Welcome back, all ye who watch this Wall with us, to the written review recap round-up! Its been quite a while since our last episode so let’s get right to it! The highly anticipated premiere packed more than a few big moments in Winterfell, Dorne, and at The Wall, and we finally found out what that “astonishing” scene was that Carice van Houten (Melisandre) was teasing.
As always, be sure to read Watchers’ own brilliant reviews: Sue’s Sullied and Oz’s Unsullied and stick around to discuss the episode in the comment section.
We also have some new reviewers this season so be sure to check them out as well. (New reviewers will be labeled with an asterisk.)
Given how this season blends elements both within George R.R. Martin’s series and without, its become harder to determine which reviewers are Sullied or Unsullied. Be cautious of book spoilers when reading some reviews.
Myles McNutt, A.V. Club (Sullied) – McNutt discusses going off the books, Sansa/Theon, and Jeremy Podeswa’s directing this episode.
Alyssa Rosenberg, The Washington Post (Sullied) – Rosenberg opens with my personal favorite quote of the episode (“I want to see what the world looks like when she’s done conquering it” – Daario Naharis) and reviews the actions each character made in “The Red Woman.”
Sean T. Collins, The Rolling Stone – Collin’s comments on Melisandre’s reveal in contrast to what some audience members predicted it would be and, of course, opens the discussion “what will become of Jon Snow?”
Charlie Jane Anders, io9 – Anders rightfully gushes over Brienne the Badass and the femme fatale-packed episode in her gif-full review.
James Hibberd, Entertainment Weekly – Hibberd declares the episode “a rousing season kickoff” and delves into the perfect opening scene (picking up exactly where Season 5 left off), Brienne’s oath, and much more at Entertainment Weekly.
Brian Moylan, The Guardian (Unsullied) – “Forget Jon Snow – we need to talk about Melisandre” the title boldly exclaims. While many were expecting a different ‘big’ moment for The Red Woman, Moylan breaks down that final moment and many more in his premiere review.
Sarah Hughes, The Guardian (Sullied) – With her book knowledge at the ready, Hughes references Monty Python, talks “dead” Jon Snow, and that big reveal in the end.
Neil Miller, Film School Rejects – Miller comments on the big moments in Dorne, the episode’s excellent pacing, and of course, The Red Woman. He also has a few predictions for the season, some of which have already come true.
*Daniel D’Addario, Time – D’Addario reflects on the many questions still to be answered over the season and those answered this episode.
David Crow, Den of Geek – Crow revels in the set up of the premiere and teases his thoughts for what’s next.
Scott Meslow, The Week – Meslow speculates the fate of Jon Snow after the premiere.
*Angela Watercutter, Wired – Watercutter took a particularly interesting route this recap. She broke down the series premiere by way of a death pool. Be sure to check this one out to see your favorite character’s odds of surviving the season!
Alan Sepinwall, Hitfix – A particular quote by Khal Moro, Sepinwall notes, is also applicable to the end reveal of the episode (“Seeing a beautiful woman naked for the first time, what is better than that?” -Khal Moro) which sparks some interesting insight at Hitfix.
*Brandon Norwalk, A.V. Club (Unsullied) – Norwalk jokes the world of Westeros spins on though the fate of Jon Snow is yet to be revealed as he thoroughly analyzes the premiere episode.
*Jen Chaney, Vulture – Chaney renames Melisandre “The Grey Lady”, talks her big moment and the many Thrones ladies’ victories this episode.
*David Malitz, The Washington Post -Malitz is also among the many who expected Jon’s fate to be revealed during the premiere. Though, as HBO would have it, is was revealed.
*Sonia Saraiya, Salon – Saraiya breaks down the ‘saggy’ jokes being made about Melisandre’s reveal and how it compares to what viewers were expecting to see in those final minutes of the episode.
Notably missing is a review from Andy Greenwald of Grantland but fret not! He’s now co-hosting the Game of Thrones after show: After the Thrones exclusively streaming on HBO.
Our video recap round-up, featuring the best video reviews, will be shared later in the week.
Still itching to get those Game of Thrones feels out? Be sure to stop by our open chat to relish in the Season 6 premiere with your fellow fans and also enter our Weekend Giveaway to deck yourself out with some Watchers swag!
hype
Jesus how may recaps are we going to have per episode?
Just make one or two and be done with it.
My favorite Unsullied recap these past few years has been by Laura Stone on Hey Don’t Judge Me:
http://heydontjudgeme.com/2016/04/25/game-of-thrones-6-1-the-red-woman/
Hoyti Von Totiy,
We do a recap round-up every week, every single year. Give it a rest, Hoyti.
Great reviews
Really enjoyed the episode, hope the next one Home tops it!!!
Seconded
Same here! Are you excited for Bran’s return and Max von Sydow as 3-Eyed Raven?
Since no one has bothered… HODOR!!!
Michael,
Yeah it’s meant to be the roundup, it was just overlooked. Whoops.
Connor,
Hell yea, I was overjoyed to hear that max von sydow was taking over the roll of the three eyed raven. Can’t wait to see bran, looking forward to some flashbacks.
Hope everything at castle black gets resolved next episode.
Hope this is OK to do … Price Peterson’s GIF recaps for Yahoo are my favorites. Latest: https://www.yahoo.com/tv/39-game-of-thrones-39-season-premiere-1415267875676214.html
Please add Got Academy to your video recap round-up.These 2 guys are really great.They are book readers,but very balanced and incisive and very funny too.
Game of Thrones Season 6 EPISODE 1 REVIEW: The Red Woman
Hoyti Von Totiy,
Nobody is making you click. You’d try to regulate and otherwise hamper the very energy that makes this show so great. Are you THAT misanthropic?
I notice that you’ve included Brian Moylan from The Guardian as a new reviewer. The actual week-to-week recap is written by Sarah Hughes (book reader) whose reviews I have always enjoyed. She is still writing the main recap this year, whereas I suspect Brian Moylan was just doing the premiere as there’s always extra hype for it (and hence clicks) .
I would provide a link, but I’m on my phone so it is a bit of a pain to do. If no one posts one, I will post it in the morning as I do enjoy her reviews a lot. In any case it looks like there are a nice selection of reviews included here, so I look forward to reading them, especially the new reviewers.
Boy, that Davos is one hell of a used-car salesman. Now he’s Mel’s champion? Fyi Davos, you hate The Red Woman, remember?!
Thirded (is that even a word?).
its a sad fucking day when Dolorous Edd is our only hope XD
loved that line in last nights episode XD
I think next episode is when we see Wun Wun crash through the gates at Castle Black.
I have a feeling how it will play out, just before the door is broken down, Wun Wun crashes through, surprising the archers and thus the fighting begins! And Olly dies.
Hopefully.
Did you read any of his interviews? He DOES hate Mel and Mel hates him too, but in this time of desperation, they need each other, lmao.
I was pleasantly surprised at Chris Orr’s opinion at the Atlantic. He’d pretty much had been down on the show since Sansagate, but he sounds back on board now, even enthused.
I thought Sue the Fury’s review really nailed the whole thing, both the bad and the good.
I’m starting to think that if Jon Snow is resurrected and fights for the living it will be very cheesy and dumb. And I can’t look at the red woman the same anymore when I re watched the episode or going forward I’m too vain.
Really? Cheesy? Ok.
I watched a few minutes of After the Thrones earlier today and will probably get around to watching the rest of it but it really just makes me miss reading Andy Greenwald’s written thoughts. Especially last year where I got caught up in the mid-season outrage bandwagon enough to kind of start hating my favorite show. Greenwald’s ability to go beyond mere recap or outrage every week kept me invested.
