FemmyV

I'm still digesting this, mostly but some randoms: Arya fucking Stark. I think many of us - or at least a handful, weren't at all taken by surprise, that she was the one to do the deed. We'd been spec'ing hard, ever since Bran gave her that dagger, that it would be the perfect way to get in close and dislodge that Dragon Glass. The exchange with Mel, about closing blue eyes confirmed it. I did like the exchange between Sansa and Tyrion; I did ship them a little in S2, but for the past several seasons, it was more like a canoe and well, trying to ship Sansa with *anyone* but Jon was an invitation for grief in any forum. 'nuf said, there. I wouldn't speculate anything, at this point, but I still wouldn't mind it if something did happen. It took them 4 tries to get the NK: Dany with fire, Jon wasn't able to get close, Theon got himself killed. It just wasn't one long protracted fight, is all. And it was interesting, isn't it, that Jon wasn't the omnipotent hero of the episode? I liked that, it was a nice change to give everyone else the chance to shine. Poor Lyanna M. I was so hoping she would make it out alive. House Mormont is completely gone. I'm not a big fan of the more violent stuff, and war scenes tend to bore me, but all this was simply beautiful and frightening, at the same time, to watch. One of the most beautiful night shoots AND war shoots in film history. As far as the darkness goes, I felt like that was the point: the NK wanted never ending night, and he was bringing it with him. I thought that was pretty brilliant, actually, showing us how hard it was for our heroes to fight him and fight the Long Night. Arya. You're just so fucking badass.

Among my endgame fantasies: The dragons all die, and Dany finds she can lead and help people without them. Lyanna Mormont lives and chills out, just a little, while continuing to kick ass, in general.

I fear you may be correct about Dany being written as power mad, although, atm, I'd say every Northerner is being written as fearing Dany is mad. And we've already seen Tyrion and Varys being written as fearful she could be. Then again: "The dragon must have three heads." Who will be #3?

I think they wanted to ape Sam's speech about stories and storytelling from LotR/TTT but didn't want to get caught lifting it outright.

Yeah, I just ... feel like she used him, a little.

Wow, that was intense. I mean, jebus, that was intense. Probably the most emotionally taut episode of the whole series. Arya and Gendry - I suppose we shouldn't have been surprised. Did they do it for the right reasons? I'm not sure Arya did, judging by their post-coital shot. Arya and the Hound - slightly less anti-climactic. <3 his reminder, "I fought for you." Sansa and Dany - wow, a lot of yanking us around on that one. They hate each other. They're okay with each other. They hate each other. Sansa and Theon - who knew? Jorah and Lyanna - perfect. Jorah and Sam - perfect. Missandei and Grey Worm just made me sad. All their sacrifices. Bran and Jaime - if that was less of an emotional scene, it's because TER. Jaime/Sansa/Dany/Jon - Something about this scene made me fear he's going to switch sides, if he survives. He's accounted for his actions with Bran, but he's still maintaining what he did to Ned and his men was a-okay. It was not, it was an escalation of hostilities that no one ever commanded him to do. Cat did something stupid in taking Tyrion, but no one declared war in that act's wake. Dany and Jon - at first I thought it was a truly wrong move, to tell Dany the truth, going into the battle. On second thought, though, letting her go into war against the NK with that knowledge allows her to process it in the background and put the most important thing up as a priority. Fireside chat people: great scene. There was so much going on there, but it was kind of amusing to see Jaime's reaction to Tormund courting Brienne, among other things.

Oh, and by the way: did anyone else here get a little Princess Bride vibe out of Gendry's "As you wish, milady" ? Or was it just me being fanciful?

Northerners expect NK to be at their doorstep in two days. They're only going to need to worry about food if they defeat that army. If they do, they can round up stores afterwards.

As much as I loathe stepping into the Dany v Sansa crap (geez, I'm getting flashbacks to the TWoP fights, here) gotta say: I do think Sansa has a legitimate concern on the food issue. Food is her area of responsibility to account for, so, she gets to be anal about it. What she doesn't get to be is so publicly anal. It doesn't look good on her. ATM, I'm beginning to fear Imma have to put Dany in my Death Pool 😞 .... she just looked too damned happy in those few minutes she got to be alone with Jon. That never bodes well. Oh, I think Tyrion would love to be king. It would be his ultimate FU to Tywin's ghost. In general Tyrion and Dany are my favorite picks because both of them want the power for overall good reasons and know they need the power, to enact their visions. I can't imagine Jon enjoying a crown for even a minute, or enjoying his life having to deal with all the bullshit that goes with it. I also think I'd kind of be okay with Jaime. He's come a seriously long way from the broken smart-ass, thoughtless jock that he was at the beginning, and now that he's about to have a reckoning with Bran, it's come full circle. I don't think he wants it, but I think he'd be okay at it, should the crown come to him out of left field.

