Y'all ready for 9pm tonight?

I got snacks and beer on deckington.

Shout to the Night King. He's going to win.

So hyped

That's really all I want to see.

... a younger brother right? And she's been on Arya's kill list for the longest. This is gonna sound farfetched, but the theory that Jaime dies (nobly), Arya steals his face, and returns to King's Landing to kill Cersei herself *kinda* makes sense

...version of the prophecy. It ends with her three children dying.

However, if they went with the book version, about the "valonqar" aka little brother, it's also worthing that the Witch says **the** valonqar, not ***your** valonqar. Cersei always assumes it means Tyrion.

However, there's a theory that she will die in childbirth, giving birth to twins. The "first" will a daughter, and the second, which kills her, will be a dwarf boy.

I just got done rewatching the series, and the difference in quality btw the book seasons and the off book seasons is enormous.

I'm excited of course because I love how great Game of Thrones can be when it's on, but those last few seasons...gatdamn.

the walkers/wights stuff doesn't really interest me all that much beyond their affect on everything else

I'm interested and what the Golden Company will be like

and I'd kill for a Tywin flashback.

Looks the like the battle with the walkers is next week.

since week 3 is a super size episode.
i think next ep ends with it just about to pop off.

either way, I'm glad they're doing this early

Sam's question about "You gave up your crown to save lives, would she do the same?" sums up how i've felt about her this whole series. She gots to go.

because it's true. She's like Bernie Sanders. She talks a good game about wanting to help people, but it's her ego that is driving her to rule.

my ego would doing the most AF too

Myhsa, myhsa, myhsa...
Massa, massa, massa...

She fronts on some great liberator steez
but is on some divine right the iron throne is mine shit
How will she react when she finds out the truth about Jon's stronger claim?

Overseer
Overseer
Overseer
Overseer
Officer, Officer, Officer, Officer!
Yeah, officer from overseer
You need a little clarity?
Check the similarity! (c)

elephants

https://twitter.com/Memles/status/1117618522753052673

bran/jamie

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/RingedZestyBushbaby-size_restricted.gif

great oh shit! moment there

I got confused at the end of the episode. I was thinking to myself "Wait, have Bran and Jaime met? Is this some mystery they're gonna reveal next time?"

Wasn't until just now that I remembered when they met. A lot's happened in this show.

Interesting how it was right at the end of the episode again.

>
>Interesting how it was right at the end of the episode again.
>
>


This episode actually mimicked the opening episode several times. The Umber kid was doing Bran's intro to the show, Arya was doing Theon/Jon's intro to the show (I forget who was watching the Baratheon parade like that). Those were the two that stuck with me since they were so early and obvious but I felt like there were a few more besides these three.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

i almost thought it was a weird flashback for a minute

i was like "that's bran!" lol

and was using him as a sort of surrogate to get around and hold on to his humanity.

but it was a cool throwback even without that.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

i decided to watch the first episode last night before the premiere so it was fresh. i still had to do a double take before it really hit though.

Or does he keep the tradition of Targaryen incest alive?

Now it's pretty obvious that Jon's not interested in any big leadership positions, but being king of the seven kingdoms is a pretty hard thing to say no to. If I am rightfully the heir to the throne and all the perks it contains, is it possible to walk away? I feel like Maester Aemon at some point mentioned walking away from the crown, and I really need to see Jon drawing parallels to his uncle's? great-uncle's? predicament.

Family or not. This man truly threatened to kill you, wanted his own son dead, and I'm crying over that? Fuck no. Bye bitch!

mixed emotions over his dad.. shit's complicated, but his brother didn't seem like a bad guy.

i was waiting for him to say, you kill my mom too, bitch?

Sam started crying even before he knew about the brother tho. And don't get me wrong, I freaking love Sam. I just don't want to see him feeling bad over a man who while perhaps gifted on the battlefield, was an otherwise piece of garbage.

saying at least my brother will let me back in the house

yeah, about that.

If I am not trying to terrify the continent into submission, they seem pretty useless to me. Just another (gigantic) mouth to feed.

Now obviously they'll be useful to beat the walkers, but what's thier use beyond that?

(I admittedly am not a pet person, and those dragons just seem like bigass pets with a limitless capacity to kill.)

the char is used to create better topsoil...true story. LOL


I guess that would be their other functions.

Lighting the castle furnace?

Garbage disposal?

Plenty of shit a dragon can do.

Every time I see those stupid dragons, I imagine some group of people whose sole job is going around the countryside picking up piles of dragon shit.

But I think the point of the Dragons is to keep would-be-adversaries at bay.

Granted, it doesn't stop an intimate death but it makes it hard to march an army up to the kingdom.

what they want.

thats enough for me to be like naaaaaah.

im very curious how the news is going to be delivered to Danny and by who. especially curious how she will take it.

not so much the sex stuff but Jon being the king and her needing to bend the knee to him. i cant see him asking her to do that.

I think one of the big shocks for Jon is Ned Stark lying. Honorable, upstanding, dependable Ned Stark was a true blue liar.

One of the most consistent themes in the series is the notion of kids doing better or *trying* to do better than their parents. You see it with Daenerys trying not to burn every person who opposes her, you see it with it Sansa not being naive and trusting like Ned, fuck you even see it with Ramsay taking this savage shit to levels his father can't even imagine. So what I think is going to happen is Jon (or Aegon I guess) is going to tell Dany the truth, and also punctuate the fact that he is vacating his claim of the throne. I really think he is going to do better than Ned regarding lying for decades about his heritage, and the conflict is seeing how Dany is going to respond to what he tells her. I mean that's my hope, but we'll see what the writers do.

i guess that would go with his character.

i watched s1 ep 2 last night. when jon asked ned who his mom was ned told jon that he is a stark, that he shares his blood. they would talk about his mom next time they met.

im sure he did tell him at some point before that he was his son, or at least told others. i doubt he could have been that slick with words with everyone but i bet you they do a flashback to that convo.

he did tell robert the womans supposed name. i dont know if that was also some slick way to not lie and that was a name his sister went by that not many people knew.

the other thing that i questioned about ned last night was why he would allow jon to go to the wall if he promised his sister to protect him. i guess because ned really didnt believe there was an actual threat.

So I think he thought his job of protecting him was done. Because once he takes the black, he's supposed to lose any inheritance claims (which he never would've had) and wouldn't have been in a position where he could've threatened Robert. I'm guessing that's why Robert never went after Aemon Targaryen. By joining the Night's Watch, Jon was unknowingly removing himself from ever being a threat to Robert even if he did find out the truth and would no longer be seen as a threat to his legitimacy.

Or at the very least, once he joins the Night's Watch, he'll be trained to take care of himself and have a whole brotherhood looking out for him. Kinda like how some parents will treat their job of raising their kids as "done" when they graduate high school.

Cerci still thinks she's smart.

Yes indeed

Never understood why folks felt bad for her.

She's basically the only person who realized the best way to deal with Cersei is not to do it in the first place.

she said that episode???!?!

She has really had one my favorite character arcs in the show.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

The greatest army the world has ever seen and her first thought is "who's gonna feed all of them?" It's not fun or exciting, but also who IS gonna feed all of them?

It is a very valid line of thought, but it's already going to be a tough sell making these people embrace a foreign army. You don't make it worse by making it seem like you are taking food out of their kid's mouths.

as well.

That kinda was the executive meeting as well.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

They've already seen both her and Jon in the trenches, so their loyalty and to the North is not in question.

What is questionable are these new people, and their place in Winterfell and the North at large. First integrate the new people so they consider them part of the family, then bring up supplies and food. Now in the background you still look to get more food, and maybe as a whole you announce to everybody rations are being tightened, but don't make it seem as if people who are here to help fight the enemy are burdens.

in season 7. Making sure that Winterfell had enough provisions for the entire North, and she finally does it when all of a sudden OOPS, here's thousands of more people and some dragons, feed them, too.

I relate hard to having to do a thing and then being told when you're done that actually you have to do something completely different because something changed on their end.

there's a notable difference between people who have experienced the dead and who haven't.

I get Sansa's side of it and how its a balancing act, and she's hardened quite a bit from going through so much, and doesn't have much faith in other people. but like you i get uncomfortable with her always publicly disrespecting Jon. I think she does trust and respect him but at the same time there's still that part of her who looks down on him.

but that was Ned's fault anyway. even if she doesn't survive, her survival and growth is one of the best arcs of the series.

Nice little surprise to set the stage for the episode/season.

This was one of them

Except it was such a WEIRD idea I came back around on it with the second close up

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

targaryen incest again? y'all just want to go mad again, huh?

https://twitter.com/danniioxox/status/1117652748009267201?s=19

did he mean what I think he meant?

Since becoming the Three Eyed Raven he's been slowly shedding his humanity. I took it as a clever play on words.

Almost meaning I'm almost a man physically, and almost cause I'm Three Eyed Raven/Warg'd out

>Since becoming the Three Eyed Raven he's been slowly shedding
>his humanity. I took it as a clever play on words.
>
>Almost meaning I'm almost a man physically, and almost cause
>I'm Three Eyed Raven/Warg'd out

Who doesn't know they're coming? Nailing the zombie kid to the wall with a bunch of other limbs seemed like an unnecessary waste of time to send a redundant message...

to direct the other wights so they can set up his art installation just so.

it seems more like a ritual they do for their own good than anything else

After they slaughtered the Nights Watch at the Fist of the First Men, they left a similar monument that Mance Rayder and crew found.

I think that was another one of the parallels between the pilot and this episode.

Also Bran: I've got to sit here and wait for Jamie the whole episode.

Loved that moment, the little "surprise motherfucker" look Bran gives him is perfect.

Was I imagining things or was there a spark between Arya and Gendry?

>Was I imagining things or was there a spark between Arya and
>Gendry?

They were flirting lol

I say burn baby burn like disco inferno (c)

They were pretty much throwing it at each other
I'm really not prepared for an Arya love/sex scene
it's been 8 seasons and she still looks 12
pass

Or Gendry, for that matter.

I just hope they'll be able to find some happiness with each other before the battle, lord knows they've earned it.

from the Bolton kid, Bran appears to be disabled from the waist below, Ned Stark's line is probably done

>from the Bolton kid, Bran appears to be disabled from the
>waist below, Ned Stark's line is probably done

Yep to all of this. This is why I was bummed when Rickon died. Ned’s line basically died with Rickon.

and loose with ages. I think she's supposed to be like 13 - 15, by this point, but she's actually 22.

She looks like she 14ish which is probably her age on the show. But in that universe bleeding = woman.

I thought Gendry said something when they parted that alluded to them hooking up if they ever saw each other again but I cant remember

Bran was so meme worthy. It was great.

I think thats just what everyone said in their head as they looked at each other. But he was as blank as he always been the last 2 seasons LOL That creep just stares blank faced at EVERYONE.


----------

IG @h_n_z

I don't give a shit, I'm a tree now.

Every time he tells someone "I'm the three-eyed raven" and they don't know how to respond I crack up.

>I don't give a shit, I'm a tree now.

My sister read the books so she's more familiar with this so credit to her, but Gendry was one of the first runaways to learn who Arya really was and he soured on her a bit because of her highborn status, but during their bonding at some point Arya proposes to him (can't remember if it's for the Starks to adopt him like Jon or Theon or an actual idea for marriage) and Gendry shrugs it off joking that he'd always have to call her "m'lady" regardless since he was still a scrubby nothing from the Bottoms.


They did a callback to that in this episode but Gendry definitely seemed a little more openly flirtatious, knowing what he knows now about his heritage.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

How this lil Raven ass nigga always where he needs to be?

i feel like all he did is sit there and just stare at people knowingly.

“We don’t have time for this!”

"If you want a whore, buy one. If you want a Queen, earn her"

With that line, she could have won the battle of the sexes, instead she fucked up by letting Euron fuck.

I know there were male writers who wrote that shit cause a female writer would have never had them fucking. There's no upside for her in them fucking, he gains everything and she gets nothing. I woulda been more satisfied if she had fucked undead Mountain. At least he's tall.

>I know there were male writers who wrote that shit cause a
>female writer would have never had them fucking. There's no
>upside for her in them fucking, he gains everything and she
>gets nothing. I woulda been more satisfied if she had fucked
>undead Mountain. At least he's tall.

as far as feminism goes, maybe she just wanted a nut? she told him she likes how arrogant he is. i would be surprised if she didnt do it for a strategic reason as well.

>as far as feminism goes, maybe she just wanted a nut? she told
>him she likes how arrogant he is. i would be surprised if she
>didnt do it for a strategic reason as well.

Naw, I don't buy that. I sincerely think the sex wasn't great, and him begging her to compare him to previous lovers shows his insecurity and speaks to a lack of confidence in his skills. She's really not asking for much, and even if she did just want a nut she could have fucked somebody who less obviously a scumbag.

if you have to ask you didnt do it right.

it did cheapen her line.

maybe she could read that he is impatient and figured that would keep him inline?

