Sunday, August 20, 2017

Game of Thrones



As Game of Thrones rockets to a conclusion for season seven (seriously has this flown by or what?) we venture forth once more beyond the Wall, in search of the army of the dead. The magnificent seven, as many are calling them, only really need one dead wight though, so they can prove to Cersei that the threat exists. As asinine as that plan is, it forms the heart of this episode, the last one before the finale. And with the previous two episodes  advancing the plot in a huge way, it's a safe bet we're going to get some fireworks in this one as well. And it didn't disappoint.

Spoilers for this episode of Game of Thrones, and for the books as well.

The magnificent seven are north of the Wall and having a good time, judging from their banter. Okay maybe not fun per se, but judging from the dialogue the writers seemed to be having a good time. We hit some character beats we needed to hit- Jon and Jorah bonding a bit, including a very nice exchange about Longclaw and who should have it, along with some banter between Tormund and the Hound. Seriously those two? And Gendry let Beric know what he thought of being sold to Melisandre, but didn't exactly get an apology from him or Thoros. Speaking of the former red priest, it's amazing he can walk with all the wine he must be swilling. 

Oh and they have some Night's Watch guys with them as well- can we call them redshirts? They certainly played that role. How would you like to be one of those guys? Might just as well have a "kill me" sign on your back! Anyway we don't really know how far north they go, but they eventually find a band of zombies to ambush and the action gets started. Jon takes out a white walker and they soon have their zombie proof. But... trouble's a brewing as here comes a zombie ARMY. Jon sends Gendry back to Eastwatch to warn Dany and then he and the rest of the group go... in a different direction. Why? You got me. 

Oh I almost forgot the bear. Their first encounter with an undead bear was a tough one, with a redshirt getting offed and Thoros almost dying. I thought he was a goner, especially when the Hound froze up (see what I did there) due to the fire. Thoros ends up dying anyway, which was not really unexpected, but still tough to see. 

While all this is going on we cut back and forth to Winterfell, where Arya and Sansa are having a serious disagreement. Arya shows her the letter she found and I thought they had a pretty good exchange- they both have good points, it's too bad they couldn't just communicate a little more and work it out. Sansa mention to Littlefinger that she hasn't heard from Jon for weeks- can't he send a raven?- and Littlefinger slyly denies knowing anything about how Arya found the note. She makes a good point about how Jon's lords are pretty quick to waver in their loyalty. I couldn't agree more. 

Also Tyrion and Dany discuss the coming meeting with Cersei, and they don't agree on much. This is where the folly of this whole mission to the north is so evident- instead of working on their plans for conquest or defense of the north, they're waiting on Jon's suicide mission. And speaking of, Gendry is running back to Eastwatch and gets there in what I'm going to assume is record time? I mean really. We've discussed the ridiculous passage of time on this show at length, but this is really pushing it. Gendry makes it back in less than a day apparently, and while we don't know for sure I certainly got the impression they went a goodly ways north. At this point you just have to ignore time and travel distances and just go with it. 

Jon and the rest are surrounded by zombies but they don't move in after the first wave of them falls through ice. The whole set-up of this put me in mind of the forthcoming Battle of Ice in the next book- there has been a lot of speculation about Stannis' tactics in that battle, with him taking up position in an abandoned village near a frozen lake. Some think he is setting up the Bolton forces to fall through the ice when they attack, and this may be a nod to that from the showrunners. Anyway for some reason the Hound decides to provoke the zombies- why would you do that?- and pretty soon they all come (but don't fall through the ice-hmm). Battle ensues and it looks bad until the air force arrives- Dany got the message and has come to the rescue with all three dragons!   

Sansa meanwhile sends Brienne to King's Landing in her stead, as Cersei has invited her to come. What is THAT all about? Looks like the showrunners want Brienne there when the undead corpse is brought to Cersei. And Arya and Sansa face off once again when Sansa searches Arya's chambers and finds her faces. Nice! Meanwhile Dany's dragons are lighting the place up and it's glorious. However, then something really bad happens. 

