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The newest episode of Game of Thrones featured the conclusion of the siege of Riverrun, and the climax of Arya’s time in Braavos. So today we have a stack of new interviews from the cast and writers of the show, taking a deeper look into “No One.”
First up, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau discusses Jaime and Brienne’s relationship with IGN, describing “this subtext of a weird fondness and attraction between them that they never act on, and could never act on.” Basically the entire interview is candy for Jaime/Brienne shippers. The actor expresses enthusiasm for their moments in the episode, when Brienne and Jaime were reunited with Bronn and her squire just outside.
“What I love about the scene last night, the set up is brilliant. When Bronn surprises Pod in front of the tent, he says, “So what do you think? Are they f–king in there? Because I know he wants to f–k her. I’m sure she wants to f–k him. So what do you think?” And then we cut in and you just see these two people standing very stiffly and very correctly and trying to avoid talking about anything really personal, but being very correct.”
He articulates their feelings further, explaining, “Because the writers set this scene, the subtext is so clear that they’re happy to see each other, but they don’t know how to recognize that. The truth is that they’ve never, you know… Yes, Jaime’s been with his sister his whole life and that’s the love he knows, and God knows that’s a version of it. Brienne, she loved Renly I think, but they would never recognize the thing that there is between them because it’s just beyond imagination — or at least they would never allow themselves to go to that place.”
The moment in season 3 when Jaime reveals the truth of what happened when he killed King Aerys all those years ago, Coster-Waldau refers to it as “an act of love.”
As for the recently popular Tormund/Brienne ship, he says, it “seemed to me quite one-sided. I think Tormund is more into it than she is — or maybe I’m getting protective about the Jaime situation. I’m already being jealous on his behalf.”
There’s much more to the complete interview so check that out at IGN!
Coster-Waldau and Gwendoline Christie talk with Entertainment Weekly about last night’s reunion.
Christie raves about the meeting, saying, “I just loved that it was so formal, because within the confines of such formality, and having to negotiate with each other, there are so many other stories begging to be told in those moments. There’s a slow process of creeping familiarity among two people who haven’t been together for a long time; it was allowed to build. And I love that Brienne asserts her intelligence and her newfound mind of strategy and negotiates with Jaime and gets the outcome she wants – he allows her safe passage to go in and negotiate. It wasn’t cliched in any way.”
Her co-star adds, “Sometimes, with both of them, you just want go, ‘For godssake, let it go for a one second. What about what you want?’ They never listen to themselves. And what I love about the end of this scene is there’s some heartbreak. Because, once again, they were close. But are they ever gonna be able to talk about something other than someone else’s agenda?”
We also saw Jaime averting a bloody battle in “No One” by maneuvering Edmure into giving up Riverrun without a fight. Coster-Waldau says Jaime has grown into ” a very skilled negotiator.”
“I hope that the audience appreciates it because we’re cheating a little bit – we’re building up to this big battle with Lannister forces and the castle and a siege that’s going to be bloody and crazy. But then, no, it’s not,” he tells EW. “He resolves it by his intelligence and wit. He’s actually saving a lot of peoples’ lives by using words instead of arrows.”
See what else the stars of “No One” had to say over at EW!
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Maisie Williams discusses her big chase scene with the Waif, in Entertainment Weekly.The actress goes over the complexity of creating a stunt-filled scene where her injured character is essentially trying to lead the audience astray.
People are going to watch and be like, “Don’t put your blood on the wall. Have you learned nothing Arya? I hate you.” And then they’re going to be like, “Oh, she’s a smart girl.” There was this constant spectrum [of conversation with director Mylod] during the chase of about how petrified she needs to look, but also how safe she is. Arya’s been very lucky with the people she’s encountered so far. The whole time she was with The Hound she took a back seat because he was really good. So I wanted her to look like she was struggling. I didn’t want [the chase stunts] to be unnecessary or superhuman. I got on set and they were [going to have Arya] rolling around, and diving, and I was like, “That looks amazing, but no.” I’d be like, “Why would she run over there? She’d just duck under here and just get out.” It doesn’t look quite as cinematic, maybe, but they’ll have to find something else if they want cinematic.
Clive Russell, who just returned to Game of Thrones in last week’s episode, talks to Vulture today about his character’s perspective and the end of the Blackfish in “No One.”
The Blackfish’s unceremonious killing off-screen has raised some eyebrows, but Russell stands by the choice. He likens it to the blinding scene in King Lear, and to a production of the play he took part in that performed the scene off-stage, something he found more effective.
