Good Guy Garlan

Eh, I think Strong Belwas is ridiculous, over-the-top, comic-booky, etc. I also think the beetles scene was terrible. Yeah, you read that right! I think BOTH things are terrible! Whaaat? I know, I'm such a complicated individual But I guess I'm not a hipster after all. I'm so relieved!

At least we agree that Craster's was so much worse than this. Yikes, that shit was unapologetically bad :ack:

Well, you know, it's cool that you liked it and all, but for me it really was bad writing. It showed aspects that, to me, are characteristic of bad writing: 1) A sign of bad writing is when the writer unambiguously asks the reader, "what's the meaning of this? Guess it, guess it!". If it is a good symbol, allegory, metaphor or whatever then the reader should try to figure out its meaning on his own, not because the writing is brazenly pointing to it 2) A metaphor or allegory of this kind should come naturally. It should have a bigger place or connection on the overall narrative. Like, Tyrion just started rambling on about beetles out of the blue, with no indication or no relation to the current scene. It just felt very, very, forced. The writers were forcing and turning the dialogue too transparently in order to convey their point and so it felt jarring and out of place. 3) Ideally, an allegory or metaphor like this should work to shed light on characterization. As it were, the story went on and on and on and we never learned anything about Jaime or Tyrion. On the contrary, the fact that Jaime murdered his cousin was brushed away and the story, as I said before, contradicted Tyrion's previous characterization in terms of feeling empathy with people like Orson.

Forum space is not a problem, but ok, I'll elaborate: The scene was overlong, tedious, slightly offensive, clumsy, and overall, innecessary. The imagery and metaphor was basic and pedestrian to say the least. It's meaning (if we would call it so) was painfully obvious and predictable. I'm honestly baffled at all these interpretations. It was just nihilism at its most basic: things happen for no reason, just because. Orson crushed the beetles because he could, just like the mule kicked him because it could. Done, it was paper-thin dialogue. It was all flash and no substance. And worse of all: it was repetitive. We've seen time and time again how violence and death happens just because on this show. That's Ramsay's "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention", there's even Tyrion's "if you're looking for justice, you've come to the wrong place". Etc, etc, but of course, D&D had to belabor the point because the audience is stupid Well, at least I hope the stupid story was about the pointlessness of it all. If it really was a metaphor of Gregor and Oberyn then I just feel sorry for these writers

No

Shhh, don't crush my hopes

Agreed. If the Dance of the Dragons 2.0 ever happens, and if it is Dany/Tyrion vs Aegon/Sansa (as I think it could be) then I know for sure who I'll be rooting for Sansa FTW

I used to defend her in previous seasons, but man, she's not even trying anymore

Everything I've seen seems to indicate it's going to be All Wall, All Episode, I'm afraid Personally, I'm dreading that whole episode considering they've even ruined the "Stannis!" surprise at the end, which is the best part of that battle, in my opinion

That's pretty much how I feel. At least Dinklage's acting was on point during that shit of a monologue

I liked the fight well enough. Tyrion's and Ellaria's reactions were great. I only missed Tyrion throwing up (only asoiaf fans would say something like this) You know what else I liked? Arya just cracking up. That was golden. Also...I liked Theon slipping into Reek almost subconciously. I miss the image of him taking off the Greyjoy banners and putting the Bolton one instead, that would have been a powerful image, I think

I gotta be honest...I didn't really like the episode, I hated pretty much everything - Script-wise, D&D (I'm assuming they wrote it, I don't really know) were at their very low. Tyrion's infinite speech about fucking beetles, what the flying fuck was that? Roose showing Ramsay the cardinal points, like what? No, very, very weak - Sansa's storyline is absolutely changed now. We're officially in WoW, folks. I was expecting Harry the Heir to pop from behind a column - Missandei and Grey Worm...lame, really - And, oh, my god, the beginning of the episode with the burping whore. That was a new low if I ever saw one

I guess we'll see Arya leaving the Hound and going to Braavos. Maybe they'll unambiguously kill the Hound in the show Also, we'll see Leaf and Bloodraven, most likely in episode 10 And (this is my own speculation) I think the season will end with UnCat hanging Brienne and Pod

No, run off and plot alongside Arianne, Doran, the Sand Snakes and a living Oberyn :devil: . I for one would have liked that better than his travelogue, but maybe his arc in Essos is going to be a good one in the next book

Random impressions: - Mel is fine as hell, sweet R'hllor have mercy on my soul. If Dany accepts the Lord of Light too I might have to start worshiping that bastard myself - Ramsay and Theon are in better shape than Daario. There, I said it. The dude has been going to the same gym as Grey Worm - I randomly pictured Littlefinger slipping and rolling down those ice-crusted stairs on the yard - Robin was surprisingly (and relatively) nice until they started to argue - Everything Tyrion was just aces. I'm so going to miss Oberyn. Damn Martin, why you had to kill him just for a bit of shock value and trope reversal? - Hotpie cameo! Happy day, now that he mastered the direwolf I'd like an order of Tyrell Rose Cookies, thank you

Yeah, I agree, though sometimes it's the opposite. They take away the most colorful or notable trait of a character and make them look bland, like Mance being Generic Wildling Leader, Tormund being Generic Wildling Sergeant, Daario being Generic Handsome Sellsword, and Asha/Yara losing most of her sassy attitude

I thought the same

Agree with all. The Tyrells made it through Robert's Rebellion with their lands and family members intact (apparently some cousin named Quentyn Tyrell died, but anyone named Quentyn in asoiaf is better off dead), which is more than can be said of other houses (cough * Connington * cough * Martell)

:lol:

Exactly. I will not suffer this blasphemies here. This not King's Landing. And Mace is a fooking legend, and y'all know it. The Hand Throne will be the highlight of the entire show, you'll see Also, someone on FB just said that he was waiting for the Soup Nazi to declare against Tyrion too, and I can't stop laughing about it

Seeing shirtless Theon was so depressing to me. Even after he's being flayed, tortured, castrated and malnourished he has a better body than me Guess he took a page out of the Jennifer Lawrence "Don't go anorexic for a role" book, which I applaud, actually

Man, on this we can agree. He was a joke on the book and a shameless asskisser, but here I was like, "he's...actually making sense"

That was great. I can almost forgive the rest of the scene just for that display of cold badassery The sooner the writers embrace the camp of the Ironborn the sooner they'll find Chtulu's the Drowned God's salvation

Dude, it was a suicide mission from the get-go. The place is called the Dreadfort. What did she expect she was going to find there, rainbows and unicorns?

Yeah, you're right, whoever came up with the idea last season to send Yara to this rescue mission wrote himself into a corner and Cogman pretty much had to play catch on this episode and do the best he could to walk out from that mess But the execution was what really irked me. Like, we could have at least seen the Ironborn fighting their way out of the castle or something, but that cut was all kinds of lame, reminded me of Mr. Burns setting his dogs on people