S06.E08: No One

[stillshimpy]

I think my reaction to this episode was largely informed by what  a heartbreaking day yesterday was in the news cycle (again, some more).  Ay yi yi.   So I went into the episode thoroughly disheartened as it was.  

However, I don't think the large serving of "Oh for the love of gods and monsters, really?"  reactions I kept having are solely down to the distress I was feeling.  

Arya's plot was really tedious.  The Waif is some relentless killing machine, who runs like the Terminator.  Never mind that there's no real reason for The Waif to hate on Arya anywhere near as much as she does.  Never mind that it's the ONLY character development they've ever given The Waif, so that she's just a raging cardboard cutout.  I kept hearing the Terminator theme from Sarah Connor Chronicles in my head which at least helped drown out the "Wow, this is beyond wildly implausible" that kept running through my mind concurrently.  Arya was gut stabbed.  No handy seamstress was going to save her without the aid of magic.  She wasn't going to be able to crash to the paving stones multiple times, bounce up and live to fight again like a bloodthirsty karate kid.  She'd be too busy dying of sepsis because she was stabbed in the intestines.  Jeez.  

As much as the showrunners are disinterested in Jaime's redemptive arc (and boy is that ever an understatement, they like to relieve themselves all over it) that's about as much as they apparently dislike the Tullys.  Edmure might as well grow feathers and cluck.  If Jaime was bluffing, he sure as hell didn't show it on any level.  One brief moment of looking troubled that the Blackfish had a noble ending while he was busy being a worm does not a redemption make. 

They even had Brave Tully Soldier just look grossed out by Edmure.  Awesome.  

So this felt like a placeholder and Varys, the only tolerable thing about the Mereen story, just left the scene again.  Oh Tedium, thy name is Tyrion's drinking games.  

And one last "this sticking in my craw" complaint (at least for the moment) ....why, why gods why, do they have this whole "Cersei has a Pet Zombie and groups of men act like there's no way to take that fucker out" .  Sure, everyone stand back while the Mountainstein kills Bird Brain number 482.  Don't swarm him, hamstring him, attempt to set him on fire.   Just lure the big creeper into a courtyard and pour burning oil on him.  

Yes, he's big and the reanimated dead, but the story treating that freaking golem like he makes Cersei invincible is just logic on the same level of "Oh sure, take your perforated intestines for a run through the street, be sure to fall multiple times, slide down stones and visibly bleed" in Arya's Gory Fantasyland. 

Jiminy Christmas, Man, that stuff just wears me out.  

I was so happy to see Beric, it actually startled me, because all he's really done in the series is sell Gendry like a goat, but I was actually happy to see the guy.  So there was that! 

Hopefully next week will be something resembling fun and the story will refrain from burning any children.  

[Alapaki]

Sometimes I try to catch myself and really challenge whether I, just a schmuck-commenter on the interwebs, know more than D&D.

But I really think they've just completely screwed up the writing of Arya's Braavos storyline.  

I presume her "I'm Arya Stark of Winterfell and I'm going home" was supposed to be a "FUCK YEAH!" line.  But since we've all (book-readers and non-book-readers alike, I'd wager) have been fairly confident for the last 6 episodes or so that that is precisely what she'll end up doing, it just fell flat.

And unless the scenes between Arya and Lady Crane this week were a stealth Easter-Egg that I completely missed, I just don't understand the writing there.

Arya happens to befriend the person she was supposed to kill; who just happens to be an amateur trauma surgeon?  Arya's remarkable recovery was just laughable, unless there was more to it.  But as I learned from the resolution of the "did Arya really get stabbed on the bridge" mystery, sometimes a shitty cigar is just a shitty cigar.

Honestly I could swear that in those scenes this week Lady Crane bore a striking resemblance to Melisandre.  But I'm no longer giving D&D the benefit of any actual interesting writing.

[Gertrude]

Sadly, I'm not even looking forward to next week because big battles don't engage me. The whys and stakes and clever tactics I can get behind, but just heroic shots of people killing other people I don't care about. And I am really not looking forward to Littlefinger's army turning the tide. I liked the Blackwater because there were a lot of character moments interspersed in the action, I didn't like the Battle at Castle Black. Sure, there were moments I enjoyed and some visuals, but overall I wasn't enthralled. That's just my preference, but it doesn't bode well for me enjoying it overly much next week.

[TwistedandBored]

Is there a reason why Varys and Danny have not met yet? Like why are they keep missing each other?

[Alapaki]

3 minutes ago, Gertrude said:

I liked the Blackwater because there were a lot of character moments interspersed in the action, I didn't like the Battle at Castle Black. Sure, there were moments I enjoyed and some visuals, but overall I wasn't enthralled. That's just my preference, but it doesn't bode well for me enjoying it overly much next week.

