TV Game of Thrones

[moon]

Although, I guess it's both TV and books. For the major audience's sake, let's say that it's okay to talk about things up until the end of season 6 of the TV show here!! SPOILER WARNING IN THIS THREAD!!! Please talk theories, but don't spoil things from the books that haven't been filmatized yet.


Biggest twist yet, and my favorite theory, was revealed in the last ep. The last episodes really were the best ever. What did you think?

 

[Bay]

I admit after season 5, while I don't think it's as bad as some folks it was underwhelming and didn't have too much expectations for season 6. Pretty surprised season 6 held up pretty well. There were some nice interactions and some relationships (like Theon and Asha) I either hope happens in the books or I like better than the books, actually.

Spoiler:

Concerning that particular theory, I actually didn't think too much of it until a few episodes into Season 6 and the more I think about it I'm actually interested how this will affect interactions between Dany and Jon (I'm assuming you're talking about that theory, lol). The King's Landing part in the beginning I have mixed feelings as while the destruction of that trial place was crazy, I'm urgh with Cersei not coming to prevent her last child's death and instead busy getting payback (though I understand it's because she's pretty much on a downward spiral similar to Arya). Otherwise, the season finale was great.

 

[EC]

I don't know how season 6 will be topped. That was one of the greatest seasons in TV history.

 

[Cersei Lannister]

I am so glad that...

Spoiler:

R + L = J was finally revealed. I think next season they'll have more of Rhaegar and maybe show the Tourney at Harrenhal to further explain how awesome Jon's father is.

 

[aurevesque]

Spoiler:

Margaery died. And I'm pretty heartbroken about it, and the odds of raising anyone from the dead are slim if they're not the main character.

 

[Logiedan]

The last few episodes of season 6 was amazing. Miguel Sapochnik really set the bar with Hardhome, and now it's even higher with the last two episodes of season 6. I expect great things from the next season. :D

 

[Cersei Lannister]

The last few episodes of season 6 was amazing. Miguel Sapochnik really set the bar with Hardhome, and now it's even higher with the last two episodes of season 6. I expect great things from the next season. :D

Except he is not directing anything in Season 7 :/

 

[Margot]

I'm a big old grump when it comes to the show because I have such a hard time separating the books and the show. I loathe that they're taking different ends to the same means, it kills so many huge book plots and indirectly spoils them in the long run.
re:

Spoiler:

Hold the door, Shireen, Jon coming back, etc.

Not only that, but they butchered one of my favorite storylines and characters last season. Season 5 was awful, save a couple of episodes. Therefore, I had no expectations for this season (I even stubbornly said I wouldn't watch it) but ended up pretty happy. I feel like there was a fair bit of fan service which made certain scenes go from believable to being over the top.

re:

Spoiler:

Arya's Frey pies and Olenna yelling at the Sand Snakes

.

But overall, the writing seemed to improve and they had a fantastic director for the big episodes. I think The Door is one of my all time favorite epsidoes, the guys that play Bran and Hodor deserve so many props and all the scenes were executed flawlessly. I wish they were directing some of Season 7 too :(

Additional thoughts on the biiiiig reveal:

Spoiler:

I really wish they would have put more emphasis on Rhaegar before the reveal, I hope they don't do it retrospectively now. Or, confirm L from R+L = J and then confirm R next season, that would make it kind of sloppy from a continuity perspective. Plus, a lot of casual viewers had no idea what was going on and didn't know what to look for in regards to R+L = J.

I think we could have done without the Maggy the Frog flashback since Cersei's inner meltdown didn't seem to happen this season, even in the finale. She actually seemed really cool and collected through all the events happening. I personally would have loved a Tourney at Harrenhal flashback instead, especially in Season 4 with Oberyn - it would have helped since most the talk about Rhaegar was in the earlier seasons. It would have been better character introduction and fit with the story they were going to eventually tell.

Now if George can get TWoW out before Season 7........that would be great 8)

 

[Cersei Lannister]

I heard on the radio that Game of Thrones will be filming over the winter, not starting in July this year, to capture the gloom of it for the show's atmosphere. This means they'll be pushing back the start date of the next season.

GOOD AND BAD! D:

Also, I hope GRRM gets the damn book out before this one...

 

[Grey Wind]

But overall, the writing seemed to improve

Really? There wasn't anything as egregiously bad as Dorne and Winterfell last season, but I feel like the more I think about the writing this season the worse it gets. Nothing happened in King's Landing or Meeren until the last couple of episodes (IMO the Tyrion scenes from early/mid-season are some of the worst on the show), the characterizations of the Northern lords changed on a whim, Riverrun was one big filler, Jon and Cersei's coronations didn't make any sense, the motivations of Jaqen/the waif were dumb... so much of this season was a contrived mess.

