Game of Thrones

[Frozen Angel]

Idk if anyone else caught it btw, the Arya horse scene at the end of the episode was a biblical reference

When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

[Annadog40]

So is she dead?

[Krazy]

Did anyone NOT get the biblical reference?

[Frozen Angel]

Well, the people who don't know bible for sure didn't

and none of my friends understood it before I pointed it out

[DeathNote]

The problem with that reference is that the Bible has multiple interpretations of the 4 horsemen. Death actually rides a Pale horse and Pestilence/Conquest rides a white horse. I realize if it is meant to represent anything, they are doing it with the pale horse in mind but when I first saw it, I thought Arya was meant to be Conquest.

[Nexus]

I liked this episode as well.

There were two episodes of the season left. They weren't going to have the Battle of King's Landing in the finale. This was expected/10.

[Nexus]

Also, Dany's turn did not come out of nowhere. She has, in the space of this season, lost her closest advisor, Ser Friendzone, her boyfriend, another one of her dragons AND has discovered that she is not going to be loved like she was across the sea.

It was always going to end like this. She is the Mad Queen.

[pirate mollie]

Wow.

There are some things that I really love about this season and some things I really hate, with most of it being in the middle. The season is gonna feel rushed - no doubt, but I had that expectation from the get go since there were only going to be 6 episodes and they had an awful lot to wrap up. I was pleasantly surprised at the length of the episodes but was crushingly disappointed at how the Night King turned out to be a red herring. Overall so far, I feel like I am getting what I want from it (closure, that gripping immersion that happens with each episode, the animated discussions that happen post-epi) but it certainly isn't the way I

want

it to go.

I kind of feel like the writers were given plotline bullet points and are trying to draw lines from point A to B leaving it up to the actors/actresses to fill in the gaps. And that is where the strength of this season lies in, the actors/actresses ability to work with what they have been given and had the freedom to kind of run with it.

I

LOVED

how Emilia Clarke has played this season.

LOVED IT.

At first I was pissed and confused after this episode but after thinking about it a bit, it DOES make sense for her to scorch the entirety of King's Landing. Daenerys started off homeless and living in hiding off of the charity of other foreign lords who did so in hopes of a future repayment. She has been through some serious shit and really the only thing that has given her the impetus to conquer Meereen is that after her son died, "the stallion who would rule the world", she thought that she was destined to rule the Iron Throne and that has fueled her ambition and impacted every decision she ever made ever since she realized that it was possible.

By this point, she has lost almost everything. She has lost the adoration and role of "The Breaker of Chains" (no one really within the monarch system already in place, are enslaved like the people of Meereen. The economy, political and social structure was built on a dichotomy between the rich and the poor whereas in Westeros, that role isn't needed. So she isn't receiving the love and adoration that I think she expected after "saving westeros" from the Dreadful Night King, even if she wasn't the one who did the actual killing. She has lost 2 dragons (who were the basis of her power structure, who she thought were invulnerable and she considered her "children"), her number one supporter and her best friend. Now she has lost her lover through no fault of her own. I think the writers nailed it in post-episode when they said that a Targaryen who feels isolated and with so much power, is a dangerous thing. There is nothing "good" right now that is keeping her worst impulses under wraps. I think she thinks it is time for her to do what SHE thinks is best and I think right now, after losing everything, she is seeing a future where no one will love her so her only way to achieve loyalty is through fear.

This is where Clarke really shines. You can see the character development in her facial expressions and they are right in line with what she is doing. All that pain in losing what she has lost, all that rage at feeling completely powerless to stop it, the lack of sleep and food are etched across her face and you see where it breaks open in a moment of, "fuck this shit. I am going to do what I know works even if it does cost me in ways I don't know". Dani was my favorite character this episode even though it was heartbreaking to watch. Think back to the vision she had when she was captive to the Warlocks; I don't think that was snow when she approached the Iron Throne, I think it was ash.

The Arya/Hound back and forth cinematography was freaking breathtaking. I love that The Hound had that moment post-Lannister dogservant where he was free, was moderately accepted and treated as an equal in the previous seasons. It made him reaching out to Arya to get the hell out of there so much sense. He knew she had something else to live for besides revenge whereas he did not. I think he had more respect and love? for her than he had for anyone else in his life.

