Game of Thrones Season 6 [Discussion of most-recently aired episodes]

[Vympel]

Quite frankly, given how Bran has semi-affected his visions, I have to wonder if the Three-Eyed Raven has a point with keeping trips short?

For all we know, Greenseers like Bran, not used to their power and abilities, could affect time and history?

That would give new meaning to the entire 'risk being stuck there' explanation. Stuck in an alternate timeline perhaps?

There's a theory that Bran, on one of his trips to weirwood.net, accesses Hodor in the past and accidentally turns him into Hodor in the process.

[FaxModem1]

Hmm, that would be one way to have a happy ending. Have Bran rewrite time, and come back to the present with Bran sitting in King's Landing, with King Ned Stark in charge. Or, seeing as how this is George RR Martin, create a timeline in which the White Walkers have zombified all of Westeros, which knowing this show, is the more likely.

[Iroscato]

Quite frankly, given how Bran has semi-affected his visions, I have to wonder if the Three-Eyed Raven has a point with keeping trips short?

For all we know, Greenseers like Bran, not used to their power and abilities, could affect time and history?

That would give new meaning to the entire 'risk being stuck there' explanation. Stuck in an alternate timeline perhaps?

Maybe that's where Weirwoods come from? Greenseers who stayed too long and 'drowned', becoming enmeshed into history

[Vympel]

https://youtu.be/drd8dQKr-oY

Good video on the Tower of Joy fight by Matt Easton (short version: nerds on the internet are way harder on it than they have any good reason to be, its actually quite good)

[Elfdart]

I thought so too. My only beef was with the notion from Bran and fanboys that stabbing Mr Two-Swords from behind was a dirty move -when they had already tried to go 5-on-2. It's a fight, not a fucking boxing match!

[Ralin]

I thought so too. My only beef was with the notion from Bran and fanboys that stabbing Mr Two-Swords from behind was a dirty move -when they had already tried to go 5-on-2. It's a fight, not a fucking boxing match!

Bran's a kid and for some weird reason he may have an idealized opinion of his father. Remember, pre-crippling his dream was to become a a great knight. It's no surprise he wanted to believe his father beat the greatest knight in the realm in a straight up sword fight instead of 'cheating.'

Which fanboys do you mean? Pretty much all the speculation I'd ever seen about how it went down leaned toward some variation of "Howland Reed sucker punched him."

[Simon_Jester]

Honestly, my only teeth-gritting thing is "Come on, Northmen, you know Lyanna is going to be guarded by someone Rhaegar thought would be competent. Why are you not wearing heavy armor?" I mean, I get that Ser Arthur Dayne is a living legend and all, so it's okay to show him defeating several armored opponents. Having him be an armored man fighting unarmored or lightly armored enemies if anything detracts from that.

[The Vortex Empire]

...why is Daenerys fireproof? GRRM has been quite clear that her surviving the pyre was a one time miracle due to the magic resurrecting the dragons, and in the books she got burnt by Drogon in the fighting pit scene.

And you expect me to believe that Davos, who tried to stab Melisandre for making a remark about his dead sons, would just stand there upon hearing Brienne say she killed his best friend?

[RogueIce]

...why is Daenerys fireproof? GRRM has been quite clear that her surviving the pyre was a one time miracle due to the magic resurrecting the dragons, and in the books she got burnt by Drogon in the fighting pit scene.

Because this isn't the books. I thought that was obvious?'

Plus it's badass so shut up and respect the One True Queen of [whatever that world is called overall]!

And you expect me to believe that Davos, who tried to stab Melisandre for making a remark about his dead sons, would just stand there upon hearing Brienne say she killed his best friend?

If you haven't noticed, he's kind of changed. You know, seeing someone brought back from the dead can do that to a person. And like, she mentioned that after the whole Renly thing (or close to it, I don't remember the exact order) so Brienne kind of was justified.

I mean they're both awesome characters so I can easily accept them being not-enemies and (hopefully) working alongside Jon Snow to teach Ramsey a lesson or two. If that requires a brief (maybe but not necessarily) out of character moment so be it.

[TheFeniX]

Plus it's badass so shut up and respect the One True Queen of [whatever that world is called overall]!

