Count Balerion

I think Daario's just an average sellsword? I don't recall anything particularly psycho about him.

Drogo also doesn't seem particularly psycho, by Dothraki standards.

Hmm, it doesn't seem to have loaded properly. Let's try again (and then let's get in that car!):

 

A pity Chad Summerchild didn't write it.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=drogon+meme&client=firefox-b-1-d&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=8KYwxLuyF99tDM%3A%2C-7Q0QEDJ5QBrPM%2C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kSkNL15d4g1VohbTQCHllkp6QkH6A&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiCkujo_a3iAhVJs1kKHQh2BAIQ9QEwBnoECAkQBA#imgrc=pIW1AHpmggXo5M:&vet=1

And:

They misspelt "dracarys" and there's an annoying pop-up asking you to whitelist; but this is brilliant:

https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1494505-the-iron-throne-episode

 

I was going to give the episode a 4, because the LAST episode (ep. 5) should have been a 4 or even a 3, and I gave it a 5. But I ended up with a 5 for this episode as well, because it wasn't as horrible as it could have been.

A lot of time without any dialogue .. They're not always big on dialogue, are they? Oh, and why was there so much whispering? What is it about Hollywood and whispering, anyway?

I'm not the first to notice that the Dothraki seem to multiply after each engagement. Are they the brooms in the Sorcerer's Apprentice, who split into two whenever they're cut in two?

Emilia Clarke is good at imaginary languages. Apparently, she thought killing the people of KL was liberating them. Yes, I too thought of Stalin. She's back to breaking the wheel, and it looks like there isn't really anyone who wants to raise up the common people who isn't a loony mass murderer? Not perhaps the most inspiring message.

Anyway, given that they asassinated Dany's character, killing her physically not only wasn't unexpected, but could be viewed as a mercy. And at least they let Jon the Kind of Useless do that. That was hardly unexpected, either. A kind of touching scene, though; the chemistry for those two has improved this season. (Last season I'm not sure I ever quite believed in it.)

"Don't tell Sansa." Was that a shoutout to book readers, or a callback to season 1? I don't think that line was kept in season 1.

Kind of a Shade of the Lamp thing with Tyrion: "Up to now she's always killed evil people or enemies." Well, yes. I'm not doing ep. 5, but yes. Which is why the groundwork for ep. 5 was not laid in the show. But anyway ... Also, did no one ask what Drogon would do if Dany was killed? Luckily he just burnt the IT and flew off. But what if he'd gone rogue. Jon must have been borrowing Arya's plot armour. Anyway, that dragon has a lot of soul.

And then we kind of jump to the council. Some of these people we've never seen, others we haven't seen in several seasons, so some (re)introduction would have been useful. I was briefly worried when Sam started talking democracy; but was relieved when the lords laughed. Even D&D know that would be ludicrous for a country whose political development is actually not even mediaeval. (The Middle Ages had parliaments and councils; also they had a highly trained cadre of lawyers, something that doesn't seem to exist in Westeros. And trying to introduce democracy would have led only to dictatorship.) Elective monarchy is not unheard of at all in real history. However, it amounts to oligarchy. This is why it's a pity both Stannis and Dany failed and went nutters; they're the only ones who were much into raising common people (Stannis's Onion Knight.) One thing they could have done is come up with some kind of parliament.

As for Bran ... dunno. I don't really have a better candidate. Gendry has royal lineage and was raised a commoner, so maybe a good choice. Jon is the legitimate heir, but has been locked away, and anyway was a bit of an idiot. So not sure Bran much worse than the other choices (though he was kind of useless). The "stories" thing sounded like it was groping for an interesting idea, but never quite got there. But why "Bran the Broken"? Why not "Bran the All-Knowing" or "Bran the Raven"?

So Tyrion, having been so brilliantly succesful as Hand before, gets another go at it.

GW seems to have gone quietly enough after murdering prisoners and wanting T and Jon dead. Where did the Dothraki go again? What's this about the Reach being empty? The AOTD never made it there, and the war last season (s. 7) seemed fairly easy.

