Couple observations.
Like many others, I loved the opening of the episode and the music was great. Reminded me of the baptism scene from the Godfather.
Looking back, I think Arya was the servant girl that whole time. She wasn't looking at Jaime seductively. I interpreted it as "I know who you are but you really don't know who I am. "
Actress that played Cersei gave a solid performance with few lines of dialogue, except for the scene with the nun, which was great as well. Speaking of actresses, when little Lyanna Mormont appeared a couple episodes back, I wasn't buying it. But the girl is starting to grow on me. I looked her up and this is her first credited acting role which is pretty impressive I think.

For everyone still thinking about the Hound vs. Mountain, I thought the Hound and his crew were heading north. Or am I mistaken?

Yes, Hound is heading north.

Also, regarding the timelines, the showriters have said repeatedly that the events in the show arent linear. So in one episode days or weeks can pass, and the different storylines arent all happening at the same time.

I believe there is only 14 episodes left for the entire show, split over two more seasons. So they have to condense stuff to give us an ending.

Preston absolutely eviscerates the show. Very funny.

"The quality of whores in King's Landing has dropped drastically since LittleFinger left town"

Nice episode. Looks like GRRM has his work cut out for him.

I wonder whether the imp has any designs on Dany. Having them fall in love would be a cool ending.

I think the reason Lancel couldnt walk was because he was stabbed on the spine.

Where is Ghost in all this by the way?

Is he still at the wall with the night's watch?

(06-28-2016 08:26 AM)Gmac Wrote:  

(06-28-2016 04:25 AM)eradicator Wrote:  Terrible commander in battle. Had a decent plan with the trenches and abandoned it at the last second. He needed Sansa and Petyr Baelish to rescue him otherwise he is dead.(again)

He is a bastard(as far as anyone knows) with no birthright and cannot hold land.

Deserted the knights watch.

That said, he is basically the same character as Ned and Robb. They all do the same things, for better or worse, and we know what to expect from him.

Young and was overtaken by the emotional loss of his (now) half-cousin? Cmon now.

Something that I don't think has been discussed is why Sansa held out on Jon with regard to the Vale's army. She knows Little Finger better than anyone else, the last thing she wanted to have to do was "owe" him one. Now she does. Unfortunately for him Sansa's influence has been usurped by the house heads' allegiance to Jon as the new King in the North. I think Sansa is probably relieved she's no longer "in charge" or in a position of authority. She'll work behind the scenes to undermine Little Finger - I'd imagine he may go after her in one of the later seasons once he realizes he will never have her.

Jon did not desert (as others have mentioned). He's also now (assuming Bran or someone can prove it) a valid heir to the Iron throne as the eldest male son of Rhaegar Targaryen and the older half-brother to Daenerys.

As for the whole fast travel stuff, unless these seasons were to go on for 25+ episodes there's simply too much to pack into each episode to avoid in my opinion. Unfortunate but a reality. You just have to assume that a lot of time is passing between some of these scenes.

Regarding Arya, who knows what else she learned during her training. I agree that the super-power healing was nonsense and there are a lot of plot holes and unexplained events, but I'm still entertained and roll with it. Presumably Arya killed the cooks while there were already pies being made, and butchered Walder Frey's sons somewhere after the first scene she appears masked.

Perhaps she learned (as in the books) how to cook when she was held captive in one of the early seasons - there has been a lot that was explained in the books but never in the show. Hard to say and hard to know how much time has elapsed since the "celebration" and what seems like is the end of the night. Could have gone from 6PM to 2AM for all we know, with everyone else too drunk, asleep, or dead to notice Arya zipping around killing people in the castle. I'd wager some of this might be explained next season, or in the books.

Either way, I'd still rather sit back and have to suspend belief and logic to enjoy the show than get bogged down on all the details.

Rhaegar is the older brother of Daenerys, children of Aerys II (the Mad King). That would mak Jon Daenerys' nephew.