I was a bit underwhelmed by Clegane Bowl.

It was the best episode at least.

definitely the most intense so far.

all other things aside, Qyburn's death is the best thing in this entire series

thank you writers, for giving us comic relief

He died a hero out of the pure love of trust and admiration.

I think you are romanticizing Qyburn a bit. He came from nothing and had no where else to go. I think saving Cersei came from pure self-interest and I am sure most people hated him as much as Cersei at this point.

Jamie leaves Brienne, not because he's "hateful", but because of a callback to "the things I do for love". He arrives, tries to help Cersei escape, they realize they're trapped. Cersei is scared. Doesn't want to die alone. "Jaime, don't let me die alone." Jaime, seeing that there's no escape, mercy kills Cersei to let her die in his arms instead of alone. Leaving Jaime to die alone by being suffocated/buried alive. And no goddamn stupid fucking Euron fight scene.

I had envisioned Jaime killing Cersei over the tiled floor map of all of Westeros, not out of anger but of love. So sad that din't take place. I don't think I really cared how it happened. I find it funny that everyone knew that Dani was going to conquer Cersei except Cersei. I don't think she really knew what to do with a queenship. There was never really a maintenance strategy in place except to execute anyone who disagreed with her, much less an exit strategy.

Things that I loved:

Ned Stark's continual presence through his children. So much of who they are and who they have become was shaped by Ned Stark. Pretty impressive for a character that died s1.

Arya walking away with murder in her heart.

Those were the highlights for me.

[Xtoxm]

never liked Danny as a character. But I also hate what they are doing with character as well. As someone who didn't even enjoy her character, we were always told, again TOLD. By several people that she could be a mad king. The show runners probably think "we foreshadowed this a bunch guys", the problem with this "FORESHADOW" is we never see it with HER. Her character is never shown to be anything like the mad king. She is capable of cruelty but it was always targeted against people that you were rooting against. Her character doesn't express a change as much as the show just decided she changed without showing us a progression to that change. Again this has to build, you can't just have everyone around her say "she is the mad king" and have us believe it. She needs to be doing things by her actions that show it to us. Not just have these power issues with her council or the little freakout she had when she realized "ohh they love jon but not me".

eh, this has been built up fairly well tbh, prior to this season too. agree it could have used further fleshing out.
after the long night this show is no longer capable of disappointing me.
cleganebowl was good tho, thats the kind of fan service im ok with being shoehorned into the plot.

[chamber]

Danny was always ruthless to her enemies. In this episode she even made a declaration that she was going to rule with terror if she wouldn't with love. But killing innocents intentionally was never in her wheel house. Continuing to kill the soldiers and Cersei after she surrenders? Absolutely. Even make a point of her doing it and not caring about collateral damage. But just torching the whole city? Nope.

[chamber]

And Cersei not having a plan makes sense, they just didn't know what to do with her. Tyrion was the tactical one. Qyburn scienced the shit out of some solutions. But Cersei's strength was always in scheming and manipulating other lords. There are none left to manipulate. She killed all her allies so that she could sit on the throne.

[AniX]

[quote="In post 4632

He died a hero out of the pure love of trust and admiration.

I think you are romanticizing Qyburn a bit. He came from nothing and had no where else to go. I think saving Cersei came from pure self-interest and I am sure most people hated him as much as Cersei at this point.[/quote]

What exactly is the self-interest in staying in castle literally falling apart with a queen literally being deposed? Qyburn is no fool. He knew that her BEST bet was to become a "queen" in exile and her likely bet was to be executed or die to the siege. Nobody really cares about him, certainly not as a dragon attacks the city. He knew the Queen had no plan and he stayed. Why? He could have left before the battle even STARTED. He could have never come back when he heard the fleet burned. Or the scorpions burned. Or the army submitted. But he continued sticking around. Why?

And look at this: This is an elderly man, 100 pounds wet and 5'5'', extending his own body over his Queen while the ceiling caves in. What possible gain does he have here? It isn't like Cersei is going to turn to the only person who stayed with her and say "You didn't protect my head, so you are fired."





He had no reason to do this EXCEPT he cared about her to put himself in-between her and a threat. And then he did it again. He didn't order from the back. He stepped FORWARD between the disobeying Mountain and Cersei.