Arya and Jon's farewell seemed more touching than their reunion. This "west of Westeros" business has occasionally come up before, but not sure why she's set on never coming back?

The White Book scene with Brienne was cool (another book "shoutout" I guess). Although Jaime was a complete cad to her. And I did wonder how on earth that book survived. I guess it's because Dany was so bent on punishing Cersei by burning everything *except* the RK. Oh, there I go again with ep. 5.

And Sam's book was also cool. The joke about leaving out T a bit silly, perhaps. Wow, Bronn has done well for himself. Bronn fans must be going WOOHOO! (Not to dis anyone for being a fan.) Not perhaps terribly plausible.

But really, apart from Dany and Jon fans, every fandom gets something. Well, Jon fans get Ghost, I guess because without the dragons there's abit of CGI budget left over. And that was cute. But his end, perhaps not the most satisfying.

Sansa gets to be Queen in the North, and hey, why not. Unlike some other people, she actually did get some quasi-consistent portrayal as an effective administrator. At least in the sense of occasionally saying something about food or whatever. (It's more development than Mad Dany got.)

So that's that.

Krakarys!

 

My score? I started with 8, but kept going down until I ended up with 5.

So .... what did I like ...

The visuals were like awesome and that fire looked so cool. Sorry, thinking about it makes me talk like that. And unlike ep. 3, I could see it! Yay?

Several touching moments:
Jaime and Tyrion's tender moment where T tells J that he was all he had during their childhood.

Jaime and Cersei, everyone's favourite incest couple did have a touching final scene -- say what you will about Jaime's arc not amounting to much. (He should have left Brienne to Tormund.) The actors acted the blazes out of it.

Sandor/Arya. Now I did want to tell the Hound "She already *has* ended up like you -- WORSE than you." But one just has to forget about the Freyssacre and Frey pies. The writers have. But the scene was very moving, and I like these two together.

Arya with the smallfolk. Yes, one has to forget Psycho Arya. But it's good to get the view from the ground, and Arya has always been fond of the smallfolk. And the horse was cute, though how it survived Heaven knows.

What else? The music was excellent, as always.

Weirdly, I liked Qyburn. At least he's loyal.

What was I mheh about? Cleganebowl. I expected it (who didn't), and it was maybe a tad underwhelming. But hey.

What do I hate? Dany. Let me count the ways:

1. No real foreshadowing in the show, and precious little in the books. Yes, Varys was concerned about it last episode; but I can only assume that's because he (or his little birds) had filched a copy of the next episode's screenplay. She hadn't done anything nutters up to this episode.

Also, where she *was* ruthless in the past, it was always against the powerful, slaveowners and the like. I can't recall any exceptions in the show (and only one exception in the books).

Now, is GRRM going this route? If so, I would hope he at least prepares it better.

Something of this *might* have been salvaged, if D had aimed first at the Red Keep and then had some collateral damage. The fact that she blitzes the civilian population for several minutes bfore remembering to hit the RK doesn't even make mad sense to me.

2. The message or meaning. It appears that both female claimants are psychopathic mass murderers. So the chap in the 16th century who condemned the Monstrous Regiment [Rule] of Women was perhaps right? (There's still Sansa, who hitherto has at worst been peulant and petty. Oh yeah, even she fed Ramsay to dogs.)

Further, Cersei is actually the *less* psychopathic of the two. So it's the one who previously actually wanted to do something to *improve* things for the commons who ends up killing them.

Luckily, we have a decent *man* to take over the throne now. It's true that he's been incompetent and ineffectual for most of the last few seasons; but at least he's not psychopathic. So clearly the least bad choice.

(Is anyone left who isn't either evil or stupid?)

Possible defences:
"It's a twist!"

Well, perhaps. Twists are not ipso facto good, though.