>as far as feminism goes, maybe she just wanted a nut? she told
>him she likes how arrogant he is. i would be surprised if she
>didnt do it for a strategic reason as well.

right since Jaime left and cousin Lancel got saved then blown up she probably needed some dick

plus she's already pregnant again by Jaime so she'll probably let him think its his you know Cersei is always plotting lol

>plus she's already pregnant again by Jaime so she'll probably
>let him think its his you know Cersei is always plotting lol
>

when he felt her stomach it was tense, i was thinking he was going to know (maybe he does) but that could be part of her play. having the option to make him think the babie(s) is his.

That's one those situations you don't count in the official tally lollllll

https://twitter.com/TheSamhita/status/1117617976495300609


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>"If you want a whore, buy one. If you want a Queen, earn
>her"
>
>With that line, she could have won the battle of the sexes,
>instead she fucked up by letting Euron fuck.
>
>I know there were male writers who wrote that shit cause a
>female writer would have never had them fucking. There's no
>upside for her in them fucking, he gains everything and she
>gets nothing. I woulda been more satisfied if she had fucked
>undead Mountain. At least he's tall.


Jaime Lannister abandoned her. She can't say the baby she is carrying is from Jaime (who is now a traitor to the Lannister cause). She can now say the baby is Euron's and then plot to kill him and still control the Iron fleet.

>Jaime Lannister abandoned her. She can't say the baby she is
>carrying is from Jaime (who is now a traitor to the Lannister
>cause). She can now say the baby is Euron's and then plot to
>kill him and still control the Iron fleet.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

I was like...

This scheming ass woman has no chill.

She's already an unconventional leader, and as unreliable as Euron is she could have chosen any random follower. Marry the first son of a house with a lot of farmland, marry a slave master from Quarth, marry dude from the Golden Company.

Marry somebody who's bringing something to the table, not the the man that killed his father, kidnapped his sister, and wants nothing from you but the throne.

Obviously Cersi has always believed in the power of her pussy, but her fucking with Euron is short sighted and not inline with what Tywin would have done.

in case either Jamie doesn't come back (he won't, but on some level she probably thinks it's still possible) or she can't find someone else. The one thing that both Starks and Lannisters are both consistent on is how much they don't trust Greyjoys, so I think she's doing everything with Euron knowing that he's the only one by her side . . . for now.

>She's already an unconventional leader, and as unreliable as
>Euron is she could have chosen any random follower. Marry the
>first son of a house with a lot of farmland, marry a slave
>master from Quarth, marry dude from the Golden Company.
>
>Marry somebody who's bringing something to the table, not the
>the man that killed his father, kidnapped his sister, and
>wants nothing from you but the throne.
>
>Obviously Cersi has always believed in the power of her pussy,
>but her fucking with Euron is short sighted and not inline
>with what Tywin would have done.


I also thought she might've been trying to use him as a cover for Jaime's baby but that might just be a side benefit.

Right now, she needs to defeat Dany's army and he can help alot with that. The Iron Islands are also an escape destination if Westeros is overrun by white walkers.

I think she gave him some bc she needs him, to some degree, and she's attracted to his extreme arrogance (one thing he's got in common with old Jaime).

She can maneuver her way into a better situation later.. if there is a later... but for right now, nobody else is as useful an ally.

https://ew.com/tv/2019/04/15/game-of-thrones-lena-headey-cersei-euron/?

but I agree that definitely fan service for the male viewers.

she placated him bc his patience was clearly wearing thin

she also made sure she had a reason for the pregnancy

as much power as she's amassed...she still clings to illusion of legitimacy bc she knows how fragile that power truly is

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Bruh that whole alliance is on a fucking tightrope over some pussy. Euron is wild unstable and was willing to pack his whole fleet up if he ain't get to fuck that night. A fair amount of time passed since the last season. So dude is like "Ma, come on now."

So either she just wanted to fuck, she gave him the pussy to not risk him fucking up her plans, or both.

IMO they both need each other. Cercei ain't moving the needle without that fleet and it's not like Euron got shit going on over in the Iron Islands besides dumb shit.

But only Euron is wild enough to roll out in the middle of a war.

Euron was like "I bought you a house with a chef, maids and caretakers AND a nice car...what else I need to do?"

lol

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

felt like it was just filling time, could have been shorten so much.

i guess some fans really wanted to see that though.

and if something happens to Daenerys he can control the dragons

It's always goofy seeing them try to make Emilia Clarke on those big mechanical rigs look natural once the CGI is thrown over it, and this very much looked like old school video game FMV where the computer graphics are clearly existing on top of the photography.


But narratively, it just didn't register that this was a big deal to either of them. It was the equivalent of Dany offering Jon a pickled cucumber, Jon saying, "but I've never had regular cucumber" and Dany convincing him to eat the pickle first.


One of The Ringer's articles today made the point that this scene would've had a little more impact and a lot more emotional weight / consequence if it had closed the episode AFTER Sam told Jon of his heritage. Then you get the confirming he's not who people think he is for the audience, but you also have Jon having to fight with accepting that and you can also pivot away from the goofy, Marvel-like flirtation scene once they land and instead move into a cliffhanger of, "hey, I didn't really expect you to be so good at that since you need Valyrian blood to ride a dragon at all, but you were exceptionally natural at that, even compared to me when I first rode a dragon...sup with that, huh?"

Oh well, still a good episode!


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Nothing is wasted in GOT


.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Plenty is wasted, particularly since the show passed the books. There was a whole wasted storyline with the Sand Snakes.

>Plenty is wasted, particularly since the show passed the
>books. There was a whole wasted storyline with the Sand
>Snakes.


.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

But, seriously, what do you think? I have no real solid clues.



.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

This time was especially goofy/cringy

The cgi looks bad.

but it was huge for the narrative

It might be how Danaerys gets convinced that he really is a Targaryen. I even got the impression that she had been noticing how the dragons respond to him, and she put him on a dragon to test her hypothesis. Like she herself was figuring out who he is.

Then again, immediately afterward she got all flirty with him. So maybe she's just happy that he gets along with the kids.

He sees the waterfall and turns the Dragon to head in that direction. You can see Dany is surprised by it. He's not just riding the dragon, its actually letting him drive. I think that will come up again. The execution could have been better but i figured they had to fit it in somewhere early

https://twitter.com/aegonsdaenerys/status/1117802051470266369

https://twitter.com/HayesBrown/status/1117610151358414848?s=19

the look they gave each other too lol

When I was watching that scene, that feeling of being a poc in a white space jumped out immediately to me.

i mean they gave weird looks to everyone so i think they tried to frame it as anyone thats not from the north, including dany but uhm nah it sure felt like it was about POC lol

I forgot he was the same dude who pushed a kid out the window.

When did he become the dude who risking his life for other people?

Did miss the growth or is his character unevenly drawn?



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

im not so sure hes fully redeemed or will be. hes definitely had an arc though.

Losing his hand seriously humbled him, and in Brienne he finally had someone who saw him as the honorable man he's always envisioned himself as (and that she's every bit the duty-driven knight he could've been.) I'd argue their relationship (whatever its nature, I know a lot of people want them to end up together) is what swung him around.

he'd started gaining humanity and decency. Cersei would bring him back in since she was his primary motivation (I mean, she's the reason he pushed Bran to begin with).

it's been a gradual shift, but their last scene together was the tipping point.

almost literally any scene of him away from Cersei...

is of him either trying not to be an asshole to everyone or at least trying to be as least assholish as he can get away with

he's always been a bit of the boyish type...generally decent but easily pushed towards mischief

if he feels cornered or threatened...he's ruthless but still often requires external motivation.

aka: RESPECT, KID

ever since he broke away from the Lannisters. The season with him and Arya was great and he has so many good one liners.

I couldn't tell by the picture, was gonna rewatch and see but maybe someone else caught it.

i didnt get a good look either. dont know how the two parts are supposed to interact. theories are that its for killing the ice dragon.

So she can turn it from a spear into a shorter weapon if she needs. That was the first thing I thought.

cant really tell the scale but i would guess its more for close combat, just for walkers, not the dragon.

theres a good shot of it here

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/15/18311568/game-of-thrones-got-season-8-hbo-final-arya-stark-new-weapon-design-dragonglass-spear

https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Saw+Spear


Granted, in execution it seems it'd be fairly different, but the basic concept of this weapon in this game was that you had a close range weapon that was agile and easy to handle that with the flick of a wrist would become a medium-long range weapon with a completely different skillset required to use it effectively.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

(The big dragon-killing crossbow, I mean.)

I wonder if she wants to steal it and fire a dragon-glass-tipped spear to kill the demon dragon. I don't know why she'd be the one with that job on her mind. But it should definitely be a priority for team living.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/04/game-of-thrones-arya-weapon-gendry-dragonglass/amp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&__twitter_impression=true

...last night. They were two of Euron's minions guarding Yara. They were the first two who caught the arrows in the eye. I wouldn't have recognized either of them if I hadn't just watched something about it.

But thought how obviously ridiculous that would be, so it couldn't have been him.

Getting the weirdest cameos these final seasons (Noah Syndergaard, Ed Sheeran last year)

wrote an episode of Sunny in Philadelphia two or so seasons ago if memory serves me right and at least one of them made a brief cameo on the show. The cameo episode was when they went to a water park; I'm not sure if both writers made a cameo in that same episode or not.

...his “character” got mentioned during the episodes. Just as Bronn is starting to fuck the whores, they mention Eddie, the ginger, who got his face burned off by the dragon but survived (“How does he sleep with no eye lids?”)

>...his “character” got mentioned during the episodes.
>Just as Bronn is starting to fuck the whores, they mention
>Eddie, the ginger, who got his face burned off by the dragon
>but survived (“How does he sleep with no eye lids?”)

ah, wasn't caring who they were talking about but thats some good fan service reference there lol..since I remember him getting some kind of hate from fans who aint want him on the show

i legit had to pause to ask if i was high or dreaming lol.

That’s more like a long ass movie than a soap.

It's fun.

>

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Twists and betrayals and shocking cliffhangers and over the top craziness. There's no shame in it.

not too proud to admit it either.

or is it just kind of a what has she got to lose thing by hoping he'll go for the gold?

IF he does for the gold, I think it would be a huge misstep on the show's part. I know we've established Bron puts himself first, and "fights without honor" and all that, but I don't see him as an entirely unprincipled trash human who would sell out Tyrion and Jaimie like that.

Cersei owes him a castle and land.


.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

and trying to say its our fault for believing Bron wasn't always out for himself.

i'm hopefully wrong and overthinking it because i'd hate to see them to do Bron this way.

...to double what he's been offered by anyone else.

I can see a scenario where Bronn kills Jamie, then offers to spare Tyrion for the "double" payment. Tyrion agrees, Bronn lowers the crossbow, and Poddrick sneaks up on him and kills him.

Which would be lame, but the show would do something like that at this point in its evolution.

I'll be very disappointed if there isn't more to this story.

I fear this might be the kind of thing that used to turn out very interesting when Martin was writing the story, but has turned into boring TV plot tropes ever since.

https://twitter.com/kvanaren/status/1117847163722014720?s=19

And then Sansa gave Jon a look of "yeah. our brother is a fucking weirdo now."

Pacing, call back moments, planning, etc. Such a good episode. That Brienne Of Tarth scene had a man tearing up. Im not sure i'll be able to handle whats coming next week. Damn. This episode really reminded you that its all coming to an end.

Great character motivations and great interactions.

Shout out to everyone trying to get one last nut.

Ayra be like "I see it. I want it. I like it. I got it.".

Gatdamn. Actually every single Jaime and Brienne scene, I need them to fuck asap.

I saw Sofian above, earlier tonight, mention a "Brienne scene" and stopped reading to avoid spoilers. Then when I watched the episode there were like four scenes that I saw and thought "Oh, maybe that's the Brienne scene."

But yeah, that knighting scene was one of the great GoT moments.

Just to see everybody so supportive of her, the love and faith in Jaime's eyes when did it, Tormund being genuinely happy for her even if doesn't understand southern culture norms, Brienne herself tearing up.

Very rarely am I able to say on first watch that a scene is standout, but that scene is definitely one of my favorites of the series.

I almost feel like it was beneath her to accept it because she has been such the brave and loyal warrior. And quiet as its kept, Podrick embodies these same characteristics. That was a poignant scene.

now Jon's.......

She needs to just give up on the idea of "the throne is mine and i want it." No one else seems to give a fuck

jump to saying he doesn't want it, since that's been his go-to reaction to being thrust into leadership positions.

i think Sam asking if she'd give it up the throne for the greater good stuck with him.

She's come off entitled as hell these last two episodes. She seems to always need to be talked down from her immediate reactions to situations where she feels she's not getting her proper respect.

As if he was thinking "Sam was right about her."

but that might just be because it's the reaction we all expected

Absolute power corrupting absolutely.

When she was a nobody she was the paragon of justice.

Now that she's the most powerful person in the world, a bit of Viserys is coming out. And she doesn't notice it because she's too used to seeing herself as the breaker of chains.

