Game of Thrones (Season 6)

[DavidSeven]

Tremendous episode.

They've done some really bad, deathly boring battle episodes, usually coming around this time in the season. I thought they did this one right, finally finding the right balance of drama, spectacle and stakes. Helps that the scenes outside of Winterfell were really strong, too.

[amberlita]

Are we supposed to assume that Sansa knew they were coming? These people communicate by flimsily tying torn parchments on birds and letting them fly off, hoping against all fuckery that there isn't any connection error (aka arrows). It's not like we saw her getting a read receipt or one of those three blinking dots indicating that Baelish was composing a reply.

Har har but why the hell would she even need such knowledge to simply mention the fucking possibility of more men coming so Jon could, I dunno, weigh some options? "Hey Jon, I don't trust him any further than I can throw him, but he did promise to help, I sent for him, maybe we could wait a day or two and maybe you could stop shitting all over my ideas about having more men as ludicrously futile because, actually, there ARE more men we could get." It could still be a compelling scenario while avoiding the plot contrivance. Jon and Co. determine they can't afford to wait because I dunno Ramsay offers Rickon's balls in a basket to Jon at the parlay or whatever. Can easily remove the plot contrivance that undermines the entire battle's premise.

Greater writing sins have been committed and I could ignore this one if it: a.) wasn't totally unnecessary, and b.) didn't make either Jon or Sansa look like a moron.

Anyway...the Mereen summit was pretty sweet.

[Watashi]

My only problem with this season is the complete lack of scope of travel around Westeros. In the books and in early seasons, you get an idea how many days/months it takes to get from Winterfell to the Wall or to Kings Landing. Nowadays, Yara made it all the way to Mereen in an episode and a half. I wouldn't be surprised if Arya is already in Winterfell by the next episode.

[Raiders]

I think it is best we not judge Sansa's actions just yet. Perhaps amber will prove right that it was just some dramatic malarky that she doesn't say anything... but also perhaps she was considering that if the Knights of the Vale do actually show up, it would be best for her if Jon and his wildling army were destroyed first, leaving her an uncontested ruler of the North with her "allies" from the Eyrie the only ones left standing. She didn't exactly look happy Jon survived.

Littlefinger is also the one who betrayed Ned and cost him his life and really started this whole thing. It is possible that Sansa just didn't know how to tell Jon she had turned to their "frenemy" for some help when she has no idea whether he will be there or not. She's not a brilliant strategist, and she has already not told Jon the whole truth before.

[number8]

My only problem with this season is the complete lack of scope of travel around Westeros. In the books and in early seasons, you get an idea how many days/months it takes to get from Winterfell to the Wall or to Kings Landing. Nowadays, Yara made it all the way to Mereen in an episode and a half. I wouldn't be surprised if Arya is already in Winterfell by the next episode.

I read the writers addressing this. They said the stories do not actually chronologically line up in any given episode, because they tried doing that and it essentially means you won't get to see certain characters for several episodes while they're traveling. So you're not really watching events that are happening concurrently.

EDIT: Found it. Here it is.

The timelines between the various storylines don’t necessarily line up within a given episode. For instance, the “Northern Tour” Jon and Sansa embark on would probably take a couple weeks, but Arya’s storyline over the past few episodes only spans a few days. We realized a while ago that if we tied ourselves in knots trying to make all the “story days” line up between all the characters the momentum would suffer.

[amberlita]

I think it is best we not judge Sansa's actions just yet. Perhaps amber will prove right that it was just some dramatic malarky that she doesn't say anything... but also perhaps she was considering that if the Knights of the Vale do actually show up, it would be best for her if Jon and his wildling army were destroyed first, leaving her an uncontested ruler of the North with her "allies" from the Eyrie the only ones left standing. She didn't exactly look happy Jon survived.

Littlefinger is also the one who betrayed Ned and cost him his life and really started this whole thing. It is possible that Sansa just didn't know how to tell Jon she had turned to their "frenemy" for some help when she has no idea whether he will be there or not. She's not a brilliant strategist, and she has already not told Jon the whole truth before.

Hmmmm. Interesting theory. Sansa turns heel.

[DavidSeven]

I read the writers addressing this. They said the stories do not actually chronologically line up in any given episode, because they tried doing that and it essentially means you won't get to see certain characters for several episodes while they're traveling. So you're not really watching events that are happening concurrently.

EDIT: Found it. Here it is.

I think they wasted good chunks of several seasons on showing us nothing but people walking from X to Y before being diverted to Z, so I'm pretty grateful that they're willing to cheat a bit on this now.

[Spinal]

It does? How so, aside from simply not providing any explanation at all and thus leaving this up for broad speculation as to what her motivations could possibly have been. Subordination? They make the point of stating that Jon is not a king the way Robb was. And Jon literally asks her what she thinks he should do and it's mums the word.

I'm not sure why we need to know her motives precisely right now. The writers have raised several possibilities based on careful character building. It's OK that it's not explicit. It's OK that we are left to discuss it at this point in the story. We know for a fact that Littlefinger is a liar and a backstabber. We know for a fact that Sansa does not want his help because he was an accessory to her torment at Ramsay's hands. We know that it is only desperation that causes her to write the letter with no guarantee that anything will come of it. In fact, as I said before, Littlefinger showing up was highly unlikely (in the world of the story, not necessarily to us as viewers) considering that he has operated almost entirely in stealth mode previously. We know that Sansa is a young woman who took a chance without consulting any of the more seasoned military minds that were in the area (Jon, Davos, Tormund, Brienne, etc.) Clearly she didn't want others to know about her connection to Littlefinger. And it's OK for us to be left speculating. The writers have offered us plenty to ponder.

