The best dragon-breath-toasting scene since Dragonslayer (Can anyone do a better William Katt impersonation than Peter MacNicol?)
Had Shireen consented to being burned, we might have seen the #yesallmarshmallows controversy erupt like with Sansa, otherwise it is just deep tragedy without the controversy.
That was the perfect response for Bronn’s transgression. I wish I had a posse that could randomly elbow my coworkers. “And for action item #34…crunch”
The build up between Arya and Sir Pedo seems too obviously telegraphed, I hope it isn’t simply poison in an oyster that does him in. This is a job for Needle!
I loved the mechanic of Drogon needing some running room to circle out of the confined arena. I thought it was well directed how vulnerable he was on the ground and that he couldn’t just bungie-cord in and out with Dany, they treat him with realistic mass effects.
Well, that castle is in the middle of the wall, so you can’t sail to it. I assume they sailed as close as they could and walked the rest of the way. I’d have to look at a map, but I’m not sure why that’d be the smart move as opposed to sailing around the end of the wall and walking the rest of the way on the south side.
The dragon skull in season 1 was almost as big as her biggest dragon. Whether there’s enough time for them to grow before the army of the dead hits Westeros is another thing. I don’t think they were ever intended to be invincible, though.
The short dragon flight scene did look unusually poor for Game of Thrones. It’s a good thing it only lasted for a few seconds.
Just a guess but maybe there’s nowhere to land the ships immediately south of the wall? Too rocky or maybe cliffs?
When Stannis’ army arrived to the battle at the end of last season they were on the north side of the wall so presumably they docked there. Maybe they never went back to the boats and just headed to Castle Black after that and were planning on heading south to Winterfell from there and have a skeleton crew return the boats south when needed.
Really? Let’s imagine Renly going up against the Lannisters. Does he win? Stannis has been shown to be a good commander and raised a fleet, and still lost. And had Renly won, would the people have recognized him, considering that Stannis had the better claim to the throne?
And if Renly became king, he’d be sitting in the capital eating grapes and living well, and Stannis’ army wouldn’t have shown up to save the day at the wall. And the North would therefore have been filled with rampaging wildlings, Jon Snow and all his men would be dead, and the walkers would be coming straight through the wall before anyone knew they were there. And that would be the end of the world.
One of the constant messages of Game of Thrones is that it’s not enough to be good. We learned that the minute Ned had his head taken off. Stannis is harsh, but he’s not a psychopath. He has a code and he follows it, even when it requires harsh personal sacrifice. That’s something that is respected in this world. Remember, Stannis cut off the fingers of ser Davos and made him wear them around his neck, and Ser Davos actually approved of that.
This is a harsh world, and unspeakable horror is coming to it. In that environment, the people you need are the ones who are hard enough to get things done, so long as they follow the rules and are perceived as just.
Or as Bill Maher once said, “There is a difference between a nice guy and a great man. George S. Patton was a great man. Dick Van Patten is a nice guy. But you wouldn’t send him to defeat the Nazis.”
Dammit Stannis. This whole time I assumed the plan was bleed his daughter which was horrible enough. But this? We are getting a taste of two different Religious Fanatics this season it seems.
The Dragon rescue at the end was staged very much like the Clone Army rescue at the end of Attack of the Clone. I recently rewatched Episode II so I couldn’t help but notice.
If the Harpys hadn’t attacked, I wonder if a compromise would be have the games be faked somehow. Basically the equivalent of the WWE. I remember a Dragonlance novel had a story-line like that.
My theory for how this all ends: Dany is Queen, Jon Snow is King, the Dragons destroy both the Wall and the White Walkers. Either Tyrion or Sam is the Hand and the other who isn’t the hand dies a heroic death.
One thing to consider also, is that Stannis is no worse a man than the biblical Abraham. Both attempted to kill their child to satisfy a God. Stannis just didn’t get stopped at the last second by the Lord of Light.
Also, I’d say, Drogon was vulnerable because he landed to defend Dany. He’d have been a hard target in the air, but he couldn’t stop everyone coming at her then.
Yeah but Robb’s advisers were all right, he was making huge fuckup after huge fuckup. The people against Jon’s plan want the white walkers to get stronger while they get weaker out of out dated pettiness.
No, it’s more likely that Martin drew the Shireen sacrifice episode from Greek mythology, given Martin’s tendency to adapt source material from history. And I was impressed by how masterfully he presented a fresh take on the trope.
The myth is this. The Greek forces were supposed to set off for Troy from Aulis. There, Agamemnon did something to anger the goddess Artemis. The winds would not blow, so the ships could not sail. A seer told Agamemnon that in order to appease the goddess, he had to sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigeneia. At this point, versions of the myth vary. In some, she is slaughtered unwillingly. In others, she consents and goes willingly to her death. In still others, Artemis whisks her away at the last minute to spare her life. In all versions, though, Iphigeneia dies, Agamemnon and his forces are able to leave for Troy, and Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, murders Agamemnon in revenge upon his return.
The way it played out in Game of Thrones played around with the idea of her consenting to the sacrifice. Stannis asks Shireen for her help, Shireen says yes, but she doesn’t know what she’s agreed to, and then when she realizes what’s happening…oh god. One wonders whether Stannis used her initial agreement to absolve himself of murdering his daughter, at least to some extent and for the short time before Shireen realized what was going on. Overall, I thought it was well done.
With Dany being immune to fire, it would have been pretty cool if they could have incorporated that somehow. Like, a guy is about to attack her while she’s going to pet Drogon, then he shoots fire right through her and roasts the guy behind her. Dany is left posing like a badass.
Ser Alliser’s statement to Jon Snow is definitely ominous, but I’d say the likelihood is that someone kills Jon because they think it will be for the greater good, so that a better, stronger leader can step in. Either Ser Alliser or maybe the boy Olly.
It’s pretty clear from the way things were presented that Stannis didn’t tell Shireen what was going to happen, since she (correctly) freaked out once she saw Melisandre and the stake, and had to be restrained at that point. So I guess he must have told Shireen something to the effect of “go with these dudes and do what they ask, it’ll help the war effort”. I wonder if Shireen ended up realizing that her dad set the whole thing up or if it was just so sudden and terrifying that she didn’t have a chance to work it out. The small delusion that it was all Melisandre’s doing might have been the smallest mercy in a scene otherwise devoid of any at all.
Something else I meant to mention, the Dorne story just kind of went nowhere over these last few episodes. As good as Alexander Siddig was, really all it amounts to is Jaime and Bronn came and fetched the Prince and his “Niece”. Also apparently Dorne only has about a dozen people in the entire country.
I remember the casting rumors for this season made it clear we would be in Dorne and I had high hopes for it.
Only place left to see, I think, is the Tyrell’s home. I imagine it is beautiful.
Which could easily be worked around by having a few flaming bits of material still clinging to her in strategic places like a flaming thong bikini … the Flaming Thong Bikini … of DOOOM!