setsuled | Entries tagged with game of thrones

Well, that's it, no more Gamey Thrones, at least not on television anyway. It was a pleasant series finale, filled with fond farewells. Considering my least favourite character in the series ended up in charge of the Seven Kingdoms, it was pretty painless.

Spoilers after the screenshot

Do you suppose the image of that fateful bell that at last unmasked Danaerys' (Emilia Clarke) hypocrisy was meant to evoke the Liberty Bell? Considering the show once got in trouble for putting an image of George W. Bush's head on a pike, it wouldn't be the first time they made a reference to U.S. politics. If that's so, arguably Danaerys has become a metaphor for Trump, ironic considering how often people invoked her as an emblem of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. But the most ironic thing of all may have been the fact that the finale, with its hints at the beginnings of social reforms and Samwell's (John Bradley) awkward remarks, praised democracy while a petition to have the whole season rewritten has gained more than a million signatures.

Considering most of those signators would prefer a season where Danaerys was portrayed in a positive light as a conquering queen, or as one who inexplicably endorsed a republic, this is a good example of why art should not be a democracy. Though, to be fair, the show hasn't been as well written since it strayed from the source material. There are, as people have complained, too many shortcuts. Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) becoming king being a last example, as he went suddenly from being a character with no longer any apparent desire to assert himself in worldly affairs to becoming the king of the world. There's mention, indeed, of how he had no desire for the throne yet he said himself that he came "all this way" for this sole purpose.

Thinking back on "The Bells", though, it has occurred to me that Danaerys' infamous "heel turn" may have needed to not make sense. If she had done the more logical thing and gone straight for the Red Keep and Cersei (Lena Headey) then people would probably not have been horrified by her actions, even if collateral damage had included dead children. The glory of finally killing the hated Cersei and claiming ultimate power would have pleased people too much for them to worry over trifling details. That's always been a problem with democracy--tyrants tend to be popular. I'm reminded of John Milton's 1660 pamphlet, "The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth". As the hope for an English Republic fell apart because the people of England seemed to prefer the return of a monarch, Milton in exasperation speculates that perhaps sometimes the people must be forced to make the right decision.

Maybe the best historical comparison for Danaerys would after all be Oliver Cromwell, a leader who rode a wave of popularity for an ideal as a liberator and advocate for republic who then led an infamously horrific conquest of Ireland. Benioff and Weiss might have learned a lesson from that as Cromwell's motives were fundamentally tied to religion which, like Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, helps explain his seemingly incongruous actions.

It would have been nice to dwell more on Queen Danaerys and her introspection. I also would've preferred it if Drogon had killed Jon (Kit Harrington) instead of the Iron Throne, a symbolic act I should hope we're not meant to think the dragon himself understood, otherwise we'd rightly wonder why he happily obeyed Danaerys' command to slaughter children. But this was meant to be a victory lap to revel in as the show returned characters to some of their most memorable positions--Jon at the Wall, Arya (Maisie Williams) heading off for unknown adventure at sea as she did at the end of season four. Oddly, the impression I was left with was a perhaps unintentional admission by Benioff and Weiss that the show had never really progressed beyond those points. They did the best job, really, that could be expected from average television writers but there's no way anyone could match work George R.R. Martin crafted over periods of years. I guess we'll all have to learn to read again.

Twitter Sonnet #1237

With fragile words to highest seats they're led.
As em'rald hills appeared behind a mist.
And further off, a wall forestalls the dead.
The headsman's heavy sword but rarely missed.
Discussion shades the easy road and hard.
Collected thoughts ennoble wolf and cat.
Collected eggs bequeath a hopeful card.
To Queens and knaves at large who gamely chat.
When armies tread across a winter's pond.
A broken hand may yet deserve a watch.
Succeeding reigns of children stretch beyond.
A broken wheel may yet turn round a notch.
As fire melts the metal bells are toast.
A fond adieu returns the crew to ghost.

Current Mood: groggy
Current Location: The Red Keep
Current Music: "Father of Night" - Bob Dylan

Well, I hope we all learned a valuable lesson from last night's Game of Thrones, the penultimate episode of the series. I do appreciate audacity though it's nice when it makes sense. But there were some really impressive visuals that came along with the show finally putting some focus on the common people of King's Landing.

Spoilers after the screenshot

Last night was so close to brilliant. If it were just a little different, I'd have been willing to take back every bad thing I said about Benioff and Weiss. If you look back over the series, the signs that Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) might not be the most stable leader are plentiful. Her crucifying all the people in Meereen, her preference for letting her dragons roam around poaching livestock until they inevitably killed some people. And then there's the fact that, despite all Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) says about how Cersei (Lena Headey) having public policies that abuse the people, we never actually see any of it.

The worst thing we actually saw Cersei do was blow up the temple that was full of her enemies, the people who forced her to march naked through the streets while people threw garbage at her. Cersei, who's also been forced to watch all her children die. And yet, after last night's episode, one of the main complaints I saw on Twitter was that Cersei didn't suffer enough. Why did people root for Daenerys and hate Cersei? This is why last night's episode was almost brilliant, because it was the culmination of a hypothetical exercise in propaganda, on just how easily people are convinced to place their loyalty in one faction over an other. Daenerys was younger, prettier, and the point of view was with her in her sufferings.

But it doesn't really make sense that she'd rampage throughout King's Landing after everyone had surrendered. Even if she snapped and let her rage take over, it seems obvious the first thing she'd do was fly straight for the Red Keep and go for Cersei. Just like last week's episode, part of the explanation would seem to be that Benioff and Weiss just don't know how to write dragons. Now Daenerys flies over and above the ballistae, easily burning all the weapons that suddenly weren't as capable of as rapid a fire rate. Why didn't she do that last week?

And this is why internal logic is so important to the story. Ideally, to-day people should be having conversations about how populations can be misled and manipulated, but you can't make a point about how human nature works by just randomly making things up.

Anyway, it was nice seeing all the ground level stuff, Arya (Maisie Williams) running around, suddenly not seeming as godlike. The relentlessly desperate situation was well conveyed by director Miguel Sapochnik; it was like a cross between Skyrim and Children of Men.

I didn't quite buy that Arya would give up her quest for vengeance so easily but it was still a sweet moment between her and the Hound (Rory McCann).