You can have so much horror, and the violence in Game of Thrones is pretty near the edge, but I think in that case, it was absolutely right. What has been set up as an impregnable castle just suddenly dissolves by treachery, and that the Blackfish should die offstage is absolutely right. Plus, I didn’t have to do four weeks of rehearsal and get badly injured to look like a swordsman! I’m perfectly happy with that, to be honest. [Laughs.] I think there’s something chilling with a simple line like “The Blackfish is dead, my lord.
The Blackfish resolved to stay and defend Riverrun, refusing to join Sansa’s cause, and Russell provides more insight into his character’s inner thoughts.
He reads the letter and he goes, “She’s exactly like her mother.” That really gets him. And that’s the point where you think he’ll ride to the rescue. But he says he can’t because he has to protect Riverrun. Brienne tries to appeal to his sense of honor, his sense of family, because vulnerable members of his family need help. But even at that, he feels he can’t do it. He really has to defend his home, where he was born. He’s very conflicted, I have to say. It’s quite touching.
Russell also mentions that he’s recording “one of those spinoff animated lore things” for the Game of Thrones DVD, “in which I give the history of the castle, and how it never, ever had been breached.”
Russell discusses the Blackfish’s sexuality, speculates on what the Blackfish may have been up to since the Red Wedding, and more over at Vulture.
In this week’s Inside the Episode, David Benioff and D.B Weiss discuss Tommen’s choice to forbid the trial by combat, Jaime and Brienne’s complex relationship, and Arya’s return to her self.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau discusses Jaime’s use of a believable threat to bring down Riverrun.
Emilia Clarke and Peter Dinklage share their thoughts on the chaos breaking out in Meereen, and Daenerys’ reaction.
Good to see the original articles, they get syndicated and often you only see bits of it!
Interesting that Maisie got them to tone down the chase sequence given the dissatisfaction in some quarters, Imagine the reaction and complaints if they had shot it as planned!
hodor
Clive Russell was great in this. Damn, I need more Ian McShane and Russell in my THRONES.
Very, very excited, to hear Clive in the History and Lore videos!!
Let the records indicate that I called it here (before the episode) that the hound will end up joining the BwB and there will be no Cleganebowl, lol.
But apart from that, it was a pretty weak episode. I know this is a fictional show with magic n shit but its really hard to believe that Arya recovered from 2 mortal abdominal stabbings in less than 12 hrs
Old Nan’s Pie,
Where did you get the 12 houres timeline….
Mihnea,
Haha, she goes to sleep and wakes up the next day, right? Unless it was implied that she spent quite a few days recovering
There was nothing brilliant about this episode, Arya chase scene dragged too long for no reason ending in the most unsatisfying way possible, they wasted great opportunity to work with Blackfish story line, Jaimie romance with Brienne while saying he would do anything to get back to Cersei makes no sense, no Jon Snow prior to the big battle but rather an awkward and pointless drinking scene with Tyrion??
One of the weakest episodes in GOT history!
chamush,
Add to it the extremely anti climactic return of Dany to Meereen, and the over hyped”I choose violence” scene that was just meaningless and inconsequential…
It certainly wasn’t long enough for the stitches to heal, since they tore apart fairly quickly. And now Lady Crane is dead.. I hope there’s another magical surgeon in Braavos for Arya, or it’s a one-way trip to Peritonitis-town.
Much as I do giggle over Tormund/Brienne, Nicolaj is right, it’s one sided. Jaime and Brienne have a chemistry and I loved their scenes this episode.
Quote:
As for the recently popular Tormund/Brienne ship, he says, it “seemed to me quite one-sided. I think Tormund is more into it than she is — or maybe I’m getting protective about the Jaime situation. I’m already being jealous on his behalf.”
I really do not get the viewers who felt Jaime had reverted to being the nasty piece of work he was in the beginning. His scenes with Brienne and Edmure telegraphed the complete opposite to me. I saw it as NCW describes. Loved it!
We are going to end up with a bittersweet ending to GOT. I will live in hope that Jaime and Brienne are left standing and I’m a hopeless romantic lol.
I really really enjoyed the episode, I was pumped when it ended with arya’s recognition of who she really is so I was fully surprised when I saw the unhappy reviews on here. The way she formed her stance before putting out the candle made me think she was thinking back to her water dancing and combining it with the blind practice, just very cool!
And while people found her behaviour strange last week and how she couldn’t have survived the stabbing you do sometimes have to cast the cynicism aside with tv shows and also presume bandages and milk of the poppy are fantastic healers! ?
chamush,
What, why didn’t it make sense that he said he wants to go back to Cersei.
She is the women he loves, she is about to face a trial that could cost her life and he was sent away against his wishes, it makes perfect sense that he would want to get back to her.