"GRRM is dark and grim and probably has something similar."
GRRM may plan something siilar, but I hope he handles it a bit better at least in terms of plausibility. Supposedly, though, he's going for "bittersweet", yes? This isn't bittersweet, as far as I'm concerned.

"You're a Dany fan nyah nyah nyah."
This whole flame thing between fans of different characters has always seemed a bit silly. I like Dany *and* Sansa *and* Stannis and even (certainly in the books) Jon. But there's always been a reason for being a Dany fan: she alone has freed the slaves. The new Dany would have burnt the slaves and left the Masters for last.

***
Can this be salvaged? Dunno. It seems that Dany as a show-character has been irremediably ruined. It's possible that she could come to her senses (as suddenly as she lost them) next season, and try to be a good ruler (and by the end of last episode everyone forgets the mass burning as they've already forgotten the Freyssacre and the Sept). I'm not sure I'd call that salvaging.

Or perhaps she comes to her senses and realises she's unfit to rule, and voluntarily gives up the throne to the nice if a little slow white chap, Jon.

Or perhaps she dies in childbirth as some think, giving birth to a little pyromaniac baby.

Or maybe Jon kills her tragically, and she's Nyssa Nyssa! Yay?

Ouch:

 

Whoof! This chap is pretty brutal:

 

I can't find it online; but somewhere there's a meme of Ghost riding a dragon and going all dracarys.

There's also one with Bran killing the NK by warging a bunch of ravens w/ knives attached to their backs and stabbing him.

Chad is clearly going mad! (Mad Chad?)

Jon's funeral oration was actually decent. I think Kit Harrington's acting was a bit better than usual.

A lot of chitchat, but I'm glad to get some actual dialogue!

I like Dany's move here. First she frightens Gendry by remarking on their history, then shows herself magnanimous. Further, now anyone who denies her queenship is also dissing Gendry and is therefore a meanie. Deft. It's been pointed out she could have done a bit more of this. Supposedly she's going nutters next episode; but we haven't seen any of that this season so far, barring a weird face she makes on Drogon later on. (I did wonder: who's at SE now?)
Also: maybe Gandry is an object lesson for Sansa? "See, I'm nice to those who acknowledge me." Who knows.

I also like the Sansa-Hound bit, even if they have rather underplayed that relationship generally. I wondered that Arya wasn't more feted; she did just save humanity, yes?

Speaking of Arya, I think she's a bit confused. Being a lady in the sense of the wife of a lord isn't necessarily the same as being a lady in the sense of needlework and courtesy armour and whatnot -- especially when the lord is Gendry who has been raised as a pleb.

Decent scene w/ Jon/Dany.

Dorne exists! And it's headed by Prince Random Chap.

OK, the battle tactics/strategy bit. I don't get this sort of thing very well. But: Is Tyrion really the kind of chap whose advice on the subject you'd want to follow after last season. Anyway, you can surely beat Cersei without destroying KL. Also, I'd have let Sansa talk to the officers. Wouldn't the chief officers be at the meeting already? I thought I saw GW. Apparently a decent number of kamikaze Dothraki survived?

Brienne-Jaime: I guess in Hollywood one hops into bed right away. Then Jaime drops her equally right away. Westeros is feeling very twenty-first-century-U.S.A. these days.

Hound/Arya for a ride is kind of cute. Just, please: no Arya-Hound sex scenes! Does this mean Arya kills both NK *and* Cersei? Sweetrobin points out assassinating Cersei is a better plan than what the Top Brass came up with. Not going back to Winterfell: why not?

And keeping up Sansa's antipathy to Dany does make for some tension, although one can't help noting that Dany did a good deal more in the war than did Sansa.

The scene w/ Jon, Sam, and Gilly is nice, but .... What did you say, Sam? "Not much to do in the Citadel"? Well, besides instant cure of greyscale and discovering the truth about Rhaegar and Lyanna and ...

