madam magpie

Oh, good god. Travis just gets worse and worse. Vic now is his property to hand off in marriage?? Gross. I hope she punches him in the face...but she won’t. I really like the Cady/Henry/Jacob stuff. I don’t think Jacob is lying and I reeeeeeally hope he’s not. I find them much more interesting than Walt, who probably should lose his job. The contrast of Cady struggling to follow the law, which she clearly respects, with Walt being unhinged all the time is interesting.

I did! I was convinced the blogger and the clerk were in on it. I thought this episode was fine, but the water thing was dumb. A Wyoming sheriff is eight miles from civilization looking for an injured guy and he tells no one where he’s going and doesn’t bring any water or even a walker-talkie? Come on! He didn’t even have any water in his truck?? I live in a city, and even I’ve got water in my car. I think the snake next to Henry was dead, wasn’t it? I didn’t see a bullet joke, but it didn’t move at all. The one that bit Walt was a different one. Is Donna just gone now?? I liked her.

Not to mention that’s there’s zero sexual chemistry between them, and what the show forces feels creepy. This crap with Walt/Vic is really lessening how much I like the show. There were some moments a few episodes back, too, where I worried we were going to get a Cady/Henry pairing. That would’ve been worse, but Walt/Vic is still pretty bad. I also hate the pregnancy storyline. Am I really to assume that Vic, who was married for years and managed not to get pregnant, is so careless and dumb she doesn’t use birth control? I hate that cliche. Yeah, Vic is kind of a mess, but she can take care of herself. And good lord, I can’t stand Travis. I don’t find him charming at all. He’s overbearing and controlling, but bad at it so he also comes across as dumb.

I’m way behind and finally just catching up, and I do love this show, and Robert Taylor is super dreamboaty. But...yes! I hate that the show went here. Vic is way too young, I like Donna a lot, and there’s zero chemistry between Walt and Vic. When Cady and Vic were leaning over Walt in the hospital just after Vic kissed him, it was super skeevy. Vic and Cady are the same age!

Yes! I loved Cameron falling in the pool too. In some ways, this did feel like a very long epilogue, but I liked it a lot. Donna/Cameron are just the best. I think the way they came back together was great. I’m really going to miss this show.

I actually liked this inclusion because it helped me remember that Gordon wasn’t a great guy. He was a lousy guy in some ways, mediocre in others, good in others. And he was ever-evolving. Gordon was always my least favorite of the main four characters, and this reminded me of why. I loved this episode and agree with the poster above who said it was an incredible portrayal of grief. Donna/Cam got me crying. I loved the bit with Joe/Haley and the sweater. Bos and his chili. Just really fantastic.

Depends on what counts as “success.” Most actors, even good and well-known ones, never rise to the level of Jennifer Lawrence or Tom Cruise. Peter Dinklage, Iain Glenn, and Sean Bean already had pretty solid careers. I expect Emilia Clarke to stick around and continue to be a recognizable name. Probably Gwendoline Christie and Sophie Turner too.

Me too! Loved this. Donna shouting that Joe won because he got everybody just broke me. That was such a great couple of scenes with the two of them. I need Cam and Donna to make up before the finale. Just hug it out and say sorry, K? Do it now. RIP Gordon. No way. Outing people is never OK. I do hope he encourages Haley to talk to Donna, though.

"Man scorned and wanting revenge" totally fits Daario, though. I never thought he was loyal to Dany or her vision or that he actually loved her. She was a game/conquest for him, and in the end, she won and he was dropped. Him betraying her sounds 100% plausible to me.

I almost don't care what else happens if this is true: "jorah ends up killing daario in battle."

I'm not talking Congress and elections. I'm talking about democratic thinking: social and political equality, a say in governance, people making choices, etc. Dany already subscribes to a lot of that ideology. Do I see her knocking down all the castles in the last episode and holding elections for representatives in each area? Of course not. Could I see her destroying the Iron Throne and laying the foundation for a new type of govt? Yep.

I think you could have conflict in that Dany herself believes in birthright as what entitles her (or anyone) to the throne. Given her personality thus far, I'd expect her to be conflicted and suspicious when she finds out about Jon's claim, especially if they're all blindsided by it. It seems reasonable that she could feel played and vulnerable, especially she's already put herself in a very vulnerable position by falling for Jon and acting on that. I don't expect that to last forever; she'll certainly get over it. But initially? Sure. I think it would be bizarre if she thinks it's all no big deal. Agree that Jon doesn't want the throne. It'll be interesting to see how the people around him react to that, but I don't see him as the type to make a play for it. I'm hoping that reality will be what teaches Dany that rulers should rule because they're good at it, not because they're born to it. That's why Jon chose her in the end, and it seems reasonable he'll continue to do so. Plus, she left Mereen with Daario until the people could choose their rulers (she says something to that effect before she goes), so I do think it's possible for her to fully evolve into a democratic leader. That seems like the only way to truly break the wheel. We'll see, I guess...