In a show that includes dragons, ice zombies, giants, elf-like children throwing around fire grenades, people from barren/rocky islands sustaining a massive fleet of ships and people being resurrected from the dead, we have people complaining incessantly about whether a knife wound has healed properly!
If that kind of stuff is going to spoil your enjoyment of the show, I’m not sure how you enjoyed any of it to begin with.
Jamie didn’t die when his hand was cut off, and a long time pasted before Quyburn helped him. The next morning? It could have been a week for all we know. The Hound didn’t die either and he had awful injuries.
I dare to say this is a serious cotender for the weakest episode of the whole series.
What are they doing to Tyrion? He is a clown now.
Where is Varys going and him leaving when Dany is about to show up seems like a soap opera style writing.
Also the huge Slavers war fleet ariving without any previous warning was LOL moment.
Arya`s storyline was always filler and it should have gotten the “Dorne” treatment.
She`s like “im out bye” and all is fine?
Blackfish … what to say all the hype up leading to nothing.
I imagine to film the army around riverun was costly cgi and all but at the end it was all for nothing? No fight just nothing…
Sandor (and his floppy weiner) and BWB was ok.
Count me as one of those people. As I read somewhere recently, I’ve always looked at the show as a mixture of gritty medieval realism with an overlay of a newly awakened and somewhat growing magic which, hopefully has at least some type of at least semi logical underpinning.
Perhaps it will be revealed that Arya’s healing was due to some sort of magic. I didn’t get that from the episodes but I could have missed it. Even having said that, my major problem with that storyline was more of why Arya let the Waif get the drop on her last week – to the point where she could have easily just cut her throat.
And I have (and still do) enjoy the show immensely despite the fact that I see some imperfections in it from time to time.
The existence of fantasy in a story doesn’t justify every inexplicable character action by sprinkling in some Magic Writer’s Pixie Dust. It’s the difference between good writing and bad writing.
Good writing may include magical elements, but they have to be set up properly before altering the course of the story. We see this over and over.. in the foreshadowing of many scenes, the Previously On segments, and the cyclical character arcs.
Bad writing throws in something that wasn’t mentioned previously, and is outside the bounds of common sense, just to get the writer out of plot jam, or to make things more “awesome!” If a scene feels wrong, it’s either bad writing, bad directing, or bad acting. It’s hard to tell which one when you’re talking about a scene like pre-stabbing Arya and the ship’s captain. It’s not hard to tell which when it’s something factual like a gut wound.
thorne garnet,
No Jaime didn’t die when his hand was cut off- bu he was not in any condition to fight or even run for a long time.
The Hound didn’t die- but if you had listened to Septon Ray’s description of his condition, the Hound wasn’t up and running for a very long time afterwards.
So Dany’s displeased that there’s a mess, but part of the reason for this mess is the mess she created in season 5 and her departure. Lol moving on….
It seems the Arya chase was even crazier and with more stunts? *facepalm*
I am a bit worn and torn by this episode. It shows both the strengths and weaknesses of D&D as (screen) writers. First the good stuff: The Brienne-Jamie-Edmure-Blackfish story. Well-written, well-acted, well-filmed, good timing and development of story, leaving room for the actors to play and to leave there motivations and consequences of the actions in the complete shades of gray. Anything can develop from that. Any motivation can be read into it. Also, the scenes with Sandor Clegane – Bedric – Thoros were good – surprisingly straightforward but effective, possibly foreshadowing significant developments to come. And the King’s Landing developments were also good, with drama and suspense.
Now to the weaker parts. The Arya storyline has developed into a meandering into nowhere. At this point, her apprenticeship with the faceless guy(s) seems just pointless, a longish time-killer that seems so far isolated from the other strands of action. And should there be more to it in relation to the overall story arc, it is very difficult to see how it would seamlessly connect. In my view, that is an example of poor story development and directing the audience’s attention to a meaningless direction. Still, much worse were the scenes with Tyrion-Gray Worm-Missandei. Are the showrunners trying to kill time? Or pull the spectators’ legs? That was out of context and – beg your pardon – idiotic. It may have served a purpose to show how separate Tyrion is from Missandei and Gray Worm, to show why the two might probably plot against Tyrion – but that did not manifest in any way, and so we get presented something that is worse than a play at a school stage. Here, D&D have lost it. That was ridiculous. They ought to take the viewers seriously.
I’m far less annoyed by Arya’s injury recovery than I am by her carelessness in getting shanked in the first place. That was never explained and is just bad writing.
I was world-class pissed at the beginning, but then I settled down and got to see NKJ’s finest work on this show since his hot tub scene with Brienne. I got to see Bronn and Pod doing their thing, got to see the magic that is the Mountain.
