Holy shit snacks, it was a great episode tonight, wasn’t it?
We finally got to see those scaly dragons in battle and battle they did. They’re like giant flying fire breathing lizard tanks.
And then the long awaited battle we’ve been waiting for. John Snow vs. Ramsey Boulton.
Quite a long, extended fight scene. There was a damn phalanx!
Can’t go wrong with a phalanx.
And you know 3.5 readers, I think there was a lesson here for both readers and writers.
You might remember way back George RR Martin and HBO took a lot of heat for allowing a scene in which Sansa gets raped by Ramsey.
At the time, no one, including myself, realized Ramsey would get a well-deserved comeuppance for that.
But hoisted on his own petard, he was. Sansa got her revenge and fed Ramsay to his own dogs, the dogs Ramsay had fed so many of his victims before.
Lesson for the reader? Keep the faith. Trust that the writer will eventually address the point that you’re so angry about.
Lesson for the writer? Understand that a controversial scene will leave you taking a lot of heat and you’ll just have to sit back and wait until the time finally comes when the plot point comes full circle.
BREAKING NEWS: King Tommen has abolished trial by combat. Vexing legal disputes can no longer be resolved by appointing two barbarians to smash the ever loving shit out of each other.
People will actually have to voice their legal arguments and the court will have to come to an actual conclusion.
In other news, there was a reunion of sorts between Brienne and Jamie. They have some sort of friendship. Bri wants to jump Jamie’s bones, as most women do. Jamie, I don’t think feels the same way though he respects her a lot and there’s probably a part of him that wishes he could embrace the concept of settling down with a woman that’s his intellectual equal.
Sadly, they’ll probably have to face each other on the battlefield one day.
The Hound will likely join up with the Brotherhood Without Banners. With the Brotherhood’s role in the show expanding, could an entrance by Lady Stoneheart be far behind?
Cersei chose violence. Podrick’s too damn old to be a squire.
Finally, Arya is no longer “a girl.” She’s Arya Stark.
As the show ends with Jaqen smiling, it’s hard not to assume that everything Arya went through wasn’t due to Jaqen being mean to her but perhaps part of a larger plan for him to toughen her up.
Poisoning an actress seemed to be an act beneath the Faceless Men so for awhile I wondered if this just wasn’t bad writing. The Faceless Men seem dedicated to sticking to the shadows, blending in, and fighting for good by killing the evil without anyone ever learning of their involvement.
But perhaps Jaqen realized that Arya is of more use to the overall “goodness” of the world as a Stark than as “a girl.”
Varys is leaving. He needs to return immediately.
The Blackfish goes out on his own terms.
Khaleesi returns. The imp wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.
And a new question – what is beyond Westeros? No one knows. No one has ever sailed that far before.
Interesting. A new twist!
Maybe Arya will sail beyond Westeros and find us all there watching Game of Thrones on TV.
Wow. So much going on. This season really is firing on all cylinders.
The Hound lives! What a twist. Special guest appearance by Ian McShane. I was hoping he’d be on the show longer though.
Interesting what the show does with religion. You’ve got followers of whatever the 7 Gods religion is that then you have followers of the Lord of Light. Looks like the Hound isn’t going to let it go.
Margery is clearly up to something but I can’t figure it out yet.
The Blackfish vs. The Kingslayer. Quite a matchup. Hard exactly to figure out who to root for.
You’ve got the Blackfish avenging his slain niece, Catlyn Stark. But then there’s been a slow but steady progression to make Jamie less douchey so who knows.
I’m left to wonder if Jamie’s progress towards a non-douche lifestyle will one day put him at odds with his sister/lover Cersei, the biggest she-douche ever.
The Stark kids really coming into their own. Sansa and Jon Snow looking and dressing like their father used to, doing all kinds of negotiations and shit.
Arya! Oh my God. This is the first season where spoilers aren’t really out there so I crapped my pants.
This show pushes the limits too much when it comes to kids though.
I mean the show has a lot of gratuitous sex violence and though thankfully the kids aren’t around in the scenes where that happens, it’s weird that you’ll see kids in other scenes in a show that has that.