HBO posted a clip from After the Thrones and the hosts have no idea who Edd is…..
Are you fucking serious mate?
Literally, the After the Thrones hosts are clueless.
I think thats part of the schtick for regular show watchers. If you read Greenwald’s reviews the last few years, as an unsullied they were phenomenal and insightful. …. I miss them.
Knight of the Walkers,
Added in! Thanks for that! 🙂
It’s a minor point but it was Daario that said that. Jorah agreed and looked sadly at his growing greyscale
Sue the Fury,
Forthed Love Laura. And I am grateful for the review roundup post.
Connor,
Yeah. I don’t know if they were being serious or not. I doubt they were because they are pretty good. But if for some reason they were being serious I don’t know how anyone can take that show seriously. I get there’s a lot of people on the show. But I mean come on. It plays right into the notion that show only people are dumb and need everything spelled out for them. Edd has been on since the first season and involved in some of the more iconic scenes from Jon Snow’s arc.
TheSnarkAtWinterfell,
You’re right. Poor Jorah 🙁
HOLD EVERYTHING!
HBO just revealed the letter Doran got. Jaime suspects Ellaria and the SS for Myrcellas death and sends Trystane back as he is afraid Cersei will declare war.
This episode was a mixed bag for me.
What I loved:
-Sansa / Theon / Brienne / Pad
-Brutal betrayal in the Water Gardens
-Old Melly
What I liked:
-All the other stuff at Castle Black
-Arya
-Jorah and Daario
What concerns me is some of my dislikes were uncharacteristic mistakes from D & D:
-The Trystane assassination was one of the worst scenes in the series. Obviously it was confusing that the SS had boarded the ship in King’s Landing, but the worst part about it was Trystane’s lack of acknowledgement that the SS likely murdered Myrcella. Very odd.
-Dany’s dialogue with Khal Moro was odd. So she tells him who she is, he laughs, then she tells him she was Khal Drogo’s wife and he apologizes. 2 things: wouldn’t he have known she was Khal Drogo’s wife after she told him who she was (assuming he believed her)? If he didn’t know, then why would he automatically believe her? It was weird.
-Why is Mereen nearly completely empty when Tyrion and Varys are walking through it?
If I were to rank the episode compared to all the other GoT episodes, I think it would be somewhere in the middle.
Ah well spotted regarding Khal Moro
Interesting to hear the Letter reveal. Still, quite fortunate he was standing in a position to be killed as he got the note
Ayman,
Whaaaaaat? Where is this reveal? (I mean only that this was the biggest plot-snag ever, and I want to believe it’s been resolved – would love to read the source!)
Forgot to add to my dislikes, the Ramsey grieving scene. I loved his comment to the Maester on how even he was scared of him at 11 years old and how he gives him a look. Aside from that though, it was an odd scene. On one hand he talks about having some respect for Myranda and wanting to avenge her, and on the other hand he’s completely dismissive of giving her a proper burial. I felt like the two things were at odds with each other, and think I would’ve preferred if they just cut out the sentimental Ramsey as it didn’t work for me.
I can’t wait for Sunday any more
Man, I love having the recaps listed and linked in one place like this. I was looking forward to it and was actually excited when it was posted. (and can’t wait for the list of video recaps).
Ayman,
are you talking about this letter?
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–Wi6cNdNT–/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/pidhuaxgi2qyblsw1kis.jpg
I have doubts it is real the fact that they misspelled “nieces”. And cannot find any other reference to it other than in io9.com
Tim of House Deddings,
It’s on HBO’s website. So the letter is real.
Ayman,
So Trystane was in KL on the boat or was the boat sailing back to Dorne or was it back in Dorne? It probably was in KL waiting to sail back but if it was back in Dorne I could die laughing given all the vitriol in earlier threads regarding how the SS could have gotten to KL
Darkrobin,
To be fair even if he was back in Dorne they deserve blame for not making that clear. It does make a ton more sense than the Sand Snakes randomly boarding the ship he’s on in the middle of the King’s Landing harbor. But that should have been made clear in the episode. There was no reason for anyone to think Trystane was anywhere but the same ship he boarded in episode 510, especially since it was the first time seeing him in season 6 after seeing that same ship dock in King’s Landing earlier in the episode.
Darkrobin,
It was my friend(completely unsullied, casual viewer), who pointed out that the boat was heading back to Dorne. We rewinded and saw he was right. I thought Trystane reached Dorne after that. But then I realized he was painting the Myrcella stones which confused me. So either way, its a mistake by the showrunners to make the thing so confusing.
I’m pretty sure immediately preceding the scene, they showed a shot of the boat in the same spot as it was when Jaime was rowing in to Cersei.
They did. Was the boat docked though? Because why would Trystane be painting the eye stones for Myrcella if they had already left KL?
Sooo, the burning of Dany’s ships and the inevitable arrival of Euron creates pretty convenient timing for an eventual Greyjoy-Targaryen alliance.
“Yo, Dany, I’m ambitious, conniving, and power-hungry, but I have a fleet of ships that I can lend you to move your army to Westeros.” “Euron, you’re generally a bad guy, but I’m queen and need to make hard decisions. Come on over and give us a ride.”
Perhaps the show will cast Euron as a bit of an anti-hero…
Yes it looked like the boat was docked to me. Jaime leaving Trystane on the ship makes perfect sense to me. Cersei could freak out and have him killed, starting a war. Let her cool down first before bringing him out (and that’s why he’s busy painting the eyes). This letter though kind of throws a wrench in that. I can’t find it, is it official?
That letter is really cool. It gives insight into Jaime’s mindset beyond what he says when he’s around Cersei. It shows he obviously knew who did it, wanted to punish the individuals and not an entire family/country, and was going to try to protect an innocent party in danger (Trystane). It also shows his views about things are often diametrically opposed to Cersei’s, which he basically spells out in the letter. Good stuff. Shades of AFFC Jaime, and signs of things to come?
I think Trystane was sitting in his boat in the KL harbour waiting to embark back to Dorne (since as the letter and his biography mentioned, there was no way he could set foot onto KL). The delay that allowed the two SS to get on board was obvious plot contrivance, but it’s interesting to read about what the plan was supposed to be.
http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/production-diary/objects-from-dorne
Why does the letter throw a wrench in it?
Don’t know if this was posted but Good Morning America aired the segment today w/ the GOT actresses.
https://twitter.com/jessepalmerabc/status/724588501023354880
Him painting the eye balls. Unless there is something in the books I’m missing about that tradition? It seems like he’s painting the eyes because eventually he’s going to attend the funeral in the Sept of Baelor? And also, why would the ship still be anchored if he’s supposed to be heading home. What is he waiting for?
This is going to be a long week….
If anyone is confused about the 2nd line, I believe it says “I doubt Ellaria’s head will appease her(Cersei) but it is a start, along with your neices(nieces)”
Hmmm…maybe Jaime was going to go back to get the eye stones from him and then tell him he had to leave because Cersei wouldn’t let him stay?
LatrineDiggerBrian,
He’s still a sociopath. Myranda was the closest thing he had to a normal relationship, but she was no longer any use to him… except as dog food.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
He wanted to paint Myrcella’s eye stones himself so the ship was waiting for him to finish.
A few thoughts…
There didn’t appear to be too much blood on the ground as Ser Davos took his conspicuously long stare at the spot vacated by Jon Snow’s body. At least not as much as would be expected after seeing (and hearing) the multiple stabs to his gut, and the spreading pool of life force we saw exiting his corpse at the end of last season. Something’s up with that.
