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darmody

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Everything posted by darmody

  1. Is that why Brienne kicked Arya to the ground? Did you even watch the scene?
  2. She could have guessed one of her brothers was married, or if this show had extended families that it was a more distant relative. But why, when Sandra is the most obvious candidate? Why not just have her ask if it's Sandra? You get the same effect as her not knowing then hearing it's Sandra. That exchange of dialogue is so pointless it boggles my mind.
  3. Arya took Brienne by surprise early in the fight. By the time Arya was kicked to the ground, obviously Brienne wasn't worried about lightly hurting her. Then the duel ends in a draw, with no indication Brienne let it happen.
  4. The people who think it's cheesy, heavy-handed, or whatever, aren't thinking in terms of alliances and the good of the realm. In that regard, a Jon-Dany marriage makes perfect sense. (Despite the fact that possibly neither of them can produce an heir, him being undead and her womb maybe being cursed. The show must address that at some point.) The part people don't like, I think, is the bubbling romance. The show has never been great at romance, not counting people who were already together, like Ned and Cat. Jon/Ygritte and Dany/Drogo (If they were really supposed to be in love; I was never entirely sure. He was, but Eermilia Clarke's acting never changes, so who knows?) were exceptional, and in comparison the Jon/Dany pairing thus far feels flat. They could plausibly make it all about sex, but that doesn't fit Jon's character. Then there's incest-fatigue, a serious condition among Game of Thrones watchers.
  5. "Negs" are backhanded compliments, not insults. They are intended to be taken negatively, hence the name. But if the women took them as insults they wouldn't work. It's the mix of positive and negative that disarms them. It's a particular form of the general concept of teasing. Flirtation is full of teasing.
  6. I've seen comparisons between Bran and Doctor Manhattan, which make sense in the abstract, because we know a giant existential fight is coming, and that Bran will play a role because of his Shining powers and because of his connection to the Night King. And we know this role will be on a different plane than the gross reality in which the other characters are stuck. Just like we knew Doc Manhattan could foresee some terrible event coming, and had to concentrate on preventing it, as well as wrestling with whether he wanted to bother given his detachment from humanity. But the way this is depicted with Bran, he just sits there being weird. In Watchmen, at least we see the weirdo inhuman human guy working on science stuff, being distracted and too busy to bother with people. Bran just sits there or talks monotonously. We don't know what he's up to or even if he's up to anything. The only thing we've seen him use his powers for in several seasons is to witness his own family's past. Which will be important, since maybe Jon has a claim to the Iron Throne. But it's also Stark gossip, and feels a bit like it's only important because we're interested in the family, not because it has anything to do with the coming war. The show erred deeply, I think, by removing Bran from the show for an entire season, then not telling us what he's really up to. It also erred by failing to properly depict the change in his character from the little kid everyone liked to this weirdo. That's hard to do, admittedly, because most of the characters with whom he interacted before his big shift are dead. They did a bit of that with Meera, but not enough.
  7. I felt for Tyrion, for the first time probably since he killed his father. His relationship with Larry is one of the few family bonds, outside the Starks, that isn't icky or overwrought. I also felt for Larry and thought his story moved forward for the first time in several seasons. Maybe since the last time he defied Carol, which was when he set Tyrion free. The non-Carol Lannisters had been treading water storywise for a long time. They gave Tyrion plenty of story since his endless boat trip ended, but it's all been a snoozer and unbelievable. Now he gets to see with his own eyes what he's doing to his family. See how he likes it. This episode had deep feelz. Season One through Four had two Big Battle episodes, the Blackwater and the Wall. Both were compelling, made sense tactically, and were complex plotwise and character-wise. But since then, the trend has been downwardly, at least for me. Either emotionally barren fights, like the entire Easteros storyline, or they're too stupid to take seriously (see more below) Hardhome was good because it had good action and it moved the plot forward (finally!) with the White Walkers. But did it really? Because the White Walkers still haven't done anything for two seasons. I didn't really feel anything at Hardhome, and I thought maybe they stretched the spectacle to kill time. Battle of the Bastards had feelz aplenty, but it was so, so stupid tactically, plotwise, and characterwise. I *still* don't know what on Planetos Sandra was up to. This past episode, however, had if not realistic action at least a plausible turn of events, given how things work in the Universos. More than that, it gave Larry, Bronn, and Tyrion real feelz to feel. When Larry was deciding whether or not to charge Dany and the dragon, I flashed back to Joffrey mocking him for never accomplishing anything as a knight, besides being anointed young and stabbing the king in the back. Killing the Last (known) Targaryen and effectively winning the war would be something. Then there's Tyrion, who wants revenge on Carol but apparently hasn't thought out completely what that means for the brother he loves. And Bronn, who lost his gold and didn't run, but stayed and possibly saved his friend Larry.
