Happy Harpy

I think that he's going to "find his true friends (and family) on the battlefield", eventually. ICAM. And I truly loved his interactions with Varys and Tyrion. He integrated seamlessly to their little twosome.

Arya witnessing Jon, the Hound and Gendry's arrival sucker-punched me, in the best way possible. The following reunions, Jon/Bran, and the Greyjoy sibling reunions only made the two-years wait worth it. Arya and Gendry😍🎉 Arya telling the Hound to let Gendry be. Arya smiling, flirting. It's a ship, it's going to sail, and I'm so here for that. I'm going to rewatch these scenes so many times. Jon smiling. Jon being happy. Jon riding a dragon. Jon being in love. I was so glad to see him get a little bit of respite; especially after the low-key emotionally cruelest moment of the episode, where he had to remind Arya that he was part of the family, too. Arya, the one who always included him, and defended him, wasn't on his side. Because of course, the writers had to prop Emma Frost by using Arya of all people and they used her to dampen the lovely, emotional, perfect Jon/Arya reunion. Arya could have complimented Sansa in another way, now that they mended some of their old issues, but the line was so over the top and laughable. It sounded like a "tit for tat" after the "you're the strongest person I know" of last season. Had Arya said "you know, she changed" or "she isn't that bad" or something, anything along those lines, anything Arya-like, OK. But this was grossly out of character and a retcon, especially after S7 (Arya ready to kill Sansa if she betrayed Jon or the reiteration that she loves him more than Sansa). After the cameo with Ed Sheeran last season, did the writers offer Maisie with a line kissing her bestie's character ass for her BD, this time? For a fleeting moment, when she discussed with Tyrion, I thought I saw shades of the Sansa I was warming up to back in S3 and until she left KL. Alas, she was plainly insufferable for the whole time otherwise. You'd think it's her crown that Jon gave up upon. I've discussed the topic ad nauseum for two years, so I'll stop here. Dany didn't say anything in public, but once to answer Sansa's very public jab. It seemed to me that she expected people to obey their king, especially a king they chose. You'd think the Mad Kweeeen would have sicced her dragons on all of them. Instead of it, while she was no doormat, she was the adult and the diplomat in the room. They're portrayed as plain racists. Which means they're flagged for death, and I'm not sorry at all at the perspective. Harry Strickland made no impression on me. I was surprised, nevertheless, by my reaction to Cersei, whom I want dead, dead, dead. I don't know how Lena Headey did it, but Pilou was less over the top in their scenes than he usually is and I didn't feel like tearing off my arm to throw it at my TV when he was on. For a moment, I even thought they'd be a couple made in Hell, and I wouldn't have hated it. Then, after Euron left and Cersei had her sad face, I felt for Cersei. Not because of that moment where she was vulnerable, but because until then, in front of Euron, she had worn her pride like armor, didn't let him see she was affected. Or she implied "I'll stop being patient, stop play nice, and put her in her place" or "I'll remind her that Winterfell is mine and she rules it by my grace". As I said, Dany didn't directly. use her authority as a Queen. She didn't ask, for example that Sansa bend publicly the knee to her.

Also, we saw 80% of the episode and we still have no title. 😂

Yes, I mentioned it above (thread's going fast!). And again, I didn't see anyone complain about Arya's attitude to Daenerys. I'm personally frustrated because she's OOC re: Sansa and Sansa vs Jon. Back when I was still a summer child -two years and so ago- I imagined that she and Tyrion would be the middle man and woman of the alliance, and become a big power couple after the war. I still believed it could happen until the betrayal leaks. Oh, that's interesting. The dragon has three heads, after all.

It must be even more frustrating for those who love her as she is characterized in the books. I'm sorry 😞

I didn't know the betting sites were writing the show.🤣 Interesting news on Freefolk for the most impatient...🎉 Edit: OMG OMG OMG.

