Game of Thrones (HBO) - Time to jump on board

That might have been the hardest scene to sit through of the entire series.

I'm loving this season so far. Can someone explain the Nymeria scene to me? I was walking my daughter around on my shoulder so she'd fall asleep for bedtime, and I couldn't quite make out what happened. Was it Nymeria or wasn't it?

How'd everyone feel about Theon jumping ship? 'My name is Reek it rhymes with meek'.

 

That was Nymeria. Arya told her she was going home and asked her to come with her. Then Nymeria turned away and left. Arya remarks "That's not you. "

The show writers confirmed that what Arya was saying is that she recognizes that Nymeria is not a pet. She had her own pack now and will remain wild. It was meant to echo Arya responding to Ned's telling her how she'd marry and be a lady of a house one day, "that's not me."

I'm a tad annoyed at how they pushed the direwolves pretty much out of the story, especially considering that they show that Bran isn't the only warg in the Stark family (indeed, it appears they all may be to some extent). And it leaves out what may be important to the end game for a simpler ending. Or maybe they'll come back to it later. We'll see.

Theon jumping ship. Cowardice? Or living to fight another day? Both?

 

Surprised there has been no talk about episode 3 yet. I was a bit let down by the long-awaiting meeting between Danaerys and Jon. It seemed a bit flat to me. Otherwise I really liked the episode. Cersei's strategy was brilliant. Eliminate a key enemy and acquire funds necessary to pay off the bank. Olenna stole the show. Even in death and defeat, she got to have the last word - and a doozy that last word was. She will be missed.

Things are accelerating. The jump between episodes 2 and 3 must have been months.

 

I thoughtthe first meeting with Jon and Dany was fine. Awkward. Both trying to size each other up and assert their position without creating an automatic enemy (less so with Dany. She got a bit pushy, but I suppose from her point of view it was reasonable). Once Dany becomes convinced of the Army of the Dead, I believe things will go better between them.

As much as Cersei deserves hate, you gotta hand it to her for creativity. Her punishment of Ellaria was as cruel as one could possibly imagine (and I'm sure, should Cersei still be in power in a year or 2, it'll get even worse). That said, their end around of Dany's Unsullied Army had to have been all Jaime. Cersei isn't that smart. Tyrion is really dropping the ball lately.

I'll wager most of those scrolls and books the Arch Maester gave Sam to copy are important. He knows Sam can absorb info quickly and put it to use. He probably chose those tomes deliberately. I wonder what information they contain that he thinks Sam should learn.

Euron in the books is evil incarnate. This Euron is almost... likeable? Sure, he's an a-hole, but he's an entertaining one.

Way back in, I think, season 2, Melisandre told Arya she'd meet her again. Now she says she will have to return because she's supposed to die there. 1+1=?

Pour a drink out for Olenna Tyrell. Even went out like a boss.

 

The last scene was cheesy? Are we talking about the little swim? Or the whole scene?

The fanboy in me wants to geek out about the entire last 10 minutes or so. My cynical side wants to poke holes all through it. But I'll limit my nit picking to 2 things:

1- Where has anyone ever seen a lake that dropped off to 20-30 feet deep within a 3-4 feet from shore? That is, when the ground around the lake is flat (not a steep mountain or hillside going into it). And there's little reason to think there'd be a glacial lake in the Reach. I suppose it could be a water filled sink hole, but those tend to be pretty well formed circular shapes. But I guess we can let this one slide. But that brings me to...

2- Jaime Lannister is dead. He avoided dragon fire only to drown. Now, I know he's probably going to be alive and well next week. But he should be dead. DEAD. He's wearing heavy plate armor that requires an assistant to take off or put on. He has one working hand, so even if he could somehow take it off himself, less likely for him. He can't swim in that, and Bronn would have a hard time swimming himself, let alone dragging an armored knight with him.

Lizard, Drogon is black(ish), or darkly colored anyway. But even the books describe him as having streaks of red. My guess is the wound is minor. He was able to recover and set down softly even with it still in his shoulder. All it really did was tick him off. Now had it entered his open mouth, or pierced an eye or something, yeah. Probably dead.

Bran knows exactly who and what Littlefinger is. And if he's starting to also glimpse the future, that would explain his saying it doesn't matter - LF won't be a threat one way or another. My bet is Arya uses his own dagger on him (and perhaps Bran already knew this would happen). My only questions are how, why and when.

Arya moving like Syrio Forel against Brienne and giving her fits. Loved that scene. Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but follow me on it. On that last little exchange, Brienne disarms and pulls Arya off balance in order to pull her face toward the sword point (checkmate). But Arya counters it nicely and at the very least, ensures they both would die with that dagger, or perhaps even gets the killing blow in first. When asked who taught her that, she says "No one." (Loved that line) But something seemed familiar about Brienne's move. I went back and looked, and it's very close if not the same maneuver Syrio used on Arya when she was first training with him. Could be coincidence. Could just be Arya learning from mistakes. Or was she implying something? Or was it an unintentionally ironic statement? (yeah. I know. But I'll never give up that ghost. Syrio lives, dammit. LOL)



As far as the Golden Company:

I very much doubt they'll introduce that plot so late into the game. (or at least the whole (F)Aegon thing) But the Golden Company is known to be very formidable, so they'll use that reputation (or even as a nod to the books) to give Cersei more weight. After all, after tonight, one could be forgiven in thinking Dany will win this thing in a walk. More than half of what we're seeing the last season and a half or so is - I won't call it fan fiction (even if some of it clearly is) - a heavy variation on what's to come in the books. They didn't just trim fat. They trimmed a lot of meat as well to shortcut to the end and/or save time. They know GRRM's endgame, but how to get there, they're taking their own path.