Noot to be outdone in the incomprehensible department, Jon claims Ghost "belongs in the North". Dude. He belongs with *you*. And Jon is so offhanded about giving up Ghost, too. Weren't the direwolves kind of a big deal when they turned up *in the first episode*? Jeesh.

Jon apparently has charisma and Dany doesn't. And all that Mhysa business a few seasons back? Maybe she only has charisma in Valyrian.

Rhaegal's death is nasty. Why no "dracarys"? Burn that fleet, don't just make weird faces, khaleesi. It's dracarys time!

Missandei's death was pretty nasty, too. That's pretty powerful stuff. I did raise an eyebrow at Tyrion telling Cersei she's not a monster. And the Sept? That's so two seasons ago.

Final score: 6 or 7. I felt nice and went with 7.

Worth the wait:

 

As expected, mostly Action/Batte stuff, with all the accoutrements: massing forces, gore (although I didn't notice so much of that); minimal dialogue, apart from yelling and screaming and grunting (I'm not sure there was more than a quarter-hour of dialogue in toto). There was a lot of chiaroscuro -- but more scuro than chiaro. Most of this stuff was good in its kind, if you like that sort of thing. Some high points of the battle:

Flaming swords!

Dragons!

Dragons fighting!

High Valyrian!

Melisandre

Lyanna Mormont takes out a wight-giant! (Even if he did look a little like the Abominable Snowman in RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER.)

Some other things I liked:

Dany mourning Jorah. (Also the fact that she fought in the battle.)

Ghost! (Even if he didn't do much.)

Theon's redemption, and Bran telling him that he's a good man. Pretty powerful stuff. (I did wonder, earlier: what were Bran's ravens doing?)

The retort to Sansa's observation that the dragon queen was dividing loyalties: "Without the dragon queen, we wouldn't have that problem because we'd all be dead."

Some things I didn't like:

The dark was cool; but there was a bit too much of it. Hard to see what's going on.

Too many survivors. This is one crowded cast of characters.

A little too easy. Instead of the game of thrones being a distraction from the war against the WW, it's the other way around?

What I really didn't like:

How the NK went out. This is not a job for Arya IMO. There isn't space for me to go on about Arya's arc, if she has one (last season she went from psychopathy to paranoia). But it seems to me she's more suited to human antagonists. If you want her to kill someone important, let it be Cersei (maybe the valonqar gets her, although there's been no mention of him yet in the show) or Qyburn or Euron. The most appropriate way for the NK to go is:

1. A MAIN main character. Arya's pretty main, but not THAT main. Jon slaying the NK in single combat would be horribly predictable, but would at least make some sense, inasmuch as he's been built up as the Big Hero. Maybe some way could be found to make Jon doing it less obvious; dunno. There's also Dany. I'd have to concede that having the dragons just burn the NK to death would be too easy; but again, it would have been better than what we got. Or Dany could jump from her dragon onto the NK and stab him, the way Arya did but w/ perhaps more plausibility.

2. Frankly supernatural means. This has the advantage that you can be a little less obvious. Melisandre could beat him; although she's much less a main character than Arya, she does have supernatural abilities, and is all about defeating the Great Other. Yes, she burnt Shireen; but then Arya murdered the Freys.

I incline to think Bran defeating the NK would have been best. The NK is about to win and wipe out the bedraggled remnant! Then suddenly, Bran ... well, I've always been fond of the notion that Bran IS the NK (it would have been cool as the blazes), so perhaps he goes back and undoes something to prevent this NK business). Or he wargs the NK and makes him commit suicide! (Although then, why didn't he do it earlier? Or he wargs Viserion, and Viserion kills the NK! Like wow!

Also, this thing where they all die when the NK dies: too easy.

Final score: Because the conclusion of a major plotline is so unsatisfactory, I have to give it a 5.

Not perhaps quite so good as the last one; but ...

 

I have a bad feeling about the kid who's going to defend the crypts. I suspect he comes back as a wight.

8

It was mostly conversations, but they were generally well-done. Even the writing didn't seem bad. Some truly moving moments. (And my dirty secret is that battles tend to bore me.)

