Hizdahr and Yunkia (Book Spoilers)

['96Buck]

But where else are they to spend it? Other than the scene with Daenerys and Drogon, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons are not exactly chock-full with CGI scenes.

Ironborn is going to be expensive. Shooting on the water (or with FX water) is expensive. Remember Waterworld? :)

[juanml82]

But where else are they to spend it? Other than the scene with Daenerys and Drogon, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons are not exactly chock-full with CGI scenes.

Well, CGI is not the only expensive thing. AFFC/ADWD are location heavy and cast heavy and those two things will also chew up their budgets.

[Veltigar]

And there are plenty of battles if they wish to show it. The Battle of Ice for instance

[Caerl Targaryen]

Crackpot: they wanted to show Jorah's reaction to it, but Jorah has to be exiled soon ;)

I actually don't think that's all that crackpot at all. They've intentionally been mentioning Jorah's spying on Dany from season 1 (setup for his dismissal) and they've reintroduced the reason he left Westeros. On top of that, they've made a point to show how much his counsel means to her and that he's actually able to influence her decisions. Making it so Dany likes Daario in a way that she doesn't like him will make his exile all the more crushing and dramatic.

It'd be crushing for Dany because she'll be losing a trusted advisor and everything he's told her will be questioned. And it'd be crushing for Jorah because he'll be getting exiled by the woman he loves that doesn't love him back in the way that he wants. A bit too soap opera-ish but that seems to be the kind of thing they'd do.

[Hard Hugh]

I agree that Hizdar is not the harpy but I have always believe that Hizdar was the true Harpy's catspaw.

In mentioning the temples...perhaps we are due to meet the Green Grace soon.

[Ser Oromus Locke]

So are we not getting a Shavepate?

Almost positive that Daario will turn his cloak.

When I heard that she ordered him to go to Yunkai, the first thing I thought was: Oh, so Daario has now morphed into not so Brown Ben Plumm. It's exactly what they needed to do in my eyes.. Oh, and Grey Worm will take Daario's commanding roles. I mean they even clearly established the sellsword motto in this episode, so it should be clear that he switches sides. Daario likes the two F's, but like my man Russell Brand has spoken, the one F, gets dull after a prolonged relationship and as he says, he can't get the other F in Meereen.

This thing with Hizdahr going to Yunkai is a bit weird, but it allows for the Meereen storyline to be stretched a bit until the last episode will reveal that Dany's plan has failed and that she's now cornered and besieged with zero allies, especially if she's dismissed Jorah.. ..and it will effectively push Dany's story arc in Season 5 into a higher gear, because of the constant threat. Whereas Dany is now boring, she'll be far more hardpressed and entertaining in Season 5, also because she can't swoon over Daario if he's become Brown Ben, having her needing to focus on ruling entirely.

Pretty sure they're casting Shavepate right now..

Ruling a city, and what does she have? A once legendary knight, a girl that speaks 19 languages and an army of Unsullied that have started to fall due to nightly gorilla attacks.. They'll need a few more to fill the "Meereenese camp".

I'm okay with the throw-away introduction of the trouble at Astapor, mostly because we're not going to spend much more time there. It's more of a distant problem for Dany that only comes to bite her once the pale mare arrives. The revenge killings on the other hand... see my point above. I don't know what they were thinking introducing something that close to Dany'S current storyline like that.

As for Hizdahr being sent to Yunkai, she's sending him there as an ambassador, hoping that he, being a master, will convince the other masters not to throw their lies away. Personally, I thinks it's more than likely that he will betray her, encourage Yunkai to attack, establish connections between Yunkai and the Harpy and then come running back to Daenerys saying the masters threatened to kill him, or something. Cue more killings in the street, followed by his marriage proposals to stop the violence.

I think they're actually taking their time to set Meereen. We need to think that things are moderately okay for her to sit there on her little throne, before it all turns to shift in the last episode, in which - like you what you're saying - Hizdahr will return with some lame excuse that they tried to kill him and that Second Sons have turned cloak (as the then banished Jorah foretold). It's sort of the same as the Jon/Bran/Craster-plot to me, and in this case, it is just stalling time and allowing for Daario to be morphed into Brown Ben - which means that we'll get Tyrion joining Daario at the end of Season 5. Daario is pretty big in Dance, but he's also often away on missions, for which they can use whatever Unsullied division leader they'll sort of establish.. The writers can easily use Grey Worm for those missions.

It's just an easy way to spread out her arc this season while already introducing some main characters for season 5 in like two episodes.