We couldn’t help but notice Melisandre focusing on a vial at her nightstand next to the mirror. The camera zoomed in on it as well. Either that has something to do with her mirage, in conjunction with or aside from her choker, or the show is sending us some overt misdirection. Not out of the realm of possibility. They are having a lot of fun with the suspense over Jon Snow’s fate. I’ll say this, though, while they risk losing some viewership if he truly is dead, they’re risking a lot more if it turns out they’re trolling their fans.
If he really is dead, fine, we can deal with that, but the show needs a hero in the North, and it has to be someone transcendent. Just like Daenerys is the Mother of Dragons (Fire), the North (Ice) needs a hero with a supernatural tilt as well. Maybe that turns out to be Bran.
Speaking of Bran, is it possible that he warged into Ghost, and that was him scratching at the door in the opening scene? We’ll see soon enough.
Not worried at all knowing some of the things yet to come from the trailers and also the mysteries that lie ahead.
One thing this episode cemented for me – Alfie Allen is up there with Peter Dinkledge and Lena Heady as top actors in major rolls in this show.
Casting is one of the things GoT has really excelled at. From finding talented up and commers for long term roles, to great character actors for intermediate roles to some powerhouses for shorter roles.
Jack Bauer 24,
Ayman,
I think both of these responses to the eye stones are acceptable, though if that’s the reasoning then it’s a bit convoluted. Bottom line is they flubbed this scene badly. I wonder if there was some late rewrites.
My fav recap by far is Dem Thrones a Real Negus Too Trill Review. Love them and watched them every week starting mid season 5. https://www.youtube.com/user/BStucThaPoethttps://www.youtube.com/user/BStucThaPoet
He is, but personally I could’ve just done without him eulogizing her. It was unnecessary, they didn’t need to show him acknowledging her death. Like he needs any motivation to torture the shit out of Theon and Sansa. And it’s just out of character that he would show any sympathy for someone dying. Stone cold sociopaths don’t really do that.
They didn’t show the side Myranda landed on did they?
Speaking of Ramsay, Iwan auditioned for Daario too!
https://twitter.com/InterviewMag/status/724698031229140993
That was quite a thud. Quick and to the point, that scene was.
Davos knows that if any more words come pouring out of Thorne’s cunt mouth, he’s going to have to eat all the mutton in Castle Black.
Connor,
They’re not book readers. That’s why they have Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion on. Before Hardhome, if you’d ask me who Edd was, I wouldn’t know either.
And their backs are against the wall (literally) and he’s seen her give birth to a smoke baby assassin. I think the “I hate you” stuff gets knocked down the priority list in that situation.
Guys I have serious doubts that Sansa is going to Castle Black. I just think there’s no way.
1) That is 100% where Ramsay thinks she’s going. Why would she do that?
2) She can’t just show up and hang around if Jon is still dead.
3) If Jon isn’t resurrected until episode 3 or later, what the hell is Sansa going to do? Trek through the snow for 2 more episodes? No way.
I think the most likely thing is that she 1) hears about Rickon or 2) hears about Jon and goes elsewhere.
OR that Jon’s resurrection happens very very soon, so that it actually makes sense for her to get to Castle Black.
Did Mel take some of Jon Snows blood? Didn’t look like there was much blood left on the ground…
Nadia,
I was dubious but have just now been convinced that she is going! It’s a bit off topic and spoilers for this thread, but if you’re interested I posted a pic supporting the idea in the Episode Title comments.
http://watchersonthewall.com/hbo-confirms-two-game-thrones-episode-titles-releases-descriptions/#respond
Jon let Edd lead the men on top of the wall in Season 4 episode 9, I remember him from season 2, and so on, he is a recurring character and i still know who he is, and im not a book reader either, he’s Jons friend, like Grenn was too before he died.
Guys this is the best recap I have ever followed….its funny and cool…everyone
http://cheeseburgergothic.com/show/6583
Yeah, they did, the left side of her face was damaged, it was the same side she landed on last season.
Edd was at his best in season 2 and 3 making sarcastic quips while ranging beyond the Wall. Since then they have had to make him a more serious character. I wonder if it might have been better to keep Pip alive since the best part of Edd’s personality is kind of useless in serious times.
Darkrobin,
There’s no reason to believe he left the KL harbor or was back in Dorne. Indeed he was painting funeral eyes on rocks, which is a pretty strong indicator that he was still in KL.
Indeed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OEQ0d8_oXw
Ozzyman review is up
He’s in some good form there too
No arguments with that, he’s been nothing short of spectacular
No more Ozzy Man videos? Has he quit them?
I couldn’t stand his written reviews, but his podcasts were more tolerable. Perhaps because on the spot he doesn’t have time to come up with lines as groan-inducing as in his written reviews.
I like having a central/trusted list of roundups, especially after clicking through to several odd videos on Twitter. Waste of time.
I also recommend the Ars Technica review.
Sarah,
Of course you’re going to show a review that bashes the show,not interested,sorry .
Review from the Daily Telegraph (UK)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/04/25/game-of-thrones-season-6-episode-1-the-red-woman-shock—review/
Matthew The Dragon Knight,
As long as Dorne isn’t in it, it probably will. Plus, there’s Bran to look forward to and (hopefully) all out war at the Wall. Or should I call it slaughter?
Had no idea that “Khal Moro” is a former Kiwi pro rugby player
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/79310345/Joseph-Naufahu-Game-of-Thrones-new-Kiwi-star
I don`t mind the recaps i mind 4-5 of them on the same day.
We start a discussion under under Recap-1 and 3 hours later Recap 2 comes and a part of the same discusion is transfered there. And again in 2 hours Recap 3 comes and AGAIN the discussion starts wattering down because we are talking about the same thing on 3 posts on the same day.
Keep it limited to 2 recaps per day and it will be fine.
Theres enough time till sunday for a lot of recaps no need to cramp them all into monday.
Just my 2 cents dont crusify me.
Not know who Edd is? Come on! They have to watch his “Best Of” video….
Best of Dolorous Edd
It’s very interesting to see how well-received this episode seems to be in the articles featured in the round-ups and the audience seems to be satisfied, too, however, on the aggregator-websites the show isn’t doing as extraordinaryly well as usual.
It’s a strange shift to more open criticism concerning the whole show, not just single things like sansagate. I certainly hope this is just a delayed reaction caused by the mixed bag that was S5 that many critics overrated in their reviews and now feel the need to “atone” for with unnecessary criticism of S6 (to show they’re not eating out of GOT’s hand, so to say). If it is just a delayed reaction, it will surely subside in 1-2 episodes, which would be great.
I don’t want S6’s aggregated reception to suffer just because some critics missed the chance to apply criticism when it was due and now have the urge to downgrade S6 for S5’s mistakes. Since as it is now, we’re off to a very good start, actually.
KnightOfStorm’sEnd,
This episode was well received in context (for a premiere, which usually are considered to be the weakest episodes in nearly every season).
The problem with metacritic and other aggregators for this season is that HBO didn’t provide 4 episodes to critics like they have done for every previous seasons (because of leaks last year).
It means that, contrary to the previous five seasons, S6 will be judged and noted only on this premiere episode, metacritic won’t correct critics scores after future episodes and the aggregated score won’t bulge after this week.
Sword of the Morning,
Ha, thanks for those! I had almost forgottem them!
BTW, to all the other, new readers and watchers on here: Take a look at the “captainofalltheships” recaps, in case you have missed them.
