SPOILERS for Game of Thrones Episode 6.8, “No One.”
We only have two episodes left of Season 6, and I feel like this season has had some real growing pains. Even the “best” parts of the season are struggling with inauthentic dialogue, odd editing choices and too many transitional/set-up moments. Have I enjoyed this season? For sure, they’ve moved some storylines along at a steady clip, and I appreciate that. But you can really feel the show moving off-book. Okay, let’s get to this week’s highlights, including the death of a minor character I really loved.
Cersei Is So Dumb, Part I. What the hell does she do all day, just sit around the Red Keep and drink wine? What is this, the Real Housewives of Kings Landing? So the Sparrows arrive at the Red Keep because the High Sparrow wants to speak to Cersei and she refuses and the Franken-Mountain kills one of the Sparrows. Violently! Then Cersei goes to the throne room and her uncle Kevan (the Hand to the King) refuses to allow her to stand by Tommen’s side for the big announcement. The announcement? King Tommen will no longer allow people to stand trial by combat. Which means Cersei’s plot to allow Franken-Mountain fight for her is all for naught. She will stand an actual trial. Is this all just strategy by Margaery and/or the High Sparrow to get rid of Cersei permanently? It wouldn’t surprise me.
Cersei Is So Dumb, Part II. Maester Qyburn informs Cersei that the little birds told him something and he checked it out and… maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention, but wasn’t that ridiculously cryptic? I think they’re talking about the Wildfire that the Mad King had stored under the Red Keep. Meaning, Cersei would rather set fire to everything (because she’s stupid) as opposed to standing trial.
The Hound’s Rampage. The Hound is still angry that Brother Ray and his people were slaughtered by some dudes from the Brotherhood Without Banners in the last episode. First we see The Hound take an ax to four men (were they BWB?) and it was gruesome. Then he happens upon the actual men who killed Brother Ray, only they were about to be hanged by Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr, two high-ups in the Brotherhood Without Banners. The Hound has met Beric before and killed him before (right?), but Beric keeps getting resurrected. Anyway, Beric and the Hound negotiate and the Hound is allowed to hang two of the men. Then he sits down for a meal with Beric and his men and they try to recruit him for BWB. The Hound seems like he is considering their offer. And the Brotherhood is heading north? As in, they’re going to support Melisandre and Jon Snow’s army? The Hound + WunWun versus Ramsay?
Lady Stoneheart. Lady Stoneheart still hasn’t appeared, but many think that the bit with The Hound and Beric means that we’ll see her by the end of the season. Something about the water and the return of Beric. But where is Nymeria the direwolf????
Meanwhile in Meereen. Varys is off and Tyrion misses his friend. Tyrion gets Grey Worm and Missandei to have some wine. All is well. They’re getting drunk and telling jokes. Then the Masters “come for their property” with a huge amount of ships. The masters are going to war with Meereen. Tyrion is like “my bad” and Grey Worm is like “Bitch I told you.” It looks like thousands will die in Meereen but Grey Worm thinks he has a plan. Then they hear something. I knew what it was immediately, and I was right: Drogon delivered Dany to the balcony. Everyone was like, “THANK GOD.” Except that it’s not like Dany has amazing warfare skills, but hey, she’s got a dragon. Three dragons to be exact. UNLEASH THEM! Set fire to all of the boats. Who will ride a second dragon? Tyrion!
Jamie & Brienne. Their reunion was more of emotional payout than I was expecting, and that’s because both actors are really, really good. Their reunion wasn’t sexual in the least, and yet… the way they looked at each other, the soft way he spoke to her, and that final wave goodbye… it was sexy. Tormund has no chance. I miss Jamie and Brienne together. He was at his best with her.
What was the point of Riverrun? Edmure Tully finally got to say something when Jamie manipulated him into going to Riverrun and ordering his people to lay down their arms. The Blackfish died off-camera, even after Brienne was like “for the love of God, come with me and help your niece!” So, Jamie retook Riverrun. Blah.
The Girl Is Arya Stark. Arya seeks help from Lady Crane, the actress whose life she saved a few episodes back. Lady Crane patches up Arya’s wounds and lets Arya sleep for a night. Then the Waif arrives, slaughters Lady Crane (RIP) and comes after Arya. Arya runs and there’s a massive chase scene through Braavos and while Arya seems seriously wounded, it also seems that Arya has led the Waif into a trap, a secluded, semi dark corner. When the Waif comes at Arya, Arya reveals Needle (her small sword) and Arya sweeps Needle to the candle, so they can fight in complete darkness. The Waif died off camera (good riddance), but Arya brings the Waif’s face to the Hall of Faces, setting a trap for Jaqen.. Arya puts Needle’s tip against Jaqen H’ghar’s chest and he says, “A girl has finally become No One.” Arya replies, “A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and she’s going home.” A girl was never No One. A girl was always Arya. And Jaqen actually looks happy about that. So come with her, Jaqen! Go back to Westeros and f—k some sh-t up with Arya!
All in all, I feel like we’re missing some much needed layering and conspiracy payouts. While I buy that Arya set a trap for the Waif, I think Arya is smart enough to know that her idea of drawing out the Waif was really flawed. I also wish there was more of a conspiracy with the Hound and the Brotherhood. Anyway, we won’t get any of that next week. Episode 9 will be devoted to the Battle of the Bastards.
Photos courtesy of HBO/Game of Thrones.
Pod!
Bronn!
Drogon!
Where is Nymeria?
Where is Gendry?
Where is Hot Pie?
Arya’s going home. Ramsay won’t know what hit him.
I want Gendry!
Pod and Bronn were funny.
Maybe now that Brienne and Pod are in a rowboat, they’ll enter the Secret Land of Those Who Row Boats Forever, where they’ll find Gendry and then Nymeria will rescue them all and lead them home.
Or perhaps Pod will use his magic penis and Brienne will go all Lady of Shallot? But Jamie will see the (non Lord of) light and save her before she expires as she floats?
And Bronn will narrate it all in his own Bronn-like way.
Needs more chicken.
The Squire’s Tale as narrated by the drunken Cook!
Lilacflowers, my exact words at the end of the episode were “I’m starting to feel a little bad for Ramsey.”