Whatever happens, if there's any kind of "happy ending" to the series I think the dragons will have to die.

he didnt jump out and say the throne is mine. he let her connect the dots. she brings up a good point about bran and sam being the ones that told him. most folks would be suspicious about that. a very convenient fact for him.

then they leave us hanging on how they both feel about it and what they will decide to do if they survive this.

i think its possible that dany bends the knee back. she was okay with her brother being the king until it was obvious he sucked. then she was the last of her people so she had to take the reign. maybe this is a wake up call and she decides to step aside.

maybe she says nope and we have a battle.

maybe they decide that why does the gender decide whos the next inline? why wouldnt it be the oldest living seed of the last king?

maybe one or both of them die next week.

well done.

for the Iron Islands but can't do the same for the North. It's the exact same argument (people sick of having a far-off king decide things for them) and if anything the North has a better historical claim to be independent. Is it just because it's so much bigger/more valuable territory than the Iron Islands?

and more relevant than those shitstained rocks Yara calls home.

She probably sees the map in her head and thinks hell nah. Part of her just likes conquering places. Obviously Jon/Sansa come into play here. Dani feels threatened that Sansa refuses to kiss her ass. She was feeling like Uncle Junior in and that Jamie scene

Definitely:
Theon
GreyWorm

Maybe to Probably
Tormund
Brienne
Pod
The Hound
Beric
Ed
Gendry

Longshots
Jamie
Davos
Drogon
Bran
Arya

I think using him as bait is gonna cost him and Night King shows his ass, which gives them intel they need to defeat him in one of the subsequent episodes

nah, forget redemption. dudes weak lol. i would be happy to see theon go.

there has to be a twist with the this bran and night king thing beyond bran is possibly the night king.

it appears either NK or Bran can survive

it looks like killing the NK ends the threat and killing Bran would likely be the end for humans

Definitely:

GreyWorm
Brienne (becomes a knight, then dies a night)
Jorah
Beric (if for no other reason to be "resurected" one last time by the Night's King
Varys (The Red Woman prophesized his death last season. He dies in the Crypts after the Night King raises the dead down there)


Maybe to Probably
Theon (seemed like they were suggesting something between him and Sansa, which was weird. But maybe there going the full redemption arc)
Bran (seems like one Stark has to die. Doesn't really have a purpose now)
Tormund (sadly yes)
Pod (though he's more likely to make
Ed (close to definitely)

Longshots
The Hound (still has to fight his brother in King's Landing)
Jamie
Davos
Drogon
Arya
Samwell (The Martin stand-in who writes the Song of Ice and Fire after its all over)
Gendry (I think he makes it; last Barratheon standing)

WTF is Jon thinking. He ain't.

1) Daeny losing her temper at the drop of a dime, ready to burn people up. Then yo dumb azz gone tell her that you the real King of Westeros.

2) You are putting people in the crypts? The Crypts?! The Night King raises his hand and dead people start to walk. That's where you are thinking people are going to be safe. Stupid m-fer.

3) Everybody gettin it in. You downstairs looking at pictures of your auntie/momma when you should be boning your girl/auntie.

4) Tell that chick that you don't want the damn Iron Throne. You just want her and to chill in the North. But shit. Yall get married. She is the Queen anyway so...??..???

Pretty sure it's what Arya was running from in the season trailer

>Definitely:
>Theon
>GreyWorm
>Jamie
>Beric
>The Hound (fear of fire comes into play somehow)

>Maybe to Probably
>Tormund
>Pod
>Ed
>Gendry
>Tyrion
>Jorrah
>Varys

>Longshots
>Brienne
>Jamie
>Davos
>Drogon
>Bran
>Arya
>Sam

Maybe even in her arms (the way he's always wanted to die.)

LMAO

are there "diddy" memes about it yet?

I mean the three eyed raven is the one protecting the living from an endless night? What??? I don't buy it. Wasn't the last raven in his cave for like a thousand years? Not interacting with any humans, only children of the forest? I don't get how this is the protector of humanity when he doesn't interact with humans at all, and his overall humanity is questionable. They gotta do better than that, or at least grrm gotta explain it better in the last books.

I think they overstated the value of Bran to the Night King. Wiping out humanity is their goal and part of that is wiping out the memory of man. He is not the prize, but the job isn't done until he is gone too.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

the actor on jimmy kimmel said he was the protector of the living and whos to say the night king isnt alive. it was said in jest but i have to give the show the benefit of the doubt that there will be a good payoff on this.

this whole season so far has been payoff after payoff.

is alive.

his arm and that's how he is always able to find him and I guess the 3-eyed Raven is the only one that can protect the living from the dead by giving them information

she about to lose 75-95% of her army, her ex-boyfriend/fiance/nephew not only has relationship with one of her dragons, he's the rightful heir to the iron throne, and since he's Jon damn Snow, he prolly can't be burned by fire neither so she can't dracarys his ass.

If she decides she gonna take it out on Sansa, Arya ass will two face her and assassinate her.

when he was protecting Lord Commander Mormont from the wight.

i watched all of season 1 last week and he definitely winces when he touches it and gets all bandaged up. crazy how much thought is put into these shows.

Not a good look for her. She hasn't had to actually deal with people she cant just up and burn or kill until now.

>Not a good look for her. She hasn't had to actually deal with
>people she cant just up and burn or kill until now.

something different people expect her to be like "oh, ok" after all the shit she's been through?

And she's right Jon's sources are his brother and his best friend lol

even though its true its understandable how she could initially skeptical

>something different people expect her to be like "oh, ok"
>after all the shit she's been through?
>
>And she's right Jon's sources are his brother and his best
>friend lol
>
>even though its true its understandable how she could
>initially skeptical

Not to mention that fire control she has. And she DID free millions and been through some shit. And she does have control over fuckin dragons. Heaven forbid shes gassed up after all that.Some folks got a big head for having a Costco card.

From the opening hug.

To "Where's the big woman?"

To giant's milk.

Flawless.

That standing O he gave Brienne, him chugging his drink after telling the story of Giantsbane, his incredibly genuine reaction when he found out women can't be knights . . . just amazing work.

but that was just weird to watch. She looks 12

same here. i thought they were going to cut away a lot sooner.

Everything else - Brother Sister sex, Old ass pedo priests, Arya, Dwarves, etc....

I mean they shoulda answered 'the pillar or the stone' question, but besides that their scene was super great.

it was gross and it took me out of the episode. they could have handled it similar to how they did the Sansa and Ramsay Bolton scene with Theon.

Tired of all the sexualization of young looking girls. Think that's more of a me problem, but its been all over popular media/culture for a while now and it sickens me.

her character is a young woman who has experienced a tremendous amount of trauma, was homeless and has had to literally fend for herself in a male-dominated world

she has survived, matured and CONQUERED, is now a certified bad-ass and is feeling empowered enough to CHOOSE her sexual partner at an age of maturity. She was not being raped or used or degraded or coerced in any way in that scene, unlike most of the other women in series

Y'all should have been CHEERING during this scene, except for your ingrained patriarchy and sexism blocking you from doing so.

d

character IMO

Arya has been ALL about owning her own power and being who she wants to be

its never seen as weird when a male comes into his sexuality but its weird for a female to?

at some point, isn't it normal for every human to have sexual urges?

plus like she said, THEY BOUT TO DIE

who isn't trying to fuck if the world is ending?

d

it definitely felt rushed. We've had no indication that she's ever even thought about sex prior to now.

>it definitely felt rushed. We've had no indication that she's
>ever even thought about sex prior to now.

..Arya's crush on Gendry started in the 1st & 2nd season (during their attempted escape from King's Landing). They bonded throughout quite an adventure (Gold Cloaks, BWOB, & Stannis). She once suggested that he join her (headed to Winterfell), but he declined (reminding them of their origins).

Fast forward a few years to S8E2 (reunited at Winterfell) and the entire convo between Gendry & Arya @ the forge was foreplay. Not sure how anyone could miss that.

*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

I was like please no, no, NOOO

Like I'm fine with the idea of it but they showed too much. Should have alluded to it more IMO. Arya taking her shirt off was disturbing. I've never had such a visceral, negative reaction to a sex scene.

Really brought home just how much she has been through that he'll probably never be able to understand.

I don't mean now, I mean how you looked *then.* We all looked young as shit when we lost it.

I may just be immune to stuff like this working with high school kids for a living... but yeah, they're all fuckin', lol. It's what young kids do.

The show has been on ten years now. We literally watched Arya, and the actress who played her, grow up over that time.

Time to stop thinking of her as a helpless girl bent on revenge.

She's a grown ass woman, wise beyond her years, and has a normal woman's appetite.

Ended up being good setup for ep 3.

during this episode, I was glad he did. That scene and the way he did it was exciting to watch.

Dany didn’t take that revelation very well at all. Which makes me wonder, will she abandon Jon and take her dragons to the Iron Islands. Dany now knows Yara is freed and sailing to take back the Iron Islands for Dany. It doesn’t appear that she will in the trailer, as it showed Jon and Dany standing with each other but if the battle starts to go bad I wonder if she will just leave.

at most she was still incredulous. its definitely a shock and anyone would have to take a moment to take it in. they did set it up as to make her seem reluctant to accept it but we will see what the battle does.

i wonder if jon accepts his real name or sticks with jon snow.

She's in the north.

A people who were not only deeply wronged by Dany's greatest living enemy, but by Dany's family as well.

For a ruler who wants to "break the wheel" and not repeat the cycle of prior generations, she sure seems hellbent on keeping it firmly in tact.

She refers to this shit with the Night King as as "Jon's war", despite previously coming to a clear understanding that this is a grave threat to everyone.

Yet.... she wouldn't help unless Jon BENT THE KNEE.

Sam was 100 last week: Jon put his people ahead of his crown. Would she do the same?

She's certainly doesn't give the impression she would.

She's using a power position. Good for her. But there's a clear contrast with her and Jon right now, and she certainlyooks like another spin of that wheel.

in getting her this far. when she doesn't listen to them she tends to do strategically dumb shit, like publicly executing that slave.

i was 100% on her executing Randal Tarley. She probably could have spared Dickon though.

but it's almost always her advisors that pull her back from going full mad queen on people. her immediate reactions to situations are always telling because she comes off petulant, and entitled before she has a chance to think things through. being the "gentle heart" queen is becoming more and more of a pipe dream for her.

Particularly on light of the fact that she's not particularly forgiving when those advisors stop batting 1.000......until another advisor tells her to fall back.

So the issue I see here, is that she doesn't absorb the wisdom of her advisors for future application.

Worse, she's too reliant on her name and the line of succession, and doesn't think she should earn that position in equal parts force and genuine leadership.

She's become too comfortable with a "might
+ birthright" status quo.

that lingering look was like "word?"
They grew up together, so basically they're brother and sister

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Like, for the life of me, I couldn't remember when Qyburn showed up... turned out, he was one of the survivors at Harrenhall.

Re-watching the whole series, slowly, with the benefit of knowing what ultimately happens is very rewarding. As vague as some of the dialogue was in previous seasons, they really didn't waste any of it. The payoff may not come for a couple seasons but it almost always comes.

so much of the first season makes much more sense now that i know what has happened. im hoping to get through season 2 and into 3 before the next episode.

and it’s not like he can close the deal

and dismissed it.

I've had friends complain about them becoming a thing. I think its more they bonded over both surviving Ramsey together. Just because they are male and female doesnt mean it has to be sexual.

Because they both endured psychological, physical, and sexual torture at the hands of the same monster, separately and together.

They escaped together.

Despite everything Theon did, they're bonded through a rather unique shared experience, and Theon doing all he can to atone for his sins.

The nature of their interaction is cut & dry, with no interpretation needed.

and giants titty milk.

I could not stop laughing at this.


I liked the episode, I though the battles was going to start this ep, glad it didn't.

when he talked with jamie later and left it open as to if he would reveal this after the battle, if there is an after, was great too.

Like the plot is laid out for there to be an epic battle between white walkers and the coalition army, then for the remainder of the coalition army to fight Cersei and then it ending with either Jon or Daenerys on the throne (or maybe a fake out and it's Sansa or even Arya on the throne).

But when has Martin stuck to the plot that has been so clearly laid out?

I mean he may have run out of jiujitsu moves for plot twists that are still satisfying, but if he had one last move in him...this is when we could expect it (or would everyone call foul if there was a build up to an epic battle and it doesn't take place?).




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

if their plan is to just kill the night king (uhm jon why wait to tell everyone this until hours before???) then why send all your people to die and build up the ranks of his army? they have to have a better plan to keep the walkers at bay.

there were definitely some measures they were taking to keep the walkers from just being able to rush in (someone was watching the walking dead) but i dont see how it makes sense to send a lot of your people to fight them.

maybe a good chunk of the episode is trying to keep them out then they break through and thats when the night king is killed?

Yeh they got one too, but they got two.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

on both sides. would suck if the whitewalkers shot down there other two right at the start.

the night king could potentially just go straight to bran and toast him up.

>if their plan is to just kill the night king (uhm jon why
>wait to tell everyone this until hours before???) then why
>send all your people to die and build up the ranks of his
>army? they have to have a better plan to keep the walkers at
>bay.
>
>there were definitely some measures they were taking to keep
>the walkers from just being able to rush in (someone was
>watching the walking dead) but i dont see how it makes sense
>to send a lot of your people to fight them.
>
>maybe a good chunk of the episode is trying to keep them out
>then they break through and thats when the night king is
>killed?

The armys are going to fight, mostly as a diversion.

