Nearly destroyed my couch bouncing with glee last night . Love, love, loved it. I feel bad for Marg but it seems in the world of I&F there can't be a bright spot without death of a beloved character. I thought TOJ would be the high light for me but it was the pie. Don't know how I feel about the King in the North yet. Kind of feel uneasy about that. So, the Battle of the Mad Queens begins. In comes Azor Ahai. Make it so.
__________________
Rhaegar, despite wounding Robert, was struck down with a massive blow from Robert's warhammer, which scattered the rubies encrusted in Rhaegar's armor under the water. Rhaegar died with Lyanna Stark's name on his lips.
Speaking of footage. Here is some interesting take on the ep from the creators themselves: www.youtube.com/watch
They do speak a bit about Sansa and Jon and there is a vid with The North players about that too that was quite interesting. The actors seem to be ambivalent on "is Sansa playing her own game or not" for the North. Talk about some palpable tension and Jon being quite naive when it comes to Sansa and reading her. Or Sansa being ok with him being hailed as King in the North. I don't specifically see it yet quite so far along but I think she has some trust issues with Jon and generally with everyone but it's not quite out of question.
I'm still beaming after last night's phenomenal episode. I thought it was so damn good, I'm still riding the high and not really bummed (yet) the season is over.
I can't even decide which part was my favorite, since there were so many parts I loved.
I'm going to guess Martin is not enjoying lying in the bed he's made, and as I've said before, I do feel a bit of sympathy for him, but at the same time, it's all on him. I'm just glad we have the show to move the story forward!!!
Hallelujah, Daenerys is finally out of Meereen!!!
__________________
I really need to stop saying, "how stupid can you be?" Some people are starting to take it as a personal challenge.
Argh, that just seems like tension for tension's sake, and I could do without frankly. No way do I see Sansa being fooled into betraying her family ever again. And now that LF has laid out his end game for us to hear, he is going down. I have downgraded his survival odds from last episodes of the series to end of S7 (presuming there is also a S8).
I don't see Sansa betraying her family, either, Macha.
While I'm not particularly bothered by it, I do think much of the talk about tension between Jon and Sansa is to create buzz moving forward. If nothing else, anyone who has a sibling knows no matter how much you love each other, there are times where there's tension. It's the nature of relationships between siblings, even when the stakes aren't anywhere near what they are for Jon and Sansa (who still believe they are half-siblings). Moreover, given Sansa's comment about LF, it's quite clear she doesn't trust him as far as she can throw him, and now that LF has revealed his "plan" to her, she has even more reason to be suspicious. Additionally, while Sansa has cause to be nervous about what LF has in mind for Jon, and LF did not seem pleased with Jon being procalimed KitN, I think she also has cause to be nervous for herself. After all, she knows the truth about how Lysa died. She's also shown, at least imo, she can put together..."he only ever loved my mother, never Lysa, so why did he marry Lysa, if not to gain power over the Vale."
__________________
I really need to stop saying, "how stupid can you be?" Some people are starting to take it as a personal challenge.
Watched the episode again, ugh almost cried when they had that shot of Jon after ToJ, but the delivery of this line was the best for me in an episode full of great lines: I suppose life...is...irregular.
Sam's scene was short, but even that was pretty neat. That snooty as hell receptionist/maester ( he reminded me of a snooty maitre'd at a French restaurant ).
There are not enough episodes left to have Sam get a whole Maester's education, I think that awesome library will provide very helpful info against the army of the dead.
__________________
"Robert was never the same after he put on that crown. Some men are like swords, made for fighting. Hang them up and they go to rust.” -DN
Episode started out great, but again too many clunkers throughout the episode to give it an overall satisfying feeling. The buildup of the first scene was so great, directing, editing, music, lighting. Then with Tommen jumping out of the window it all started going downhill in a rapid pace.
How about sending Ary back to Westeros a couple of episodes back and properly build up the Frey-pie scene instead of "Surprise motherfuckers, I just cooked two guys and now you are dead too!" Lazy uninspired writing for the umpteenth time.
The Jon Sansa scene was very sloppy too, basically dismissing the giant plothole from last week with a lazy "yeah sorry about that, friends?" And can I have a direwolf please? Whatever happened to the Umber guy btw, was he here? The Mormont kid saved the entire North scenes on her own because the rest was pure garbage. "You have burned a kid at the stake, I will sentence you to ride to a more sunny place!"
Varys going back and forth was pretty dumb, there's no need for him to go back to Meereen and for fuck sake, can they at least put a little effort in trying to make the whole "yeah and now you have to realise it's 10 months later" shtick a bit more bearable on my brain?
Not sure we needed Jaime in this episode. And I have no clue why they brought the Hound, Benjen and the Blackfish back this season, they had not one thing to add to the story and seemed pure fanboy service to me.
The Hound was reintroduced so they could send him up North, we'll see why. Benjen was there so that Bran and Meera could get back to the Wall fast, and because we needed to know what the hell happened to him. I wouldn't call that fanboy service. The Hound's line about chicken is fanboy service, not that it wasn't a cool nod.
They probably could have done without the Blackfish, but I suppose we'll see how much meeting Edmure and the Blackfish (one needed the other) has had an impact or not on Jaime. They also needed a context in which to show the Freys again before offing them.