Arya only laughs about killing people, with people who don't believe she's serious about killing people :)) ICAM, for better or for worse, she's ruthless with her enemies. I don't know if the titles given are true or not, they seem believable enough. Yet, on the official site of the channel that airs GoT in France, OCS City, they're still titled "episode 1" and "episode 2"; whereas as you can see on the grid below episode 1, the "Barry" episode has a title. https://www.ocs.fr/grille-tv I didn't find episode titles either (but they don't have them anyway) on the TV listings of the French TV Guide equivalents. The off-season is officially over, and no matter how opiniated the debates could get, it was great to spend that long night here. I wish you all good fortune in the endgame to come, and may we all enjoy this last season😊

Read my post again. That's exactly what I argue. Sam shouldn't push Jon to be king, not at that very moment, not with what he saw and what he knows about the AOTD. I also argued about his motivations, not the fact that he told Jon. I observed that Sam doesn't tell Jon only because Jon deserves to know. Sam tells him in part because he resents Daenerys and wants to retaliate; from the way it was described in the episode leaks, he doesn't seem to care about the emotional consequences on Jon, his friend. Does it make him kind of an hypocrite re: Boltons? Yes. Is it kind of a tad shitty, as a friend ? Yes. Is it rash? Yes. And my point here was: So what? He has the right to be sad and resentful and upset, and sometimes, your emotions get the better of you. It's understandable and human. I have no problem whatsoever with that. There was already an old fleak pretending that Bran sends the Unsullied to Castle Black. If the dragons and Targs aren't there when the enemy arrives, I think there will be some mistake or some kind of shenanigans behind it. Maneuvering for WF to be vulnerable and therefore allowing it to fall, would be a right proper betrayal of "the Starks", for example.

It isn't questioning Jon or Dany that annoys me, it's questioning them for stupid reasons an worse, acting stupid because of it. One example. Sam has the right to mourn his brother (whom he was estranged from in S6, but I digress). He has the right to be shocked and resentful. He reveals his parentage to Jon at least in part out of resent towards Daenerys? It's being a shitty friend here, but it's human indeed. Understandable. On the other hand, by pushing (even in private) Jon to renege on his pledge to Daenerys, by pushing him on the throne even after Jon reiterates that Dany is his queen, he creates a rift in the alliance and political unrest whereas he saw the AOTD and knows the gravity of the threat. I can't approve of that. It's the same for Sansa, the Northern lords, even Arya etc. well, almost, since they don't even have a personal beef against Daenerys. Wariness is understandable, giving the cold shoulder vs good will not nice and certainly not smart, but human or expected...as long as it doesn't have political consequences because unity, on the other hand, is paramount. The alliance is paramount. Not everybody has to be happy about it, but I expect everybody to make do and wait until the invasion is dealt with. My problem isn't the character, it's the stance they adopt, their reasons, their motivations. Arya is my favorite character and has always been, over Jon and Daenerys, but if she adopts the naysayers' shortsighted POV I won't be on her side. Simple as that. As for "they deserve to die". According to Frikidoctor, it's said again during the Northern assembly in 8x01 that the North can't withstand the invasion alone. Their survival chances are of zero, yet the Northern lords are looking a gift horse in the mouth. This is what makes them TSTL to me, not the fact they don't like Daenerys (as a "person", if I can say so).

At the end of S7, I thought it had 50% chances to happen. However, Sophie Turner definitely filmed in Seville. Frikidoctor isn't the only one to say so, BSB maintained that she and Peter Dinklage did -and had pictures taken inside of their stand-ins' trailer, IIRC. Unless they didn't only film KL scenes in Spain, Sansa doesn't become a wight/die at the WF battle.

Aside from the OP, two people pretend they saw the video, too, and they both have "Jonerys" or a variation in their moniker. So well...