I agree that you ought not be optimistic.  I think the things you enjoyed most about Blackwater were the result of a relatively limited budget (compared to what they had by Hardhomme) and thus needing smaller, interior set-piece scenes.

I suspect that for the BotB they're going to go full Braveheart in terms of the battle scenes.  

[Gertrude]

OMG! Varys is Dany! Substitute a wig for glasses and this theory is solid!

[screamin]

11 hours ago, J----av said:

Her brother had better odds in a trial by combat and Cersei losing weakens (or destroys?) Tommen's claim as king and therefor her claim as queen

Her brother might have had better odds in a trial by combat before he was confined in a tiny cell for months on prison rations, sleep deprivation, and beatings. Right now - meh.

As for Margaery - I'd guess that her recent disinterest in Tommen as a lover hints that she's not as invested in the idea of being Tommen's queen as she used to be. He's a disappointment...she got out of the sept prison mostly by her own doing, not by any effort he made to free her, and he fell for the High Sparrow's patter hook, line and sinker. He'll stay the High Sparrow's creature and if she stays Tommen's queen, her role will be to help the High Sparrow pull Tommen's puppet-strings or suffer the consequences. With a trial by combat, Loras likely loses, Cersei wins and keeps trying to backstab Margaery, and she lies on her back for the High Sparrow's puppet king and thinks of Westeros...not a good outcome.

IMO, she's going to go along with the trial for awhile, which Cersei will likely lose, and Loras also - but we know what the planned penalty for Loras' buggery is - a walk of shame, a renouncing of his title - but then he would be OUT of the sept, and the Tyrrells can get him back in their hands. Cersei's penalty for the murder of the king is likely to be worse. (I don't think the Sparrow will actually declare her guilty of incest - if he does that,he loses his puppet-king). After Loras is free and Cersei executed, the Tyrells can roll over King's Landing with their armies, denounce Loras' trial and massacre the Sparrows. Tommen either gets with the program or he dies too and the Tyrells take the throne by right of conquest - or they just withdraw their military support and let Tommen's reign collapse without it.

[Knuckles]

10 hours ago, Gertrude said:

no way does she deserve to live happily ever after with Edmure or her child IMO.

She won't. Edmure has no value as a hostage to the Freys now that they have Riverrun, so he's a dead man. There is no evidence that any baby exists, just Jaime blowing smoke, and since she is a Frey, the god have already cursed her.

[Tikichick]

11 minutes ago, GrailKing said:

Gosh, I just woke up and have 3 pages open LOL, my 66 YO brain needs a pointer to remember LOL.

I remember I said

  Reveal hidden contents

Bran and Mel

Spoiler

Gregor would fit perfectly Bran's vision of a Giant with Black Blood.  Gregor is in King's Landing, where our now backed against the wall Cersei is known to have hidden caches of wildfire, and possibly Qyburn's little birds have uncovered more leftover from Aery's stockpiles.  Bran has seen visions about burning as well, and has been speculated to have caused Aery's madness. Jamie changed the trajectory of his whole life by joining the kingsguard and then ultimately betraying his oath to prevent the king from burning the people.  Show Jamie is pining for Cersei.  If Cersei can't win trial by combat with Gregor it's likely she'll resort to the other weapon known to be in her arsenal at this point.  Interesting irony for Jamie's story.

[MrWhyt]

1 hour ago, Fishslap said:

Oh well, I'm sure that was just an accident when the author wrote all those things in the books.

it's an adaptation not a recreation.

[Tikichick]

2 minutes ago, MrWhyt said:

it's an adaptation not a recreation.

Something I think we're going to start hearing more and more about in the coming months.  The publisher will want to be sure people are still motivated to plunk down good money when the books are eventually available.

[GrailKing]

2 minutes ago, Tikichick said:

  Hide contents

Gregor would fit perfectly Bran's vision of a Giant with Black Blood.  Gregor is in King's Landing, where our now backed against the wall Cersei is known to have hidden caches of wildfire, and possibly Qyburn's little birds have uncovered more leftover from Aery's stockpiles.  Bran has seen visions about burning as well, and has been speculated to have caused Aery's madness. Jamie changed the trajectory of his whole life by joining the kingsguard and then ultimately betraying his oath to prevent the king from burning the people.  Show Jamie is pining for Cersei.  If Cersei can't win trial by combat with Gregor it's likely she'll resort to the other weapon known to be in her arsenal at this point.  Interesting irony for Jamie's story.

Why I think Clegane bowl was just moved not cancelled it goes  with Bran's book  vision and Cersei's desire for Sansa's head.

but we haven't seen Bran's vision of the Mountain's shadow over the Hound, Brienne and Sansa in show.