And I was really sad to see Cersei die, but there was a powerful bittersweetness in her final embrace with Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). I suppose it was the best ending for her I could've expected. And she certainly won the moral victory, if nothing else.

Current Mood: rushed
Current Location: King's Landing
Current Music: "Imagine" (John Lennon cover) - David Bowie

After the moral clarity of a battle with the Night King, Game of Thrones delivered a more dramatically fraught episode last night, "The Last of the Starks", the best episode of the season so far and my favourite since season six.

Spoilers after the screenshot

First of all, what a great party (complete with coffee, as sharp eyed viewers observed). It was fun seeing everyone drinking and relaxing, particularly the Lannister brothers and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie). Inebriation finally brings out some of Tyrion's (Peter Dinklage) old cruelty and he loudly informs everyone that Brienne is a virgin, not an observation requiring the keenest of insights. Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), fortunately, is more of a gentleman and assists his former captor in changing this lamentable state of affairs.

This ends up being a set-up for Jaime's departure for King's Landing. There are evidentially some viewers who believe he's going off to join up with Cersei (Lena Headey) again, despite that prophecy still hanging over Cersei's head about being strangled by her brother. Though that might be difficult for Jaime to accomplish with one hand. Anyway, poor Brienne.

Before he leaves, though, we get the amusing confrontation between the Lannister brothers and Bronn (Jerome Flynn) who basically uses his order to kill the two fellows as an opportunity to demand more money. I do hope we haven't seen the last of him.

It looks like this was likely the final episode for Sam (John Bradley), Gilly (Hannah Murray), and Tormund (Kristofer Hivju), who all make their farewells, which makes sense--none of them really have any stake in Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) taking the throne. Less explicable is the departure of Ghost, the dire wolf.

He's aptly named. Watching the rarely glimpsed significant plot element from season one, he's like the ghost of the Game of Thrones we'd have had under George R. R. Martin's unfettered stewardship. Seeing the beast go for no apparent reason seemed symbolic of the show bidding farewell to its book origins finally and totally. The characters say something about Ghost having no place in the south but that doesn't explain why he can't stay at Winterfell.

At the heart of last night's episode, though, was Daenerys (in another terrific outfit), who I really started to feel for. Seeing her watch Jon (Kit Harington) being Mister Popularity at the party following her foray into cleverness by making Gendry (Joe Dempsie) a lord and then Tyrion and Varys (Conleth Hill) having a sober (despite Tyrion's vigorous attempts to drink it down) debate about her viability as a ruler all contributed to a dark cloud over her future. It made the usual paradoxes of her character a bit poignantly sad--you could sense everyone's chagrin when she demanded she could use the might of her dragons to force herself as sole reigning Queen onto the kingdom as part of a project to "end tyranny", an evident and all too common contradiction Varys points out to Tyrion as gently as possible. Everyone is finally, belatedly wondering what makes Daenerys such a good bet anyway, and even if Jorah (Iain Glen) were still alive, the writers had long since lost the will or ability to use him as her cheerleader.

And then Daenerys loses one of her dragons in another stupid surprise attack from Urine--I mean, Euron (Pilou Asbaek). A fleet of ships on a beautiful day like that ought to be visible on the horizon, long before they could get into firing range. Lookouts at Dragonstone should've been able to spot them in ample time, particularly in broad daylight, to say nothing of Daenerys' own ships or the birds eye view offered by dragons. And once Euron is in range, what exactly stops Daenerys from attacking them from behind or above? Plot armour, I guess.

I don't necessarily need a plot to make sense but in a case like this it's crucial. The reason something like the Red Wedding works and something like this doesn't is that the Red Wedding made sense. We knew everyone's motives, we knew how the Starks misread the situation, we knew how it could happen logistically. All of these questions need to be answered because it's painful for people to see their favourite characters get killed. If they get killed for no reason, it's like a cheap prank pulled by the writers. If you show reasons, then it might still be painful but the viewer is forced to recognise how it reflects the way things work in reality, which ultimately makes it a cathartic experience. This is why the best part of last night's episode was the troubling questions surrounding Daenerys' fitness to rule and Jon's complete inability to keep his heritage secret.

He is such a dope. That's part of what makes him likeable, but do people really want a dope on the throne? It might be nice for a change, I suppose. But no-one really comes off as very clever on the show anymore, I think because Benioff and Weiss simply aren't very clever. Which doesn't necessarily make them bad writers, but I wonder if they were themselves aware that Tyrion was basically responsible for Missandei's (Nathalie Emmanuel) death.

Tyrion walks up to the gates alone, Cersei wants to execute him the spot but she can't bring herself to do it. She really does love her family or, more likely, she doesn't want to be seen publicly doing something so cheap and cruel. Which is exactly why Tyrion shouldn't have publicly declared that the people hate Cersei and Cersei hates the people. After that, any concession Cersei made to Tyrion would be as much as to say, "Yeah, you're right, I do hate the people." Tyrion is talking like someone so blinded by the ideology of his chosen side he longer has any ability to negotiate. This would be more interesting if Tyrion had made one useful contribution in the past three seasons, but at this point he's another character whose capabilities we're supposed to take on faith who continually fails to demonstrate them. Tyrion forced Cersei to choose between executing Missandei and losing public support then and there.

I guess it was sad to see Missandei go. Her and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) are both really cute though not the most exciting of characters.

Anyway, it was nice to see an episode that was predominately about thoughtful debate and negotiating emotional stakes. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes next week.

Current Mood: rushed
Current Location: King's Landing
Current Music: "Ahora que soy rico" - Jose Alfredo Jimenez

In "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms", last night's new Game of Thrones, it seemed like knights and kings were all over the place. Just one place--the whole episode took place in Winterfell as characters from most of the series' disparate subplots reconnected and addressed issues before the final showdown next week. It was a nice episode and any judgement of it must be tempered by a realisation of just how much material Bryan Cogman had to untangle and put into a coherent whole.

Spoilers after the screenshot

Jorah (Iain Glen) finally has a moment with that annoying little Lyanna (Bella Ramsey) that supports the fact that they're both from family Mormont. It feels more like a bit of trivia than an emotionally meaningful moment but I don't exactly expect anything emotionally meaningful from a silly character like Lyanna. Poor Jorah still feels short changed, though. Despite having a scene where he consults with Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and mentioning that he was heartbroken about being passed over for the Hand of the Queen role, it still feels like the romantic tension that had been built up between the two in the first four seasons has just been jettisoned. It's a shame, I think Daenerys and Jorah would have much better chemistry than Daenerys and Jon (Kit Harrington).