 

[Margot]

Really? There wasn't anything as egregiously bad as Dorne and Winterfell last season, but I feel like the more I think about the writing this season the worse it gets. Nothing happened in King's Landing or Meeren until the last couple of episodes (IMO the Tyrion scenes from early/mid-season are some of the worst on the show), the characterizations of the Northern lords changed on a whim, Riverrun was one big filler, Jon and Cersei's coronations didn't make any sense, the motivations of Jaqen/the waif were dumb... so much of this season was a contrived mess.

That's a very fair assessment. Honestly, it's terrible, I think I feel this way because they pulled out a lot of events this season so it felt like story-wise there was a lot more happening again. I guess that means D&D succeeded in getting the audience's attention with just shock value over real storytelling. It did make for much better TV.

I won't argue you on your points though, you do have good examples, I just personally don't think it was as bad as last season. Not that it's an excuse, but a lot of the bad writing this season seems to stem from the fact that they have maybe 13 episodes left to tie up the whole series. They started at GRRM's pace, and now they have to slash away side plots while quickly pivoting/advancing others which is......bleh. I wish they did a better job at explaining how time was moving within the different plot lines since it's obviously very different. They also don't do nearly as well when they don't have GRRM's direct material to work with and when they did have it, it was a lot better (Hold the door, seasons 1-4, etc).

That being said, even though we may know what big events are coming up in TWoW, I am excited to read these again in GRRM's writing. It's just going to be so much better.

 

[Juno]

S6 spoilers throughout:

Spoiler:

It felt a bit "Hollywood" this season; what made GoT such a big hit in the first place was it defied all the common tropes of this genre - the heroes don't always win, justice doesn't prevail, good people get punished and the evil/cunning persevere. I don't know if they're just due for some 'good guy wins' this season or it just had to do with the fact that George didn't write many of these plotlines, but it just didn't feel as gritty and 'realistic' as previous seasons, imo.

Not that I'm complaining though, because I did really enjoy a lot of the victories. It's just that in the back of my mind I'm always like "mm, Arya absolutely would have died after being stabbed like that if George was writing this" and "how did Sansa and Theon survive crossing a freezing river in the North- whatever, Brienne's here, just in the nick of time", etc.

So I was very conflicted watching this season, it was absolutely glorious to see all my favorite characters come out on top but there's just always that bit of nagging in the back of my head. :P And I found myself very pessimistic too, like for every win they put in there I was like "alright, how are they going to neutralize this happiness - is Davos going to die? Tormund??"

I do feel like they rehashed a few of the big moments from previous seasons that just didn't have the same impact anymore - like personally I thought a second "omg she's coming out of a fire completely unscathed KNEEL, KNEEL" for Daenerys was not really necessary (I also didn't really like it because GRRM has said multiple times that Daenerys is not actually immune to fire, like she can't just set everything on fire to prove a point whenever she feels like it - surviving the birthing of the dragons was meant to be a miracle that had more to do with the magic of the event, not her Targaryen blood). And much as I like the idea of Jon being the King in the North, the scene just didn't have the same impact as it did in season 1. It was especially diminished (in my view) because unlike Robb's coronation, it didn't feel like all those guys there truly believed or loved him - most of them had totally refused to help him until he already won and it just took a stern talking-to from a child (love little Lyanna, by the way) to change all their minds. Most of the Northmen this season just did not feel very Northern, haha.

But yeah, I liked the season - I will always love Game of Thrones, but I had some hang ups and nitpicks. :) Will agree that The Door was very, very well done, and Hodor will be sorely missed. Most impactful death this season for me, I think.

 

[Bay]

Spoiler:

Not that I'm complaining though, because I did really enjoy a lot of the victories. It's just that in the back of my mind I'm always like "mm, Arya absolutely would have died after being stabbed like that if George was writing this" and "how did Sansa and Theon survive crossing a freezing river in the North- whatever, Brienne's here, just in the nick of time", etc.

So I was very conflicted watching this season, it was absolutely glorious to see all my favorite characters come out on top but there's just always that bit of nagging in the back of my head. :P And I found myself very pessimistic too, like for every win they put in there I was like "alright, how are they going to neutralize this happiness - is Davos going to die? Tormund??"

Yeah, I thought the same thing when Arya got very injured like that. Like, when she was running away from that lady her wound got reopened and I was like, "ack no time to heal?" lol. Had that same problem in another show where someone got badly injured but they got back in their feet days later. Recovery doesn't work like that I think.