And next thing you know, in 8x02 she maneuvers to get the dragons kicked out of WF so that she doesn't have to feed them. Like a boss ass bitch!🤣 I mean, since "who's going to feed the dragons" becomes a plot point whereas they've been showed fishing and hunting for their own food since 3x01... Oh wait, I know how it's going to be justified. The dragons turned vegan and covet all the quinoa and kale from WF's stores, those rascals! No more limits. YOLO! See what shortage of leaks do? Not pretty 😂

Joe Dempsie about S8 He mentions he spent 6 months in Belfast. Seems to have spent a lot of time there with John Bradley, he "got to know him" pretty well in the "last couple of years". Sam and Gendry elaborating weapons together, something about Catspaw, since it was in Sam's book in S7? (He met Mark Addy, "the nicest bloke", at the NY premiere.) What he wanted in S8 was to know more Gendry's parentage, the political implications of his birth; didn't elaborate whether he got it or not. I feel that he didn't, the way he says "I want info" about peripheral characters. But actors are acting, so well... Gendry has no ambition for the throne. At 4.40, questioned about Gendry and Arya (of course!) and "the spark" between them, "I don't know if I can really say", asks "is this [interview] gonna go after episode 1?" and when the interviewer answers "no", he's grinning and waving his hand, "in that case, you'll have to wait and see". Obviously, the interviewer knew what he had the right to ask or not, so "spark" was validated; and I'm so glad because I get hyped for S8 again. Gimme forge sex to compensate for the latest nonsense! Finally, he says he was "surprised" by the ending, it needed to be "broadly satisfying but also kind of be surprising" and he "personally loves it". Also comments that "you can read into all kinds of things that are probably aren't there". In other words, beware foreshadowing LOL.

If true, it was quite smart. Everyone was focused on Italica when the cast was officially there but it would have been possible to sneak some actors in when "setting up" or "packing", and people were looking elsewhere. If it was no battle scene, the crew and logistics could be reduced to a minimum. Emilia was in Cannes at one point, it's around one hour from Seville by plane. They were so obviously aware of scrutinity, and she was so noticeably absent. I remember saying the production used her promo tour, since they knew the dates well in advance, to throw people in for a loop and speculation into a frenzy. And it didn't cost them a thing.

Not necessarily. It could be, as I remarked above, that he simply claimed to know everything whereas he only had fragments of knowledge.

I do believe he wrapped in Seville, only Friki's stubborness had it questioned imo. The Seville issue apart, he filmed from October to May anyway, was regularly spotted in Belfast in late fall/early winter, even before they filmed the big battle. Of course, I personally don't want Gendry to die, but it does seem like a long filming time for a character who, even if he's a fighter, has only one scene in 8x01 and would die in 8x03.

They hid Emilia? Extremely well, if so. Interesting. The info given by Kit could fit with some of Frikidoctor's descriptions (not to a T, but a sequence can have several phases) Jon/Davos/Tyrion walking through the ashes and Greyworm escorting Tyrion. OTOH, if Emilia was there it's clear he didn't know all there was to know, unlike what he claimed; and BSB and he could both be right because different scenes were filmed. In the interview linked upthread by @anamika, Joe Dempsie says that he wrapped on the same day as one other actor, and he purposefully used "they" instead of "he" or "her". Joe was more emotional than he thought, and was trying to keep it up together, but he saw "them" with quivering lips and in the end seeing the person cry made him cry, too. IIRC, before Friki insisted Joe didn't film in Spain, it was considered that he and Sophie T wrapped on the same day.

Much easier to stop them on the cusp of the Neck, indeed. She could fend adversaries from the North and from the South at once. Daenerys never truly used her armies and adult dragons to destroy, but in 7x04. Even in 7x06, her priority was saving the members of the expedition. In 8x03, she's going to lose people in her army and some friends because she's trying to save the Northern people and not merely to annihilate the AOTD. And they whinge-whinge-whinge and berate. Too bad that some characters I love are going down with it, because at this point, the fall of WF and the North will otherwise be "glorious" like Buffoon said.

REACT Keep or Kill Game of Thrones Interesting perspectives 😁

She's so badass and I love her so much. Knowing she filmed in Seville and probably survives was a bright spot for me in the off-season long night.