[the worst]

Idk if anyone else caught it btw, the Arya horse scene at the end of the episode was a biblical reference

When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

ASOIAF uses a pale mare as a symbol of death

[Zulfy]

The thing that I hated the most is that it didn't feel like I was watching the world of Game of Thrones come to a close, I was just watching a bunch of scenes that the showrunners wrote in order to end the show.

[Krazy]

That's a pretty fair critique. I thought when they were describing this season I thought they said each episode was going to be 90 minutes. Instead most episodes are about 70 minutes. The 10 minutes of filler/talk at the end of episodes pads out the length so that the actual amount of screen time makes this season feel like approximately 8 episodes rather than 10 episodes, when compared to previous seasons.

The bigger issue is that the plot here is so lopsided. The excitement throughout so much of Game of Thrones as a series was seeing the interesting developments on both sides of a struggle. In this season, there's just... not a lot of interesting conflict for Cersei's side. So almost all of the conflict is framed as a competition for screen time on the Dany side.

Ultimately this season way more than any other season is totally dependent on the previous seasons for the momentum and force of the conflict. Which can sometimes happen, but wasn't how things felt in 2, for example, with Stannis being such a driving force.

Still though, I don't see how a narrative where Dany becomes a benevolent monarch was at all possible when all of her experiments in governance in the East were all such complete failures.

[Auro]

Still though, I don't see how a narrative where Dany becomes a benevolent monarch was at all possible when all of her experiments in governance in the East were all such complete failures.

Ruling in the east involved destroying and replacing existing systems like slavery which is difficult, especially when a "practical" solution like transitioning would go against her ideals.

She wouldn't face the same problems in Westeros.

[xRECKONERx]

Wow.

There are some things that I really love about this season and some things I really hate, with most of it being in the middle. The season is gonna feel rushed - no doubt, but I had that expectation from the get go since there were only going to be 6 episodes and they had an awful lot to wrap up. I was pleasantly surprised at the length of the episodes but was crushingly disappointed at how the Night King turned out to be a red herring. Overall so far, I feel like I am getting what I want from it (closure, that gripping immersion that happens with each episode, the animated discussions that happen post-epi) but it certainly isn't the way I

want

it to go.

I kind of feel like the writers were given plotline bullet points and are trying to draw lines from point A to B leaving it up to the actors/actresses to fill in the gaps. And that is where the strength of this season lies in, the actors/actresses ability to work with what they have been given and had the freedom to kind of run with it.

I

LOVED

how Emilia Clarke has played this season.

LOVED IT.

At first I was pissed and confused after this episode but after thinking about it a bit, it DOES make sense for her to scorch the entirety of King's Landing. Daenerys started off homeless and living in hiding off of the charity of other foreign lords who did so in hopes of a future repayment. She has been through some serious shit and really the only thing that has given her the impetus to conquer Meereen is that after her son died, "the stallion who would rule the world", she thought that she was destined to rule the Iron Throne and that has fueled her ambition and impacted every decision she ever made ever since she realized that it was possible.

By this point, she has lost almost everything. She has lost the adoration and role of "The Breaker of Chains" (no one really within the monarch system already in place, are enslaved like the people of Meereen. The economy, political and social structure was built on a dichotomy between the rich and the poor whereas in Westeros, that role isn't needed. So she isn't receiving the love and adoration that I think she expected after "saving westeros" from the Dreadful Night King, even if she wasn't the one who did the actual killing. She has lost 2 dragons (who were the basis of her power structure, who she thought were invulnerable and she considered her "children"), her number one supporter and her best friend. Now she has lost her lover through no fault of her own. I think the writers nailed it in post-episode when they said that a Targaryen who feels isolated and with so much power, is a dangerous thing. There is nothing "good" right now that is keeping her worst impulses under wraps. I think she thinks it is time for her to do what SHE thinks is best and I think right now, after losing everything, she is seeing a future where no one will love her so her only way to achieve loyalty is through fear.