Not yet anyway.

[Alapaki]

Questions I have with regard to the writing:

When Edmure referred to being held in a dingy cell for "years", it really hasn't been "years" since the Red Wedding, has it?  

I know Kevan hates Cersei.  But Kevan is a Lannister and I seriously doubt that he'd all a scenario in which a Lannister is required to place their fate in the hands of anyone, let alone a bunch of religious fanatics.  While Tommen as King was free to override any objection Kevan might've had, I'd think that Kevan would've just bailed rather than been there for the royal proclamation.  

The gathering of "seven septons" does, however, create a rather "target-rich-environment" for anyone wanting to wipe out the "sparrow-faith" (ala Dany at Vaes Dothrak).

Last week some questioned whether Davos would uncover Shireen's fate while at Stannis' camp.  The preview shows a scene of him apparently seeing a pyre.  Shit, have you met fan?

[GrailKing]

2 minutes ago, Tikichick said:

Something I think we're going to start hearing more and more about in the coming months.  The publisher will want to be sure people are still motivated to plunk down good money when the books are eventually available.

I will, I want to read the differences and find where B & W plucked their decisions from.

[Tikichick]

1 minute ago, GrailKing said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Why I think Clegane bowl was just moved not cancelled it goes  with Bran's book  vision and Cersei's desire for Sansa's head.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

but we haven't seen Bran's vision of the Mountain's shadow over the Hound, Brienne and Sansa in show.

 

Not yet anyway.

The show is an adaptation, with the changes that have been made who knows if that's a thread they'll pick up.  I also believe there's strong motivation to keep show and books divergent from here on out to preserve book sales since the release will clearly be after the show.

[Maximum Taco]

4 minutes ago, Alapaki said:

Questions I have with regard to the writing:

When Edmure referred to being held in a dingy cell for "years", it really hasn't been "years" since the Red Wedding, has it?  

Yes, it has been years. The showrunners and writers work off the assumption that every season is roughly a Westerosi year. So it's been 3 years since the Red Wedding. How else would you explain all the children aging up?

There are usually a lot of holes you can poke if you look for them. But honestly it'd do you better to just ignore them like Littlefinger's brothel warp gates.

[revbfc]

I have a question about the faceless men.  Are they allowed to bring a large supply of faces with them when they're out on trips abroad?  The hall of faces seems to imply that they like to keep them all in one place and kept track of, but that wasn't what us as viewers understood when we first saw a man change.  Are the rules of checking out faces ever covered in the books?

[GrailKing]

Why hasn't Sansa talked to Mel? Women being more social then men I find it strange two gingers don't at least banter about foolish men etc.

So with the preview for next week, and Jon speaking to Mel and Davos at the burned out pyre i'm starting to believe more:

 

Mel dosen't see herself on the walls of Winterfell, but Sansa

.

What has she been doing since they left CB?

 

conjuring up a protection spell for Jon (per reddit)

Edited June 13, 2016 by GrailKing

[benteen]

Quote

If Jaime does eventually fall back into his old ways, then I want to see why. I want to see him actually trying and giving a shit about it and then fail. He had a brief glimpse at redemption but it was never more than skin deep. the season 3 arc for Jaime matches the book, but doesn't match anything else about show Jaime. I am not upset that they threw it away, I am upset that they never really committed to it and thus are robbing that character of what makes him interesting. And no, puppy dog looks at Brienne and a sad wave doesn't count.

This.  I want to see Jaime actually try to redeem himself instead of this lazy, one dimensional shit storyline we've gotten on the show.  The book storyline with Jaime actually struggling with his feelings in regard to Cersei is a lot more interesting than seeing the character have his ass stuck up her ass for the entire run of the show.

[laprin]

Pretty boring episode. I found much of it implausible - from how quickly Arya healed to be able to defeat No Name girl to the Masters breaking their pledge so quickly? They weren't forced to make the compromise so what changed so quickly?  That just seems like weak storytelling. Even the siege with Blackfish was lackluster. Although, it could get interesting because I don't think he's dead. 

[Maximum Taco]

2 minutes ago, revbfc said:

I have a question about the faceless men.  Are they allowed to bring a large supply of faces with them when they're out on trips abroad?  The hall of faces seems to imply that they like to keep them all in one place and kept track of, but that wasn't what us as viewers understood when we first saw a man change.  Are the rules of checking out faces ever covered in the books?

In the books the face changing seems much more streamlined, experienced Faceless Men can seemingly kill someone pretty much on the spot and steal his face, without all the need for face peeling and curing (although perhaps the face is useable but just doesn't last very long if not cured?)

It is revealed that before they take a new contract all the Faceless Men convene in the House of Black and White (to make sure the job is going to someone without a conflict of interest), so they'd have ample opportunity to return and check out new faces whenever they finish a job and return to the House of Black and White.

