Another week, another flashback, another poor, damned direwolf. What did our reviewers think of the Tower of Joy and its frakking awesome fight? Jon peacing out from the Nights Watch? The fate of poor sweet Rickon? Let’s watch:
TYT and WTF?! read our comments and tweets because Cenk is back and doing solo reviews, striding forward boldly with incorrect information. Will his revolutionary theories about Jon’s parentage be bolstered by the events in the Tower of Joy flashback? His liberal usage of ‘Wa siktir!’ gets me every time.
We might as well follow Cenk up with What the Flick?!
Here’s Rotten Tomatoes’ Matt Atchity with his opinions:
Can’t forget our mainstay, OzzyMan:
Our frans at HappyCool
Others:
Gay of Thrones is obviously called “Dickbreaker” this week
History of Westeros with the DEEP cut
Like Steve and DJ in your SF Nerd recaps? Well you get Maude and Matt instead.
There’ll be a different selection next week so keep commenting with suggestions because I have been rounding them up! Of the ones I posted, which spoke to you? Have a great week!
Wylis
Cenk is back! Yay!
Cenk did research? “Whaaaaat issssss thissssss?”
This week, I also enjoyed Tony Teflon enjoying dead Olly.
History of Westeros, always.
gay of thrones under the others? that’s the next thing I can’t wait to watch after the show itself!
The Alt Shift X review was great, as always
I must admit, this week, some of those really got on my nerves. Some reviewers felt it was too slow and nothing was happening. AfterBuzz was a bit of a bummer this week.
But nothing compared to Matt Atchity. His bookwankery was simply UNBEARABLE on What the Flick?! And I also have the impression that every time he speaks the conversation comes to a halt. I much prefer the dynamic of Ben, Cenk, John and maybe Ana. Sorry for the rant, but he really ticked me off with his big blabbermouth.
Same with SourceFedNerd this week. If every sentence people say starts with “But in the book…” and comes with an attitude, I just don’t have the patience anymore to follow. I hope next week, DJ will be back.
Very much enjoyed OzzyMan‘s appreciation of the episode, though and of course the reactions from the crew of BlindWave. Eric got teary eyed when Tyrion released the dragons last week, so I wanna see him cry like a baby when we have our first Stark reunion since ever 😀
Oh and for some reason, I totally fell in love with The Normies‘ reaction.
Dawn,
I like Tony but I haven’t watched him in a while cuz hes quite book puristy
How is he now, lol
Wylie,
Agree with you about What the Flick, I always liked the episodes with Ben John and Cenk the best.
Wylie,
I agree with everything you said.
Wylie,
Fully agree on Matt.
Glad Cenk is back!
Me too. Gay of Thrones and Ozzyman.
Still all about Ozzy Man and Gay of Thrones. I also gave Dem Thrones a go and they ramble about a bit but I like what they are putting out there. AND they totally get “me” about Olly having to die for what he did. I get that he had a really bad go of it with his family and the Wildlings, but life is about choices and he made the wrong one, he was hanging with the wrong crowd if one wants to better themselves and I believe Jon Snow wanted good things for Olly.
What the flick??? We had to have three videos from WTFlick?? Okay.
I always enjoy Emergency Awesome.
Great stuff from What the Flick this week. It was nice to have the full panel back, especially Cenk. I like Matt Atchity as well. He did refer to the books a few times, but nothing I found too distracting, and I thought he’s been quite positive on the show as a the whole (I have stared into the abyss and seen the true book wankers. I don’t think he qualifies).
That being said, I do miss Ana. She hasn’t been on in a while. She had great chemistry with the panel as a whole, and her occasional slip-ups were always charmingly funny. (“Who do you think will win … the Game of the Throne?”) 🙂 I know that she’s busy with a lot of TYT stuff, but I hope she’ll make at least one review this season.
Jared,
I agree and LOL. That’s one way to put it.
what a bunch on annoying idiots.
Rhaenys Stark,
Mihnea,
tkk,
Oh, thanks for the responses!
Just want to add for the record, that I didn’t want to offend any readers with my little rant. I like the books very much myself! But when it’s about the TV show, I guess I’m just more interested in unsullied thoughts on the story and the characters and get easily frustrated when it’s about nit-picking details or book-to-TV-comparisons that add absolutely nothing to the discussion with unsullied viewers.
Gendry’s broken compass,
Totally agree! Much better than the annoying “Emergency Awesome” crap
Wylie,
Completely agree. If there is no unsullied I don’t even bother watching reviews.