Yes I can’t wait for him to meet Arya. She’s going to knock his block off. (I just hope we don’t have to wait five years for this awesome scene.)
See, from the trailer, I felt like Jon is going to get his ass handed to him because he doesn’t really understand how truly twisted Ramsey is, but someone will come along (Littlefinger?) to pull his ass out of the fire. I think it’s hard for someone like Jon, who is too much like Ned, too inherently good, to see how truly evil and dangerous others can be.
Kaiser, I agree about the dialogue suffering. Last night was the worst in my opinion. Lame butt jokes and lame jokes about Pod’s magic penis and f***ing Brienne. Seems like the writers are just falling back on crass sex talk to fill a void in between action. So sad.
I didn’t care for the interaction between Brienne and Jaime. I felt like he was somewhat condescending toward her at times. However, the conversation between Jaime and Edmure was everything for me. It was amazing to see someone hold up a mirror in front of Jaime’s face. You could see how much it affected him. His internal struggle reflects the audiences struggle. We know he’s not a good person. He’s a horrible person. And yet, he wants to believe he can be good. Or could be good under different circumstances. It’s what the audience wants for him as well. But when it comes down to it, he chooses not to be a good person.
I loved Missandei’s joke.
Margeary is definitely playing the long game, and I love how this shows the difference between her and Cersei. Cersei is always about instant gratification. No planning. No strategy. Margeary is going to stand back and let Cersei and the High Sparrow destroy each other, and she’ll be the last woman standing. Cersei was definitely talking about wildfire. I think she’s going to take out the sept.
That whole storyline with Arya was a cluster and again highlights to the failing in writing. No way would she set a trap for the Waif that leaves her open to being so viciously wounded. Just no.
The Starks are coming! But forget about the two, plus Ghost, you’re preparing for. Worry about the two younger ones plus Nymeria! Of course, Bran could just do his time travel bit and erase Ramsay from history
Lol the time travel bit kills me. Jon should be worried, he’s totally outnumbered. Good thing a certain someone has the Vale’s army at his beck and call…
The Jamie and Brienne scene was so well acted, very subtle and emotional in line-delivery yet expressive in “eye-acting” (is that a thing?)
Still think there’s more to come with the what-would-have-been Jamie Lannisters redemption story arc…
Enjoyed the Pod & Bron banter more than I should have.
God I missed The Hound! So glad he’s back! (For now?)
Still no Gendry.
It was well acted. I’m glad they finally closed up the dangling relationship and parted. What I really wanted was for her getting back to Tormund. J amie is the light fluffy HS infatuation. Go get the better guy Brienne!
I always feel so left out because I dvr GOT and don’t watch it on Sunday nights, but I just wanted to say that Arya bored me in the book and in the show once she went to become no one. I hope she ends up having a major role to play because I feel I have suffered through years of her lame story. I would have gotten my ass out of that place the first time they hit me with a stick.
GNAT, I don’t watch it on Sundays either, so don’t feel too left out…you’re not alone! I do read the recaps, though, and then watch it on Mondays after work.
I agree that Arya’s storyline got really dull but all I can say is thank goodness they’re not dragging it out on the show the way they seem to be doing in the books. Maybe she’ll be back in Westeros in time to start season 7, then she can reunite with Nymeria and kick butt all over the place. 😛
That would be great, because I do like her. Omg, the part of the books about her were torture!
I like her too, that’s why I’m really crossing my fingers that the writers can do something awesome with her character. The Braavos storyline was fine, to a point, but now it’s time for her to move on.
Imagine if she reunited with Nymeria and THEN Sansa and Jon? Gah…I would be so happy. (Ofc, we have to wait for the outcome of next week’s ep, but still!)
Thank you! Arya’s character feels like a slow, painful death, but I really enjoyed her before she became a girl with no name.
The Arya story line lost me when she “miraculously healed” from her abdominal wounds by laying in bed and drinking some weird concoction. I get that it’s GoT, but come on!!! Any other character would be dead as dead right now……..
@Katydid04 I agree! I can do the ‘suspension of disbelief’ for only so much. I had a c-section and could barely walk for two weeks. I found it really hard to believe that Arya could run around and fight so soon after the stabbing.
That was bugging me too! They even showed the Waif twisting the knife to cause more damage, plus she got stabbed like 3 times and then jumped into a dirty river that would cause infection. Somehow a bandage around her waist, drinking something, and a night of sleep and she’s running through town and fighting like she’s fine? So unbelievable.
Yeah, that was some bs. And then she gets beat up even more when she’s on the run. That whole Arya plot fell thru these last two episodes.
And who the hell would listen to Edmure to lay down their arms? And why would Edmure care! He met and slept with his wife for one night. He didn’t know her or his so called child and her family killed his and kept her prisoner. Why would he turn over Riverrun for his kid? If I were blackfish, I would have killed Edmure myself.
I assumed she drank from the healing waters. Her blood trail led right to it and then around it. I figured she healed herself and then put the waif’s face in the tower of faces.
From what I gathered, it was Jaqun’s plan all along to actually reinforce her identity as Arya Stark. We were all suckered by the guise that he was trying to get her to let go of her identity. Now she knows nobody or nothing can take away who she is and he’s trained her to fight. The waif trained her to fight. Arya is little ninja girl now and she’s going to kick some serious butt. I want her and the Hound to reunite and go after Ramsay. But I’ve been thinking it might be Theon who gets Ramsay in the end – well-deserved irony.
I don’t know how accurate the spoilers are, but:
SPOILERS –
Arya poisons pies and takes out the Freys in revenge
It was such an enjoyable episode. Brienne and Jamie, swoon. The Arya scenes were gripping (damn the Waif was like the terminator)–can’t wait to see where she goes next. My only complaint is that Tyrion has the worst writing this season, and Daenarys’ entrance was lame.
The Tyrion/ Greyworm/ Missandei “tell a joke” scene was hilariously awkward though, I enjoyed it.
I actually enjoyed all the dialogues, for the first time this season.
@Tracking: agree on Tyrion.. his lines are almost in too modern a language and his scenes seem more like fillers now compared to previous seasons. GRRM>> D&D
So lame. And predictable. Eye-roll worthy, in fact. Why didn’t she get on with the torching of the fleet, for Pete’s sake???
