FemmyV

You have to wonder, where in Westeros can we find a group of people who have been living, relatively peaceably with each other, outside of any King's law and keeping their own council, who could influence future Westerosi culture towards a democracy, of sorts? Oh, wait. There is such a group! They're called "Wildlings" and Jon Snow let them through the wall. I can kind of, sort of, see some kind of crystal ball action where Wildlings (with encouragement and/or assistance from Snow and Dany) provide an example of local governing with more boards than Lords, and in exchange, they find the delights of private property and capitalism. Or some such. Are Jon and Dany end game? I don't know, but they sure look pretty together. I can also see maybe Dany bites it, and Arya is tasked with helping Jon raise the little Dragon Baby. But if not, maybe it's not so difficult to imagine Jon and Dany, upon realizing what a threat little Dragon Baby could be if given too much power, both giving up any ambition to any throne and spending their days backpacking throughout Westeros. The more time has gone on, the more I think Tyrion and Sansa would be a good match. He brings the prestige of Lannisterhood and Casterly Rock, King's Hand - and who knows? Maybe king? - that she wants. He has the maturity, and respect for plebes, to teach her how to not be such an imperious asshole when it comes to dealing with people who don't see things her way, and would probably treat her very well. She is young and can give him little Lannister babies to keep the family name alive.

Shown to us, the viewers. But not to others.

Mixed feelings on a mixed episode: Fellowship of the Wight may have been unnecessary if they were following the books, because Jon had been keeping some on ice, to study, at the Wall. OTOH, doing it this way allowed all sorts of scariness and drama, and a way to get Viserion into NK's hands (*sniff*). Thank goodness for the entertaining character moments between the men, for comic relief. Ship Briemond had better sail in Season 8, otherwise Tomund is being set up to play the fool for more comic relief, but it's having the opposite effect on me - stop talking about it, already. Benjen: We shall not see his like again. Beric: will he get to throw a flaming sword at Viserion in the future? Or will it be the Hound? And where DID those chains come from? Ace Hardware Beyond The Wall? Tyrion needs to form his OWN plan, for what to do in case Dany fails or dies before she can take the throne. I get that he's scared for his own life and wants to secure a future but history has many conquerors who didn't have heirs when they went after crowns, or had an heir but lost them to death. English history, alone, is littered with spares and usurpers taking power. Not all heirs were welcome (the Princes in the Tower). But the conversation did serve to give a little shove-off for GRRMS Jonerys. Speaking of which, weren't they cute? Dany coming to the rescue in her awesome winter white coat? Realizing that Davos wasn't exaggerating about Jon taking one for the team. And Jon virtually bending the knee and all. Arya/Sansa was a good idea that was treated badly. Too much short-handing, I think, of issues and backstory that deserved a longer stretch. I've seen it explained outside of the episode, in magazine articles, that LF recognized Arya's "no one" as FM talk and set out to set her up via visual cues, because he knew she would be onto him if he lied to her or tried to directly manipulate her. So let's say they botched that. As for Arya bitching out Sansa for her behavior during Season 1 — it's long past due that someone put it on the table. Their relationship will never become close if they sweep everything under the rug. Just because Sansa later became traumatized by events doesn't mean she gets a pass for life, on being called out on her contributions to those events. Starting with the way she treated Ned once he decided she might do better than Joffrey. Remember the doll Ned gave her, that she pretty much threw in his face? You see that doll in Season 6, IIRC, hanging on a vanity or some such, a visual cue to the remorse that she has never expressed. And when Arya opened the conversation in this show, Sansa could have done that, but instead chose to switch topic to her being Savior Of Winterfell. The surprise was that Arya decided to trust her, and hand her the knife. Also thought it was interesting how Maise reverted to her more high-pitched, little girl delivery in that conversation. Perhaps the point was to show them both regressing. (These contrivances have been going on all season.) I do give Sansa a pass on her treatment of Brienne; she could have done it with more tact, but Brienne DID pledge to serve - that means shutting up and taking orders from a 20 YO.

There is no way on the old and the new gods' green earth that Catelyn would have been able to sit on that information without using it. At her most benevolent, she would probably have fought to keep him from going to the Wall - where he developed into what he is now. She probably would have tried to marry him off to a Frey girl or some other, and if that family were reluctant, let them in on the secret. At worst, she might have tried to use him as a bargaining chip to get Ned released. Ned was right to keep the information to himself.

In the books, wasn't Jon keeping a few on ice (literally) for study? I could've sworn ....