It was kind of funny last week seeing people criticise Jon and Dany's chemistry. I kept thinking, "People are just now noticing?" Judging from the conversation between Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Daenerys, the Khaleesi still misses the man she was forced to marry who raped her on their wedding day. It's weird how no-one remembers Drogo that way, especially in this age of outrage. It goes to show how subjective all this really is.

I couldn't help thinking how nearly everything Sansa and Daenerys said to each other was, at best, not strictly accurate, particularly the part where Daenerys observed that the two of them have both done really good jobs as rulers so far. If you can call running to Littlefinger for help before betraying him and the chaotic mess that is Meereen examples of good rulership, okay. But I guess they are two politicians now.

Jon's revelation of his heritage didn't seem to sit well with Daenerys, how inconvenient he delivered it just as the Night King was spotted approaching. That's two inconvenient kings. Meanwhile, Gendry (Joe Dempsie) got a much better reaction from Arya (Maisie Williams) when he revealed he was also a secret heir to the throne. It was nice seeing those two get together.

But the most emotionally satisfying scene was probably the one that gave the episode its title; the informal fireside meeting where Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) confers a knighthood on Brienne (Gwendoline Christie). That was sweet and the same scene also had Tormund's (Kristofer Hivju) tall tale about how he got the name "Giantsbane" and ended with Podrick's (Daniel Portman) debut of a new Florence and the Machine song. Kind of an odd song for a kid like him to be singing and not one to exactly raise anyone's spirits but still a very nice moment reminiscent of Pippin singing to King Denethor in Return of the King. Which reminded me of reading an interview with Benioff and Weiss where one or the other said that the upcoming Battle of Winterfell was meant to outdo the Battle of Helm's Deep from The Two Towers. I guess we'll see next week.

This seems like a good time for me to make predictions. Just don't blame me if you lose money. Next week I think Cersei's army will show up and save everyone. I think Brienne might get killed. I suspect the climax of the season will have it looking like Cersei's definitely going to be sitting on the Iron Throne until Jon sacrifices his life which somehow will lead to Daenerys taking the throne. And Daenerys will then either end up with Jorah or Tyrion (Peter Dinklage). Probably Tyrion. I'd like either one, though I sure feel bad for Jorah. I bet Iain Glen's happy he negotiated for the "With Iain Glen" in the opening credits way back when this looked like just another HBO series.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Winterfell
Current Music: "War Child" - Blondie

Happy Birthday to my fellow Aries, Maisie Williams, and congratulations on having been in a pretty decent premiere to Game of Thrones, season eight last night. That's the most expensive show on television, aren't you lucky? But despite the show still moving generally away from the character drama it used to be to become more of a blockbuster spectacle, "Winterfell", the premiere, written by Dave Hill and directed by David Nutter, had several nice moments where the characters felt more like themselves than they did for the entirety of last season. And there was a nicely eerie climax.

Spoilers after the screenshot

I've come to accept my isolation in wanting Cersei (Lena Headey) to come out on top at the end of the series. Even Lena Headey has called her evil in an interview. I still think she's gotten a bad rap. It was particularly disappointing seeing her sleep with that Ramsey wannabe, Urine Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek). Sorry, yes, I mean Euron. I promise I don't laugh every time someone says his name. Just most of the time.

I suppose I shouldn't judge Cersei too harshly. Despite working hard all her life to protect her family, all of them have either died or betrayed her, with her brother/lover Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) being in the last nail in the coffin. Though he was pretty annoying all last season and there was the time he raped her over the corpse of their son (but it wasn't supposed to be rape, according to the writers and director, it just looked that way to everyone watching). So she's bound to not be making the best choices in her current emotional state, and Urine, I mean Euron, certainly seems like that sort of bad choice.

Headey's real life ex, Jerome Flynn, appeared in the episode as the loveable cutthroat Bronn, though not in a scene with her, of course, due to the ongoing real life drama between the two. Qyburn (Anton Lesser) acts as proxy, delivering to him a crossbow so he can assassinate Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Jaime. Why she would entrust this job to the guy who serves her only because he was loyal to Jaime, who served him mainly because he was loyal to Tyrion, I really don't know. It's not hard to guess how that's going to end up. Maybe she deliberately chose a bad assassin because on some level she doesn't want Tyrion or Jaime dead.

Tyrion continues to be relegated to the role of chorus, basically doing little more than recapping or commenting on events in this episode, but he does have a brief reunion with his sort-of wife, Sansa (Sophie Turner). Like most of the many reunions in this episode, it only has time to touch on a few points but it was nice seeing them being polite to each other.

I really liked Arya (Maisie Williams) reuniting with Jon (Kit Harrington); it was a moment where you could see she was still the girl she used to be, she still loves poor Jon. Poor Jon, whose general job on the series remains to know nothing. She looks on him a little pityingly because he doesn't know she has superpowers yet. He's dumbfounded when the northern clans don't understand why he gave up his crown. He doesn't know how to ride a dragon, giving Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) plenty of opportunities to smirk at him in a pretty cool dragon riding sequence. And, finally, he doesn't know he's king of the whole damn world.

One day, Jon's going to get the drop on someone else. He's so overdue for it.

Arya's reunion with the Hound (Rory McCann) wasn't quite as satisfying but it would have felt kind of wrong if it were. It's been so long since I saw her with Gendry (Joe Dempsie) I don't remember much about their relationship. But she gave him my favourite line of the episode, "You don't know any other rich girls." It made up a little bit for her calling Sansa the smartest woman she knows. Did Sansa ever do anything clever? Maybe I would need to hate Littlefinger in order to see it.

I loved the moment with the kid pinned to the wall near the end, just when I was thinking, "Damn, not another fucking kid lord." I'm not sure why the White Walkers would bother sending a message, though.

Altogether, a nice enough premiere.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Winterfell
Current Music: "Independence Day" - Ani DiFranco

Sunday night concluded the season of Game of Thrones with the greatest number of viewers by far--the season finale had over twelve million viewers, easily beating the nearly nine million who viewed last season's finale. At the same time, this has been the most critically disliked season with many reviews talking about the logical problems that are seriously undercutting character dynamics and development. Yet, "The Dragon and the Wolf" did have some good character material, though it mostly didn't come from any dragons or wolves but from lions.