The Waif can RUN! There’s no way Arya would’ve outrun her. They should have had the actress slow down a little to make it more believable.
She looked like the Terminator in T2!
@isabel My husband both said the same thing about the Waif being the T2 Terminator!
Ha ha, mine too. The cold intent look on her face and the way she pumped her arms while running was a total match.
Waifenator. She ran like a fukkn droid or something.
Gosh I’m so excited for next week but I really can’t believe there’s only two episodes of the season left. It feels like there’s been too much “setting up” this season. The show has suffered from going off book. At least Varys has headed back and will hopefully close the season with a favourite speech of mine from the books (altered a bit). Arya’s storyline was terrible and nonsensical – so far the book version of this one is vastly superior. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cersei’s great plan was to kill the whole city. Dany’s entrance was very campy and over-the-top. Tyrion has been tragically wasted all season. I really hope Tormund and Davos make it through next week!!!
Finally Tobias Menzies speaks! Boy is he hot when he talks
Such a wonderful and versatile actor. Mr. tracking and I were just saying we need to re-watch “Rome.” His cameo in Catastrophe was hilarious.
uuuu I didn’t watch that one, thanks for the info. I really love him as an actor.
Rome is fabulous and it was only two short seasons. Lots of delights. Tobias . James Purefoy. Ray Stephenson. Ciaran Hinds. Lindsay Duncan. And Polly Wallker chewing all the scenery is a marvelous way.
completely agree, lilacflowers, loved that series. Fun to see some of the cast (Niobe, Ciaran Hinds, Tobias etc.) turn up on GOT. And Owen Hunt fans should watch!
Mr. B’fly and I loved Rome, as well! So much storyline happened in such a short time. Great writing !
I was happy he had some decent scenes too finally, though Lord Edmuire is kind of a drip I am glad he has the possibility of redemption. Menzies has been wasted this season in Outlander, which is a snoozefest without him. Agree he’s great at comedy too – so funny in Catrastrophe!
Also LOVED Rome. I know it’s been gone a while now…but I seriously miss it. Two seasons was way too short. And yes – the acting….just the best.
I loved Rome too. He also is in Outlander as a good and a bad guy and was in the Night Manager (as a bad guy). Such a fabulous actor!
The scene in The Night Manager when he can’t answer the phone was perfection.
The last two or three years of GOT has been uneven. They have a few great episodes than nothing. Then one or two great episodes at the end of the season. I thought season 6 was going to be the best. Since “The Door”, the season has gone downhill. It’s all filler and setup. Glad Aria came to her senses. Her storyline was too long.
Agree with EVERYTHING you said.
And Arya sure seems to enjoy jumping off high things, not knowing what’s beneath her.
–TheRealPinky
Yes, hey, no I won’t break both ankles landing on ancient cobblestone. Silly.
Yep to all of this. But still, two of the most epic episodes in this series mean two of the best episodes in tv history, and next week looks promising.
Agreed! This season had promises but is turning into every other season…….1 or 2 good episodes, 6 of filler, and then the last 2 will be epic and leave us wanting more. So many potential cliffhangers for them to leave us with this year 😉
A woman still needs some Jaqen H’ghar in her life. Hopefully this isn’t the end now that Arya is going home. I feel like this was Jaqen’s plan all along.
That much is obvious, but whyyyyy did it have to drag out for so many seasons??
Yes, Jaqen is cool, I hope its not the end of him!
More JH Sexy Jesus. I am shipping him and Arya. Because obviously Gendry hasn’t occurred to the writers.
I understand this is a fantasy show but Arya survived a stabbing wound to the stomach ,after she fell in the water (???) and wandered away for hours? Really?
Extremely weak plot IMHO
Also,a man is extremely hot.A man has the sexiest glance a girl has ever witnessed.A girl wants to tear a man apart.
Yes, and people actually praise this show for its “realism”.
That has never happened to you?
Very weak, indeed. Boring and simplistic plot, and I just find Arya’s character to be so incoherent. For such an experienced assassin, she sure is inconsistent in her skills and her maturity level.
Both Stark ladies are very disappointing to me, and I don’t understand if they are meant to be so or if the show’s writers are just overwhelmed without guidance from the author.
It is the latter! Sansa and Catelyn are among my favorite characters in the books and it is obvious that the showrunners don’t really know what to do with them. IMO they really butchered Catelyn’s character when compared with the book version where she generally is politically astute but also a women tormented by her losses. She is such a wonderfully complex and tragic character in the books – her strengths are considerable but so are her flaws.
Along with Catelyn, Sansa is probably one of the most realistic characters in the books. She is subtly observant but her POV is very introverted and that is hard to portray on the screen. Her story is also the one that is hardest to predict based on the books so far – but I’ve always loved that she has a fundamentally kind nature, despite all the abuse that is heaped upon her head.
Their writing skills are mediocre at best. Don’t forget that Benioff was the one responsible for mangling The Illiad in Troy. He also wrote Wolverine: Origins, which wasn’t great either but then X-men is hardly high quality source material. I’m not up to speed with this season but last season was a complete bore. The dialogue was often poorly written, the “jokes” juvenile, the plot had some serious issues and was poorly realized. IMO, they consistently made odd choices in what they chose to present on the screen, choices that didn’t really feel organic to the characters but rather came off as an easy way to create “tension” – they’ve done the same this season and it is just not good writing. They are REALLY not good when it comes to characterization but they are often saved by the superb actors. A show this ambitious ought not to have such poor writing. I really liked season 1-3, season 4 was a bit wobbly and season 5 was a grim bore. This one is wobbly as well. I just hope that next episode isn’t just one long battle because those bore the crap out of me. I’ll take drama over action any time.
The show is partly saved by an excellent cast and the wonderful production values. There was some amazing visuals and I have really loved the costumes throughout the series.
@ArtHistorian, very well explained, thanks! Yes, I suspected the show’s writers to be butchering up the contents of the books; I feel like this season might be foretelling of how much season 7 is going to suck, when they are going to have to create new material without being capable of evolving story and characters in a believable fashion.