Except the violence against kids taboo was broken as Arya got totally stabbed. I don’t like to see anyone stabbed but especially a kid.
Assumedly she’ll recover but still. And it’s too bad the Faceless Man group whatever they are called have decided to become so douchetastic.
But ultimately, I wish the show would be more careful to keep the kids out of the more disturbing parts of the show.
I wish I had the time to read the Game of Thrones books. There’s a lot of back story that explains why the characters do what they do on the show.
For me, the next best thing was Comicbookgirl19’s Game of Thrones’ Epic History Vidoes on YouTube.
She goes through all the pre-show history for the various houses. Here’s one for House Lannister, for example:
Check it out. I’d say you want to be caught up at least on the first couple of season on the show in the case of spoilers, but she really goes into the nitty gritty of how everyone got to be where they are. Helped me to understand the show a lot better.
Lethal Weapon, the series of action movies I loved as a kid (though Aunt Gertie probably should not have let met watch them) is being rebooted as a TV series starring Damon Wayans as Roger Murtaugh and Clayne Crawford as Martin Riggs.
Ehh. I just don’t know how well the concept will translate to today.
Lethal Weapon 1 and 2 were the best films of the series because they were so 1980’s.
Los Angeles. Cocaine related crime.
Martin Riggs i.e. the mentally unstable Vietnam veteran turned cop whose story resonated with a lot of people at the time, as Vietnam vets had been asked to win an impossible war, then came home and were spit on for fighting an unpopular war then expected to just fade back into society without any problems or support offered to come to terms with what they experienced.
Even if you haven’t been to Vietnam, if you’ve experienced depression or know someone who has, Riggs’ willingness to throw himself headfirst into insanely dangerous situations (because of his inability to care whether or not he lives or dies) made him a “Lethal Weapon” and a nightmare for criminals used to being able to bribe or threaten cops into submission.
And that made him the perfect foil for Roger “I’m Getting Too Old For This Shit” Murtaugh, the old timer family man who just wanted to get home to his wife and kids safe and sound everyday.
Two partners, one doesn’t care if he dies, the other cares very much and wants to live, it made for a couple of great movies.
Lethal Weapon 3 and 4 were good movies but not as strong. By then, they hooked Riggs up with Rene Russo and went to work on giving him a happy, respectable life by the end of the series, which ok, good for Riggs, but the happier he gets the less crazy he is.
Joe Pesci, who was introduced in two as the loud mouthed con artist who routinely comes to the duo’s aid was hilariously, and kept the films going in 3 and 4. I don’t see a Leo Goetz character in the series.
And Gary Busey as the villain in the first film. That was back when Gary hadn’t completely lost his mind.
The sad part is I’ll definitely check the show out and I’ll probably give it a chance.
Does it take away from the films? Not for me. They had action. Sadness. Comedy (I still laugh when I think about Murtaugh being stuck for hours sitting on a toilet due to a bomb (an actual bomb) and when his legs go numb, Murtaugh has to help him off.)
The corporate suits know that people my age will tune in for nostalgia purposes, while young people probably haven’t seen the films yet but have heard the name so will check it out due to name recognition.
But with it being on network TV, they won’t be able to engage in half of the activities that got the duo in trouble back in the old days.
Can Murtaugh even say, “I’m getting too old for this shit” on network TV?
I don’t know. I don’t want to root against it until I have seen it but I continue to wonder why an industry filled with the most creative people in the world feels it is necessary to keep rehashing old ideas.
Lots of stuff going on. Jon Snow’s back and to me, he basically did the ultimate shitty job walk out.
A brother of the Knight’s Watch’s watch ends when he dies, and Jon Snow did die, so…yup. It’s all legal. And why should he stay when those douches tried to kill him?
Assumedly, he’ll go take back Winterfell, having the best claimed to it as the eldest Stark child (even though as he is often reminded, he’s a bastard.)
Or is he? A flashback gave us the beginning of a glimpse as to Jon Snow’s true past.
Bookshelf Battle 