Game of Thrones season seven trailer.

[The Vortex Empire]

Yeah, I think we have to agree to disagree since we don't agree on literally anything. For me, the story in the books has only gotten better and the show has declined so much after Season 4 that at this point it's unwatchable.

And before there's any accusations of "book fanboy", I hadn't read any of the books until after Season 5. I liked the show from 1-4 with only minor complaints, then watched Season 5 and hated most of it so much that I felt I had to read the books to see if that's really what happened. As it turned out, no it did not.

[Darth Yan]

That's the thing. A lot of the complaints are downright stupid. The Sansa Rape thing ironically has people acting like Sansa being raped automatically makes her a victim (When the fact that she doesn't break can be used to show that she's gotten stronger). Jon being more decisive is a GOOD thing. Having Dany and Tyrion meet is also satisfying (in the books it breaks off JUST as they're about to meet). Mance's death gets rid of a needless subplot and has death that matters again.

Another issue is that Quentyn's been done. Ed, Robb, and others have ALL deconstructed the "hero" archetype. Even the "Failed quest" was deconstructed back in book 1. There was no need for another, especially since other characters got short shrift. Also nothing happens. The plot stands still. Jaime's internal musings could take less chapters up. More damningly the REAL meat of the story (the white walkers) gets short shrift. In the books we're told "oh hardholme fell to the walkers." In the show we see it happen and thus get one of the most acclaimed moments of the show. Hardhome the show SHOULD have been in the books. It reestablishes the walkers as a threat after they drop off the face of the planet after Fist AND it sets up the endgame (We meet the White Walkers leader and the fact that he's the Big Bad of all Big Bads is established; it also implies that the final battle is him and Jon).

The show has problems. But anyone who thinks the books are flawless or perfect in comparison is an idiot

[Darth Yan]

I'll say it again. Quentyn's storyline is needless filler. Important characters like Arianne get less time to develop and it's a plot we've seen already in the series. We could have the character but making him a viewpoint is just a waste of time. Martin got self indulgent and his series suffered. That's why he's still struggling to put out book 6

[AlexanderAddisoon]

I actually plan on reading the books instead of watching the show. At least for now. I might watch it after I read the books.

[The Romulan Republic]

I started on the first book, but never got very far. Not sure why. I suppose I should give them a try again some time.

At least I'm spared having to constantly fret over how the show isn't the same as the books, though I've grown to care less and less about that in adaptations in recent years.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I personally prefer the show to the books (mostly). Although the show has made some decisions I don't like (e.g. the Dorne storyline), most of the changes it has made are, in my opinion, for the best. While the books have a lot of great things about them, they also have a lot of bloated and meandering storylines that don't really do much but detract from the more interesting ones (e.g. Lady Stoneheart; fAegon). And let's face it, for all of his gifts as a world-builder and character-developer, G.R.R Martin's writing can be painfully bad at times. Anyway, obviously it all comes to personal preference; there are plenty of people who prefer the books for perfectly valid reasons.

Anyway, only one more day to go before the new season premieres. It'll be very interesting to see how the plot shakes out going forward, especially with fewer episodes in a season for everything to play out. I'm especially interested in what happens with the dragons; part of me expects one to die, though I don't know exactly how that might happen. It's just that as it stands the dragons are such a deus ex machina, making Dany's conquest seem like a fait accompli, that for narrative purposes the show needs to do SOMETHING dramatic to inject some drama into this, and killing a dragon somehow would certainly do that.

[The Romulan Republic]

I think that realistically, Danny's conquest of Westeros from Cersei is a fait accompli, or it ought to be.

The real fight is against the White Walkers.

[Crazedwraith]

I think a lot of AFFC/ADWDs flaws could be forgiven if he'd followed them up with the final two books within a quick/reasonable time frame. They are very middle of the road books and lack a decent conclusion. AGOT, CLOK, SoTS all had very definite endings of their sections. AFFC/ADWDs both sort of tail off for most of the characters.

I agree they have too many new characters. The minor PoVs with descriptions instead of names particularly grated but in my opinion we can only see how much of a waste they when reading the whole series.

