HBO: Game of Thrones

[Vee]

Yeah, that duel both did and didn't go the way I expected. I had a feeling Martin would insist on subverting the classical fantasy avenging-brother storyline and that Oberyn would buy it, but I didn't think Oberyn would get that far. Poor Oberyn. Well, now what?

I think the Sansa/Littlefinger stuff was absolute genius. I thought that was incredible work by Sophie Turner. And the ending shot of her coming out of the curtains was something else. That really says it all about where she's going. I hope she does get to meet Arya - and I hope we get more of Robin, who seems slightly less crazy than before but I'm not putting much stock in that.

Great monologue by Dinklage. Also, incredible work by Emilia Clarke and Iain Glen. And the Missandei/Grey Worm stuff is wonderful and just setting me up for future heartbreak.

Forgot to mention: Arya's reaction to the news of yet another recently-dead relative was priceless. That would be mine at that point, too.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Vee

[DRW50]

For the most part I thought this was a pretty good episode. The whole episode was people being driven to, and often past, their mental breaking point. Death and rebirth, and so on and so forth.

Highlights for me:

- Dany going the full Targaryen. She scared the [!@#$%^&*] out of me in that scene where she sent Jorah away. This is a Dany who surrenders to the mania that killed her father and brother. "The Usurper." That was the word her brother cloaked himself in all of his life. Now she is doing the same. Her face just gutted me. It's not about mean mean Dany sending away her friend/devoted unrequited love. It's about a woman who has tried to bring people into her heart being betrayed in the worst possible manner. Dany has been walking this road all season long and now I'm not sure what will hold her back.

I can understand why Dany did what she did and I hope people won't just see her as some ungrateful "bitch." Sadly, they probably will.

- While I totally understand why some fans are upset about the changes in Sansa's story, I thought Sophie Turner's work tonight was electric. Her best performance so far, and she's given many great performances. Sansa was trying to take control as best she can, and it's messed up that she has to do this, but it was fascinating to watch. The whole thing has a certain flair that I'm missing on the rest of the show. And I absolutely adored the scene where she walked down the stairs. The lighting, the outfits both she and Littlefinger were wearing (matching outfits, both facades to who they truly are), his reaction. Everything. This scene was, to me, pretty much perfect, which is rare.

- Arya's laughing. I've seen some comments that this was cute and hilarious; I thought it was frightening. I'm so worried for Arya and where she's going.

The rest...

- I felt like they could have trimmed down the Molestown stuff, but I'm glad we got to see so much of Gilly's survival ability and then the moment where Ygritte spared her and little Samwell's life. The Night's Watch scene was marking time, but it was nice that they all got dialogue for once, and we were reminded of their bond.

- Pedro Pascal did a wonderful job in those last scenes. The chanting, the coiled fury, the obsession with his sister's memory that ultimately led to his death. I wish we'd seen more of this Oberyn and less of the "tee hee he'll sleep with anyone" version.

- Indira Varma (?) was phenomenal in the scene where Ellaria reacted to Oberyn's death. Wow.

- The Harrenhal stuff underwhelmed me a little, felt by the numbers, although I hate Harrenhal (it's by far my least favorite setting - I want to burn it down), so that has an impact. I thought the acting was superb, Alfie Allen just getting better and better (and he's always been great), and the scene of "Theon" slowly riding his horse through a desolate area was truly haunting to watch. There's also something sick and, sadly, very fitting about Ramsay getting the approval and acceptance from his father that Jon never had the chance to get. They are now the happiest characters on the show...

- It was throwaway, "filler," what have you, but I liked the brief Missandei/Gray Worm material. I like seeing the show build up these characters and have at least one sweet, quiet storyline.

- I thought the scene at the end where they told Tyrion he was screwed was oddly rushed and was an abrupt way to go to credits. I don't get it.

Emilia Clarke on the scene.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/06/01/emilia-clarke-dany-ser-jorah/

[DRW50]

I don't know what else the guy who plays Roose has been in, but I find him far more attractive than I should. Between this guy, Charles Dance, Liam Cunningham, Aiden Gillen, Stephen Dillane, and Iain Glen, sometimes I feel like someone casting this show has a daddy kink.

I'm not complaining.

Edited June 2, 2014 by DRW50

[Vee]

I thought Arya's laugh was hilarious. I don't know what reaction anyone could have to the absurd tragedy of her situation at this point - after, for all she knows, her whole family was killed within moments of her reaching them, now her only other known refuge, a relative she barely knows (if at all) is also gone. I don't think it marks her as a sociopath or anything - I think it's just a helpless, exhausted reaction to the insanity of what she's been put through. I know that after a year or two of this bullshit I'd laugh too, and I know that wouldn't make me a sociopath either. Sansa has coped her way, but Sansa has money, shelter, safe passage and a wealthy patron. Arya has the road, the Hound, and her sword.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Vee

[Juliajms]

Well, Oberyn wasn't the Prince of Dorne. I think it's safe to say, he's not going to be pleased by this turn of events and he has Myrcella. I think Cersei is so out of her mind with grief and revenge, she didn't fully think that through.

Watching that fight seen was so frustrating. What a horrible way to die. I loved the little smiles that Jaime and Tyrion were sharing. They both looked so hopeful.

I don't mind the Sansa scenes. I always thought this was where she was headed. I certainly don't think pretending to be Cat for Peyter is the end of her story, but I always thought it would be one stop along the way. Gross, but it's the only real choice she has.

