Game of Thrones Sets New Viewership Record… Again
Episode 7.07 of Game of Thrones “The Dragon and the Wolf” is now the most watched episode of the series.
The season finale drew 12.1 million viewers, almost two million ahead of the previously most watched episode, “Eastwatch.”
The previous season finale broke the same record at the time with 8.9 million viewers, and the finale for the very first season had 3 million viewers.
Source: TV Line.
Game of Thrones Season 8 Production to Run from October to August 2018
The Hollywood Reporter released an article on Monday talking about how it’s not a big deal that we’re going to have to wait at least 16 months for the final season of Game of Thrones, but we’re not over it.
As we know, season 8 will start production in October, and according to the article, filming might go on until August 2018.
This fact is not a surprise, considering it has been confirmed that we’re getting feature-length episodes throughout the season.
“The shooting is complicated enough,” said HBO programming president Casey Bloys, “and the special effects are a whole other production period that we’re trying to figure out.”
According to the article, showrunners D. B. Weiss and David Benioff have the episodes mapped out already and currently figuring out a schedule.
THR also pointed out that this two-year wait is not strange for HBO, as shows like Atlanta, The Sopranos and Westworld all have had/are having long periods of time between seasons.
REVIEW: Big Little Lies, Episode 107
All good things must come to an end, and Big Little Lies is no different. The show (season?) ended with this seventh episode, “You Get What You Need”, and if the show was waiting for an episode to give answers to the audience, it was clearly this one.
The episode begins with Perry’s retaliation on Celeste for what she did to him before. Celeste was crying on the floor, while Perry was already apologizing for something he probably didn’t regret doing. Celeste goes to the therapist again and we see a scene that has practically no words, and, since those are usually some of the best, this one was no different. Celeste says Perry will go on a trip on the following day and she will then move out with the kids. But a lot can happen in a day, especially that day, because it was when the school dinner was going to happen.
I was very surprised when we found out that Perry knew about Celeste’s new apartment. The way he said it, like it was a mundane thing, made it look even more threating than if he had actually tried to be threatening. Perry tries to convince Celeste to stay, giving her the talk that he will change, that she has to help him fight the demons inside him, but Celeste had made up her mind about and it was great seeing her finally (almost) free of Perry.
The first major reveal of the episode was the identification of the bully at school: Max, one of Celeste’s twins. It made a lot sense that it was him. Firstly, because the bully would have to be one of the 5 (Ziggy, Cloe, Skye, Max or Josh), since it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to throw in some random kid when the show is about to end. Secondly, because even though both Perry and Celeste always said that the kids had no idea what was going on, hiding things from children usually only makes them more aware of it. Maybe they never saw anything, but they heard it and put two and two together. I really thought Renata was going to make a huge deal about this, but she was just surprised. And it was so great that she went to find Jane to apologize to her about how she treated her son. Renata definitely came a long way in these short 7 episodes, and I am glad the show didn’t end with her continuing to be the villain.
In the meantime, Madeline is convinced that Tori knows about her and Joe, while Joe says that there is no way that she knows. I think, actually I am sure, that Tori does know, since she said so to Madeline’s face in the previous episode. It is really a shame that Madeline didn’t tell Ed about it. I choose to believe that she did tell him and that he forgave her, but it would have been great to see Madeline admit that in front of her husband. Ed is a great guy, and I think he would forgive her.
Speaking of Ed, that scene in which he sang “Wonder of You” was so so good. Adam Scott has an amazing voice and that performance was priceless. Sure Nathan did good too, but nothing compared to Ed. It was a shame we didn’t get to see Madeline, Celeste or Jane sing too.
And while Nathan was singing, we got our second big reveal. Celeste joined Renata, Madeline and Jane while Bonnie followed Perry, putting all 5 warrior moms in the same place. While Perry was telling Celeste they needed to go home to talk things out, Jane realized that Perry was the guy who raped her, Ziggy’s father. I honestly didn’t think Perry was Ziggy’s father, because it seemed a bit obvious, but I am glad that, like the bully, Ziggy’s father wasn’t just a character that was thrown here, coming out of nowhere. After Jane, and without a single word spoken, everyone got to the same conclusion she did.