Yea, that was a pretty good scene and well-played. The minute she started walking around the braziers I called it, but I was still laughing hard.

If you haven't noticed, he's kind of changed. You know, seeing someone brought back from the dead can do that to a person. And like, she mentioned that after the whole Renly thing (or close to it, I don't remember the exact order) so Brienne kind of was justified.

And he did just say "that's in the past" to the whole Renly thing. Still, I recall Davos going in with the intention of killed Meli before-hand and the comment about his son just set him off. Killing the Red Woman had a point as she still held sway over Stannis and could do more damage. Attacking Brienne would have been solely out of revenge and on the spot with no planning which really doesn't seem his SOP. I think it played out well with him being surprised enough to not really have a response at all that Stannis' killer would be the woman knight showing up with Sansa Stark.

Though, the writers are smart to steer away from Shireen's death concerning Davos. He has to suspect something, so finding out the truth would not likely end well.

Wildling chick goes down against Ramsey, surprising absolutely no one. Yea, he knows all Theon knows concerning the Starks. So kill her, even though that leaves only one other person with detailed information about post-Theon activities so.... I guess her contract was up for renegotiation.

Jon and Sansa meeting at Castle Black was also kind of a win. We've had next to zero happy reunions in this show lately. Thank God he turned around immediately after walking out of the keep all badass-like last episode.

[Guardsman Bass]

Good stuff. That Daenerys scene was great to watch, although I'm a little surprised they didn't involve Drogon in that somehow. Seems like that would tie into it, like Drogon is the "stallion who mounts the world" and Daenerys mounts him (her "child"), etc, etc, prophecy, etc. I'm also surprised that Emilia Clarke broke the no-nudity rule as well.

Everything Tyrion related is just so tedious right now. It's like with the Bolton scenes - we're just waiting for Tyrion & Friends to have some calamity with the two remaining dragons before they leave Mereen (or Tyrion mounts one of them, probably Viserion), just like how we're killing time with Ramsay Bolton in Winterfell before they can do Bastard Bowl in the eighth or ninth episode and he goes down in a big battle for Winterfell.

That's about as good set-up for the Vale marching north with Littlefinger and under Royce's command as I figured we could get. I'm glad they got that moving, although it might have been easier if they'd just had Sansa stay in the Vale to begin with before marching north with forces. Still, we got some good scenes with Sansa and Jon out of it, and Sansa's finally getting the chance to step up instead of being victimized by everyone else.

The preview was really weird, although good. It looks like the Night's King might be pushing back magically against the Three-Eyed Crow, invading the visions with images of his army and self.

[Kingmaker]

I wonder if there was meant to be a deliberate parallel between Sansa, Margaery, and Yarasha?

Honestly, my only teeth-gritting thing is "Come on, Northmen, you know Lyanna is going to be guarded by someone Rhaegar thought would be competent. Why are you not wearing heavy armor?" I mean, I get that Ser Arthur Dayne is a living legend and all, so it's okay to show him defeating several armored opponents. Having him be an armored man fighting unarmored or lightly armored enemies if anything detracts from that.

The apparently standardized Stark armor that at least some of them are wearing looks to be a leather surcoat over mail. This makes some kind of sense, as they're traveling light and have no servants with them.

[Guardsman Bass]

I forgot - the King's Landing scenes were all good as well, although hearing the High Septon's confessional was only okay. Just waiting for that clusterfuck to go down with the Tyrell Army, Gregorstein, and so forth.

[Terralthra]

I wonder if there was meant to be a deliberate parallel between Sansa, Margaery, and Yarasha?

Honestly, my only teeth-gritting thing is "Come on, Northmen, you know Lyanna is going to be guarded by someone Rhaegar thought would be competent. Why are you not wearing heavy armor?" I mean, I get that Ser Arthur Dayne is a living legend and all, so it's okay to show him defeating several armored opponents. Having him be an armored man fighting unarmored or lightly armored enemies if anything detracts from that.

The apparently standardized Stark armor that at least some of them are wearing looks to be a leather surcoat over mail. This makes some kind of sense, as they're traveling light and have no servants with them.

