Ser Quork

If GRRM does either of those, I'm sure it'll make sense within his narrative. I don't see it at the moment, and I don't believe either will happen in the books because in the show 1) Sansa was ripped out of her own narrative and shoved in Theon's/Stannis's/Jon's storylines and 2) they did nothing sensible with Bran that would make him monarch material. There's loads of wiggle room that I can see - a clear ocean of it. Yes, I believe Sansa will be a player of the game of thrones, but in and from the Vale, unless GRRM shows me otherwise.

Agreed.

He'd probably get better if they'd stop poisoning him, don't you think?

There's a great deal here that I agree with, especially the bold. They certainly mishandled Bran's storyline very badly that we have to go through mental gymnastics to get to this end point. I'm not convinced this is his end-point. I do believe, however, GRRM can get him there in a logical manner, if that's his plan. I've thought he'd stay in that cave and the show hasn't shown me anything to change my mind on that. Given we already know that Book!Bran has gained power even Bloodraven hasn't, I think it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he'll be able to exercise influence from his "weirwood throne". I believe there will be real adverse consequences to Jon's resurrection/re-awakening after his time in Ghost. We can't ignore what we've seen with Beric and Lady Stoneheart or Varamyr's revelations. They have to bite in some way. In addition, I've long thought that Jon would end his story in the North (the heart of Winter, to be precise) and lose his life to the fight with the Others - the hidden prince who remains hidden. That's my pet theory, but I'm not wedded to it. If he doesn't, I have no doubt I'll be satisfied with whatever GRRM concocts. My watch wait continues.

I think they would if Bran makes a substantive and quantifiable difference to the war, for example., using the ravens to scout positions or using his ability to see elsewhere to gain advantages for their own armies. He did sit as Lord of Winterfell before Theon took over the castle so he does have some of that experience too. I mean - it could work if it's told properly.

I'm on board with this.

Theon was published as the gift chapter in the UK version of Dance instead of the Barristan chapter.

If we take the leap that Bran leaves the cave (I'll believe it when I read it), and if Bran actually demonstrates that his powers of reading the past and possible futures or seeing tactical advantages through skinchanging ravens, etc., is of actual functional use to winning certain wars (which he really didn't in the show) then I could see that a Great Council may consider that a gives him an edge as a king (who would need a regent, given his age). Agreed - I think that is definitely set up in the Theon WoW chapter.

I'm so conflicted about that shot. It's an amazing shot and very effective, but it's also rather on-the-nose devil imagery - I felt I was being beaten round the face with "Ooooo, Dany bad" shots.

I rated it 2. Awful in every way with only two or three redeeming scenes.

Completely on board with this.

@Frances Bean Corbray and Preston Jacobs's reviews are so much more enjoyable than the actual episodes. Thanks guys!

That was bad. I'm actually stunned by how bad that was. VFX and music and performances were good, as always, but the direction was poor and the pacing was truly appalling. I was forever adjusting the volume because what little dialogue there was was barely audible. I dare say the actors were embarrassed by it as the writing was abject rubbish. I scored it 2. I'm off to the Rant thread now. I may be some time.

I agree. There were some good visuals, and I loved the dragon fight (though would have preferred a better lit version) but overall I thought this was vastly below previous battles.

I can debunk it. I read this too so I re-watched that scene with the sub-titles on. "YELLS. (VISERION GROWLS.)" is what it says.

Quality!

That was dire, far more so than I expected. There have been other battle episodes that I've scored relatively high because the visuals and tension have been so good, and I expected this ep to trump that, given where we are in the story. But no. I was going to give it 3, but frankly that is just too much. 2 it is - and that is for the dragon fight and the music. Everything else was lazy and annoying, contrived and stupid.

Hurrah! Doesn't disappoint.

The question is: what part of Aegon's storyline has been co-opted by other characters in the show version? My theory is that Cersei will burn King's Landing causing people to flock to Aegon's cause. He will topple Cersei at some point in WoW and he (and Arianne) will be ruling when Dany lands in Westeros. She'll be all Fire & Blood with her dragons, screaming Dothraki, Unsullied and possibly Victarion's Iron Born. Such an invading army will be the terror of Westeros. This will mean further gains for Aegon. I'm unsure about the Jon/Dany malarkey we have in the show. It feels vastly too cheesy for GRRM. I could see a Dany/ Aegon (maybe Jon) marriage alliance as a possibility down the line, but not as a love story. However, I think Aegon will serve the purpose of highlighting Dany's sense of entitlement to the Iron Throne. If she finds out about Aegon and believes he is genuinely her nephew, will she be delighted to find a member of her family or angry that he may be considered to have a better claim to the throne than she? Will we see this aspect played out with Jon in his Aegon incarnation in the show? I'm sure there will be a dance of dragons one way or another in the books (and I'm not convinced there'll be an ice dragon in those).

An underwhelming start. Good points: Interesting new opening credits that'll be worth watching. Two good scenes without dialogue (opening and closing scenes). Always like a bit of dragon CGI. John Bradley's scenes. Bad points: Poor dialogue. Testicle jokes. Tits and arse for no good reason. Unfulfilling reunions. Pacing off. Telling us Sansa's smart rather than showing us (as she's been pretty dumb for seven seasons). Making all women, even Lyanna Mormont, snarky and petty. Dragon riding as comedy. Can't go better than 4/10.

That's the Night's King who was a man and 13th LC of the Watch (so post-dating the White Walkers) of whom GRRM says: The show has the Night King, the original White Walker - a completely different concept.

For me, it was season 5. Once they put Sansa in the North, the Northern storylines (Winterfell and Stannis) from the books were pretty much destroyed as was Sansa's arc (not to mention LF).

All choreographed to fall in the same place to make a wall. It was comedy worthy of Mel Brooks.

But Jon has two wights in the ice cells at Castle Black.

4. There was a lot of silliness in this ep., and at times I was bored. The visual effects are always stunning, and that's what mainly gets the numbers from me.