Something completely different
Of those posted, my favorites were Ozzy for a one person review and Alt Shift X for a panel review. Ozzy always keeps it fun on the front end and then gives serious take at the end. I like that. And Alt Shift X I find just has the best blend of people with various amounts of background in the show and/or books. And the moderator is very adept at keeping things moving.
I’ll throw in my weekly “lone voice in the wilderness” recommendation for the SmokeScreen review. That’s one of my personal favorites and I always enjoy it: https://youtu.be/HZ8GoN6NNs8
Oh, I don’t think he hates the show! Not at all! IMO he just constantly interrupted the flow and derailed the discussion, so that in the end, I wanted someone to gag him already because he would just not shut up and I had the impression that Ben did not say one word. For me he went too deep into lore and details (and also spoilt some things), which IMO kind of blocked discussion about the story or characters or themes or how it relates to today or what have you.
Interestingly enough, I quite enjoyed John and Matt last week when they were alone. But with Cenk and Ben both on the panel, I would have wished for him to restrain himself more (although I can appreciate his enthousiasme).
The episode and week is only complete after I watch good only Ozzy man. I am now #ontoGoT604
That’s another one I enjoy. It gets some hate sometimes on here and I can kind of see why (I has a bit of a too “corporate” or maybe a cut and paste feel at times). But the guy comes across as very sincere and I enjoy hearing his take on the episodes.
mau,
This is so interesting!
Matt isn’t a book purist @ all tbh..
He just references the books a bit too much, and gives away too much (and is kinda incorrect a lot of the times),
but i haven’t gotten any book puristy vibes from him @ all.
HelloThere,
I agree. I did not call him that. See my comment above 🙂
Totally OT, but
Btw, i want GOT to just release Ian McShane making the broken man speech early… I cannot get it out of my mind ever since the episode title came out
Wylie,
if the show ever goes that route, its gonna be the biggest shock since the Red Wedding
Wylie,
I didn’t think you were accusing him of that. 🙂 I enjoyed most of his analysis on its own merits, but your point about frequent references to the books breaking up the flow of discussion is certainly a valid one. I understand that critique – it’s a source of frustration for me as well, even if the references are innocuous. All other things being equal, it’s part of the reason why I generally prefer to watch Unsullied reviews, or at least reviews from book readers who I trust will keep such citations to a minimum.
Flayed Potatoes,
I love them, because they have so high criteria for editing and directing. And other reviews just don’t speak about those things.
And they are not fanboys and can be very harsh.
Collider were absolutely awful this week. What a shame.
ThinkHeroPro are good Unsullied reviewers, and Because Geek a great book reader, though her review videos never come out in time for this. I’d also recommend Smokescreen, a good and funny dude.
History of Westeros has their “Book to Show” review up now too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnk-IP1z5QU
I like it how they do two reviews each week: one that’s Show Only and then the one that’s Book to Show.
I watch as many reviews as I can and oftentimes I prefer the more meaty, in-depth reviews. That’s the main reason I like HoW. I know their reviews aren’t for everybody, but I really do appreciate what Aziz & Co. do, as well as the contribution from the folks at RadioWesteros. With the exception of one person, they’re all book readers, but they love the show as well, and rarely do they display any “purist wankery”.
Cenk looks like big hangover. Good ol times when dudes got sober and shaven in front of a camera.
I really love BuzzedOnBooks and Rawrist,
They are huge book readers, who don’t fall prey to annoying book purism.
They are level headed, and really do a good job, and are usually positive.
Especially BuzzedOnBooks 🙂
mau,
Exactly. I was hoping someone would comment about the Arya scene because it was imo the best part of the episode directing and editing wise. Their other videos for this season have been very good as well.
Ozzy Man and Alt Shift X are the only ones I watch. They’re great.
HelloThere,
mau,
These were great Mau!!!!!
Thanks for sharing! Will they do a video for all episodes?
I don’t usually watch any of these reviews but I have been watching AfterThrones on HBO and it’s just OK. My wife says it’s too boring for her to watch and she LOVES the show (she is unsullied) but asks me a lot of questions during the show so I told her to watch AfterThrones so they could answer her questions and I could watch GoT in peace. She says it’s too boring for her though. It is informative for the casual viewer if they forget who characters are or where places are located on the map but AfterThrones does not have enough entertainment value for the casual viewer to tune in anyway.
Dang, I must be the only one that finds Cenk annoying lol
For all german-speaking People I can recommand diefilmfabrik, they have done before the beginning of this series a lot of very good history-videos, explaining the background of ASOIAF and GoT.
Here is their review for the last episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5PWdp4F-4U
And I like also the GoT Academy with their references to our history.