As for the revenge killings, it's the same as the goats in the earlier episode.. If they were rushing this storyline, then they immediately would've gone to Hazzea, but they didn't.. Same with the revenge killings.. It doesn't hurt to slowly introduce an issue that starts as a small issue. Remember that Skahaz reports that the killings increase? Well, they obviously do not start off with killing 9 Unsullied at a time..

Something I always thought about the beginning of Dance was that it felt like quite a few weeks had passed since she conquered Meereen at the end of Swords. This tailpart of the season feels to me as if they're filling that gap with a few choices that don't really hurt the following storyline all that much.

Yeah, it's very strange... First Qarth was taken out of the picture in season two, then she got control of the Meereenese navy, and now she's stopping the Yunkai'i before they can reclaim Astapor and march to Meereen? It looks like they're taking out all the things that led up to the (second) siege of Meereen and the eventual "Battle of Fire".

It's all to make it seem as if Dany's line of ruling is working until episode 10, in which the reveal will come that the Second Sons have joined Yunkai and that they are advancing on her: OOPS!

Just think of Daario as Ben Plumm after this episode. Second sons have the Meereenese navy.. Sooooooo, when they turn cloak for Yunkai.. who has control of the Meereenese navy? Not Danaerys', that's for sure. They're temporarily making it seem as if she's ruling well enough, but only for the next two episodes or so.. I'm pretty sure we'll see the Meereenese Knot in full effect in Season 5.

Really, I don't remember what season 2 ended on, but 1 and 3 ended with Dany having success. The Meereen-storyline is really all about her being backed into a corner on every front.

In mentioning the temples...perhaps we are due to meet the Green Grace soon.

I don't think so, probably season 5, along with Skagaz and Reznak, if those guys in the Meereen Assault scene weren't them already.. I think they focused on three separate Meereenese the whole time, one of which was Hizdahr, with the scrawny caucasian guy perhaps being Reznak and a big tan burly guy perhaps being Skagaz.

[Caerl Targaryen]

I rewatched this tonight and I made a mistake. Daario is being sent away still. For some reason I had understood that he'd be staying behind, which wouldn't make sense given what Dany is trying to accomplish by sending Hizdahrz.

[Zombies That Were Promised]

Great post, Ser Oromus Locke. I love everything you said. Dany must face harsh realities, indeed. Being surrounded by enemies would top off having no Jorah and no dragons quite nicely.

[Mistress of Lemon Cakes]

If I remember correctly when the Harpy killings are first introduced in the books, it's kind of as a throwaway line as well, right? It's only after the murders persist and one of Missendei's brothers are murdered that Dany issues the order to double the patrols. And then later citizens of Meereen, freed slaves, Dany sympathizers are murdered and so the plot escalates. So we have plenty of time to get into the Sons of the Harpy plot.

I also think the fact that they keep mentioning the Graces means we will be introduced to them soon.

Really not sure where they are going with the Hizdar in Yunkai thing though, but I feel like the invented material for Meereen has been solid so far so I'm going to remain optimistic for the time being. I'm sure Hizdar will be back. Dany will need someone to take Jorah's place on her council and we will eventually have to put some faces to the eventual opposition she faces.

[Joseph Nobles]

I think Hizdahr will "escape" from Yunkai to bring news of the Second Sons' treachery, and marrying him is the only way to shore up her control of Meereen. Any ambivalence about the marriage will be crushed when a shepherd shows up with Drogon's latest victim. Jorah will freak the eff out and Dany will send him packing, especially if Barristan chooses then to reveal Jorah's spy activities for Robert Baratheon.

[RoamingRonin]

Jorah convinces Dany to spare the masters of Yunkai. Hizdahr will successfully negotiate a peace with Yunkai but only if she marries him.

[Runaway Penguin]

Second sons betray her - she gets more paranoid. Ser Friendzone suggests something stupid, Barristan outs him. Murders begin. Hizdahr presses his suit.

[Caerl Targaryen]

Dang, those are some serious over-simplifications. Sounds about right for their take on Essos so far, though.

[Tixu Oty]

I really like what they're doing with the Meereen situation so far. I like that Dany is settling down and getting into the political side of it all. For some reason, it seems much more appealing to me on screen than it did in the books.

Hizdahr isn't send to rule but to negociate. Which I thought was a great move since it's setting him up to be an adviser of some sort later on.

I don't think Hizdahr and Daario will be gone very long. I have no idea where they're going with this but I do like that they are starting to change some details around on the Meereenese plot. That stuff needed simplification and dramatization to work well on screen. I've read some of you think Daario will stay in Yunkai. That's good thinking guys, but it feels like it's kinda early for Daario to betray Dany, don't you think?

Also the revenge killings are the slaves taking revenge on the masters, as is depicted in the books (supplicants and stuff). I like that they also keep gently reminding us that things aren't all that easy inside Meereen either.