But they're hoping by carefully exposing Bran/3 eyed raven, they can get the Night King to expose himself as well.

What I don't get is what would compel the Night King to expose himself. If he just wants Bran to die, he can wait in the back until his zombie army overruns the coalition army.

He doesn't need to do it himself unless he plans to turn Bran. Also, It's not like he wants to "spare the lives" of his soldiers with some special ops-like strike like the coalition leaders would... he can re-up on zombies at any time.

Which gets to another issue... I dunno how the coalition army is going to keep up with burning their dead at the pace they're going to be dying. I feel like the battle is going to go bad for them relatively quickly.

Like he can't just kill him, he needs to get some kind of information from him before he can do it.

If there’s one thing that the books hammer over and over and over again, it’s that how damaging and horrible and not awesome war is. So having some extra bloody Hobbit “Battle of the Five Armies” shit would be an anathema to him.

I’m guessing the fake out is that the second war with Cersei isn’t a real war. That like Dany takes Drogon and just melts down the city.

Most of the main characters die during this battle, getting emotional and/or blunt send offs that remind us all of the subversion the first four seasons of this show displayed absolute mastery of. A few primary players remain, but just enough that a retreat to King's Landing is necessary, predicated on the idea that Cersei might somehow turn around when she sees how little of the greatest army Westeros has ever seen hobbles into her territory. Unfortunately, Cersei Cerseis and imprisons or executes most of them, obligating each to their few and/or many glaring character flaws from the perspective of her character. In the show's closing moments, she smiles with a cup of wine in hand, staring out the window of the Keep as the White Walkers begin emerging from the skyline.


These first two episodes have made an exceptionally convincing case that the show is going to wrap up fairly tidily, but I can't think of an ending that would be closer in line with everything that made this show great in the first place. This is a story about people always putting their shortsighted goals in front of the larger public, and I feel like Cersei ignoring the incoming threat to get one last gloat over her greatest enemies would be right in line with that. Breaking Bad came close to ending a show with absolute bleakness, and Game of Thrones has a grand opportunity to put a period on this past 15 years of anti-hero TV with one last big statement on hubris and narcissism, but I'll bet it doesn't really go for it.


As a non book-reader, I really hope Martin can finish his story so we can know for sure whether the show is mostly getting this right or gave up on trying to tell his story in favor of satisfying the general tropes of television and hero fantasies.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

we need a proper resolution to this shit.

And the show has in the past 3 seasons stopped giving a fuck.
Kings Landing is FAAAAR from King's Landing. We're talking a month's ride or more. A retreat to King's Landing makes no sense. And there are tons of other castles between the two.

I'm clearly too tied to logic.

You just never see people taking it or mentioning it.

That's my headcanon reason for why you can get from one place to another within an episode, while it took Arya and the Hound nearly a whole season to get from one part of the Riverlands to another.

moments from this series.

Tyrion sneaking Pod some more wine
Brienne acting like it's just another battle until she finally breaks and shows some damn joy after being knighted
Tormund doing everything
Davos' facial reactions during Tormund's story
Them all bonding over the fact that they've all fought Starks at one point or another

https://twitter.com/Fresh_Logic/status/1120139527404838920?s=19

I’m sorry but that was sexy as hell.

Hilarious joke but I’m focused.

Just googled k pop.

>I’m sorry but that was sexy as hell.

You ain't never lied

was fucking weird

...and this reminded him of Stannis’ daughter, who Davis loved and was very protective of.

Like The Hound. Surviving greyscale is pretty rare. But yeah, the point is that she looked like Shireen at first.

but yeah, she reminded him of Shireen

Great acting from Gilly there, and especially from Davos.

Just to clarify the reference: Davos saw her burned face and for a split second thought it was Stannis's daughter. I forget her name; the kid who survived grayscale, taught Davos to read, but then got sacrificed by The Red Woman.

The reaction from Davos is very on brand, he has continually has taken kids under his wing throughout the series. Shireen, Gendry, Jon, etc. For a smuggler he has a surprinsingly soft heart, and I love him for it.

I don't remember all the details of the relationship, but I think his son died in the Blackwater battle.

Became a true believer like Stannis' wife. Then ended up getting vaporized by wildfire.

I think they just forgot about her, though.

she DID say she had to die in Westeros, so she GONNA be back.

and if she did protect the crypt and died in the process it'd be a "noble" death to make up for her transgressions.

Since he was behaded, they wouldn't even need to get Sean Bean back to play him.

Won't the Night King just raise his hands and the bodies will come to life like Draugrs in Skyrim?

Can the Night King just raise his hands and ALL dead within the vicinity come back? Or does he have to somehow direct it to the bodies? In other words, if there's a corpse in the area that he doesn't actually know is there, does it come alive? And WHERE are the bodies? Are they underneath the various Stark statues? If so, it would seem like a lot for them to physically lift heavy stone statues and move them, but maybe they get strength from the Night King?

IIRC, when Littlefinger presented Cat with Nedd's remains to be buried in the crypt, they were in kind of a large chest instead of a coffin. So I don't think the rest of his body was still intact.

Lyanna Stark, on the other hand . . .

implying that they'd burned the body and this was just what was left after the medieval cremation.

This is another reason I don't think it's likely that zombie Ned comes back.

But yeah, Lianna, anyone else down there. I assume they could come back.

I saw a fan theory that the night king was actually Rhaegar Targaryen, and he was gonna come specifically for Lianna. Doesn't match well with the story as we've seen it of how the white walkers were created millennia ago. But I don't think it's ever been specifically stated that the night king was the first white walker.

There are also stories about the "Night's King" of the books (who was apparently mentioned in a story in season 1). This was an ancient Stark, who led the Night's watch and fell in love with a female white walker. The theory goes that this guy is the Night King, he knows about stuff down in the crypts and he's coming for it (like a cache of dragon eggs).

I've also read somewhere that a white walker is buried in the crypts (maybe the Night King's wife, or the Night's King's wife...). Supposedly the whole castle is geothermally heated, but the crypts are cold for an unexplained reason, and that's supposedly the reason.

Arya swinging her staff in what looks to be the Crypts of Winterfell. So, at some point, someone will probably realize how dumb of an idea it was.

There are some partially decomposed wights but they could've gotten that way after being reanimated.

I mean, they could certainly reveal that he does indeed have the power to raise those that have been long dead but I'm skeptical he does that.

they were attacked by what seemed to be long deceased wights.

but you've been with other girls, right?

pffft yeah

Just like Jaime, we have a character who's current iteration is vastly different than his starting person, and this season they've done nothing to further his character. Points of focus they could have showcased: the northerners being afraid of the former lannister dog, is the post Brienne and Rorge hound as ferocious a fighter as old Hound, the Hound in love, the Hound's internal battle btw who he was and who he currently is, etc etc etc.

At this point, it just looks like his sole purpose is just to survive the battle with the dead so he can battle undead Mountain. What a waste smh.

his scenes this season have been pretty empty. theyve done a good job hitting us with everyone elses arcs but it seems like they dont know what to do with him so far.

And it's a damn shame because the Hound is a great fucking character.

...last season and the end of the season before. So by this season, after they had him reunite with Arya, there was nothing left to do with him. Besides fight the Mountain.

I think the main reason we know a bunch of them will die soon is because it's required inorder to give proper time to any remaining characters.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

a WOT series

that show makes GOT look like sesame street (as far as plot/characters go)


its less violence and sex tho

Kind of wish they would have done more with that, as the Northerners are always portrayed as the salt of the earth/best of Westeros types, and it seems their inclinations are just as fucked up as anybodys.

her look when they ran away hurt my soul

Maybe Dorne would be more welcoming, they at least don't put so much stock in how they hate "outsiders" but nobody cares about Dorne anymore.

Westeros as a whole always seemed more racist than Essos.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Although Slaver's Bay has been slavery-free for what I'm guessing has to be a few months in the show's timeline.

I was more thinking about how in places like Qarth and Braavos you see people from all over interacting with each other like it's no big deal, whereas everything in Westeros has to be filtered through which part they come from and whether or not they're highborn.

I wonder how/why they were able to ban it in Westeros. It's not like they're opposed to doing horrible crimes against humanity for money there.

Westeros is a united kingdom with one ruler. Essos is a collection of self-governing city states. Most of them do allow Slavery. But not all. Braavos, the most powerful of the Free-Cities in Western Essos is founded by formerly enslaved people and is anti-slavery to it's core. Slavery is illegal in Pentos, but rich people think they're above the law. In Volantis though, the enslaved outnumber the free people 5-1, 3-1 in Lys. And who knows what's going on in (formerly?) Slaver's Bay at this point.

Sansa: i know right? So about the north..

Dany: ONE QUEEN, BITCH. KNOW YOUR PLACE!

They already took it and been free. That "I take the Iron Throne" shit doesnt fly anymore. She seems like she'd be better fit staying overseas. She's out of her element in Westeros.

Back in the end of Season 2, when she goes to the House of the Undying to find her dragons, she has a bunch of visions. One is of the throne room in King's Landing, destroyed by fire. She walks up to the Iron Throne, but just as she's about to touch it, she stops and walks away. So I'm guessing that no matter what happens otherwise, she's going to have the opportunity to take the Iron Throne, and change her mind.

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

There was a big scene at the end of season 6 where he asked to come with her and she said no.

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

isn't it warm there and across a sea?

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

They definitely couldn't cross the sea, although NK does have a dragon, so he presumably could.

The people of Westeros refer to the last coming of the White Walkers as "The Long Night." Many/Most of people Esso also talk about what seems to be the same event. Some of them just talk about the darkness that came and how the rivers froze or disappeared. Others cultures/areas talk about The Long Night like Westeros does. Melisandre's culture (from the far East of Essos) specifically talks about it, and how Azor Ahai (remember her talking about that?) had to be reborn to stop it from happening. At first she thought Stannis was Azor, but then she thought it was Jon. Another culture of the Far East talks about the Lion of Night and his demons, and they even have a structure (really structures) similar to the Wall to keep him away.

So, we don't know the details specifically about what The Long Night looked like in Essos (ie wights, white walkers, etc.), But we know they experienced the same event to some degree. Esso is HUGE though so it was likely different in different places.

as a safe place, with all the dead people down there? Not the wildlings? jon? Tryion? Varys? not even all seeing Bran?

if NK does make the bodies down there rise up it feels like a pretty big writing flaw if none of them saw it coming. We'll probably forget about it with all the fuckery that's about to go down next week. They're likely about to lose the battle, and many of our favorites will be dead. Still, the "you'll be safe down there" mindset seems a bit lazy going in.

>as a safe place, with all the dead people down there? Not the
>wildlings? jon? Tryion? Varys? not even all seeing Bran?
>
>if NK does make the bodies down there rise up it feels like a
>pretty big writing flaw if none of them saw it coming. We'll
>probably forget about it with all the fuckery that's about to
>go down next week. They're likely about to lose the battle,
>and many of our favorites will be dead. Still, the "you'll be
>safe down there" mindset seems a bit lazy going in.
>
>
>

so i think it's anyone

also i vaguely remember something last season where they killed a walker and all his wights died?

>also i vaguely remember something last season where they
>killed a walker and all his wights died?

I think they're assuming that if they kill the Night King then all the walkers and their wights will collapse.

I know he can raise the recently killed but im not sure he could do much with a bunch of dust and bones.

https://imagesvc.timeincapp.com/v3/fan/image?url=https://winteriscoming.net/wp-content/blogs.dir/385/files/2017/08/bran-cave.gif&c=sc&w=600&h=334

Would she be down there? Could we get Lady Stoneheart after all?

I don't think we'll see Nedd, but Lyanna's body was intact when she died. I've got to imagine there just aren't that many physical remains of the other Starks who have died, and if they are there can't be much.

it didn't happen in the books (for obvious reasons) so I doubt D&D ever considered it. I wouldn't be too surprised if she's somehow in the crypts though

I can see Tyrion and Varys missing it because at their core, they don't really believe in any of this shit (especially Varys, who hates magic).

As for it being a big plot-hole, well, this show has kind of specialized in ognoring big-ass plotholes for a few seasons now in favor of going after the "cool" visuals and what would be "bad-ass."

That was enough to convince everybody to believe Bran? Lmfao, you gotta be kidding me. More than half the people in this room think Bran is just a strange kid in a wheelchair, but his mention of the 3-eyed raven and Samwell's hypothetical was enough to have everyone go along with it. I expected them to at least have one person in there like "why should we believe this bullshit?" Maybe that's supposed to speak to how lost everyone is on how to deal with the impending danger of this rare, unknown situation, but that was weak af.

My guess and slight hope is that the Night King is Targaryan and that Dany or John will get turned for us to see how they don't become complete zombies when they're killed... or maybe we'll find out some other way.

Night King won't be at the Battle of Winterfell

https://mashable.com/article/game-of-thrones-night-king-battle-winterfell-kings-landing/



.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Does NK actually know things about Westeros and how things are now? Like, does he know that King's Landing is the capitol? The last time the Walkers were in Westeros proper, it was well before any of that had been established. But are they up on who rules what?

I always assumed they were just going to move down the country killing everyone without a thought to what rank these people hold.