The Night King kills Viserion with his spear or whatever it is, and Dany and company barely make it out- minus Jon who falls through the ice. That was tough watching Dany have to leave. Should she and her two remaining dragons take on the Night King? Well we have to save something for season eight, but it still rankled to see her leave when I wanted her to exact some payback! I'm surprised Rhaegal didn't at least make one pass over the Night King and his lieutenants, give 'em a taste of dragonfire. Oh, well. 

Everything up to this point was great, but then things fell apart a little for me. Jon is still alive, of course, but who comes to his rescue? Benjen Stark. Jon's uncle gives him a way out and fights off the wights long enough for Jon to escape, but it looks like Benjen is done at this point. What I want to know is, how do you keep a horse alive in that environment? Jon makes it back and while they're tending him, Dany sees his scars. She knows there is something to Mel's story. Jon tells her he would bend the knee if he could, and she is amazed that he would do that given his situation. He tells her he believes in her, and they stare at each other for a very long moment- I'm glad they didn't kiss quite yet, it would be too soon, but I thought they were going there for a second.   

It should be interesting to see how they feel about things when Jon's heritage becomes known. 

Random Thoughts

"I suppose you favor your mother," says Beric to Jon. Little does he know! Nice line though- another hint to Lyanna.

I thought the battle scenes were a little unclear at times as to who was dying! I had to go back and confirm that it was a redshirt who went down initially when the bear attacked, and again when someone fell off the cliff into the zombies. For a minute I thought that was Jorah biting the dust!

Tormund took Gendry's hammer when Gendry left which seemed like a bad idea in case, you know, Gendry ran into any wights. Luckily that didn't happen. I hope Tormund brought his hammer back? 

I'm assuming it's pretty cold north of the Wall and when they spent the night on the island with no fire, I'm not sure how they survived? I mean obviously Thoros didn't, but still. 

The flaming sword is pretty fricking awesome. 

An undead dragon? That's... not good. Discounting for a moment where they got those massive chains, it was pretty terrifying for the undead to gain Viserion's services. They paid a big price just to take a zombie to Cersei. 



"I wish we'd never gone," Jon tells Dany. Me too pal! It was pretty dumb and now you're down a dragon. I knew from the script leaks and spoilers that this was coming, and next episode should be... quite. Is the Wall coming down?    

35 comments:

  1. Lol, oh time, he ran there, they sent a raven, and she made it there and they just sat there. lol

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  2. Yeah the timing is super crazy on the show right now. I'm rolling with it but I notice it every time. I love Jon but man he makes some dumb decisions some times. I am interested in seeing the undead dragon and what that will be like. Also next week with Cersei should be interesting.

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    1. Oh my gosh Jon is stupid! Love the guy but yeah... what did they think was gonna happen lol? And yes the time... rolls eyes- nice to know a raven can get there and Dany can fly up over the course of one night. The dragon though should be awesome. :)

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  3. I was so sad to see the dragon die. I knew it was going to happen (thanks youtube spoilers) and I still had to cover my eyes. I actually really fell back in love with Dany last night. She had been getting on my nerves quite a bit this season. I still hope Arya kills Sansa but that's just my personal preference at this point.

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    1. Yeah that was sad. I was a little skeptical that the spear would actually KILL it- serious wound maybe- but maybe there's magic involved. :)

      Dany was pretty kickass though, she took her dragons in there and kicked some butt!

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  4. The time on that show is so messed up. When Dany left with the dragons, I was like, “Wait. Did she already get the raven?!” I want to know where the dragon glass is. Jon is mining dragon glass. Why didn’t he bring any with him? Maybe that would have saved the poor redshirts. So far, I’ve managed to avoid spoilers for next week, so I’m super excited to see what happens.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. Oh my gosh isn't though?? The time is AWFUL. lol they basically can do whatever they want whenever they want. :) I thought the same thing about the dragonglass, although one site I was reading said Jorah at least had dragonglass dagger? So maybe we were supposed to know that lol. Next week should be wild!