[Elfdart]

I think this idea that GRRM is a nihilist is a fundamental misread of ASOIAF. To quote one of my favorite ASOIAF analysts, PoorQuentyn:

MrBTongue had a similar argument (albeit in the concept of complaining about the TV show).

Sweet Baby Jesus, that video was almost as bad as one of Red Letter Moron's YouTube abortions!

I haven't read the books, so I can't speak to whether the show has the same "spirit". But I can say that anyone who thinks the show is all about being "badass" has been watching with their head up their ass and the sound turned off. Let's take a look at every "badass" on the show and see what happens to them:

Ned Stark -supposedly killed a great knight in a duel; holds his own against Jamie Lannister (also billed as a badass -see below) in single combat to the point where a Lannister retainer has to interfere. Taken alive, grovels, "confesses" to being a traitor and is beheaded.

Jamie Lannister -talked up ad nauseum as the great fighting man of his day. Taken prisoner, caged and covered in mud/shit for two years, then gets his hand chopped off. Has to stand by helplessly as two of his three kids are murdered. Concludes a siege by threatening to murder a woman and an infant so he can race home -just in time to see his only remaining child has killed himself. Oh, and gets beaten by a girl.

Barristan Selmy /Arthur Dane -each is billed as the greatest swordsman of his day, but both get owned by guys with daggers.

The Hound -like Jamie, gets his ass kicked by a girl, and barely beats an old man who has already been killed several times.

The Mountain -gets killed in a duel, but his corpse is reanimated by Gargamel. He does a good job splattering guys with no armor, no fighting skills and crude weapons but both times he fought someone reasonably competent/well-armed he either lost (Loras) or got killed (Oberon).

Blackfish -The way Roose Bolton and Walder Frey talked about Blackfish, he's supposed to be a real hard dude (but then, these guys needed a platoon of men to kill a pregnant woman and two unarmed nobles so maybe their judgment is suspect), but he dies so stupidly and so pointlessly that I'm thankful they didn't show it onscreen. He cut and run when his niece and her son (The King!) are massacred, but he won't take his surviving men-at-arms to fight for the only kin he has left? He's too fucking stupid (correction: the writers) to be a "badass".

Bronn -gets owned by one of the Sand Snakes, the most comically lame heavies since the Cylons on the old Battlestar Galactica, has to grovel to get her to give him the antidote to her venom. This humiliation is partially offset when she shows him her insanely perky tits and offers him some "baaaad poooossy". Then he gets slugged in the face by the Prince's bodyguard. Yikes.

Stannis died like a little bitch.

Otto or whatever his name is, tells Jamie ominously that it's too bad he didn't have both hands or they could have a "good fight". Well Jamie got repeatedly WTFPWNED by Brienne of Tarth, Robb Stark, Roose Bolton's flunkies and the Sand Snakes, so this guy is also your typical GoT "badass" who will get owned in humiliating fashion. Sure enough, he goes own like a dumb bitch as Miss Perky Tits, the tiniest of the Sand Snakes takes him down all by herself with a small knife. Holy fuck, the prince he was guarding could have accidentally killed him by running him over with his wheelchair and wouldn't have looked like this much of a chump!


At this point being a "badass" of GoT is like being one of those boxers Don King promotes -you know, the ones with the ridiculously lopsided won-lost records that don't really seem plausible. They're all 36-1, 29-0-1 which makes me think these guys are billed falsely as great fighters or there's a few guys in the promotion with several hundred losses each. Almost anyone billed as the toughest mofo on the show is going to go out NOT in a blaze of glory, but like a total palooka.

There are two exceptions so far: Brienne of Tarth and Arya. Both have faced humiliating defeats but seem to have come out no worse for the wear (though Arya is turning into a psychotic little Electra). Which makes me think both are about to get killed or seriously worked over, since that happens to every other "badass" on this show. It also happens to characters who seek revenge like Robb, Catelyn, Ollie, and Oberon so I'm thinking Arya is going to get a double-whammy. So the notion that GoT exalts badassery over everything else is fatuous.