And I swear, if Davos dies next season... =<

 

[Juno]

snip

Spoiler:

Right? I was wincing for her when she was just falling all over the place after having a knife twisted through her gut. And apparently all you need is a good night's rest and some soup to heal that, lol. GoT is usually pretty good with making that kind of stuff realistic (people die pretty easily) so that felt a little sloppy. I'm glad Arya's not dead though. :D

Also these name changes lol

The immersion is real, guys :P

 

[Karous]

Spoiler:

The only thing I didn't like about the ending of this season is the implied Dany/Jon shipping. That will most certainly not be in the books.

Let me explain: Dany dismisses Daario, because she thinks marriage is one of the weapons she will use in her taking back Westeros. I doubt they would make an extended scene about this without introducing marriage as a future plot thread, but let's consider her actual options, shall we?

Dorne ruled by women with no surviving male suitors
The Reach ruled by woman with no surviving male suitors
No point in marrying Theon because he and Yara/Asha exchanged their support for installing them as rulers and independence
She has House Lannister's allegiance through Tyrion, and there is no point to marrying him because he's already loyal to her and Hand of the Queen
Edmure Tully is married

On top of everything, the North and Stormlands are the only real unknowns whose loyalty Dany has neither secured nor has a plan for. 2/3 of the available bachelors are tied to House Stark. Let's take a look:

Gendry - The rest of House Baratheon is gone and the status of Stormlands is unknown (probably under control of House Lannister with some minor Stormlands vassal house doing the day-to-day ruling), but I find it unlikely that Dany would marry him because simply granting him legitimacy and a lordship would likely be enough to win his support.

It is possible that Dany could support the claims of some other minor house in the Stormlands instead of going through a Baratheon blood relative, but again, she wouldn't need to marry them to gain their support. Just elevating the status of a minor house to a great house would earn their loyalty. Not to mention, I doubt they would introduce a character of that importance this late imho.

Sweetrobin - Unlikely logistically. The only way Littlefinger would go for this is if Dany already has the Iron Throne: ditch the Starks, marry Sweetrobin to Dany, kill Dany and become Regent, kill Sweetrobin and sit on the Iron Throne. I find it unlikely they would just have LF repeat Cersei's plotline, but on top of that, Dany mentions wanting to use marriage as a tool to support her conquest, i.e. to help her obtain the Iron Throne, not after.

Which leaves Jon, who is also the best choice for Dany politically and is in the best situation to do so - the North once again declared its independence by naming him KitN but Winterfell is in shambles even with all the other Northern lords behind him, being barely kept up by Littlefinger, and there's an impending invasion by the White Walkers and the Night's King. Once shit starts going down, I can definitely see Jon calling for help and an alliance down the line. He's in trouble, she wants the North and is likely willing to help out against the WWs to protect the good of the realm. I'm sure they can develop a personal connection on account of hating Cersei.

Aunt-nephew incest is a nonissue because a) no one but Bran and Howland Reed knows about R+L=J and there isn't a really good way to disseminate that information and b) Targaryens don't care, hell Dany's own parents were brother and sister. Actually, if she knew, that would probably be a plus for her since technically she is marrying a Targaryen, not what the rest of Westeros believes to be the bastard son of one of the men who brought about the downfall of the rest of her family.

But anyways, the pairing seems really fanfic-y, it seems like all the fan favorites are coming together to kill the big bads. Hey everyone, Dany, Tyrion, and the Stark kids are all buddy-buddy now and gonna kill the big bads Cersei and the Night's King! It just seems weird that the story led up to this point.

 

[Grey Wind]

I won't argue you on your points though, you do have good examples, I just personally don't think it was as bad as last season.

I enjoyed it more too, but one more of like... a surface level. Dorne and what they did to Sansa last season were more in-your-face bad than the messy contrived stuff they had going on this year.

That being said, even though we may know what big events are coming up in TWoW, I am excited to read these again in GRRM's writing. It's just going to be so much better.

Honestly, I think the only big event this season spoiled was hold the door. With Aegon around and GRRM being able to write plots that make sense Cersei's definitely not taking the throne and I have my doubts about the sept scene being in the books. I could see Jon being crowned, but with Rickon and Sansa en route to the north I don't know. I guess Robb's will could come in to play.

The only thing I didn't like about the ending of this season is the implied Dany/Jon shipping. That will most certainly not be in the books.

Nah, I've always thought Jon/Dany was a pretty safe bet:

Her silver was trotting through the grass, to a darkling stream beneath a sea of stars. A corpse stood at the prow of a ship, eyes bright in his dead face, grey lips smiling sadly. A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness. . . . mother of dragons, bride of fire . . .

 

[Jinjer]

still hype for dany x yara
that'll be the ship that takes 'em out of meereen ;)