At this point, are we already past the portion of the plot that has been revealed in the books?

Not sure if you book guys still have spoilers to keep a lid on? Or is each episode something new for you guys as well?

Do you guys think Sansa/Littlefinger will turn on Jon Snow? I have a feeling she will be the main character that dies.

(06-28-2016 06:20 PM)Tigre Wrote:  At this point, are we already past the portion of the plot that has been revealed in the books?

Not sure if you book guys still have spoilers to keep a lid on? Or is each episode something new for you guys as well?

From what I remember from the last time I read the books, the show is well past the end point of the last book. The show diverged pretty far from the books anyway. I haven't read any of the stuff outside the main five books though so I'm not sure what GRRM did in those works.

For the most part I do not think that there is anything left that has been unequivocally revealed in the books. The only story that is lagging - and this is not counting the many arcs that have been completely changed, such as Dorne - is that of Sam Tarly, which is still not even through its Book 4 plot (with some modifications).

To be honest this season didn't really change too much except a few big reveals. It was kind of a filler season, with stark differences in quality between episodes, and really just left us at the same point as the end of season 5.

Atleast we finally have motion towards a coalescing of the plot and characters.

(06-28-2016 06:20 PM)Tigre Wrote:  At this point, are we already past the portion of the plot that has been revealed in the books?

Not sure if you book guys still have spoilers to keep a lid on? Or is each episode something new for you guys as well?

(06-27-2016 03:49 PM)eradicator Wrote:  And the camera pans to Littlefinger and he is not happy. He is clearly not going to stick around to be part of Jon's army. Does he try to invade King's Landing?

As Lord of Harrenhall and Lord Protector od the Vale, he still has the allegiances of many southern lords and the one army that wasnt reduced or mobilized/exhausted by the War of the Five Kings. They need him, and he knows they do.

And after he marries Sansa and seats a Stark king on the throne, there are still many ways in which he topple or control him. Hes not as naive as to actually dream of him on the throne as long as he can control the actual king.

From what I remember reading GRRM has told how he wants to end the books to the HBO show runners. He might make some changes in the books if he ever gets around to finishing them but the books should follow similar plot lines, no? Or am I remember that wrong.

I highly recommend that fans of the books read all of the early released chapters that are out from book 6. I think there are 7 of them out so far, 1 Barristan, 1 Tyrion, 1 Arya, 1 Sansa, 1 Theon, 2 Arianne Martel.

They are very good and restore some faith in the writing, if not the message, of the rest of the series.

It kinda started in last season, but this season, especially the finale, took a terrible turn towards Grrrl Powah, and I'm sick of it. In the finale alone, we have:

- Cersei (a woman) plot the killing of everyone in the sept
- Margery (a woman) was the first and only to sense what's wrong, while no experienced and smart man there could figure it out.
- Dorne is now ruled entire by women, and everyone there is totally cool with it after their previous benevolent king was assasinated; and the Tyrell grandmother now joins forced with them.
- Dragonbitch is elevated even further to Super Goddess Level 10, now crossing the sea with a massive army. And the only guy who managed to get his dick anywhere near her flabby arse kneels at her feet to beg.
- Arya suddenly became a master assassin.
- Brienne is now the fiercest warrior in Westeros.
- A 8 or 10 year old girl led the way for numerous old, battle hardened men to crown Jon Snow.
- Sansa deftly wrecks Baellish's weak move to try and get his little finger in her; Sansa also gives Jon his confidence to be a Stark and lead everyone.

Did I miss anything? Next thing you know, the Night King is marching south only because his Night Queen told him to, or to avenge his one-itis from 10 thousand years ago.

All rather comical.

By the way, as I watched the 3 big dragons flying all the way to Westeros, I couldn't help but think at some point they'd go "Fuck Cardio!" and just land on some of the ships, squashing everyone.