Those are not leather surcoats, they're brigandine. If you look closely, you can see the outlines of the plates and the riveting. So, their armor is a brigandine, gambeson, and mail coat, for a substantial amount of protection from cuts, slashes, and thrusts. Not as much as full plate, but not as restrictive, either. That combination, with perhaps some plate greaves and/or vambraces, was extremely common for centuries.

Why Ned wasn't wearing a fucking helmet, I couldn't tell you.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Good stuff. That Daenerys scene was great to watch, although I'm a little surprised they didn't involve Drogon in that somehow. Seems like that would tie into it, like Drogon is the "stallion who mounts the world" and Daenerys mounts him (her "child"), etc, etc, prophecy, etc. I'm also surprised that Emilia Clarke broke the no-nudity rule as well.

Everything Tyrion related is just so tedious right now. It's like with the Bolton scenes - we're just waiting for Tyrion & Friends to have some calamity with the two remaining dragons before they leave Mereen (or Tyrion mounts one of them, probably Viserion), just like how we're killing time with Ramsay Bolton in Winterfell before they can do Bastard Bowl in the eighth or ninth episode and he goes down in a big battle for Winterfell.

That's about as good set-up for the Vale marching north with Littlefinger and under Royce's command as I figured we could get. I'm glad they got that moving, although it might have been easier if they'd just had Sansa stay in the Vale to begin with before marching north with forces. Still, we got some good scenes with Sansa and Jon out of it, and Sansa's finally getting the chance to step up instead of being victimized by everyone else.

The preview was really weird, although good. It looks like the Night's King might be pushing back magically against the Three-Eyed Crow, invading the visions with images of his army and self.

I saw an interview where her stated opposition was the pointless sexposition kind of nudity. Here, it made sense for her to be naked. It would have been possible to do the scene where it only shows shoulders up, from behind, or silhouette but I guess she felt it wasn't necessary.

[FaxModem1]

...why is Daenerys fireproof? GRRM has been quite clear that her surviving the pyre was a one time miracle due to the magic resurrecting the dragons, and in the books she got burnt by Drogon in the fighting pit scene.

Might be the difference between dragon fire and regular fire. Dragon fire has some element of magic to it, so Dany is vulnerable, but they've established since episode 1(with the super hot bath) that Dany does not get burned by normal things. When her brother died by burns, that was her notation as well, that a true dragon doesn't get burned by fire.

[FaxModem1]

Anyway, my thoughts on the episode: Danerys takes out the Khals, FUCK YEAH. The slavers are about to find themselves on the wrong end of Dothraki horde.

Tyrion is making a mistake, and alienating his allies, unless there is some master plan he is working on with Varys working in the shadows to support it.

Ramsay Bolton kills yet another character, whoopdey doo. Are we supposed to be shocked or surprised? Did anyone really think Tonks of all people was going to kill Ramsay? I'm more curious as to what they're doing to Rickon, and if he'll even be alive by the end of next episode. Ramsay isn't able to control his impulses, after all.

Queen Mother Cersei's plan is quite ingenious, I think. She is using the Tyrells to take care of the High Sparrows, letting the Lannisters hands stay clean, while also being able to point to Tommen, "Hey, I was trying to help you rescue your wife, but her grandmother went nuts and slaughtered them all." And she can point to the peasants that it was all Tyrell doing, leaving her as someone who repented, and the Tyrells as sinners who slaughter peasants.

As with Sansa, Pod, Brienne, Davos and Jon Snow? I really can't wait to see them continue to build up their team, since their cousin in the Vale wants to help his cousins out, and Littlefinger wants to climb the ladder some more.

[Elfdart]

Good stuff. That Daenerys scene was great to watch, although I'm a little surprised they didn't involve Drogon in that somehow. Seems like that would tie into it, like Drogon is the "stallion who mounts the world" and Daenerys mounts him (her "child"), etc, etc, prophecy, etc. I'm also surprised that Emilia Clarke broke the no-nudity rule as well.

They superimposed Emilia Clarke's face on a body double, like they did for the Walk of Shame.