[Vympel]

Ok -

That was a pretty enjoyable episode, and one of the stronger season openers. I think of all the scenes, I enjoyed Arya and the Lannister soldiers most.

I really dug Jon's idea to start training girls as well as boys - there's a huge reserve of potential fighting strength untapped there, and the focus on spears and arrows makes sense given he's thinking Dragonglass (and they're much cheaper to make than swords).

Winterfell and Dragonstone looked amazing, as did Euron's ship (presumably the Silence).

I'm still not sold on Euron being anything more than a swaggering cruel braggart - nowhere near the book version. Some Valyrian armor would help?

Oh and ZOMBIE GIANTS!

[Ziggy Stardust]

I thought the episode was okay. I had a couple of issues with it:

1) The pacing of the episode felt off. Like, the beginning was pretty exciting, but then the episode sort of slowed to a crawl. I honestly think the episode would have been better constructed if it BEGAN with Dany reaching Dragonstone, and ended with the scene with the Freys (of course, that would necessarily mean pushing the scene with Arya and the Lannister soldiers to the second episode, but as cool as that scene was it wasn't very crucial, and I think it would have improved the flow of the episode to push it back and combine it with whatever Arya's next scene is, likely reuniting with Nymeria).

2) It irritated me that the show treated Sam's discovery that there is dragonglass at Dragonstone as a huge epiphany. We already knew this. We've known it since sometime in Season 5, when Stannis straight up told Sam. It just seemed like a half-assed way to cover up the minor plot hole that Sam already knew this but just forgot to tell Jon for some reason. That said, I loved the REST of Sam's scenes in Oldtown, I just think they could have given him a more meaningful discovery. I am presuming and hoping that there is still a more meaningful thing left for him to discover later in the season, however.

3) As Vympel said, I'm not really sold on Euron. With the way he is being portrayed so far, I am afraid that he is just going to be the Ramsay Bolton of the season: i.e. the villain with an utterly improbable plot shield that lets him get away with things he has no business getting away with just for the sake of causing some temporary drama for the protagonists. Already it's irritating that he was somehow able to build this giant fleet in a short period of time, and that anyone is taking his claims seriously that he can somehow do anything to beat Cersei's primarily land-based enemies despite not having an army.

Honestly, I think the Euron scene would have played better if his pitch was more along the lines of, "Hey, you're screwed because you don't have a large enough army to fight Daenarys, but I have a big fleet, and you're only chance is if I intercept Dany's army before it lands. Your only chance is me beating them in a naval battle." Would have made him seem more like an intelligent villain rather than just a swaggering plot point.

[TheFeniX]

Thank God a major fortification like Dragonstone was left completely abandoned for years and just needs a light dusting to get back in order. It's not like it has a straight shot right into King's Landing and has value as a military base. Did Stannis just burn all the women, children, and men unable to fight (such as the crippled and elderly) before heading off to the North to get killed? I mean, I wouldn't put it past him, but I think that deserves a mention.

Even if I give that, I really can't buy that the place wasn't ransacked by thieves at some point. Danny should be seeing stone walls and not much else.

And Euron builds a bazillion ships and sails them around the Horn while Danny sleeps it off in the narrow sea. Time passage in this show is just wonky.

I really dug Jon's idea to start training girls as well as boys - there's a huge reserve of potential fighting strength untapped there, and the focus on spears and arrows makes sense given he's thinking Dragonglass (and they're much cheaper to make than swords).

The scene was well-done, but it's not so much a "good idea" as "duh." I was also annoyed at the mentality shown here in LotR. It's not like you can "hope" the Orcs or Undead are going to just take your women as slaves and also possibly NOT brutally murder your children/elderly as you can with wars between peoples. Hell, you can even hope that if you throw down your arms, other humans might not even kill the able-bodied men, which can and does happen in GoTs. For all the butchery, there's also been numerous cases shown of civilized (considering) handling of war.

But the Undead are 100% going to kill everyone and raise them as unholy abominations. Anyone who can fight, even if not on the front-lines, should be fighting. If not, they should be prepared to head South at a moments notice. Otherwise, and Jon knows this, they are just future fodder for the Walkers.