And if you don't like an army sweeping in at the last minute to save the day, you may be watching the wrong story. It's unabashed melodrama. That kind of thing is going to happen.

[Spinal]

Littlefinger is also the one who betrayed Ned and cost him his life and really started this whole thing. It is possible that Sansa just didn't know how to tell Jon she had turned to their "frenemy" for some help when she has no idea whether he will be there or not. She's not a brilliant strategist, and she has already not told Jon the whole truth before.

And, of course, even before that, orchestrated the death of Jon Arryn. Talk about patience!

[Grouchy]

I think the answer to this is that Jon thinks like a lawful good paladin. When Sansa expresses her belief that Rickon is already dead no matter what they do, you can see in his goody-good face that he doesn't even entertain the possibility. So making a deal with the man who gave his sister to the sadistic monster that he's trying to defeat in the first place might not have been an option either.

[Ezee E]

I think they wasted good chunks of several seasons on showing us nothing but people walking from X to Y before being diverted to Z, so I'm pretty grateful that they're willing to cheat a bit on this now.

I think this is primarily why Bran's scenes were so damn boring for the first several seasons.

There's no good way to handle this type of approach really.

[Russ]

I think this is primarily why Bran's scenes were so damn boring for the first several seasons.

Boring, maybe, but overflowing with a cornucopia of Hodor goodness.
























Hodor.

[Watashi]

I wouldn't be surprised if Arya is already in Winterfell by the next episode.

Not just Arya, but Varys is secretly a Time Lord.

Great finale. Delivered on everything the show has been building to.

[Watashi]

Also just as you think Game of Thrones is heading towards an endgame, season 7 is gonna give us [

Show Spoiler

Battle of the Five Queens.

]

[Mara]

Okay, like, good plot, but too much?

This was four episodes' worth of plot. We never had a second to build or think or savor. Just-- bam bam bam.

Also, Arya = Titus Andronicus = okay by me.

[Mara]

Also, Cersei is worse at keeping her kids alive than the Stark children are at keeping direwolves alive, and that is SAYING SOMETHING.

[Ezee E]

King's Landing was wonderfully directed and paced. So well done. Glad they gave that nearly a half hour of the finale.

It was Riverrun that was way too rushed, and feel like it could've just been saved for next season, but it is what it is. Arya's story went from mysterious to pretty predictable.

Liked the coronation too.

Also... City of God comes to Westeros.

[Spinal]

Oh, that was a hell of a lot of fun. Holy crap.

I'm just glad that Cersei as a sympathetic character is over and we can straight up hate her again.

[Ezee E]

Oh, that was a hell of a lot of fun. Holy crap.

I'm just glad that Cersei as a sympathetic character is over and we can straight up hate her again.

How will she even last two episodes next season?

[number8]

Tommen's death was incredibly well done.

And really smart to give the fans the dilemma of wanting Lancel to fail but countering it with us not wanting the Tyrells to die. Definitely a fun episode.

[amberlita]

That episode was fucking bonkers. I feel like I saw every twist and turn coming and yet they were still each immensely satisfying and glorious to watch. So good.

[amberlita]

Not just Arya, but Varys is secretly a Time Lord.

Yeah seriously. I get that they don't bother to sync timelines but man, his appearance on the ship with Dany mere minutes after being in Dorne? While it's wonderful to see every single house in Westeros lining up against Cersei, they could have saved the Dorne scene for next season (when Lady Tyrell would have had even more incentive to want to align against Lannisters).

[amberlita]

Tommen's death was incredibly well done.

And incredibly sad. I was whispering to myself what was coming but didn't detract from the heartbreak because it was exactly what made sense for that character: a tragic end to a manipulated little boy. Even more awful was Cersei's muted response. Compare her reaction after Joffrey and her daughter (name?) were killed. Sequentially less and less rage. Just resignation and emotional exhaustion. I don't recall if it was juxtaposed against Cersei's scene with Tommen's body, but Dany's declaration that she felt nothing having to send away a man she cares about was fitting in the shade of that scene. Hardly comparable losses, but a sign of things that Dany has to look forward to.

[Henry Gale]

Wooowww, after last season's slight clusterfuck of a finale (slightly saved by its wallop of an ending) I kind of gave up hope they would try to do anything but replicate its cheap cliffhanger-ness, but I was thoroughly blown away not just that they didn't, but what was in store in the meantime.

Just this week I was thinking, "Why have they been focusing on the wildfire so much recently?" Then the second the chase started going into the septs, I just went into kind of a stunned, horrified disbelief, yet giddy about it from a story point of view.

I also really never expected the long-coming Jon birth reveal to make for such an emotional scene. Especially the way it was sealed with that single match-cut (hey!) of the eyes, even though -- like Tommen's window and some other things in the episode -- you could see coming, it just got me right in the gut.

Just a thrilling, intelligently designed, and ultimately elating finale. Which I can also now comfortably retroactively say for the season as a whole.

[Spinal]

Look, I know Cersei is not everyone's first choice, but at this time, we should put politics aside and celebrate the historical significance of having the first female on the Iron Throne. #imwithher