Spoilers after the screenshot

Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) didn't have a whole lot to do this episode apart from deciding to show up to the big meeting on a dragon and then to fall for Jon (Kit Harrington), making sure that, whoever ends up on the Iron Throne, it'll probably be someone who likes having sex with blood relatives.

Jon's most interesting moment was deciding to stick to his guns and not hide his pledged fealty to Daenerys. He makes a good point that if people keep lying all the time, sooner or later people won't be able to trust anything and everything will break down. Though the opposing view, that the immediate threat from the White Walkers seems even more likely to do that, is good, too. It's a genuine conundrum.

Effective surprise is a tricky thing to pull off with characters and it demands that the audience have some kind of grip on their personalities beforehand. That's why the surprise in Littlefinger's (Aidan Gillen) execution was especially unsatisfying--the retconning of the Vale's loyalty was too recently implemented for people to think they'd easily believe Littlefinger's guilty of so many crimes just because Sansa (Sophie Turner) said so. It makes sense that Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) would be the only one who knew about Littlefinger's crimes but everyone taking his word takes too much as read. But, of course, the point is to get characters out of the way, not to explore characters. I keep being reminded I don't got my head right when I see things like the Unsullied and the Dothraki marching together and I find myself wondering how these two vastly different cultures get along and how Daenerys maintains her relationship with them.

By the way, I don't think Jorah (Iain Glen) has a single line in this episode. Is there anyone among those twelve million viewers who's disappointed the romantic tension that had been built up for years between him and Daenerys has just been entirely ignored this season? I think Glen's much better looking than Harrington, but I guess that's just me. It did at least seem like there was maybe a suggestion of Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) pining for Daenerys at the end, which was the relationship I was fantasising about more, so that was kind of nice.

But Tyrion was one half of my favourite scene in the episode. Here's where the surprise was effective--at first I thought, there's no way Tyrion could honestly expect to go into a room with Cersei (Lena Headey) and come out alive. But when he did, it didn't feel dishonest, it felt like I was seeing his genuine insight into an aspect of Cersei's personality that hadn't been totally clear before. That's the kind of surprise I like.

It's surprising given how much we know she hates Tyrion but it's believable because of how we know she feels about her family. Still, a lot of the credit has to go to the actors for pulling off the delicate balancing act in this scene. The tension when Tyrion goes to pour drinks for the two of them is great--he's gambled and he's won but he knows exactly how close it was.

It's slightly less effective when Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) makes the same gambit and I'd rather Jaime stayed by Cersei's side instead of going into exile, though maybe now that she doesn't have any kind of foil her character will transmute in interesting ways.

Anyway, I should mention the cgi was pretty spectacular. So, well done, digital effects people. Now that they've killed so many people off, I wonder who they'll kill next season.

Shit, they're through the Wall already. It's going to take Jon and Daenerys at least twenty five minutes to get their armies up there.

Twitter Sonnet #1028

An aviator tempted paper bags.
The quicker clock combined with gold and gin.
On all the marble toes are linen tags.
To choose the rising sand is not to sin.
In tears of melted plastic came the deck.
Forgetful hands return to gloves unknown.
Behind the careful tongue's a traitor tech.
And by a thousand lights the road is shown.
The sleekest shadow swam the aether up.
Escaped into a pocket shot through space.
In nervous ease she took her coffee cup.
Inside her cuff, an endless linking race.
The band affixed itself to straw for good.
A thousand tramping leaves the walking wood.

Current Mood: hot
Current Location: King's Landing
Current Music: "Sneaky Feelings" - Elvis Costello

If you're looking for spectacle, you needn't have looked further than Sunday night's new Game of Thrones. The rapid pace of the new season may have sacrificed anything remotely resembling logic but it's led to some undeniably great visuals. Plus "Beyond the Wall" spared some time for character dialogue and the old fashioned tale of a good handsome king and a good beautiful queen falling for each other.

Spoilers after the screenshot

So for anyone like me who was still holding a candle for Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) getting together, those hopes were truly dashed when Daenerys said Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) was "too little". She obviously was sorry to offend Tyrion but clearly the massive Kal Drogo has adjusted her standards. As Tyrion points out, Drogo, the man who raped her after she was forced to marry him, eventually fell in love with her. And Tyrion's picked up on Jon's love, too. Fortunately Jon seems to have made up for his short stature with his trademark guileless urge to do good at any cost.

Once again, that miserable Nibelung, Tyrion, tries to give Daenerys some "strategy" she knows in her heart not to heed and she rushes off to save Jon along with a few other really good guys, including her old right hand man, Jorah (Iain Glen). Suggestions that he might be in love with her have so far been tamped down this season but I still wonder if there'll be any conflict between him and Jon over it. Though the two of them seem to have nothing but respect for each other, as when it occurs to Jon way out in the icy wilderness to give Jorah his sword. It's a shame Jon didn't think of this back at the Eastwatch armoury or maybe on the long voyage up from Dragonstone to the Wall--but, I promised myself I wouldn't harp too much on this episode's logical problems. I used to feel basically alone in doing that but it seems practically every review I read can't avoid discussing them now. A lot of people seem stuck on the fact that the White Walkers had massive chains to pull the dead dragon out of the water. I was more stuck on the fact that the undead still haven't heard of archery. Or any kind of ranged attack.

Well, except for that Darth Maul guy and his dragon killing ice javelins.

Which is why the only logical problem that really bothered me was wondering why the hell the dragons didn't breathe fire on that guy. And it bothered me because I really was invested in Daenerys and I felt bad when one of her children got killed. There's nothing more frustrating than a beloved character's pain being exacerbated by something that doesn't make any sense. It makes me disengage. To quote an Elvis Costello lyric, "You say I got no feelings, well this is a good way to kill them."

But it was cool seeing dragons fighting White Walkers. And what gorgeous locations.

Meanwhile, at Winterfell, Sansa (Sophie Turner) discovers Arya's (Maisie Williams) face stash (not a moustache, I mean a hoard of faces). I loved how the two seemed like kids again when they argued and one suspects Arya is a little right about Sansa's vanity--part of her still is the little girl who wants the fairy tale ending. And the natural feelings of rivalry between two siblings have been exacerbated in Arya by the fact that she's learned not to trust anyone, which was a nice touch. I noticed the writers are starting to retcon the motives of the Vale troops, emphasising that they came to fight for Sansa and not Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen). This undermines the basic drama from last season--the whole reason Sansa didn't want to call for aid from the Vale was because she didn't want to be indebted to Littlefinger. But at least it makes it so she has a legitimate claim to a position of authority beyond her heritage.