I would assume North women to be much hardier and ready to kick teeth in anyway considering where they are versus some place like King's Landing, but the show never really goes into it except for the Free Folk.

[Haminal10]

2) It irritated me that the show treated Sam's discovery that there is dragonglass at Dragonstone as a huge epiphany. We already knew this. We've known it since sometime in Season 5, when Stannis straight up told Sam. It just seemed like a half-assed way to cover up the minor plot hole that Sam already knew this but just forgot to tell Jon for some reason. That said, I loved the REST of Sam's scenes in Oldtown, I just think they could have given him a more meaningful discovery. I am presuming and hoping that there is still a more meaningful thing left for him to discover later in the season, however.

I took Sam's comment about how the "Targaryens used dragonsglass to decorate their weapons, without ever knowing what the first men used it for" as hinting that Sam might have just stumbled onto the secret of how Valyrian Steel is made.

My guess is that the first men used dragonglass as weapons against the White Walkers in much the same way that we saw the Children of the Forest using it last season: as small daggers or as arrowheads. Using dragonglass in the forging of swords and other metal weapons is probably a much more advanced (and effective) use of the material, and one that was probably never used against the White Walkers during the previous war. That would explain the White Walker's look of shock at Jon Snow being able to parry his attack using Longclaw during the Hardhome episode: he has never seen anything like that before.

[Elfdart]

Ok -

That was a pretty enjoyable episode, and one of the stronger season openers. I think of all the scenes, I enjoyed Arya and the Lannister soldiers most.

I really dug Jon's idea to start training girls as well as boys - there's a huge reserve of potential fighting strength untapped there, and the focus on spears and arrows makes sense given he's thinking Dragonglass (and they're much cheaper to make than swords).

Winterfell and Dragonstone looked amazing, as did Euron's ship (presumably the Silence).

I'm still not sold on Euron being anything more than a swaggering cruel braggart - nowhere near the book version. Some Valyrian armor would help?

Oh and ZOMBIE GIANTS!

Euron's ship has a ram and jagged prow so I guess his big thing is boarding actions? I realize he's only been on the show for a few scenes, but as villains go, he's pretty lame so far. So unless he has a pet kraken that eats one of Danerys' dragons or something, I'm about as impressed with this guy as I am the villains in Disney Star Wars -which is to say, not at all. What really sucks is that if they had made Euron a kind of dashing Westeros version of one of Elizabeth's Sea Dogs out to flatter the queen and impress her with feats of seamanship, as well as a ruthless SOB, then you'd have an ace villain. This guy was a tone deaf insult comic with two decent one-liners. It's kinda obvious he's going to bring Cersei the heads of the Sand Snakes, since Jamie mentioned the need to go after Diana Rigg, and Cersei doesn't really have that much against the Greyjoys.

Where exactly are the Brotherhood? I thought the family the Hound robbed was near the Vale or the Riverlands, but the weather is worse than in Winterfell, far to the north.

Is Sansa putting on some kind of act to draw out Littlefinger into trying just one more treacherous act so Jon, Davos, Brienne, the Vale Knight or someone would finally kill that weaseldicked motherfucker? I had my heart set on either Arya or the Hound arriving in Winterfell, then telling all present that they're shocked to see the man who betrayed Ned, Robb and Catelyn alive and well. I don't think Arya's intended hit on Cersei is going to end well.

Danerys, Tyrion and Varys all know (or do they?) that the Starks are back in charge in the North, yet they haven't so much as sent an envoy to Winterfell to see if joining forces is possible. Maybe in the next six episodes...

[Vympel]

Euron's ship has a ram and jagged prow so I guess his big thing is boarding actions? I realize he's only been on the show for a few scenes, but as villains go, he's pretty lame so far. So unless he has a pet kraken that eats one of Danerys' dragons or something, I'm about as impressed with this guy as I am the villains in Disney Star Wars -which is to say, not at all. What really sucks is that if they had made Euron a kind of dashing Westeros version of one of Elizabeth's Sea Dogs out to flatter the queen and impress her with feats of seamanship, as well as a ruthless SOB, then you'd have an ace villain. This guy was a tone deaf insult comic with two decent one-liners. It's kinda obvious he's going to bring Cersei the heads of the Sand Snakes, since Jamie mentioned the need to go after Diana Rigg, and Cersei doesn't really have that much against the Greyjoys.

