gogorath

Smoke baby was pretty damn real. Melisandre definitely plays some slight of hand, but there's real magic there sometimes. Whether the source is what Mel thinks it is is another debate.

The world is full of stories of people sacrificing the ones they love. While I think D&D could have made the desperation of the situation either clearer or more desperate... there's really only two views of Stannis that make all that much sense, given his actions. Both love their daughter -- they aren't inhuman. But that love is secondary. The more admirable version of Stannis is probably the religious believer and utilitarian. This version of Stannis believes he is a chosen leader sent to save the human race -- and he must do everything to do so. Even burning unbelievers. Or Mance. Or killing his brother. Or burning Shireen. Or abandoning the Wall because his men won't make a difference there -- he needs the whole kingdom. For this Stannis, it's a matter of killing his one daughter now -- or watching the entire human race die soon after. Not much of a choice, is it? The less admirable version is a stubborn and bitter man who was always angry at being the dutiful second child and never being rewarded. He was never loved, not even by his brothers. He was not made hand or even given Storm's End. And when it was his turn -- everyone else tried to take it from him. Melisandre and her power is the means to an end. He is strict and untractable with others, but never seems to punish himself when he breaks the rules in search of more power -- adultery, assassination, murder. He abandoned the Wall when they had fifty men and the White Walkers marching because all he's ever wanted is the Iron Throne. Perhaps he has even lied well enough to himself about his motivations. I think either version is consistent with his actions. I think a mixture of both is as well. But both are capable of killing Shireen. Even in his lovely scene with Shireen, it was weird how much he focused on her role as part of House Baratheon, as HIS son... there's an element of pride there even in his attempts to save her. A hug or two does not mean he won't do awful things. Take a look at a police blotter -- I guarantee you parents who beat, molest or kill their children have tons of tender moments. Stannis could never walk away. He chose to go to war over a throne -- and doomed tens of thousands to die because of his rights. He's not a magnamimous man.

Lotta Nerd Rage votes here. I gave it an eight. Burning Shireen is completely within Stannis' character, but I thought they could have laid out the desperation of the scene better. Daznak's pit was fine but hampered by the effects limitations and fight choreography. I never felt like people were much in danger. And Drogon was much less impressive. Dorne is a waste of time, but at least it was a pretty waste of time. Loved the Stannis and Arya storylines.

I mean, the dude is wearing a crown. So I doubt he thinks he's giving much away. Same with the Valyrian Steel = Dragon Steel = Effective against White Walkers. Is this a shock to anyone?

What a fantastic episode. Got back to actually tying into the emotional side -- scary scenes, atmospheric scenes, a move away from the rational plotting and into just some fantastic stuff. And the action sequence was great. You can tell the trolls from the fact that the polls still gets 1s and 2s. What a great episode from start to finish.

Really liked Tyrion and Jorah, Sansa's awkward dinner and Dany and her dragons. Otherwise, a little slow and wasn't enthralled. Nothing particularly bad ... just nothing that got me super excited.

The Sand Snake scene was pretty terrible. Littlefinger's logic for bringing Sansa to the Boltons and leaving her there is inexplicable. I gave the episode a 10/10. It doesn't matter that those two things were true. Awesome Stannishug. Fantastic fight sequence and a fitting end for Barristan (who was clearly not going to get his Dance storyline). Tons of R+L=J. Much like last weeks, I thoroughly enjoyed it despite some obvious flaws. So what? Tons of fun.

+ Viper + Sansa + Opening Wildling Raid + Missandei and Grey Worm - Dany and Jorah 9/10 because I save the 10s for something super special.

I also don't see how she was whitewashed. She did still put the Masters up, right? Barristan asked her for Mercy and she rejected it in favor of "Justice" or "Revenge" depending on how you like to think of it. What did you people want? Ominous music and a shadow of Darth Vader hovering over her? A celebratory dance number extolling the virtues of Stannis?

Yeah, I don't understand people's thing with Stannis. Someone claimed whitewashing (you keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means) and others are outraged because he watched the burnings. He showed no particular religious fervor or joy in the burnings; that was Selyse. Book-Stannis is someone with little use for religion that doesn't advance his goals; but I fail to see how Show-Stannis is different. Book-Stannis is lawyerly in his ability to pretend to be following a strict code which seemingly morphs at will to what he truly wants. Again, Show-Stannis seems to be going along with this part of Melisandre because he wants to be King. What's different?

Love the King's Landing stuff -- the writing and execution to set up the Murder Mystery was great. The evidence is all there but not super obvious (although so many book readers ran to the internet to post screen shots pretending they saw this real time with no help, no one is likely unspoiled at this point). Almost every character had their motive highlighted. The rest of the episode was really "leftovers from episode 1." There may have been some loose ties to Joffrey, but overall, to be a 10, it needed to be a bit more cohesive and be equally strong across the board. A 9, though -- the death was fantastic.

Thought this was clearly the best of the Episode 1s. I think they've learned something about introducing characters and establishing character arcs for the season. One thing that has been lacking for their writing is giving the audience some sense of where things are going -- the signals don't have to always be where you end up, but in a show like this, if you don't give the audience a sense of a character's arc as it starts, it seems meandering. Here, in almost every storyline, they said "This is what this season is about" and did it both obviously and in a subtle manner. We know what Oberon's about. We know Jon's arc is about Mance lighting the biggest fire the nothing has ever seen (and about how some of the wildlings aren't as nice as Tormund). We know Dany's story will be about Meereen but also Daario. We know Tyrion's trying to distance himself from Shae and what's going on with Jaime. We know what the Tyrells are up to. We know that Arya is heading to the Twins, but more importantly, she's heading down a path of revenge. Some people will think of this as transparent, but when you spend only an hour with each character all season...it's just necessary. It's clarity and it creates tension and anticipation, rather than bewilderment. And for the most part, it was elegantly done.

10. One of the best episodes ever. Almost perfect.

George wrote the episode, but scenes are often moved from ep to ep or added, etc, when you are putting the whole season together. For example, the Bronn-Hound scene was written by D&D.

It's worth noting that that episode, and so very likely that scene, was written by George.