However Faceless magic in the books requires a blood sacrifice of the Faceless Man's own blood, so that would limit the amount of face changing he could do.

[revbfc]

Do they get to choose their faces?  I'd guess no, as choosing a face would be an affirmation of self.

[plurie]

HOW is Brienne going to send a raven to Sansa? They're in Stannis' old military camp outside Winterfell. The ravens in Riverrun don't know where it is!

[screamin]

9 minutes ago, plurie said:

 

HOW is Brienne going to send a raven to Sansa? They're in Stannis' old military camp outside Winterfell. The ravens in Riverrun don't know where it is!

 

Presumably she sends the raven to Sansa's last known address - the Wall - and they send a messenger to track her down the rest of the way. It would take awhile.

[Alapaki]

Quote

HOW is Brienne going to send a raven to Sansa? They're in Stannis' old military camp outside Winterfell. The ravens in Riverrun don't know where it is!

I suppose Brienne could send a raven to Castle Black.  I'm not sure how Castle Black could send a raven to Sansa's military camp, unless Sansa had previously sent one from the camp back to Castle Black and the raven thus knew how to get back to Sansa (but, then again, they've never really explained how the ravens are trained, as far as I can recall).

Ultimately, though, the real problem with that plan is that during a siege the Lannister army would have their archers on the lookout for any ravens leaving Riverrun and would shoot them down.  We saw Robb's army do this in the books.

[sacrebleu]

Quote

There are usually a lot of holes you can poke if you look for them. But honestly it'd do you better to just ignore them like Littlefinger's brothel warp gates.

You mean like why the Waif didn't kill Arya when she killed Lady Crane, despite the fact that Arya was conveniently passed out in the next room, behind a curtain? Because that is just classic WTFery for the service of a chase scene, and a fight scene that took place entirely off screen, in the dark. 

[Constantinople]

Quote

Two translators are on a sinking ship.
The first says, "Do you know how to swim?"
The second says, "No, but I can shout for help in 19 languages."

And I thought Missandei would go with the old standby, "No, but if you hum a few bars"

[Maximum Taco]

26 minutes ago, revbfc said:

Do they get to choose their faces?  I'd guess no, as choosing a face would be an affirmation of self.

I think they do. But it's a choice of "What face would be best for the job?" not "How do I want to look?"

Like if they wanted to kill someone who frequented a brothel, a beautiful woman might be a good choice, if they wanted to kill someone who took a public bath every week a man would be a better choice etc.

Also sometimes they use one face to case the target and another to do the deed. For instance when Arya is tasked to kill the "The Thin Man" (who she ignores in the show to go kill Ser Meryn Trant), she uses her oyster merchant character "Cat of the Canals" (Lanna in the show) to figure out how to kill him, and then a persona known as "The Ugly Little Girl" to do the deed, because if she were to be seen killing him as "Cat" it would bring down problems on Cat's employer Brusco and his family, but the Ugly Girl is not attached to anyone in Braavos.

That wouldn't be an affirmation of self, but critical thinking about how to accomplish their task.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Maximum Taco

[Bannon]

In an ocean of sloppy writing (I don't think this show has ever recovered from the loss of Tywin Lannister), this little eddy was also noticeable, at least to me; the people in Mereen have bothered to construct a giant structure on the harbor, which gives them the tactical defensive advantage of holding the high ground. Apparently, however, nobody has thought of how to use that advantage, so when an attacking fleet of ships shows up, hurling flaming projectiles, they have no ability of their own to hurl flaming projectiles down at the attacking ships, and set the on fire. It's like 20th century militaries on earth inventing airplanes and explosives, but never figuring out that dropping explodives out of airplanes would be a good tactic. Huh?

[GrailKing]

22 minutes ago, screamin said:

Presumably she sends the raven to Sansa's last known address - the Wall - and they send a messenger to track her down the rest of the way. It would take awhile.

She knows she's going to Bear Island and maybe Deepwood moat, maybe to both?

ETA: since this show/books have Giants, walking zombies, resurrections, etc wouldn't be far fetched if the Ravens have GPS (Bran God).

Edited June 13, 2016 by GrailKing

[Happy Harpy]

2 hours ago, WatchrTina said:

Did they "sell" him to her or did she convince them that the Red God wanted her to take him to Stannis?  I genuinely don't recall.

IIRC, Beric admitted to it and said to Arya that they needed gold/money for their war to protect the people when she accused them of selling him (and they also sold Hot Pie, he said so to Brienne and Pod, once again if my memory isn't playing tricks on me).

[Maximum Taco]

1 minute ago, GrailKing said:

She knows she's going to Bear Island and maybe Deepwood moat, maybe to both?