It annoys me that it's gaining so much traction.
Again. Winterfell is over a month's ride from Kings Landing. They're estimated to be like 1500 miles apart.

Oh, I didn't realize I was responding to you.
High-speed rail!!
lol

...technically the Night King wouldn't have to take his whole army down there, he could just fly down on his own with Viserion. As Tyrion said way back in Season 2, the walls of King's Landing don't make much of a difference against dragons.

So, theoretically, he could destory the city, raise the dead, and start heading north, so even if Winterfell wins, there's another huge army coming their way from the South

But, yeah, probably not going to happen.

Meanwhile, Winterfell can't be unaware because there's a tons of Cities and castles on the way that the dead will have to pass.

AND
there's only 4 episodes left.

Jon defeats him later on as Azor Ahai after Melisandre returns from where-ever he is

It’s fallen to the Greyjoys, sort of the Boltons, and then when Jon took it back.

I’m also not buying that they lose in general here. The Night King has won every major battle at this point, and it makes shitty story telling if the humans lose AGAIN.

They take major losses, and they might not kill the Night King, but Winterfell wins the battle.

I don't consider Hardhome and Fist Of The First Men to be major battles. Or the beyond the wall fight for that matter. They were just ambushes. They havent had a white walker versus human army battle yet.

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1120366205104271360?s=19

I'm dying b.

https://twitter.com/basil_saeed/status/1122657849912356864?s=19

...and away from the field of battle" strategy has got to be among the most Game Goofy shit ever. Let's see, the majority of the advancing army is made up of zombies who's sole weakness is fire. So, yeah, let make sure that the two near-invincible killing machines that BREATHE FUCKING FIRE are as far away as possible.

Man, this show can be really dumb.

when they're chilling in front of the moat, i was screaming at the TV WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE DRAGONS?~

he baited them out into the air with him where he had a severe advantage...he lost but still had little to lose

the number of wights was so extreme even if they had been out there as the front lines...we saw what happened when dany got grounded

this is an unrealistic expectation

they're a trump card and you never overexpose a trump card

that's fantasy battle tactics 101

Yo this shit out epic'd Avengers: Endgame.

>Yo this shit out epic'd Avengers: Endgame.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

So the prince who was promised was bullshit?

Or it was Arya all along?

All that character build up of Jon Snow vs The Night King to have him ride around on a fucking dragon all episode and then squares up against a dragon?

Am i reading too much into this?

Im confused as fuck!!!! Ha

The writers as terrible, honestly.
Shit has been going down hill since they surpassed the books.
Azor Ahai, The Prince that Was Promised. Lightbringer.

None of the shit mattered one bit.

It was a certain part of Stannis character, but I feel like all mentions of him also died with Stannis.

If D and D knew they were'nt going to do it, why play into the hype? The stare-down at Hardhomme, bringing Jon back from the dead, all his birth flash backs, etc. It's like they pulled a bait and switch simply for shock value but it essentially ruined eight season of character build up

You could say that it started out as Jon was destined to lead the Night’s Watch and fight back the White Wallkers. And even if he didn’t kill the NK, he set things up so that they would defeat them. The face down in Hardhome was the only time they teased a fight between the two.

But now I’m more convinced than ever that his arc is going to be about ruling Westeros as a whole. Or at least establishing the new system the Westeros uses to rule itself after there’s no more Iron Throne. And in that case, the flash backs to his birth are still relevant.

They teased a fight between the Night King and Jon twice in just this episode, man.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

>They teased a fight between the Night King and Jon twice in
>just this episode, man.

That’s just this episode. But it’s not like they established a history than Jon had to be the one to kill the NK. The NK was always more about Bran.

Jon: Come catch this fade NK

NK: GUARD!!!!

https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=game-of-thrones&episode=s07e02

MISSANDEI: Your Grace, forgive me, but your translation is not quite accurate. That noun has no gender in High Valyrian, so the proper translation for that prophecy would be, "The prince or princess who was promised will bring the dawn."

"Let's keep the audience guessing by saying prince OR princess." It's been about Jon since day one. I remember when that episode aired everyone point out how lame and convenient it was that it was said.

I'd actually be fine with Arya being the princess who was promised if there were something to actually tie her to the prophecy. There isn't.

The women literally killed this episode, gatdamn.

Real good.

the lead up was crazy intense, the Dothraki just disappearing holy fucking shit.

but the battle idk i have to think about it. The absence of dragons for damn near 15 minutes made zero sens to me. I know NK could just pop them back up but they didn't know that. The crypt thing that no one saw coming was ridiculous.

and really the NK think didn't make much sense. It's always been my least favorite part of the show so i'm glad its over.

He had the whole squad there, all the white walkers, all the wights, they were fucking winning the battle, and he just had to make the killing stroke? His ego was such that he had to be the one to look Bran in the eye before he died?

Fuck that, I would been at Last Hearth jerking off or some shit.

White walkers to run up on him like that?

They had the whole place surrounded, and let a short teenager through smh

and when they die they shatter

They're usually roaming around in kill mode.
Then they all pause for this huge moment, so it's like they were sort unconscious for a bit.
That's the way I saw it anyway.

It was an extension of her sneaking around the library.

Plot-wise, it's acceptable. But this show was about so much more than plot for six seasons and these last two have just been great characters walking into stupid situations and coming out okay over and over.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

The clues are there with Arya and the Red Witch talking about shutting blue eyes and "Not today." The death scene works best when it's a shock to see her flying through the air towards him.

The surprise would've been when we have five minutes of Jon fighting like hell through wights to get to the God's Wood in time to save Bran, the dragon cutting him off and him feeling lost, and then the music cutting out, ambient noise volume rises, quick cuts of feet and torso cutting past hand rails and bushes or whatever, heavy but quiet breathing, character takes a moment to assess the full scene and then reveal it's Arya, the camera turns and she's looking at the Night King, then do the scene the same way.

You're surprised either way but at least you're invested in the scene and not just going "...ok?" at the end.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

in like a whole ass hide and seek scene but then want the twist to be spoiled as it's happening

He put them in formation and 'stand down' mode when he walked through.

Given their inactivity as Theon charged him, everything there is explained by the scene itself.

The only link it had to the library scene was the fact that the audience didn't hear her coming.

Remember she learned how to move like a cat. ;)

I wanted Bran to hit him with the okey doke and warg Theon as he was dying for Theon to sneak him with the death blow.

cuz I mean, since Bran didn't play a direct role in his death, it made Bran basically worthless and just bait.

Theon went out but I thought Bran was going to warg him and really eff things up..
So if the three eyed raven is equal to the NK when is Bran going to warg up things...He was useless.

i was like, yup, he gonna use him to kill the NK and Theon will die n the process, thus the platitudes before he warged him.

and as someone who harshed my high a couple replies up above said, how did Arya come outta nowhere when all them wights and white walkers were right there.

Seems like warging Theon woulda been a more believable death and not made Bran sort of useless.

But didn't we always know Arya was gonna kill the night king?

I loved HOW she did it but they have been preparing her to stare death in the face and best it for mad seasons now..

......

I wish we got more from the NK though.. sure he got zombies on lock but it felt like he coulda had a better verbally defining moment ionno...

At least a reveal into who he was

i thought the assumption was that it would be Jon

but i figured once she took off running it would be her.

>But didn't we always know Arya was gonna kill the night
>king?
>

In terms of people who speculate/review/dissect the show online there has always been this convo about arya killing the night king

She is one of the realms best killers

(i think it was the library)

...was dope. movin around like a cat.

Like, it didn’t feel totally...satisfying?I mean he didn’t exactly go out with a whimper, but mans could have got a little more than that.

>
>I wish we got more from the NK though.. sure he got zombies on
>lock but it felt like he coulda had a better verbally defining
>moment ionno...
>
>At least a reveal into who he was

In fact, with todays modern online dissecting, it's impossible to completely surprise an audience with what's going to ultimately happen.

You can build suspense though with trying to figure out HOW something is going to happen.

I think I felt a little let down at first until people on twitter started pointing out how everything that has happened to Arya up until this point has been preparing her for this moment. I had forgotten that:

1. Syrio Forel once said to Arya, "stick them with the pointing end and "what do we say to death?", not today.

2. Bran had given her that knife in the exact same place. There is even speculation online that when Bran warged during this episode he was traveling back to hand Arya that knife at that very moment. Which would explain exactly where did he go.

3. I kind of remember Melissandre's prophesy about Arya about putting out "blue eyes".

4. I was wondering what was the point of all the stealth movements of Arya in the earlier scenes.

5. Someone else also pointed out that Arya snuck up on Jon by that same tree a couple of episodes ago.

6. Someone else on twitter pointed out Arya did that drop knife move on Brienne a couple of seasons ago.



Anyway, all the callbacks and foreshadowing coming together so perfectly in fulfilling her destiny IMOP is dope as fuck, even if it required twitter to point it all out to me.





**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

NK talking would have been corny as hell.

Saying "I'm NEEGAN" or some shit. NO.

The Night King and the White Walkers didn't even fucking fight.
Yeah, it was cool to see Arya do that but...
The shit was wack.
The most important character to die was fucking Jorah.
The biggest threat in the world is dealt with just like that and now they go back to this petty ass thrown shit. 7.5 seasons building up to the battle between the living and the dead and that's all it fucking is.
Give me the book.

I don't think I've ever been so stressed out watching a tv show. Watching that first wave just vanish like that was fucking chilling

That was stressful.

Been saying for a while that the show is a bloodied version of the Hobbit/ROTR movies. Great action, but ultimately a very conventional story. And for a larger audience that HBO wants, that works.

And in the end, the books will be completely different. So I’m with this being what it is.

amongst themselves. although I guess part of what makes them so scary is you don’t know what they are.

For some reason since Season 6 or 7 this show has basically stopped being the show where "anyone could die." In the battle of the white walkers versus humanity only one major character dies???? And somehow Jamie with one hand survives a battle versus the dead?? Thats the only part that bugs me. That risk factor that made the show so emotional has gone away.

I do agree that more major characters should have died. All in all the battle was pretty fucking cool.

he waited a long ass time to bring out the walkers and expose himself and look what happened

he literally dodged Jon with a dead shadow clone jutsu and got killed by the NINJA of the clan

it sucked from an epic battle expectation but it was actually almost all good calls from both sides with a few obvious mistakes

the crypt being the biggest mistake but he literally obscured the walkers bc that would kill most if not all of his main force...the numbers of the wights were the strength but the walkers and the NK were a throbbing achilles...especially with a 2v1 dragon ration

they grossly underutilized the dragons for the same reason the walkers were kept on the sideline

the wackest part of the battle from a viewer's standpoint was the comeplete lack of visibility for half the battle

is that cant possibly be the end of the NK and the dead dudes?

like really?


the rest of the season is cersei and captain jackoff?


that just doesnt seem right

That's why they put it in episode 3 of 6.

Not that I expect them to find a satisfying conclusion anyway, but they'd get closer in a well scripted conversation (also unlikely) between Sansa and Cersei than they ever would in an hour and a half action scene.

youd have to script it Cersei heavy and let Lena do the heavy lifting there.

even when her and dany were chatting last episode, emilia clarke's non acting ass still carried her.

Kingslanding scene and one was about the super spooky White Walkers coming to kill everybody, a lot of people liked the former but didn't really care for the latter so I guess they felt like they had to separate the two.

Davos, Greyworm, Brienne, Pod, Misendai, Varys, Sam, Gilly, Gilly's Brother/Son. All of them should have died too.


I gotta give it up to Theon, he tried to redeem himself and did I feel.

and comical.

You had almost all of them surrounded multiple times but the zombies yet they all managed to slip away.

From the very beginning you had Jorah(who would actually die later) at the front of the Dothraki army, Greyworm at the head of the Unsullied, Brienne, Jaime, Pod etc., at the front of the North army, their forces get overwhelmed and somehow these great knights/Warriors somehow sneak back into the castle while the rest of their forces get slaughtered outside. Then once inside most of those same people were surround multiple times and managed to squeak away. Sam was just chilling in the courtyard on a bed of dead zombies. When Jon was approaching the Night King outside and he rose up hundreds of zombies around Jon he somehow managed to fight his way out. They should've had Dany's ass too but I guess with both of her armies gone and maybe all 3 of the dragons dead how much power does she have? They had Arya's lil ass hemmed up multiple times yet she managed to get all the way outside and past the Night King's entire army to shank him?

C'mon...

Whole parts of his body were torn off in the fight with Viserion.

But we didn't actually see him die.

The undead dragon at the end was still Viserion.

Considering how badly injured Drogon was after just being hit with a bunch of spears a couple seasons ago, and how Viserion was killed just from a fall from what looked like a lower height, it seems a little unlikely Rhaegal would have survived that fight.

But I don't think the showrunners are all that interested in that kind of logic at this point, so who knows?

and seemed to be seriously injured from that

>
trailer for next week shows 2 dragons

the training that she had makes her very skilled at getting away and striking when possible.

sam??? i dont understand. there were some scenes where someone saved him then others where he had like 4/5 wights on him and no one saved him.

im starting to look at this from the perspective of the survivors. if they were telling the story then the folks that survived would exaggerate their involvement and it would explain why the folks that story is focused on happen to be the ones that survived.