And it’s always nice to see reviewers, who are not US-Americans, it opens the mind from some sort of culture-criticism.
mau,
I love them.
mau,
Very interesting take, Mau. Thanks for leaving that. I didn’t notice about the lighting changing in the Arya sequence, that is rather fascinating and I think I will be more aware of lighting in scenes from now on. 🙂
Making the 8,
I have no interest posting those videos after they did a segment ripping off GOO
Why in all the hells would they release this speech ahead of time and totally ruin it for the show? Patience. Just a few days and IF we are right, you will see it yourself IN context with the show. I would bet that after it airs there will be YT video available for re-watching.
Maybe it just me, but I wouldn’t want to see it ahead of time and spoil the show.
Bex,
I never watched After Thrones, what exactly did they ripped off?
JCDavis,
Im not being serious lol
I like Emergency Awesome too, even though I totally get why some people find Charlie annoying. I have watched some “Shift Alt X” (did I get that right?) too.
I started out on Comicbookgirl19’s GoT reviews, but she gave up after season 3(?) because she is too much of a hardcore book fan, and was getting bummed out by some of the changes on the show. CBG19’s histories of the Great Houses of Westeros are still pretty good.
thestream.tv’s The Small Council: Ramon Govea, Madi Mae and Ginny McQueen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D-3ibnMZPg
GoT Academy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f1hpZW58QI
IGN’s Dragons on the Wall with Terri Schwartz & Eric Goldman
Mihnea,
They will.
mau,
Great!
I usually don’t watch all the video reviews but I’m home sick today and really appreciated having all the links in one place! Thanks Bex 🙂
My favorite(s) are AltShiftX, OzzyMan and Gay of Thrones. I laughed so hard with the Gay of Thrones nicknames and references (“you can’t sit with us” small counsel = def the plastics!) that I nearly made myself sick… again. I’m definitely going to start watching these regularly. Not really a fan of the typical sit around and discuss videos like AfterBuzz or What the Flick. I prefer podcasts for these types of discussions (shout out to Game of Owns, obviously! But also Peter Sagal has a podcast with the Nerdettes, which combines my love of NPR and GoT).
Gus and John over at A.V. Club are great. My friend does some of the editing on these video and she introduced me to the series when it first began (they do other shows like Better Call Saul and Fargo). Been hooked for the past year. You can find most of the past videos here: http://www.avclub.com/features/polite-fight/
Mihnea,
The “Owns” concept lol as soon as I saw the thumbnail and title I was like NOPE
Honestly, HBO should just hire them.
I actually really enjoyed Because Geek in the off season too (though she doesn’t have a new video out yet this week) and I like Smoke Screen-who did several prediction videos with her.
My husband smiles every time he hears Ozzy man start his review *G* and I like Alt X and the way he puts everything together.
After The Thrones is one of the worst shows I have ever seen. Literally any one of these that has been linked to in this post does a better job than them. Truly. It very well might be the absolute worst review show that is out there for this program and yet it’s the one on HBO. I would be very surprised if it lasted more than this season.
Ozzy-man all the way. Short and sweet. WTFlick…come on you guys, if you don’t know that Summer is Bran’s wolf you lost a lot of credibility in my book…just sayin.
Fancy word for a sellsword,
Alt Shift X*
Has anyone seen the trailer of Assassins Creed. A lot of GOT influence especially future Arya scenes…
Usually watch Emergency Awesome right after along with WotW open chat for discussion release
It’s interesting as he’s in the “Wasn’t Dawn” camp initially but changed his mind once the dyanamics are taken into account
Red Team Review had an arrow at the sword saying it wasn’t it, I’ve started to watch his and are enjoying it
For my part I’m erring on the side it was, there’s the rising Star but the fact Ned picked it up and ran into the Tower with it seems to imply a “to be continued” as far as Dayne’s sword goes
Alt Shift X is probably coming up as my favourite as someone intellectually inclined, he has a brilliant mix of conciseness, clarity, sourcing and presentation/graphical style so good to see he’s made your list
I get some light-hearted relief from Ozzyman, but also Preston Jacobs sarcasm.