She can't be sure that either will side with Sansa though. Either or both could have already turned Sansa away and sided with Ramsay.

Sending information to Bear Island or Deepwood Motte could be as good as handing their numbers to Ramsay.

She needs to send the raven to a place that she knows is loyal to Sansa and Jon.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Maximum Taco

[glowbug]

I know I'm in the minority but I thought this episode was better than the last even with Jon and co. missing and the great filler that was Tyrion in Mereen. I'm also not upset that Lady Stoneheart is not in the show. I don't think the writers could portray her well and she's not one of my favorite parts of the book series either so I think it's better that they stuck with Beric, who is one of the better written characters on the show. I liked the Hound's storyline, including his interaction with the Brotherhood without Banners, even if Martin's anti violence message from the books was basically negated in this episode. The Hound is such a fantastic character and I'm glad it looks like he'll be part of the fight in the North against the White Walkers.

I love anytime Cersei gets some comeuppance so I was glad her plans for trial by combat were thwarted. I think the more the writers try to convince me that she's just a misguided mother trying to protect her children the more I hate her. It doesn't help that in order to portray her this way they've ruined Jaime's wonderful redemption arc from the books. Lena Headey does an excellent job playing the character, though. Clearly those rumors were about the wildfire under the city so it looks like another fan theory will be confirmed.

Jaime continues to disappoint me and at this point I've given up on him. While I totally ship him and Brienne in the books, show Jaime is not worthy of Brienne, and Brienne, too, is a different character so if their friendship goes no where I won't be too disappointed. I do like that Brienne is still a good influence on him, but the fact that he hasn't broken away from Cersei has really destroyed his character. If he was bluffing in his speech to Edmure the writers needed to make that more clear, and the part of about loving Cersei I don't think was a bluff, though he was hopefully bluffing about that being the only thing that mattered to him. The way the show has handled the Blackfish has also been a disappointment, especially if he remains dead. I basically like Brienne's interactions with everyone, though.

I liked Arya's story this episode even if it did include her miraculous recovery from what looked like a very severe wounds to her stomach. The chase scenes had suspense and I liked Arya using her training to finally beat the Waif. There were some silly moments where the Waif did the classic Scooby Doo monster move of walking rather than running after Arya, allowing her to get away and yet still somehow keeping close, and her running was a bit stiff when she was running. I liked the end where Arya reclaimed her identity and left for Westeros finally. I think she'll be reuniting with Jon and Sansa next season, something I'm eagerly awaiting since her relationships with both of them were the most developed of all the Stark sibling relationships.

Mereen was mostly filler (Tyrion's lame banter with Grey Worm and Missandei was pointless) but it ended on a high note. I was so glad that Dany showed up this episode because I was afraid they would save it for the last episode of the season, which would mean she wouldn't be on her way to Westeros until the beginning of next season. This gives me hope that this season will end with her leaving Mereen and the beginning of next season will show her arrival. I'm guessing next episode will feature Dany's army retaking the city of Mereen in addition to the Battle of the Bastards. It looks like a promising episode.

Edited June 13, 2016 by glowbug

[Alapaki]

1 hour ago, Maximum Taco said:

Yes, it has been years. The showrunners and writers work off the assumption that every season is roughly a Westerosi year. So it's been 3 years since the Red Wedding. How else would you explain all the children aging up?

There are usually a lot of holes you can poke if you look for them. But honestly it'd do you better to just ignore them like Littlefinger's brothel warp gates.

Another example of awful writing.

If it's been years, what the hell has been going on with Riverrun?  If the Freys has still not occupied it, why would they wait years to besiege it.  If they had occupied it following the red wedding, how did the Blackfish retake it, given its defenses?

That storyline would've benefited much more from a "meanwhile back at the Twins" cut.

[Avaleigh]

13 hours ago, SoWindsor said:

Where are the other two dragons? What was the point of Tyrion unchaining them?

During the attack on the pyramid, I kept thinking 'Smithers, release the dragons!'

I'm glad that I'm not alone in not giving a shit that Lady Stoneheart has been cut. I hate the idea of Cat becoming a monster so I love that the showrunners have so far chosen not to include her. Hopefully it stays that way.

Tommen and Margaery suck for denying Loras his trial by combat. It disgusts me how Loras is being treated by all sides. Before I felt sorry for Tommen but now I hope that he engineers his own downfall and that the after Cersei loses her trial, Tommen is unhappily surprised and shocked when the High Sparrow immediately turns to him and informs him that he has no right to be king because of the judgment of the gods with regard to his mother and he is in fact an 'abomination'. Then Margaery is no longer queen and the High Sparrow completes his power play over the Tyrells and Lannisters. I wonder how Margaery will feel when she still has to kiss ass to the High Sparrow and Unella but doesn't have the compensation of being queen. 