The only one I'd complain about is, like, Sam Tarly... but it seemed he just lay his ass down on the ground and pretended to be dead, lmao.

Everyone else was known for being either one of the best fighters in the seven kingdoms or someone trained specifically by one of the best fighters. I coulda seen more people die (Podrick, for instance)-- but there's also only so many notable deaths you can put in one episode *and* have all that action *and* end it in under 90 minutes.

hand, the rest of them Sam, Podrick, Davos, were just regular dudes

Won the melee in Season 2. Was beating a two-handed Jamie in Season 3. Defeated the Hound in Season 4. Her arc is that she's one of the best and most honorable fighters in Westeros, but couldn't become a knight.

That strong super duper plot armor

and they got turned to dust in 30 seconds. I know they were they caught the most impossible part (WHY NOT DRAGONS?) but jorah came back with like 2 of them lol

I didn't expect Jaime to go but more people should have

Because i thought "there's no way they are putting Jamie with one hand out in the infantry and thick of it, dude would die in like thirty seconds." My man was not only there he SOMEHOW magically survived!!! lol

when I thought I saw Brienne get overwhelmed by the first rush it was shocking...then she popped up and everybody important was fighting one-on-one for the next 40 minutes.

it just turned into any old battle scene as the main characters emerged untouched again and again.

I thought some epic shit was on the way -- you have a hardened soldier who has been across The Wall looking like he saw 100 ghosts. him being utterly shook and falling in battle would've been haunting.

but of course comes out of nowhere to save Daenerys in the middle of the battlefield, action hero style.

his face was grimy and it was dark and at first I though he was immediately charging back as a wight.

That would have been a way to raise the stakes even higher in what was already a really tense situation.

When I realized that he was just one of the five or six who were able to retreat, I was relieved but disappointed in the writers.

I liked the way he eventually went out. But it would have served the STORY a lot more if a main character *didn't* get the glorious death he deserved.

-I love Davos but dude still wanted to kill the Red Woman after she pretty much saved humanity.
-Agree with criticisms that too many main characters lived and I would have liked to see some more actual fighting with the walker dudes. John's fight with the guy at Hardhome was awesome.
-Arya killed the Night King with the same weapon that attempted to kill Bran in season 1.
-Bran is a weird dude.
-I'm proud of my boy Theon.
-Both Mormont deaths were good.
-Arya is Arya and she's awesome.
-I will definitely be watching again.

Warged into some birds and then spent the rest of the episode . . . I think trying to warg into other things? Maybe? People are complaining about Dany, at least she sent the NK off his dragon and got down there stabbing people.

>Warged into some birds and then spent the rest of the episode
>. . . I think trying to warg into other things? Maybe? People
>are complaining about Dany, at least she sent the NK off his
>dragon and got down there stabbing people.

A little too superhero for my taste, in fact. She was always showing up at just the right time to save someone's life with a blast of fire or to knock the Night King off his dragon.

It was definitely cool and suspenseful, though, at the end to see her without her dragon, helpless and surrounded until Jorah showed up. I kinda thought that might be the end of her. And when she picked up a sword and clearly didn't even know how to hold it. We haven't seen her powerless and scared since season 1.

no way it was going to live up to the hype. i do think the battle was better than endgame. they did a better job of following the characters and putting them in more believable positions.

i guess dany got shook when the dothraki got taken out. im not sure what the plan was before she took off. i think their strategy was stupid. im going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they just didnt have enough time to properly implement a good strategy so they had to go with something they could actually put together quickly?

i was so sure the hound was going to go out saving arya. i dont know that melisandre really did. she lit their weapons, which did nothing. she stared at arya. she gave her a pep talk??

i did like how they made arya get shook then find herself again. i dont know what helicopter she jumped out of but the way she dropped the weapon and stabbed the night king was dope.

where was gendry?? not sure i saw him at all.

i think the deaths were lacking. most of the main characters stayed alive. they sure lost a lot of pawns but i expected a few more main characters to go.

was just to hold back with the dragons and keep them safe until they find the Night King. I actually think that part of the plan made more sense than people are giving them credit for. They've seen how easy it is for the Night King to kill a dragon. They also know that if the Night King is on Viserion, he's basically invincible unless they can attack him with their own dragon. So they don't want to bring in the dragons until they know exactly where they're going.

Just like the humans know they can end it all by killing the Night King, the dead presumably know they can end it all by killing the living dragons.

That said, in the after-episode featurette one of the showrunners said the plan got fucked up when Dany saw the Dothraki die and went in to join the fight. I don't see that. Yeah, if Drogon had been killed, then it would have been a big mistake (and would have doomed the humans). But he wasn't. So I don't know if there's as much moral to that story as they tried to set up.

>i guess dany got shook when the dothraki got taken out. im not
>sure what the plan was before she took off. i think their
>strategy was stupid. im going to give them the benefit of the
>doubt and say they just didnt have enough time to properly
>implement a good strategy so they had to go with something
>they could actually put together quickly?
>
>i was so sure the hound was going to go out saving arya. i
>dont know that melisandre really did. she lit their weapons,
>which did nothing. she stared at arya. she gave her a pep
>talk??

She did light up the flaming caltrops around the castle, which held everyone off for a while and gave the living a chance to regroup.

But yeah, I think her main role was to get us excited that the Dothraki were about to fuck up the zombies, only to let our hopes be crushed even harder.

>i did like how they made arya get shook then find herself
>again. i dont know what helicopter she jumped out of but the
>way she dropped the weapon and stabbed the night king was
>dope.

I just got a vision in my head that she had someone fire her from one of the catapults. That's definitely not the story, but it's how I choose to envision it in my head.

>where was gendry?? not sure i saw him at all.

Resting after making 50000 weapons from an unfamiliar material, I guess.

>i think the deaths were lacking. most of the main characters
>stayed alive. they sure lost a lot of pawns but i expected a
>few more main characters to go.

It was a little silly how by the end we had Jaime, Brienne, Sam, basically half buried in piles of bodies, yelling and poking all around. But they were fine.

>>i was so sure the hound was going to go out saving arya. i
>>dont know that melisandre really did. she lit their weapons,
>>which did nothing. she stared at arya. she gave her a pep
>>talk??
>
>She did light up the flaming caltrops around the castle, which
>held everyone off for a while and gave the living a chance to
>regroup.
>

gendry's legs were still weak from arya i bet. dude was munching on a sandwich the whole time.

They show him outside Winterfell with Brienne; he’s one of the last ones to get to the line. Then they show him fighting outside Winterfell with a Dragonglass War Hammer (like his father). Then when they retreat into Winterfell, I believe they show him fighting the zombies on top of the walls.

there was so much going on that it was hard to tell who was who. most of the characters had some shots where they were the focus. i didnt notice him in any but i might have been looking elsewhere.

Especially after the dead start climbing the walls. He's usually next to Tormund, swinging his hammer.

He didnt seem to have any ability to affect/stop/kill the Night King and his crew. They probably went over this, but I can’t remember the details.

He's a supernatural being now, connected to the old gods and to the children of the forest, both of whom the Night King hates. He's supposedly more interested in killing the three-eyed raven than he is in killing the people.

It's definitely not fleshed out in any sort of compelling way, though. There was a lot more that they could have done with regard to the backstory of the three-eyed raven and the Night King. It probably works better in the books (though my understanding is that all this stuff is completely different in the books).

He knows everything. And the Night King's whole shit is trying to destroy/rewrite everything. (At least that's how I think it was explained in a previous episode.)

When he touched Bram the 3 eyed raven was shook.

.

Melisandre, Arya, Dany, and Brienne saved them all.


.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

She fought bravely and got busy with the killing.

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

her men died

and I don’t blame any of them for retreating.

of the formation when the battle started somehow made it back inside the castle and pretty much everyone else died.

As someone with actual military experience that's generally not how it works lol.

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

.
.
“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” ~ Albert Einstein

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

Sounds pretty bad

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/4/30/18522955/game-of-thrones-season-8-battle-winterfell-military

https://slate.com/culture/2019/04/battle-winterfell-military-analysis-tactics.html


In one of these (I forget which one, maybe both), they explained away the "put the vulnerable people in the crypts" strategy as a "least bad of many bad options." And I'm coming around on that. There just wasn't anywhere else to put them where they wouldn't have been in the direct line of fire. At least they didn't know for sure that the corpses could be brought back, and if they could, whether they could escape their tombs. So in that sense, it was still the safest place. It might have made sense to keep some troops down there as guards, though, just in case.

Also, they seem to be saying that the reasoning for holding off the dragons was sound.

The closest thing I've seen to an explanation for the Dothraki charge, though, was "sometimes cavalry do stupid things."

>Sounds pretty bad
>
>https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/4/30/18522955/game-of-thrones-season-8-battle-winterfell-military

formation, they should’ve been among the first to die

...front, and never lost a battle.

It's more of a distinction in the books; Robb lead from the front and never lost. Tywin and Stannis lead from the rear and had mixed success.

But I don't think they are going stick the landing

I'm fine with that and definitely will be watching to the very end. It's not hate-watching like say SOA but things are off. Don't get me wrong I've enjoyed a large part of what we've seen so far and it doesn't feel as rushed as last season but something is still off.

They can't wrap a tight little bow on the story-lines but please don't give us some fan service stuff.

Bran might actually be the MVP because when he Warg'd the theory is he did his time travel thing and went back to the scene where Bran gave Arya the knife and "fixed" the timeline.

It makes a lot of sense because we don't know exactly what he was doing when he checked out during the battle and he clearly had a vision of the future when he gave Arya the knife (and it happened at the exact spot they were at when Arya knifed old dude).



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

There's been a lot of cool theories about this story over the years, most of them haven't come true.

I'll wait and see.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

is that we saw him give her the knife earlier in the season BECAUSE he warged to the past and told himself to do it. He can't see the future, but he can supposedly communicate very slightly with people in the past.

So the argument is that in a previous iteration of the time line he didn't give her the knife.

To be clear, I think this explanation is silly, extremely thin, and I don't take it seriously at all. But the logic of it isn't as hard as people are making it out to be.

The real answer is that he was useless in the battle because he's paralyzed, full stop. Just like Max von Sydow's three-eyed raven was in the Hodor episode.

I do wish they'd said something about what he was doing while he was warging, though.

knife. That is, if he didnt' warg in that scene, then the scene from last season never would have occurred.

Time travel is overused in sci-fi/fantasy but it would be a different take on it if we see the fixed timeline first and then we see how we got there.

It wouldn't be that complicated. All we need to see is a scene next week where we see where Bran went when he warged and it turned out to be that scene where he gave Arya the knife.

This might not be the case, but if it isn't, then a lot of the Bran storyline (his ability to alter the past) would have been a waste.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

ie complete fucking hogwash

"Not killing main characters is fine. Putting main characters in situations where they have no realistic chance of surviving only to have them survive because they're main characters is a lazy way to create tension. They went full Walking Dead."

George RR Martin was the driving force behind the shock deaths and risks. Ever since D and D passed the books it lost the reason it became such a well know show: no one is safe.

Screaming and everything
These mf's done turned into a cast of superheroes

That was the most unrealistic survival to me. At least the others are experienced fighters.

he was like "Fuck this shit, every man for himself!"

...why not just stick him in a cave somewhere far away from Winterfell and have Arya hide above him? Why did Bran believe that possibly hundreds of thousands had to die in battle and Winterfell be destroyed for them to win?

if he hid too far...it means they really would have had to keep rising the dead to kill everyone

they couldnt hunker too hard in front of bran for that reason...that overconfidence was needed or else it was a wrap

Wasn't pretty but it worked

https://media.giphy.com/media/D0wq1xLKgJeQo/giphy.gif

they weren't dropping any boulders on their heads or pouring hot lava on them lol

but you place your cavalary ahead of them


i feel like proper defense would be to use your cavalry to support the pike?


i dunno i was just like wtf the unsullied should be at the very front

>but you place your cavalary ahead of them
>
>
>i feel like proper defense would be to use your cavalry to
>support the pike?
>
>
>i dunno i was just like wtf the unsullied should be at the
>very front

so it wasnt like you could be like "hey crazy horse dudes go hang out at the back for a counter charge"


i guess

and the fight with Cersei would end up being the side note. Figured it was a big metaphor for global warming and how we are all fighting about the wrong thing.

Anyway, I think that theory is wrong. Yall want main character blood, the battle with Cersei is where you will see it.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Cersei's "we'll deal with what's left of you" was a legit good Tywinesque strategy

They still have Dragons but the Dothraki are done, and probably most of the unsullied.

Cersei has a most of the iron born fleet, whatever is left of the Lannister army, and 20k(?) Golden Company folk. All fresh and well rested at this point.

Dani can maybe get the second sons to come back through, but I don't even know if there's a thousand of them, and maybe some of Yara's people. Everyone else is injured and spent from this. Plus clean up is gonna be a bitch. I imagine Cersei goes on the offensive rather than give them time to regroup. I wonder how much time they'll have.