Yeah, it was annoying, but oh well. There are times you just have to let it go. (For instance, I still don’t know exactly why Littlefinger had to GIVE Lancel to the High Sparrow, when you’d think Lancel confessed all anyway)
More to the point, I’ve got a new theory: Jaime is going to end up killing TWO wildfire-crazed royals before it’s all said and done.
I thought it odd that ‘waif’, was acting like a character from terminator.
I never imagined an eight episode could be this bleeegh.
Did like Jaime, though, so there’s that. A lotlotlot.
And the worst part of the episode was easily the waif’s slow prey stalking – straight out of a slasher. The Sand Snakes can’t be too far.
That strange conversation between Tyrion and the Dany underlings just put me off. Oh how much I miss the scenes with Tyrion and Shae. One of the purposes of Shae was to show the limits of Tyrion’s good and witty character, by confronting it with sheer realism and the views of an independent, passionate, strong female character who loves him and is loyal to him, but expects the same towards her. In a sense, a modern woman. And it is clear why they have picked Sibel Kekilli for that role – she has portrayed such characters brilliantly and vehemently before. So the scenes between Tyrion and Shae always put both to an aching edge – and Sibel Kekilli was heavily critized by some commentators for that. I think they just couldn’t stand that aching realism and reference to the real world of relationships. I very much miss the depth of these scenes, particularly actingwise, but also in terms of reducing Tyrion to the occasionally mediocre fool that he is when it comes to his relation with the real world because of the way his actions differ from his witty talk. A mirror of intellectual arrogance and self-assuredness. Now compare this to the scene with Missandei and the Captain of the Unsullied. That was just nonsense. Also the acting was – I should not say. Maybe those people who disliked Sibel Kekilli’s performance will have liked it. Shae is badly missed, and I think she won’t return.
Episode was fine. Don’t understand why fans feel the need to whine and gripe about a show they supposedly love.
Let go of your expectations and enjoy.
Same holds true for life.
I don’t get this criticism of the Waif’s walking… Though I never really watched terminator, which some people compare it to.
I thought it was fine and fitted the moment…. But oh well what do I know, I’m probaly still in ”denial”.
Definitely the weakest episode this season and I’m having issues with the same things the previous posters had. Arya getting fatal wounds and recovering after a good night’s sleep is just plain silly and again we’re faced with the fact that the writers are more into shocking scenes than logical plot progression. There was no other point in her getting stabbed than shock effect. And the way the ended her Bravoosi arc was even sillier. “I say my real name just because it’s cool and gives my character a sense of empowerment and then I walk away leaving two years of dull plotlines behind. Bye”.
But my biggest issue with the episode and the next episode promo which implies the next episode will be all about Jon is that once again the show saves all the big scenes for the finale just for ratings. We’re going to have such a congested last episode when all these massive plot elements having to take place as well as many little ones. All these big pieces would have been AMAZING having been given minutes but now they all get the 2 minute treatment Stannis vs Ramsay battle got making everything feel rushed and unfulfilled. I get it, saving it all for episode 10 will make people talking and raving but it makes very odd viewing when several episodes are wasted on dull and pointless scenes when genuinely interesting things get the fast forward approach.
I didn’t necessarily think it was odd. I think that was trying to show her confidently and meticulously stalking her prey. Part of “making her suffer” is prolonging the dread and terror the prey feels. The way Maisie describes it, Arya was “pretending” to be more distressed than she actually was to lure the Waif into a false sense of confidence while leading her into her dark lair. Having said that, I don’t think they did a very good job getting that across.
While readers/viewers accept the premise of the magic, they also want the medieval life to be true to medieval life. When non-magical elements are illogical and incredible, those viewers voice their discomfort. The more realistic the non-magic, the more convincing the magic.
Identifying the unreality does not mean rejection of the magic; it means the show has gone off the track of believability and the viewers want it to make sense.
I absolutely loved the episode. Far, far more than the last two. For me, every storyline was either poignant, end-game revealing or fun times. But I am not at ALL surprised at the negative reviews here. I fully expect more negative reviews in the future as the reality of the show starts to increasingly clash with the collective imagination (case in point: the extraordinarily convoluted theories about Arya in the last episode instead of realizing that she had already embraced being Arya Stark, daughter of a Lord of Winterfell by then, only she hadn’t yet paid her “debt” to THoBaW.) I think I am going to enjoy the last two as well…. 🙂
Kay,
Just watched the episode with 5 unsullied friends.
It was really refreshing, the consensus ranged from ”good” to ”great”. The only complaint, and not all agreed, was that they wanted to see the Mountain kick more ass.