Sorry for my ignorance, but what are “aggregator-websites”?
SnowmanTheJimmy,
Wow, I did not know that, thank you. A man seems to miss certain things while not being around on WotW during the offseason.
Sadly, that really seems like a messed up system, to be honest, how is anyone supposed to judge the entire season based on 10% of the finished product? HBO could have known that better, yet that does hint at at least one major reveal/death/appearance they were hell-bent on keeping a secret, doesn’t it?. I hope HBO knows what it’s doing, otherwise they have just artificially crippled the ratings on their own.
Ah, I see now what aggregator websites are…damn, it sucks :/
PS: Just checked, wow, a 74, this is awful 🙁
PPS: People will check those scores in the future and say “Wtf happened?” or even worse “Not worth checking out because it suck at the end”. I’m gutted 🙁
Pau,
No problem. Aggregator-websites are certain types of websites that collect reviews from either chosen critics or all around the web/ publications and calculate an average “score” based on that data. This score should then indicate whether sth is rather positively or rather negatively received by critics.
The most well-known is metacritic which aggregates scores only based on pre-chosen critics and is thus quality-wise rather trustworthy because of actively choosing critics in the first place. The second big one is Rotten Tomatoes which calculates the score based on nearly every source they can find. This makes for a broad spectrum of critics and depicts a great deal of the general reception in a direct way, however, since the quality of sources varies and RT is basically just mashing everything together, it is left to debate whether to trust these RT-scores or not.
Thanks for your thorough answer! Although after reading SnowmanTheJimmy post I realized you guys were referring to Metacritic and such. And as I said it’s awful, because without knowing the ins and outs of why the score is so low people will assume the worst.
I guess you could argue that they don’t care about those scores, but I think at some level they do. I wouldn’t be surprised if next year they find a way to show the first 3-4 episodes to a select group of critics so the scores go back up again
Someone has extracted and uploaded the episode soundtrack:
SnowmanTheJimmy,
in the words of Sandor clegane
“fuck the critics”
haha
I love how HBO inserted the misspelled “neice” into the letter – Jamie is dyslexic, after all. I doubt his handwriting would look so good if he had to write with his left hand, though.
The show gets too much praise. What we need is a reviewer with a firm hand. Where is Linda Antonsson, a No 1 superfan and the voice of GRRM? The news that she will continue reviewing the show, was a delight for a certain GoT Wikia administrator.
I hope you understamd that I was just being sarcastic. Except for the last part, which is true.
Ravyn,
Some people have no sense of imagination LOL
Lord Parramandas,
Phew. At first, I was confused, cause I usually always like your comments HAHA
Blacktalon53,
I forgot this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a nice touch.
Deesensfan,
LOL!
From what I saw the reception was quite good.
I just think we are all still stressed with Jon……
To sum up:
Metacritic is a snobby aggregator of review scores and Rottentomatoes is a sloppy aggregator of review scores. In either case, who gives a fuck what anyone but you thinks? Oh yes, the Internet cares because the Internet is a wildly delusional narcissist.
Mihnea,
What letter? They did not show us what was written on the letter Doran received?
Mihnea,
Yeah, there is much stress surrounding jon. This is a premiere episode. I thought there was lots of action for a first episode. Sansa’s scene and the Dorne stuff. It was a great set up for the rest of the season. We will see Bran next episode so that will close the loop.
I cant wait to watch it again. I have not had a chance.
I think Roose Bolton fits the psychopath mould more so .. he sat next to Caitlyn Stark at the Red Wedding as an ally of the north, whilst intending to murder her and her family.
Pau,
And this is why Metacritic/Rotten Tomatoes are irrelevant. I only check these sites for movies.
We all know that this premiere will easily be one of the weakest if not the weakest episode of the season. You can bet on that.
Deesensfan,
MakingGameofThrones.com shows a bit of what’s going behind the scenes.
They showed the letter and Ellaria’s weapon. It doesn’t really change much but it’s a nice touch.
Cersi’s Mercy,
So true. And what about what he did to Ramsays mother? Freak.
Mihnea,
I think the contents of that letter and the fact that Jamie wrote it should be shown to us, in the show.
Andy Greenwald hasn’t written TV criticism since Grantland shut down. He’s writing a book and podcasting on the BSPN, Channel 33.
Cersi’s Mercy,
Yeah.
Roose fits better the cold calculated psycho much better then Ramsey.
Ramsey is a lot more prone to emotional fits and he is quick to anger.
Deesensfan,
I agree, It would’ve been a nice addition.
At least, if not the contents, let us know that Jaime wrote it.
Focusing on a Lion sigil for 1-2 seconds would have done the job.
Deesensfan
Ramsay is a product of his father’s abuse .. psychopaths constantly move the goal posts .. trying to live up to their expectations and constantly looking for approval play’s straight into their power games .. I think it’s too late for Ramsay – the damage is done!
GeekFurious,
Pau,
Yeah, I´m interested in how it turns out.
And I wish it were that simple, GeekFurious. What matters most is surely what oneself thinks about it and even if ratings would drop below 1%, I would still watch GOT. Sadly, while many/most audience-members really don´t care about ratings, the ones responsible for the series/films/games care a lot how their products perform with critics and the sellers and networks care a lot, too. So if a product is dropping off in ratings, it´s likely that this is questioned by the responsible ones and more often than not, changes from the original plan are thought up. It´s easy to witniss with series that have lost points in their ratings to change things up and not always are the results desirable ones.
So in that way I also do not care how scores turn out on my personal level, I´m just concerned that HBO or some important player involved may get the twisted notion through lower ratings than usual that GOT is losing popularity and would thus choose following other paths in some ways than they had originally planned (to get the ratings up again). I do not think it will end up being that way, but I wanted to show my concern about it.
After all, aggregated scores have become very important to some branches of the entertainment-industry and are suspected by analysts to directly influence sales, even though that mostly concernes Gaming and movies at the moment, and Tv-series not so much (thank God).
Deesensfan,
I agree that we should have actually seen Jaime’s letter to Doran on screen in the show. One brief shot, from Doran’s perspective, so that people could pause the episode and read it if they so desired. It would have taken 2-3 seconds.
http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/production-diary/objects-from-dorne
As Mihnea said, the letter is a nice touch, because it explains both Jaime’s mindset in the aftermath of Myrcella’s death and why Trystane was still on the ship. Jaime knew that neither Doran nor Trystane had anything to do with the murder and was trying to avoid a war. He also knew that Cersei would have Trystane executed, so he basically sent him home. Of course, he also told Doran that he should execute Ellaria and the Sand Snakes. Those women knew that was the action Doran would take when he got the news, which goes to show why they retaliated by murdering the Prince and his son. It was a noble gesture on Jaime’s part, even if it failed.
The misspelling of “nieces” stood out to me, but then I remembered that Jaime is both dyslexic and writing this message with his left hand. It makes sense.
KnightOfStorm´sEnd,
They air episodes on memorial day, I don’t think they care for ratings that much anymore.
Even if the viewership, the live american viewership, because that’s all the info we get, has reached the ceiling I don’t think they care, it’s still the biggest show they have and easly the one that makes the most money.
Jared,
I’m keeping my judgement for further episodes. Perhaps he tells Cersei that he sent him back to Dorne and so on….
We still have 9 houres of story to go. But I do think they should show it somehow that Jaime wants to avoid war.
Lord Parramandas,
Don’t worry, your sarcasm came through loud and clear. 😉 Whenever people praise that one, I generally do them the credit of assuming that they’re being facetious – unless they subsequently prove themselves to be unworthy of that benefit of the doubt.
