[spoilers] What You Liked/The Positivity Thread

[Woman of War]

13 hours ago, Clariana said:

I was very touched by the scene between Sansa and Brienne. It was particularly bittersweet because young Sansa's daydreams were filled with gallant knights saving noblewomen in distress and romance blossoming between them.

She's been married to a dwarf (whose, fine qualities, it must be said, she was incapable of appreciating), and a sadist. Her first knight is female and they're both straight.

Poignant.

Seaworth asking for mu'on.

The Melisandre shocker.

Also loved the costumes. Roose Bolton's fine blue leather doublet, the embroidery on Cersi and Ellaria's dresses.

 

 

 

All of this

Liam Cunningham's Davos is so wonderfully done.

And I loved Cersei, Lena Headey going from joy to despair

I had expected something like that with Melisandre but this was done great. First the perfect body, then subtly using the mirror to prepare us. Then not shying away from the unspeakable and unshowable in movies: a realistically old female body.

 

[Direwight]

Honestly, I can't think of any scene I really liked. The best parts were the scenes with Jon's body, because there was nothing wrong with them as such.

Although maybe it counts that when the Dorne thing happened, I spontaneously burst out laughing in a way I've never done before when watching the show. It was so surprising yet so absurd, and I think it was the moment when I forever stopped worrying about whether the show is going to spoil anything or perhaps improve from S5 just enough that I might again get invested in it enough for it to be able to disappoint me.

So, yes, I think that's the genuinely positive aspect I liked, even if it's rather meta. And I'm not only being snarky, I really do feel like the show's psychological grasp on me is a lot lighter now.

[Cas Stark]

3 hours ago, Dolorous Gabe said:

Cinematography was better than usual for the most part. Lena was excellent as usual playing her version of Cersei. The music is great. A few of the attempted jokes actually hit the mark, which makes a handy change from last season. The Mel reveal was interesting but I'd have preferred it to have ended on the mirror shot with the aged face in it.

I agree, the directing and camera work were very good, better than the majority of last year.  

[Sand11751]

Hands down - Brienne and Sansa. I think I could have cried when Brienne offered her oath and Sansa accepted; especially the moments where Podrick proved his usefulness. But also Melisandre, with her faith shaken - it doesn't excuse the number of people she's burnt and her lies / glamours, but seeing the human or real person behind her persona was very humbling. In that moment it's like she's so tired, she just doesn't want to pretend anymore and I found that appealing.

[Newstar]

I loved Pod riding and fighting on horseback! 

Brienne and Sansa exchanging the oath was beautiful.

[Lautrec]

The shot of Cersei crossing the atrium was quite pretty.

[MrsStocksey]

After a day thinking about the episode I'm liking it more, I saw so much potential for characters. 

i keep coming back to the Sansa and Brienne scene, the fact that her Knight in Shinning armour was a women is awesome. Can't wait to see them kick some arse this season, I worry for Theon though.  He seems to have served his purpose in the story so I'm hoping they find a way for his character to keep on his path of redemption.

[StarksNTargs]

8 hours ago, Direwight said:

Honestly, I can't think of any scene I really liked. The best parts were the scenes with Jon's body, because there was nothing wrong with them as such.

Although maybe it counts that when the Dorne thing happened, I spontaneously burst out laughing in a way I've never done before when watching the show. It was so surprising yet so absurd, and I think it was the moment when I forever stopped worrying about whether the show is going to spoil anything or perhaps improve from S5 just enough that I might again get invested in it enough for it to be able to disappoint me.

So, yes, I think that's the genuinely positive aspect I liked, even if it's rather meta. And I'm not only being snarky, I really do feel like the show's psychological grasp on me is a lot lighter now.

 

You realize there's a 30+ page whine fest you could post things like this in, right?   Can we please keep all of the negative crap in that thread please?  I try to avoid it for the most part to stay away from the negative hyperbole. 

Anyway,  I actually liked that they're attempting to do something creative with the Dorne plot.  Dorne was very uninteresting even in the books and this at least makes me more excited about what's to come.  I can see the Sand Snakes being the ones to murder Tommen.

Other than that, everything else was on point as well.  Short scenes for certain people like Tyrion, but I'm interested to see where everyone ends up.  I'm starting to get the feeling that Sansa may become Lady Stoneheart.  I can't really see where her plot is going otherwise and in one of the previews, Pod appeared to be some where green, which would indicate them going south.   As for Melisandre, I believe the necklace is what keeps her young and impervious and I think when she puts it back on, she will likely be young and impervious once more.  I think her taking it off and going to bed was more to signify her losing faith than her wanting to die or anything like that.  The necklace is a symbol of her faith. 