I expected Jaime-Bran to come first, rather than the trial scene. Brienne's word was apparently enough. Good scene, tension.

Jaime-Bran also a highlight. And it's nice to see Dany calling Tyrion out. Yes, he has been a bit of an idiot. Isn't there a hashtag #MakeTyrionsmartagain? Not in Twitter, so wouldn't know. But God, yes. The scene where Jorah defends Tyrion was also decent, although when he said something about "a mind behind all those" I wondered if he was going to say "bad jokes".

Dany and Sansa scene was excellent. I did wonder: per court etiquette, Dany could have sent for Sansa. But I'm glad she didn't. Showed some tact. Sansa showed some appreciation, which is only right. The "first man": Drogo? Dunno. Also glad it ended a bit inconclusively.

The smallfolky stuff was cute, and smallfolk are not unimportant, one of the themes, at least certainly in the books, being the treatment of the smallfolk.

Bran's revelation about the NK is intriguing. Now we have a sort of idea about the WWs' purpose -- although *why* they want to erase everything, I still don't know. (Which is fine.)

I *like* Theon. Both scenes brief but good. Why are Sansa's hug scenes more moving than Arya's?

Other good stuff: Jaime knighting Brienne; everything with Tormund (he's grown on me this season); Hound; Jorah-Sam (Sam has also vastly improved this season). Jon-Dany except I still rebel against "Aegon Targaryen". Dany's not fussed about the aunt thing, but the IT.

Skipped Arya sex; ugh.

 

Finally!

 

GOT, season 8, ep. 1:

It's nice to get back into the series. As usual, thibgs looked cool (although there's always been a bit too much grey).

Tension between Sansa/Northerners and Dany: The North has become rather rambunctious, after having been fairly inert under the Boltons. Odd that they were more frightened of Ramsay than of Dany and her dragons. It does make sense that the North would need to be "wooed". We'll see how the thing between Sansa and Dany develops.

The reunions were often a bit awkward. Jon-Arya moving enough, but perhaps slightly underwhelming. I did like her defending Sansa, except ... they're telling rather than showing again. Has Sansa in fact done anything particularly clever? I appreciate the intention, though.

Oh, and Arya-Gendry was a cute little scene.

Cersei: I do like some of Cersei's lines. "Good." "If you want a wh*re, buy one." But I disagree with her on Euron; he *is* kind of boring. And Preston's right; he does look like a rock star, and not in a good way. He does manage to be kind of creepy in the scene with Yara.

Yes, we got a gratuitous sex scene -- worse, with Bronn. Looks like they might be doing something mildly interesting with him, though; we'll see.

Wow, Theon is *fast*. My notes say: "What? Did Theon *just* rescue Yara?" Yes, he did. That was brief.

Varys is decent. Tyrion still tells bad jokes. The trouble being that he was established in earlier seasons as witty, on account of GRRM's writing. Now we don't have that, except possibly in outline; but he still has to be witty. So the writers soldier bravely on with the bad jokes, not being able to replicate the actual wit in the books. He also makes speeches. Someone pointed out there's no particular reason why the Northerners should listen to him.

Dany-Jon did have its cute moments, and even some amusing dialogue. "Then I've enjoyed your company, Jon Snow." The dragons are cute and the scenery spectacular. It was perhaps a little long ("We don't have time for this", says Bran). And I still don't quite see them as a torrid Love Couple; more like friends, or maybe brother and sister (aunt and nephew?).

I couldn't help thinking of current events when Sam asks for a pardon. Dany: I killed your father and brother. Can we lampshade this?" Sam: "Sorry, but no." Sam was actually pretty good this episode; Bradley can do some decent acting when he's given something non-stupid to do. His scene with Jon was also good (if fast).

And yes, "I've always had blue eyes!" Some decent dialogue. Scary wight scene (I did wonder what the WWs were up to all this time).

And a really good ending with Jaime and Bran.