Current Mood: rushed
Current Location: A snowy place
Current Music: "Carnegie Hall Concert Brown Belly"- Duke Ellington

Some people seemed surprised last week when Arya wasn't able to successfully go unseen by Littlefinger on Game of Thrones. I'm not entirely sure if we're supposed to take her as a master of stealth or if her apparent lack of skill is quite intentional. I'm leaning towards the latter after having looked back over some of my reviews from previous seasons. I really hope it's the latter because then her story makes a lot more sense. Although HBO themselves accidentally leaked to-night's episode last week, I've been good and haven't watched it yet so for all I know many of you reading will see I've already been proved wrong. Either way, I would argue Arya discovering that stealing a magic trick is no substitute for study and training is a much better story.

Back in season five, I was already noticing Arya (Maisie Williams) had a tendency to stare directly at her targets with a pretty telling facial expression. She soon went even further by following her targets around with a wheelbarrow of fish, still staring directly at them and not even pretending to be trying to sell anyone anything.

After being blinded for stealing the magic face changing ability to kill an unsanctioned target--significantly, Arya couldn't have done the job without stealing the magic--she's blinded and starts training as a blind fighter. At this point, George R.R. Martin had set up Arya's life as a series of crushing disappointments but I still had hope that she might become the Zatoichi of Westeros. She starts to get a little better at fighting the Waif (Faye Marsay) with a quarterstaff but her sight is restored before she gets really good at it. Her training with the sword from season one seems to have made her a good fighter when she can see so it doesn't seem like anything was really gained from the blind training.

Here's Arya once again with her patented "I'm undisguisedly dangerous and solemn" stare on her first big post-blindness mission among a theatre troupe. I got my first sign that Arya's incompetence might have actually been intentional when her target, Lady Crane (Essie Davis), actually calls her on it. She actually notices how conspicuous Arya is among the others back stage. Which should be no surprise. While everyone else gabs and bustles about with jobs to do, Arya is busy being silent and staring while moving props and costumes.

Having botched this mission and taken the side of her target, it seems Arya's now going to be a target herself of the Faceless Ones. She seems quite inspired when she comes to this decision, taking a moment to enjoy a sea breeze and immediately falling prey to an assassin.

This all led up to a final confrontation between Arya and the Waif that finally brought the Faceless Ones plot to a conclusion. At what point in any of the episodes I went over above did Arya learn to be good at stealth? She never did. At the time I listed these problems with the climax and conclusion:

1) Assassin from the greatest assassin guild in the world stabs Arya in the gut multiple times and fails to kill her. 2) An actress stitches up what ought to be a fatal gut wound and uses the healing power of opium. 3) The assassin is forced to chase Arya through the streets in broad daylight because of her incompetence. 4) Jaqen says Arya is finally No One just because Arya killed the girl who was trying to kill her which kind of suggests the whole creed is a bullshit veneer for the typical king of the hill set up.

And indeed, now that Arya's at Winterfell in a position of recognised authority, there's nothing about her that suggests she's become "No-One". What has Arya taken from the whole experience with the Faceless Ones? A magic power to change her face. That's it. So far this season Arya's made no mention or reference to those events or how she might have digested the philosophy of the Faceless Ones.

Throughout the first four seasons, we saw Arya's descent into an increasingly desperate struggle to survive while nurturing a growing worship of death itself. Which is no surprise given that death had been the most persistent and powerful influence on her life. The Faceless One plot at first seemed to be about the death of identity but since it was never properly resolved this aspect of Arya's character development also seems to be in limbo. At this point, I would be very satisfied if Arya found she had to pay a price for having skipped so many lessons. I think it could be the only thing that would make her interesting again.

Twitter Sonnet #1025

The perfect photos made the meals for us.
In deed and thought the bending sky was seen.
Awakened by cathedrals in a bus.
In normal pods we called the hero "Bean".
Beside the glowing phone were pictures watched.
There's nothing for the couch we patched at dawn.
If sofas stay then stools and stoops were botched.
Arrange the chairs in rows as though they're gone.
Remembered mountains made their oats complete.
In striving to enrich the bud we grew.
Like nothing monarch Rand can just compete.
The polished stone returned when rock came true.
Behind their glasses reddened bottles walk.
Outside the eyes a rider's come to knock.

Current Mood: hungry
Current Location: Behind a crate
Current Music: "Reunited" Legend OST - Jerry Goldsmith

And everyone continues riding a plot bullet train on the newest Game of Thrones. By the end of "Eastwatch", Sunday's new episode written by Dave Hill, almost no-one is even close to where they were at the beginning of the episode. Some people even managed to get into King's Landing and back. Filled with some nice moments and, as usual, gorgeous locations, I think my current favourite character is Davos (Liam Cunningham).

Spoilers after the screenshot

It was fun seeing him work his smuggler's magic, fast talking those couple of soldiers with some mythical viagra seafood. It's a shame Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) had to blunder out--and in a recognisable scarf, no less.

It was nice that Tyrion and Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) could meet up again to discuss the events that led to Tyrion's escape from King's Landing, in particular Tyrion's killing of their father. It's hard for Jaime to take but it's clear he kind of gets where Tyrion is coming from. It's a little hint of the family drama that made Tyrion such a great character back in the show's heyday. Now I guess I'm the only one still holding a candle for a relationship between him and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). But she clearly has eyes for Jon (Kit Harington).

Who says Game of Thrones doesn't give life lessons? Here's a tip, lads--you want to please the woman of your dreams, learn to pet the raging dragon between her legs in a gentle and respectful manner. I'm not being ironic when I say I felt like there was a nice erotic undertone to that scene.

But then the old slow burning romantic flame Jorah (Iain Glen) shows up unexpectedly and he and Jon are shipped off to beyond the Wall. Wow, I'm dizzy just from how much ground was covered in that sentence. I wonder if we'll be getting some suitor rivalry between Jon and Jorah.

All these people and armies moving all over the continent, presumably a lot more time is passing than it seems, but Cersei's (Lena Headey) hair still hasn't grown.