After a cut in the scene, we get to our third reveal, the reveal we had been waiting for since the first scene of the first episode: the dead body. Or should I say, Perry’s dead body. When we realized that they were lying about the fact that he fell, I thought that Jane was the one who had pushed him, and so they were trying to make sure no one found out that Perry was Ziggy’s father. But the final reveal turned out to be even better. And the way it was shown made it so much better still. We got to see flashes of Perry’s fight against the moms intertwining with shots of waves hitting the rocks. The ocean is the combination of millions and millions of small drop. One small drop would never stand a chance against a big rock, but when they all join forces, they slowly make the big rock disappear. Bonnie was the one who pushed Perry. He was beating all 4 of the women there, and Bonnie pushed The Monster (how ironic is it that that was what Perry used to call himself?) causing him to fall to his death.
Big Little Lies finished with a great scene showing all moms who had overcome their differences and their problems for a woman in need. And that new formed bond led them to the beach, each with their significant others (no, I don’t mean their husbands/lovers, but their children, because ultimately it was through their kids that they met each other). These women don’t need husbands nor lovers to protect themselves, they never did, and they never will.
It has been said that this may not be the end, that a second season might be coming. I am not sure how to feel about this. From my experience, a miniseries should remain a miniseries. This season was really fantastic, and I am worried a second one might take that away, because a bad new season would make the whole show drop. I hope that, if a season 2 is coming, that is not this show’s fate, but I am worried it might be. I am also concerned that season 2 will turn this show into a cop show. The cop made it clear that she knew the mothers were lying, so she could come back and start investing Perry’s death, and they would all end up screwed. I really hope this isn’t be the case, because the show was great without any cops knocking at the mother’s doors.
This episode was absolutely fantastic. Lots of reveals, lots of drama, and lots of women strength. It is definitely worthy of a 9.7/10.
With this I conclude my reviews of the show (or maybe just of season 1). I really hope Nicole Kidman will win an Emmy for this. Sure all actors and actresses were great, but Nicole was especially great. The awards will be delivered on September 17th, so root or her (or another favorite of yours), because I will too!
Game of Thrones Promo Pictures for Season Finale Released + Episode Title and Official Run Time
This year’s season finale of HBO’s Game of Thrones airs this Sunday, and fans are ready.
Last week’s episode left quite a big hole in our hearts for reasons we prefer not to talk about. Now, we’re going to see almost all of our favourite characters in the same place for what looks to be the biggest GoT get-together ever.
This season finale will be called “The Dragon and The Wolf,” and it will run for 79 minutes, 43 seconds, making it the longest Game of Thrones episode to date.
With the title making direct references to the Targaryen and Stark house sigils, we can’t help but wonder if we might finally see what really happened between Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, or maybe we’ll get to see some action between Jon and Dany after that lovely/sad moment they shared last week… or both! Who knows?
HBO also released the official season finale photos featuring our favorite players, including Bronn and Theon as well as the Stark and Lannister siblings.
Game of Thrones Actor Reveals When Season 8 Will Start Filming
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau revealed in an interview with Collider that season 8 of the hit HBO series Game of Thrones will start filming in October.
Here’s what Coster-Waldau had to say:
“I knew what was going to happen for the first three seasons. After that, it’s been a season at a time. You get the scripts a month before we start shooting, or six weeks, and then you know what’s going to happen that season. But, I don’t know what’s going to happen next season. We go back in October, so maybe in the next few weeks, we’ll get the scripts and I’ll find out. I’m very curious.”
This October start is a later date than usual, but it’s still good considering the rumours that we might not get season 8 until 2019.
However, Game of Thrones season finale is expected to have a lengthy post-production stage, which means that if filming were to wrap up sometime in February, we might not be able to watch Season 8 until September 2018… maybe even longer, considering the amount of battles, white walkers, dragons and direwolves we might be seeing during the last season.
For now, we’re gonna have to just wait for HBO to confirm a premiere date.
REVIEW: Big Little Lies, Episode 106
Big Little Lies continued with episode 6, “Burning Love”, and in it we saw that tensions continue to rise, getting into a whole new level of high.