There’s a lot of tension between book vs show people, obviously the shows plotholes doesen’t allow for the deep immersiveness of the books and it is good to be able to have a laugh at it all otherwise one ends up being uptight about “book vs show”
I love the “Previously On” bad clips, this week he had Davos railing against Stannis using blood magic in S2 and S3 and then went to S6 re Jon, he also had Brienne telling Sansa “I looked for her for 3 days” and then back to when the Hound was screaming aloud and Arya trotting around Saltpans which shouldn’t have been difficult lol
The highlight though was probably all the flying Frogs during ToJ and replacing HR’s knife with Frogs lol
I generally only tend to watch hardcore ASOIF fan videos, originally I’d watch “What the Flick” but got annoyed at what is basically people pretending to not be too into something “fantasy” so as to protect their “credibility”
Eg one guy can’t grasp Aden Gillens character as Littlefinger, keeps using the term “Mayor of Baltimore” from the Wire I think it was despite being 4 seasons in
Essentially ’tis good as it’s a Medieval drama with a bit of Fantasy flavouring around the edges, eg throw in a Direwolf here or a Franken-Mountain there
Obviously it will get heavily Fantasy right toward the end, eg starting off with a resurrection and basically Brans time travelling
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/05/11/game-thrones-littlefinger?xid=entertainment-weekly_socialflow_twitter
Aiden Gillen laments LF’s remorseful return.
Gendry’s broken compass,
Agreed. That guy makes the best GoT videos. Every single one of them is so worthwhile. I’m a fan.
Ozzy Man is the best – No, Tom-o you dickhead!
The Gay of Thrones guy looks like a hot Weird Al and I’m here for it.
Ghosts Lunch,
I think the thing with WTF is that it’s an offshoot of The Young Turks so it probably helps to be a fan of TYT so stuff like Ben not watching the show and Cenk improvising facts doesn’t make you scratch your head as to why they’re doing recaps
Prestor Jacobs is one of the worst book purists I’ve seen. I wouldn’t recommend him to anyone, jeez.
OzzyMan is by far the best, he’s got the perfect balance of knowing the books and background lore and the ability to judge the show on its own merit. He’s capable of praising the show when it does right (he’s been loving this season so far, as have I) and criticizing it when it drops the ball (Dorne, Ramsay when he’s in gimmicky mode). He also points out parallels and ongoing themes in the episode, which is always great!
Mix that all with awesome music and great humour and you have a pretty damn solid reviewer.
HelloThere,
Ha, yeah I prefer the short form Monday morning gut reactions from him (and because they’re usually up before I have to leave the next morning).
John from WTF does his own reviews sometimes. Matt & Ben are better for “The Leftovers” review, imo. Cenk’s… Cenk.
Seriously, why call it After the Thrones when it’s not on directly afterward? It’s not something I’m going to look for in the On Demand menu days later. HBO should contract Game of Owns!
Dolorous Methuselah,
How is Alt Shift X’ review a panel show? It’s one guy giving a review, backing it up with all sorts of images, quotes and throwing in relevant theories. The people he thanks in the end are usually his patrons on patreon. There’s rarely anyone else involved in the making of his vids, and I’ve never seen him in a panel discussion. Did you probably think of someone else? Or did I missunderstand you?
Jack Bauer 24,
Of course, Gillen is a David Foster Wallace fan! *rolls eyes* Thanks for sharing this article. I might not like Gillen’s literary choices but his commitment to the role is impressive & I’m looking forward to seeing LF’s ‘remorseful’ return.
One thing I wondered; we now know that Hodor’s real name is Wylis….in the first book there is a conversation between Robert and Ned, where Robert ask’s Ned what the name of his bastard’s mother was…Ned tells him Wylla.
Wylla and Wylis sound simliar to each other and if Lyanna is really Jon Snow’s mother, then he was referring to her at that point….
We also saw in the Hodor flashback that he and all the stark kids were friendly with each other but there was a brief interaction with Hodor and Lyanna. So maybe they were good friends. Anyways, just wondering if we are supposed to read something in all of this…maybe Hodor was present at TOJ, maybe he had a hand in her “abduction”….
Chuck,
Hodor’s name is Walder in the books. They renamed him as not to confuse him with other characters in the show. So I wouldn’t read into his show name meaning anything with Wylla in the books.
mau,
Thanks Mau – I like to watch these guys as they have a unique perspective on the material. However, I usually forget about them so thanks for posting. Very interesting!
Dem Thrones back again. Great!
Also, I’ve stumbled on a great channel called GoT Academy. They’re hilarious, foreign and do 3 videos a week. Good change of pace from the usual format.
Making the 8,
After the Thrones is the only after show my unsullied husband will watch for explanation – I think because it is conveniently on HBO.
Me also 🙂
I share your views about Ozzy and Alt+Shift+X (they are the only GoT/ASOIAF videos I like to watch), so I will definitely look up this link.