I think Dany continues to be a work in progress. She wants to be different, she's doing different things, but she's not done or fully evolved as a character. Maybe she'll fall back on the old ways of monarchies. Maybe she won't. I won't know until it's over. But the story has already given us lots of clues that she's not wedded to ruling like a monarch. She's given many of the people she's conquered choices. She halfheartedly threw her weight around, "commanding" Jorah to find a cure for his disease and telling Jon she hadn't given him permission to leave. She demanded fealty from Jon and then gave him dragonglass and pledged to help him without that promise from him. Dany is consistently contradictory in how she rules. I expect that theme to continue and then be resolved.

I like it!

Seeing as original books aren't what fan fiction is, I'll go with "no," but I suspect you know that already. Obviously I disagree. Dany wants to be a different kind of leader. That's also true to the character. She's not one thing; she's a dynamic protagonist. A "different kind of leader" isn't another hereditary monarch. That's not breaking any wheel. Succession and the fact that she can't have children have come up a lot, yes. So has choosing leaders; it's come up a lot that the people chose Dany or Jon, as opposed to Cersei and the monarchs of this story's history. I expect all of those themes to be very important. How? I'd like to see Dany realize that she deserves to rule because she's compassionate and good at it, rather than because she was born into a certain family. And I'd like to see Jon advocate for that. Maybe she won't. Maybe she will. Maybe it'll be something else. I guess we'll find out in a couple of years.

This seems reasonable. I hope there's more to it for the story's sake, but I can see Jon doing this. It seems totally obvious too that they'll reconcile eventually.

This sounds like fan fiction wish fulfillment to me. There's been so much made throughout the show of Dany's belief in herself as the rightful ruler and in her desire to be a different kind of ruler. This revelation presents a direct conflict to both things. It can't just be ignored by the narrative. Just because many years ago when she was as a child, Dany believed in her family's incestuous approach to marriage doesn't mean she'll jump on board now and defer to Jon's birthright. She's going to be forced to reevaluate a lot of things. She might not mind the incest too much. (I hope she does because it's a more surprising story element.) She was willing to marry to secure a military alliance, after all. But there's no way she's just going to walk away from her armies and quest for power because she finds out she's not actually the rightful heir. Plus, that view of marriage as politics was before she'd fallen in love with Jon, when she figured "no big deal, I can love 'em and leave 'em with no consequences." She may want him to be with someone else because she thinks she can't have children and she wants the line to continue. There are a lot of ways it could play out, but it will definitely be a problem for Jon/Dany. It's been set up as a huge conflict.

Do you mean you think Dany/Jon won't care at all that they're related or that Jon is suddenly the rightful heir, will have no issue with the shift in the power dynamic, will remain an unshakeable couple, and the only problem with the reveal will come from the outside? That seems super unrealistic to me and violates many storytelling rules. I agree that they're being set up as the show's great love story, but no writer outside fan fiction just has the main characters fall in love, stay in love, and face no obstacles. Bran's news is obviously an obstacle, and I imagine the conflict will be both internal and external.

I'm hoping it's Dany who's most conflicted, given her desire to be a different kind of ruler. I do think they'll sort it out (just in time for her to die), and I really hope they don't get married out of some sense of duty. But yeah. It will absolutely be an issue for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that it shakes Dany's own belief that she has the birthright to the Iron Throne. The rift will be more tragic if we see how much they love each other and how good they are together before it happens.

I loved the pacing of the most recent season. Shit got done! But yes, I absolutely agree. We need to see that they "should" be together before we can be sad that they (maybe) can't be. I hope we see it too.

Making things all the more tragic when Bran delivers his news...

If I never see Daario again, I won't cry.

I agree if it's actually Jamie, but what if it's Arya wearing Jamie's face?

I'm late to the party per usual, but I just watched Emilia Clarke in "Me Before You," and lawdy, lawdy, she's delightful.

This was GREAT. For all the dragons and fire, the actors bring a lot of subtlety to this show. Emilia Clarke in particular manages to show huge cracks in Dany by barely showing them, which makes the character so much more sympathetic and loveable, I think. And I totally agree about her scenes with Peter Dinklage, Iain Glenn, and Nathalie Emmanuel. The Dany/Missendei friendship, even though it's a small part of the action, is one of my favorite things about this story. When those two start gossiping about boys, I just smile and smile. Both actresses are incredibly charming and bring so much depth to those small interactions.