The only prophecy I got was Melisandre failing on all of her predictions. And for lore ... even up until now, I don't know much about the old and new gods, children of the forest, or much about the white walkers or the night king, or on things like old Valyria. I think the show spent much more time on Lannister-Targaryen dynastic struggle.
Well, I certainly wouldn't expect heavy lore exposition from a TV show; I imagine that would be very boring. But we're at the very least led to believe that all the hints, the prophecies, and the foreshadowing tie in together--that there is meaning to them, other than to simply act as an elaborate red herring. The show has focused on the politics until the past few seasons, that is true. But isn't that to drive the point home that all this politicking is meaningless in the face of the real threat? The show started with the White Walkers; it should end with the White Walkers. Not Cersei, who also by the way, has had prophecies made about her.
But who knows, there are three episodes left. Maybe there's another big plot twist but I'm not holding my breath.
I can't see where does Chehkov's gun apply here, can you point it out?
Chekhov's gun = every element in a story must be necessary. We're told time and again about this "Azor Ahai" figure, to what end? What was its purpose? If it all meant nothing, was it really that necessary to include it?
I don't see where Arya avoided any consequences in the final scene
I didn't specify Arya there. I meant that there was a lack of consequences in general (Jon fighting all these resurrected wights instead of just getting the heck out of there, the laughably ridiculous battle strategies that somehow manage to work in the end, Dany doing a dumb and not flying her dragon when the wights tried to attack, the list goes on). Although Arya too has done some
notably stupid stuff in the past that should have led to lasting consequences, if the show were still following the original GoT theme.
I won't argue whether or not the show did a good or bad job, but Arya has had plenty of foreshadowing in this episode, and prior ones, to be the one that could attempt such a move.
It was forced at best.
In this episode, we are reminded of how sneaky she is, and also she very significantly walks off camera in the room with Clegane and Melisandre. I would not call that deus ex machina.
It's hard to forget how much of a badass assassin she is, honestly. We're frequently reminded of that. It's been hammered on to our heads at this point. I just fail to see how a wight can hear a few drops of blood whereas an entire group of White Walkers somehow completely fail to notice this screaming girl flying across the Godswood--extremely unlikely and therefore a deus ex machina in my book.