With only one more episode to go, it was to realize that in this one some arcs were closed, like the one involving Madeline’s play. Opening night finally arrived and everyone seemed to like it. In the end of the play, we find out a shocking truth: Madeline cheated on Ed with Joseph the previous year. After thinking about it a bit I realized that this wasn’t so shocking after all: Ed and Madeline don’t seem to have a lot of love and sweet moments in their relationship. Even Perry and Celeste have more sweet moments than they do. But there was finally something in this episode that I really enjoyed. After arguing a bit, Ed told his wife: “Madeline, I’m the lucky one. I get to wake up every day next to the girl of my dreams”. This may not look like much just reading it like I put it here, maybe just something anyone would say in order to stop arguing, but what really made it sweet was how Ed said it, like it was the most natural thing in the entire world. Even though there aren’t many sweet moments to compare this one to, it was definitely the sweetest this couple shared (so far) in my opinion.
Something else that was wrapped up was The Dinner (which was turned into a Lunch). It is inevitable to talk about Abigail’s project while talking about The Lunch. We learned last episode that Madeline’s oldest daughter was working on a secret project. I honestly didn’t give it a lot of thought because it didn’t seem very important at the time, but I was absolutely shocked when I heard what it actually was. Sure it is for a noble cause, sure Abigail is trying to fight sex slavery, but what she tried to do is beyond wrong. One of the first things I thought about when I learned about this was how Madeline would react, and that did not disappoint, in the funniest way possible. But it was really cute to see the heart-to-heart conversation that mother and daughter had after The Lunch.
Jane’s storyline began in the most unfair way possible: there was a petition going around and gathering signatures to get Ziggy suspended. There is only one word for whoever created this petition: they are an asshole. At first it seemed like it was Renata, but closer to the end we were made to believe that it was someone else. It was also nice seeing Jane go apologize to Renata. We had seen all the women in this show being venerable, and in this one we also got to see Renata do the same. She is of course just trying to protect her daughter, same as everyone else. She is simply doing it in her own unique way, just as we all do.
Celeste’s journey in this episode was, as usual, really great. Nicole continues with her amazing work, and that totally reflects on the character. As it always does, the couple begins the episode with some romantic moments, but things escalated very quickly in this episode. Celeste goes back to the therapist and she provides her with some advice on what she should do: rent an apartment and tell a friend about the abuse. It was great seeing how professional and convincing this therapist is, trying to convince Celeste of all this, by using reason. Celeste doesn’t really believe what the therapist told her, she still edto want to try to make things work, but the last drop was when, after they fought and came from the hospital, Perry said that Celeste is lucky he didn’t kill her. This made Celeste start looking for apartments for her and the kids, making it now one step closer for her to leave her husband.
It was nice that in this episode none of the 3 main mothers were sidelined, they all seemed to have about the same amount of screen time. One thing that is really unique about this show is how the episodes end. Usually episodes of most other shows end with a plot twist, or a badass line that really makes you want to watch more, and that is great, but Big Little Lies ends really naturally, making you wonder if the episode did really end. This show doesn’t need a plot twist in the end of each episode to make people keep watching it, because each episode is already a plot twist in itself.
This was, as always, a really great episode. This show is really getting better and better and so I am giving it a 9.0/10.
Only one more episode left, and it promises to be a really great and mind-blowing one. We will finally find out who is dead, we will see Ed and Nathan go on a singing battle, we will find out who is the bully, find out what Celeste will do with her life… Next episode really seems like it will overcome all the other previous ones combined. The episode is entitled “You Get What You Need”, so don’t miss it, along with my review.
Jane Goldman Talks Game of Thrones Spin-Offs
As you may or may not know, HBO is currently developing four spin-offs of their hit series Game of Thrones.
Four writers have been hired to develop one spin-off each: Max Borenstein, Jane Goldman, Brian Helgeland and Carly Wray. As of now, we know that all four are prequels, none of them are going to be Robert’s Rebellion, and it will not include any of our current characters.
The people over at IGN spoke to Goldman, who has worked on screenplays for Kick-Ass, both Kingsman movies, and X-Men: Days of Future Past and is working with George R. R. Martin in the development of the series.
Goldman said the prequel they’re working on would be easily recognizable by fans of the show and the books. “I think as a book reader or as someone who watched the series, you would say, ‘Oh, that! OK,'” said Goldman, “yeah, it would be recognizable as a past event.”
Many people have been wondering if the prequels will include magic or any of the supernatural creatures the current show is known for. Well, Goldman pretty much confirmed that her script does include that aspect. “Those are things that exist in the universe that George has created,” she said, “I’m sure there’s an element of that in anything that’s being developed.”
It’s been said the spin-offs won’t air until at least a year after Game of Thrones ends. However, Goldman did add that she thinks HBO would be “very keen to develop something to go on the air sooner rather than later after the series ends.”