The ones that were specifically going to fight to put her on the throne. She's left with a bunch of Northerners, who wanted nothing to do with her or the Iron Throne even before surviving this. Even if Jon tries to convince them to fight anyway, they seem more loyal to Sansa than Jon.

I guess if there's anyone on the Iron Islands still on Team Yara, they could help.

strike as soon as possible. And Dani will have to promise the north will be independent

implies that it's gonna be Dany who goes on the offensive, pulling Cersei out "root and stem." Unless I heard the voice wrong.

I'm gonna let out a heavy sigh if they try to tell me 80% of the Unsullied and 40% of the Dothraki actually survived the battle.

I mean Dany does still apparently have two dragons (once they heal a little). And we've seen how those dragons can fuck up Lannister forces. But they've been arguing all this time that you can't use dragons to siege a castle. So I don't know how they go after Cersei unless Tyrion finally comes up with a plot that works.

Seems to be setting up for Tyrion's redemption story, plus Sansa seems to know her mindset better than anyone else in the show (even more than Jaime apparently)

Way back in Season 1 she tells Joffrey that no foreign army can hold the North. And I'd imagine that no foreign country can hold the North especially during the winter.

I think things go sideways for Cersei as Tyrion is able to out-manuver her. It will probably have something to do with the Iron Bank. Tyrion likely convinces them to back Dany. And then I'm guessing the Gold Cloaks break their contract for the first time ever. And bring in the war elephants to take King's Landing.

They always talk about the episodes with the large battles. Generally because even with their budget, they can only afford to shoot one a season. All the pre-season 8 hype was about the Night battle. I seriously doubt they have another up their sleeve.

The show was fascinating because of the politics and interpersonal relationships.

But the supernatural stakes kept getting raised to the point where the politics and the relationships didn't matter.

But now all the magic was a red herring too, and we're supposed to return to taking the politics seriously, even though the show has neglected them for like three or four seasons now.

I understand the argument that Game of Thrones is all about subverting expectations, but you can't also subvert the truth of the world you've created.

Also, I refuse to take Euron Greyjoy seriously.

Nothing will ever be as bad as Lost.

is threatening to render all the seasons before meaningless.

If these last three episodes dont somehow tie the narrative together better they are in danger of ruining everything. I really think that Arya decision was a HUGE gamble depending on how they finish. And they seem to be doing their best to ruin the Jon Snow character. How the fuck do you take the ONE GUY who has lived his entire life for this war, convincing people of this war, etc and put him on a fucking dragon the entire time. He should have been on the ground.

maybe because I never cared that much about the supernatural element of GOT, and there's more than enough good shit there without it.

LOST went on too long, and dug themselves far too deep into mysteries under the pretense we'd receive answers, then when it came time to collect, pretty much told us to fuck off.

even if this season turns out to be a bust, the show will still be one of the best. I can't even look at Lost.

and I always thought the supernatural shit shoulda been in the background.

My issue is that since the show has gone beyond the books, it has been ALL supernatural with very little of the development that made the show compelling initially.

And now the supernatural stuff is deaded.

So like, what is they even doing?

That's all I mean with the LOST comparison.

>My issue is that since the show has gone beyond the books, it
>has been ALL supernatural with very little of the development
>that made the show compelling initially.
>
>And now the supernatural stuff is deaded.
>
>So like, what is they even doing?

Night King got *too* out of control (let's give him one of the dragons!) and blunted the best parts of the show with a poorly lit, 90-minute orgy of blockbuster movie deaths, invincible heroes, and deus ex machina.

>and I always thought the supernatural shit shoulda been in
>the background.
>
>My issue is that since the show has gone beyond the books, it
>has been ALL supernatural with very little of the development
>that made the show compelling initially.
>
>And now the supernatural stuff is deaded.
>
>So like, what is they even doing?
>
>That's all I mean with the LOST comparison.

It would be cool if Winter Started right now which would hold off the battle against Cersei.

Or to put another way, I don't see how they have 5 more episodes left.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

This season is six and done

definitely seems like theres not enough time to properly finish this but well see.

i think it would make sense for cersei to attack now.

They didn't emphasize that in the show, but with Winter officially here the biggest threat to Cersei would be bad weather and cutting off food lines to her army. It makes more sense now to wait for them to come South before she engages them, as the Northerners would have an advantage being from the North and more acclimated to the cold weather.

As of the last time episode of the previous season. As the showed Jamie leaving King’s Landing, snow started to fall. Then they showing a white raven flying to Winterfell, which symbolizes that Winter has come.

cersei scene

the thought of her stupid smug face sipping wine for 3 more episodes is the opposite of entertaining to me

her sipping wine while the Sept exploded destroying her enemies was one of the greatest moments in tv history.

Or would rather see the Night King’s sneer and his mindless zombies for 3 more episodes?

but if i had to choose

absolutely give me whatever bullshit magical ice dead zombie king can come up with other than cersei's tired ass

>but if i had to choose
>
>absolutely give me whatever bullshit magical ice dead zombie
>king can come up with other than cersei's tired ass

To me the White Walker/Night King shit got cornier and cornier the more we saw of it.

i just really saw cersei more as a hurdle in route to the final destination and not the final destination itself lol

Night King I didn’t realize that watching it the first time.

But yeah with between the NK re-raising the dead on both sides plus his dragon breathing blue fire on everything inside of Winterfell there’s no way anybody else should’ve survived before she got to him.

Jon said he was going to Bran but he ended up hiding inside Winterfell like a bitch lol.

One of his lieutenants gave him smoke at Hardhome, idk man I don't se e it

while arya snuck the kill in

To your point, I think seeing what he was truly capable of w them hands (and maybe even Jon getting his ass beat up until that point) would've made it more gratifying

>One of his lieutenants gave him smoke at Hardhome, idk man I
>don't se e it

Viserion isn't as big as Drogon, but he did what (whatever that weapon's name Bronn shot at Drogon) couldn't do with his hands, so at the very least his strength was superhuman. It's all speculation at this point tho so it's whatever

as soon as Jon was about to run that fade

NK: GUARD!!!

>as soon as Jon was about to run that fade
>
>NK: GUARD!!!

We never actually saw the Knight King fight one on one. Dude didnt want it with the King In The North

the male babies to the White Walkers and we saw that one baby’s eyes turn blue so do they grow up to be adult White Walkers? Where there some mama White Walkers somewhere raising these babies?

Because there aren't any that don't already look like they're 700 years old.

That whole strategy didn't make sense. Nobody knew Melisandre was going to show up and light the arakhs, were they just planning on having the Dothraki blindly ride into the dark?

We know the Dothraki are leagues better than any Westorosi fighters, why not have the knights of the Vale on foot in the front, and have the Dothraki sweep in with the horses from behind or from the sides? What's the point in sacrificing your best and most fiercest fighters in some foolhardy headfirst dicks out move?

Even better, why wasn't fire used more efficiently in this battle? They should have had fires strategically placed all across the battlefield, both to herd the wights into the flames, and to burn the newly dead before they were turned. Again the Night King is dumb too, as he should have had the white walkers in the battle, not to fight, but to turn the newly dead into wights.

Back to the Dothraki though, so did Daenerys and company just commit genocide on a colossal scale? She just basically killed the entire Dothraki khalesar. In all truth, how the show treated the Dothraki is beyond fucked up, and quite in a line with a group of writers who wanted to write a show about the south not losing the civil war.

The snowstorm came in and they kept saying, she can't see the signal.


I would have to seen more battlefield strategy. Some stuff like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06sOEWajpZs


At any rate yeah the Dorthraki were treated as pretty expendable. Which is pretty accurate I guess how they would be treated. The question is do the writers acknowledge that in the story. I'd just like a scene where the Dothraki women give Dany shit for sacrificing all their men. Wouldn't also mind Grey Worm leaving Dany for the same reason.


>That whole strategy didn't make sense. Nobody knew Melisandre
>was going to show up and light the arakhs, were they just
>planning on having the Dothraki blindly ride into the dark?
>
>We know the Dothraki are leagues better than any Westorosi
>fighters, why not have the knights of the Vale on foot in the
>front, and have the Dothraki sweep in with the horses from
>behind or from the sides? What's the point in sacrificing your
>best and most fiercest fighters in some foolhardy headfirst
>dicks out move?
>
>Even better, why wasn't fire used more efficiently in this
>battle? They should have had fires strategically placed all
>across the battlefield, both to herd the wights into the
>flames, and to burn the newly dead before they were turned.
>Again the Night King is dumb too, as he should have had the
>white walkers in the battle, not to fight, but to turn the
>newly dead into wights.
>
>Back to the Dothraki though, so did Daenerys and company just
>commit genocide on a colossal scale? She just basically killed
>the entire Dothraki khalesar. In all truth, how the show
>treated the Dothraki is beyond fucked up, and quite in a line
>with a group of writers who wanted to write a show about the
>south not losing the civil war.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>The snowstorm came in and they kept saying, she can't see the
>signal.
>

In my interpretation, the circle of fire was supposed to be another line of defense once the remaining army had retreated into Winterfell, to be lit once the army of the dead was on the verge of overcoming them. The blizzard came after they were deep in midst of fighting on the verge of a retreat, so she couldn't get back.

But yeah, there should have been more military strategy. If it's the middle of the night, and there are no electrical lights to see, why not have more fires just as guides? Maybe every 200 feet have fires light, if not for use against the wights, but just to see. The lone fire surrounding the castle means nothing if the light is behind you and there are hundreds of other bodies in front of the light of the fire.

i think the original plan was stupid, the execution was stupid, the improvisation was stupid.

at some point they seemed to straight up be burning the wights and their own fighters while they were in battle. unless these dragons have laser aim with their fire breaths theres no way they werent burning their own while they were still alive.

im glad thats over and just want to see whats next.

if I survived the WW

I’m good

No more fighting for me.

Real talk, they could’ve hit up the first few waves with the Dragons. Shit was terrible.

Like, if you know the Dothraki didn't make it, why not do a quick flyover of their corpses so they don't come back. It's not as if "burn the bodies" is a thing Jon Snow has been saying for the last six seasons.

with strategic bonfires spread around revealing the white walker horde in coming

I assume they had to be because that snooty Royce guy was around but I dont recall seeing them

I just can't see them being effective versus like 100k deep dead army.

That shit should have been dragons first, tons of booby traps, lots of archery and when they fell back to the castle, all sorts of stuff to stop them from scaling the wall.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

>I just can't see them being effective versus like 100k deep
>dead army.

I was thinking around 50-60k. I dont know how much of the Lannister army is left, or what Euron's numbers are

>That shit should have been dragons first, tons of booby traps,
>lots of archery and when they fell back to the castle, all
>sorts of stuff to stop them from scaling the wall.

Yeah the more you look at it the dumber it looks

they actually mentioned it in episode 2 i think

one.

I cheated and this stuff from the book sales the whole Vale army is like 18,000.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/56923/what-is-the-military-strength-of-the-vale


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

The knights just lead the army. So when the army comes it's because it was brought there by the knights.

I thought anybody in the army from the Vale is considered a Knight of the Vale, but what you said makes sense.

I'm just assuming because that's how knighthood normally works, in the real world (way back when), and from what I understand in GoT. Knights are wealthy people, usually thanks to an allowance from the crown. So they can afford to raise armies. It's often how they become knights in the first place.

Though again, they're more loyal to Sansa than anyone else right now, and she doesn't want anything to do with the throne.

>Though again, they're more loyal to Sansa than anyone else
>right now, and she doesn't want anything to do with the
>throne.

dumb lol

I recognize the Arryn sigil on the shields. But I should have been more specific and said all Westoros fores should have been on the front lines not the Dothraki.

https://compote.slate.com/images/7ca33fc3-f2a1-43f8-bb8d-560cc25f8a9f.jpeg

>In all truth, how the show
>treated the Dothraki is beyond fucked up, and quite in a line
>with a group of writers who wanted to write a show about the
>south not losing the civil war.


I definitely had plenty to say about the Dothraki portion of the show along with Dany's white-girl-freeing-the-brown-slaves story arc. Most of OKP either said I was crazy or was reading too much into the show. I just like to see other black people noticing this stuff and I think it's vital that we voice and discuss them, so thanks for sharing.
Anyway, I agree that there's a LOT in this show that should eliminate any surprise that these writers wanted to make that "Confederate" garbage.
Here's the post if you're bored lol:
http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=13228095&mesg_id=13228095&listing_type=search

Daenerys in particular has been used as this white saviour figure throughout the whole series, even going so far as to dress her in light colors and have the brown bodies in dark and black clothing literally in worship or supplicant poses to her.


The racism is blatant but yet I still watch like a fiend lollll.

Their military strategy was essentially Operation: Follow the Darkies from the South Park Movie
Horrible writing & direction

The more i think about it the more random and full of shit it seems. If the whole crew went to King's Landing and Jon randomly killed The Mountain with The Hound just chilling it wouldnt make sense. They seemed to have done it just for the sake of "no one sees this coming." Came off cheap. Arya had never even seen a White Walker in person before last nights episode. Jon's entire story was White Walker based.

...death. And like she said in episode 2, here she actually got the chance to face death down and kill it. That makes sense for her arc.

However, I didn’t like the creators explanation for it, which amounted to Jon has had all the big moments in this series, so we wanted to give one to someone else. That’s kind of corny.