Wait. Is it called the Battle if the Bastards in the book? Because that title is all kinds of awesome.
We are way past the books now. HBO has released the titles for ep 9 and 10, and next ep is BOTB.
I thought this episode was weak and kind of messy.
The joke scene would’ve been fine four episodes ago, but now that it’s episode 8, it’s just a waste of time…kind of like the Meereen story line. But, I guess we know who ships Dany is going to use.
I’m ready for Cersi to burn King’s Landing. That place needs to be leveled. And how ironic is it going to be when Dany lands in Westeros and King’s Landing is gone.
I’m so glad that I won’t see the Waif’s smug face again. She was annoying. And I can’t believe Ayra was that dumb to waltz around outside, unarmed, when she knew the Waif was after her. I was expecting a twist there, so the outcome was disappointing.
The Hound wielding an ax wins everything. And I loved Jamie and Brienne. Those were the few highlights last night.
I’m nervous for next week. That battle looks epic, but I am sure there will be many deaths.
JENNS — Omg omg I just had made a connection…did not read the books and know nothing about what is ahead, but…
This Cersei/secret storage of wildfire/burning Kings Landing to the ground theory between her and Qyburn — anyone remember way way back,I forget what season, when Dany was in the House of the Undying getting all sorts of magical visions/tricks played on her? One of those visions was of her entering the throne room in Kings Landing, and the place was jacked — no roof, no windows, snow coming in, quiet as a church, not a soul around? Perhaps that was an accurate vision, and there is some major fire-based destruction of Kings Landing (perhaps dragon-induced, but perhaps otherwise)
Anyway, just a rando thought over coffee….
Unrelated to the above, anyone else close their eyes during the scenes of exceptional violence, like the Hound with his axe, and especially Mountain-related violence? I just can’t with that ish. It’s like in this season especially they are making up for slow plot with exceptionally violent interludes. This is my biggest complaint about this show.
Yep. There has been heavy foreshadowing that King’s Landing is going up in flames. First Dany’s vision, and then Bran’s vision of the wildfire going off.
King’s Landing will burn and then winter will come.
I watched the hound’s scenes since I’m so glad he’s back but I covered my eyes during the mountain’s scene. I knew it would be awful.
I just need all of Tywin’s children to die. All of them are short sighted and selfish fools that obviously cannot think without Tywin. I am so happy that both Cersei and Tyrion’s plans blew up so spectacularly. What did Cersei think was going to happen once the mountain killed that guy? That they were just going to bow down in fear. I cannot stand the Sparrow but I love that he always has a response to her foolishness.
Same thing with Tyrion. He was stupid to think that the deal was going to actually work. Not only did he go against Dany’s orders he made a deal with crazy assholes without thinking of the consequences. I hope there is some actual punishment for Tyrion’s flop decisions, but knowing the writer’s love for that Gary Sue, his admitting he was wrong is going to be the only punishment he is going to get.
ARYA is a baby boss and I adore her. The only thing that I hated was the fact that we did not get to see the waif die on screen. We had to see crispy Clegane going around killing people and showing his dick (which was my fav part of the episode) but no actual death match on screen between the girls. Totally not fair. The Girl is finally going home!!!
Edmure is another flop that should have just stayed in the dungeon.
I know they’re trying to get in more male nudity now, but peeing is not the circumstances under which I find it interesting.
Or warts.
Right? If they want to appeal to their female, I would like more of:
Euron
Jamie
Arthur Dayne
Buff, shirtless dudes tied to a tree(even if he is turned into a WW)
What I want less of:
Actual peens.
I could do with some Jaime full frontal.
Even Tyrion?? He has always bee treated in a ghastly way by Tymin and yet he retains a sense of humor. He managed to maintain some peace in Merreen despite being a newbie and when Dany was away so not too bad.
Ayra’s story had too many loopholes but thats onto the showrunners.
Now onto cersei
*Spoiler* I call Jamie as the Valonquar from the prophecy..Cersei will order Qyburn to burn KL to the ground and Jamie will kill her (just like he killed the Mad King) fulfilling the younger brother killing Cersei prophecy! I feel like Jamie’s declaration of loving Cersei this episode was all a setup towards this.
Too easy. How does he strangle her, per the prophecy, with one hand? I think Loras is the valonqar.
@Lizzy Yes, even Tyrion. Yes, he was treated terribly by Tywin, but Tywin treated all of his kids like crap in one way or another.
Anyone who thinks that slavery is the answer to end a conflict is not a smart person. While not just morally wrong, strategically it is stupid because it makes Dany and him look weak for going back on ending slavery. He set up a bad deal and then reneged on the deal when they came to collect what he said that they are owed. What is more shocking is that he was somehow surprised that the slavers were actually coming to collect on the deal. Why no one is giving Tyrion any shit for this boggles my mind, but Dany’s two second entrance to clean up Tyrion’s mess is somehow the worst part of those scenes.
@TG: Jamie is supposedly one of the best knights in Westeros (pre loosing sword-hand) so yes even with 1 hand he can certainly strangle her. More than physical strength it will be a tragic but fair end to their twisted incestous story with Cersei’s shock at the 1 brother killing her who she might never have doubted instead of tyrion.
The Loras angle sounds interesting but I doubt it …it wont be imactful enough plus he is far too gentle even though he must loathe Cersei…besides he is broken as viewed in past few episodes so doubt it would be him.
@Aiobhan: In the books Tywin treated Jamie well until he joined the KNightsguard..anyhow about Tyrion in Mereen ..
The whole power structure in Mereen and the surrounding areas has been really unstable. Dany never really had the situation under control even before Tyrion and Varys arrived, and she had three dragons. Then she hands off day-to-day management to the two of them after they’ve been in town for what seems like a couple of weeks, and she flies off on her dragon (possibly never to be seen again). She is pretty good at conquering but rather lame at ruling as we have repeatedly seen. Tyrion actually maintained the status quo as long as he could.
So yes, Tyrion ultimately wasn’t able to hold off a naval attack, but it was only a matter of time before Dany’s enemies tried to attack a queen-less city. She’s been gone about a month at this point and the only two people doing any civic management in Mereen are a dwarf and a eunuch…both foreigners/new arrivals.