REVIEW: Big Little Lies, Episode 105
Big Little Lies returns with episode 5, “Once Bitten”, in which tensions continue to rise and matters of violence (both domestic and bullying) continues to be a pressing concern.
The episode title is a reference to Amabella, because Renata found out she was bitten. Amabella didn’t point fingers to who did it this time, but her mother did that job for her and blamed Ziggy. This is something that was extremely predictable since this storyline for Ziggy has been playing since the beginning of the show, but it still continues to be unfair. I understand that, the same way Jane believes in her son when it comes to this matter, Renata believes in her daughter, but I think she still uses this to continue to get back at Madeline, since Jane is her friend. It seems that in this show the mothers (especially Madeline and Renata) use their children to get in each other’s way, and that is, in my opinion, a little bit over the line.
This accusation totally got under Jane’s skin and I would, of course, be surprised if it had happened in any other way. But this part of the episode wasn’t where Jane shined. Celeste and Madeline were originally going to go with Jane to meet Saxon (the guy they believed was Ziggy’s father), but Jane soon changed those plans. She called Madeline to go pick Ziggy up from school because she had work to do, and so she went on her trip to visit Saxon. I kind of blame Madeline for not realizing that Jane was going to go after Saxon (because I did realize that when Jane called her), but maybe Madeline simply wanted to believe her friend was telling the truth, and so she did. Jane gets there and, from what I understood, she realized that Saxon wasn’t Ziggy’s father after all. I am not 100% sure this is what happened, but I am positive it was, because after smelling him, Jane just left, and I don’t think it was because she was scared.
After that really-nice-to-see scene of the meeting with the mayor last episode, the play is finally good to go, they are free to present it. It was definitely a wise choice, because Celeste said they didn’t have anything to support them in a trial. But this is not what Madeline and Joseph were talking about in this episode. What really was on their minds (especially on Joseph’s mind) was the kiss(es). The accident scene was really intense and amazing. The car totally came out of nowhere and I barely had time to be surprised. Happily Madeline was OK (Joseph was too by the way). But sometimes bad things have good consequences and Madeline was more than happy to have Abigail visiting her and sleeping in her old room (even if it was just for one night).
One thing I feel that is lacking is Madeline and Ed’s relationship. We see them together sometimes, but it doesn’t really look like they are a couple, they just seem like two friends living together (if it wasn’t for their daughter). We saw in this episode a hilarious attempt to have sex, but it failed and they didn’t seem very eager to try again. With only 2 more episodes to go, I really hope that there will be more focus on them.
Lastly, there is the couple that gets the most screen time: Perry and Celeste. If they had almost decided to take a break from violence last episode, they definitely didn’t do the same this time. The thing about these two (and that still makes me ship them) is the fact that they have sweet moments together pretty much every episode (like the moment they were having lunch and started attacking Celeste, or when this couple hugged in the airport close to the end). But sometimes the cute moments don’t overcome the bad ones and this was one of those cases. Perry definitely lost his temper and Celeste even admitted that she was afraid for her life in the moment he raped her. There was also something that I thought was really interesting: I am not sure if it was done on purpose or not, but there was a scene in which Celeste was alone at “Blue Blues” listening to music and we hear Perry’s voice saying that he will change. This made it feel like “Perry will change” is a tune that he plays over and over and Celeste hears it every time and believes it.
The scene with Celeste in the couple’s therapist was definitely the best of this episode, in my opinion. It was finally in this scene that Celeste realized that she is a victim of domestic violence. At first she refused to believe it, saying that she hits him back and so she takes her share in the violence. “I am not a victim”, she sayed. But as the scene unfolds, she got to the conclusion that what she is put through every day is far from being normal. But it seems like Celeste still wants to make things work between the two of them and I would actually like to see that. As I said, I like their relationship (aside from the violence and rape) and I think their family is really sweet. But it is obvious that something drastic will need to happen for this to actually work.
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This was a great episode with great acting (as usual), and someone definitely needs to win an Emmy out of this. This show is really getting better and better, and I am giving this episode an 8.8/10.
I can’t believe there are only 2 more episodes to go, but that is the hard truth. Episode 6 will be all about “Burning Love”, so miss my review.
Game of Throne‘s “Eastwatch” Breaks Show’s Viewership Record
This Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones was nothing less than amazing. We got some big returns, long-awaited reunions, epic meet-ups and a couple of huge revelations.