  8. On the other hand, Dany could've dispensed with the Dothraki altogether and just used her dragons. Why did she bring only one? Based on the Mereen battle from last season, they don't need riders. They can coordinate amongst themselves, somehow. The Lannister army had no defense against the dragons, except the scorpion, which Dany didn't anticipate. But there was only one of those, and it was destroyed rather easily. The Dothraki didn't serve much apparent purpose, unless the object was to capture Larry or the food. But aparently not. Or to run down the fleeing enemy. I don't imagine dragons are good at that. But the Lannister forces didn't flee, because apparently Tywin and/or Randall made them the most disciplined army in the history of forever. Still, it was a much more plausible battle than the ridiculous Battle of the Bastards (did the show listen to everyone who said Ramsey should've waited with his shield wall instead of sending his cavalry to charge against the enemy cavalry for no reason?) or the the Magnificent Teleporting/Mind-reading Euron.
  9. My guess, based on how dragon-obsessed this show is (to the detriment of the wolf storyline and the much more important white walker storyline), there's absolutely going to be a zombie dragon. Maybe one of Dany's. It will breath ice. Iron bank on it!
  10. You may have a point if Arya used superior speed and technique--sorta like the Viper, only he had a long weapon and the strength of a full-grown man, in addition to fighting experience--but she didn't. She didn't place herself where Brienne's sword wasn't, and she didn't deflect Brienne's sword just enough so that it missed her. She was fighting straight up, toe-to-toe and deflecting blows that should've knocked that little toothpick out of her hands. As for mechanical advantage mitigating strength difference, I must admit it's theoretically possible for Arya to so arrange her hits. Let's assume she had tried, instead of what she actually did. Still, the odds that a little kid with a fencing sword could pile up a series of such blows against an opponent who's not only stronger with a heavier sword, but also more experienced and shown to be the greatest swordsperson on the show,* are prohibitively long. Not to mention the fact that Brienne is wearing armor and is a foot taller. How does she allow Arya near her head or neck with that itty-bitty sword? Brienne could spend the whole fight keeping Arya a mile away from her and/or allowing blows to bounce off her harmlessly. Arya wasn't depicted as ninja-ing her way in, but rather was executing conventional dueling moves. Once, Brienne kicked her down. That is pretty much how every single engagement should start and end. I might have thought, without knowing anything else about the characters, that Brienne lacked the upper-body strength to properly use her equipment. But they had her win a fistfight against the Hound, who looks like he should be able to cave in a man's skull with a single blow. Also a ridiculous scene, without them informing us that Brienne has magical grrl power. But I can accept it as just the way it is. This past episode, however, did not show us Arya as she had been set-up before. This season she's Super Arya for no reason. *No one has matched beating Loras, Larry, and the Hound, as well as a whole pack of Boltons. Arya's dancing teacher bragged about his skills and we saw a bit of them, but not enough to judge. The Sword of the Morning was impressive, but we don't know how good the other guys were, except Ned, who was losing to Larry before he got stabbed in Season One. Jon got bested by some Flea Bottom cutthroat.
  11. It doesn't have to amount to that, even. She could simply serve to introduce the idea that Carol is being too careless, and putting herself and Larry in danger by flaunting their sexy time. Or even just the idea that Carol is confident and not hiding anymore. Also, her hairstyle reinforces the influence Carol wields over her court.
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