anuhealani

This finale was bittersweet as hell and I loved it. I saw very little of it coming (except Jon killing Dany and Drogon unwittingly allowing him the opportunity) but almost all of it made sense to me. I thought Tyrion made it clear in his speech that his choice for King was not because Bran was male, or because of Bran's family name (Bran himself has told us he's not Bran anymore), but because Bran represents knowledge, an omniscient memory of the best and worst of humanity. At first I had doubts because Bran is so dispassionate (not a great attribute for a ruler) but I think we're also supposed to see him as completely unselfish as a result of his change. He'll never produce an heir to potentially screw everything up. I wanted no one on the throne at the end, and I got everyone. I'm cool with it. Sansa becoming Queen in the North and Arya leaving on her adventures were both perfect to me. I'm in the camp that believes Sansa has been completely done with the South since the last time she left it. She has no machinations surrounding it and only wants what's best for the North. She's proven herself capable of determining what that is. And this was the best possible ending for broken Arya, who's almost exclusively seen the worst the world has to offer. She loves her family, but a life bound by rules--even new rules--is not for her. I was genuinely sad for Dany as well as chilled to the bone when she confirmed to Jon, once and for all, that only she could decide what is Good. I liked that her death was a small, intimate moment and not a grand one. Drogon's grief and pain moved me deeply. I liked that they showed his awareness (beyond that of a pet) that the throne his mother became so consumed by brought about her fall, and his understanding that Jon wanted nothing less in that moment than to kill Dany. I always believed Jon would end up in the True North, and I'm glad he did. I took the re-establishment of the Night's Watch to be purely procedural. What's left for the Wall to protect against, after all? I read that part as the council saying "This is what we call the organization we exile people to, but we don't really care what you do, as long as you never come south." The only things I didn't like were how freaking long it STILL took Tyrion to bring Jon around to the fact that Dany was lost, and Bronn on the small council. Seriously?? Who's going to trust this dude with anything?

I'd say don't read the books. I'm not even close to a book purist and I'm still pretty dissatisfied with the show (for the comparatively ham-fisted writing and shallow take on the larger story). This way you can enjoy the show for what it is and are pretty much guaranteed to see the ending to what is to you the "real" story.

I've always liked Bran's story (unpopular opinion, I know) but this episode amped that up with the great tease of what's in store for him in the future. The Brienne/Hound fight was super exciting and kept me conflicted about whom to root for. Still don't care about Arya at all—maybe they can time-skip her a few years and bring her back when she's relevant to anything? The Shae "character development" was laughably terrible and sexist but that's nothing new. It was pretty awful to be watching this episode in a bar and have to listen to everyone lustily cheer her murder. I normally enjoy Cersei scenes a lot but this episode they seemed sort of pointless. I'd love to know how Jaime justifies his support of both siblings simultaneously, but then again, that's what he does best—skate through life without ever taking a moral stand on anything important.

Ygritte killed the kid's dad, though, not the Thenn.

No, she's not a whore to Tyrion. Of course she started off that way, but then he fell in love with her. This was made very explicit to her and to the viewers over the course of three solid seasons. You can't say that his cruelty in sending her off is both true (she's a whore to him) and false (she should have known he didn't mean the horrible things he said, and that he only said them to get her to leave). You have to pick one. Her being a sex worker before they fell in love is irrelevant to their relationship now. She is fully aware that he does not see her as a prostitute; therefore she has every right to take offense, should he call her a whore. It's not illogical or a sign that she thinks irrationally. It's also established on the show that her life was in danger from the very first day he brought her to King's Landing. Tyrion knew it was a bad idea. So I don't understand why Shae is the only one taking a share of the stupidity here. Tyrion is arguably more stupid because he knew exactly what he was dealing with in the personality of Tywin, from Day One. Not sure if this is considered a spoiler, since it's from a WiCnet interview, not the show itself, but Bryan Cogman, the writer, confirmed that . It was also confirmed back in the beginning of the season that Cersei and Tywin had made Shae (through Cersei's spy), so hopefully the show will give us more info on any threats to Shae's wellbeing. Given what we know of Tywin (and the straightforward threats he made toward any whore of Tyrion's), it's really unreasonable and/or lousy writing to say that Shae wasn't threatened.

Why shouldn't she take offense to being called a whore? This is a man who claimed to be in love with her. Her jealousy is understandable—Tyrion had many opportunities to leave Westeros to start a life with her, and continually chose scheming and his new wife over the woman he claimed to love. Jealousy != insanity, though the people who like to throw around gendered insults like "crazy bitch" might like to think otherwise. And it certainly doesn't drive the vast majority of people who feel it to murder. Your reading of her behavior was the polar opposite of mine. When she entered the room and began to testify, her eyes were fixed on the floor or darting around the room. Her testimony was given in a flat monotone indicative of scripting/recitation. Only when Tyrion begged her to stop did she show real anger or sadness, and again, it's possible for someone to feel those emotions and take satisfaction in someone else's pain without wanting them to be subjected to some horrific fate. The whole "I took his face in my hands and said 'I am yours and you are mine'" was a reminder to him that they had made a promise to each other. The most logical conclusion to draw based on her actual demeanor is that she was in fact coached (likely because she or Tyrion was threatened with death if she did otherwise). If she didn't love him, she wouldn't feel the anger/sadness she projects in the latter part of her testimony, so that's not a possibility. As for your comment An "I love you forever" would have been "I won't testify; you'll have to kill me", all I really have to say about that is this: Get into that situation yourself and then get back to me on whether you would sacrifice your life. Particularly given that it's at least a strong possibility she was told that Tyrion would have the chance to take the black if she testified against him. - Edited to add that there's a reaction shot of her wearing a very clear expression of fear when he demands a trial by combat, i.e. a look of "That's not what was supposed to happen."

Only problem is, the whole "woman scorned" thing isn't actually a thing in mentally sound women in real life, so if that's their intent, and they intend to write "real people" (as the writers so often boast), the character of Shae is a miserable failure. It's possible to be both coerced and vindictive (because she obviously loved Tyrion and feels hurt by him), but let's recognize that there's a whole world of reasonable reaction between "I love you forever!" and "I will stop at nothing to see you murdered."