka said:

Still haven't watched GOT because I heard the last season was awful. Am I missing out?

Watch the first 4 seasons. They follow the book for the most part.

5 and 6 arnt bad. The story can still be found. But they start relying on effects.

7 and 8.... They loved playing with those effects so much that they had no time for any storytelling cohesion whatsoever. All good guys become Marvel Superheros.

To give an example. After many years of Tyrions fine lines and dialogue. They opened the entirety of Season 8 with Tyrion telling Varys how lucky he is to not have balls to freeze off.....

[PARROTHEAD]

1 hour ago, JonStark said:

I'd be curious how you think it should've ended.

 

[JonStark]

43 minutes ago, BetterCallSaul said:

It could have ended the same way every season before it ended (sans season 8). They didn't need to kill him off at all...especially by his own son, basically on a whim. I thought it was dumb.

But then the story never ends...

It needed to have a proper ending. The entire show was leading towards his demise coming one of two ways. Either he gets caught, which would be a huge letdown, or he gets killed. Could it have been Deb that took him out? Sure, that probably would've been best but you can't have some random villain get him. Harrison was the next best choice left for the OG showrunners to use. 

Harrison's entire life was screwed up because of his father, so I'm not sure how you can say it was a whim. Not only was he an absentee father, but once Harrison finally tracked him down, he realized he was a serial killer. Fans of the show want to act like Dexter was some sort of hero because he only killed bad people, but he only did that to be able to continue feeding his urge. He was never a good person. Once he realized the monster he became, he finally put someone else's (his son's) interest before his own. It was a huge turning point for his character who has always just kept the same path, regardless of how it affected the ones he loved. 

You're letting what you wanted to happen affect your judgement on the actual show. Same reason a good portion of the people that hate GoT only hate it because Daeny didn't turn out to be what they wanted, even though (like Dex), their character had been leading to that point since the show started. Season 8 had a bad ending. New Blood was a proper sendoff and did his character justice. 

[BetterCallSaul]

22 minutes ago, JonStark said:

But then the story never ends...

 

I would have been ok with that. Why does it have to "end?" And more specifically, why does it have to "end" with him dying?

[big_palooka]

36 minutes ago, JonStark said:

But then the story never ends...

It needed to have a proper ending. The entire show was leading towards his demise coming one of two ways. Either he gets caught, which would be a huge letdown, or he gets killed. Could it have been Deb that took him out? Sure, that probably would've been best but you can't have some random villain get him. Harrison was the next best choice left for the OG showrunners to use. 

Harrison's entire life was screwed up because of his father, so I'm not sure how you can say it was a whim. Not only was he an absentee father, but once Harrison finally tracked him down, he realized he was a serial killer. Fans of the show want to act like Dexter was some sort of hero because he only killed bad people, but he only did that to be able to continue feeding his urge. He was never a good person. Once he realized the monster he became, he finally put someone else's (his son's) interest before his own. It was a huge turning point for his character who has always just kept the same path, regardless of how it affected the ones he loved. 

You're letting what you wanted to happen affect your judgement on the actual show. Same reason a good portion of the people that hate GoT only hate it because Daeny didn't turn out to be what they wanted, even though (like Dex), their character had been leading to that point since the show started. Season 8 had a bad ending. New Blood was a proper sendoff and did his character justice. 

Here was my thoughts. After season 8, they should have shelved the franchise. Then waited 20ish years and we reboot the series as "Harrison". Like his father, he was born in blood. He's his own serial killer and the story revolves around him hunting his down father, an older Dexter. Dexter is the "trinity killer" in this story, moving from place to place now but leaving clues and patterns. We get an origin story for Harrison, his learning who his father was, and who Hannah is, the code, aunt Deb, his goofy step siblings, etc. He's got a bit of his father and Hannah in him. 

Instead, they killed off Dexter to appease fans I guess who didn't like the first ending? And the character is toast. Hannah was a footnote death in the story. And they kind of ruined Harrison in the process. Really just stuck a stake in the heart of the franchise at large if we're being honest. 

 

[JonStark]

7 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

Here was my thoughts. After season 8, they should have shelved the franchise. Then waited 20ish years and we reboot the series as "Harrison". Like his father, he was born in blood. He's his own serial killer and the story revolves around him hunting his down father, an older Dexter. Dexter is the "trinity killer" in this story, moving from place to place now but leaving clues and patterns. We get an origin story for Harrison, his learning who his father was, and who Hannah is, the code, aunt Deb, his goofy step siblings, etc. He's got a bit of his father and Hannah in him. 

Instead, they killed off Dexter to appease fans I guess who didn't like the first ending? And the character is toast. Hannah was a footnote death in the story. And they kind of ruined Harrison in the process. Really just stuck a stake in the heart of the franchise at large if we're being honest. 

 

Going that way also sounds like it would work to me but even then, you'd have people saying there was no closure. Not to mention the "oh what a coincidence, he's a serial killer too" crowd. 

You can't please everyone, but they didn't just kill off Dexter to appease fans. The first ending was horrendous and OG showrunners only came back to make sure their creation was done right. The show already had 9 seasons and couldn't go on forever, and like I keep saying, the entire show hinted at it ending one of two ways. You're either getting him being outsmarted and having half a season of him sitting in a jail cell while they sentence him and uncover evidence (which was never going to happen) or him not making it out at all. 

If you didn't like the ending because you wanted it to keep going or you wanted his character to have a happy ending, you were always setting yourself up for disappointment. The people that didn't like it are free to do so, but saying things like "oh they just did it because of social pressure" is just wrong. He realized in that forest that Harrison, his son, was looking at him like he looked at all these other bad people and had a final moment of realization before he went out and released his son from his demons. It was a great end to his arc, which had to come to an end at some point. 

[Malfatron]

7 hours ago, PARROTHEAD said:

5 and 6 arnt bad. The story can still be found. But they start relying on effects.

6 is one of my favorite seasons as it soldlifies Cersei as a force to be reckoned with 

I would go 3 > 4 > 6 > 1 > 2 > gap> 5 > big gap > 7 > huge gap > 8

 

Extra points to 1 basically being a shot for shot remake of the book though which was nice.

Edited November 11, 2023 by Malfatron

[Malfatron]

1 minute ago, Malfatron said:

6 is one of my favorite seasons as it soldlifies Cersei as a force to be reckoned with 

I would go 3 > 4 > 6 > 1 > 2 > gap> 5 > big gap > 7 > huge gap > 8

 

Extra points to 1 basically being a shot for shot remake of the book though which was nice.

Battle of blackwater bay was the worst moment in the first 4 seasons of game of thrones because they only sent out one boat, when it was specifically mentioned in the book that they couldnt just send out the trap boat because stannis crew would be too smart to fall for it, and thus they had to sacrifice their fleet

[Malfatron]

7 hours ago, PARROTHEAD said:

 

Book Stannis is awesome. Show stannis is a nutjob. Thats almost on euros level.

I would say that there are some show characters that equalled or surpassed the books: 

1 Ned Stark

2 The Hound

3 Oberyn Martell

4 Hodor

[Daniel]

The sex scene at the end of Munich.  Awkward as ****, not needed, weird placement.  I still love the **** out of that movie, but that part is cringe.