Everything Tyrion related is just so tedious right now. It's like with the Bolton scenes - we're just waiting for Tyrion & Friends to have some calamity with the two remaining dragons before they leave Mereen (or Tyrion mounts one of them, probably Viserion), just like how we're killing time with Ramsay Bolton in Winterfell before they can do Bastard Bowl in the eighth or ninth episode and he goes down in a big battle for Winterfell.

Ditto.

That's about as good set-up for the Vale marching north with Littlefinger and under Royce's command as I figured we could get. I'm glad they got that moving, although it might have been easier if they'd just had Sansa stay in the Vale to begin with before marching north with forces. Still, we got some good scenes with Sansa and Jon out of it, and Sansa's finally getting the chance to step up instead of being victimized by everyone else.

The preview for next week shows Sansa and Brienne confronting the Pimp ("Did you know about Ramsay?"), getting my hopes up that Brienne will chop him down like she did Stannis. Unfortunately, he has plot armor that's even thicker than GRS', so I'm pretty sure the least convincing liar in TV history will spin a very unconvincing lie and Sansa will eat it up.

The preview was really weird, although good. It looks like the Night's King might be pushing back magically against the Three-Eyed Crow, invading the visions with images of his army and self.

Or maybe Bran is staying "under water" too long.

[Elfdart]

Plus it's badass so shut up and respect the One True Queen of [whatever that world is called overall]!

Yea, that was a pretty good scene and well-played. The minute she started walking around the braziers I called it, but I was still laughing hard.

If you haven't noticed, he's kind of changed. You know, seeing someone brought back from the dead can do that to a person. And like, she mentioned that after the whole Renly thing (or close to it, I don't remember the exact order) so Brienne kind of was justified.

And he did just say "that's in the past" to the whole Renly thing. Still, I recall Davos going in with the intention of killed Meli before-hand and the comment about his son just set him off. Killing the Red Woman had a point as she still held sway over Stannis and could do more damage. Attacking Brienne would have been solely out of revenge and on the spot with no planning which really doesn't seem his SOP. I think it played out well with him being surprised enough to not really have a response at all that Stannis' killer would be the woman knight showing up with Sansa Stark.

Besides, I'm sure Brienne would splatter him on the spot if he tried anything.

Though, the writers are smart to steer away from Shireen's death concerning Davos. He has to suspect something, so finding out the truth would not likely end well.

He has to know. He's the opposite of Stark Stupid.

Wildling chick goes down against Ramsey, surprising absolutely no one. Yea, he knows all Theon knows concerning the Starks. So kill her, even though that leaves only one other person with detailed information about post-Theon activities so.... I guess her contract was up for renegotiation.

She's been gone for two seasons, so I doubt there was a contract for anything other than the cameo she ended up doing. Still, it was a waste of time. We already know GRS is a sadist, and she's not the first hot chick on the show to get killed off. The only things noteworthy about the scene are that she got off easy compared to his other victims, and the moronic way she clutched the side of her neck and jumped back rather than trying to follow through with stabbing him. It's like that Wildling woman at Hardhome who sees a couple of undead kids and suddenly she can't fight anymore.

They could have killed Osha off-screen like Shaggydog and it wouldn't have subtracted anything from the show.

Jon and Sansa meeting at Castle Black was also kind of a win. We've had next to zero happy reunions in this show lately. Thank God he turned around immediately after walking out of the keep all badass-like last episode.

He doesn't know what he's doing.

As for Danerys & Co, I find her whole story arc to be one crashing bore. So much so that it's made Tyrion into a bore just by being on the same continent. When I re-watch every episode, I fast-forward through the Danerys/Mereen crap.

[Guardsman Bass]

They superimposed Emilia Clarke's face on a body double, like they did for the Walk of Shame.

Clarke has said in an interview that it was not a body double - that was her. It does look like her body as well.

The preview for next week shows Sansa and Brienne confronting the Pimp ("Did you know about Ramsay?"), getting my hopes up that Brienne will chop him down like she did Stannis. Unfortunately, he has plot armor that's even thicker than GRS', so I'm pretty sure the least convincing liar in TV history will spin a very unconvincing lie and Sansa will eat it up.

He deserves something worse. Like I want to see the tables get turned on him, before he flees and then gets taken down by Ghost (I have an idea of how he'll go down in the books, which is different than that but I think that would be pretty cool).

