Thel

2: Small redeeming moments and some fan service. Worst episode of the season. Unbelievable bit after unbelievable bit. Really awful.

Is there any reason the three main visions in Dany's HOTU "bride of fire" can't correspond to the three heads of the dragon? Dany. Aegon, Jon? That's still a possible vote for the prow sanding corpse to be Jon Con. There's no way Dany is "marrying" Euron. He's twisted and savage. Also, why, if the corpse is supposed to be representing Euron (vis a vis Aeron?) is it sadly smiling? The image seems to me to express accomplishment at a price.

4 Thin episode with some redeeming moments for mis en scene and acting. What is up with the writing this season? Rags on a skeleton. Covering too much ground and missing the savory lustre of the early seasons. Iain Glen continues to be both nuanced and solid. His conversation with Tyrion was easily one of the best pieces of a sketchy and kind of dismal episode. The Winterfell scenes were solid if only because of the acting. What the writers are doing? Bizarre. Deserving of a total wtf. Justify it all you want but i'm sick to death of almost every character arc of almost every woman (except for Arya?) on the show relating to (mostly non consensual) sex. Sansa escapes dear ol' Joff only to be bedded by Ramsey? Inexorable logic of rapey-ness that is this show. There's got to be a flow chart somewhere. Are you a woman on GoT? Have you been raped, yet? Are you sure you're a woman? Wedding costuming? Sophie Turner looked perfect. Her take down of Miranda, fantastic. Alfie's acting? Pathetic in the best possible way. Iwan Rheon always makes my skin crawl. King's Landing? Fine, I guess. Could see the entrapment of Marg a mile away. Olenna shouldn't have been surprised. Poor writing. LF's dialogue w Cersei? Fine and artful. He says he "lives to serve" but he never says to whom. Dorne? Weird. It feels rushed and lazy all at the same time. EDIT: Forgot to mention Arya. I guess that's telling. HoB&W is weird and deeply psychological in the books. This is just falling flat for me.

Thanks, Teal'c! (oh, also, I'm with the poster who mentioned The Brothers Karamazov and the corruption of Tywin's corpse. It's what I thought of when reading, as well....)

Hi, All, This is my first post, but I've really enjoyed reading through this thread-entire, with its various references to literature, poetry, history, sci-fi, comics and all... Mostly I appreciate now this thread inflects my thinking of Martin as a reader and crafter of cultural and mythopoetic narratives. And I like seeing some of my thoughts echoed by others--- For example, I've long thought Martin's writing showed influence of ( if not homage to) Dune. The Starks remind me of the Atredeis, the Faceless Men of the face dancers, "wheels within wheels (within wheels)", Alia and the gom jabar, the litany against fear, and mostly significantly, something like moral relativism and a cynical and instrumental understanding of fanaticism and religion. Also: Britomart and Brienne!, Brotherhood without Banners and Robin Hood, Tower of Joy...et al. Something I didn't see though, despite such an impressive nod to other fantasy series and writers was any mention of Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm specifically thinking about the way Kay absorbed cultural or national identity into writing a specific fantasy world: ie. Spain and the story of El Cid for The Lions of al'Rassan, or the French Troubadours for A Song for Arbonne, and lastly, A fantastical pre-renaissance Italy for Tigana. I only started thinking about this because I was thinking about other analogues for Patchface (other than Shakespeare which is totes the archetype. Long Live the Shakespearean fool!) ---and just how creepy he is---and how we might suspect something more from him, and it made me think of Rhun, King Brandin's fool from Tigana. Anyway, what a fun read. Thanks!