Where on earth is Ghost? Nymeria? I guess the others are dead.

I guess I'll end up with a decent 7. I'm somewhat hopeful for a better season. Part of the trouble with last season might be that they had to come up with filler; so they did, and it didn't make much sense.

Ep. 7: I end up with an 8, although there was, as usual, some very stupid stuff in this.

KL: Watching the opening scene, my comment was: "Is this Highgarden? Looks more like Nebraska." Both turned out to be wrong.

We get a lot of reunions, which is nice enough. There are problems with this whole section, from a narrative point of view. It's a stupid idea to persuade Cersei: they don't (or shouldn't) need her, and should just be able to drac her, Qyburn, and Frankengregor, and take what there is of her army. Or just ignore her. Oh, I forgot Euron. Drac him, too, perhaps. So they don't really need a truce.

As I've commented more than once this season: everyone forgets the Sept. Odd: it still matters that the High Septon annulled Rhaegar's marriage (more on that, later), but doesn't much matter that Cersei blew up the Sept, although admittedly someone does call her "the most murderous woman in the world".

The scene is well acted; KH is generally better when warning people about undead monsters, but also decent when defending the not very wise decision to tell the truth. Some other OK dialogue such as the Hound and Franken.

Query: Didn't wights swim at Hardhome?

Tyrion's decision to see C alone is also rather stupid, although it did make for a good scene.

Final C/J scene: It's good J finally left her, but still weird that J is OK with the Sept-burning. Also, why is the IB for C? Well acted, again.

Dragonstone/Narrow Sea: (Saving final scene for last): I must confess I was moved during the scene between Jon and Theon. As for the fight between Theon and Random Obnoxious Chap (ROC), I'm not sure what the point is.

Winterfell: The courtroom scene looked impressive enough and as usual well acted. It did have a bit of the feel of being short on due process even by Westerosi standards. LF is rather sad this season and was not able be much of an evil mastermind; he could easily have put up more of a legal fight. I'd kind of hoped Hound testify on LF's betrayal rather than Bran ex machina (it does give Bran something to do, though, and he hasn't been used as much as he could have been). Sansa and Arya did succeed fooling me; I had not expected this much subtlety.(*) Shouldn't Sansa have struck the blow per Northern law? I was also moved by the Arya/Sansa final scene (forget first scene of the season, everyone else has).

Rhaegar rhevelation: Sam/Bran: It was cool when Bran announced R+L=J. But there were multiple problems:

1.Annulment. Others said much more about this; my issue is the effect on Rhaegar's character from his making his children by Elia illegitimate.
2. Going back and forth between the revelation and the D&J lovemaking is rather squick (as Anna Russell might point out, "she's his aunt, you know"), leaving aside the fact that although certainly cordial, I would hardly have called their relationship theretofore as being torrid.
3."Aegon Targaryen"? It reminds me of a poem by Dr. Seuss: "23 children and named them all Aegon". It isn't as though there were not plenty of other Targ names.

Final scene: looked pretty impressive and scary. The dragon-wight could give nightmares.

Hmmm. This was a more critical review than expected. I did enjoy watching it enormously, and found it the best this season. But issues of plot and characterisation won't go away. The effects are better than the causes.

(*)Just found out a few hours ago what almost everyone else probably already knew: Sansa and Arya weren't faking it. They cut a scene where Sansa asks Bran what's going on. So clumsy editing.

Ep. 5: While watching, I thought this would be an 8; then thinking about the wight business, I was inclined to drop to a 6; so I guess I`ll compromise with another 7.

OK, the scne after the battle was pretty cool. I do think Dany might have dwelt a little more on *positive* reasons to support her, other than 'I can kill you'. She does briefly allude to the wheel; but how about 'Cersei blew up the Great Sept', not to harp on that. How about 'Abolished slavery'?

Dragonstone: I was right about Jorah getting back to Dragonstone in an episode or two, not that that took any brilliant deductive powers, and not that I minded, either. Very nice reunion scene. Nice Jon/Dany/Drogon scene.

