The Thread is Dark and Full of Spoilers: "Game of Thrones" discussion

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Going to go and watch it again before I post my comments, but I have to say the penance walk was superbly done and wonderfully acted by Lena Headey.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Just rewatched it. Massive, massive spoilers below for people who haven't seen the episode.

The North

After the considerable amount of character assassination he's suffered, I'm almost glad Stannis is dead - but I'm not convinced he is. "Do your duty", he says to Brienne. Her duty, first and foremost, is to rescue Sansa Stark. I wouldn't be surprised to see him alive, as Brienne's prisoner next season. The death of Selyse was another "shock value" moment but I found it hard to find an ounce of sorrow about her fate after Shireen's execution in the previous episode. Again, another big budget cop-out as all we see of the battle is a long shot from Sansa's perspective, and Stannis fighting two abysmally trained swordsmen.

The Winterfell storyline reached a conclusion, however, and I was delighted by the outcome. Myranda copping it was a nice bit of catharsis after all the suffering Sansa has experienced, and I'm glad to see Reek undergoing the process of reTheonisation. However, after showing all the snow melt at the start of the episode, how are we supposed to believe the two of them survive the fall from Winterfell's 100-foot-tall walls? Okay, in the book, Reek and Jeyne Poole escape in the same way, but George makes extensive use of the narrative to demonstrate the snowfall is at least 20 feet deep by this point, completely blanketing the castle. There was barely even a covering of frost as Stannis' army approached Winterfell - so how are they going to escape that alive? Unless we're being totally fucked with and the two are jumping to their deaths (what a fucking anticlimax that would be), I don't see how they could survive that jump.

Braavos

Meryn Trant is a cunt. We get that. We can all remember him killing Syrio and beating Sansa. Do we really need to see more insinuated torture and rape of prepubescent girls? Arya killing him was sweet, and a truly empowering moment for her as she crosses another name from her list, but the amount of time wasted in re-establishing Trant as being a despicable cunt - which we all already knew - could have been used to flesh out Arya's penance and subsequent blindness. The part in the House of Black and White with Jaqen was nicely done, almost as if it was some sort of LSD trip. Sets up next season nicely.

Dorne

Though the Sand Snakes are shite - absolute shite, for that matter - I, for one, haven't actually minded the Dornish plot. Until tonight. Obviously Season 5 is all about setting up the context for the wars to come - the inevitable conquest of Daenarys; the onslaught of the Others; Lannister vs Martell, etc. - the killing off of Myrcella in such a way was such a cheap way for that story to unfold. Just as Jaime and his daughter have a moment of connection, for the sake of it, we see another unhappy ending. The writers need to appreciate that not everyone needs to die in this show. Okay, so George will probably kill off both Tommen and Myrcella in the last two books for the prophecy regarding Cersei to come to fruition, but I don't see the point in Myrcella being recast if they were going to kill her off after four appearances? Also, Ellaria, in her bid for vengeance, so conveniently has her antidote. A cheap move, in my opinion.

Meereen/Essos

The Meereen scenes were the best in this episode. Any scene with Varys and Tyrion makes for awesome viewing. Any scene with Jorah and Tyrion makes for awesome viewing. In fact, any scene with Tyrion makes for awesome viewing. Peter Dinklage is the best actor in the series by such an extent that he raises the performances of everyone around him. The witty exchanges aside, the one element of the series fast-forwarding I have really liked is the speeding up of Tyrion's story arc. Him being in Meereen as a de facto Hand of the Queen makes perfect sense. Suddenly the adventures of Jorah the Explorer seem a bit shit in comparison, despite the fun they are in the books. I'm intrigued about what is going to happen with Jorah and Daario on the road to finding Dany.

Speaking of Dany, pretty shit luck for a whole Khalasar to find her, right? And how about them all suddenly becoming Native Americans, by the way? Talk about cliché. Dropping her wedding ring on the floor in the middle of a wilderness for Jorah and Daario to inevitably find next season as some kind of homage to The Lord of the Rings: "Not idly do the leaves of Lórien fall". Next expect her necklace, oh, and maybe a dragon, to point her would-be rescuers in the right direction. Of course, another season of Dany doing fuck all, this time with some horsemen, as opposed to her dominating them with a fire-breathing dragon and making them submit to her, makes for better viewing. Get to Westeros already. Winter is coming.