Maybe she likes it short. I'm looking forward to seeing her meet Daenerys. Wouldn't it be great if they became friends? Oh, come on, that would be great. Wouldn't it? Well, I guess there's the matter of them both wanting the Iron Throne. Cersei believes that her choices are either losing the war and dying and surrendering and dying so it makes sense she's willing to parley especially now that she's pregnant. She doesn't know yet that Daenerys was willing to spare any of the Lannister allies who bent the knee to her--it would be interesting to find out what Cersei would do if she did know. I don't quite follow the logic that it's better to roast uncooperative families alive than imprison them, especially when Daenerys has her father's reputation to live down.

Do I need to even point out how improbable Jaime's escape was and how silly it was he and Bronn (Jerome Flynn) were cosily chatting on the riverbank? Okay, didn't think so. There's not really any point anymore pointing this stuff out.

I do really like that the show owns up to the fact that Arya (Maisie Williams) is terrible at stealth as Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) easily outmanoeuvres her. Though the fact that he didn't destroy Sansa's message kind of makes it obvious he wanted Arya to find it. I'm not sure why he wants to create a rift between the sisters other than a general desire to sow chaos. Which, as we know, is a ladder. I still find it hard to believe he really wants the Iron Throne, though. As William S. Burroughs put it:

I never wanted to be a front man like Harding or Nixon–taking the rap, shaking hands, and making speeches all day, family reunions once a year. Who in his right mind would want a job like that? As commissioner of sewers I would not be called upon to pet babies, make speeches, shake hands, have lunch with the queen; in fact, the fewer voters who knew of my existence, the better. Let kings and Presidents keep the limelight. I prefer a whiff of coal gas as the sewers rupture for miles around

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Dragonstone
Current Music: "Rapture" - Blondie

Sunday's new Game of Thrones, "The Spoils of War", was the most satisfying in quite a while for me and my favourite Event Battle episode since "Blackwater". It was a vivid exercise of one of the best, distinguishing qualities of Game of Thrones--a portrayal of a conflict where there are reasons to like both sides.

Spoilers after the screenshot

Hey, is that Monument Valley? I can't seem to find any site that directly states what filming locations were used but there are plenty of articles comparing Daenerys' (Emilia Clarke) and her Dothrakis' surprise attack to a Western. Including this interview with the episode's director, Miguel Sapochnik, who says he drew inspiration in part from John Ford's Stagecoach. It makes sense--maybe Fort Apache would make even more sense--the Dothraki versus a wagon train of Lannister soldiers is kind of like Apaches versus a group of out-of-their-depth U.S. army.

This is the third surprise attack this season, the first one to benefit Daenerys. I would send a memo to both sides stressing the usefulness of scouts and lookouts, there's no reason a massive army of Dothraki shouldn't have been spotted sooner. How Daenerys knew to attack this group and when she decided to is another question that most reviews seem to be skipping over. The initial reactions I saw weren't about how it seemed like a Western but about how Daenerys is finally kicking ass now that she's stopped listening to Tyrion's (Peter Dinklage) clever plans. Is attacking the soldiers conducting spoils back to King's Landing not clever?

Daenerys mentions on the beach earlier in the episode that Lannisters are looting the granaries in the Reach. But the only idea we hear Daenerys put forward is attacking the Red Keep. There are a lot of strategic advantages to attacking the loot train--Daenerys gets to demonstrate the power of her dragons with minimal risk to civilians, also dispatching men who'd been terrorising farmers in the process. She also undercuts Cersei's (Lena Headey) standing with Tycho Nestoris (Mark Gatiss) and the Iron Bank. It's so clearly a good idea that if Tyrion didn't see it it wasn't because he was being clever. Possibly we'll find out next week he was blinded by his lingering affection for Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) as Daenerys seemed to be implying.

Certainly this was one of the highlights of the season so far, watching poor Tyrion watching Jaime being a fucking, tragic idiot. At least Tyrion has good dramatic material even if this isn't turning out to be the season where he'll finally be useful. Still, we don't technically know whose idea this attack was, it would be kind of fascinating if it turned out to be his.

It was also a good idea to have Bronn (Jerome Flynn) be the one who fires off that anti-dragon ballista. It was good to see Bronn again, everyone's favourite amoral, merry man and seeing him against other characters we like is a nice, sobering highlight of the basic ugliness of conflict, if all those roasting soldiers wasn't enough. It would have been nice to have another scene like Arya's (Maisie Williams) encounter with the regular joe Lannister soldiers from a few episodes back but the juxtaposition is still there. Aside from Ed Sheeran, whom I think few of us would mind seeing roasted, it was a nice way of showing these guys have little understanding of the lofty games of conquest and politics played by their superiors. This makes Jaime, and his reluctance to let his men be flogged, all the more effective a counterpoint to Daenerys. Yes, Daenerys avoided civilian casualties, but in the end, slaughter is never pretty.

It might be a pyrrhic victory, too, if it turns out to mean the death of Drogon Dragon, though it really doesn't look like a mortal wound to me.

Meanwhile, at Winterfell, in the drastically less interesting part of the episode, the Starks continue to be dull. The reunion of Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya was diminished by the bad writing both characters have been victims of for the past couple seasons. I can just imagine the conversation:

ARYA: "So how've you been?"

SANSA: "Well, I was still the same idealistic, foolish girl you remember until I was raped, then people started acting like I was a genius, though the only thing I've done so far is ask Littlefinger for help winning the Battle of the Bastards without telling Jon. You?"

ARYA: "I went to train to be a master assassin but I got impatient and stole their magic and came home. I'm now a master assassin who rides openly through Lannister territory."

Nevertheless, the sparring match between Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) and Arya was pretty cool and well choreographed. And the two have the beginnings of some nice chemistry.

I'm still not sure why everyone's being so openly rude to Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen). Apart from not being very grateful to the man who saved them in the Battle of the Bastards, what is it exactly they blame Littlefinger for? He didn't force Sansa to marry Ramsey and for all we know he really didn't know he was a psychopath. Do they know he betrayed Ned in season one?