And one of them was really, really angry at Tommen denying him ”a awesome trial”, he thinks we will get a boring trial by seven as Tommen stated, I think he’ll like it when/if Cersei goes crazy. But even this wasn’t ”anger” at the writing, but rather anger at how the story developed, very much like ”anger” at Ned’s execution and such.
I was very pleased with the story in River run. Im glad they didn’t ruin Jamie by just making him do the stereo typically storm the castle thing. He is turning into a negotiator and that is a good thing. As for he and Brienne, I don’t get the impression from the books that their relationship was anything more than mutual respect, you can have that without having to interject romance or sex into everything.
Is there no “The Game Revealed” for episodes 7/8 like there is for 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6.
Why did the masters just randomly attack now?
Thank you! I do think there is a little more than mutual respect. I think they have an emotionally intimate friendship but don’t necessarily have romantic or sexual feelings for each other. At least, that’s the way I see it.
That you can’t see the “point” to a particular story or sequence doesn’t make it meaningless, nor does it mean it doesn’t have one. I recall the same thing being said about the Brotherhood Without Banners (i.e. If they’re not going to bring back LSH then what was the point of including them?!?!11111), and obviously, they still have a purpose in the story. Hell, I’ll argue that it’s an even better one than the LSH plot, especially if they join in with fighting the white walkers (and take Sandor with them). I feel like this show is continuing–even at this late stage–to set up future payoffs, and Arya’s training isn’t exempt from that. What if, for instance, she kills one of Frey’s sons and uses his face to get inside the Twins and kill Walder? She would not have been able to do that without this training. Also, the long night is coming; where all of Westeros will be plunged in darkness. That Arya can fight better in the dark could prove very useful for those times. Anywho, my point is, not everything is “pointless” in this show. Especially not things they’ve been building on for 2 seasons. We just have to wait for it’s relevance.
Jack Bauer 24,
They most likely always planned to attack. Dany wasn’t back, and they probaly got greedy and stupid, and decided to not to respect Tyrions offer.
Some of it was good, like the Riverrun scenes. But: Arya’s story has now turned into an example of very bad screenwriting. Simple test: Just leave out the storyline of Arya in seasons 5 and 6 and nothing changes with respect to the whole story. So Arya has now been degraded to an action-oriented filler contributing nothing to the bigger story. My advice to the actress: Leave the show as soon as possible, or at least deal out a very big financial compensation for having to act along such a poor screenplay.
Was it random or did we just switch to that story as it was happening? A better question would be why did Dany randomly get there right as the Master’s were attacking?
I think you missed the part about him springing an erection because of Brienne, or her rather obvious crush. It’s all very subtle and not overdone- mutual respect is the main idea, but there is definitely something there in the books.
hexonx,
Because she is on her way back to Meereen for couple of episodes now.
And she’s flying.
Kay,
????
Jack Bauer 24,
Any chance Arya makes it back in time for Bastardbowl?
I’m not really complaining because that’s how it works in TV. But if you are going to complain I would think it makes more sense to complain about how Dany showed up at that moment rather than the Masters.
hexonx,
I know, I was just giving a explanation and how I saw things.
Jack Bauer 24,
Sadly no.
I think it’s possible. The way they handle time it could be that Bastardbowl happens a few weeks after Arya leaves for Westeros. However, I don’t expect it to happen.
A flayed man none,
I think it is fair to compare the show by the standards it has set by – and for – itself. It obviously falls below that in some scenes of the episode, and unfortunately in a way that might put the high overall quality of the show in danger in the future, particularly when it comes to writing and story development. GRRM might have the tendency to go through too many “dead ends” of the storyline, but I have the feeling that whenever Dan and David try to figure out some shortcuts, they fall into a ditch of unmotivated and unrelated twists in the narrative. That puts the overall fascination of the full plot at stake. There seems to be no way out and GRRM is relishing about that, for sure. I can figure him watching the show with a (big) Margarita and an (even bigger) Chili con Queso shaking his head and mumbling “they just didn’t get it”.
Rhaenys Stark,
Great video! Loved it.
Thanks! Can’t wait to see the final one for 9/10.
Mihnea,
I have to say this: I love your positive vibes and your optimism. It’s a rare thing in this crazy fandom.
Rhaenys Stark,
Thanks for the vid! Whether people liked it or not at least we know now they were going for the “Terminator” effect.
My rant. Basically, there were two major inconsistencies in this episode.
First of all, Arya running and jumping after being lethally stabbed in the gut. If they needed her to be injured to go to Lady Crane, a deep cut on the arm would have worked much much better.