That's an interesting theory. I've wondered if she didn't find some way to write a Dear Robert letter, and he lied about Rheagar kidnapping her. Oberon always sounded like he felt there was more to Rheagar's betrayal than met the eye. So did Littlefinger.

re: Dany -> Sam -> Jon etc It was a great sequence, but it's hard to put aside the reasonable belief that Jorah would have known, and told Dany his savior's name was Samwell Tarly, and that they might have questioned if there was a connection. But whatever. I felt bad for everyone involved in the library. Dany thought she was going to make Sam's night by granting him something awesome. Oops. As for Sam's surprising reaction about his father, well, he's always been conflicted there. He was always made to feel that he was the disappointment. His act of defiance in leaving Hornhill wasn't guilt-free; he had to sneak out, and he felt it necessary to ask for a pardon, for that. What was missing from the conversation, IMO, that makes Sam's reaction a little more sympathetic was that he wasn't told the full circumstances: his father and bro were a huge part of betraying their own liege lords and the sack of Dany's ally. Shit happens in war, and their are repercussions. But still.. he's got a right to be upset, and he handled himself excellently with Dany. She's never had to think about the real human consequences of her actions in the past - everyone she hurt was an enemy. Everyone pointing out Sam's hypocrisy is correct (her reasons for frying the Tarlys were no worse, and in the greater scheme of things, equally justified for the hanging of Olly, et al, and better than Slynt's head coming off), but he's an excuse for being emotional on this one. What I don't get is why Bran wanted/needed Sam to tell Jon the truth about his parentage, while he was still in that state of shock. And I really don't see how Bran or anyone else would think this would suddenly change Jon's whole attitude about taking the crown for himself. He didn't want to be King in the North in the first place. How badly is he going to want to be the Ruler of Seven (or Six) Kingdoms? So why would it be important for Bran to try to get him to take the crown? And/or use Sam's anguish to put a wedge between Dany and Jon? Why didn't he want this news to be broken more gently?

Perhaps it was something akin to a little kid, that first time they catch their parents in the act. At some point, they've got to start wondering where little dragons come from.

Wow, that and "Only a Targaryen ..." sailed right over my head. Good catch. The NK's artwork reminds me of a platter of shrimp cocktail.

Quite agree. On second watch, my take on her smile at the Northerners reaction to the dragons was, here she is in the midst of a crowd that she knows has no love for her and regards her with suspicion. So here she was, feeling very unsure of herself and their reaction gave her a 'yeah, that's right, I'm Daenerys fucking Targaryen, bitches.'

I agree, Dany knew she was giving unwelcome information and wasn't happy about it, but what was she supposed to do? The deed was done and, if anything, having Sam be the one to show her that the action had a real, human impact that was going to affect someone in her life — I don't think she's ever had to face that kind of reality. All of the previous enemies Dany torched were people whose death wasn't going to have any kind of emotional reverb going back at her, IIRC.

Then you should put some words on it. Get to the task!

That would have been the other part.

Of course not, but wasn't that part of what tipped Tyrion off to her pregnancy? I guess she could have been faking him out.

Speaking of Cersei's belly, what's up with the wine?

I loved this episode for all the character moments, and for showing its handful of flashes of joy in the middle of all the worry. Jon and Dany out dragon riding was beautiful. Arya and all her reunions, that was a mix although, I guess we shouldn't be too surprised to find her feelings re: the Hound are still unresolved.

I've been having my own little marathon and rewatched S02E01. Caught yet another mirror, this time having to do with Littlefinger's death. 2:1, there was the "knowledge is power/power is power' scene with LF and Cersei. Remember her order? "Cut his throat."

I wondered if she might be drinking poison. Tears were in her eyes, but she didn't look defeated, exactly.

Pretty sure the family got a nice big check, anyway. They were asked to sign an NDA, that usually comes with something to make it go down easier.

Off to a good start! I thought all the performances were solid. This is looking like a great take on King Lear, and more. Interesting music for Kendall's bathroom fit, and again in the final boardroom scene: very reminiscent of Prokofiev's "Dance of the Knights" from Romeo and Juliet, only without the violins and such.

Maybe she was hell-bent on taking him in alive?