Canadian Politics Today

I was reading a British news site, and saw a link to an article that said:

SOPHIE TURNER TRASHES CO-STAR
"She's a terrible actress!" "Everybody wanted to fire her!"

So I click the link, and she's talking about her dog, that portrayed Lady in season 1. 

We've waited a year and a half for 6 measly 1-1:20 hour episodes. 

I don't think they're going to be able to wrap it up in a satisfactory manner with just 6 episodes left.  Everything is going to feel rushed.

I've been doing a deep dive into past episode. Season 4 was the absolute zenith of the series.

- Hound and Arya the odd couple
- Missy and the Worm romance starts
- Joffry gets got
- Ramsay Bolton isn't as cartoonish a villain as he he became in later seasons.
- Jon Snow does a bunch of cool ****.
- Ygritte is still around.

Best season IMHO thoughts.

Agreed. So many great things. Arya and the Hound as road trip buddies was enchanting.  Season 5 was very strong too, but so bleak. The tragic end of the Stannis Baratheon storyline was wonderful writing.  The writing started to go downhill in season 6 as the series outpaced the books, but I felt that season 7 was the first one that just wasn't up to the standard of the rest of the series.

I have no clue what to expect this season. The first half will lead to a battle in Winterfell. I've heard theories that this is a W for humanity. The show is called Game of Thrones not Game of Fighting Ice Zombies. The story should focus on the power struggle with Cersei and not a battle for humanity against some mystic Ice Army.

The white walkers stuff has always felt like a distraction from the real story.  In-world, the politics is a distraction from the real threat, but for viewers the politics has always been the real core of the show.   

One of the possible outcomes that would feel true to the spirit of the show would be if Cersei "wins" by stabbing the others in the back, only to find herself helpless to stop the white walkers from destroying her and everything she thought she'd won.

The rest of the season can be devoted to completely and thoroughly defeating Cersei. I would prefer her not to turn into a good guy like Jamie and the Hound.

Cersei is irredeemable. The last of her humanity went out the window along with her son.

Jaime isn't a good-guy, but he was never as bad as people thought.  I loved the way his relationship with Brienne illuminated that side of his character.

The Hound was always a good-guy, although he couldn't admit it to himself until he was about to fight Brienne over custody of Arya.

 -k

Not going to follow this thread, haven't finished watching Season 7 yet.

When I tell people I don't watch, and they ask why, and I mention that I don't like dragons

This is about as intelligent as saying "I don't watch Breaking Bad because I don't like meth."

they get mad and say there are no dragons then they remember that there are.  Well that was during Season 1 so I don't know if the dragons are a bigger deal now.

The dragons were unveiled in the final seconds of season one. They were about the size of kittens when they first hatched, but over the course of the series they've grown in size and importance just as their "mama" has grown from a waif into arguably the most powerful contender in the titular power struggle.  The scene in which the kitten-like dragons were first unveiled was probably among the most enchanting things I've ever seen on TV, a deliberately magical moment on what had been an otherwise grimy and unmagical program.  Also a deliberate emotional counterpoint to the heart-crushing shock of the episode before.


It's not a show about dragons, it's a show about characters.  The fantasy elements of the show are plot-devices that advance the conflict between the characters, which is the real essence of the show. As we've discussed about before, I maintain that fantastical premises can be as good or better at exploring real issues as "realistic" premises are.  The real strength of Game of Thrones is not CGI dragons, it's the portrayal of fascinating characters and its willingness to do things with these characters that may test the viewer's comfort level.


If you don't want to watch the show, Michael, then for goodness sake don't watch the show, but try not to be a dick about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI



 -k

I hate the opening. WTF guys. I don't want to go inside these castles. Why change it this late in the game?

The new opening credits sequence is now posted on Youtube! Having had a chance to watch this a couple more times, I have to admire all the detail.

I saw a thread on reddit about this, and it pointed out a detail I'd never noticed before:  the gold engravings on the metal bands in that spinning dealie?  The gold engravings actually depict significant events in the show.

The very first one-- if you pause the video at the 0:01 mark, it shows Viseryon blasting through the Wall, as we saw at the end of season 7.

Then if you pause it again at 0:55, you see:  a lion (House Lannister), the Twins (House Frey) and the flayed man (House Bolton).  The lion has a fish in its mouth (House Tully), the flayed man is holding a severed wolf's head (House Stark) and the decapitated wolf is arrow-riddled and hung from the bridge of the Twins.  This obviously a symbolic depiction of the Red Wedding.

And if you pause again at 1:33, you see: a wolf bowing to a dragon.  Jon Snow takes the knee before Daenarys.

This makes me want to go back and watch the opening credits from older seasons and see whether the gold engravings depicted other events as well.

Also, somebody theorized that the motion of the video depicts the march of the white walkers army.  It starts with smashing through the wall, and arrives at Last Hearth, as we saw at the end of episode 1. From there, it marches on to Winterfell then south to King's Landing.  If this theory is correct, the battle at Winterfell won't go well.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZE9gVF1QbA

 -k

Arya Sideboob alert!!!!!

These last two season have been pure fan service. Gendrya has to be one of the top things people wanted to see. And we got to see it.

The Jamie, Thormund & Brienne love triangle is tense.

Seeing Brienne smile at being named token knight was jarring. She never smiles, it was weird.

Having Theon guard Bran is something so stupid it sounds like Tyrion thought of it. He'll clearly be sacrificing himself.

Based on good things happening to people theory Brienne, Theon, Jorah, Greyworm and Gendry are probably gone next episode.

Greyworm! don't you know when you dream of greater things on TV, you DIE!!!

Jesus...  who cares what the opening sequence looks like? 

I liked the build-up in the first 2 episodes.  Some people are whining about the lack of action, but I think it makes sense...   it will be rushed to wrap things up, but I think this lag actually helps.  I suspect we’re going to see some major characters kick the bucket soon...   I could be wrong, but why would the GOT creators change now??

A lot of people are apparently getting impatient waiting for the big battle, but this show wasn't built around big battle scenes. It was built around characters interacting with each other the way we saw in this episode.

Gilly and Ser Davos trying to convince the little girl hat she should take shelter in the crypts.  The girl had a scar on her face that was a lot like Shireen Baratheon's.    It was a neat reminder of Davos' friendship with Shireen, which was one of the things that made him such an endearing character.

Back in season 2 (I think) Brienne tells Catelyn Stark the story of her debutante dance.  She figured out that all of the men who danced with her had turned it into a prank and were laughing at her behind her back because she was so homely.  Then Renly Baratheon came to her rescue and treated her like a real princess, and she was so deeply moved that she pledged her sword to Renly's service.  When Jaime offers to knight her, she shrugs it off and pretends it doesn't matter to her, because she thinks that she's being pranked again. But once she realizes that he really means it, it's incredibly emotional for her, just like her response to Renly.  Jaime had given her recognition and validation that she'd always wished for but never thought she was really allowed to have.

We also saw Theon reminding everybody that he'd betrayed the Starks and asking for a chance to make up for it. And we saw the scene with Samwell and Jorah, with Sam reminding us that Jorah's dad was a mentor who changed Sam's life and molded him into a man.  And we saw Sam, Jon, and the other guy from the Night's Watch reflecting on how far they've all come from when they first met in basic training at Castle Black.

I think that for some of these characters this is the last chance we'll have to spend any time with them.  I think that this episode was sort of a celebration of the past 8 years of getting to know these fictional people and a way of tying up some of their stories and sending them off in style. 

 -k