the silver queen

I mostly enjoyed this episode, it had some cool and entertaining moments for me, and also some snooze-inducing ones. Castle Black was well-done. I certainly did not expect this opening scene to make my eyes well with tears but when Sansa and Jon were approaching each other, I certainly did. I have a huge problem with their lack of proper pacing and build-up on the show nowadays compared to seasons past. But this scene was done well. They made me wait for the hug, they made me want the hug, instead of just giving it. Also like always, the fabulous musical themes probably did a whole lot to make me feel the scene emotionally, the soundtrack is a huge reason I think the show works as well as it does. Re-watch all the big and meaningful scenes from this series and tell me that the music doesn't totally make the scene! Unfortunately, apart from that scene, I still think the show is messed up in regards to pacing. King's Landing stuff? Too drawn out, not interesting enough. Ramsay killing Osha scene? Dany burning the place down and getting the Khalasars? Very interesting, but not enough build-up or earned significance. How about cutting down on the High Sparrows pointless speeches and the pointlessness of the Small Council "drama", and add some more build-up to the scenes that they really want us to emotionally react to? Dany's big scene.. I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I really loved that they surprised me. When she was talking about how she was prophesied to birth the Stallion That Mounts the World, I thought she would say something like "I did birth the Stallion!" and then Drogon would come smashing in from the sky and that's how she would win them over. I expected the predictable outcome, and I was kinda upset that I didn't think Dany would be saving herself with her own charisma. But they surprised me, and did have her save herself. It ended with a magnificent visual, as well. The downside was - while I was being surprised and impressed, I also felt it was a tad cheesy. That's also a feeling I had last season when she rode Drogon. I had that mixture of excitement at a big scene, but also felt it was cheesy, which took me out of the moment. All of Dany's previous "big moments" left me feeling impressed and emotional, but their rushed interpretations of things nowadays don't give me that same feeling. I'm not sure what's happening in regards to King's Landing lately, but I just really couldn't care less. I found myself thinking of chores and such I had to do during both the High Sparrows ramblings (I can't for the life of me remember what he said, something about shoes at one point), and also during Cersei talking, totally spaced out. I used to listen to Cersei speak with such tension and dread, the actress used to captivate me with the way she spoke, but the content was so boring, not even she could hold my attention during it. I found myself more interested in how Tyrion, Grey and Miss were working in Meereen, which is pretty bad that they were more interesting than KL, haha. Although I enjoy this show immensely, I think my watching is kind of spoiled by having seen previous seasons and there being a drop in quality. The quality of this show is still much higher than many other shows, but just remembering how well the pacing, directing and dialogue was in previous seasons, makes the quality drop bothersome and noticeable. I'm trying to just accept it, because I know they are consciously trying to kill off people quick to wrap up storylines, but it's clashing with how I experienced earlier seasons, feels like a different show entirely. :/ I'll miss Osha, it feels such a shame to have the actress finally back, only to kill her off two scenes later. Especially when GRRM apparently has a bigger role for her in his upcoming books. Superhuman Ramsay killing another person was just repetitive feeling, it's not shocking anymore, I tend to just sigh in disappointment that something more unique doesn't happen. Iron Islands I thought was well-acted. Wasn't too remarkable but not bad. Loved Tormund, more please. Love the stronger Sansa, I hope she stays that way, and doesn't end up someone's victim again, I want to see her inspiring a war herself. And I want to see a proper response towards LF when he shows up.