I'm bummed that there's not going to be a trial by combat because they're always exciting in terms of the story.

Dany has a lot of nerve coming in looking upset. As if she didn't have her own hiccups ruling Meereen. Last time she left she was under attack so is she really surprised that the situation is still bad and hostile?

[CofCinci]

1 hour ago, TwistedandBored said:

Is there a reason why Varys and Danny have not met yet? Like why are they keep missing each other?

Because he's Merfolk and she used to swim with him when she was a kid. 

[Hanahope]

6 minutes ago, Alapaki said:

So it's been 3 years since the Red Wedding.

So Edmure has a toddler, not a baby.  Also, how can Edmure know that Walder Frey would willingly let Jamie Lannister have his grandchild?  Edmure also looks pretty darn good for someone cooped up in a dungeon for 3 years (sans beard to boot).  I still think Edmure's a dumbass if he thinks in anyway his forfeiting Riverun is going to make things better for him, or his men.

I chuckled over Jamie's comment about Sansa still being alive.  I think Jamie would be a bit surprised by Sansa, if they ever actually meet again.

I don't see the Hound being a Lady Stoneheart replacement, I don't think he really gives a crap about the Freys (other than they denied him a getting a reward for returning Arya to the Starks).  If Arya takes that job, I will enjoy it.  I wonder if she'll be able to use some of her FM arts to gut a few Freys.

[Raachel2008]

14 hours ago, SeanC said:

Also:  Brienne knows that Oathkeeper was forged from Ice, the Stark family sword, and that it is a Valyrian steel blade at a time when those blades are rather vital to the War for the Dawn, and she was about to give it back to the Lannisters?  The hell?

But this 110% true to who Brienne is. Jamie gave her the Oathkeeper to save Sansa, she found Sansa, she returns the sword. In a show where characterization sucks often, this time D&D got it right, because there is no way she wouldn't return the Oathkeeper given the chance. She lives by her code of honor and her actions fit. Also, it made for a lovely scene between Brienne and Jamie, and he saying the Oathkeeper was hers (because she keeps her oaths).

This episode was by far one of the worst in all the six seasons. There aren't enough words to express the ridiculousness of Arya being brutally stabbed several times (and in one of them the Waif TWISTED THE KNIFE), but being able to run up and down Braavos, slid on her stomach down stairs (hello, Legolas, skating over a shield in LOTR), all just after  few hours (days?). Nowdays it would be almost a miracle if someone attacked like that managed to be taken to a hospital still breathing, nevermind surviving. This is what really pisses me off this season: there is a lot of stuff that is not needed being shoved down our throats for shock value. I don't mind a good twist, but can we still be somewhere within the realm of believable? How come the Waif didn't kill Arya when she was passed out? She killed Lady Crane but not Arya? What did she want, a real chase? Arya's stay in Bravos was pointless, she didn't learn new skills like in the book, and if the whole idea was to show Arya feeling lost or needing to find who she is, what a fucking waste of time. Also, Lady Crane was there for...? Very few things have been so poorly conceived in the show like Arya's trip to Braavos. It is not like they didn't have some guidelines, because Arya's trainning was in the books. Countless movies/series have done a mashup of learning/trainning scenes that didn't take an entire season yet showed the character moving forwards, but I guess that was too hard for D&D.

By the way, Jacqen can fuck himself. Waif, the little Terminator that she was, worshipped the man, yet he didn't bat an eye at seeing her eyeless face. I'm not sure if GGRM or D&D think there is something appealing about a shady character who exploits teenagers girls, but he was never a mentor, or a friend, and if he was supposed to be some know-it-all dude whose job was to put Arya back in the road to Winterfell, sorry, it didn't work.

The Edmure and Jamie talk was  by far the highest point of the episode, that scene was all kinds of awesome, the acting, the directing (which was shit in the rest). Jamie is the kind of character that you can almost love, because he is nice to Brienne, because he was marginally better to Tyrion, because he killed the Mad King to save King's Landing,  and then you remember that he pushed a small child from a tower and sure Edmond had all the reasons to believe his son was going to be killed. Still, there is no way Edmure cannot see that Riverrun would still be the Frey's, his speech was a nice one, but the Lannisters still rule, have a huge army, the Tully are weakened and the Starks are 'gone'. What exactly was he thinking? Ugh.

So the Blackfish decides to not help Sansa (really, Brienne, would it hurt so much to acknowledge Jon?), because being killed by the Lannister's troops is more honorable? Stupidity reaaaaally runs among the Tullys. Now we didn't see he dying, so it is a matter of screentime, money or all those dead people we didn't see dying, like Stannis, will come back somehow?