Secondly, it was the Blackfish. Everything was set up for a peaceful resolution, even the Freys wouldn’t have minded him going North after what Ramsay did to their sister. But no, the Blackfish was forced to act as a selfish suicidal idiot! If they needed him dead he could have died during the Battle of the Bastards or he could even catch pneumonia on the way and die on the eve of the battle. I understand that they wanted Jon to be in an absolutely desperate situation but the Blackfish had very few men – 2 to 3 hundred I suppose. They wouldn’t have changed the overall balance or they could simply join the Vale forces. There were a lot of solutions but D&D made the cause of events forced and totally unbelievable.
Other problems: “I choose violence” was out of place.
As a result the episode sucked and I really hope that this week will pass soon and that episode 9 will fulfill our expectations. If not this show may turn into a MASSIVE PROBLEM. Oh, I would like that guy Mazin (or what was his name – the one who review the pilot I mean) to take a look at the script of the remaining 13 episodes.
Jack Bauer 24,
I am 1000% sure episode 9 will be one of the best ever. I refuse to think otherwise. If Miguel Sapochnik doesn’t get nominated for an Emmy this year as well, I am going to be pissed 😛
hexonx,
It would seem that the Twins are closer to Braavos than WF so Arya may make a stop there first to take a name off her list or may not.
I’m glad they at least confirmed the Blackfish is really dead. I was certain when watching that the guy reporting to Jaime was lying and he’d come back for Lord Walder’s ceremony with the Lannister soldiers. It’s nice they put it to rest so I don’t get my hopes up. I guess the Brotherhood is our last chance for a Frey comeuppance. They can’t possibly make such a big deal of how serious guest right is, how badly the Riverlands have been ravaged, and make these guys such a parody of both evil and ineptitude and not have them suffer for it at some point. That will be ridiculously unsatisfying. And Riverrun deserves to be occupied by its rightful family just as Winterfell does.
So basically Mark Mylod is to blame for that mediocre chase sequence. I hope he’ll end up like Alex Graves and never be featured as a director on the show again.
The episode 9 synopsis from the Emmy ballot
http://www.emmys.com/sites/default/files/Downloads/writing-2016-ballot.pdf
It’s the Emmy’s official website, so I don’t think it counts as a hack or leak.
And here’s episode 10:
http://www.emmys.com/sites/default/files/Downloads/costumes-2016-ballot.pdf
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/4nxmf6/spoilers_everything_plot_synopsis_for_episode_609/
I highly doubt it was random. When they went to treat and ended up having an audience with Tyrion, they realized Daenerys was gone and they had a shot. They probably made the decision right away, but it takes a while to get the navy together. They aren’t on the 82nd Airborne 48 hour recall to deploy notice.
Made her a pretty cartoonishly villainous person. From what we know of the Faceless Men, they aren’t supposed to be that way. They’re dispassionate and don’t kill because they enjoy and don’t kill because they want their victims to die. That may have been part of the point, though. She wasn’t truly a Faceless Man, either. She was still an apprentice, further along than Arya, but nowhere close to what we saw out of Jaqen.
Flayed Potatoes,
Wow, those are the least informative synopses ever. I wonder what “terms of surrender are rejected and accepted?” The Starks obviously aren’t going to surrender. Does Ramsay try and they tell him to f himself, but then accept Karstark’s surrender because they still need men for the real war?
I hate how hundreds of comments have come and gone by the chance I get to see the episode! The joys of the UK timezone!
Not sure about this week’s episode; there were definitely good parts, it just felt… disjointed in places I guess.
There just doesn’t feel like there’s enough time to properly develop stories this season (many characters missing a couple of episodes and only appearing a short period in episodes they are in). Maybe it’s the same other years but it kinda feels like no one has really developed this Season (even Jon the apparent poster boy for this year). There’s been a lot of blatant stalling particularly in KL (which I don’t think will feature much in TWoW and that’s why) and Meereen which is completely different for Tyrion.
A brief overview of the episode;
Meereen: Peter Dinklage is being wasted this season. Minding you I felt the same last year and somehow he still won an Emmy so…. I actually liked Grey Worm and Missendei, they were sweet and they are certainly being geared up to run Meereen. I find Tyrion quite annoying but have done since he left KL – and how much Varys sucks up to him is draining. Part of me wondered if Varys had something to do with the ships attacking (they arrived very conveniently) but he is very Pro-Targ so it would be surprising. Dany appearing seemed odd and shoe horned in – it feels like she’s barely been in this Season – I wonder if Emilia has a certain episode count clause to fulfill hence the appearance. Funnily enough this will be the first Season 8 is the most episodes any one character is in.