[Vympel]

I thought so too. My only beef was with the notion from Bran and fanboys that stabbing Mr Two-Swords from behind was a dirty move -when they had already tried to go 5-on-2. It's a fight, not a fucking boxing match!

Indeed, Dayne getting prison-shivved was a highlight for me, personally.

My thoughts on the episode:

Well, that was pretty great, actually. I liked almost everything:

- Jon and Sansa's reunion was excellent. I really enjoyed that they got the chance to be normal for a moment, with Sansa asking Jon to forgive her for how she treated him (off screen, since they didn't interact in S1) etc.
- Tormund making eyes at Brienne was hilarious.
- Sansa sitting up and taking charge and rousing Jon out of his despondent attitude.
- Davos starting to question Melisandre. Will Davos find out, and kill Melisandre? Perhaps in Episode 10?
- Tyrion's negotiations with Volantis, Astapor and Yunkai - I liked how Grey Worm and Missandei reacted to his peacemaking. I can't be clear as to whether Tyrion is playing some sort of con or really is that naive. Either way, it works for me and its good to see him doing something substantive. Props to the show for bringing back the master of Yunkai we saw back in Season 3, too.
- I always enjoy Jonathan Pryce's performance. Margaery was strong too. The women being strong for the men was definitely a running theme this episode.
- I really wanted Yara to hug Theon at the end of that scene. I'm excited for this. Not sure what'll happen, given Euron, though.
- I can't help but think that the High Sparrow is maneuvering Tommen to deliberately set up Cersei and the Small Council, somehow.
- Daario and Jorah's interactions were good fun.
- Dany's finale. I thought it was pretty cool.
- They nailed Ramsay's letter-writing skills.

Things I'm ok about:

- Littlefinger's bullshit story was obviously bullshit, but luckily Robin Arryn is such a fool that the sheer implausibility of the story flies right over his head, because after all, 'Uncle Peter'. Lord Royce continues to be a highlight, and I hope he takes the opportunity to fuck Littlefinger over at some point in the future (hopefully with Sansa's help).
- The death of Osha grates as a waste of a great character we haven't seen in ages, but on the other hand everything about her death made sense in the scene - if Theon/Reek hadn't spilt his guts, Osha would've likely killed Ramsay then and there. And the door to an Umber conspiracy against the Boltons remains wide open.

Things that I'm not ok about:

- Can Jaime fuck off to where his plot is? He's been marking time for four episodes now. I know from the trailers he's got something substantive next episode, but jeez.

Minor nitpick: I would've liked them to talk about Jon's Stark armor. I mean, the obvious answer as to where he got is that its his (i.e. he brought it up from WF).

[Kingmaker]

Littlefinger's bullshit story was obviously bullshit, but luckily Robin Arryn is such a fool that the sheer implausibility of the story flies right over his head, because after all, 'Uncle Peter'. Lord Royce continues to be a highlight, and I hope he takes the opportunity to fuck Littlefinger over at some point in the future (hopefully with Sansa's help).

This actually kind of annoyed me. It's a small thing, but Baelish is on Royce lands. Most of the men there should be Royce men, and feeding up such obvious bullshit and then using it to try and threaten/blackmail Royce ought to be world class stupid (especially since we know the lords of the Vale already think Baelish is a walking turd). Like, what is stopping Yohn Royce from just arresting/killing Baelish and telling the other Vale lords that he gave up Sansa Stark to the Boltons? Robert Arryn is Royce's ward and a minor, so his opinion can presumably be ignored, and no one else is going to stand up for the sleazy bureaucrat.

[Knife]

Indeed, good episode and finally some movement on some plots.

Jon, Sansa, Brienne, Davos, and Tormond are going to be the power crew for the meta plot. I second the notion of a Tormond and Brienne love interest. But over all the Jon and Sansa scenes made the episode. It showed the over all growth of both characters in the 5+ seasons. One of the biggest was Sansa having to step up and be strong and talk Jon out of his funk. I'm very excited to see her as a strong character after 5 seasons of being the show's emotional and physical punching bag. To be honest, for many seasons, I've kind of glazed over on the Sansa scenes, since it's just been once abusive thing to another. Anyway, Jon's change to be out of the Watch is very interesting and really a good theme of 'stop the old way that wasn't working and build a new way that will work'.