Lest we forget, all the way back to book 1, season 1, the mystery of Jon's parentage was put in front of our noses, with Ned's refusal to name his baby mama. He may not end up on the throne, but his heritage will be an important plot point either way. As for his Night's Watch vows: Jon Snow took those vows, and died in the Night's Watch. Aegon (or whatever his name is) Targaryen doesn't owe the NW a thing.

Of those who say they don't see the chemistry, I have to question exactly what kind of chemistry are you looking for? Sexual? When Jon was with Ygritte, she was trying to get into his pants on their first night of acquaintance. It was there right away, because it was written that way. In current terms, neither Jon nor Dany are looking for sexual partners: she's looking for a possible marital alliance, but he doesn't know that. He's trying to walk the line of getting the help he needs for the North, without bending the knee and without getting killed. The chemistry I see with the characters is that they're being open with each other about their goals, and who they are, and they are showing each other some amount of vulnerability. Think back to their meeting, when Dany got off of the throne and walked straight up to him and gave him the list of what she'd been through. How many other Westerosi leaders do you think she would have been drawn to as much, to do that?

More and more, Cersei is treating Jamie less like an equal and more like a soldier. When he finally says, 'enough,' I think that's going to come into play, as well.

Additionally, Mance was no threat to Stannis' goals. He'd already surrendered. He wasn't going to offer an army to Stannis' enemies, he just wanted safety for his people.

Not as awe-striking as last week's show, but better than pretty much anything from Season 5 or 6. And damn, it moved fast! So many quick reunions, and on to business. Shall we speculate how Bronn and Jamie got downstream without being detected? And alive? I didn't see any scuba, snorkeling or other James Bond-type devices, so I guess I'll just have to buy that they walked or crawled along the riverbed to safety. Right ... well, Jamie can be much like a cat, there goes another one of his lives. Bronn, I'm not so sure about; Cersei seems to think something needs done about him, and spoilers I've seen I would have liked to see a little more brotherly action with Jamie and Tyrion, but considering Tywin's death, I guess one can only hope for so much. Speaking of Tyrion .. you'd think he was Arya enjoying her last evening in Braavos, with no reason to worry about being spotted by the wrong people. Just taking a leisurely walk on the coast, no reason to hide behind a rock or anything until the Gold Cloaks are gone. Gendry! So glad to have him back. But I guess we're going to have to wait for his shirtless scene. Damn! I love how he blew off Davos' advice at the first chance, heehee. It was the smart thing to do, and their exchange about skinnier and shorter reminded me of Ned and Robert ("you got fat"). But no Arya talk? Nah, I'm not buying that. I mean, if you're going to blow off Davos advice about your identity, may as well give SOME hint of your intentions for his sister. Dany did the right thing in torching the Tarly fools. Especially Randal, who had to be one of the biggest hypocrites with an army. His choice to stick with Cersei wasn't based on what's best for Westeros, it was based on his prejudices. Dickon was a fool to follow him. Her choice of their death wasn't all that much different from Ned swinging the axe: Drogon did the work, but she was the only person who could give him that command. Oh, and by the way: Sam is now heir to the full frigging Reach, should the NW kick his ass out. Or dissolve. Arya ... are you really going to fall for LF's shit? Guess so. This episode marks TWO - TWO IN A ROW - where Sansa is finally behaving as smartly as the producers tell us she is. Hoo fucking ray. Bran / Ravens / Eastwatch ... oooh. It's getting scary ...

Forgot to say, that's regicide X2.

Neat literary device, but irrelevant to this particular conversation, as that wasn't one of the accusations for her unfitness. Hmmm, I'm afraid my phrasing left the intent less than clear so I'll redo: "... battery as an infant. And just for the heck of it, here's what I can name off the top of my head: .." Whatever was the reason for Cersei's action was not in question, simply pointing out her early psychotic behavior. I am going less on GRRM and more on Miriam Webster. Whether or not she wanted to be there, is irrelevant. She was there. A crime was committed, she assisted in its cover up. That equals complicit. Re: blowing up the Sept - Doesn't matter. What matters is that she DID blow the mother up. Re: fixing Tyrion's trial She wanted to believe he was guilty. And it doesn't matter, it doesn't change her attempt at controlling an outcome that would be favorable to her and deathly to innocent others. How she did it is less important than the fact that she did, indeed, raise a sadistic murderer. Considering her previously mentioned treatment of Tyrion and what she left for Septa Unella, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. It would be pretty funny if, in the books it turns out the Cersei morphs into a surprisingly humane, competent ruler ... but I don't think we're going there.