KL: Disappointed by the lack of violence but it did make sense. Was actually surprised by the Royal Announcement though in hindsight it was sort of obvious. Glad nothing happened to Loras (yet) it wouldn’t have felt right in current circumstances despite it being fantasy/fiction. And jeez they are really giving away the finale aren’t they? It’s so so obvious what will happen though my unsullied friend didn’t twig at all so maybe it’s a book reader/forum lurker kind of obvious. Lena was excellent tonight – heartbreaking without speaking. It’s a shame she hasn’t had much material/screentime to give the Emmy’s a good crack with after last year 🙁
Riverlands: I love Brienne! She has always been one of my favourites and I am glad she is getting to do something. The less screentime but more important scenes layout for her seems to be working. And I liked the Pod/Bronn throwback to earlier seasons. I liked Jaime too – he was a bit of a dick but it worked. Also don’t get the hate for Edmure ending the siege – he did it for his child, even if he’s never met them, his very own child is out there. And it was the Blackfish’s battle (who didn’t give a toss if he was hung previously). Glad Nicolaj is getting a chance after Season 3 to shine again. For the 2nd highest billed actor I think he’s been shafted in the past so this is great. And out of his Kingsguard armour. Mmm he looked good! I kinda feel like the Hound is getting too much screentime (ducks!). I am not sure if this stuff shoulda been earlier on before the climax of the season unless its leading to something massive it seems oddly placed. All the comebacks this Season is getting bonkers, yet they’ve forgotten about Dorne and Euron!
Arya – Mmmmmm. I woulda skipped last week’s or at least toned down the injuries otherwise no massive complaints. I’ve probably enjoyed her story line the most this year. Glad she’s heading back across the sea now. Probably won’t be in the final 2 though 🙁
Next week’s looks good – time for Jon to shine! – wouldn’t mind a Meereen conclusion to make the finale a little less condensed. I do feel the finale is gonna be a bit like last year – death and drama galore!
I actually did enjoy the episode if my above statement looks like otherwise!
The things Jaime can do for love are rather scary even if one remembers that he is a wonderfully twisted grey character. And still there’s another love in his heart – the real, pure one – and, after having feared the Brienne-Jaime meeting again, I felt at peace while watching the episode. I was happy to notice the feelings they shared and their being honest with each other. And the exchange of glances, like the ones in season 4 when Brienne left with Pod and Jaime’s dreamingly looking at the island of Tarth in season 5, proved the deep connection between them. Beautiful and sad.
Jack Bauer 24,
I think they saw when they went to Mereen that there was no dragon queen, that their forces were reduces, remember that they have insiders, and probably thought it was a good moment to attack with everything they had once and for all.
If Danny gets Drogon back (Didn’t he fly away again?) the enemies forces will suffer a big blow.
If the Blackfish is really dead, it was a very out of place ending for such a great character. Thanks for nothing, D&D. Bringing the Blackfish back just to kill him off screen. Great stuff…
Sent by Raven,
GRRM has no right to complain about anything. He didn’t finish his job, and he is the reason why is everyone in a very hard situation.
Adam,
If we’re getting Meereen, I can see some terms being discussed.
As for the North…I really don’t know. Maybe Jon wants to make a plan to rescue Rickon or something. Or Ramsay tries to troll them with his terms.
Everything on Essos almost always is and always was filler. That’s just how GRRM wrote it. Arya won’t become No one in the books either, so that entire storyline serves very little purpose except world building. Same applies to Meereen.
Yes, Arya and Dany had some character development there, but it is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
In the books the Vale is also pointless filler.
http://ign.com/videos/2016/06/13/game-of-thrones-no-one-dragons-on-the-wall
Yikes! Another rough Dragons on the Wall.
Does the blackfish have a big role in the books or something?
Dee Stark,
No.
mau,
Okay, thanks 🙂
mau,
I tend to agree in some way, but one cannot really blame GRRM for not delivering under pressure. I think that GRRM’s ASOIAF was to some degree overrated as its finale has not been seen. That certainly meant that adapting a screenplay based on unfinished work was highly speculative and risky. What we are seeing is that the showrunners are not really able to fill the gaps, but also that that the original material has severe shortcomings in focussing the storyline, which seems to be become even more obvious when trying to adapt it for screening.
Jaime says the same line to Edmure that he said when he pushed Bran out the window in S1. It’s totally the show runners telling the audience, Jaime’s gone back to being S1 Jaime. He couldn’t have been any more clear. He will do whatever vile thing needs to be done to get back to Cersei. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a part of him that cares for Brienne, he does, but not at the expense of what he really wants.
I don’t quite like this Brienne-Jaime shipping.
When I first saw Season 3, I was amazed by the powerful non-romantic relationship they had. We don’t see enough man-woman relationships in TV that aren’t romantic or family. To make them love interests or a couple just feels…odd.
