lancerman

I mean Jon's the only person that literally got stabbed in the heart after he was the only person taking the White Walker threat seriously and then died and came back. It's not like he doesn't have the best reason of anyone to tell everyone to piss off because he wants a break. Then it didn't even take him much convincing.

I think literally everybody and their mother predicted the dragon save. And that's why this scene worked. It wasn't the obvious thing. And it made Dany save herself and showed that she was more than just a girl with magic monsters.

Best episode of the season so far. Progressed every major plot point and also dealt with some of the issues they created by messing with the book plot. LF having complete control of Robin and scaring the hell out of the other Lords of the Vale makes the Lords not look stupid and maintains LF's chessmaster motif. Advanced the Northern plot and set up a clear endgame and layed out the stakes. Dany/Jorah/Daario taking care of the khals without the obvious "Dragon's make the save" was a nice twist and got us out of this hell hole of plot that we've been stuck in. Cause really the last think Dany's plot needs is more stuttering. She needs to go back with Dothraki, clean up Mereen in one episode, then travel to Westeros. Ironborn seen was fine and the Lannister's finally consolidating power now sets up a clear path to an endgame with the Sparrows and sets the stage for whatever the conflict with Dorne will end up being. Basically all the plots progressed, any of the issues left over from last episode were dealt with. Solid pacing, and a great ending.

I mean I don't think it necessarily has to happen in the books. But the show has alluded to it enough that they can use it how they did.

I mean she did survive being burnt once in the books too. Also survived her dragons burning down the House of the Undying. It's plausible enough at this point and they hinted it in the very first episode.

I don't think they cut LSH to save the surprise for Jon. I just think plot wise LSH is more of an isolated closure thing for Cat and won't have a major impact of the larger plots.

I think the issue is that Dorne going to war against the IT and the Lannister's is crucial to the plot and the set up for destabilizing the kingdom for Dany and the army of the undead. Aegon was probably an incidental red herring to accomplish that, and D&D didn't feel like devoting the screen time to setting up what amounted to misdirection. Which is understandable. It's another segment of actors, it relies on history (and we know because of Tyrion and his wife that D&D don't have too much faith in the audience keeping up with that), and it probably requires it's own location. You need Dorne and they have a reason to want a war without Aegon. You can just make it a straight up conquest as opposed to rallying behind a false king. It's a similar deal with LSH. Her exclusion, left Brienne and Jamie without direction. So they figured "hey lets send Jamie to Dorne so we have a named character there for the audience to latch onto, since he's not really primed up for the next phase of where his story goes yet. Then he can come to KL at the end and be ready for whatever goes on there. It's far from ideal. But a battle between the hose that holds the throne and the most independent part of the country who have despised them for years is a hard storypoint to break. The detail of a (most likely) fake prince used as their rallying point is easier. I'll give them a solid and say the Dorne plot in the books was Arianne acting like moron and a bunch of posturing as her plan resulted in nothing, until the very end when Doran revealed his secret plan. Dorne in the show was a bunch of people acting like morons and a bunch of posturing until Ellaria revealed her coup and her plan to take out the Lannisters. Obviously the book was more nuanced and has more pay off, but it's not all so dissimilar.

The probables is that Doran's master plan hinges on Aegon at the moment. Since Dany obviously blew it with Quentyn. And since Aegon, who is probably fake, was cut, that means there is no master plan. So Doran now is the old man who sat by and did nothing like everyone says he is. Arianne was cut because she has no Targaryen to marry. And Hotah is so close to both that it takes him out of the running as well. So you are left with the need for a war between two factions who already hate each other, but the main catalyst was probably considered to expensive and convoluted for the audience (who unlike the books, haven't been beat over the head with Targaryen history). So you need a new a catalyst for a war. Well a prince just died. Logically his girlfriend and daughters would be pissed. Then you take it from there. Not ideal, but it's the sort of thing you can work backwards to figure out why certain things happened.