Now that we’ve passed the books, I sincerely hope that reputable websites will stop inviting her and her ilk for roundtable discussions as “experts”. I stumbled across one of those last year, on Vulture (a website that I usually quite like). I don’t know if I’ve ever closed a browser window faster in my entire life.
Mihnea,
Yes, I also think that GOT has become way too big of a cultural phenomenon to be influenced too much by ratings at this point. I also do think that in 99% of the cases, the ratings are quite non-relevant to HBO by now, I just wanted to address the possibility of the last 1% and the potentially negative results that may come with it.
But HBO does make hope with doing its own thing since Dorne was not that well received by some people, yet still they let it in the show and expanded upon some characters in just this one episode :). It does seem that they already have every step layed out before them and follow through accordingly, which is very nice.
Mihnea
One of those Ramsay *emotional fits* will cost Roose Bolton his life! (hopefully!) .. I’d like to see the resurrected Jon Snow kill Ramsay .. or even better, Sansa and Theon!
Mihnea,
That’s the right course. War with Dorne represents a different scale of retribution than simply punishing the guilty parties. Perhaps Jaime simply wanted to avoid sentencing the innocent Trystane to death because of the actions that Ellaria had taken (he knew that Myrcella genuinely loved the young man, and the Prince loved her). If Doran had managed to round up Ellaria and the Sand Snakes and execute them all, I think that Jaime at least would have been sated. Now that both Doran and Trystane are dead and Ellaria is effectively ruling Dorne? Things may have changed.
It will depend on how prominently the show wants to feature Dorne in the future, I guess. If this was the end of the Dornish subplot, it may never be mentioned again. But I do hope that the prospect of war with Dorne will at least be discussed, even if Doran’s death remains secret from the Seven Kingdoms for a while (because he’s a known recluse, Ellaria and company may try to keep his murder under wraps while they make their preparations).
Mihnea
One of those Ramsay *emotional fits* will cost Roose Bolton his life! (hopefully!) .. I’d like to see the resurrected Jon Snow kill Ramsay .. or even better, Sansa and Theon!
Cersi’s Mercy,
We already saw this last episode.
He will threaten Ramsey with Walda and her child. Ramsey will loose it and kill them all.
Ratings are out
7.9 for first airing
10.9 if you include the repeats and early returns of streaming numbers
http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/26/game-thrones-premiere-ratings
Cersi’s Mercy,
Too good for him. I’d like to see Ramsay being hunted down by a direwolfs or his hounds. Sansa is not a killer, Theon would hardly be there. He likes hunting so much, let him be hunted down.
Tim of House Deddings,
Streaming is clearly winning ground.
Since we’re addressing things that certain people considered to be “plot holes” (even if they actually weren’t), I’d like to leave this here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/4gbren/solving_the_mystery_of_the_missing_dogs_s6e1/
Apparently some industrious soul did the work and discovered that there are six Bolton hunters who are chasing Sansa and Theon – four mounted, and two on foot with the dogs. But Brienne, Pod, and Theon only kill five of them – the four who were on horseback, and one of the footmen. What happened to the second footman? Once it became clear that his side was going to lose, he ran back to Winterfell … with the dogs (some argue that we may even be him in the preview for the next episode with Roose and Ramsay).
We’ll have to wait until the next episode to see if that last part’s true, but it’s good enough for me (I’d already assumed the dogs ran off, but hadn’t realized that one of the men escaped as well). It goes to show that people need to have a little more patience and faith before running to the Internet screaming “PLOT HOLE! I FOUND A PLOT HOLE!” It will never happen, but I can hope.
You’re right on the money. Critics are, unfortunately, for the most part extremely reactive in their appraisal of TV shows in general. They always seem to trail one season in their reviews. While they were somewhat guarded when Season 1 came along, they universally adored Season 2 even though the opposite reaction would perhaps have made more sense. After the very strong Season 4, that good will carried over to Season 5, but as soon as “Sansagate” erupted, almost on cue you could see a more negative shift, as if that one thing somehow changed their perception of the entire show. Where Season 6 is concerned, regardless of whether it turns out OK or not, you can bet good money there’s gonna be a healthy dose of skepticism going forward. And then, if this season blows their minds (in a good way), we’ll enter next year with everyone raving about how great early S7 is, regardless of its actual quality.
That’s just how it is.
Dragonmcmx,
Awesome! Sounds like it has hints of the Warrior of Light soundtrack combined with Dany’s House of the Undying soundtrack
Connor,
After the Thrones was a serious mess.
The guy with the glasses couldn’t pronounce anyone’s names correctly and said that Doran was Ellaria’s brother.
it was painful to watch and I don’t think i’ll be back to it.
The Dragon Demands,
Here, here!! Sue did a GREAT JOB!
Can’t wait for next week. I feel like thats when we find out, if Aeron Damphair is really cast. I hope to He-Who-Dwelves-Beneath-The-Waves that he is in. I am very much looking forward to the IB story in season six. I hope it’s a little closer to the books than Dorne. I don’t mind Dorne at all actually. Even in the books it was much less interesting than the Iron Islands subplot, In my opinion. Now in the show, Dorne is more like comic relief, and I like it. But I want the Iron Islands to be the dour, depressing saga that it was in Feast. The Damphair is a big part of that.
By the way, is a Curtain Call for Opiah, Siddig and Sebastian coming up?
Jared,
So, do you think D&D are trying to wash their hands of the whole Dorne thing? That they came to the conclusion that their S5 decision to include Dorne was a bad one?
Damphairintheshowplease!,
I’ll be curious to see who they cast as the Damphair, if it is indeed him and not just a standard Drowned Priest. I was surprised that casting never leaked, although with the increase in security I really shouldn’t have been.
Curtain Calls are on Friday, I believe. I’m sure Siddig, Oparei, and Sebastian will get one.
That definitely made my morning. Thx! For me, his humor and energy adds to the episode. Such great one-liner summaries for scenes.
“Theon learns the benefits of having no balls…”, “a dash of arson at the yacht club…”, etc… 🙂
His “returning to season 1 vintage selves” and “being reminded of who you are” are good observations as well.
Blacktalon53,
Heh, really – tho he might have had a scribe write for him. And Im not dyslexic but I often misspell neices – wierd 🙂
KnightOfStorm’sEnd,
I see a lot of contrarianism going around, which is to be expected when something gets so popular and loved: I’ve seen hundreds of comments from people who proudly state they’ve never seen an episode and never will, and then there’s the people who are very bot-like in their ability to pick up an opinion from somewhere else and regurgitate it all over the internet in the simplest fashion (“show sux since they left the books,” etc.) It’s the flipside of success. It was always going to happen.
This, 100%…we know, but many people don’t. They will go to Metacritic and think s ” Wow, Season 6 mustvsuck cause it dropped from 94% to 74%”.
I hope they’ll do something to fix this come next year. I think they will
GeekFurious,
I like reading the ‘expert critic’ reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, because they give me a well rounded idea of the movie. But no one should be relying on that total score. There are some pretty awful movies that get ‘fresh’ and some good ones that get ‘rotten’ Either just go to movies that interest you, or pick a few reliable reviewers that tend to mirror your views
back to GOT – the fan base is so huge, if we lose some folks because the number was lower than usual, I doubt its going to hurt. Im thinking that as the show progresses those numbers will go up for each episode.
I have a question
Tim of House Deddings,
When we have discussed the 8. something million from last season, was that for both episodes?