Has anyone seen a list of places they'll be filming in this next season? I'm just curious.

[DRW50]

It's not just the laugh. It's a ton of things this season, and at the end of last season, from when she held that coin in her blood-soaked hands. I didn't expect her to be upset about her aunt, as she never knew the woman, but I wasn't expecting that reaction.

I think both sisters are breaking from the pressure, just in different ways.

I don't think she's pretending to be Cat now. I think she's turning herself into a new creation entirely.

Not sure of all the places they're filming next season, but

[Vee]

I figure Sansa knows her ticket to any kind of freedom is to work her best angle, and her best angle is Littlefinger. Littlefinger has a supreme weakness for two things, power (in its most superficial form) and her mother. Sansa's mother is dead, and Littlefinger has shown himself to be into her. She can work him.

I had read that

I have a feeling about who's next, but I have no idea how or why.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Vee

[quartermainefan]

Bummer about the Viper. I really liked him as a character and hoped he would be a going concern.

Of course Sansa and Arya don't meet, that's expected at this point and it all has tinges of old fashioned farcical comedies the way people would run through doors missing each other. Starks don't meet, end of topic apparently. Dany I have completely lost interest in and apparently she has lost interest in Kings Landing since she doesn't even mention invading now. Now it is just her in her little sideshow where she is a queen and appears in scenes that have no impact on anybody anywhere.

I feel like the show is expanding now to the point where the expanding of the story is producing diminishing returns. I don't know how or why I should be interested in whether Theon's torturer is adopted by Roose Bolton or not. That is getting far off topic for the show. The time would have been better spent on even something as uneventful as checking in on the littlest Stark boy, or maybe telling us if Gendry actually rowed his boat anywhere. The show doesn't have to make literally every single character we meet a potential lead we should be following.

[DRW50]

[Vee]

I like watching Daenerys govern - I think it's essential to her development as a character. I know for some people it's totally "when are they going to get to the fireworks factory?" but to me, I find the nuts and bolts of that stuff fascinating. She has to learn how to do that if she wants to stay on that throne.

And I like the Theon story because I have literally no clue where it's going. I don't think every storyline has to be the most earth-shattering on the show.

[quartermainefan]

Dany has had four seasons--four seasons! ---the time for character development has long since passed and it is time she start being pivotal to the story the way characters like Cersei, Jon and Arya are. How long can they develop this character before they decide "ok, she's developed". Tywin is a fully developed and fleshed out character, done in less than half the amount of screen time. There is developing and then there is stalling. Dany's story is one giant stall I assume because they want to get other characters in certain points before she interacts with them. So she sits there on her throne and knits and braids.

Edited June 2, 2014 by quartermainefan

[DRW50]

I think some stories are more about an image than progression. Dany's story seems to be about things like - what is empowerment? What does being a "strong woman" mean? What happens when being the great white hope isn't enough? Is she going to become her father?

Theon's story seems to be more about making bad choices and paying for those choices until you're less than nothing. I think his story also continues because it's one of the only storylines in the North that isn't about people wandering around aimlessly. The Boltons are running the North now, and we see them in large part because of Theon.

I do think that some of the story threads have gotten somewhat unspooled (especially characters like poor Yara/Asha), but I feel like that's just a natural course the show has been going on since season 1, the last season where everyone was tied together.

[Vee]

Pedro Pascal on Oberyn's fate. I will miss him terribly, but I suspect he will be avenged (somebody's gotta be, anyway).

[Juliajms]

That was a really good interview. I guess it's ever so slightly spoilerish, not by my standards, but perhaps by some.

Not adopted, legitimized. If Roose can do it, so can any other ruler in Westeros.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Juliajms

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

While I absolutely hate the radical change in Sansa's story I definitely was blown away by the last scene on the stairs. She actually frightened me more than Arya's stupid laugh did. I just don't know where they go from here with Sansa and Littlefinger. Is she going to marry him in the show? And everyone knows Cat is dead so she can't pretend to be her mother and I doubt it would even work.

I don't understand what she thinks Baelish wants either...the scene before the last where he visits her to ask why she saved him. She claimed she "knew" what he wanted but they never said it outright so I'm a little perplexed by what the writers mean in this alternate universe. The dress Sansa was wearing at the end....talk about grown up lady. I think Sophie is over 18 but that was a little risque especially since I keep thinking of her as a young girl instead of as a young woman.

I don't think Dany came off bad at all. However I do take issue with her "giving into mania". I don't think Dany is manic at all. She's not like her brother Viserys or her father the Mad King. She just simply was acting like the royal Targaryen princess that she is. As her brother would say Jorah "Woke the Dragon" lol.

Hate Ramsay and Lord Bolton but their scenes were pretty effective. Even after being tortured and roughed up Alfie Turner is still one hot fine man...love him to death.

The Red Viper scene was fantastic! Ended exactly how I wanted. I wish they had shown Tyrion eating breakfast and then throwing it up after the Red Viper losers but that's a minor detail. I was utterly bored by the scene between him and Jaime. Just heard nonsense about beetles and tuned out. I guess I'll rewatch it but 4 minutes into it and I was totally annoyed. They spent like 20 minutes on Joffreys damn wedding and only like 7 on the Trail by Combat because they want Peter Dinklage to have as many chances for an Emmy nomination as possible? Give me a break....

Edited June 2, 2014 by ThePrinceOfSunspear