The city was about to collapse (remember the burnt fleet etc) when he struck the deal, it bought them enough time to wait for Dany to return. many might complain about the deal but what was the alternative? Like Greyworm said, they could only hold the palace, they weren’t prepared to go on the offensive.
Tyrion bought them some time when others would have pushed for a fight that would have left Mereen a smoldering pit when Dany got back.
Yeah it just seems really obvious to me. Anyway, as she drowns in her tears (of Lys/poison presumably), I suppose anyone could strangle her.
I think Jamie is the one too. He is a little brother too and it will be more heartbreaking because he loves her. That is if he makes it out of the Riverlands alive. The night is dark and full of Nymeria the dire wolf
Lilac flowers, yes!
Wait how is Arya a baby boss and not a Mary Sue? She survives multiple deadly stomach stab wounds, gets magically treated by an actress turned surgeon and the then goes to battle and kill a deadly assassin? Her storyline was the worst of the episode. I know Tryion and Arya are the author’s favorites but he at least writes better story lines for them. There should have been a twist.
@Original T.C.
I never said the plotting for her was logical, but she is more compelling to me than her older brother and sister at the moment. She is a baby boss because she has a lot of growing to do as a young women, but shows that she has what it takes to be an interesting take charge character.
She is also far from being a Mary Sue, we have spent several episodes watching Arya getting her ass handed to her by the waif for her to be called a Mary Sue. She has spent most of the season showing that she does not have the ability to do everything. She never fully listened to Sexy Jesus and found it difficult to shed her identity. She did not actually kill anyone that she was assigned to kill. She also went blind. If she was a true Mary Sue, she would have won the first fight with the waif, killed everyone she was assigned to kill and being thisclose to running The Faceless Men.
Why are we complaining about Arya surviving when Jon is walking around after also getting stabbed in the gut and then was brought back from the dead?
@Aiobhan
Because that’s a completely different thing. Jon got stabbed in the gut and he did die. That he was brought back only happened thanks to magic, wich we know exist and has always been a part of this world.
Arya on the other hand had no magic to help her at all and therefore she should have at the very least been very heavily injured and incapable to move much.
Jon’s story makes sense in the setting or this story, Arya’s does not make sense.
“I can only go by what is happening on the show and not the books as I have not read them”
Oh OK, I see. That makes sense now. The books have details about these characters that HBO misses. Families in Westeros kill their Dwarf babies, they are viewed as evil or a mark of shame. Jaime love and protection is the reason Tyrion survived his childhood. Tyrion’s treatment is waaaay worse by everyone and Twyin in particular than the show conveys and Arya survives time and time again without magic or powers while others don’t. Both characters are fan favorites because they are the authors favs.
However GRRM uses more skill, common sense and nuance to get Arya out of jams. It flows to make the reader champion her not step out of the plot in disbelief. Arya doesn’t pick up Needle and become a sword master. She uses it in a manner realistic for her age, lack of strength and skill to inflict harm.
HBO had already established that stab wounds to the belly are either fatal or near so. See all the dead characters. They completely discarded their own world building and had Arya do things that were unrealistic for her character. It leads the viewer to side-eye Arya with skeptism. Remember how last week we all thought this was either a dream sequence, a switch of faces or a Fight-Club type scenario because it was so stupid? Poor writing IMO. GRRM really needs to finish the next book this summer!
Arya is a boss because she is brave, fearless, determined, stubborn, vengeful, brutal and now she has mad fighting skills. That girl is definitely the boss. The Hound knows it. That’s why he keeps referencing her as being tougher than any of the men who try to take him on. To me, she is the antitheses of Sansa. There is nothing sweet about Arya. Her anger and need for revenge is what drives her. She is devoid of arrogance or entitlement – she cares not about her royalty. She cares about her family. Sansa seems stuck on her title and rightful place, blah blah blah. Sansa is more about politics to get what she wants. Arya just wants to stab the people who did her family wrong. I love her!!!
You are correct that the situation was already an unstable situation given that they were foreigners trying to rule over a new set of people and her being gone did not help the situation but he made the situation even worse. She did not want to use her dragons because she did not want the collateral damage that comes with unleashing her dragons on innocent people. She uses them sparingly because they are akin to using atom bombs which she could not control; this is exactly why she had to lock up the other two and wanted to do the same with Drogon.
To be honest though, nothing was going to prevent them from attacking the city again as no matter what Dany or Tyrion did to appease them, nothing was going to work other than with them being either run out of Mereen or dead. They were not going to accept Dany and her crew at all. With saying that, he should have just told them to eff off or if he has no other choice, he should have negotiated in some fail-safes to make sure they get rid of the Harpys and anyone else against them in the stupid agreement until Dany came back. While they were out gunned, they did not also have to be outsmarted. Despite Varys being a eunuch and Tyrion being a dwarf this does not mean that they are somehow less capable of thinking their way out of a problem. Varys has a full network of spies and has amassed enough money and power to be a part of this plan. Tyrion is an educated man who has actually been around military people and can talk his way out of almost anything, yet they could not have thought of anything else. Really? At this point Tyrion and Varys should be experienced and jaded enough to know that you do not negotiate with people who think like the slavers. They should have been coming from a place of strength and not a place of weakness.
There is nothing in the story that indicated that she was going to leave them all there to die in Mereen or that she was dead. She genuinely cared about what happened in that city and the people that she left. She may have made a lot of bad decisions in Mereen, but all young rulers have to fail before they succeed. It is easier to break something down than to build something up, which her storyline clearly illustrates.
Dany left the city when the city was under attack..she came back to a city under attack… Tyrion has held onto atleast a city and not rumble… Also he has been around military but not around slavery of the slaver’s bay, besides he was never given the opportunity to really strategized except that one time during the warof the 5 kings…In modern language he was pretty much a fun loving party boy lol.
However the supposed bad planning of Tyrion/Varys as you write-is all on DB and not Martin as this is not how things happen in the novels…Tyrion is certainly not trading ‘xyz walks into a bar..’ jokes in mereen in the books….