Maybe that, and the fact that we’re getting closer to the end of this season is what made “Eastwatch” the most viewed Game of Thrones episode to date, with 10.72 million viewers.
The record was previously owned by “The Spoils of War” with 10.2 million viewers, which only held it for seven days, as it aired just over a week ago.
There are only two episodes left of Season 7, and with them being significantly longer than before, we have no doubt “Eastwatch” won’t keep this record for long.
Source: Deadline.
REVIEW: Big Little Lies, Episode 104
Big Little Lies continued with the fourth episode of the season entitled “Push Comes to Shove” and the mothers definitely found all kinds of trouble in this episode.
Madeline did definitely not start the episode with the right foot because she is proposed, by Nathan, to have a couple’s dinner, which means, of course, Madeline and Ed, Nathan and Bonnie. I am not sure if Madeline could hate the idea of this dinner any more than what she already did. But it was really nice seeing her blow off some steam when she got home and found Ed singing for her dressed as Elvis Presley.
But this is far from being everything Madeline did in this episode. The play situation was finally more discussed and we learned both the name of the play, Avenue Q, and why so many people think it is inappropriate: there is a sex scene between puppets. When I heard this is why they wanted to stop the play I was surprised, because I thought it would be something more drastic. Renata defended why she wanted the play to be cancelled by totally avoiding the subject and suggesting a whole new play, saying that what their kids need is nostalgia. I think this statement of hers made it completely official that she only went after the play because Madeline supports it and she wanted to win against her. She made such a big deal about this just because of one sex scene. There are plays which you are advised to take your children with you, others where your children should stay home. And just trying to shut down a play based on this, seems very childish. Fortunately, Celeste was there and she kicked a lot of ass. I think this was the first time Celeste shined (I don’t mean Nicole, she has been shinning from the beginning, but Celeste hasn’t, at least not in a good way). As we found out later, Celeste loved that moment as much as we did.
Last about Madeline: I definitely did not enjoy her kiss with Joseph. I really like seeing her and Ed together, and I hope she doesn’t leave him for Joseph (which I don’t think she will).
Celeste and Perry seemed to have taken a break from the violence, and they had a few sweet moments in this episode (like the one in which Perry tells Celeste he would like to have a daughter). But it didn’t take long for them to start arguing and then returning to violence closer to the end. Celeste told Perry she was having a meeting with the mayor, and he did not like that very much. Don’t get me wrong, Perry doesn’t have an excuse for beating Celeste, and I am not taking anyone’s side in this, but this time Perry is right. It seems that Celeste never tells him anything. He overreacted a bit when he said she was going back to work (which she at least wasn’t when she started), but this is totally something one would share with their significant other, long before the meeting actually took place. And it is not just this meeting: in the first or second episode Perry stayed one more day to take the twins to their first day of school and he wanted to meet the teachers but that had happened the day before, and Celeste just went on her own, without even telling him what they were doing. When the highest stage of a couple’s relationship is when they are miles away from each other, there is definitely something very wrong.
It was nice seeing that Celeste doesn’t want to settle with just being a mom. Of course it is great but she doesn’t really do anything all day (and still has a baby-sitter, which is beyond weird and ridiculous). She loved going to the meeting with Madeline and she loved the feeling she got from being there and being a badass. She wants to go back to work, but she is afraid of Perry, as the couple’s therapist found out.
Lastly, Jane also found some trouble of her own: she said in this episode she wanted to move away, but then she seemed to put it aside. The teacher was nice enough to go talk to her about Ziggy, but she mistook the signs she got from class, because maybe both Amabella and Ziggy are both being bullied. This makes the fact that Amabella told everyone Ziggy was the bully look very strange. If they are both being bullied, why point at him? Maybe this is all part of the bully’s sick game.
Jane took Ziggy to a child psychologist and she said that is Ziggy is most likely not the bully, and finally understood that he himself might also be suffering from bulling. This show really deals with a lot of great subjects and it keeps adding and that is really incredible.
This episode was a great one as usual. I hope that Jane starts getting more screen time, because I think for the past 2 episode (3 and 4, I mean) it seems she is being sidelined by the other two moms. I am giving this episode an 8.3.
This show is definitely too small, and there are only 3 more episodes left, so don’t miss my review of episode 5, “Once Bitten”.