The wight plan I find rather stupid. Why do they need to convince Cersei? There are two sensible ways of dealing with Cersei: 1. Get rid of her, perhaps with a surgical dracarys, perhaps with an assassin, and while you`re at it, also off Qyburn, Frankengrgor, and Show!Jaime (the last is now fully complicit in Cersei's crimes); 2. Just ignore her, defeat the Undead, and then clean up Westeros afterwards.

Winterfell: Some decent stuff here: Bran trying to warn about the undead; Sansa defending Jon; conflict between Sansa and Arya, though I hope they get reconciled eventually, but Arya *should* bbe scarred by becoming a murderer as a pre-teen. LF is finally doing something besides be creepy.

I'm not sure why Davos stepped aside to pick up Gendry (needed something to do?); but I like Gendry and I`m glad he`s back, even if in a stupid-ish plotline.

The Citadel: Gods help us. Maester Sue, apparently annoyed by the maesters`perfectly reasonable questions, randomly decides to leave, randomly stealing some random books with him. This is getting to be a bad habit. If you have Sam over for the night, you`d best put anything valuable in a safe, and chain all your furniture to the floor. Although he`ll probably find a way to lift something anyway. I did find the Rhaegar bit interesting-ish, though.

So, all in all, it was a fun watch. One just had to shut down one's brain sometimes.

7. The episodes get more enjoyable; but the plotholes never completely go away.

A big one being, of course, the situation with the Faith, or the lack thereof. There's no more High Septon, comments Jaime, almost onnchalantly. The Faith, which was so powerful a season ago, has evidently collapsed. Imagine if someone blew up the Vatican, what would happen? In D&Dsteros, everyone except Hot Pie is too jaded to care.

Winterfell: Bran's weird coldness is getting interesting, and we had a touching farewell scene with Meera. I'll have to remember the name Ellie Kendrick. I also enjoyed the Sansa/Arya reunion. The show is at least delivering these Stark reunions we've been longing for all these years. The 800-pound gorilla in the room, though, is Rickon. No one remembers he exists? He only died a season ago. No "Rickon's dead!" "Boo-hhoo-hoo!"? Odd. I could also have done without Arya vs. Brienne.

Dragonstone: I really liked the bit where Jon is showing Dany the cave paintings; very cool. The knee-bending thing gets perhaps a little old, although I can see why they'd make a bit of an issue of it. Dany finally tells off Tyrion! Quite right. Hey, Davos, aren't you married, and if so, why are you hitting on this hot Essosi lady? Or is show-Davos not married, or did his wife die and I missed it. If so, Missandei will have a fall-back when GW dies, as I suppose he will.

Excellent battle-porn, and the Dothraki get to do something. One of my favourite fighting scenes, actually; but then, I`m not big on them as a rule anway.

 

I gave it a 6. It might have been higher; but ... well, I guess different people crack for different things, and in my case it was the KL smallfolk cheering Euron. So they're on Cersei's side now? Weren't they throwing stuff at her and insulting her during the Walk of Shame, and rioting for Margaery during the same season? To say nothing of the revolt during season 2. I know the vulgus is mobile ("fickle crowd") and that of course they want to make Cersei a more or less credible obstacle; but this is a bit much. Cersei appears to be the Teflon Queen. I guess this'll continue until she suddenly falls.

On the plus side (still talking about KL), we're rid of Dorne (and I actually found myself sorry for Fauxllaria and Tyene; weird). Show-Cersei is a more interesting villain than Ramsay, and vastly more interesting than Euron. The final scene with Jaime and Olenna was, I thought, well acted; and I liked Olenna more than I have for a while. She may have been what someone called the Sasstress Dowager recently; but at least she went out with a certain style (although Jaime is being rather stupid: Cersei bring peace?). Is it established in the show that Braavos is very down on slavery, having been founded by escaped slaves? Or am I letting the books confuse me?