I do agree all these three could have had more scenes than Tyrion's stupid awkward scenes, but the Hound and Benjen are still *in* the story, and I suppose we'll see if what they'll bring will be worthy of their reintroduction.
Sorry to comment so late. I finally rewatched the episode. The first time through, I have to admit to being a little disappointed. The episode felt so much like an episode 8 somehow; like all of the chess pieces were being moved into place for the big finale. Most of the extraneous characters are gone, and there are just a few plot lines left is to clean up before the big WW war to end the series. Rewatching, I have to admit that I was wrong to be so grumpy. D&D have to get rid of peripheral plot lines, or they will end up in GRRM hell with an unfinishable series. I'm happy that I didn't have those thoughts clouding my enjoyment on the rewatch. There were a couple of moments that were lackluster, but overall the episode was amazing: the acting, the music, and the directing.
I love Cersei's supervillain costume. She needs a cape, and the look will be complete. The scene when Cersei goes to see Tommen's body had my heart in my throat. She seemed gripped by that terrible numbness that has you going through the motions without the ability to grieve. When she ordered that Tommen be burned, I thought of the episode where she spoke about how haunted she was by her mother rotting in the ground. I don't remember whether there was anything more to the prophecy beyond the deaths of her children. Season 7 will be fun.
Walder Frey is DEAD! The Jaime and Walder scene was flawless. The whole Arya thing was predictable, but it came out of nowhere. One less scene in Dorne, and one more in Westeros would have been nice. Arya was the same servant who was flirting with Jaime. The servant's demeanor was very Arya-esque in the murder scene, but the lusty looks seem like a stretch for Arya. I wish we knew if and when Arya killed the servant girl. Was it after the Lannister/Frey feast? Or was it at some point earlier?
I loved the Jon/Sansa/LF dynamic. I don't think Sansa has ill will against Jon. I think she's so badly damaged that she doesn't know how to trust. And she's annoyed that Jon (and little Lyanna) don't give her the respect she deserves. Jon is correct that Sansa should be the Lady of Winterfell, and little Lyanna should absolutely be supportive of that. As for LF, I think Sansa sees his declaration in the God's Wood for what it is. It's an attempt to manipulate her and drive a wedge between her and Jon. I absolutely believe that his end game is to sit on the Iron Throne, but I don't believe that Sansa is a necessary part of that vision. Her look at LF during the King in the North scene made me wonder whether it was a realization that LF is a threat who needs to die or her ambition getting the better of her. I'm fairly certain it's the former, not the latter.
The Ned and Lyanna sequence didn't indicate who Jon's father is (even though I know...Arthur Dayne!! ). Maybe that means more visions next season? But the fact that they bothered with his back story renews Jon Snow's plot armor till pretty close to the end of the series. Oh, and as to the visions, I thought it was interesting that Ned looked back in this version too, even though Bran didn't call out to him this time. So maybe that means that he is basically powerless in his visions.
TL:DR - I liked it! And when/where did Arya get the face?
About Arya: I felt the same way- predictable since that's the last thing she learnt in Braavos yet unexpected right there, since we had no set up of her whereabouts or planning (like stealing a face, or maybe a girl being hired in the Frey household, anything to make us suspect it's coming now). It really started as a Jaime story scene and then there you go... I did however think something was off but I expected something else entirely
As for the flashback scene, I thought initially once Bran went back and Ned turned because he heard him, that all of that was bound to happen again, even if Bran wasn't in the same spot or said anything. The time loop just had to happen the same way since you once stepped into it (?). But I went in circles the first time trying to figure out the Hold the Door scene so I'm taking your version gladly: where Ned turned not because he heard Bran, but because he did it at the time the events originally happened for whatever reason!
BaS - Regarding when/where Arya got the face, I saw someone somewhere suggest maybe, when she put the Waif's face in the Hall of Faces, she took the face that had been in the spot where she put the Waif's. I liked that idea.
__________________
I really need to stop saying, "how stupid can you be?" Some people are starting to take it as a personal challenge.
BaS - Regarding when/where Arya got the face, I saw someone somewhere suggest maybe, when she put the Waif's face in the Hall of Faces, she took the face that had been in the spot where she put the Waif's. I liked that idea.
Yup there are no empty slots. She took a face, left a face.
__________________
"Robert was never the same after he put on that crown. Some men are like swords, made for fighting. Hang them up and they go to rust.” -DN
Walder Frey is DEAD! The Jaime and Walder scene was flawless. The whole Arya thing was predictable, but it came out of nowhere. One less scene in Dorne, and one more in Westeros would have been nice. Arya was the same servant who was flirting with Jaime. The servant's demeanor was very Arya-esque in the murder scene, but the lusty looks seem like a stretch for Arya. I wish we knew if and when Arya killed the servant girl. Was it after the Lannister/Frey feast? Or was it at some point earlier?
I am pretty sure it was Arya the whole time. I even Tweeted about it "That girl looks strangely like Arya" or some such when she was flirting with Jaime. And remember, she definitely does know how to flirt as we found out in season 5 when she took out Ser Meryn Trant.
Walder said, "Where did you come from, you're not one of mine?" leading me to believe she brought the face with her from somewhere else.
__________________
"There's no cure for being a cunt." Bronn "King Stannis is my god." Davos "Who the fuck is Jon Snow?" Locke