Valhalla Morghulis

Just like 8, 9, 10 of season 5, the last two of 6 have been very strong. The KL beginning with a scheming Cersei renouncing the devil Corleone-style was excellent. Tommen jumping was a surprise but we all know the prophesy including Cersei and that he had to die. Margaery was a shock and a shame, an interesting Sirenic character and well played by Nathalie Dormer. The King in the North deference harkened nicely back to Rob in 1, and the Stark circle, after disparate years apart, is coming complete. Arya took another one pleasingly off her list and it will be interesting to see if she kills Cersei, or will it be Jamie, or even more interestingly Brienne in front of Jamie. Great to see the dragons at full power in the last epis and Dany now on her way home. The TOJ scenes I would have liked 5/6 scenes on throughout the season, including a little of seeing Rhaegar and Robert at the Trident, and I wanted all the dialogue taken verbatim from GRRM. He didn't write much on it but it lives long in our hearts and is the basis of much of the mythology of the show, and to do it full justice I think we needed more of it in the show and possibly stronger more impactful actors too, which is usually one of the great strengths of the show.

So the books were the problem all along! Now we are free of their shackles the TV series can fly! GRRM knew. RIP.

Best episode for Dany in many seasons, and great that she came up with the solution and not the shining Knights or dragon. The Stark reunion was great, the hug, much like Rob and Jon's parting in the first season, spoke so much to their deep inner feelings for each other. Too much HS he has got to go. LF manipulating was great again, he's still the real power player they have to all conquer to get to the Iron throne, and better for Tyrion but still not like the season 2/3 machinations.

I give it a good 8. TOJ fight scene was well executed, this is a visual medium and we have had a 100 duels so far so showing Dayne can wield two swords expertly is a visual way of showing he is superior to Ned and any other fighter. Dialogue felt a bit of a let down but then for readers waiting 25 years this was never going to live up unless GRRM was doing the voiceover word for word. For the show it served it's purpose. Howland backstabbing him made sense, I'm sure this is GRRM's idea not DDs invention. Arya scene was her best for a while, mention of Hound portends a return. Umber and Ramsay was a good scene, lots of tension and silent hostility. As we have no LF, we really need him back, these guys intriguing around each other is welcome. Ending with Jon disavowing the NW was good. Bad was Dany back in Dothraki land but this is GRRMs fault she should be in/on way to Westeros. Tyrion scene was boring but this again is GRRMs fault he too should be with Dany in Westeros.

Yes, clearly Mel didn't tell him about Shireen, and Davos will have assumed that evil Boltons killed them all including Shireen. Davos is a well travelled and actually quite a wise man and for the sake of CB and Westeros he would put aside his distaste for Mel to see if there was anything her blood magic could do for Jon.

Very good episode and unlike the first one, full of action and twists. Great to see Lyanna and that whole storyline open up. Brandon's acting was impressive too, he has a wise calm about him, perfect for the role, well done Isaac. Jamie and HS was nice and tense. Euron v Balon was enthralling. In the books he just fell so much better drama to have Euron brought in and confirm his kill. Ramsay killing Roose was a shock as it came so early but makes perfect sense as Roose is too cautious and now Ramsay's back to being the spare. Tyrion and the dragons was a good scene as it was great to see the dragons again, but more set up needed on why he could approach them. Also setting up he could be a dragon rider. I was surprised Jon woke up, thought they would end the episode on Mel being unsuccessful and building up to his return, with TOJ playing in parallel to a grand Targ reveal later on. Still very interested to see the next epi. The dialogue is not as good as usual as there is ofc not much source material, but they realise this and the dialogue is more sparse than normal which is the correct approach. Looks like an action packed season ahead, lots of twists and turns, and hopefully less dialogue but with it less depth, as the TV and Novels really become two separate entities, to be enjoyed on their own and not in comparison.

A solid start so 7. It was mainly set up. I liked Brienne coming to the rescue, put paid to all the daydreams of Stannis coming back. And Sansa not knowing the oath perfectly makes sense, she has probably never had someone swear one to her directly like that and besides she will be a little flustered having just survived dying five times. Cersei as fatalistic and calm was a good twist as most here were expecting her to go off the rails, and good that Jamie took the revenge lead. Bitching about Dorne is really tiresome now and why shouldn't the sandsnakes have got on a boat straight after Mycella's death and followed them to KL? They knew what was going down immediately so no speedboat needed at all. Overall things are getting a little stale so the thing we really need are new characters, Euron, Randyll etc to enliven the show.