Kings Landing

The Walk of Atonement was perfect. I felt sorry for Cersei. Yes, for Cersei. That's how well it was filmed and acted. It made for uncomfortable watching, arguably more graphic than in the book as well. Septa Unella constantly ringing that bell and crying "Shame, shame, shame!" became very tedious, very quickly, but this was Emmy-winning material by Lena Headey. Introducing Ser Robert Strong as well was perfect. He was exactly how I imagined him. Can't wait to see him fight against the champion of the Faith in Cersei's trial next season. CLEGANEBOWL HYPE.

The Wall

The scene with Davos, Jon, and Melisandre was excellently acted. Mel has one hell of a poker face, but Liam Cunningham's reaction to finding out Shireen is dead was gut-wrenching. Nice to see that Sam is going to Oldtown to become, as Gilly says, "a wizard". I thought they'd be getting rid of that storyline altogether.

"For The Watch" was almost perfect. Despite the fact Kit Harrington, all in all, can't act for toffee, it wasn't a bad scene at all. The way Ser Alliser says "For The Watch", in such a calm manner, almost as if he is saying "Look, sorry mate, but you're a bit of a dick and I'm doing this for the best", was spot on. But Olly. Fuck Olly. Not literally, that would be pretty weird. But fuck me, what a little shit. Okay, he's mad at Jon for allowing Tormund and the Wildlings, who killed his parents, to live beyond The Wall, but the hypocritical little shit uses Jon's long-lost dead uncle as an excuse to get him outside so his bumchums can gut him? Low blow, son. There was no shock value; we all knew this was happening. Its been so clumsily foreshadowed since the third or fourth episode. Look, if Olly wasn't there (and if the character didn't exist, for the matter) and Jon's last words were "Ghost..." as his eyes turn white, then the scene would have been perfect.

There was an alternative angle I was hoping for. Thorne and the Watch begin massacring the Wildlings. Jon gets stabbed, Wun-Wun goes mental and starts destroying everyone and everything, and Ed, Tormund and the Wildlings eventually overcome the Watch to take over Castle Black. Ed and Tormund turn to see Jon being finished off by Olly, with his body dropping to the floor. The scene fades to black, but the the background, the distinctive whimpering of a direwolf. That would have been another angle, but they stayed relatively true to the book here, so fair play.

Overall Thoughts

Look, Hardhome was the best episode of GoT ever. Better than a 10/10. Made the Red Wedding look shit. Made the Blackwater look boring, and the attack at Castle Black completely shite. The ending of The Dance of Dragons was also excellent - a 9/10 episode. This was never, ever, going to be able to top those two episodes. But a steady 7/10 to follow up what has been a 7/10 season. Season 5 won't win Game of Thrones many new fans - in fact it has probably split the fandom in half because of the deviations away from the books, but when all is said and done and we have eight seasons of the TV show and seven books to plough through, we'll look at Season 5 in the same way that A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons are seen in the bookverse - they are necessary in slowing down the plot and building up the characterisation of the existing characters. Consider it a "context season". GoT will get bigger and better, and whilst there have been some incredible highlights this season (Hardhome, etc.) and some really shit moments, also, this has been a steady season indeed. Roll on 2016.

[didierforever 7,349]

i heard kit (jon snow) has been told that he is gone. dead. off the books for the show. i hope GRRM has told the writers to write their own storylines so that there is not a spoiler for the books.

[bouletje 82]

Starting to believe I can predict who's going to die each season, the one who they make you sympathise the most, same recipe for each season.

Disappointed tho, only 2/10 episodes were descent for season 5.

[mikeholiday 209]

This tastes like "How I Met Your Mother" again...

[lucio 5,391]

So brienne the turd kills another great character she's not supposed to. Might not bother watching it.

[mikeholiday 209]

So brienne the turd kills another great character she's not supposed to. Might not bother watching it.

They didnt show it tho. Just like how the Vision "didnt kill" Ultron...

[Roquila 1,335]

OYSTERS CLAMS AND SPOILERS








FUCK THAT LITTLE KID CUNT

[Sheva. 5,373]

His death will lead to more chaos and more story lines. Poor Melisandre just had to go back there smh.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Starting to believe I can predict who's going to die each season, the one who they make you sympathise the most, same recipe for each season.

Disappointed tho, only 2/10 episodes were descent for season 5.

