Takyon

It's kind of interesting how the show has turned Ramsay into one of the most successful players. He's probably second to only Littlefinger is respect to how much he has accomplished.

I like how this poll is pretty much Rottentomatoes: it's either 1/10 or 10/10 for these voters.

I'm going to assume that they'll head to the Iron Islands, where Theon will likely vie for his father's inheritance.

6/10 Not exceptional. Much of the episode was pretty choppy (ex: transition from Stannis' battle to its aftermath; Davos suddenly arguing with Jon) and Dorne had an underwhelming and kinda ridiculous conclusion (wouldn't you just turn the boat around and persecute those women?). The scenes carried very little dramatic weight and it was pretty evident that this should have been a double-season; the subplots had very little room to breathe and predictably, that drawback was most evident during this finale. That said, I still commend D&D for managing to more-or-less wrap up each individual storyline and I liked bits and pieces of this episode, namely Stannis' final moments and Arya's scenes (albeit her blinding was a little confusing). I'll have to watch the episode again but my general feeling now is that the episode satisfactory but seriously disappointing.

Um, I don't know where else to post this but has anyone else mentioned how Linda has completely lost her mind? https://twitter.com/hippoiathanatoi/with_replies I was planning on buying WOIAF but holy shit, if somebody this disrespectful and volatile would earn my money then forget about it. How is this shit tolerable?

Just wait until she shows her inner-nymphet next episode.

Amidst all the inexplicable critical acclaim that I've been reading for this episode, here's a refreshing feminist critique by one of the top TV critics in the business: http://www.salon.com/2015/06/08/game_of_thrones_recap_there_is_no_commodity_in_westeros_more_valuable_and_more_worthless_than_a_girl/ I don't entirely agree with her assessment but it's refreshing to see a professional reviewer hold D&D's feet to the fire.

The IMDB ratings are truly mind-boggling. Literally minutes after the episode aired, there must have been over 2000 10/10 votes. I notice that this happens for each episode so I'm beginning to think that there's a clan of suck-ups to inflate the grade by default because "OMG, best show ever". To me, giving this episode a 10/10 is just as exaggerated as giving it a 3/10 because no way can you look at those 53 minutes and think that it was flawless. TBH, I don't know why people are complaining about this. Nowhere was it explicitly hinted that he was the Harpy so it's not as if they're twisting his characterization (like they were with Stannis).

I'm going to assume that Stannis was humouring his daughter, as parents tend to do. That's probably a mystery that will be answered a little later on. Otherwise, I agree with all your points. This episode was a wreck.

3/10 My thoughts can be read here. I don't want to waste more energy discussing this mess. If "Hardhome" was a wonderful, lavish party then this episode is the horrid hangover.

Until proven otherwise, he is a Baratheon by law.

This Photoshop somehow makes this episode worth it: http://i.imgur.com/y83vDOR.jpg

The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh. I mean, right now I'm just hoping that they get Dorne out of the way ASAP.

I'm constantly refreshing this thread to see if any haters show up. It's fun to read dissenting opinions, especially when they're wrong.

I'm quite surprised that some viewers weren't impressed with Tyrion and Dany's discussions. I need to go through the scene again but everything they said seemed to hit all the right notes. Like, there may not have been much plot-advancement but we instead have two of the strongest characters getting to know one another by demonstrating the best aspects of their personality. The scene worked, needless to say, though the "spokes on a wheel" line was a bit cheesy and Clarke's acting is still...well...

18-year-olds are little girls to you? She's an adult actress who can make decisions about what to do with her own body. Don't invent controversies, please.

Fun fact: Tyene's actress, Rosabell Laurenti Sellers, was only 18 when they shot her topless scene. I'm not complaining, though she doesn't pass my 1/2 age + seven rule.

Had they treated her abuse as just a difficult hurdle, it would have seemed unrealistic and a little insensitive to rape-survivors. You can still argue that it may be insensitive of the writers to have had her character assaulted in the first place but if D&D learned anything from E03 of last season, rapes should have a follow-through.

I think that Sansa mentioned him. If Melisandre brought him up, though, casual viewers would have started to wonder too much themselves.

Did anyone else notice how Melisandre awkwardly avoided mentioning Balon's name? Since he was brought up by Sansa, it's not as if they've taken him out of canon (like they did with Theon's uncles) but it makes me wonder if they are purposely stalling on his death for next season. Anyhow, good episode - in spite of the show's increasingly shameless obsession with women-in-danger.

Like I said, she was sort of pushed into a corner; he was an adult speaking down to a young girl and it's hard to comfortably say 'no' when you're conditioned to be submissive. And like Winter's Knight implied, it's unlikely that a barbarian warlord would take 'no' for an answer. The way I saw it, Drogo was waiting until he got his way because he picked up on her passivity.

I think that we're really treading sketchy territory when we're referring to Daenerys' deflowering in ASOIF as consensual. This is a girl of 13 who was married off to man who was more than twice her age so I don't believe that a girl not yet grown has a proper understanding of consent, so regardless of Drogo's nurturing attitude, she was still being taken advantage of. Regardless of whether or not Drogo physically forced himself upon her, Dany was put into a position where she barely had a choices at all. She had nowhere else to go and was groomed by her brother into being an asset for another man. I'll need to read over the book, probably, but I didn't get the impression that she lay with him because she wanted to; it's more like she lay with him because she felt like she had to.

I've realized that while most fans seem to dislike E06, most fans seem to really like talking about it. That's sort of the genius behind the show; even their worst decisions help keep GoT on our minds.

If any of you need your hangover from E06 cured, try reading this: https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/36l3tx/spoilers_all_in_defense_of_the_show_why_dd_are/ A silly Reddit post, sure, but an earnest reminder that the show is just a fucking show and an awesome one at that.

This is true. It's probably a good time to remind people that Dany was crying in agony when she was deflowered in the first book, and that was also coerced consent. There are many reasons to take issue with the conclusion, but the mere fact that it was rape probably isn't one of them.