(06-28-2016 08:16 PM)StrikeBack Wrote:  By the way, as I watched the 3 big dragons flying all the way to Westeros, I couldn't help but think at some point they'd go "Fuck Cardio!" and just land on some of the ships, squashing everyone.

@StrikeBack, you forgot the dyke.

(06-27-2016 04:07 PM)hydrogonian Wrote:  Snow is going to be offed in the next season, after sending away the grrrl power that was the source of his life, and Sansa will take the throne. This will make the Game of Thrones almost completely a woman's game except for Little Finger. He'll be taken out by Sansa eventually, which will be another grrl power moment. The evil exploiter of women can not be allowed to live.

The way they are going, I half expect most of Westeros to be dead by the end of season 8.

I didn't think Tommen or Margery would die, same for Shireen.

That makes me think sweetrobin, Littlefinger, The Hound, Jon Snow, Melisandre, Khalessi, Sansa, and everyone else will all be dead by season 8. We will be left with the Sand snakes, and Olenna, and maybe Varys or Littlefinger(not both but not neither).

While thoroughly unrealistic with so many characters teleporting around, the last episode was at least satisfying. Seeing the High Sparrow die because of his arrogance was a grand slam, and Daenerys seems to have started acting a bit logical too.

While she did what she could, Cersei has zero chance to stay on that throne for long.

This was a good season overall.

Last two episodes were very well done. The absence of screen time for Lesbrienne in both episodes was the cherry on top.

Sometimes the show gives you a moment just before the credits roll that leaves you mildly stunned and saying to yourself Whoa!

I guess the most memorable of those for this season was Hodor's scene.

Show is moving in a good direction. Remembering back to South Park's trilogy making fun of the show. South Park was taking a dig at them for not much happening. "Ask George R R Martin when the dragons are finally going to show up!" (And also too much gay wiener, which they have remedied too )

Well, everyone has showed up that is going to, and Westeros is getting ready to rumble. The timing feels right to me. I was getting fatigued with more and more sects and groups being introduced (the Brotherhood, the Second Sons, Dorne, Faith Militant) and just wanted to see some fireworks.

(06-20-2016 03:52 PM)Canopus Wrote:  EW has a good interview with the director of last night's episode, Miguel Sapochnik.

Very telling that one of the scenes getting the most praise - the "human crush" scene with Jon pulling himself out - was basically improvised:

Quote:One evening I got home and I kind of knew we couldn’t finish in the time we had left so I wrote a long email to David and Dan and the other producers to suggest an alternative that I thought we could achieve in the remaining time, but that would mean going “off book” for three days. That is to say, we’d be shooting without a script. I finished the email and made a cup of tea (no whisky in the house) then waited for the response, which I fully expected to be a public chastisement and general reaming for even suggesting that (Dan and David like their scripts executed the way they wrote them, and with good reason).

It was late already and if were going to do this we needed to employ this idea first thing the next day. But I couldn’t move forward without their consent and they were in L.A. at the time. I hadn’t even worked exactly out how I’d do it, I just knew we need a Plan B.

Anyway, not 15 minutes later, I get a ping on the email and David and Dan have replied. They said it sucked not to be able to finish as scripted but they also understood the crunch we were in and that they trusted me and to have at it.

I think that this section of the fight — in which Jon is almost buried alive by a stampede of panicking wildings — turned out as one of my favorite little moments in the sequence. No VFX, no fighting, just Kit giving a stellar performance and a crazy top shot as he pushes his way back out (we affectionately called it the “rebirthing” shot). The other reason I liked it is because of what it meant to be allowed to follow my gut and go for it. That kind of trust you can’t buy and it felt like a privilege to have been given that kind of support to go into unchartered territory by the producers in such a high stakes game.

That line in bold reinforces my belief that D&D simply aren't delivering with the writing and that you have to look elsewhere in the production/cast for the meat of the show.

Sapochnik gets it. I'm glad to hear the season finale is in his hands.