To choose Cersei over other contenders for the throne, at this point,is simply choosing the devil you know. To defend her, though, that's a real exercise in extreme situational ethics. We have it from Oberyn that Cersei subject Tyrion to sexual battery as an infant, and just for the heck of it, here's what I can name off the top of my head: Complicit in Bran being pushed out a window; pushed three fraudulent heirs on Westeros; homicide/regicide in Robert's case, got Margaery and Loras put behind bars, eventually murdered them; murdered her uncle, murdered everyone else in the Sept; attempted to rig Tyrion's trial. She raised Joffrey to be a murderer as well; comparatively, Dany's dragons have only killed for food and when under orders, to attack. I think I'd prefer to take whomever is behind curtain #3.

Normally I would have agreed about Sofie, but it's starting to look like we're finally getting to a place in the story where Sansa is, at long last, getting the chance to wise the fuck up, and act and interract with others in situations where she is (probably) not in the way of physical or psychological harm. Sophie has always been tolerable; Sansa has not.

A little late to the party this week, here goes: Arya's homecoming: sweet and sneaky. Could have used less lip from the guards, but it gave us a moment to see Maisie sit in the middle of the courtyard and take it all in, reliving Arya's early childhood memories on those ramps, and those balconies, and allowed me to completely forget that all that was there was rebuilt after fire from the Bolton attack destroyed everything. Good job! The reunion with Sansa was well done; not without tension but the family devotion ultimately won out. LOVED the sparring scene with Brienne (As Syrio would say, "dead, dead, DEAD.") even if I'm not sure what the point of it was, other than giving herself some satisfaction and showing off. Put me in the chorus: #justiceforMeera. Jebus, Bran, you could have made up something, just a few sentences, in advance extolling sincere gratitude. We all knew she was going to leave at some point. HMS Jonaeris is pulling out of port soon! Those two were nearly drooling during Cave Talk. And I gotta love that my girl, Dany, never lost her head so much she gave in without demanding Jon's fealty, first, nor will she, heehee. Fields of Fire redux: Nice of Lord Tarly to inform us all that the gold had made it through the KL gates. .. and I have to wonder: is it a GoT invention that has local fiefs keeping their own treasuries to be sacked by anyone? I would think Highgarden might have kept a secret vault or two squirreled away in Braavos, or some other secret location. Jamie's cart looked like it contained the family jewels and silver. A lot, but hardly enough to pay off of ALL of the Lannister debt. I digress. Freaky how you could hear the Horde before you could see it, and no doubt scarier. At this writing, this is my favorite battle in the series so far. By the time it was over, it looked like Armageddon. BOUT FOOKING TIME for the first time in a long time, someone handed the Lannisters their ass. And I say that knowing Jamie is one of my favorite characters. Finally happy to see them hit a genuine setback. So Cersei gets the gold to buy more army — what's she going to feed it with? Nice to see how Tyrion's love for Jamie plays out against his desire for victory. Bronn is in an interesting place. I believe he is genuinely loyal to both brothers and loves them both, for the opposing reasons: Tyrion tends to not put him in danger's way quite as much as Jamie, but Jamie's doing so forces Bronn to step up to the plate more often, and brings out his best more often. His recent whining is worrisome, though, in the way that soap operas used to have a tendency to make long loved characters suddenly unlikable before they kill them off. Finally, I'm with those who were amused at how the lake can go from having two inches of water on the shoreline to a who-knows-how-deep drop off for Jamie to fall into. Must be a spring.