Yeah, that would fit especially since the writers seem to know how much everyone hates the Sand Snakes.

Where exactly are the Brotherhood? I thought the family the Hound robbed was near the Vale or the Riverlands, but the weather is worse than in Winterfell, far to the north.

Yeah they must be in the Riverlands, because that's where that family lived (they spoke in Season 4 about things had gone downhill since House Tully fell and House Frey was in charge).

I figure the weather just happened to be worse that day in the south

Is Sansa putting on some kind of act to draw out Littlefinger into trying just one more treacherous act so Jon, Davos, Brienne, the Vale Knight or someone would finally kill that weaseldicked motherfucker? I had my heart set on either Arya or the Hound arriving in Winterfell, then telling all present that they're shocked to see the man who betrayed Ned, Robb and Catelyn alive and well. I don't think Arya's intended hit on Cersei is going to end well.

I doubt Arya will end up going to King's Landing after all.

Danerys, Tyrion and Varys all know (or do they?) that the Starks are back in charge in the North, yet they haven't so much as sent an envoy to Winterfell to see if joining forces is possible. Maybe in the next six episodes...

I doubt they know - it's probable that the news of what happened in the North hasn't yet reached them.

[FaxModem1]

I rather enjoyed the scene with the Lannister soldiers, but I wonder if it's foreshadowing how all of these naive, decent conscripts are going to die horribly, or if Arya is going to be put into a situation where she has to kill them.

Or was it supposed to be that Arya was unable to kill them because they gave her food and drink, thereby making it part of the 'guest right'?

[Knife]

I rather enjoyed the scene with the Lannister soldiers, but I wonder if it's foreshadowing how all of these naive, decent conscripts are going to die horribly, or if Arya is going to be put into a situation where she has to kill them.

Or was it supposed to be that Arya was unable to kill them because they gave her food and drink, thereby making it part of the 'guest right'?

I think it serves to both rehabilitate the standard bog rank and file Lannister man as not being 'evil' and just people, as well as setting up a redemption scenario for Jamie. Second, Arya has spent, admittedly on and off, 6 seasons being molded into a killer; this gives a good opportunity to pull back a bit and remember she is human.

[JLTucker]

I liked it but feel that Dany brought everything down, as always., The most boring subplot of all time, imo. She can't lead, she's weak, and she's ineffective.

I think Arya will disguise herself with them. She learns how they behave as Lannister soldiers, develops a rapport, etc. This allows her to get into the capital.

[Alferd Packer]

And Euron builds a bazillion ships and sails them around the Horn while Danny sleeps it off in the narrow sea. Time passage in this show is just wonky.

It is wonky, but also it makes a weird kind of sense, if you allow that the timespan for the second half of season six was on the order of one to two years, and further, that wholly unrelated events weren't necessarily shown in chronological order.

Begin with Theon and Yara leaving the Iron Islands and heading to Meereen. Even discounting storms, pirates, lack of wind, resupply, and fucking the tits off of whores in Volantis, this is a massive voyage, probably on the order of six to nine months in the best case. Of course, you don't turn around right away--you need to refit the fleet for transporting an army of non-sailors, fix up the captured slaver ships, figure out how to feed all those horses you're bringing, etc. We don't know how long Dany lingers in Meereen after the Greyjoys arrive, but some number of months would not be out of the question.

Then, there's the return trip to Dragonstone, which is about 75% of first trip length, or another 4-6 months. Again, this is assuming no major delays, storms, ships getting lost, confusion when the Martell/Tyrell fleet shows up, etc. So, in the best case, at least 1 year has elapsed between when the Greyjoys left until Dany reaches Dragonstone. Honestly, you could say it was two years and I'd take very letting convincing.