Tim of House Deddings,
The first airing went down.
Last season opened with 8 million viewers of the first airing of the episode (after rounding), and set an all-time record with the final episode and 8.11 million viewers.
Mr Fixit,
I touched on this issue a bit in the recap thread. I think it could go either way. It’s a question of priorities.
It’s clear that Dorne isn’t endgame material. In retrospect, the revelation that Benioff and Weiss originally planned to cut Dorne entirely before Cogman pitched the Jaime, Bronn, and Myrcella angle explains a lot. The story we got in Season 5 with those characters was very much Jaime’s story – the story of him trying to rescue the daughter that he could never acknowledge, and finally managing to gain her love and acceptance, right before all of those things were taken from him. The Dornish characters were there to serve as threats and background players. Ellaria became the most prominent of those characters because she was the only one who we had met previously (and because Benioff and Weiss liked Indira Varma’s performance in Season 4). There was never going to be a “Dornish master plan” because said plan amounts to nothing, and all of the relevant characters for that part of the story have been cut.
Myrcella’s death will have important implications for the rest of the story, so the show needed to tie up Dorne’s end of it in this premiere somehow. This way was bloody and obviously didn’t work for many, but at least it removed some extraneous pieces from the board. If the show wants to wash its hands of the entire subplot, they now have the opportunity to do so. They could simply declare that now that Ellaria and the Sand Snakes have killed Myrcella and those members of their family that they saw as appeasing the Lannisters, they’re content to rule a new and “better” Dorne. If they want war with the Lannisters, it may happen offscreen, or not until Season 7.
Benioff and Weiss have never been reactive. I doubt that they decided to cut bait on the Dorne stuff solely because many people didn’t like it, but they may have decided to wrap it up because they didn’t like it, or because they simply don’t have any more time for it. The show has more pressing storylines to cover, particularly in the North. This is about as natural a resting place for the surviving Dornish characters as it’s possible for the show to achieve, sort of killing them all off.
Or … Ellaria and the Sand Snakes could support Daenerys. I was one of the people who thought that Dorne would wind up supporting Dany once she arrived, and that perhaps Varys would be the one to broker the alliance with Doran … a cautious, reasonable man like himself. I think that Doran’s assassination lessens the chances that we’ll see Dorne rise up and actively support Dany, because I don’t know if Ellaria and the Sand Snakes are that politically savvy. But if Dany arrives in Westeros ready to take down King’s Landing, I could see Ellaria and the Sand Snakes pledging Dorne’s support to her. Then they’d just become soldiers in her army.
what do you mean?
Jared,
Yeah, I’m courius too, though I doubt it will anyone well-known. It’s probably gonna be a bit part, like Areo Hotah in Dorne. I just hope he is Aeron Greyjoy and not random priest as you said. I’ve been worried about that as well. It would surprise me though, if they dont include him now that they chose to do the storyline and since, as you also mentioned, Cogman is a big fan of the character. In doing the Kingsmoot I’m sure the priest is a substantial part of that scene, and it would be an obvious choice to have that priest be the damphair. I also have a feeling, that they might give him some of The Readers characterics, like having him be close with Yara.
Some of the OMG I Found A Plothole talk is annoying when there aren’t any plotholes.
Tristane was on the boat he travelled in from Dorne and in the harbour waiting for Mycella’s funeral and to take up Oberyn’s position on the Small Council. The sailing ship was slightly different to Tristane’s and must have been the ship carrying the sandsnakes.
The hounds chasing Sansa and Theon ran away when their handler was killed.
Last season Melisandre had a small red gem in her hand when she was in the bath. That obviously maintained the spell.
Davos mentions Melisandre to Thorne in the hope that Melisandre would do something nasty to Throne. Davos sees her as a magical weapon
It is possible a lot more people migrated watching via HBONow and HBOGo
But the average viewers per episode was 6.88 million.
7.9 million is a really good number.
OT: I am chatting with someone about Dany’s ships – can someone remind me when she bought all her ships? I know she bought one after Qarth. but when did she buy a fleet?
Tim of House Deddings,
I know I did. It’s really good.
tyrone,
I meant for the first airing and second airing.
Tim of House Deddings,
All the numbers in the article include the streaming services
Deesensfan,
Daario captured the Meereenese fleet when they took the city.
Deesensfan,
When Dany took Meereen, Daario and the Second Sons captured the Meereenese navy for her. 93 ships. It’s mentioned in Dany’s Small Council meeting in “First of His Name”. They debate whether or not to use those ships to sail to Westeros immediately, but Dany decides to stay.
nvm
Jared,
Mihnea,
Yes! Thank you !!!! 🙂
I didn’t realize this till just a few days ago. Do you know where that was originally revealed? I’d like to read the whole post/article Thanks
I think Daario captured them?
Edit: They beat me to it. It’s funny though, when they needed those ships because they were getting rid of that plot from the books they magically appear, not that seems that they reintroducing that plot they magically disappear 😉 It goes to show that D&D do change their mind and there’s nothing more to it thant that, in a huge production like this there’s bound to be changes
KD</strong
I agree with you completely. Most things that people call plot holes, really aren't. But seriously, did Melisandre have a red gem in her hand in the bathtub scene. I noticed that as soon as Selyse came in, she told her to get a certain potion and she poured it into the water. I asumed that was what kept her glamor, because that same potion was next to her mirror in The Red Woman. But you say, she had a gem in her hand too?
Connor,
I don’t read the sullied recap! 😛
thank you for your response. I remember now
Damphairintheshowplease!,
I also think its the potion too.
if there was a gem in her hand, that would be sick
Damphairintheshowplease!,
Wasn’t that just the empty vial of potion?
Ohh thats right you don’t lol, oops.
Pau,
Yes:) thank you!
Connor,
LOL 🙂 no biggie
ash,
It’s not a full article – apparently came from the Season 5 Blu-Ray commentaries. Den of Geek listened to all of them, and published a list of 125 things they learned. Look at number 34.
http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/game-of-thrones/39270/game-of-thrones-season-5-what-we-learned-from-the-blu-rays
If someone’s listened to the actual Blu-Ray/DVD commentary and found the relevant quote, please chime in!
I thought I was the only one who noticed the vial, looked like the one Mel put in her tub back in Season 4, they had a shot of it too in the scene where Mel takes off her, so I assumed that it was a hint.
takes off her necklace*
Nate,
No problem!
Wondering why no one timeline critic person mentioned the very first episode when we saw Jaime and Cersei at Jon Arryn’s funeral in King’s Landing and in the same episode they arrives at Winterfell. Just stop it already dumbs…
ash,
Jared,
Some people have cynically claimed that the show went to Dorne solely to capitalize on the enormous popularity of Oberyn Martell. But if Dorne originally wasn’t going to be introduced in Season 5 – immediately after Oberyn won the hearts of the audience and shocked the world with his death in Season 4 – then I have a hard time believing that it was ever on the show’s primary agenda (particularly since the Griffs were likely among the first things to be cut). When they decided to do it, they just restructured the story around Jaime and only kept the characters relevant to his plot.
The Ironborn are in a similar position, but it’s easier for them to take a season or two off because the show has a well-established character with a personal connection to that family in Theon.
r-hard,
The timeline has always been like this.
The sheer size of the story makes it a necessity.
Connor,
It’s not the exact same though, the glass is a lighter blue, but it’s definately a hint. I just watched the scene from season four, it basically comments what happened in the newest episode. She is very quick to make Selyse bring the vial, it’s the first thing she does when she enters. Then she goes on about how she uses potions and tricks to get what she want. It’s definately not a mistake by any chance.
