Frey Pies, Fire and Blood, and Little Birds...oh my!

[Lockjaw of House Boltagon]

We got all those moments from the books, albeit with some (major) variations. 

Do you think any of them worked as good as their book counterparts?

I personally think the Frey Pies thing was fine. Sure, it was very different (they all were tbh) but it was still satisfying to have the 3 main Frey villains (Walder, Black Walder and Lothar) suffer this gruesome punishment instead of some random Freys. 

Qyburn killing Pycelle with Varys' lines didn't sit well with me tho. First of all, there was really no need for him to murder Pycelle: If he was heading to the Sept (and I assume he was) he was going to burn anyway. Second, it takes away Varys' villainy even further. And third, I thought the epilogue was one of the few bits of aDwD I really, really liked because it not only has the surprise of Varys' resurfacing but also the frustration of seeing him get rid of the one person holding King's Landing together. And without those elements, they might as well have cut the scene, because it didn't feel the same way at all.

Lastly, the Fire and Blood speech was of course completely different in terms of its context, but I thought Doran's plan was dumb in the books so I can't be too upset about that one. 

[GeorgeIAF]

I wanted to see Hothar and Blackwader die on screen.

[DarkerStar]

So they give me Wyman Manderly. Awesome. They give all the cool things he does in the books to other characters to do. And he is not too fat to sit a horse. Major Bummers.

[Lord Lannister]

I really didn't like that Arya was the one serving the Frey pies. It's hard to cheer for the protagonists when they're one-upping the villains in horrible ways to kill people. If she had just cut Walder Frey's throat, that would've been awesome poetic justice, but that was a bit much.

[ShadowKitteh]

6 minutes ago, Lord Lannister said:

I really didn't like that Arya was the one serving the Frey pies. It's hard to cheer for the protagonists when they're one-upping the villains in horrible ways to kill people. If she had just cut Walder Frey's throat, that would've been awesome poetic justice, but that was a bit much.

Haven't seen much Shakespeare, have you? 

[JohnStormWeaver]

3 minutes ago, Lord Lannister said:

I really didn't like that Arya was the one serving the Frey pies. It's hard to cheer for the protagonists when they're one-upping the villains in horrible ways to kill people. If she had just cut Walder Frey's throat, that would've been awesome poetic justice, but that was a bit much.

agree. It was just revenge porn. I'm glad to see the Frey's are dead, but I just hate the direction they seem to be taking Arya.

Is her character simply gonna be someone who is making a list and checking twice and crossing all those who've been naughty and making pies?

[Ihaveadognamedclegane]

5 hours ago, DarkerStar said:

So they give me Wyman Manderly. Awesome. They give all the cool things he does in the books to other characters to do. And he is not too fat to sit a horse. Major Bummers.

I thought the same thing! 

[White Harbors Wrath]

The Frey pies was stupid. No context, no set up. She could have just as easily poisoned all three of them at the table.

[Cragen]

I agree Pycelle scene is unnecessary. I'm not sure that Doran plan from books is what he tell it to be, isn't logical. I think Dorne didn't sucked this episode as usual. Maybe, because Sand Snakes didn't do talking much. Things that I expected most from Dorn are thrown under bus last season, Arianne Martell and Elaria speech about revenge. I liked Frey pie scene, it's good they didn't do much foreshadowing because it would be to obvious for my taste.

[Charles Stuart]

In that frey death scene when he was sitting alone, I was sure he was going to die but I assumed it would be the brotherhood who would be behind it. Next minute when the face came off and arya revealed herself I was like "Oh sh*t!!"

I liked it though, a good way to wrap up Arya's arc this season as it would have been silly just to show her on a ship coming back from Braavos.

[wakeboarderjim]

1 hour ago, White Harbors Wrath said:

The Frey pies was stupid. No context, no set up. She could have just as easily poisoned all three of them at the table.

There is a ton of context for the Frey pies as the method: The Frey pies is a callback to Old Nan's story about the "Rat Cook" at the Nightfort:  

From Wiki of Ice and Fire: The Rat Cook served pies to the Andal king that were filled with the Andal king's son. The cook had killed the prince in revenge for a wrong the king supposedly did to him. The king was unaware of this, however, as he ate and praised the taste and asked for a second piece. The gods were angered — not because the cook had committed murder, nor because he had made the king a cannibal - but because the cook had slain a guest beneath his roof (Guest right grants protection to those who eat [bread and salt] under your roof). They cursed the cook and transformed him into a massive rat who was doomed to be unable to eat anything but his own young.

 You may recall that Waldor Frey is a modern Rat Cook in that he killed the Starks, Tully's and Northmen who were under the protection of Guest right; i.e., they served food at the Red Wedding Feast.  Arya is certainly familiar with Old Nan's story of the Rat Cook...and poetic justice; therefore, a perfect re-entry into the fray (pun intended) for Arya.

[Not a kneeler]

I didn't know Arya could cook! Maybe she met up with Hot Pie and brought him with her.

[Donaldys I Trumpagar]

I found it somewhat unbelievable that Lord Frey was sitting all by himself in a dining hall. No bodyguards, none of his other children, just him.

And, how did a little girl manage to kill two of his sons, carve them up, and cook up a pie with nobody noticing?