Given the naval tradition of the Ironborn, I'm not entirely surprised that Euron was able to refit existing ships that Yara and Theon didn't take, marshal his own fleet that he brought back with him, and build some new ones in that time. His voyage from Pyke to Blackwater Bay would only take a few months, especially since he apparently beelined it, instead of stoping to sack towns along the way. This means he spent the bulk of his time doing one of the few things the Ironborn do well: build ships.

Sure, such a massive fleet of such massive ships in just 1-2 years? That's a bit farfetched. But a large fleet, including incidental captures along the way? I'd totally buy it.

[TheFeniX]

It is wonky, but also it makes a weird kind of sense, if you allow that the timespan for the second half of season six was on the order of one to two years, and further, that wholly unrelated events weren't necessarily shown in chronological order.

Gillie's son was about toddler age when Sam made it to the citadel IIRC. He looks about 4-5 now, so this fits. And the timeframe fits perfectly considering the movements of certain groups/characters. Arya moving about Westeros planning and committing her murder spree. That's going to take time, a lot of it. Theon making it to Danny. Danny needing to get her army in order and wait for more ships. Euron building an armada, though how he got all the materials without ranging far enough into the mainland to not attract attention is one thing, but the North IS busy right now with other things. But NOT busy enough, which I'll go into.

You can even claim the Walkers have no need to hurry and are just fucking around waiting for winter to go all wintery.

Where I have issues wrapping my head around things is because GoTs has SO MANY movers. It seems like very little time has passed in King's Landing. 2 years and Jamie has been mucking about generally unaware of what Cersei is doing or just not having conversations with her for so long? Maybe she needs space, but years?

Sansa and Jon still mucking about with Littlefinger, rallying the North, just now deciding to man the castles at the wall, getting the wildlings in order. Just all that shit. Sansa and Jon might still have some beef, but they would have worked SOMETHING out after two years. It feels unlikely they wouldn't have come to some kind of resolution with each other at this point: good or bad. Like, it's easy to believe even a couple months of Sansa stepping over Jon in meetings is acceptable, but it's hard to believe she either has been doing it for 2 years and it's just now an issue with Jon or she JUST NOW went after him after sitting on her hands for 2 years.

And two years or so is enough time to hear word about and worry about The Geryjoys building a fleet of that size. 2 years Bran got dragged around North of the wall?

"The North" and Kings Landing is presented like a few weeks to months have passed and other areas we're talking a few years. Like I said, "wonky." If these areas are presented as "out of sequence," then considering the time involved (years), there needs to be some kind of explanation, which we almost certainly won't get, and things will just line up when the plot needs them too.

[Alferd Packer]

Yeah, the only thing I can think of to account for the apparent disparate passage of time in the North and King's Landing is that most of those events happened at the tail end of our timeframe, or when Dany was about to land. Unfortunately, that's very difficult to do, because A) Brienne was able to make it from Winterfell to Riverrun and back, and B) Lady Olenna had time to learn of her family's death, go to Dorne, broker an agreement with the Sand Snakes and Varys, and somehow order her armies and navies to join the Targaryen cause. Oh, and Bran's stuff, too.

The Dorne stuff is the real sticking point. It can be argued that Bran's journey back South, though shown over the last 5-6 episodes, really started right around the Battle of the Bastards (or even after Jon's coronation). Similarly, Brienne's interactions with Jaime can be fudged. But Lady Olenna's movements are in response to the destruction of the Sept of Baelor, so their place in the timeline is basically immutable.

[Solauren]

Yeah, the only thing I can think of to account for the apparent disparate passage of time in the North and King's Landing is that most of those events happened at the tail end of our timeframe, or when Dany was about to land. Unfortunately, that's very difficult to do, because A) Brienne was able to make it from Winterfell to Riverrun and back, and B) Lady Olenna had time to learn of her family's death, go to Dorne, broker an agreement with the Sand Snakes and Varys, and somehow order her armies and navies to join the Targaryen cause. Oh, and Bran's stuff, too.

The Dorne stuff is the real sticking point. It can be argued that Bran's journey back South, though shown over the last 5-6 episodes, really started right around the Battle of the Bastards (or even after Jon's coronation). Similarly, Brienne's interactions with Jaime can be fudged. But Lady Olenna's movements are in response to the destruction of the Sept of Baelor, so their place in the timeline is basically immutable.