If Dany wonders whether Jon's sisters hate her, it's an indication that she might not -or Arya for that matter but well, courtesy was never Arya's thing, LOL; obvious bad grace is antagonizing. As for questioning Jon, I was speaking of Sansa's state of mind: the issue is the very fact that she cares/is pissed off Jon bent the knee instead of being thankful that he's giving the North a chance to survive. But we already had this conversation and we'll never agree. *initially* *initially* *initially*🤞

I know it won't last, it won't make it less annoying especially if Arya's characterization and Arya and Jon's bond suffer as a result... Still hoping it won't come to this. I need leaks, sigh. About Sansa's survival, I said "if" so obviously I stopped thinking she had a chance to die in WF when both sources agreed on Sophie filming in Seville. Summary of my POV, already more developed upthread: Antagonizing someone with armies/dragons as well as questioning how her brother got that alliance they need to survive because she wants the North independent is placing petty politics above the real threat. YMMV. Cersei is a threat, but tbh she wouldn't be a military danger for the Starks or the North allied with the Targaryens. Sic the dragons from the sky, even the GC is fried. I think Cersei could be dangerous earlier, but it depends on the GC going North or not; and also, maybe, on the AOTD advancing as one big chunk, or dispersing in kind of phalanges now that they passed the Wall. The trailer doesn't show J&D or dragons at WF before the attack, whereas Davos, Sansa & Arya are seen on the walls and Jorah seems to lead the soldiers at the foot of the walls. So I was thinking that maybe, J&D went with the dragons on a mission relying on Bran's directions/intructions (at the altar of Winter, to attack part of the AOTD that wouldn't have the NK with them etc.). Then, WF would be vulnerable to a GC attack and the WoTW spoilers about the Lannister army attacking WF would make more sense. I didn't see any spoiler about Sansa and Ned Umber, there's nothing at all in Friki's leaks for sure. I, too, have always thought that one Stark would fall with WF but it obviously won't be a Stark by blood. Indeed, maybe Theon. There's an article calling Harry Strickland "Cersei's new lackey", it seems.

Indeed, if it was only Maisie and Sophie I wouldn't pay attention; it's also why I still think/hope it will come off better onscreen. It's the fact that Emilia has talked about her character wondering if Jon's sisters hate her or what which worries me, because AFAIK she doesn't troll. Maybe the goal is for the audience to not feel too sorry for the Starks when they lose WF? Honestly, if Frikidoctor and BSB didn't both say that Sophie filmed in Seville, I'd still be at least 50/50 over Sansa dying in 8x03, since among the main characters, she's the symbol of petty politics over real threat. (Yes, so is Cersei, but Cersei is nuts). At this point and in terms of seeing the big picture, out of the "Starks by name" the more deserving of ruling would be Bran, LOL. I miss the good old times of my "Bran and Meera Lord and Lady of WF" campaign. Meera would have been so awesome in the role, yet she's probably going to end like the Blackfish with some "she died fighting" mention, if she's mentioned at all. Sigh.

In a way it makes me happy, because I agree, that late in the game it's a good sign. OTOH, it's traditionally only acceptable for women to be soft and vulnerable, vs confident and assertive. The only traditionnally acceptable face of strength for women in resilience. Hence, it also kind of annoys me quite much if the writers resort to soft/vulnerable/resilient (vs insults) for the head of the biggest military power in Westeros. Dany has always allied the traditionally masculine figures of the conqueror/the savior to traditionally feminine traits, and I loved the kick in the balls of all those sexist clichés like "real girls don't wear skirts". So it would annoy me even more if this balance was broken.

LOL. OTOH it does seem to me that the writers set out to establish Daenerys as an underdog; in a way like in S1 and in spite of her power. She arrives with good intentions and good will, yet everyone gives her the cold shoulder (at best) and not only she doesn't wash her hands of them, she stays quite gracious as far as we know yet. It seems unfair, and made to gain the audience's sympathy. I don't know what they're thinking with "the Starks", Arya especially (she reads faces, she has to know that Political!Dany is BS) but again, I hope it plays better onscreen than how PR makes it sound.