Connor,
Andy and Ryan’s shtick in the past has been that they’re the more casual fans for whom GoT is just one of many shows that they watch and review, while Jason and Mallory (who come in halfway through the show) are the GoT experts/devotees. And that segment doesn’t even necessarily imply that they themselves forgot about Edd, it’s just meant to highlight someone who played a part in the episode that more casual fans of the show might have forgotten. They’re trying to play to both crowds with After the Thrones, both casual watchers and hardcore fans. That’s why they bring the experts in to assist.
Andy is in the midst of writing a book about TV, and if you’ve read his past recaps of this and other shows you’d know he’s not clueless.
Sword of the Morning,
Enjoyed! Thanks for sharing.
Read the comments about the blood stain in the ground, so I rewatched the scene. If you look closely, you can see the shape of
hey, by reading (some of) these recaps I realised I was not the only Monty Python fan inevitably watching the Dothraki as The Spanish Inquisition!
Mihnea,
And the nit picking on time travel is kinda ridiculous
Blacktalon53,
Thank you for remembering that! People are going apeshit over a spelling error, when the Kingslayer is has a flipping learning disability. THAT, is attention to detail.
Fourthted? Yeah, me too. Laura is funny and uses great references to other movies/shows sprinkled through her review to guess at. She also has a very fun way to portray the different characters on GoT’s, the sort that stick with you and you will refer to that character as such from that point on. 😉 LOVE YOU LAURA!!!
PS She is unsullied as the day is long and there is nothing worse than trying to spoil her little website. Just DON’T DO IT!!
Site link:
Hey don’t judge me, by Laura Stone
http://heydontjudgeme.com/2016/04/25/game-of-thrones-6-1-the-red-woman/
When this episode finished I thought: “What?! It started just 10 minutes ago!”
It really marched at a fast pace! 🙂
The beginning has been really exciting! Davos is officially my second favourite character after Tyrion. 😀
Let me praise Alliser Thorne too. He’s an excellent villain!
Also the scene with Brienne, Sansa, Theon and Pod was very exciting. I must admit I didn’t notice the hounds disappeared at the end of that scene – I’d probably be a real bad detective… But maybe the hounds knew Brienne almost killed The Hound, so they ran away, terrified… 😀
The scene with Cersei has been really touching… I presume the writer who wrote that dialogue knows the feelings and words of a mother who just lost her son/daughter… I’ve heard almost the same words from a mother at a funeral.
I think the showrunners want to see Dorne falling as soon as possible, otherwise they wouldn’t kill Doran and put the Stupid Snakes on the throne.
Jorah and Dany’s Toy Boy aren’t so bad together. They could do a buddy film. 😀
I can’t wait to see Arya the Blind Fury in action… :O
And Melisandre… Doesn’t she look like the dead woman in The Shining? 😀
Oh, and when the Dothraki debate about what is best in life, don’t they look like Conan? 😀 😀 😀
I’m so late to the party, thanks to living in another country and 24 hrs later screening and boring real life stuff like work… I don’t even know where to post. So I post here. Apologies for what you’re about to read.
I really, really liked this episode. I’d give it 8/10 on my GoT scale.
To get the negative things, nitpicking, out of the way…
1) How did Ob and Nym get on that ship? It really jarred when I was watching the episode for the first time. It would’ve taken 2-3 seconds to show a ship trailing Jaime’s. It would’ve explained it all.
2) dearth of extras. Cersei runs to the harbour in KL – and there are no people anywhere! Except Ser Robert Strong, who didn’t run along with her, he’s just there. Tyrion and Varys walk along the deserted streets of Meereen, fear is offered as an explanation. Roose walks along the corridors of Winterfell with Ramsay, no bannermen, men-at-arms or anybody crowding Winterfell. All these scenes just come out as WTF or cheap, knowing GoT doesn’t usually stint on the extras.
Those are my nitpicks, the things that really took me out of my suspension of disbelief and “ruined” it for me.
Mostly, I suspended my disbelief and loved the episode.
My LOL moments.
Ramsay displaying some human emotion over Myranda’s dead body. Then “It’s good meat, feed it to the dogs.” You’re such a romatic, Ramsay!
Daario needling Jorah. “When I’m as OLD as you…”
Khal Moro, interrupted by his bloodriders, rolls eyes, “Seeing a beautiful woman naked for the first time is among the five best things in life.” lol. Great shout-out to Monty Python and the Spanish Inquisition.
Ser Davos: “And some mutton.” Ser Alliser Thorne: “Huh?”
Aah, Davos is running rings around Alliser Thorne. Davos is one smart cookie. Also loyal and all around good, so he’s going to die before the end.
talvikorppi,
1) Shortly after they were seen on the docks in “Mother’s Mercy”, Obara and Nymeria took a second ship to King’s Landing so they could follow Jaime and Trystane. They didn’t stow away – they climbed aboard the ship Trystane was on while it was anchored so they could kill him. The letter that Doran receives (wish we’d seen this in the episode itself) confirms that Jaime knew that Trystane would not survive if he stayed in King’s Landing, so he never left the ship or entered the city. Nym and Obara had plenty of time to infiltrate the Prince’s cabin.
http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/production-diary/objects-from-dorne
As for why the infiltration wasn’t shown? Surprise. They wanted to show Doran’s murder first, then cut to his son’s death. Not the most elegant piece of editing that the show’s ever done, but I think they trusted people would follow it. Judging at least by the online reaction, there’s a vocal contingent on the Internet who didn’t. It could have been handled better.
2) The lack of extras in Cersei’s scene is easy to explain. That place is the private royal docks, not the main King’s Landing harbor. We see Tywin fishing in the same location in a deleted scene from Season 3. No commoners allowed. 😉
As for the scenes in Meereen and Winterfell, I think the lack of extras in the former can be justified by fear (as you said), and the fact that they’re unnecessary in the latter. That isn’t the communal dining hall in Winterfell – it’s Roose and Ramsay’s private quarters. Again, no commoners allowed.
Sorry those scenes broke your immersion! I myself was initially a bit distracted by the sparse streets of Meereen. But since an explanation was offered in the show, I let it go. 🙂
Jared,
The whole point of Tyrion and Varys walking the streets of Mereen WAS to show us the state of the city.
Jared,
As to the Sand Snakes suddenly appearing in Trystane’s cabin on the ship moored just off King’s Landing. It really jarred on my first watch. I can rationalise it, come up with explanations, it’s not difficult. My point is that for the show, showing a 2-3 second glimpse of another ship might’ve made all this nitpicking null and void.
It was a slight missstep/error, but the rest was just sooo goood, so I forgive everything.
In Season 5 Roose said the Lannisters had never sent their armies to the North, and that they wouldn’t send them for the Boltons. Now he’s concerned they’ll send their armies to fight them because they have Sansa Stark? They didn’t send them in order to eliminate Stannis (the only remaining Baratheon and Tommen’s biggest political threat) and now they send them in order to capture a single fugitive, who at most is only a threat in the North?
And really, couldn’t Roose just send a raven?
“I married Sansa to Ramsay in order to keep the North united and defeat Stannis. I’ll send her back as soon as she gives me a grandson.”
Deesensfan,
I agree. It was just slightly jarring at first. But the moment that Varys and Tyrion started talking about it, it made total sense.
I’ll continue my ramblings on the first episode here.
I LOVE love love Davos. “And some mutton”. I think I’m going to cry my eyes out when Davos dies.