Although I enjoyed this episode, I still feel as though the show has lost a lot of it's magic for me. It's not so much the content, as it is the lack of proper pacing and building.. for me, at least. We're getting a lot of really strong actions and events happening, but none of it is really "hitting" me, doesn't feel earned or emotionally impactful. It's all happening too fast with no build-up or tension. I think that's my main complaint about the way the show has been making itself nowadays. The earlier seasons were a lot more slower and melancholic, and when the big events hit, they made you "feel" something. Now, it's like "boom, boom, boom", all these events are happening too fast and right after the other, it seems forced. I think the fact that D&D want to hurry up and finish the series is what is causing this feeling of rush. I can only hope that they want to tie up loose character arcs so they can slow down again and properly focus on the ones they are a fan of, but that's just a hope at this point. But to the actual content - My favorite part was Jon's resurrection. I was quite iffy about it while I was watching it. It felt underwhelming, I expected something more from the ritual (kinda more reminiscent of Dany's pyre scene), with more gravity and witnesses to it. I thought this is all wrong, where is the Kiss of Life? I kept expecting that Melisandre would fail in the end, and then hopelessly just deliver the last rites to Jon by giving a kiss (which is I believe what Thoros did, he was just performing the Red Religion's last rites, right?). But I realized I was letting my book reader expectations get in the way of properly feeling the scene. Thinking back on it, I actually think they did it very well and I was wrong. There can't be a moment of big surprise like Dany birthing the dragons, because everyone and their mother knew Jon was going to be resurrected. Once Davos asked Mel about it, I'm sure the Unsullied all knew immediately as well. There's no pretending otherwise, so a big ritual scene is unnecessary. The scene itself was great with tension, it really made the scene last (which was my complaint about the series all over lately above, that they rush everything). I loved how they displayed Mel's doubt and desperation at wanting it to work. I kept wondering, from beginning to end, is he going to wake up right now? I knew he must, but I wasn't sure whether it would happen in this scene or not, which worked to their advantage. We all knew the eventual outcome but they kept us guessing whether this was it or not, perfect tension in my opinion. I felt Roose's death was too rushed and obvious. I would have liked a more tense scene, with more meat on it. I only realized afterwards, when reading comments, that the death was a mirror of how Roose killed Robb, I didn't even catch that, probably because it was too rushed, I was more like... "for serious?", the whole time. I'm not sure how GRRM is going to write this, probably would hit me better if one of the Starks killed Roose that way. But that's just fan wish fulfillment I suppose... one thing I was really hoping for was that Roose would kill Ramsay, it seems more in character for him to be aware of Ramsay's intentions and beat him to the punch (in the book, he stated outright that he was aware that Ramsay would kill the child, at least). Like most people, I felt Walda's death was a bit over the top. I think "less is more" would have worked for that situation. Sometimes the best horror is what is left unsaid/unshown, kinda like how in the book, Jeyne's treatment is mostly implied, and that was incredibly disturbing. The Iron Isles stuff felt like making checkmarks on the plot. I would have liked a better intro to Euron, I still don't really know what to think of him. Sansa/Theon/Brienne - I didn't think much of the scene, just seemed to drive their story forward, same with Arya's short scene, not much to really like or dislike. Bran - I really enjoyed the flashback, like most here. Was interesting and I look forward to seeing more impactful flashbacks. I'm curious to hear more from the 3 Eyed Raven about what he wants Bran to actually do. He shared there is a war coming, and apparently is training Bran with his powers, but I'd like more revelations in the future about the Others and what needs to be done. I also really wish there was some suspicion about the Raven's motives, in the book it's a bit shady about what they plan on doing with Bran and friends. The Child of the Forest certainly is creepy enough for it, lol! Oh that's another thing, she looks a lot creepier this time around, kept in shadow. The last time we saw her, it looked like we just stepped into a Zelda game or something. Tyrion - The dragons looked amazing, and liked the tension in that scene. I think I had more tension because I was aware of the Quentyn scenario in the books, and was wondering if they would risk frying either Tryion (not likely) or Varys (I was thinking possible, what other use does he really have if he's not involved in an Aegon plot anymore? Seems he's just floating around for no good reason). Felt a bit anti-climactic when the dragons simply turned around and went back to their hidey holes, but perhaps we'll get a good scene of them flying out later on. I hated every line of dialogue in the scene prior when Tyrion was talking with everyone. Very juvenile, not clever or funny at all, even Missandei's and Grey Worm's lines just felt like cardboard. Inside the cave, the dialogue wasn't that bad. I know, more complaints that compliments... I still love the show, but it just seems there is such a different direction in pacing and feel than the earlier seasons, it's hard not too compare.

Here I was, hoping that maybe we'd get Doran revealing Trystane as Aegon this episode because of the title. But Dorne was just as... pointless, as ever. The conversation with Doran and Jaime just felt like it had no purpose. And when Ellaria was kneeling in front of Doran, I was hoping so bad that he'd let her in on some sort of plan, anything, please... but nope. And I have no idea why that scene with Nym and Tyene slapping hands seemed to last forever. Why are they wasting so much time on pointless scenes? I loved the show so much in the past, but the whole entire Dorne storyline felt like I was watching some other crappy movie. I have no idea how they dropped the ball with Dorne so badly. So far we got "this family hates the Lannisters but is just playing along because no one wants to piss the Lannisters off". And we're supposed to care why? That could describe probably every House in Westeros right now. The whole point was Doran had a plan. If we don't get one next episode.... Seeing the previously on segment, and seeing Jaime in that stupid costume just reminded me again how low the quality has dropped. Anyways... I enjoyed Daznak's Pit. I liked how it played out with Jorah, it worked well emotionally on the screen. It was epic to watch really. I got chills when Drogon flew in. Only problem for me truly was the mediocre CGI used when Dany was riding him. It was just distracting to be honest. It's hard to watch all the awesome scenes with the dragons, the cool Hardhome battle last week, and then when you get hit with some below par CGI when you've been showed greatness this whole time, it ends up taking you out of the moment. At least it did for me. I watched it again afterwards, and it was more moving once I knew what to expect. I did like the sequence, and the music of course was beautiful. It was cathartic due to how much we've been waiting for this. But yeah... I wish maybe they could have cut some of the budget out of Hardhome (like I don't know, skip the avalanche of bodies that fell and reanimated?) so they could have enough to make Dany's flight look better. It was such an epic moment, but the bad CGI was too jarring because we're used to better. I also missed, of course, Dany actually taming Drogon. When I read her taming him with the whip in the books, my heart was pumping and I had chills. And I thought "wow, this will be so epic to see acted out and portrayed on screen". That was something that really could have given Emilia something to do other than look sad which we've seen. Taming with a whip is more "action" for her actual character, which would have been awesome to see. I could just imagine her dress getting ripped as she pulls off the shoulder cape etc... So - the pit could have been a bit more for me.. I'm not even touching Stannis. I had no idea how I felt about the scene even during it - was just kinda staring in shock as my stomach roiled. I'm still processing it.... With regards to Jon being on the wrong side of the Wall at the beginning (I know many talked about this last week from the preview). I did think of something that would explain it. Perhaps it was agreed upon that they wouldn't take the ships back to Eastwatch but rather approach from the Northern side because they needed to confirm that Jon was still alive. I mean, there would have been a risk of all the wildlings piling on the ships and then just killing Jon and sailing to Eastwatch. But this way, the NW were able to confirm Jon hadn't been killed before letting the wildlings through.