Did no one else like the theories that were introduced in WTF? I mean the two that stood out for me was the three dragons taking on the spirits of the dead sacrifices that helped bring them to life.. that to me was pretty cool.. and I could see that being a figurative analogy to the dragons spirits. Also the other theory which we have all talked about on here is if SmallJon is really being sincere with his “oath” to Ramsey. I know that there is going to be a lot who think he has a really good reason for breaking his OATH to the Stark family, but Im going to play devils advocate here and say that I think him breaking his OATH will in fact be to Ramsey….. (its speculation so please don’t think Im saying this is GOING TO HAPPEN). I just liked the fact that it was mentioned that the Direwolf was killed as a gimme to make Ramsey buy SJU allegiance. Anyway those were the most interesting parts to me in the dialogue. Wondering what others thought of that as well?
My favorites are OzzyMan, Alt Shift X and AV Club’s Polite Fight. Sometimes I watch WTFlick! too, but that’s about it.
OzzyMan because he’s hilarious, enthousiastic and still has some interesting things to say.
Alt Shift X and AV Club are the most interesting reviews. I love Alt Shift X his detailed explanations and AV Club always shows some cinematic stuff that I would never have paid attention to. Like this episode about the Arya montage, the Varys scene and Cersei’s dress. Really interesting!
I don’t watch anything else anymore, partly because they often are too much ‘I liked this, I didn’t like that’. I also reached a point I really can’t stand the words ‘in the books…’ anymore. Alt Shift X is the only one who uses these words the way they should. I read the books too. Twice. But the book purists really grind my gears. I’m enjoying the seven hells out of this season! Even more than ever before.
Ghosts Lunch,
I’m sorry folks, but Emergency Awesome is wrong in his analysis way too often, simply annoying as well… Just another person doing these damn recaps to make a buck, lacking in genuine knowledge, and imagination…
They couldn’t remember that Rob’s Direwolf was named Greywind either… I was like yelling it at the screen thinking they would remember it but they didn’t.. I was kinda confused on how they wouldn’t remember that.. the two who are sullied I mean not the two who are unsullied.
I really miss the interaction between Varys and LF.. I hope they get together again very soon but it doesn’t look like will happen soon enough for me!!
After pondering a lot about whether Umber is being loyal to Starks or loyal to Boltons, I have come to the conclusion that he is playing his own game for the control of North.
I’m fond of History of Westeros, Alt Shift X, What the Flick?!, and of course Game of Owns! I enjoy the reactions from Normies, Blind Wave, and Sean L.
At times, I’ll check out Red Team Reviews, but the constant whining about Daenerys not getting naked gets on my nerves. I used to do Westeros.org during Season 3 but then stopped because it started to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Bex, you described Cenk’s recaps so well, “…. boldly striding forward with incorrect information.” I laughed until I cried. Perfect, and yet I prefer his mildly uneducated enthusiasm for Achity’s book wanking, but everyone’s entitled to their opinion I supposed, I just don’t want to let it ruin my experience of the episode.
I’ve also found The Normies to be a fun one to watch, they seem like my group of friends in college and what we would’ve done together if GoT was on during university years.
Ozzy, as always on point.
The one odd piece of the Rhaegar/Lyanna puzzle is that Rhaegar, from all accounts, was a reasonable, honorable guy. How could he humiliate his wife and children that way?
..Can’t wait to find out.
Cersai intends to hunt down everyone who laughed at her, and threw shit at her, in the streets during the walk-of-shame. She intends to kill them all, so, I don’t put it past her to kill everyone on the small council.
Btw, that was what the scene with the Mountain and the drunk in the alley was about, apparently.
Those two on HappyCool are really great. Ozzyman had some great moments. Love Dem Thrones. What-the-Flick is good, but my god, you’ve got to pack a lunch for that one.
Chuck,
Lyanna was especially sweet to Hodor. What I noticed, though, was how young Ned talked to Hodor. It was not in a nice way…. He may as well have said: You, boy…come here!
My favorites are Alt+Shift X for the more serious reviews (although certainly some humor in them as well) and Ozzyman and GayofThrones for the more fun videos. Whattheflick is also nice. I sometimes also watch Val’s BecauseGeek channel.
I prefer the ones where people take the analysis seriously, and don’t just use it to make goofy observations for cool-points. That’s why I dig Alt+Shift X and History of Westeros Podcast. Sure, Ozzyman and GayOfThrones are fun but they draw in the lowest form of discussions about the show.
And Collider embarrassed themselves this week with their ignorance… while the What the Flick crew did a good job.
Alt Shift X! I love Alt Shift X! Fuck Cenk…