It's obvious why Dorne is the way it is. It has nothing to do with appeasing fans. It has everything to do with fAegon being cut. In the books it's kind of obvious at this point that the end goal is Dorne vs Lannisters. In the books it's Arianne marrying Aegon (or at least that's the set up). Unfortunately Aegon most likely being fake and probably being a massive added cost to the show (requires a good deal of casting, probably it's own location, would probably add episodes to the series, oh and not to mention it slows down Tyrion's story lol) made it more feasible to just scrap it. Especially since it relies on history that a good deal of the audience isn't paying attention to. So they needed a War with Dorne. They didn't want Aegon who was the most likely catalyst for that War. So they had to rewrite everything down there and make someone the catalyst. Sucks, but realistically if they did it right everyone is here complaining that only about half the content from the last season happened to accommodate. Rather than Dorne having a handful of shitty scenes and is actually getting to the important story point,

I remember last year when all the critics said "but Ellaria killing Myrcella doesn't make sense because they have Trystane". And then I remember saying that "Ellaria doesn't care about Trystane, she wants to start a war with the Lannisters".

But you have to take into account that at this point Sansa already agreed to cover up Lysa's murder for LF and agreed to marry Ramsay Bolton and give legitimacy to her mother and brothers killer because LF suggested it. She's very much under LF's spell. In the books a different dynamic exists where Sansa has more power. In the show LF has been stringing her along the whole way. At this point in the game, once again LF is the guy that comes to the rescue (after putting her in danger, just like he put her in danger by killing Joffrey and then "saved her" by sneaking her out of KL, and the time he put her in danger from Lysa's jealous rage and "saved her" by killing her aunt).

Why would she agree to it. Because 1. He rescued her from King's Landing 2. He recued her from Lysa. 3. He likely was the one who had the Bolton's ousted. If she dies. 1. Well he still ousted whoever was there. 2. He has the Vale and the crown backing him so try to beat him with the biggest and least damaged army North of Dorne and the Westerlands and Reach supporting him. Good luck.

Lets take each of those then Stannis wins. Ramsay marries Sansa. Because Sansa is in the Vale, LF still has the backing of the crown to crush Stannis with the Vale's troops. The worst case scenario for him at that point is that he has to make a decision between marrying or turning over Sansa. Realistically he gains more from flipping the crown off. Marrying Sansa. Then daring Cersie to march on him with the entire North, Vale, and possibly Riverlands in the fold. In which case he induces a war with a weakened Lannister/Tyrell force and probably usurps them. That's a pretty good deal for him. His other option in that scenario is that he can just lie to Stannis and say he planted Sansa there to get the crown to turn on the Bolton's. Which would diminish Roose's support and make him an easier target for Stannis. Which is true. He can even say Cersie gave him the go ahead to crush the Bolton's in case Stannis failed to rescue Sansa. Then he offers the Vale's troops to help Stannis in his war if he agrees to let him marry Sansa and take the North. In which case he has the North, Vale, and is the most valuable ally of the new king. Now lets say Sansa dies in the North. LF can just crush Stannis who will be weak. And now he has the crowns backing. So he takes the North and the Vale and he is the most valuable ally to Cersie and has her loyalty Stannis wins, Sansa remains in Vale This is significantly riskier. First off you need Stannis to win. No guarantee. Yeah if Stannis wins it works out. But notice how the last scenario was pretty much a win/win because Sansa is in the Vale. In this scenario, Sansa only matters if Stannis can win. And then he has to get the Vale willing to back his Stannis war. Which would be a harder sell. It leaves to many variables just by virtue of Sansa being there. He has to hope Stannis wins, hope he can get the Vale to rally around Stannis (doubtful). He will now be torn between the crown and Stannis. It's just too iffy. Stannis loses, Sansa marries Ramsey Once again every option is a win for LF here. He now has the crowns blessing to take the Vale and oust the Bolton's. So option one. Sansa dies. He takes the North. The crown backs him. The power of the Vale is the might that backs his claim. He also is the hero that defeated the Bolton's and avenged Sansa's death to the Northerners. Which is a much better option than the Bolton's. So he has the North, Vale and is the most valuable ally to Cersie and the crown. Option 2. Sansa lives. He marries Sansa. Now he has the North, and the Vale. Cersie is pissed and provokes him. He uses the North and Vale, and probably the Riverlands (married to Hoster Tully's granddaughter, formerly married to his daughter Lysa, has custody of his other grandson) and can quite easily beat the Lannister's and Tyrell's. So he could have quite the opportunity at the crown for himself. Stannis loses, Sansa stays in the Vale Except without Sansa in the North, he would have no reason to attack the Bolton's? He wouldn't have the crowns go ahead? Sansa wouldn't be there as an incentive. It's just a much harder sell all around. He's basically openly rebelling against the North and the crown. How is the Vale supposed to take that? Atleast he has the crown's backing with any scenario that has Sansa in the Vale. And then if he chooses to marry Sansa by that point he has so much power he can dictate everything anyways. Once again, it's too much of a risk.