This is where Clarke really shines. You can see the character development in her facial expressions and they are right in line with what she is doing. All that pain in losing what she has lost, all that rage at feeling completely powerless to stop it, the lack of sleep and food are etched across her face and you see where it breaks open in a moment of, "fuck this shit. I am going to do what I know works even if it does cost me in ways I don't know". Dani was my favorite character this episode even though it was heartbreaking to watch. Think back to the vision she had when she was captive to the Warlocks; I don't think that was snow when she approached the Iron Throne, I think it was ash.

The Arya/Hound back and forth cinematography was freaking breathtaking. I love that The Hound had that moment post-Lannister dogservant where he was free, was moderately accepted and treated as an equal in the previous seasons. It made him reaching out to Arya to get the hell out of there so much sense. He knew she had something else to live for besides revenge whereas he did not. I think he had more respect and love? for her than he had for anyone else in his life.

I was a bit underwhelmed by Clegane Bowl.

It was the best episode at least.

definitely the most intense so far.

all other things aside, Qyburn's death is the best thing in this entire series

thank you writers, for giving us comic relief

He died a hero out of the pure love of trust and admiration.

I think you are romanticizing Qyburn a bit. He came from nothing and had no where else to go. I think saving Cersei came from pure self-interest and I am sure most people hated him as much as Cersei at this point.

Jamie leaves Brienne, not because he's "hateful", but because of a callback to "the things I do for love". He arrives, tries to help Cersei escape, they realize they're trapped. Cersei is scared. Doesn't want to die alone. "Jaime, don't let me die alone." Jaime, seeing that there's no escape, mercy kills Cersei to let her die in his arms instead of alone. Leaving Jaime to die alone by being suffocated/buried alive. And no goddamn stupid fucking Euron fight scene.

I had envisioned Jaime killing Cersei over the tiled floor map of all of Westeros, not out of anger but of love. So sad that din't take place. I don't think I really cared how it happened. I find it funny that everyone knew that Dani was going to conquer Cersei except Cersei. I don't think she really knew what to do with a queenship. There was never really a maintenance strategy in place except to execute anyone who disagreed with her, much less an exit strategy.

Things that I loved:

Ned Stark's continual presence through his children. So much of who they are and who they have become was shaped by Ned Stark. Pretty impressive for a character that died s1.

Arya walking away with murder in her heart.

Those were the highlights for me.

holy shit hi mollie!

also this was a good post

[Krazy]

Ruling in the east involved destroying and replacing existing systems like slavery which is difficult, especially when a "practical" solution like transitioning would go against her ideals.

She wouldn't face the same problems in Westeros.

What ideals? Her ideals have always been "if people don't do what I say set them on fire"

[Raskolnikov]

I'm glad they gave Cersei a sympathetic death, although it's a shame she lost (#teamcersei). Not in a satisfying way either but to pretty much only the overpowered unhittable dragon. I love how basically every problem Dany had ever the solution was just dragon(s) lol with maybe one or two exceptions. God I would have loved to see dany and friends get blown up by a buried wildfire cache when they had their little parley so much and then the season play out with sansa vs cersei.

[Raskolnikov]

I loved the last episode! Was in this property on the French Riviera with my family and we watched it late in the evening with drinks and snacks. Spend really great time and episode was worth every cent spend on it's creation.

What is this D&D propaganda machine trying to convince us the episode was good

[FakeGod]

I play D&D and I do not endorse this advertisement.

[inte]

typical loornio

this whole season has been pretty ass. ayra went from ninja warrior to helpless girl. tyrion went from master strategist to agape idiot. jon went from stalwart defender to whiny lackey "muh queen'

cersei seemingly suffered no consequences for usurping the throne.

grey worm, sansa, sandor have been pretty good but they play lesser roles compared to the above 3.

[pirate mollie]

holy shit hi mollie!

also this was a good post

RECK!!!!!!

and ty <3

[pirate mollie]

@ ani

fair point! but I don't think Qyburn could have made it out of the city without Cersei. I think that humility and love are not necessarily mutually exclusive from self-interest motivation.

[Zulfy]

Still though, I don't see how a narrative where Dany becomes a benevolent monarch was at all possible when all of her experiments in governance in the East were all such complete failures.

Her governance in Dragon's Bay was so successful that the slavers had to attack the city to stop people from seeing the successes of abolitionism.

In the end it was "Oh shit she's too sympathetic, let's make her kick the dog real hard and that'll be the end of that."