Maybe he's heard about Bran's visions and is trying to direct them KL's way

Dany / Jon / Tyrion were the high point for me. I enjoyed all of those exchanges, especially the Jon/Tyrion reunion I was looking forward to. Good stalemate for Dany and Jon (how much chemistry you want, really? She's not trying to have Epic BoatSex with him, just yet). Good to see Sansa not whining, for once. Euron's a hoot, even if the whole thing is unbelievable, from the ninja boats to the KL masses who were ready to rip the Lannisters apart limb-by-limb in Season 3, and suddenly love their Queen Cersei so much they copy her haircut. Olenna, we hardly knew ye. Ye will be missed. Sandsnakes will not. Speculation: I do hope we see Meera again, introducing Howland Reed. Bran. My poor boy, what a mess. And then there's Jaime: Weary, indeed. I expect her actions in blowing up the Sept broke him, to some extent. At this point, I think I'm just going to have to resign myself to the idea that the show will resort to paint-by-numbers, plot-driven scriptwriting from here on out and just deal with it. BUT. These three things are just needling me: 1. Jon Snow's increasingly guttersnipe accent. Last week was when I first noticed it, this week, after the show I went back and watched S01E02 to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Kit is dropping his 'g's (believin', goin' etc) and his 't's ("We're nah' geh'-in' anywhere") to sound more like a Wildling. In the after-show talk, it's explicitly stated Dany sees him as uncouth, so I have no doubt this is to play up that aspect. 2. Why is Varys suddenly so pissed off all the time? Again, both episodes. For 6 years, Varys has kept his cool under every form of duress. Never showed a hint of emotion or what wheels were turning, except sometimes, to his buddy Tyrion. 3. Already discussed Arya's wild transition from six seasons of Arya, to behaving like the Hound for One. Scene. Then it's back to Arya. I have to assume these are all directors' and/or script writers decisions.

No matter how grief-stricken Olenna may be, revenge against Cersei is her #1 priority. Olenna knows enough to tell her bannermen to stay in the Reach when Cersei calls. Loras and Marg may be gone, but Highgarden still needs a defending army. It also stands to reason she would have asked the Tarly's to join her against Cersei. You don't get your revenge if you play to lose everything.

Jebus, yes! We watched Arya go through: watching Ned's assassination; traveling with rough young men and criminals; traveling with the Hound; Faceless Men, and through it all, she essentially remained Arya. Shocked Arya, sad Arya, angry Arya, reflective Arya, but basically: Arya. And after two significant encounters (Freys, Lannister soldiers), in her confusion, she channels Clegayne (kudos to whomever caught that first) while reuniting with Hot Pie? WTF? Then she's Arya again for Nymeria. Who will she be when she gets to Winterfell, just so the writers can show us how much Arya Has Changed (over the course of two episodes)?

Robert wasn't alone in his rebellion, though, because of what the Mad King did to Brandon and Rickard Stark. If the Targaryens had stopped with Rheagar taking Robert's girlfriend, Robert wouldn't have enough other outraged nobles backing him, to be successful.

The remaining leading families' meek acceptance of Cersei is taking me out of the story, so to speak. What she has done — that the public knows about — is far worse than anything the mad king did, and look at what resulted: Robert's Rebellion. IRL, someone like Cersei would have been given the Bonaparte treatment by now and KL would be well under siege. Also, Olenna would have been expected to communicate to her vassals, her change of alliance — shit, she would have done well to command the Tarlys lay siege, themselves, instead of licking Jamie's boots. The Vale is all at Winterfell, but the Freys are all dead and six young boys aren't going to take out the remnants of the Tully army. They, too, would have found someone to pay the rent by now and go after Cersei, or at least support Jon.

No idea what this is alluding to, but I hope it's not very stinky :0

GRRM: "You don't hang a pack of wolves on the wall and not use them." If not in the show, then they will appear and be useful in the future books. If they ever come out. Ghost is saving himself for his season's close up.

Well, that was a little more meaty, if not prime roast. Sam, you just met the guy, isn't it just a little bit fast to be cutting his greyscale off, already? And with so little Daddy Mormont talk? Arya to Nymeria: "That's not you." Nice echo to "That's not me," when Ned predicted she's marry a high lord, etc., etc. I almost cried at this long-awaited reunion. Geez, please, MORE of this. I was a little disturbed at how cold she was towards Hotpie though. I'm going to love Randall Tarly's bad end. Jamie would convince others a lot easier if he could convince himself, they're doing the right thing. Jon / LF. Would rather LF have not been in that scene, and let the two spar elsewhere. Theon: I'm actually okay with his dive. He was in a lose-lose situation, and now he'll have a second chance. <3 Dany and Olenna

It's hard for people to put themselves in Cersei's place because she is, flat out, one of the most immoral characters in all six seasons we've seen. To get into her shoes, we'd first have to imagine ourselves doing all the horrible things she did to get where she was at the beginning of 6.10 And even if we can, there's still the fact that Cersei committed the act that was initially dreamed up by the chat known as, "the Mad King." The act her own brother committed regicide to prevent. The only good thing she did was to take out the Sparrows. But she enabled them, in the first place. I'm not entirely unsympathetic: she's lost a lot, and should never have married Robert in the first place. She should have gone back to Casterly Rock and let him drink himself to death, years back.