I can only go by what is happening on the show and not the books as I have not read them, but my point still stays though, he did nothing to help the situation at all. As you said, the city was under attack when she left and she came back to the same thing. He had from the time he made the deal until he saw those ships to come up with something else along with Greyworm, who actually has military training. He should have been listening to the three former slaves, including his BFF Varys, instead of appeasing those idiots. Instead he was walking around town or getting people to tell jokes as if all was right in the world and everything was back to normal as if he had won something.
Tyrion is fine in small doses, but why anyone listens to the drunken, smartmouth jackass beyond getting a good wine recommendation, how to spend money, where to get a good sex partner, and how to spend money while drinking and having sex all at the same time is a mystery for the ages . A dead Lannister is the best Lannister.
Well You sure hate the lannisters hehe thats alright. But Tyrion is the best of the Lannister kids as he is actually intelligent and fair or tries to be. He is truly Tywin’s son as far as politicking goes. His world view though is about Westeros and kingdoms not slaver’s bay. These discussions are interesting because this shows how poorly the show runners have written the show wherever it deviated from the books…book readers only suffer from a LONG wait for the next material but character building and dialogues in books is so superior. Dany never trulys howed any skill about ruling, nor does greyworm…he is a warrior not a strategist… infact he was with Ser Barriatan when they were ambushed by the Harpies and the great Barristan Selmy died..for Dany! ANyhow it seems you will get your dead lannister wish soon enough atleast in tems of poor Tommen.
Tyrion is said to be Martin’s favorite character. I don’t think he’s dying.
Same with Arya. She’s Martin’s wife’s favourite and he’s said many times that she’d kill him if anything happened to her.
Tyrion is as safe as they come until the end of the story. At the very end he might die, as he’s a fairly tragic character.
I feel like they made Tyrion fuck up to spite the people who have been complaining for a long time that they’ve whitewashed him. I want the Tyrion of the book played by Peter, not the Tyrion of the show. Show Tyrion is always provoked when he hurts people and doesn’t make a peep about raping and killing Cersei.
Kind of like ‘See? Tyrion isn’t perfect!’
love that Jaime and Brienne have such a sweet and genuine brother/sister relationship! but it’s the normal kind, where you don’t have sex with each other. So that’s new.
I like that about their relationship too. So many seem to think they have the hots for eachother and will get it on sooner or later. I dont’ see that at all. They have a genuine fondness for eachother and understand eachother’s fate and what they were born into. I don’t see them ever making sexy eyes at eacother. I see them showing fondness and fear for eachother, trying to deal with their individual responsibilities and motives, but accepting of eachother. Their relationship has nothing to do with lust. They have mutual respect and admiration for eachother. They have fondness because both of them could have done the other in on several occassions but they chose to let the other live, and even protect eachother as best they can. They have a true friendship. No need to take it somewhere sordid.
There’s no question that Brienne has feelings for Jaime, it’s pretty much spelled out in her POV chapters. It’s a very girlish sort of love though, which is consistent with Brienne’s mentality (and by girlish I mean ‘like a young girl’). The whole reason she fell for Renly was that he was beautiful and treated her well. He took her seriously as a knight and treated her like a lady. Brienne realises later that Renly was only ever being polite.
Jaime does those same things, but he’s completely genuine in it all. Those things are Brienne’s weakness (along with a pretty face). He’s very much her type.
Jaime seems to be developing feelings for her (he did get a semi in the bathouse when he saw her naked after never desiring anyone but Cersei, which he notes as odd, lol), but he’s not at the point of recognising those feelings or acting upon them. He might never get to that place before he dies.
I want for Brienne’s sake for her to have at least one real, genuine romance (even if it’s incredibly brief) rather than going her whole life without loving someone and being loved by them in return. You can see how much Brienne craves love in the books. I adore her in the books, she’s such a complex character.
I really enjoy their courtly love thing. No saying what they feel, no physically expressing it, but the each knows what the other means to them.
I hated the way they disposed of Blackfish. 🙁 And please I find it hard to believe that even after the castle had fallen due to Edmure..Blackfish still would refuse to go help Sansa (who he himself said is SO MUCH like Catelyn) The showrunners are writing very lazily.
I don’t think Blackfish is dead. That was too easy – “he died fighting.” Yeah, okay. Where’s the body?
@Santia: I had the same thought! I really hope that we are correct…
Exactly. IN the books there was a secret way out of Riverrun, which is how he escaped.
Santia, Carrie, phlyfiremamma – While I hope you guys are right..I really doubt it since the guard who informs Jamie had no reason to lie…. In the books he does escape yes but then in the books he was not contacted by Sansa.
The show really dumbs down stuations…Him refusing to go with Brienne makes it even more mind bogglingly dumb in the show and wastes such a heroic character. (Also the guards who were defending Riverrun wth him and watching Freys threaten to kill Edmure daily suddenly turn onBlackfish??!!..thats lazy writing)
If there is one thing we’ve learned from GOT, it’s that unless you actually witness someone take their last breath, chances are they aren’t dead. Even a few who did actually take their last breath, came back (Jon Snow).
I beleive the following will come back in to play: Blackfish, Catelyn, Hodor, possibly even Bran’s wolf. Still waiting for Gentry to emerge. What ever happened to Millesandre? which brings me to the dude with Grey Scale that Khaleesi sent off to find a cure for – he’s going to come back and save Dany again. I don’t know from what, but that’s his thing, to show up unexpectedly in the 11th hour just in time to rescue her from whatever is threatening her. I think he went to Milisandre or whoever it was that stopped the disease with the little girl. Whoever healed her is still out there and that guy will find her and get himself cured or at least stop the disease from progressing.
Except for when people die offscreen and are actually dead, like Shaggywolf and Stannis. If a character as important as him can die offscreen and be dead, Blackfish certainly can. He said he wasn’t going to run again, and there’s no reason to believe he’d lie or for him to not go with Brienne if he was planning on escaping.
I do think reanimated Hodor is a possibility, though. He did die up north right by the Night’s King and would make a very powerful wight that could be used to emotionally manipulate Bran and Meera. I’d say UnHodor is a very strong possibility.
