I’m not sure what your point is. The endings of those two shows couldn’t have been more different. The ending of Sopranos was so subtle that not even David Chase knows what happened. The end of Breaking Bad wasn’t subtle, but it was by no means nihilistic.
[spoiler]At the end of the Sopranos, we really don’t know if Tony ends up with his brains splattered on the table in front of his family, or goes on to rebuild his crime family and continue his life of murder and mayhem. David Chase basically offered a “write your own ending” for the viewer, which many people hated. He didn’t compromise the ending to meet viewer expectations. (Let’s not debate what “actually” happened in the end. Chase has pretty much said that ambiguity was his intention. Tony is Schroedinger’s Mafioso, simultaneously both dead and alive.)
On Breaking Bad we all knew that Walter White would come to no good end. But despite how completely evil he had become, Vince Gilligan pulled his punches at the end and gave him some measure of redemption, rather than seeing everything destroyed like Scarface. Walter was allowed to get revenge on his enemies, was allowed to pass on some of his blood money to his son and protect his family by killing Lydia, and rescued Jesse, who was allowed to escape (at least for a time). In a truly nihilistic ending, absolutely everything Walter cared about would have been utterly destroyed. This was really the most audience-pleasing ending we could have expected.[/spoiler]
That would explain why, even though Jon and Daeneris claim to love each other they have exactly zero on-screen chemistry. If we weren’t told they loved each other, there’d be no way to tell.
Also, while the theory Bran is the NK is well run over (And we’re simply running out of time for theories and prophecies. Shit i hope they dont mention Azor Ahai again…) maybe NK is simply trying to kill Bran before Bran can become the NK.
I hope that there was some discussion in that strategy meeting that anyone who dies will probably become a wight. Because that’s going to be some heavy psychological shit for them if it happens. The biggest gut punch would be Davos having to kill (re-kill?) the little girl but they already did that with the woman and those children at Hardhome. I think Greyworm having to kill Missandei would totally throw him off and probably lead to his death, too. Any one of the folks we saw in the one on one interactions in this episode could be faced with this. They really better be ready.
There has been precious little lovey-dovey scenes with them. Mostly they have them at odds with each other and only rare hints that there is affection.
My theory is Rose Leslie (aka Ygritte) told Kit Harrington (aka Jon) she’d cut his balls off if there were a lot of sexy scenes with Emilia Clarke (aka Daenerys).
It would not be the first time the show had to accommodate real-life lover’s quarrels (word is Jerome Flynn (Bronn) and Lena Headley (Cersei) dated at some point in real life and it ended so badly they refuse to be on the set with each other at the same time which the show had to work around).
Speaking of, I will be particularly annoyed if they try to present Jon as fire resistant in any way.
They went out of their way to show almost identical situations: Dany picks up dragon eggs out of a fire, holds them in her hands, not burnt, but her servant gets a waffle pattern hand tattoo just grabbing them from her and dropping them.
Jon grabs a lantern by the hot part, shouts in pain from how it burns and throws it at a wight. I seem to recall him wrapping or bandaging it either immediately or in a later scene.
That’s about as close to identical situations and you can make, and they spent time screen demonstrating the two characters are different. One hand burns, the other doesn’t.
You would think that if Daeneris is fire and Jon is ice, she might be immune to the flames, while he is able to withstand more cold than others. And he DID fall unto water in sub-zero temperature, remain in it for some time, then survive escaping the zombie horde in soaking wet furs in sub-zero weather.
Or maybe that was just weak writing. If Jon doesn’t have some kind of extra immunity to the cold, he shouldn’t have survived.
Shit. Now I’m going to have to go back and find that scene because I distinctly remember him NOT getting burned, and a big deal being rather conspicuously not made about that. So much so that I was wondering what would happen to him when they tried to burn his corpse after he was murdered, and was a little disappointed he ended up getting resurrected instead of having a funeral.
I’d go with weak writing. When Bronn knocks Jamie off his horse just before he could get roasted by a dragon, they landed in the lake/river. Jamie’s got all his armor on, and I seem to recall he was sinking pretty sincerely. How far away from the battle were they when they finally came up? Is Jamie a fish?
Besides fleeting visions by Bran of Rhaegar and Aerys, and Jon Targaryen-in-name-only-and-not-actually-in-name-either Snow, who else, besides Viserys and Daenerys? Okay, I’ll answer my own question: Maester Aemon. Anybody else?
There is four right there. And Jon counts since it is his genetic heritage we care about and not his name.
And yes, and you have seen another character in the show on several occasions with a semi-important role and speaking parts but I do not think I am allowed to tell you who it is since I don’t think the show tells us that character’s background. I do not think they left it out to change the story. I think they left it out because of time considerations and it just wasn’t worth trying to tell the audience because it does not really change much.
What I can tell you is that as a Targaryen that character is not nuts.
A talky episode, true, but I didn’t mind. Some great before-the-battle camaraderie. Loved Tormund asking about Brienne as soon as he arrived at Winterfell. Tyrion overfilling Pod’s “half cup” of wine was a nice bit. Brienne getting knighted by Jaime was dripping with Pure Awesome.
FWIW, I wasn’t bothered by Arya and Gendry getting bizzay - they’re both consenting adults, and I can understand her wanting to make love at least once before she died.
A girl may be bisexual.
Yes! Nice scene with her and her cuz, Ser Friendzone.
The Red Witch will be back for sure, I’d say, given her comment to Varys about dying in Westeros. Not sure about the others, although I’d be glad to see Jaqen again. I’d also love to have Arya’s old dancing master Syrio finally pop up again, but I’m not holding my breath.
I am probably just a mark, but it fits their characters. Dany has had to project being an ice queen since Drogo died and has been afraid to let anyone see her as vulnerable. That is one reason why she had to dump fake Daario before leaving Essos.
Jon is still the persecuted kid moping in the corner in his mind. Ygritte had to take all the initiative in their relationship because in his mind he is just not worthy of love because of the way his mother figure hated him.
Their mutual attraction is so strong that it is able to overcome their personalities but even now it is really only expressed when they are alone.