Twitter Sonnet #1021

In tapered mugs the coffee points below.
A shining dress adorns a cloudless arm.
The marching flags proclaim a cooking glow.
Penne appeals beneath the crumbled parm.
Foretold like laundry spirals make the sun.
Against no other blanket paces match.
In duels they're much too destined to be stunned.
A forceful flower chomps the pollen batch.
Across transparent cakes grew frosting stones.
Upon the month of romping glitch it blooms.
The text received displayed in vision bones.
A building closely gripped the walking rooms.
Accounts portrayed collected courts in grass.
A plastic double chin was served with sass.

Current Mood: hungry
Current Location: Westeros
Current Music: "I'll Always Love You (Day After Day)" - Dean Martin

Sunday's new Game of Thrones continued into the lightning round, as well it might considering this season is almost half over already. Major events are rushed through more to get from one plot point to another than to savour them and what they mean to the characters and most of the dialogue scenes were formulaic. But there were some satisfying exchanges, particularly involving Daenerys, Jon, and Tyrion.

Spoilers after the screenshot

As the show has drifted further from George R.R. Martin's material, the dialogue has very often consisted of a familiar repeated pattern--whiny person versus cool, smug person. Characters often contort well outside their previously established personalities just so Benioff and Weiss, who wrote "The Queen's Justice", Sunday's episode, can make the pattern work. Varys (Conleth Hill), who was once the figure of cool, collected, and scheming, is obliged to become Whiny to Melisandre's (Carice van Houten) Smug so she can lay him flat with that prophetic line about how the two of them are destined to die in Westeros.

Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) has been playing Whiny consistently since about the middle of last season. "The Queen's Justice" ends with him paired with Olenna (Diana Rigg) in the Smug role who delivers her argument, about how she's been ruthless and cruel but Cersei's more ruthless and cruel so she's doomed, with such confidence it almost seems like it makes sense. We have Diana Rigg to thank for that, the show will certainly be poorer for her absence.

Another departure, and this was news to me when I read it in the Wikipedia article, is Ellaria Sand, played by Indiria Varma, who's quoted as saying, "Obviously there’s lots of trimming going on. It’s all coming to a head and you have to get rid of less important characters that the audience hasn’t had the chance to invest in as much. So I was expecting it. I wasn’t heartbroken. And I was like, 'As long as I die on screen…' and they were like 'Yeah!' But of course I don’t die on screen. I stay alive, I’m just not going to reappear. I think it’s really clever." It feels more like a loose thread to me. Despite the fact that she's gagged in her final scene, she basically occupies the Whiny role for Cersei (Lena Headey) to explain her wicked plan for tormenting her and her daughter, which was nowhere near as harsh as I was expecting.

Cersei was almost edged into Whiny herself when Euron (Pilou Asbaek) delivered his prisoners by Jaime valiantly stepped into the role for her. Though Jaime actually made a good point about how capricious the favour of the mob is he wasn't even allowed this moment of wisdom as Euron was already aware of this, too, and one upped him on it. Euron is taking over from Ramsay as the ridiculous supervillain and we witnessed his fleet's miraculous power again this week when it bamfed in among the Unsullied ships. Wasn't the attack on Casterly Rock supposed to take place at the same time as Yara's assault on King's Landing? That Euron sure gets around. With a fleet.

The dialogue between Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Jon (Kit Harrington) was largely saved from falling into the pattern partly because the Authority role is too hard wired into Daenerys and partly due to Emilia Clarke's performance. She has gotten to be a much, much better actress in the past three years. I don't know if it's acting coaching or greater passion for her work but it's good to see. Jon presenting the problem of the White Walkers continues to feel like a metaphor for climate change but it being paired with a reference to events that make Jon a Christ-figure adds an interesting moral context to it. One could say that in reality the two things are in opposition--the right wing tends to maintain faith that climate change isn't real despite the evidence, here Jon is a figure of faith asking for faith in the absence of evidence. In a way, this works since many on the right consider science a matter of faith. Which is, of course, depressing.

I had to laugh when Jon said the game of thrones was basically like a bunch of children squabbling since that's exactly how I've described his arguments with Sansa (Sophie Turner) at Winterfell. My eyebrows were certainly raised when Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) described Sansa as smarter than she lets on and this week it seemed like Benioff and Weiss really were trying to make her seem smart now but only by lowering the intelligence of everyone around her. This week we see she's somehow the only one who's thought of storing sufficient food and, bizarrely, the only one whose thought of padding plate armour with leather. I would think if the armour smith wasn't doing this already it would be for a good reason, like maybe there's not enough leather for that. There is a lot of leather on the show, though, so I'm pretty sure there's already a suggestion of cattle being slaughtered in unrealistic quantities anyway.

We then see Sansa transfixed by Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) basically telling her to anticipate all scenarios. Since this isn't a particularly amazing piece of advice, the fact that Sansa seems so absorbed made me think, "Wow, she's falling in love with him." Which I suppose I'm probably not supposed to think. But who knows? I think it would be great if they actually became a couple.

Final thought: who's the Romulan working for Cersei?

Current Mood: hungry
Current Location: Dragonstone
Current Music: "No 6 The Coombe" - The Chieftains

Here's Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen from Sunday night's new Game of Thrones, arguably the two most prominent characters in the ensemble series, played by two actors who weren't at Comic Con. Which is fine, there's no reason anyone should have to face the heat and crowds if they don't want to, but I'd have been angry if I'd waited all night to get into Hall H for the Game of Thrones panel which didn't have much to compensate for not having any of the writers, directors, or most popular stars. Not to mention the whole thing, of course, ended up on YouTube anyway:

Watch on YouTube

There are some cute, slightly awkward exchanges between Gwendoline Christie, who plays Brienne of Tarth, and moderator Kristian Nairn. But for me the highlight of the panel was Nathalie Emmanuel's blue lipstick.

Liam Cunningham was pretty funny, I'll say that. I am glad I didn't have to wait all night to see the panel--I didn't expect to get in, I was aiming for the Twin Peaks panel that immediately followed it, but it was a good thing I did get in because I heard later they didn't clear Hall H fast enough after the Game of Thrones panel to get everyone into the room for the beginning of the Twin Peaks panel. For some reason, all the most popular television series were scheduled for the same day in Hall H this year, beginning with Big Bang Theory followed by Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and Twin Peaks. I suppose the fact that a massive number of people left after the Walking Dead panel indicates that show is still more popular than Game of Thrones, though maybe it's just a reflection of the fact that more of the main cast was on hand for the Walking Dead panels. Certainly, Game of Thrones is a better show than Walking Dead at this point as Sunday's beautiful new episode, "Stormborn", written by Bryan Cogman, demonstrated, flawed though it was.