The Hound is not going to replace Lady Stoneheart, who hopefully will never appear on this show. My guess is that he will help Arya with the Frey's somehow, and then will die.

Very few things on TV were so embarrassing like Tyrion, Missandei and GreyWorm trying to share jokes. I'm not sure if was awful or brilliant, but again it proves Meereen sucks the life out of this show.

Danaerys' entry was so ridiculous I was laughing with my friends. All badass and pissed and Emilia couldn't sell it for life. Ugh. 

 

I'm going to be extremelly pissed if next week Littlefinger shows up and is the one who saves the day.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Raachel2008
Grammar

[proserpina65]

14 hours ago, Potanical Pardon said:

I don't understand at all how Jaime knew his plan would work - that he just knew knew knew the Castellan would follow honor rules or whatever, that even if he did, that anyone/everyone would go along with it too. I don't buy that writing.

I also don't understand at all how Arya beating/killing the Terminator meant that she was now "No One" to Jaqen. Huh?

I don't think Jaime knew it would work, he was taking a chance on the Tully forces be willing to follow Edmure's orders over those of the Blackfish and hoping it worked.  It's been awhile, but it seems to me his plan was similar in the books.

14 hours ago, GrailKing said:

Who told Berric and Thorus about WW?

The Lord of Light?

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Game Of Thrones Lops Off Some Heads

If you're a background character, there's a pretty good chance you got decapitated this week.

[GrailKing]

Where a lot of people are upset about no trial by combat, I'm not; it's clear there is no one there who can challenge the monster, it's going to be a team effort.

Clegane bowl isn't cancelled it's relocated; where there is a team willing to protect some innocent kids up North.

[proserpina65]

14 hours ago, Captain Stable said:

Didn't Tyrion use all the Wildfire during Season 2?

I think he used all the wildfire made for him by the pyromancers now.  I'm thinking the stash placed underneath important bits of Kings Landing (including, if I remember correctly, the Sept of Baelor) on the Mad King's orders are what Qyburn has found.

[J----av]

1 hour ago, Bannon said:

In an ocean of sloppy writing (I don't think this show has ever recovered from the loss of Tywin Lannister), this little eddy was also noticeable, at least to me; the people in Mereen have bothered to construct a giant structure on the harbor, which gives them the tactical defensive advantage of holding the high ground. Apparently, however, nobody has thought of how to use that advantage, so when an attacking fleet of ships shows up, hurling flaming projectiles, they have no ability of their own to hurl flaming projectiles down at the attacking ships, and set the on fire. It's like 20th century militaries on earth inventing airplanes and explosives, but never figuring out that dropping explodives out of airplanes would be a good tactic. Huh?

I always say that out of all the characters that have been killed, losing Tywin hurt the show the most. And as much as no one wants to admit it, losing Joffrey was probably the second biggest loss

23 minutes ago, Raachel2008 said:

But this 110% true to who Brienne is. Jamie gave her the Oathkeeper to save Sansa, she found Sansa, she returns the sword. In a show where characterization sucks often, this time D&D got it right, because there is no way she wouldn't return the Oathkeeper given the chance. She lives by her code of honor and her actions fit. Also, it made for a lovely scene between Brienne and Jamie, and he saying the Oathkeeper was hers (because she keeps her oaths).

This episode was by far one of the worst in all the six seasons. There aren't enough words to express the ridiculousness of Arya being brutally stabbed several times (and in one of them the Waif TWISTED THE KNIFE), but being able to run up and down Braavos, slid on her stomach down stairs (hello, Legolas, skating over a shield in LOTR), all just after  few hours (days?). Nowdays it would be almost a miracle if someone attacked like that managed to be taken to a hospital still breathing, nevermind surviving. This is what really pisses me off this season: there is a lot of stuff that is not needed being shoved down our throats for shock value. I don't mind a good twist, but can we still be somewhere within the realm of believable? How come the Waif didn't kill Arya when she was passed out? She killed Lady Crane but not Arya? What did she want, a real chase? Arya's stay in Bravos was pointless, she didn't learn new skills like in the book, and if the whole idea was to show Arya feeling lost or needing to find who she is, what a fucking waste of time. Also, Lady Crane was there for...? Very few things have been so poorly conceived in the show like Arya's trip to Braavos. It is not like they didn't have some guidelines, because Arya's trainning was in the books. Countless movies/series have done a mashup of learning/trainning scenes that didn't take an entire season yet showed the character moving forwards, but I guess that was too hard for D&D.

By the way, Jacqen can fuck himself. Waif, the little Terminator that she was, worshipped the man, yet he didn't bat an eye at seeing her eyeless face. I'm not sure if GGRM or D&D think there is something appealing about a shady character who exploits teenagers girls, but he was never a mentor, or a friend, and if he was supposed to be some know-it-all dude whose job was to put Arya back in the road to Winterfell, sorry, it didn't work.