[JonSnow4President]

While I would agree that the above post doesn't belong in this thread, negative criticism belongs in all threads except this one, just like positive  comments belong in all threads except the negative threads. The whole point of a discussion thread (the majority of threads here) is that play between agree vs disagree.  

Coming back to on-topic, another ranter said this, and after thinking on it, I couldn't agree more.  

In a vacuum, almost every scene in the show is good (or better).  On an individual scene basis, ignoring how a scene may relate to other scenes, this is one of the best shows on TV (not that I watch a ton, but for what I do, none come close).  For as much as I have a problem with the Sansa/Brienne scene from this episode in the greater scheme of things, on its own it is a fantastic, emotional, well-acted scene. And the show has been very consistent with that. 

[MrsStocksey]

23 minutes ago, JonSnow4President said:

In a vacuum, almost every scene in the show is good (or better).  On an individual scene basis, ignoring how a scene may relate to other scenes, this is one of the best shows on TV (not that I watch a ton, but for what I do, none come close).  For as much as I have a problem with the Sansa/Brienne scene from this episode in the greater scheme of things, on its own it is a fantastic, emotional, well-acted scene. And the show has been very consistent with that. 

This is an interesting point of view but I wholeheartedly disagree.

The only reason scenes work is in the contexted of the show as a whole. (Except Dorne, nothing saves that) For example, the Sansa and Brienne scene is well acted and beautifully shot but if we didn't know what Sansa had been through up to this point or Briennes quest to find, serve and protect her it would have no emotional impact. It's also the way it mirrored Catelyn's earlier scenes with Brienne that really give it and even deeper impact.  The emotion only comes because it relates to their character journeys on the show.

[JonSnow4President]

4 minutes ago, MrsStocksey said:

This is an interesting point of view but I wholeheartedly disagree.

The only reason scenes work is in the contexted of the show as a whole. (Except Dorne, nothing saves that) For example, the Sansa and Brienne scene is well acted and beautifully shot but if we didn't know what Sansa had been through up to this point or Briennes quest to find, serve and protect her it would have no emotional impact. It's also the way it mirrored Catelyn's earlier scenes with Brienne that really give it and even deeper impact.  The emotion only comes because it relates to their character journeys on the show.

I'm not trying to bring in the criticism here, but when you start adding in Sansa's attitude, Sansa's character, the lack of consequences for Brienne abandoning her duty, a lack of explanation for how Theon/Sansa survived a jump higher than Myranda's fall, a lack of explanation for how Brienne gets from killing Stannis to knowing Sansa escaped, etc, and place those into a show where things that I would handwave in one individual scene are consistently off/inconsistent is what I'm talking about.  

So if I isolate that scene, I don't have a pattern of Sansa's submissiveness compared to "boss ass bitch" comments.  I don't have problems from handwaving the consequences from other scenes.  And it is beautiful within it's own little world.

And I think this is true across the show.  If I ignore other scenes, most of the show's scenes are superb.  

[MrsStocksey]

30 minutes ago, JonSnow4President said:

I'm not trying to bring in the criticism here, but when you start adding in Sansa's attitude, Sansa's character, the lack of consequences for Brienne abandoning her duty, a lack of explanation for how Theon/Sansa survived a jump higher than Myranda's fall, a lack of explanation for how Brienne gets from killing Stannis to knowing Sansa escaped, etc, and place those into a show where things that I would handwave in one individual scene are consistently off/inconsistent is what I'm talking about.  

So if I isolate that scene, I don't have a pattern of Sansa's submissiveness compared to "boss ass bitch" comments.  I don't have problems from handwaving the consequences from other scenes.  And it is beautiful within it's own little world.

And I think this is true across the show.  If I ignore other scenes, most of the show's scenes are superb.  

I guess it depends what bothers you, personally Brienne showing up made me cheer so I didn't really care about it's 'ex machina' nature l, shows/films do it all the time. I didnt need a scene to tell me what happened in between, I'll just assume she saw/heard the hunting party and followed them, it really didn't bother me but that's personal preference.

Surviving the jump is a good question but I didn't need to see a scene of it either, I got that she was visibly weak anyway from running and her weeks of torture, maybe a broken leg/back would have been more realistic but then there's no way she would have got away.  

Sansa's attitude and character I don't understand what you mean? I thought it very in keeping with show Sansa, up to this point.  

Sorry, I realise this should be more in the discussion thread so will keep this more for the positive vibes.