      Poor redshirts... :)

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  5. You'd have thought they would've at least managed to dig out a few shards of dragonglass by now! I have a lot of questions about the things going on at the moment...And with the super speed of these ravens, answer this...could Jon have taken a few minutes in these weeks away from brooding at Dragonstone to just let Sansa know he's ok???

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    1. I know! Although now they're saying they HAD dragonglass, or at least some of them. Could have mentioned it. :) And I know- Sansa hasn't heard from Jon in WEEKS but he has a supersonic raven to get to Dany lol.

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  6. Didn't the Hound die??? That's the last season I watched. I'm confused lol

    For What It's Worth

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    1. Oh yeah you're behind. :):):) Seriously though he sorta made it. You know how this show is lol...

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  7. I thought it was just me. I was often confused who was who and who was injured/dead in many of those fight scenes. I'd watch it again but I can't bear to see the dragon die twice.

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    1. It was muddied. Hard to keep straight. I thought it was Jorah or one of the "important" people going over the cliff, but nope... just an unfortunate redshirt. It was hard to tell though!

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  8. I have so many theories and am pretty anxious to see how everything pans out and if I was right or not.

    This week's episode was packed with so much and for me, I don't mind all of the time jumping. I'm just glad that things are finally happening. We went through so many seasons of build up and now everything seems to be coming together so I can suspend belief on timing and pacing...but that's me being greedy and wanting to move things along and not waste time on little things.

    I don't think the fighting between the Stark sisters is what everyone is believing. I think that they're both playing Little Finger. I think Arya was playing her lying game and Sansa sent Brienne away after Little Finger basically told her to use Brienne to protect herself against her little assassin sister. So I'm interested to see that whole thing play out.

    I'm so sad about Viserion...but dude, there are two dragons left and the image of Jon riding the dragon that was named after his biological father has got me shook! Haha.

    RIP Uncle Benjen! He's the real MVP.

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    1. I got you! And agree- it is nice to have things HAPPENING now, after all this time. So much build up... :)

      You may be right about Arya/ Sansa. I did think it odd that Sansa sent brienne away just when LF suggested she use him. Why do that? I think LF is done- next episode? Arya gonna add another kill...?

      Yeah bummer about Viserion- poor dragon deserved better. :)

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  9. Also? The foreshadowing game was strong, right? I mean, how many times were we hit over the head with Dany not being able to have any kids? She's going to have Jon's...hahaha.

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    1. That was my thought too :) They doth protest too much.

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    2. lol I like that- gonna have Jon's. And maybe sooner than ever judging from the googly eyes going on in that cabin...

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  10. I haven't had enough free HBO time with the series so I'm lost... but I did love the redshirt comparison! LOL

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  11. Viserion is dead :( I didn't expect that at all. During the whole fight I was like "he's going to fly again. He can't be dead" but he is. Am I stupid for thinking Bran would help them somehow ?

    I really don't like Arya's attitude. She's so judgemental. I get it she's pissed but blaming Sansa for everything is pretty childish. I prefer Arya from the books.
    Also, I cringed when Sansa told Littlefinger about all of this. Tell your ennemy about how insecure you are, great plan.

    Now about Dany... I hoped that the conversation with Tyrion would open her eyes but she's stubborn. "It was necessary." Really Dany ? Burning them was really the only option ? I think Jon will be disappointed when he'll see her "kill them all" side.

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    1. That sucked, losing Viserion! And it would have been nice if bran had helped! He could have warged something maybe, IDK. And I thought one spear takes out a dragon?? I mean sure it's probably a magic spear, but still...

      Arya from the books *nods* So true. Looking forward to seeing the back of LF's story in this show.

      I was disappointed in Dany too. She did NOT need to kill the Tary's. Heck keeping them alive could have been useful!

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    2. I thought the same thing ! When he threw the spear I thought it would only hurt him. It seems a little too strong though, how are they supposed to compete with that ?

      Me too ! But I don't know why I have a feeling he's going to die soon (maybe because I want him to. I don't know).

