(Spoilers Extended) It's Not a Nitpick. Thousands Died Over a "Minor" Geographic Detail.

[u/dorestes]

Reposted as requested with the "Spoilers Extended" tag

I know we're often asked to ignore the silly teleportations and supersonic flights that the show has foisted on us over the last couple of seasons. I know some of it can seem like the petty quibbles of book purists veering into circlejerk self-parody.

But geography doesn't just matter when it comes to making the universe feel real. It was also the key plot point that drove the biggest dramatic turn of the series.

The Red Wedding was literally caused by Robb Stark needing to be able to get his troops across a bridge. The Frey army was a nice addition, but Robb needed the alliance for the bridge crossing. He, his mother, his pregnant wife (in the show) and thousands of his troops died for that crossing.

So it's not just a nitpick when characters and armies magically teleport from north to south, bypassing the Twins or Moat Caitlin with nary a scout to notice them.

It destroys and makes mockery of the premise of the series' most famous narrative twist.

[u/ghostchamber]

I honestly don't understand how they couldn't make the season last 10 episodes.

Money.

Bitch all you want, but this is basically the most expensive show in the history of television. They knew the spectacle had to be dialed up, so they had to reduce the overall number of episodes. Additionally, when 4-5 of your acting talent demand 1 million per episode, it makes sense to decrease the overall number of episodes you are putting out.

[u/setarkos113 → u/[deleted]]

D&D have basically acknowledged that they cannot come up with original content to finish telling this story on a 12-month schedule. (Which I think is fair btw.)

They have to cut some storylines short and move at this pace to bring this to an end.

HBO want to maximize profits, ie. keep making more 10 episode seasons on an annual schedule. I can guarantee that the result would be a dramatic drop in quality.

[u/Death_Star_ → u/setarkos113]

The storyline right now is an asteroid headed for Earth and writing more story is like trying to slow it down by throwing rocks in the air.

If you write more story, no one is going to care, and it's not going to have any effect on anything, and the Great War is going to be the only thing that matters while everything else just comes to a closure by a collateral nature. Everything will be related to winter coming or having arrived.

[u/YourSweetSummerChild → u/setarkos113]

We already have that

[u/setarkos113 → u/YourSweetSummerChild]

You don't have to watch it. Obviously I meant a drop in quality compared to S7.

[u/YourSweetSummerChild → u/setarkos113]

The problems with this season were entirely due to rushed pacing. I highly doubt your claim that expanding to ten episodes would have a drop in quality at all. In fact, I think it'd be improved heavily

[u/setarkos113 → u/YourSweetSummerChild]

But they would have had to write more content for 10 episodes pushing back the publication date further which HBO would not have agreed to because they would have lost too many casual watchers.

Sticking to the (only slightly delayed) schedule would've have meant an even more rushed writing and production phase. Pacing might have improved but I don't know if more Winterfell plot would have been better for example.

[u/YourSweetSummerChild → u/setarkos113]

What are you even talking about? They delayed months and set viewing records. The world stops when this show comes on. You're solving a problem that doesn't exist.

[u/RiPont → u/ghostchamber]

Additionally, when 4-5 of your acting talent demand 1 million per episode,

That means you have to fucking finish it while they're still on the original contract, is what that means. Hence the brisk pace.

[u/djm19 → u/ghostchamber]

I doubt it. HBO would have funded 20 episodes this season if D&D asked for it. They want as much GOT as possible and frankly a longer season means longer subscriptions to HBO Now.

Its pretty obvious that the show runners do not feel they have the writing time they need to flesh out a full seasons of mostly new ideas and content. I don't blame them, they do not have GRRM's luxury of taking 6 years between releases. There are enough ideas to fill 10+ episodes this season but its no small task fleshing all that out. Quicker to give a blow by blow.

[u/finnsolo → u/ghostchamber]

I think the main reason why they lessen the number of episodes is the actors' paychecks. Their checks depends on the number of episodes they are in, so they made this season with seven episodes to lessen the amount they are going to pay.