Hmm. Not sure if "only" 2/10 were decent. I'd say:

The Wars to Come - 7/10

The House of Black and White - 7/10

High Sparrow - 6/10

Sons of the Harpy - 8/10

Kill the Boy - 6/10

Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken - 6/10

The Gift - 7/10

Hardhome - 10/10

The Dance of Dragons - 9/10

Mother's Mercy - 7/10

Averages at 7.3/10 for the season. Not bad, but you will see the scores I've given (though obviously very subjective) are very inconsistent. Whereas in previous seasons you start off with 6/10 episodes and build up to a ridiculous 10/10 finale, such as the Blackwater or the Red Wedding, this season had a good start and then a very slow core before speeding up again, and then slowing down in the finale. Perhaps their pacing is a little off this time around, whereas in Season 4 it was absolutely perfect.

i heard kit (jon snow) has been told that he is gone. dead. off the books for the show. i hope GRRM has told the writers to write their own storylines so that there is not a spoiler for the books.

IF he IS coming back, of course he's going to deny it. It'd ruin the books and the series if he said "yep, I'm getting resurrected".

His death will lead to more chaos and more story lines. Poor Melisandre just had to go back there smh.

Mel going back to Castle Back kind of confirms that Jon's story isn't over, for me. I assumed he didn't die from the ending of the fifth book and nothing I've seen in the series suggests otherwise to me.

That being said, I don't really give a shit about Jon in the show. In the book, especially after becoming Lord Commander, his chapters are brilliant to read. You can see him grappling with the responsibility he has. But the series fails to capture any of this, IMO. I'd honestly say that Jon, in the show, is the LEAST interesting of all the Starks.

[iseah100 5,612]

Fuck this show. Fuck that little stupid cunt Olly. Fuck the watch. Fuck everything. We want Jon Snow.

[Roquila 1,335]

Where the fuck are the little starks ?



FUCK OLLY THAT CUNT, AGAIN.

[iseah100 5,612]

Where the fuck are the little starks ?

FUCK OLLY THAT CUNT, AGAIN.

FUCK OLLY! FUCK THE WATCH!

[Dion 2,476]

Hmm. Not sure if "only" 2/10 were decent. I'd say:

The Wars to Come - 7/10

The House of Black and White - 7/10

High Sparrow - 6/10

Sons of the Harpy - 8/10

Kill the Boy - 6/10

Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken - 6/10

The Gift - 7/10

Hardhome - 10/10

The Dance of Dragons - 9/10

Mother's Mercy - 7/10

Averages at 7.3/10 for the season. Not bad, but you will see the scores I've given (though obviously very subjective) are very inconsistent. Whereas in previous seasons you start off with 6/10 episodes and build up to a ridiculous 10/10 finale, such as the Blackwater or the Red Wedding, this season had a good start and then a very slow core before speeding up again, and then slowing down in the finale. Perhaps their pacing is a little off this time around, whereas in Season 4 it was absolutely perfect.

IF he IS coming back, of course he's going to deny it. It'd ruin the books and the series if he said "yep, I'm getting resurrected".

Mel going back to Castle Back kind of confirms that Jon's story isn't over, for me. I assumed he didn't die from the ending of the fifth book and nothing I've seen in the series suggests otherwise to me.

That being said, I don't really give a shit about Jon in the show. In the book, especially after becoming Lord Commander, his chapters are brilliant to read. You can see him grappling with the responsibility he has. But the series fails to capture any of this, IMO. I'd honestly say that Jon, in the show, is the LEAST interesting of all the Starks.

I don't know about 7/10 for the last episode. It was fairly good, even if a bit rushed. I'd say 8/10 is more like it. A lot of things happened:

Walk of shame, Arya kills Trant and goes blind, Stannis defeated, Sansa and Theon escape, Myrcella dead?, Jon dead?, Varys & Tyrion etc.

[iseah100 5,612]

#TeamWhiteWalkers

[Spike 12,049]

I would have dropped this show ages ago if not for the s/o wanting to watch it with me.

In the rubbish it goes.

[Spike 12,049]

Night's Watch 3/10 - Fuck Sam and Gilly

Bravos and Danaerys -10/10 - Boring zzz zzz

Arya 2/10 - OYSTERS, CLAMS AND CUCKOLDS FOR SALE

King's Landing 2/10 - Slut Shaming is best shaming + bush and titties

Jaimme Lannister and his comedic sidekick's wacky adventures in Dorn 10/10 - SAND SNAKE TITS ARE THE BEST TITS

Sansa and the Boltons -20/10 - I wish Sansa were dead

[lucio 5,391]