See that's the thing he's not risking anything with Sansa being there. Sansa has one value and that is legitimacy in the North to whoever is married to her. Outside of that she doesn't matter. She doesn't matter in the Vale. She doesn't matter in KL. She's the heir to a dead house. That dead house just happens to have a name that still carries weight among Northeners. So once Sansa is in there it gives the Bolton's something they desperately need because their reputation is shit from betraying the Starks. It gives Cersie a cause to sanction LF's Vale attack. Lets say Sansa dies. Okay now whoever wins between Stannis and Roose is depleted and open season for LF. He wins the North. He avenges Sansa's death. He names himself Warden. The crown gives him legitimacy because Sansa is dead. So he has the North just by defacto of being backed by the most power and he isn't as hated as the Bolton's and he is now invaluable to the crown. Lets say Sansa lives. If the Bolton's win, he ousts the Bolton's. Marries Sansa for himself. Is a big hero who defeated the people who betrayed the Starks and is married to the eldest trueborn Stark. If Cersie is pissed he has the North and Vale in the middle of winter when Cersie could never hope to retaliate for many years, by which point she will have lost the bulk of her influence. In the meantime the North and the Vale (who has been completely untouched by the war) can bring in the Riverlands and mount a campaign against the weakened Lannister/Tyrell alliance. If Stannis wins, Stannis names her Wardness anyways. He can just marry her under the guise of shoring up an alliance between the North and the Vale. He gets control of the North. And when Cersie gets irate that he fucked her over by keeping Sansa alive, he now uses the North and the Vale to back Stannis in his campaign to take the crown. So now he's invaluable to the new king, and controls the North and has massive influence over the Vale. There are no scenarios where LF is not in a massive position of power and has the biggest advantage.

The thing is, assuming he can oust the Bolton's almost none of the scenarios are disadvantageous to him. With him having the Vale backing him he has the might. Outing the Bolton's who betrayed the Starks gives him favor with the Northern Lords. If Sansa is alive he can marry her and it gives him legitimacy with the North. If she is dead, he gets legitimacy with the crown and Cersie. All the while he has the Vale too and all it's power propping him up for an extended period of time to secure his hold, and he influences Robin for when he takes control and now he has a puppet (unless he somehow weasels a way into more permanent control of that). The only real drawback for him is that if he marries Sansa, and Cersie still has power, she will be furious, but she isn't going to march on a guy who has the North and Vale in the middle of winter. She doesn't have the might and the Tyrell's and Lannisters won't want to back her into a war like that. And even if she can muster the strength, by the time she has a chance to attack, years will have passed with LF securing his power and being in a perfect position to mount a defense.

It doesn't have normal viewership. Within a week you are talking like close to 19 million people having seen an episode and probably 30 million or more when you factor in piracy. In 2015 that's huge. Put it this way. Breaking Bad for it it's first four seasons averaged between 1.4 million and 2.9 million. It's final season averaged 5.9 million. And that's on a show where you really had to catch the first viewing, they don't do replays as frequently, and more of the country has it as part of their cable package than HBO. And that was one of the bigger shows on tv. A STRONG network show (something basically everyone in America with a tv has) like Modern Family can get average around 12 million. But it also isn't going to get the extra 10= million during the week that Game of Thrones gets and it's not going to get the piracy that GOT gets anyways. And you don't see twitter and facebook blow up every week because of those shows (Maybe the Breaking Bad finale), major sites and internet services getting too much traffic during episodes. Right now in America the most watched show is Sunday Night Football on NBC. It is something almost everyone has to watch the day of because its sports and everyone knows the results almost immediately. It's on one of the 3 main networks that everyone gets. It averages 21 million viewers. It's not going to get viewing later in the week. People won't pirate. GOT during the average week gets 18 million-19 million viewers (this years it's probably closer to 19). So it's just under that. Then there is piracy to factor in. So all in all, more people in a given week likely watch Game of Thrones compared to anything else. And before you say oh your only taking the first airing numbers for Football and the weekly numbers for GOT, nobody is watching the Sunday night game anything but live.