Dragonstone: I didn't roll my eyes quite so muvh, here. I did wonder about Missandei being Dany's most trusted adviser. They like to keep it dark in Drsgonstone, or Dany has gone Goth. Never mind that, though. The sparring over titles: a little silly? Dany ignores the whole "Dead are coming" thing at first; but she's the one who notices the bit about Jon getting raised from the dead, and actually asks a kind of intelligent question about it. Also the decision to help Jon after all was a bit unprepared, yes? Davos finally gets to talk, but is shut up when he starts to tell Dany about Jon's being raised from dead. I'm not sure why, but guess it'll get revealed when the plot outline says so. The scene where Tyrion encourages Jon to try again wasn't too bad, and by and large I enjoyed watching this segment (partly by not focussing too much on sense).

The hypothetical battles looked cool, although it's a little weird watching things that didn't happen. "WHERE ARE MY LANNISTERS????"

Winterfell: Yes, it's nice that Sansa actually gets to act competent and intelligent. Bran's comment about the rape scene is rather weird. Maybe when you're a three-eyed raven, you lose some of your tact. Still not totally sure what the "everywhere always in your mind" bit means.

Sam-Jorah scene was nice-ish; but Sam has teflon as well. I think it was Brandon Night-king who raised the question: How did Joran heal so fast? Aren't they going to observe him a little longer. But I bet he'll be at Drsgonstone in an episode or two.

I decided to be merciful and give it a 7; there was enough enjoyable stuff and little enough revolting stuff to make me judge more mercifully.

Some good stuff in Drsgonstone, like Dany not feeling like it's a homecoming and generally feeling a little let down and deflating all that stuff about everyone toasting to her etc. Also the quizzing of Varys (or Varx, as he's also called); that I thought was rather strong, and at least Varys actually had reasons for his less than ideal behaviour, which is more than LF could say when quizzed about marrying off Sansa to Rambo. Some of the council stuff was OK, like the bit about Jon Snow. And one nice thing about this episode is that there's actually some awareness of things happening in previous episodes.

Less good things about Dragonstone: Didn't Dany say in season 3 that Valyrian was her native tongue? Then why is Missandei in a position to explain it to her? It would have been better to have someone else (Tyrion? although he already has enough to do, he is known not to speak Valyrian very well) raise the Prince question. Sand Snakes an Faullaria, blearghgghhgh (but see below). Olenna ... mheh, I suppose not bad. Missandei-GW: oh well.

Euron was a bit more enjoyable in this episode; cartoon villainy seems to be his forte. He remains the least interesting major villain. But ... I will be eternally and everlastingly grateful to him for having reduced the numbers of the Dorne contingent> YES! Dorne I fear is unsalvageable since all the non-rubbish characters were killed off earlier.

Winbterfell is also somewhat better. I still wonder, though, why Sansa (some people seem to call her "Sandra" now; is that to go with "Larry" and "Carol"?) keeps opposing Jon in public. Are we supposed to think she's empowered, or that she envies or resents the KITN thing? My random guess is that: 1. it gives her something to do; 2. someone ought to be opposing the Dany alliance, and she was handy. I'm still not quite convinced by the conflict thing. But Kit Harrington made some nice speeches, and we got the balcony scene.

Another mystery is why Davos is so underemployed. I wouldn't have even known he was in the first episode if it hadn't been for Sweetrobin's "Davos Watch". Surely he'd be the one to tell them Dragonstone has dragonglass?

Arya's two scenes were both touching. One just has to forget that she massacred several only mildly guilty people in the last episode, just as one has to forget Dany buried people alive in Quarkth.

I suppose I'm glad enough for Jorah to be healed, but didn't really need the medical torture. Sam .. not to dis the character, and certainly not the actor, does seem to have more screen time than he needs.

I'm still mystified as to why Jaime is with Cersei. It seems to the only person to react to the burning of the sept is ... Hot Pie?

*writes note to self to check up on Preston's dragon eggs this weekend*