The thing is, with the characters that were presumed dead there was always evidence in the text backing up those characters not being dead or being revived (the Hound, UnGregor, Jon). They’ve never done it with a character whose return hasn’t been foreshadowed in the books. They’re far more wont to kill of characters who aren’t dead yet than to save characters who don’t die in the books.
I was disappointed with last night’s episode. First of all Arya should not have bee. able to survive that stabbing! It was way too unrealt. This entire season has felt rushed and I feel a lot of valuable screen time has been wasted with things like the Sam and Gilly segment and the Blackfish stuff. Especially knowing they are only going to give us like 7 episodes next season and it’ll be even worse. I was disappointed we didn’t get to see Arya’s showdown with the Waif. I think the whole darkness element could have been done with flashes and audio to where the audience doesn’t really know what’s going on a la Daredevil and it would have had a better effect than just cutting to the next scene. I’m so over the Kings Landing drama. Tyrion needs better material. Hope Snowbowl doesn’t disappoint and hope we get the answers to the Tower of Joy mystery in ep 10 when the actor who plays young Ned reappears
A woman needs a man to be in the future episodes. A man will be missed if he isnt 🙁
I know. I’m ready for a Jaqen spin off.
A man almost smiled. A woman melted into a puddle on my living room floor
The only thing in this episode I can think about is Jaqen H’ghar. Somebody killed, somebody was killed, somebody talked to somebody… And that man! What a sex appeal!
The dialog is awful but I’m glad they toned the sexual violence against women WAY down this season. It seems like whoever is making the show listens to critical feedback. You’d think they’d be able to borrow at least a bit of dialog from the new book, right? The conversation between Gray Worm and Tyrion is so awful, it’s like the worst kind of filler.
Nah, I don’t think they listen to feedback at all. Their usual reaction is making fun of it and mocking the people who gave the critic.
It wasn’t the greatest episode there have been better. I did however enjoy parkour Arya and the Hound’s revenge. Jamie and Brienne were sweet ,I didn’t notice the sexy part. Cersei has a bad habit of overplaying her hand. She’s too clever for her own good.
Hahaha. My husband was sitting beside me yelling “Parkour!”
Cersei is not clever. That’s her problem. She thinks she’s clever, but she’s terribly obvious.
I think you mean ‘Cersei is too stupid for her own good’. She’s going to snap pretty soon. By this stage in the books she’s a chubby drunk who is regularly sending people who displease her to be vivisected by Qyburn. A big part of Cersei’s character is that she thinks she’s stronger and more clever than any man and if she’d only been born a man she’d be able to rule the world with an iron fist. Everyone around her is stupid and if they’d only listened to Cersei the kingdom wouldn’t be in this state. She’s a massive narcissist.
It sometimes doesn’t feel like the same show. One week we get an incredible Hodor reveal, and now we get a weak Arya resolution. I’m still confused. Why did cyborg waif hate Arya so much? How did Arya recover from her wounds so quickly?
Interesting that Varys decided to take a trip just before the invasion. I wonder if he has yet another plan. Or maybe it’s nothing. Hard to tell with D&D these days. And the secret the little sparrows found could be the wildfire, or maybe they found out something about the High Sparrows past that Cersai could use? Overall a weak episode, and hopefully next week will be better.
I think they’re putting Varys back where he belongs. Book Varys disappeared after sending Tyrion to Pentos although we learn about his long history of Targaryen support through some book characters who don’t appear on the show. Book Varys returns to King’s Landing from hiding in the last chapter of Book 5, interferes with two minor characters in a major way, provides a lot of exposition and then winter finally arrives
Are you referring to the epilogue of A Dance with Dragons? I agree that’s the plan. I think there was heavy foreshadowing that Tyrion and Varys will not meet again on the show last night.
Yes. With the little “birds” and their knives. And the white Raven.
I have a strong feeling the Hodor reveal is from the books, hence why it is better than anything that the showrunner can come up with on their own. GRRM is a pretty good writer (though not a great one). The double Ds are NOT.
Aside from the return of the Hound last week, this week was better. I don’t really expect the surprises anymore at this point (just because I know they’re coming, if that makes sense.) Arya’s being chased was damn near stroke inducing for me. It’s not realistic that she survived that stabbing, then jumping into water infested with gods know what, but that didn’t lessen my enjoyment of her disposing of the waif one bit. I think she could take Ramsay out. Fact is, I’m counting on it. If it’s coming down to the Starks kicking his ass for good, my money’s on Arya. Maybe she could ask sexy Jesus for some assistance.
Jaqen’s whole game — his look, his demeanor, and his dark and dank dungeon temple, his birkenstocks — he is like the LSD/peyote nightmare version of Jesus.
Its the brooding version of leader/discipleship. And im into it.
HAWWWT.
On Buzzfeed they call him sexy jesus. It’s hillariuos.
Ayra extinguishing the light. Perfection. I’m not sad there are only two episodes left. They are not following the book very closely and it’s annoying.
I just can’t believe Jon and Sansa are getting no one to fight with them. I really hoped the black fish would come with Brienne, but nope. And I also can’t believe Tyrion is doing so bad on Mereen; Danny is gonna fire him. And I can’t believe that was really Arya and apparently she has learned almost nothing because that waif got her twice in the most pitiful of manners. It’s like all this build up leads to nothing. Are they telling us Ramsey is gonna win once again? because that would really bother me.
LittleFinger and the Knights of the Vale are on their way, I think.
Littlefinger, Varys and Tyrion are the best characters on this show. The early seasons spent a lot a highly entertaining and intriguing screen time developing their respective personalities, motives, and plot lines. They are brilliant, conniving, shrewed, and powerful politicians (less overtly so with Tyrion but I still lump him in with this trio).
GoT spent so much time with these characters, and now it’s all like nawww jk we dont have the time for these guys anymore….we need Danaerys to be the Mary Sue, doing trite and predictable things at trite and predictable moments.
Really hope these three get some much deserved screen time in the coming episodes.
But I wanted them to get the forces without LF’s help. He doesn’t do anything for free and I suspect he’s gonna come between Sansa and Jon and those two need to stick together.
That sneak will appear like a white resurrected wizard to save the day.