You have to pay to get HBO to watch Game of Thrones. Also not all of HBO's subscribers watch it the night of because HBO airs it during the week regularly, they have it on most cable on demand services, they have it on HBO Go and HBO now. Also because it is on a pay station it has a huge piracy issue that other network shows don't have. So really what you are looking at is The 8 million that watch the night of, plus the viewers that catch it later in the week, plus the viewers that watch it On Demand/HBO GO/HBO NOW, and then for total viewership (not anything that benefits HBO) you might also look at the piracy viewers who make it the most pirated show in the world. Just an example. The first season had an average of 2.5 million viewers the night of. Then it averaged 9.5 million during the entire week with repeats and on demand viewing. And that was before HBO Now. Season 4's average of total viewership for the week was 18.6 million which broke the record from the Sopranos. This season will probably break that. And because HBO doesn't play to advertisers, first airing viewings don't matter as much. That's not counting how many people pirate it. Which is substantial since it's the most pirated show in the world. The last episode just broke the illegal download record and was projected to be illegally downloaded over 10 million times in a few days.

No but getting good reviews and getting a mostly positive reception from fans and critics does. And that's the situation this show is in. Quality is subjective. You can only measure the amount of people that have favorable subjective opinions. Just like millions would say you have bad taste for thinking the beatles suck.

And during the Beatles era they were the most commercially successful band in the world so I don't see your point. It goes beyond ratings. Most fans, critics, even people on this site leaned on the side of liking this season. The one's that don't are a minority.

Probably because he has everyone under the son bitching at him for not writing fast enough and he's on the verge of having the book he spent the last 5 years working on spoiled at the last minute and this is his final chance to actually be ahead of the series. He also cancelled a bunch of convention appearances too. He talked about the show like 4 weeks ago in his blog

The real answer is that the show hasn't established the laws of Westeros and the jurisdictions between the faith and king. It's perfectly reasonable to assume treason to the crown is a more political crime that the king would have to try you with it and Tommen isn't going to do that. Murder, adultery, incest are more in line with how a contemporary audience would view religious priorities.

The last thing she did before leaving KL was getting Oathkeeper and resolving to keep all the oaths she made. The notable ones were rescuing the Stark girls and avenging Renly. She ran into Arya, who distrusted her and got away. She had the same thing happen with Sansa. But true to her word, she followed her to Winterfell and waited like loyal servant waiting to be called for help. When Stannis finally attacked she went to fulfill that Oath. Thats her arc. As a character it's more about her resolve and undying pursuit of her goals. Most people would have said what's the sense in waiting for Sansa. But Brienne has to fulfill her oath.

True that to. But storyline wise the most contrived thing about Brienne was meeting Arya randomly. At least with Sansa, you can rationalize that Brienne would have found out she was in the North at one point whether they met at the tavern or not. Everything else was leading up to what happened.

Well I wouldn't say that's poor writing. I would say that's the most likely thing that Ramsay would do if he married them. Which actually is consistent writing. Which would be the real answer to why it's happening in both instances. GRRM and D&D could have totally contrived a reason not to do that. But it wouldn't be realistic. The whole point of that marriage is to produce an heir and legitimize your hold on Winterfell. It's uncomfortable and both are guilty of not being subtle at all with that. And it probably would have been better to avoid showing or bringing it up and leaving it for the imagination. But

It's not really luck when nearly the entire North, Vale and KL knows Stannis is planning to attack there. She was going after Sansa. She was just lucky that Stannis attacked before Sansa made her bid.