But since they’ve moved things on the last few years about him being king, I imagine that’s his destiny.

Yeah i should cut them some slack until i see what they do these last three episodes. But if they flipped Jon vs The Night King they better have a great idea for an ending to his story.

thing of the whole episode

>thing of the whole episode
>
>

It's the part of this episode i have the least issue with

That Jon sees Arya creeping through and when he stands up to face the dragon he's actually yelling "go gooooo go" and gets the dragons attention being that it was actually guarding the entrance to the God's Wood

Jon is making his way to the God's Wood and is almost there when the dragon lands and clears everyone out. He starts to make a charge, then looks back and sees something for a second. Everything after that involves him trying to get the dragon's attention. He eventually does the face off against it and clearly yells, "GO!!!!!!!" Almost immediately after they show the breeze of Arya running past the other White Walkers, and then lunging at the Night King.

I understand for the Arya surprise but im assuming that she has to addresses it next episode. Otherwise the creators are just letting Jon get clowned for standing up and yelling at a dragon for no reason.

I'm open to your rationale, and I get that that's just a simplified way to make the point, but it's worth discussing. Ghat is, if you enjoy that discussion.

Anyhow....Jon's not exactly a boss at this.

Great warrior? Noble, selfless leader?

Abso-fucking-lutely.

That's my mans (c) DMX

But Arya would present a serious problem for any warrior on the show. The sparring with Brienne was enough to show this to be true, and she's a crafty, artful fighter.

The only ones we've seen like her, as a fighter, are her dancing master, and perhaps Oberyn.

Jon can go. Be he's too square to win a fight against the top tier players, and the qualities that make him great while Arya has proven highly and unconventionally skilled at nearly every method of combat she's engaged in.

This was more like what Scottie would have been if he had Kobe's DNA, and straight up taking the rock from MJ for that shot.

Everyone assumed Jon would take the shot

My OLED looked fucking fantastic for the record

Not gonna lie, a better TV did cross my mind. Dark scenes like that are the only times I notice it lacking.

i think i started watching it on a 32" LCD that did have a somewhat matter surface. at some point i upgrade to my current 48" LCD...the screen has a significant gloss to it :/ so i have always had a hard time with dark scenes. i dont think this weeks episode was any worse than other ones that had dark scenes. i think i was actually able to see more than usual even though i didnt have all the lights off while watching.

i cant really justify replacing my current tv just because of this though. when ever i do need to buy a new one i will definitely consider this.

That’s what people have been saying online.

dude had the wights and walkers surrounding him and they just kept it moving. then when one was going to attack him the night's watch saved him.

theyre definitely propping him up.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

When Sam was at the Citadel, we already had Jim Broadbent telling him about the history of the current wars that he was planning to write, and Sam said he needed to come up with a title that was "more poetic."

and then having Martin go "Now let's all get some churros!" is a fan theory, held by me.

He's going on a suicide mission to kill his sister, not to help her. He meant he cant stay cause hes a hateful person that needs to go end this. This being him and Cersei, both dead.

I still think that's what he's doing, just because I want to think he's good Jaime now. And because I think these writers are too lazy to change him back lol.

But he didn't know Missandei. He doesn't know Rhaegal (except as a creature that supposedly made them invincible, suddenly not invincible). I can understand him thinking Cersei shouldn't be queen, but why would THAT news be the motivating factor?

Maybe it's a Kingslayer thing. Like he feels like it's his duty to protect the people from an unjust ruler (who might not lose in battle anymore).

On the other hand, all he said when he came north was that he was gonna fulfill his obligation to fight for the living. He's done that. Maybe that's the extent of his sense of duty.

My money still says he's instrumental in Cersei's downfall, but suddenly I don't know why, plot-wise.

No love lost between Starks and Lannisters
so Arya gets the best of the one handed Kingslayer and Knight Heartbreaker
with an assist from the hound

Arya then takes Jamie's face and kills Cersei in the last ep

THE END

He body and head just chilling in the background made it even harder to watch. Reminded me of the old Game Of Thrones, in a good way.

Also an hour and a half episode of everyone getting their heart's broken was too much. I'd prefer niggas to die.

I guess Varys is the only one with integrity left. Gotta do what's best for the realm.

I hope she gets drawn and quartered

That was a terrible episode and I hate everybody.

if you're willing to kill messandei why not just light up Tyrion, Danny 12 unsullied, and the dragon while you have the chance?

>That was a terrible episode and I hate everybody.

that was their best chance shot at Drogon, and really their best shot at everyone.

when they approached the gates so light like that i'm like.. the fuck are you people thinking?!

I figured its the same as Ramsey killing Jons brother and making him charge at the Battle Of The Bastards. She wants to make Dany look like the mad queen, and it worked. I assume Cersei prolly knows she cant win one on one, specially with the entire Northern Army on its way

Drogon would've reacted and that's probably their best shot. Now he's just gonna burn those scorpions up, guaranteed.

>I figured its the same as Ramsey killing Jons brother and
>making him charge at the Battle Of The Bastards. She wants to
>make Dany look like the mad queen, and it worked. I assume
>Cersei prolly knows she cant win one on one, specially with
>the entire Northern Army on its way

an "appropriate" ending IMO ... then they could show them making a play about it in Braavos lol

For all the hype this was light years better than last week's

I'm stressed the fuck out right now lol

that said, Cersei killing the translator instead of unleashing on everyone was... weird.

Episode 2 and 4 are the best so far.

Odd numbered ones are shit, even numbered ones are great.

On that logic, #5 may be the worst of the bunch.

The whole secret brother thing, the jokes, the Uhura strip tease, God of the whole universe in the center of our galaxy....utterly embarrassing.

Dude neglected Ghost for 3 seasons, gave him away after he lost an ear and didn't even say goodbye

What a dick.

Aegon didn't look after his dragon very well either.

About Ghost. Bugged me that he didnt say goodbye lol

Regarding the dragon, i (probably incorrectly) thought Dany took off with both dragons without Jon as a little self-preservation move (make sure she's in control of both as she feels her grip on power slipping)...and then when the rider-less dragon got killed, i wondered if she fucked up

>Regarding the dragon, i (probably incorrectly) thought Dany
>took off with both dragons without Jon as a little
>self-preservation move (make sure she's in control of both as
>she feels her grip on power slipping)...and then when the
>rider-less dragon got killed, i wondered if she fucked up

I don't think she looked that far ahead in the moment, but I do think she was probably smart to retreat since she's not exactly sure what's she's facing. That was the first of two times in this episode she didn't let her emotions lure her into something possibly fatal. given also her reading of Jon and how people look at him, she's been pretty sharp this episode despite all her L's

The level of desperation and passion she showed in that room over her precious crown exceeded pretty much any passion she's ever shown toward a human being, and Jon didnt seem to double-take at all. Maybe it registered and we just didnt see it. Her selfishness and true motives and values was on full naked raw ugly display

(Props to Emilia btw...she often gets (imo unfairly) panned for her acting chops, but i thought she was great in this episode.

Jaime and Brienne actors killed it too

and Ned was a fucking idiot

The wolves took a backseat to the dragons in terms of vfx season ago....

Its waaaaaaaaayyyy cheaper to green screen the wolf and just drop em in any scene than actually have them interact with people...

Aint nibody tryna ship some hollywood wolves to ireland

They've always been props to kill for dramatic effect from the beginning. At least Ghost won't die now.

I mean, they weren't explicit about this in the show, but my understanding is that in the books Jon survived by warging his katra into ghost. Even the dog's name was a foreshadow of that.

And I was pretty sure they were suggesting that in the show too. But even if they weren't, ghost was the one who stayed in the room protecting his body the whole damn time. Even after Melisandre gave up.

It's clearly a symbol of him giving up (for now) his Stark side in favor of Dany. But I think Ghost will be back.

Smh

chill

chill

*We* all know how Tyrion knows that. But I wonder if Euron was doing the math in his head.

He doesn't really seem like the kind of guy to care, but I wonder if they were setting something up with that.

I'm not arguing for him to take it. He has none of what it would take to get it, though I could see Jon installing him somehow.

>I'm not arguing for him to take it. He has none of what it
>would take to get it, though I could see Jon installing him
>somehow.
>
>

In fact, I'd bet she meets her demise early in the next episode, and by exactly the means they're setting us up to expect.

Maybe if Jon dies too in the end (seems very possible). Or if he just decides to abdicate and go live with the Freefolk (another thing they've set us up to expect)...

There would be a certain justice in it ending up with Gendry, since he was discovered by Ned Stark, and though Ned was supporting Stannis, he seemed to also really respect Gendry (more than he respected Stannis).

At the same time, the Baratheons are just another spoke in the wheel, so it would be kind of a boring resolution.

he don't want any parts of this political shit. just bang that iron, stack your bread, get you a house in the countryside w/ arya. and visit your fancy relatives now and then.

It all feels ridiculous

Okay, she doesn't like Dany because she's scared that she'll take away her brother and put him in danger in King's Landing. She's traumatized by seeing her father killed down there and she doesn't want to see him share the same fate. Okay, I can see that.

But now... she wants him to be the true King and sit on the Iron Throne? In King's Landing? Where's scared that he'll be killed? And he would be in at least as much, if not more danger as said King? And then there's the fact that any path putting Jon on the Iron Throne would involve forcibly removed Cersei; just waiting for the people to rebel seems like pie in the sky.

I mean, yeah, they're leaning hard into Dany breaking bad and wanting the Iron Throne too badly and hence not being a good ruler when it's all said and done. So I could see if Sansa was really pushing hard just for Jon to stay and ruling the North independently, but the motivations and actions are a complete mess here.

there's no real time going into establishing motivations

even Dany and Jon, and the "I wish things were like they used to be" is funny because it was like for a few minutes 2 weeks ago.

plus ever since last season they've been traveling at 20th century speeds, which wouldn't be as glaring if they didn't spend years taking entire seasons to get from a to b.

And it's showing.

Since Varys is now talking that let's wack Dany for the good of the realm shit.

He'll probably drop that line Varys did when he testified against Tryion. "Sadly I dont forget a thing"

.
.

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

"Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men..."~ Co

Tyrion's given a few half-hearted nods of support for Dany lately. Sansa asked him if he was afraid of her, and he basically just admitted it, but clearly didn't REALLY believe a good leader has to instill "some amount of fear" (or whatever it was he said). Dinklage has been doing the moral conflict thing really well for the past few episodes, and it's been steadily growing.

.
.

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

"Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men..."~ Co

.
.

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

"Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men..."~ Co

He's a whole by "any means necessary" thing. Even if that means trickery, poisoning, backstabbing...etc. But at least he's doing it for the people.

.
.

"I cannot see how nature could have created itself. Only a supernatural force that is outside of space and time could have done that. ~ Francis Collins

"Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically, as something done for the Lord and not for men..."~ Co

He and Littlefinger started out looking similar. But Littlefinger was in it for Littlefinger, chaos is a ladder, and all that.

Varys strikes me as a guy who knows that society is unjust, and who's ready to bend those unjust rules to slowly change them for the better.

"you all can have Missandei back and Dany you can have the Iron Throne, open the gates!"

What did Tyrion really think he was going say to dissuade her? After their last meeting it should've been clear that he could say nothing to influence his sister. I'm surprised she didn't have one of her archers take him out then and there. I guess she still does have an extremely small soft spot for her little brother.

to help them fight the army of the dead.

They've made him so dumb these last couple seasons, it's depressing.

>to help them fight the army of the dead.
>
>They've made him so dumb these last couple seasons, it's
>depressing.

is not actually Euron's.

(Because he knew about the baby at a time when supposedly only Cersei, Euron, and Qyburn knew about it. And he hadn't even seen Cersei since a time BEFORE she'd been with Euron.)

Maybe it's far-fetched, but I'm patiently waiting for a way for Tyrion to redeem himself with a clever scheme, so maybe Euron will start asking questions next episode...

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

Dude straight jacked up her plan.

He found a way to say it without saying it.

But Cersei knew what he was up to and she wasn't having it.

all of the kingdoms independence. Both Dany and Jon are far too dumb to actually rule Westeros.

Just feels like they are racing from plot point to plot point.

-Sure ships can get launch a surprise attack on a dragon

-Sure Bran (or is it Bron) can roll up and make a new deal and just leave (by the way, a deal made under duress isn't really much of a deal).

- Sure we fall for the misdirection that Jaime is rushing back to be by the side of Cersi not kill her.

- Sure Tyrion's idea confronting Cersei like they did with an emotional plea with that tiny ass army was going to turn out other than it did.

-Sure fine ass Missandei, and Missandei alone, would end up in the hands of Cersei.

All these things happening just because the plot requires these things to happen.


Anyway, still team Sansa because she knows how to play the game.





**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

They're going to battle supposedly, why the fuck would she (or Varys for that matter) be anywhere near a damn battle?

and it’s not like they expected a battle on the water... but they should’ve been prepared.

I expect them to be close but how did she get snatched out of all of them?

They were heading from the North back to Dragonstone, which is Dany's actual home base in Westeros.

Euron was just waiting for them in a cove nearby with his giant fucking ballistas.