Oh thank the gods, finally an episode that actually got our attention this season. I absolutely loved the Hardhome sequence. Creepy as all hell, movie-quality, and I actually feared for everyone there. I liked the Night's King much better this time round, he was more believeable in this context. Last season, after seeing the normal white walker, the NK kinda looked weird and out-of-place by comparison, some sort of cartoony character. But he looked in place here and he was really intimidating. I loved Tormund's delivery in the hut, more so than Jon. Like others, I'm a little disappointed that the wildling woman died, thought she would be a good Val replacement. Even without a "Val", we should still have at least one spearwife or Mother Mole figure. My only complaint where the action is concerned is it was a little difficult to tell everyone apart during the fighting. I ended up not being able to tell who was a living person and who was a dead wight. I don't know if it was the dark lighting or what, but I couldn't really tell who was winning in the flashes of fights we saw. But, that's just a little thing... it was overwhelmingly awesome regardless, and I got chills when we saw the WW on the hill and looking at Jon. I feared for him so much during that haha. The rest of the episode was fine, though a little lackluster looking back after coming off the high of the Hardhome sequence. Like others said, seeing the "real threat" in action, makes all the other political quibbling just seem rather pointless. Which is of course kinda the point of the WW threat, but I don't think they want us to lose interest in the politics just yet. The Sansa/Theon scene was really emotional, I liked that one a lot. Arya was a little "meh" for me. She's been rather meh all season. I really wanted to like her Braavos scenes, but there's just something about them, I can't quite put my finger on it, that's just making it all rather boring. To me, the scenes are lacking some sort of creepiness that should be present. A more mystical, foreboding quality. I'd like if they tweaked the atmosphere so that we can really realize that this is a freakin death/assassin cult and it should be unsettling for us to see Arya want to be apart of them, but rather it just seems rather dull. Which is a shame. Maybe it will change pace a little in the future, but at the moment, I feel like her time with the FM should be more grey morally and more creepy and mystical. Totally confused about Jorah. Don't know why he wants to fight in the pits. How will that win him back in Dany's good graces? Unless he's just depressed and suicidal and desperate at this point. And no Dorne this episode. *sigh of relief* Oh, and I'm really hoping the whole Olly thing is just a distraction. I really don't want Olly to be the one to stab Jon. I couldn't stand all the cheesy camera shots of Olly, they really are smashing our brains out by how many times they've hit us over the head with it. It's not so much that Olly is an annoying character, but that if he's the one they focus on stabbing Jon, then it's no longer "For the Watch", but just "For my mum and daddy", which totally loses the meaning of the stabbing, but rather just makes Jon's "death" rather meaningless to me. The reasons behind For the Watch actually made sense, we saw all throughout the book how Jon wasn't communicating well with the other brothers, and their reasoning was understandable, which made it more complex. There's no reason for anyone to even say "for the watch" if it's Olly doing it.

Why do some people believe that Val or Mance's baby won't be introduced? They don't enter the story until later, when Jon goes to treat with Mance... Gilly being in Mole's Town doesn't mean anything, she can always be brought back to CB. The show writers make alterations but so far they seem to get back on track usually with all the major plot points (I'm assuming Val isn't a minor plot point, I can't see GRRM having her exist for no reason, plus her and Mance add a lot to Jon's story, I can't imagine what the show writers would do with his story without them.. ).