At the ridiculous low levels of the Watch, there was no way they would hold off the army of the dead. I'm not sure Jon is thinking that way now, but surely was when he rescued the Wildlings. He probably will when he raises the whole north but we'll see.

Danny's scenes were good, though I don't think as good as Jon's. It was kind of telegraphed a bit. Danny had to go back to the beginning to move on. Needed to go back to the Dothraki to have another bit of army to get the fuck out of Mereen. Though I'm at a loss of how it's going to solve anything. Unless she uses the Dothraki to destroy the Masters and turn it over to the ex-slaves. It's not like the Dothraki are much better in that regard. I also still like Tyrion, and all his scenes. He is very much being used to 'hold the fort' and mark time in the plot which I would prefer he didn't but still enjoy the way they write him.

Pretty much at this point, I couldn't care less about King's Landing and wish they would rush that plot along a bit. Same with a Girl with no name either. I never really cared about Bran's arc either but if he keeps having interesting visions that fill in the gaps I can be cool with that.

Not sure on the Iron Isles at the moment. In the books it was rather boring and just build up for the supposed fleet to ferry Danny to Westeros (most people I know speculation). We'll see.

[Simon_Jester]

Watching the video linked earlier made me realize that the northmen at the tower of Joy were shown wearing armor. I just didn't see it at first, because the Kingsguard casually stab swords through it like it wasn't there twice,* and because it's "brigantine" plate sewn into coats so it looks like heavy clothing. I was looking for conspicuous plate armor, and that's just not the Northmen's style, apparently.
__________________

*To be fair, I am pretty sure it's Dawn being stabbed through the armor on at least one of those occasions, and if Dawn is shown going through normal plate armor easily, I for one am not disappointed.

[TheFeniX]

Besides, I'm sure Brienne would splatter him on the spot if he tried anything.

I did notice she approached Davos with Oathkeeper drawn and Davos admitted he isn't a great fighter a couple episodes back, so I'm inclined to agree.

He has to know. He's the opposite of Stark Stupid.

Was burning Shireen on the table when Davos was actually around? I can't remember as I was almost asleep during the later parts of Stannis' whipping sessions. Maybe he doesn't actually want to know because that might crush him and there's other bigger things going on right now. He could be in denial.

She's been gone for two seasons, so I doubt there was a contract for anything other than the cameo she ended up doing.

Sorry. It's kind of a joke I picked up from my mom. You'd see a lot of "popular character in dire straights" back in the day. This was usually done due to contract negotiations. My mom was big on keeping up with all that latest gossip, especially with ER. So now, any time an established character goes down out of nowhere: "Contract must have been up."

It's losing some steam because "killing popular character for shock value" is getting worn out.

The only things noteworthy about the scene are that she got off easy compared to his other victims, and the moronic way she clutched the side of her neck and jumped back rather than trying to follow through with stabbing him. It's like that Wildling woman at Hardhome who sees a couple of undead kids and suddenly she can't fight anymore.

It's been happening so much, especially around Ramsay, I have to assume all his weapons are enchanted with a "paralyze and make stupid face" spell. I recall two different hockey players having their throats slashed open and still being moving and making it to help. Both survived from what I recall. Ramsay's dagger was longer and he did stab her, but Osha was still able to grab her neck, so it's not like he severed her spine.

But I'm more annoyed that the scene was just a cock-tease. It had no other point and, to me, that's just lazy storytelling. I know Dog Boy isn't going to get offed by a supporting character and I don't need to see him kicking puppies every episode: it's boring. Though it would be awesome if they played to the Theon in Winterfell arch from a few seasons back. Jon rallies up a bunch of Wildlings and other support. Ramsay talks about holding Winterfell, and his men chop him up for Dog Food then flee afterward. Jon and Co just waltz in and take the place back. I would laugh so incredibly hard at that.

He doesn't know what he's doing.

Oh no, I agree. It's just I get a laugh after these awesome scenes because they never show you the awkward parts right after. You know Jon isn't going to just walk off into the snow. So the scene and one-liner, while awesome, it also funny.