[Wolves Die Young]

The Wall

• Ghost howling. I don't mind him not being mute in the show. Everything Ghost in general.
• Ser Davos has always been one of my favourite book/show characters, he was brilliant
• Dolorous Edd
• The terror on Melisandre's face, and the reveal was well done
• Scenery

The North

• The escape music
• Sansa and Theon hugging was a sweet moment and needed in the series
• Pod and Brienne, the oath
• Theon in general. I like this new side of his

King's Landing

• The way Cersei's smile faded, the water
• Cersei's talk of the prophecy

Meereen

• The thought of Tyrion being a baby eater made me chuckle
• The burning fleet

Braavos

• Arya seems helpless, her future arc really interests me

[RoamingRonin]

I like we have After the Thrones! There's just something artificial about it, though. Seems a bit scripted. Probably the only "after the show" talk show I'll watch. I can't be bothered with Talking Bad or Talking Dead.

[rayarts]

I liked... the costumes. And the blueish flair of the Sansa scenes. That's it.

[Direwight]

9 hours ago, StarksNTargs said:

 

You realize there's a 30+ page whine fest you could post things like this in, right?   Can we please keep all of the negative crap in that thread please?  I try to avoid it for the most part to stay away from the negative hyperbole.

So do I. That's why I opted to try and describe what to me was the most positive aspect of having watched the episode.

Sure, I can see the difficulty in distinguishing the intent behind my wording from that of one of those crazy R&R people, but the only way I saw to prevent that (aside from just posting nothing) was to basically spend hours tweaking the post and supplementing every sentence with a long-winded clarification or two in order to try to decrease the odds of someone seeing it as nothing more than a veiled rant. But then that would have run the risk of simply having the opposite effect, as I don't exactly excel at making myself understood.

As said, it was certainly a meta positive, but since that's all I got, I went with that. Obviously and unfortunately, I cannot prove the purity of my intentions.

[Channel4s-JonSnow]

55 minutes ago, Direwight said:

So do I. That's why I opted to try and describe what to me was the most positive aspect of having watched the episode.

Sure, I can see the difficulty in distinguishing the intent behind my wording from that of one of those crazy R&R people, but the only way I saw to prevent that (aside from just posting nothing) was to basically spend hours tweaking the post and supplementing every sentence with a long-winded clarification or two in order to try to decrease the odds of someone seeing it as nothing more than a veiled rant. But then that would have run the risk of simply having the opposite effect, as I don't exactly excel at making myself understood.

As said, it was certainly a meta positive, but since that's all I got, I went with that. Obviously and unfortunately, I cannot prove the purity of my intentions.

If you can't say anything positive, say nothing at all. There are other threads for criticising.

[RattleSnake]

I loved Sansa and Theon. The scenes of them running through snow was almost magical to me. I liked Theon's limping and the fact that he was ready to sacrifice himself for her. The hug they shared was also touching. 

I know it's not an opinion shared by many, but I actually liked Brienne kneeling like a true knight in front of Sansa. The fact that Sansa has trouble remembering her words seems realistic to me. She's been through a lot as of late. The vow mirrored that earlier one between Catelyn and Brienne.

I felt like the scenes as the wall were nicely done. Davos was wonderful. Though I don't think he knows the real story of what happened to Shireen yet. I hope we see more of Ghost this season. Looking forward to seeing Edd interact with the wildings and their reaction to Jon's death.

Melisandre's last scene was beautifully sad. I, like many other book readers, knew that Mel was old after her POV. The sight of a naked old woman was not terrifying to me, though I've seen many show watchers complain about it. 

Besides all of these scenes, I liked the costumes and the music. They always do such a wonderful thing  with the costumes.

[StarksNTargs]

9 hours ago, rayarts said:

I liked... the costumes. And the blueish flair of the Sansa scenes. That's it.

 

See?  This post is a perfect example of the negative hyperbole squad trying to bleed their hate into every thread including the one meant for the positives.  I like this series a lot (and yes, I've read the books twice and listened to Roy Dotrice narrate the series as well), and I hate that this is the most active board for the series.  If I want to come and read other fans thoughts, I have to listen to mostly negative hyperbole about how the show is horrible because the Sand Snakes can teleport or how Briene is psychic...   The fact is, neither of those things matter at all.   The Sand Snakes just threw a coup and took over Dorne, while Briene is finally able to fulfill her promise to Catelyn and protect her daughter.  If you can't suspend disbelief on the small stuff, then TV/Movies aren't really the right thing for you in the first place.

[StarksNTargs]

1 hour ago, RattleSnake said:

The fact that Sansa has trouble remembering her words seems realistic to me. She's been through a lot as of late.

 

I think it would have been weirder if she'd have recited it easily without hesitating.  Honestly, the fact that she did hesitate shows her character's growth.  She went from someone who parroted the proper learned lines that were her armor in KL to actually thinking for her self.  It shows that she's not that same girl who only relied on such things.  Plus, she only hesitated for a couple seconds and picked up easily where Pod left off, so, it's not like she completely forgot... she just isn't that same person anymore.