Just a quick question... Is there discussion of TWoW chapters here? If so, I will excuse myself from the discussion as I am waiting for the book to release to read it in its entirety.

I don't think there's been anything about it so far and anyways I have a question for you guys: Are we supposed to use spoiler tags when discussing WOW preview chapters? I guess it would make sense.

A little bit of him being Whitebeard and showing his humbleness. A little bit of ass kicking here and there. Having him hover over her like the body guard he is. Those things would all be nice. I mean isn't he more important than Daario ultimately? And speaking of which, this guy they've got playing Daario now has no swagger. He seems like the male lead in a Sandra Bullock movie.

I agree. I loved Huisman in Nashville but I have much trouble adapting to this new Daario. Skrein seemed so much more like a Daario to me.

In mentioning the temples...perhaps we are due to meet the Green Grace soon.

Were the temples mentionned? I didn't hear that.

[Caerl Targaryen]

I'm not convinced Daario will betray Dany so early. He has no reason to do so when he's getting sexy time with his silver queen. I mean, he'd be a fool to betray her now. I expect him to betray her when the wedding to Hizdahr becomes a reality. That seems more dramatically appropriate.

I don't recall hearing about the temples at all. Just the vague revenge killings that weren't elaborated on.

I'm having difficulty with Huisman as Daario too. It's amplified by his excellent work on Orphan Black this season. Admittedly, he was given far more interesting material on that, and far more screen time. He also doesn't need to fake a British accent on that show and it greatly improves his performance. Never seen Nashville so I don't have an opinion on that.

[Tixu Oty]

I'm not convinced Daario will betray Dany so early. He has no reason to do so when he's getting sexy time with his silver queen. I mean, he'd be a fool to betray her now.

Exactly and exactly. If Daario betrays Dany, which seems pretty likely, he'll do it when thing start looking pretty ugly. Not only about Hizdahr but also on the war front.

[Caerl Targaryen]

Exactly and exactly. If Daario betrays Dany, which seems pretty likely, he'll do it when thing start looking pretty ugly. Not only about Hizdahr but also on the war front.

Definitely. It seems clear that they've set him up to fill the role of Ben Plumm in addition to Strong Belwas (and maybe others) so his betrayal is inevitable given that. Daario's arc in ADWD works especially well with this particular change. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of him betraying Dany like this because it does seem a bit too cliched. But it's a convenient simplification that gets the job done and it's nowhere near as bad as what they did to Dany's arc in season 2.

[Faceless Man Friday]

I was amazed tonight at the throwaway line of "The Second Sons are patrolling the streets to stop the revenge killings" or some variant.

Sons of the Harpy, or what?

In the book there were revenge killings over the initial looting of the City before the Sons of Harpy started their attacks. In the books the revenge killings were described by the supplicants coming before Dany seeking justice. Since they did not show all 200 cases to come before Dany as she ruled, I think they mentioned it in that scene to show there was still unrest in the city, but the Harpy attacks have not yet started.

[Caerl Targaryen]

In the book there were revenge killings over the initial looting of the City before the Sons of Harpy started their attacks. In the books the revenge killings were described by the supplicants coming before Dany seeking justice. Since they did not show all 200 cases to come before Dany as she ruled, I think they mentioned it in that scene to show there was still unrest in the city, but the Harpy attacks have not yet started.

If they filmed such a scene, it was cut in the final product. There was no mention of anything like that as far as I remember. If any such mention exists, it'd be in the same episode where Dany crucified the masters but I don't recall anything in that episode about that either.

The first supplicant was the goat herd and second was Hizdahr asking to bury his father. Other than that and the throwaway line, we've had no other information about the state of Meereen since it was captured.

These are things that deserve to be dealt with onscreen, not in the background or through throwaway lines. More time on this sort of thing and less time on Night's Watch deserters and weak battles at the Dreadfort would have been ideal I think.

['96Buck]

If they filmed such a scene, it was cut in the final product. There was no mention of anything like that as far as I remember. If any such mention exists, it'd be in the same episode where Dany crucified the masters but I don't recall anything in that episode about that either.

The first supplicant was the goat herd and second was Hizdahr asking to bury his father. Other than that and the throwaway line, we've had no other information about the state of Meereen since it was captured.

These are things that deserve to be dealt with onscreen, not in the background or through throwaway lines. More time on this sort of thing and less time on Night's Watch deserters and weak battles at the Dreadfort would have been ideal I think.

Meereen per se doesn't matter. Neither did Qarth. It's about Dany's arc while there, it's all prelude to what she is and who is with her when she returns to Westeros.