 

The Red Fork (which is really part of the Trident) and the Trident are in the Riverlands, not the Reach. But upon viewing it again, it's definitely a river. The Trident does not empty into the Blackwater Rush, but rather a bay well north of King's Landing and even Dragonstone. The Blackwater is fed primarily by the God's Eye. That is, if I remember the geography correctly. I can't recall if the Trident feeds the God's Eye, but I don't think it does. My best guess is that it's the Blackwater Rush. Still odd, because the Blackwater Rush is navigable by ship. This river is kind of narrow. Could be a minor river or tributary not on the map. Either way, it's a river.

Which still makes it confusing, because, again, what river have you ever seen on flat ground drop off 20-30 feet within a yard or so of the shore?

But maybe a better question is, why do we even care? Suspension of disbelief and all that.

 

Not to mention taking your attention away from a screaming Dothraki horde that's hell bent on slicing you to ribbons. They were flat out routed, and I think most of the soldiers were in pure survival mode.

 

Well, on that note there's plenty to nit pick regarding Jaime's preparation overall. You're moving an army that size and don't have scouts and lookouts ranging a few miles out in all directions to avoid being surprised? I suppose we could just say that Jaime had scouts, and they were taken out by the Dothraki before they could report, but I didn't see anything in the episode to suggest that was the case. The look on Jaime's face clearly showed surprise when the dragon appeared. Did he not believe they really existed? Did he logically think that they would still be tiny at their young age? I don't know, but Jaime got caught with his pants down. Maybe we can connect some dots and infer that Olenna's dying barb occupied his thoughts so much that he failed to properly plan for the return trip.

I hope he's alive and captured. It will set up an interesting dynamic with him and Tyrion.

 

Everyone has jet packs on now.

Definitely has the stench of 2 producers getting tired and just trying to rush to the end. I'm sure there are other factors (money, keeping actors past 7 years, etc). But the story is without a doubt getting the bum rush now. Le's just hope it ends well despite the rush. We don't want another "Lost."

So Rhaegar and Lyanna were married. Doesn't surprise me. After all, the whole Tower of Joy exchange in the books implies heavily that the Kingsguard were there to do their duty. And their duty is first and foremost to PROTECT THE KING. Following rules of succession, any legitimate son of Rhaegar came first before Viserys. "Ser Willem Derry took young Viserys and his mother to Dragonstone. Why did you not go with him?" "Ser Willem is a good knight and true, but he is NOT a Kingsguard." Read: Viserys isn't the heir. We'd be with him if he was. Our job is here.

Dany had a vision in The House of the Undying (that didn't make it into the show) of Rhaegar with who she assumed was Ellia Martell. Proclaiming that their son would be named Aegon, and he is "The song of Ice and Fire." Obviously, it must have been Lyanna. It seems odd he'd name their son Aegon. He already had an Aegon with Ellia, his first wife. I'm not sure what's going on there. But I'll wager Jon's true name is Aegon. (This could really open up things in the books with (F)Aegon, but we'll never see it on the show)

Can't believe there's only 2 episodes left this year. But I'm sure they'll be whoppers.

 

It's the letter Cersei made Sansa write in season one. They convinced her that if she testified against her father, they'd spare his life. So the letter talks about how Ned (air quotes) tried to usurp Robert's heir and put Stannis on the Throne (/air quotes) after he died. In short, Sansa wrote a letter proclaiming her father to be a traitor. (I'm assuming to get the North to stand down and not march south)

It was under duress. She was doing it to save him (or so she thought). And they dictated the letter to her.

Littlefinger wasn't trying to hide it. He WANTED Arya to find it while making it seem that he AND Sansa were trying to keep it a secret. He wants to pit them against each other. Arya is clearly a threat, and Sansa isn't buying his BS anymore. He's running out of moves.

 

I'm loving every episode. I try to look the other way when a character uses his jetpack.

The battle with the Scorpion was awesome, but a little frustrating for me, mainly because Bronn is OP. Hopefully they nerf him in the next update.

Exactly. Littlefinger's manipulation game is strong. Very strong.

 

I am enjoying the season, but I really feel like they're cramming too much in too quickly. So many scenes would have been great with more detail. Jaime and Tyrion meeting for example. There could have been way more dialogue there. It was so fast that it was a bit of a letdown for me. Or how about the battles for Casterly Rock and Highgarden. One was about 1-2 minutes, and the other was not even shown.

So while I'm enjoying it, I feel like they're rushing and losing the level of cool detail that we saw for the first 6?seasons. They could have easily done a 10 episode season, and not cut it to 7. What could have been epic is just good.

My opinion anyway.