      Exactly ! She's making the same mistakes she made before in Meereen where she killed the guy representating the former slaves.
      It was so stupid, she starts by saying that she's not like Cersei and then she burns them. She's sending mixed signals... also I cringed when she said "I don't behead people" as if burning them was more noble.

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    3. Exactly! If they can take a dragon down with one spear, they're going to need more dragons. :) And yeah Dany reminds me of Meereen Dany sometimes, so true. Same old mistakes...

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  12. This whole episode bugged me. Hollywood smoothing over everything with the time crap and the dragging crap out for more seasons. I get so bothered. Still entertaining but frustrating.

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    1. Yeah I would have liked to see the dragons at least take a shot at the walkers. Maybe burn a few? As a show watcher it was pretty exciting and actiony, but if I'm in book reader mode it has SO many problems, not the least of which probably half this stuff isn't going to happen in the books! Or will be very differet.

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  13. The dragon dying bummed me out, although I'm curious to see an undead dragon in action. I can't decide how I feel about the tension between Arya and Sansa. It was a little unsettling since it's the first time Arya has really annoyed me. I can't believe how fast this season has gone by either. It feels like we just started.

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    1. Me too! Sorry to see Viserion go but the undead dragon should be pretty awesome. As long as it doesn't kill any of the remaining two! And I think Arya/ Sansa is just a victim of easy writing- it's easy to write them at odds because of their history, but they could have wrote them as being older, wiser and working together and not having LF manipulate them so easily. alas, no...

      It has flown by! One episode left? Ack!

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  14. Gah! Was that really the last episode?! Too fast!

    So I was actually extremely frustrated with the Arya/Sansa scenes. I felt like so much of their progress as characters was being undermined - I mean, I thought Sansa had evolved to a place where she was smarter than to trust Little Finger. And I thought Arya was getting devious enough to know when she was being used as a tool :( Grr!


    I was devastated to see the dragon go down - and so easily too! I think I always knew there'd be 1 lost, but man that sucks! Can more dragons ever be born? or are these the last forever? It did certainly prove effective in getting Dany in the game though... why couldn't they have just taken a dragon to fly over, see it and leave? *sigh* like Cersei knowing will make her anything but selfishly unconcerned with a problem in the north... at least until it gets closer to her.

    Great recap!

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  15. This is so good! I want to know why they didn't use the flaming sword to keep warm!?!

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  16. This was a great episode but crazy!! I was wondering where they got those heavy chains and how did they latch it on Viserion without freezing from the water lol. I can't believe the season is ending already!!

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  17. I have so many thoughts on this episode, LOL! I loved how badass Jon and crew were and the snappy dialogue among them, but the whole point of the mission and what it ended up costing them? Yikes!!!

    I thought I was the only one who couldn't figure out who was dying! I still can't believe how the Hound provoked the walkers and wights to attack; how much longer would they have just hung out there? LOL.

    OK, the time it took for Gendry to run back to Eastwatch in that freezing cold, for the raven to get to Dragonstone, and for Daenerys to arrive at the battle was ridiculous! Oh, and Daenerys also had time to put on a winter coat and gloves, LOLOL.

    Arya's faces looked like bad Halloween masks, LOL. I have a hard time imagining that after all of her training with the Faceless Men, she would just leave them lying about without a good reason. I hope that she and Sansa are actually working together and just putting on a show for Littlefinger until they take him out. He needs to die!

    I can't believe the season finale is Sunday! The preview looks intense- what's going to go down at that meeting?!

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  18. I really don't know what to think of this last season! I'm enjoying it because... GoT!!! I totally love GoT and even the worst season is immensely better that pretty much anything else I have watched EVER!

    BUT

    Compared to the rest of the series this season feels so weak and scattered and I can't believe it has so many lose ends still when there is only ONE episode left!! and I'm so depressed!

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  19. I can read these now! I can't believe I got caught up just to have one episode left. :'( The timeline was the only thing that truly bothered me about this last episode. They are really having to rush this season and it shows. The dragon... I can't get over it. Death was bad enough, but zombified? My heart is broken.

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