Spoilers after the screenshot

I feel like we ought to have seen Grey Worm's (Jacob Anderson) grey worm, or lack thereof, just to maintain Missandei's (Nathalie Emmanuel) POV and give us a visual idea of what they were dealing with. I would have liked there to be a little more awkwardness about the oral sex, too. Would Grey Worm really know what to do right away? Her explaining to him what to do would've been a nice way to develop the dynamics of this relationship but as it is it was a pretty scene.

I want to thank the show for finally putting Missandei and Melisandre (Carice van Houten) in a room together, hopefully now I'll stop getting their names mixed up.

It was nice to see Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) finally being given something to do in this episode, Daenerys' (Emilia Clarke) whole war strategy apparently coming from him, though Olenna (Diana Rigg) almost immediately undercuts him and the conclusion of the episode makes her seem pretty smart. It really feels like Tyrion's story ended when he killed his father and he's mostly been treading water ever since, which is fine--I'd rather he slip into a supporting role than for the writers to force a bigger story on him, but I do miss the dynamics he was part of in King's Landing.

To be fair to him, I don't think there's any way he could have predicted what happened at the end. A potentially better sex scene between Yara (Gemma Whelan) and Ellaria (Indira Varma) is interrupted when apparently Euron's (Pilou Asbaek) entire fleet, with flaming catapults, somehow got the drop on Yara's ship, presumably the flagship of her fleet.

What a pretty battle sequence. It's a little hard to follow the action once those embers are falling everywhere but that gives you some idea of how disorientating it would be for someone involved, the show here following its own lessons from "The Battle of the Bastards".

It's a little hard to accept what happened, though; there's not much about it that makes sense. So Euron promises to deliver a gift to Cersei (Lena Headey), apparently this was meant to be Ellaria. Why a gift from him is required I'm not sure since Cersei seemed quite open to an alliance. But he acquires this gift by wiping out the invading navy so he's basically done the job he was hoping to get by delivering this gift. And he did it by sailing his fleet into the middle of Yara's fleet with huge flames on his ships. These ships also continue firing on Yara's ship long after Euron and his men have boarded it.

That Euron is one lucky guy. I guess Theon (Alfie Allen) has some luck for once, too, as he seems to have survived the battle by jumping overboard. Presumably they're not that far out to sea?

Meanwhile, Arya (Maisie Williams) continues to fail at keeping a low profile but I loved her scene with the wolf pack and her reunion with her dire wolf. Most of the trademark Stark stupidity seemed to be at Winterfell where Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) were once again squabbling like children in front of their court.

I don't think Jon has once put forward an idea that most people in the room liked. Maybe it's a good thing he's leaving though Sansa hasn't exactly shown herself to be a great leader. Still, you can't do much worse than Jon who assaulted and threatened the very dangerous Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) for no reason and then let him live. With the enemies Jon let live last week, he's certainly living up to his reputation for knowing nothing. If he doesn't get himself killed for real this season I'll be very surprised.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: A castle
Current Music: "Adonais" - The Cure

Well, it's time once again to play the Game of Thrones. Sunday's premiere got season seven off to kind of a meek start. As usual for a first episode of the season, a lot of time was spent refreshing the viewer on the previous season but even for that it seemed like it waffled quite a bit.

Spoilers after the screenshot

The splashiest moment came at the beginning when David Bradley turned out to be Arya Stark, following up her turn as Titus Andronicus with a simpler mass poisoning. It was fun watching Arya's glee on David Bradley's face but Maisie Williams soon resumes Arya duties.

Once again I get the sense she would be the world's most inept assassin if she hadn't stolen magic powers. She doesn't even have a story ready when she's asked why she's going to King's Landing and her encounter with Ed Sheeran's band of Lannister soldiers seems to indicate this is the first time she's even thought about the fact that the common footsoldiers are just regular people unattached to the machinations of Lannister nobility. I guess that's the kind of thing she was supposed to be learning when she was posing as fish monger. But, no thanks, Arya wants the good grades without having to actually learn anything.

I always used to say the Starks were the dullest characters on the show except for Arya. But after her dramatic seaborne departure from Westeros a couple seasons ago she's done her best to take over the legacy of Stark dullness.

Meanwhile, Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Jon (Kit Harrington) are squabbling in front of a full council. Sansa wants to massacre the whole families of traitors, Jon wants to leave them in charge, no one suggests imprisoning them. I am still so on Team Cersei (Lena Headey).

I feel especially bad for her now that Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is constantly whining. When she says the Freys were untrustworthy allies, Jaime argues it's better to have untrustworthy allies than none, nevermind Cersei wasn't saying anything to the contrary. Then when Cersei brings in Urine (sorry, Euron) Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek), suddenly Jaime's complaining they're not good enough. You want to wait for a perfect ally now, Jaime? Can Cersei do anything right with you? Why not try being supportive?

My favourite section was Samwell (John Bradley) having to do menial chores in maester training. I've always said I wanted to see more of the mundane stuff in Westeros and here it is. I love how the food he serves is almost indistinguishable from the stuff in the chamber pots he collects. Of course, the plot doesn't make much sense--if Samwell can't look at the forbidden books, what's the harm in someone else looking up how to defeat the White Walkers, like Jim Broadbent's character, who says he believes Sam? It seems like a pretty artificial roadblock to draw things out. It is nice seeing Jim Broadbent. After Jonathan Pryce and Peter Vaughan I wonder if eventually every cast member from Brazil will appear on Game of Thrones. I'm looking forward to seeing Katherine Helmond, if that's the case.

Once again, the show has some amazing costumes and locations.

Twitter Sonnet #1014

The cherry fish in chambers parsed for rice
Upheld the pickle yard, contorted keys
Involved in island growth assort the mice
From small to smaller graces make the trees.
Domestic pop imports a soda can,
In quarters clamped to pin machines affirmed
In shining blue or red or metal tan,
Though some say copper, bronze, or gold's confirmed.
No fleece affronted fifty clicking claws
Impounded by the stalks of dreamy crabs
Collecting coin for church's certain law
Or buying frames to make the metal cabs.
The sounds of mallets make the hollow beat.
In storms, the lounge has grown the softest seat.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Westeros
Current Music: "Tombstone Blues" - Bob Dylan