[farm_ecology]

27 minutes ago, wakeboarderjim said:

There is a ton of context for the Frey pies as the method: The Frey pies is a callback to Old Nan's story about the "Rat Cook" at the Nightfort:  

From Wiki of Ice and Fire: The Rat Cook served pies to the Andal king that were filled with the Andal king's son. The cook had killed the prince in revenge for a wrong the king supposedly did to him. The king was unaware of this, however, as he ate and praised the taste and asked for a second piece. The gods were angered — not because the cook had committed murder, nor because he had made the king a cannibal - but because the cook had slain a guest beneath his roof (Guest right grants protection to those who eat [bread and salt] under your roof). They cursed the cook and transformed him into a massive rat who was doomed to be unable to eat anything but his own young.

 You may recall that Waldor Frey is a modern Rat Cook in that he killed the Starks, Tully's and Northmen who were under the protection of Guest right; i.e., they served food at the Red Wedding Feast.  Arya is certainly familiar with Old Nan's story of the Rat Cook...and poetic justice; therefore, a perfect re-entry into the fray (pun intended) for Arya.

I think it's more that there isn't the context in the show. Remember, kinslaying and breaking the guest right aren't a big deal in the show Westeros. 

From the perspective of the show, Arya just randomly learns how to bake pies and for the purpose of a particularly evil method of revenge.

[One Eyed Cat]

I loved that Arya got to avenge her mother and brother with the Frey  Pies. Brought to mind  the Rat Cook  story .

 

[The Unborn]

1 hour ago, Donaldys I Trumpagar said:

I found it somewhat unbelievable that Lord Frey was sitting all by himself in a dining hall. No bodyguards, none of his other children, just him.

And, how did a little girl manage to kill two of his sons, carve them up, and cook up a pie with nobody noticing?

Do you really have to see the how ?

[Frimmel]

4 minutes ago, The Unborn said:

Do you really have to see the how ?

Holy crap yes. There's at least an entire episode of her getting into and inflitrating the Castle. Perhaps even being there long enough to learn to cook although she might have learned in her faceless man training/work.

And how the hall being empty for breakfast because Arya poisoned them all while serving wine at the feast or murdering them in their sleep. Freys having gone missing here and there or getting sick for some time. Huge missed opportunity.

[Lockjaw of House Boltagon]

5 minutes ago, Frimmel said:

Holy crap yes. There's at least an entire episode of her getting into and inflitrating the Castle. Perhaps even being there long enough to learn to cook although she might have learned in her faceless man training/work.

And how the hall being empty for breakfast because Arya poisoned them all while serving wine at the feast or murdering them in their sleep. Freys having gone missing here and there or getting sick for some time. Huge missed opportunity.

Now I want an entire episode of Arya baking Freys while singing "The Worst Pies in London the Riverlands"

[amyzing1]

2 hours ago, wakeboarderjim said:

There is a ton of context for the Frey pies as the method: The Frey pies is a callback to Old Nan's story about the "Rat Cook" at the Nightfort:  

From Wiki of Ice and Fire: The Rat Cook served pies to the Andal king that were filled with the Andal king's son. The cook had killed the prince in revenge for a wrong the king supposedly did to him. The king was unaware of this, however, as he ate and praised the taste and asked for a second piece. The gods were angered — not because the cook had committed murder, nor because he had made the king a cannibal - but because the cook had slain a guest beneath his roof (Guest right grants protection to those who eat [bread and salt] under your roof). They cursed the cook and transformed him into a massive rat who was doomed to be unable to eat anything but his own young.

 You may recall that Waldor Frey is a modern Rat Cook in that he killed the Starks, Tully's and Northmen who were under the protection of Guest right; i.e., they served food at the Red Wedding Feast.  Arya is certainly familiar with Old Nan's story of the Rat Cook...and poetic justice; therefore, a perfect re-entry into the fray (pun intended) for Arya.

Agree. That is what I was talking about last night, Old Nan's story that was repeated a couple season's back about the "guest" that served up the son in pie. There is context even though Arya wasn't in that scene a couple season's ago, Old Nan would've told all of the Stark children the same story. I liked it, one more off her list. CHECK! 

[White Harbors Wrath]

3 hours ago, wakeboarderjim said:

There is a ton of context for the Frey pies as the method: The Frey pies is a callback to Old Nan's story about the "Rat Cook" at the Nightfort:  

From Wiki of Ice and Fire: The Rat Cook served pies to the Andal king that were filled with the Andal king's son. The cook had killed the prince in revenge for a wrong the king supposedly did to him. The king was unaware of this, however, as he ate and praised the taste and asked for a second piece. The gods were angered — not because the cook had committed murder, nor because he had made the king a cannibal - but because the cook had slain a guest beneath his roof (Guest right grants protection to those who eat [bread and salt] under your roof). They cursed the cook and transformed him into a massive rat who was doomed to be unable to eat anything but his own young.

 You may recall that Waldor Frey is a modern Rat Cook in that he killed the Starks, Tully's and Northmen who were under the protection of Guest right; i.e., they served food at the Red Wedding Feast.  Arya is certainly familiar with Old Nan's story of the Rat Cook...and poetic justice; therefore, a perfect re-entry into the fray (pun intended) for Arya.

When did that explanation happen in the show? A throwaway scene from 3 seasons ago? I bet if you polled show watchers maybe 5% would recall that and maybe another 5% would confuse it with reading it in the book.