Lady Olenna was warned well ahead of the Sept blowing up by her granddaughter to get the hell out of King's Landing.

You really think that all the Tyrell's servants were in the Sept?

"Crap, the Sept just blew up, and most of the family I serve is in there. Except the old broad that scares everyone. Better let her know about this. Best to send a Raven"

Also, news of the Sept blowing up would have been all over the country very fast.

Odds are, Lady Olenna had a few hours warning at most over everyone else. But, that's still a good head start.

Also, for all we knew, she was already talking with Dany due to the influence the Faith was taking in King's Landing. If Tomlin is a lost cause, better to get Margery out of King's Landing and help burn it all to the ground and remarry her, then leave her in in the clutchs of the Fanatics running the faith/Cersei.

[Vympel]

I really dug this week's episode.

- I loved the Tyrion/Jon/Sansa correspondence interaction. Bryan Cogman really brings it with this stuff.
- I was worried the writers would fumble Tyrion's attitude towards Ellaria and the Sand Snakes. Luckily he called them out on it - but given the events of this episode, I think Cersei will settle that score (with Ellaria and her daughter) well before Tyrion ever gets the chance.
- Sam's scenes at the Citadel are rapidly becoming one of my favorite things.
- Hot Pie! I love it how Hot Pie tells the story of how Jon became KitN - they even call it the Battle of the Bastards in Westeros!
- Nymeria is huge. Hopefully we see her and her pack again.
- I was hanging out for a 'Stark in Winterfell' line in the Winterfell scenes. We didn't exactly get it, but we came very close.
- Bryan Cogman tweeted that they wrote and shot a scene with Jon and Ghost, but it was cut

https://twitter.com/b_cogman/status/889380832963567616

- I still don't know what the hell Littlefinger is playing at. Why is he telling Jon he loves Sansa? What's he going to get out of it? Is he insane? Jon is a great judge of character - he knows that it's not a fatherly love, lol.
- Erik Kain (who I really like as a reviewer) didn't like this episode much and specifically made his displeasure known about Dany and her attitude to Varys. I thought it was a good scene - without it, is anyone ever going to point out that Varys betrays monarchs quite often, and has tried to hurt Dany specifically before? It's in character and it shows Dany isn't some wonderful person who's read the script in advance. Same with her 'bend the knee' demand for Jon.
- The Silence is one awesome ship. I enjoyed that battle scene at the end immensely. Heck, choreography wise the Sand Snakes redeemed themselves too.

[TheFeniX]

The ship battle annoyed me, so maybe someone with more knowledge (I have little to none) with old (and new, I guess) ship formations can come and call me an idiot. But I get the feeling that even in a fleet that isn't so structured (the Iron Born seem much more "Piratee" than "military," it would still make 1000% more sense to keep your lead ship with multiple VIPs in an area where it's well protected in battle (such as the middle of the fleet, or closer to the edge but on a side where an attack is unlikely to come from) and able to haul ass and be covered by other ships while it hauls ass.

And I also just... man, I really don't see Danny letting ALL her Westerosi allies with "troops" head South to Dorne. There's no reason not to convince 1-2 Sand Snakes to stay and either Theon or Yara. But she let's them all go, and predictably:

Euron rams his flagship right into the EXACT ship he needed to for maximum AWESOME! and somehow ambushes the entire fleet in the process, even though I would assume they'd be on constant vigil for his competing fleet considering they know he's out there. Never bet against Euron in craps, that guy rolls the hard 6 like it's nothing.

Great scene though. And the ending... with Reek... holy shit, I laughed out loud. He's just like... "I can't deal! Later haters."

Hey Jon, before you head South, maybe let Sansa know you just threatened to kill Littlefinger. That seems like good information to have on hand.

Anyone else thinking when Gargamel is talking about dragons being mortal "If it bleeds, we can kill it."? Come on... you know you were.

[JLTucker]

Why the hell didn't Dany give at least one dragon to Yara as an escort? God, this bitch is dumb as shit.