Foreshadowings? Aplenty!
Olly (smug as seven hells), and then that NW man – he didn’t seem too keen on Alliser Thorne’s rule.
Brienne swears an oath to Sansa. This will end badly because Brienne has also sworn an oath to Jaime. Brienne and Jaime love each other even though they don’t know it yet. There’s no happy ending to this.
Cersei’s talk about their mother’s body rotting… Cersei will give Myrcella’s body to Qyburn to reanimate. She’s mad. This will distance Jaime from Cersei. He’s a realist and accepts things. Jaime is very practical, down to earth, doesn’t believe in prophecies or shit like that. He believes in taking on the High Sparrow head-on, admitting (nearly) all his crimes and sins, taunting the High Sparrow to be as honest as he is. Jaime knows the game and he knows the High Sparrow is a fraud.
Hmm… Brienne swore an Oath to Jamie to find the Stark girls. How would this end badly?
Tywin of the Hill,
Why is this hard to believe? These are extraordinary circumstances, especially given Cersei’s priorities. As Roose says when he takes delivery of Sansa from Littlefinger “The Queen will be enraged”. He knows what he’s doing. Cersei believes that Sansa murdered Joffrey, along with Tyrion. She despises her with every core fiber of her being. The Boltons swore fealty to the Iron Throne, and now they’re “harboring” one of the Crown’s most wanted fugitives. They’re basically telling the Lannisters they can go fuck themselves so they can try and increase their legitimacy in the North. Cersei isn’t going to let that stand. Someone like Kevan might, because he’s more rational. But it’s not clear if Roose knows that Cersei is no longer in charge. Even if he promised to return Sansa once she provided an heir, that’s basically like stealing something incredibly valuable from someone and then promising to given back. That wouldn’t satisfy Cersei.
Maybe Roose could resist the Lannister army, if he had all of the Northern lords backing him. But without Sansa, there’s no chance of that.
That was not the case with Stannis. Even before Cersei knew about Sansa being married to Ramsay, she didn’t give two shits about whether or not the Boltons survived, or if the North collapsed into the hellish fires of war. Why should the Lannisters send their depleted army North to stop Stannis? The Boltons are supposedly loyal to the crown. They’re the Wardens of the North. Let them defend their own lands. If they could stop Stannis on their own, then great! And as it turns out, they did stop Stannis on their own (with an assist from Stannis himself, whose actions cost him half his army)! If the Boltons weren’t harboring Sansa, everything would have worked out absolutely perfectly for the Lannisters, at no cost to them.
But since the Boltons are harboring Sansa, they’re traitors to the Crown, and now the Lannisters know, thanks to Littlefinger. And as it turns out, there is an army coming North to make the Boltons answer for their treason. It just happens to be Littlefinger‘s army – the Knights of the Vale. Cersei was raging about the Bolton’s betrayal, but even she recognized the implausibility of sending an army North … until Littlefinger offered his services. Once again, the Lannisters don’t risk any manpower at all.
Just because Jaime and Brienne are the knights swearing oaths. The oaths will conflict. Brienne will face a similar situation that Jaime did. Choose one oath over another, you can’t keep them all.
Jaime had sort of given up, he knows knighthood is a sham, Brienne still believes. In the books
Brienne’s story and Jaime’s story in GoT are very strongly linked.
It was really dark in that cave, Ravyn. Ever wonder why she needed to go to a pitch black cave under cloak of darkness to have said demon baby? It’s suspicious.
Mel keeps alluding to deceiving people and tricking them into seeing what she wants them to see. I don’t know if there was any demon baby, in truth.
I guess I’ll find out; or, maybe I won’t.
What I really loved about this episode.
I LOVE love love Pod. Brienne’s been teaching him but he’s still pretty inept. Barely holding his own with a generic Bolton man. Then he kills that Bolton man and goes down with him, trying to extricate his sword. No matter how good and loyal and clever Pod is, he’s still clumsy and inept. I love him.
OK, so we get bad cop/good cop. Septa Unella/High Sparrow.
Did anybody notice the slowly realising look on Marg’s face after the High Sparrow hinted at husband/wife love, sins, confessions etc. When the High Sparrow left, Marg was thinking and scheming, with the High Sparrow’s tacit agreement.
He’s such a hypocrite and a fraud – Jaime sees it, and being a sinner beyond redemption, calls the High Sparrow out on his sins and hypocrisies. (#badassJaime)
Regarding Trystane: They kept showing the Dornish boat on the outside of KL and I even believe they showed the boat the scene right before they showed Trystane, and if not it looked just like the cabin Marcella died in. I also don’t think its too hard to believe the moment the ship left Dorne, two of the sand snakes left and boarded a faster ship and set sail. Its a multi day trip on what is probably a popular shipping lane. It doesn’t need explanation, i wasn’t confused one bit. Was the coup rushed sure, could some exposition have been added regarding the other troops in Dorne prior to them not doing anything to protect the King, absolutely.
Yes! That last look of Margaery’s, while there was still some fear in it, was pretty contemplative. I think in the next few episodes, we’ll see her play both Septa Unella and the High Sparrow.
I’m excited to see how the HS will react to Jaime. There were a few Sparrows in the sept, but overall, Jaime isn’t scared of them.
Ayman,
Is that really confirmed? If so then that fixes why Jaime left Trystane alone.
Alexandre Laframboise,
It’s confirmed. Here.
http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/production-diary/objects-from-dorne
I’ll reiterate my wish that we had gotten a 2-3 second shot focusing on the text of this letter in the episode itself, rather than just seeing Doran read it. I think it would have answered some of the questions that have been circulating around the Internet for the past two days. Not enough people are going to read the Making Game of Thrones blog, unfortunately.
Jared,
Thanks for clarifying some things. Knowing the content of the letter really makes it all believable now, how Trystane stayed on that boat and how the sand snakes could have had time to infiltrate by then.
It would have helped a lot if we saw a second boat in the scene at King’s Landing’s pier, and knowing Bronn wasn’t aboard.
That’s pretty much what I thought, that the guy with the dogs just escaped and ran back to Winterfell; that’s how Ramsey knows Sansa escaped and thus he proposes the “storming Castle Black” plan, since he figures Sansa went there looking for help from Jon.
So, for this ridiculous plot to work, you need a conspiracy where ALL of Doran’s personal guards except one are in on the plot, plus the crews of not one but two boats (or the crew of one, plus Cloaks of Spice Invisibility and some classic Boots of Water Walking).
I am not sure which is more absurd – this idea, or the idea that the writers/directors expected the audience to make such a leap of illogic. The odds of a conspiracy working go down exponentially with the number of people involved. One this big wouldn’t work even if nearly everyone in Dorne loathed Doran, which is itself illogical because your common dude on the street isn’t going to be that worked up about getting revenge for a woman who died twenty years prior by killing the decendants of the man who ordered her killing (let alone worked up enough to commit treasonous kinslaying!).
Josh,
My thoughts exactly. Greenwald’s thoughtful reviews in Grantland were my favorites. And I am Sullied. (Greenwald is Unsullied.)
Hey, thanks for the link.
Now I’m left wondering who wrote it for Jaime, lol. (He writes like a six-year-old with his left hand, as Ellaria witnessed last season.)
Chad Brick,
It worked for many MANY people I have spoken to. Book readers or not.
I think some people just OVER analyze to the point where they cant enjoy anything.
He is a purist. Just ignore him. Do not feed a troll.
Connor,
I recorded After the Thrones and those dudes were so bad. Skip it. You won’t be missing a thing.