And so of course...

Miguel Sapochnik is not returning as a director in Season 7.

You aren't kidding! Last season had my attention to this, but now this season is completely a full blown female driven show. Where are the males in all of this stuff? Apparently they are either dead or not ambitious enough to do anything. Cersei's son is so pussified it defies logic. I hated Joffrey as much as the next person, but he was more of a childish and sadistic psychopath, not a real man at all.

I'm just 3 episodes in and I honestly do not know if I want to finish it at all. Sometimes I want to turn off my brain a little bit just to enjoy something, but this stuff looks like agenda written all over it. The writing is noticably worse than previous seasons as well.

Are the books anything like this season of the show or did the producers take creative liberties with the plot of the books?

(06-28-2016 08:16 PM)StrikeBack Wrote:  It kinda started in last season, but this season, especially the finale, took a terrible turn towards Grrrl Powah, and I'm sick of it. In the finale alone, we have:

- Cersei (a woman) plot the killing of everyone in the sept
- Margery (a woman) was the first and only to sense what's wrong, while no experienced and smart man there could figure it out.
- Dorne is now ruled entire by women, and everyone there is totally cool with it after their previous benevolent king was assasinated; and the Tyrell grandmother now joins forced with them.
- Dragonbitch is elevated even further to Super Goddess Level 10, now crossing the sea with a massive army. And the only guy who managed to get his dick anywhere near her flabby arse kneels at her feet to beg.
- Arya suddenly became a master assassin.
- Brienne is now the fiercest warrior in Westeros.
- A 8 or 10 year old girl led the way for numerous old, battle hardened men to crown Jon Snow.
- Sansa deftly wrecks Baellish's weak move to try and get his little finger in her; Sansa also gives Jon his confidence to be a Stark and lead everyone.

Did I miss anything? Next thing you know, the Night King is marching south only because his Night Queen told him to, or to avenge his one-itis from 10 thousand years ago.

All rather comical.

By the way, as I watched the 3 big dragons flying all the way to Westeros, I couldn't help but think at some point they'd go "Fuck Cardio!" and just land on some of the ships, squashing everyone.

(06-29-2016 04:22 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  I'm just 3 episodes in and I honestly do not know if I want to finish it at all. Sometimes I want to turn off my brain a little bit just to enjoy something, but this stuff looks like agenda written all over it. The writing is noticably worse than previous seasons as well.

It does get somewhat gets better. I really enjoyed the last 3 episodes in particular. I'd finish this season out and then you'd have a pretty good idea as to whether you want to keep watching.

(06-29-2016 04:22 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  Are the books anything like this season of the show or did the producers take creative liberties with the plot of the books?

The books aren't out for seasons 6 and beyond, the show has passed the books in terms of plot. GRRM gave the show runners an ending to how everything ends and left it up to them to get there. And this is what we get.

That said, GRRM is a male feminist. He identifies with Sam Tarley more than any other character if that tells you anything.

The first couple of seasons were amazing and followed the books really closely for the most part. I get the hate for the show but I can't hate it because it is still the best show on tv.

I'll finish it out or try at least. Martin looks like tarley, so you are probably on the mark with that observation.

(06-29-2016 04:22 PM)TravelerKai Wrote:  I'm just 3 episodes in and I honestly do not know if I want to finish it at all. Sometimes I want to turn off my brain a little bit just to enjoy something, but this stuff looks like agenda written all over it. The writing is noticably worse than previous seasons as well.

In my opinion it never gets significantly better. You'll probably continue watching it, but don't expect it to improve.

Honestly, I can name several key or awesome events that happened over seasons 4 and 5. But with 6, besides a cool revelation or two, I can't remember a damn thing.

Some will say the event from the finale was great, but it pales in comparison to what we've been treated at the end of seasons in the past. (Blackwater fight, war against the walkers, war on the wall, red wedding, Ned's beheading for instance.)