The Edmure and Jamie talk was  by far the highest point of the episode, that scene was all kinds of awesome, the acting, the directing (which was shit in the rest). Jamie is the kind of character that you can almost love, because he is nice to Brienne, because he was marginally better to Tyrion, because he killed the Mad King to save King's Landing,  and then you remember that he pushed a small child from a tower and sure Edmond had all the reasons to believe his son was going to be killed. Still, there is no way Edmure cannot see that Riverrun would still be the Frey's, his speech was a nice one, but the Lannisters still rule, have a huge army, the Tully are weakened and the Starks are 'gone'. What exactly was he thinking? Ugh.

So the Blackfish decides to not help Sansa (really, Brienne, would it hurt so much to acknowledge Jon?), because being killed by the Lannister's troops is more honorable? Stupidity reaaaaally runs among the Tullys. Now we didn't see he dying, so it is a matter of screentime, money or all those dead people we didn't see dying, like Stannis, will come back somehow?

The Hound is not going to replace Lady Stoneheart, who hopefully will never appear on this show. My guess is that he will help Arya with the Frey's somehow, and then will die.

Very few things on TV were so embarrassing like Tyrion, Missandei and GreyWorm trying to share jokes. I'm not sure if was awful or brilliant, but again it proves Meereen sucks the life out of this show.

Danaerys' entry was so ridiculous I was laughing with my friends. All badass and pissed and Emilia couldn't sell it for life. Ugh. 

 

I'm going to be extremelly pissed if next week Littlefinger shows up and is the one who saves the day.

 

 And Arya. Last she saw Arya is still alive, so she still has work to do to keep her word.

 

And i am going to be extremely pissed if Jon somehow wins without help, despite being severely outnumbered and going against a guy who has shown to be much smarter then he is 

Edited June 13, 2016 by J----av

[proserpina65]

Quote

Then again I feel like the only one who is ok with them not including Stoneheart.

You're not alone.  I hate Lady Stoneheart and how she corrupted the BWOB's mission to one of revenge, so I've been thrilled not to see her so far.  And given how long it's been since the Red Wedding, coupled with Beric still being alive, I doubt we'll see her at this point.

[SeanC]

16 minutes ago, Raachel2008 said:

So the Blackfish decides to not help Sansa (really, Brienne, would it hurt so much to acknowledge Jon?)

It's not like the product of Ned cheating on the Blackfish's beloved niece could be expected to be much of a draw for him.

[Shanna Marie]

2 hours ago, Hootis said:

I'm fishing for information as to why people still support the show Arya after this wasted story line.  I had to assume she's much better in the books.

One thing they left out entirely is that Arya figures out an ability to warg (that thing Bran does when he can put his mind into Summer or Hodor). That's how she deals with the blindness. She learns to look through the eyes of cats and other animals around her. I don't recall the Faceless Men being aware that this is how she does it, so it's like she's leveling up through their training in her own way to become something beyond them. She can do the stuff they train her to do (which isn't just whirling a staff around), but she's also got her own ways. They seem to have made the choice on the show that only Bran has the warging ability, but this seems to me to have been a potential way for her to have beat the Waif, if she had abilities the Faceless Men didn't know about and that they couldn't replicate.

[proserpina65]

14 hours ago, magdalene said:

But in the book Jaime's threat to Edmure was a bluff - his POV makes that very clear - he was determined to end the siege without blood shed.  He was also estranged from Cersei by then, so we didn't have to deal with any of these nauseating declarations of love for Cersei. 

What makes you think it wasn't a bluff on the show?

[Raachel2008]

16 minutes ago, SeanC said:

It's not like the product of Ned cheating on the Blackfish's beloved niece could be expected to be much of a draw for him.

But he knows Jon at least knows how to battle, which Sansa doesn't.

[stillshimpy]

What makes you think it wasn't a bluff on the show?

Presumably because Jaime used the same words he spoke when he tried to shove Bran to his actual death:  "The things I do for love". 

Also, I'm personally glad that Lady Stoneheart is not part of the proceedings.  There are plenty of killer Zombies running around in this story as it is. 

[Edith]

Worst episode of the season! I thought last week was the worst but at least had a few enjoyable scenes but this week...just BAD!! 

First time I considered changing the channel.

Also sick with the hound and his awesomeness. If this character (a child murderer) get to have a happy ending or something different to a very gruesome death (like he did to Mika) then I'm not going to bother finishing the books.

I know this world is "realistic" with his cruelty but I'm very sick of bad people being the "cool ones" while the actually good ones are stupid and get killed because of it.