Have to disagree on Littlefinger. I find him an awful character who has only survivced this far because of plot armour. In season 2 (or 3 – can’t remember) he actually confronts Cersei with the fact that he knows about her incest. She has the guards apprehend him and then, inexplicably, changes her mind and lets him go free. That whole scene was beyond nonsensical. That move on his part ought to have gotten him killed but he has plot armour (though I think that will be stripped from him at the end of this season).
Tyrion has been whitewashed to the point that he’s a dead bore who tells stupid jokes. He is much darker in the books, a much more grey character with great strenghts but also with huge flaws. That is so much more interesting to watch the bowdlerized version we get on the show. Dinklage is a great actor and they are not using him to his fullest potential because they don’t want to have Tyrion be the morally questionable character that he is in the source material.
Love little finger an Tyrion, but also Bronn. Bronn has the best lines, he’s the most beleivable character and he’s funny.
Ramsey will not win..I just hope that they dont kill off Rickon..And the preview seems like Davos finds out about Shireen finally – I hope he hands Melisandre to Ramsey (though that would never happen) for burning that sweet little girl alive… that was the only part of the series that I have still not been able to watch on sound,always muted it.
I reaaaally hope Ramsey dies at last. His smug little face irks me so much.
I hope WUn WUn rips Ramsey’s skull off like Mountain did to the Faith militant today but better would be identical deaths in 2 episodes… better would be a surrendered Ramsey threatened by Ghost and finally killed off by Sansa.. what a full circle would that be.
I hope they let Sansa kill him.
Sadly, I think Rickon is toast.
I would love for Ramsay to be eaten by his own dogs and for Sansa to pull the rug from under Littlefinger’s feet, which I suspect she will. He has made an enemy of her and he has left himself in a vulnerable position where he is dependant on her lying for him with Royce and the Vale lords – and she is no longer disposed to lying for him. It would be great to see an inversion of the Vale scene where sansa lies for LF (end of season 4). I won’t get my hopes up though since I haven’t m uch faith in the skills of the writers.
I can’t be the only person mentally screaming ‘FATALITY’ when UnGregor did the spine rip, right? That’s Sub Zero’s signature fatality!
I like it when my Mortal Kombats invade my Game of Thrones. Wasn’t so fond of the Terminator 2 crossover though.
I didn’t get to see the preview, Showtime didn’t put it in for some reason. I kind of want Mel to die for what she did to Shireen but I find her really compelling now that she’s finally been kicked off her high horse and I want to see more. I really enjoy all the red priests in the books (why do we have two sexy Mel clones instead of Moqorro?).
Aren’t Theon and Yara and their fleet heading toward Mereen? Maybe they will get there in time to defeat the slavers.
Is Edmure such a loser in the books as well?
He is weak. yes.Doesnot think of the bigger picture and poor at military strategy(also shown in the show when he went against Robb’s orders .) He is also bad at archery – shown in the show as him failing to shoot an arrow at his father’s casket -finally done in one smooth shot by the blackfish. But then not everyone is meant to be great warrior.
However the TV show had made a mess of this part of the story which very much exists in the books. In the book Edmure surrenders the castle tbut not before letting Blackfish escape. And he only does it after Jamie tells him that he will attack the castle and men will die unnecessarily. In the show apparently he did it for a son he never even met (in the books the child was not yet born) and then orders for the tully men to arrest Blackfish…book Edmure, weak as he was, would never do that!
Ugh that was so… WTF! I felt like slapping him, so friggin stupid and weak. Who can guarantee he does have a baby son and it wasn’t just Jamie manipulating him? I agree with one poster above: if I were Blackfish, I would have killed him myself.
Not really. Jaime does threaten to trebuchet his baby (it’s an idle threat), but in the books he does it to protect the people of the castle. He makes sure Blackfish has escaped before he hands over the castle.
He’s never been the most clever person or the best commander, but book Edmure wouldn’t just hand over his people to the Freys and turn on Blackfish the way he did on the show. He’s proud to be a Tully and is loyal to his house.
I loved Bronn’s comic relief last night. I hope he is in the remainder of the episodes.
I don’t understand the love for a man. I don’t find his androgynous look hot, and he’s a religious fanatic. He gave the order for Arya to be killed, and as far as he knew it would happen. He could not have known she would survive, and I was hoping she would skewer him with Needle before she left. Good riddance to that whole story line.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m not the only one.
“Tougher women than you have tried to kill me” Love the Hound and his wit. Think Arya was one of those women he was talking about as being a baddas*. T reunion is the one I want the most out of the show.
….and die Ramsey die. Want that Psycho to die in the Battle of the Bastar**.
My husband just joined me in my long standing GOT fanaticism this season. We talk about theories and use random GOT slang to make eachother laugh. He looked at me last night after the episode and said,”I wish you had some milk of the puppy to help me get to sleep”…..I almost wet myself! He refused to believe he was wrong and that it was actually milk of the poppy. Endlessly entertaining 🙂
haaaaaahahahaha thanks for this! brightened up my day.
Ok, I haven’t seen anyone comment on this but what was Lady Crane getting from the shelf when the Waif showed up? It looked like the same bottle of poison that Arya was given to put in Lady Crane’s wine. I seriously thought that maybe Lady Crane was the Waif in disguise and getting ready to take Arya out while she was drugged. I liked the chase scene and I like that Arya survived but it rang hollow with such a serious wound. They don’t specify how much time had passed but it only seemed like a day.
I was wondering that too. It certainly wasn’t more milk of the poppy and there really isn’t anything stronger than that in Westeros. It was pretty astounding that she had some on hand. The only people we really see with it are Maesters (and unchained Maesters) and of course Gregor Clegane had an addiction to it for his headaches.
So yeah, the only other thing we tend to see kept in small bottles are poisons. It’s very odd. Possibly it was an oversight and just supposed to be some kind of healing tonic.
I’m so late on this so no one is going to see it. 🙁 but the Waif wasn’t no one either. I feel like I’m the only one who picked up on her family name.
This went over my head Stephanie, can you elaborate?
Hey Jen,
If you go back to the episode when Arya got her vision back, the waif was asking about the kill list. When the name Fray is brought up, the waif has a very strong response which leads me to believe she is one.