Sent by Raven,
Not sure that GRRM should be ‘relishing’ watching the show runners try to untie all the messy knots he has left throughout his unfinished narrative in order to try and bring this beast to a satisfying conclusion.
The Riverrun Jaime/Brienne/Blackfish/Edmure stuff was good…although I’m still annoyed that they’re persisting with the Jaime and Cersei stuff where part of Jaime’s development was moving away from her. King’s Landing stuff was fine although I think we were all gutted by the lack of Trial by Combat in the future although Qburn’s investigation is intriguing.
The Hound stuff was great. The show really missed his character but I have no idea what’s going to go on with the BwB now.
Mereen was very weak. Poor old Tyrion is trying his best but he has no one to work with there now Varys has gone. They’re all just terriblly dull characters ( still think they fucked up majorly killing off Selmy instead of Grey Worm and casting Misande as aged up and as dull as ditchwater). Dany’s cheesy entrance adds to her portfolio of ridiculousness this season.
Arya’s plot…well it’s been awful. I forgave the slow Braavos stuff at first as I thought it was going somewhere but what was the point? Was the whole troupe and Lady Crane really needed? She’s somehow become more advanced that seasoned Faceless Men with the few months training she’s had? The Waif blatantly had a grudge against her which is forbidden yet that wasn’t addressed at all. This is all without even going into the ridiculous stabbing in the stomach and slow paced Terminator Waif! Horrible. Please don’t do anything like that again.
I also felt a bit underwhelmed from this episode, i sometimes feel the clips for the week ahead are almost better than the actual episode.
Every time I try to hate Jaime again, I can’t.
Although I wish someone would photoshop hand puppets on his and Brienne’s wave goodbye, because that would be hilarious.
We are so lucky to get such great actors like Clive Russell even in brief roles. His parlay with Jaime last week was so good. SHOULD A HOPPED ON THE BOAT, BF!!!
Bronn and Pod’s exchange was fun, Pod has the best facial expressions to Brown’s blunt observations.
I can see grrm writing the blackfish to have an epic scene now.
I would have liked to see him go out as a badass on screen… But I’ve been happy with every episode that didn’t include the sand snakes.
It would be funny if they got a 3 minute piece right before the epic battle… Just to put a bad taste in people’s mouths.
Looking forward to the braveheart, gladiator, lotr battle next week!
Flayed Potatoes,
Iam curious do you use your brain and explain things with more sense when it comes to Jon alone and don’t use that to any other character .
How do you go to say that its what writers are trying to have jon act as stupid and LF save the day ..
When it comes to Jon its writers problem and then when it comes to dany its her fault…
You do realize that when she left that two of the cities where in her control and had a fleet and slavers were afraid to attack the city this openly..
If you are going to speak about the show only then tyrion failed to
Save the fleets
Lost control of yunkai and astopor
And has no idea about the fleet of masters attacking… He is been cocky that he is the smart and found the peace and didn’t think for a second he must be prepared for an attack in case of an attack as a precaution..
And if you take the books into account. ..dany has left the city when she had her armies prepared for the attack even after signing the peace and then she ended the sons of harpies stopped and have an united meereen fighting against yunkai and ghiscari .
So if you are going to complain do it justly and be more reasonable like you do for your favorite ..
Jack Bauer 24,
The same reason why Ramsey has not attacked till now when Jon and sansa go hunting for lords and ladies of north ..
Flayed Potatoes,
Good call. I didn’t really consider that we might get Meereen next episode as opposed to just in the finale. I don’t see Daenerys offering terms, but maybe if the masters think they have the upper hand and don’t realize the Greyjoys are coming behind them and Dany is being followed by every Dothraki Khalasar combined into one, they’ll offer to let her leave again and she’ll laugh at them before they all burn.
Preferably they’ll all burn after disembarking.
So seems like the director is to blame for the oddness of the Arya scenes. Even Maisie Williams makes it seem like she was head scratching. I thought it looked like a combo of Terminator 2 and Assassin’s Creed. And not in a good way. And to think that was actually the toned down version. I can’t imagine what kind of Hollywood nonsense the director wanted and was cut.
Good God a lot of you are whiny. I thought Aryas fast healing knife wounds were a stretch but you all are bitching about everything. I can’t wait to watch your HBO shows and crap all over them. Oh yeah, never gonna happen. The episode was fine. Not the best ever but certainly not the worst.
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/ottawa/game-of-thrones-steve-love-cameo-1.3632639
Mihnea,
You know what, you don’t need to be belittling everybody with a differing opinion. Incase you didn’t know you do that every single time you disagree with somebody.
OT, if she didn’t constantly stop to straighten her shirt or do some random eye movements she would’ve catch up with Arya.
Eck,
Probably won’t be in the final 2 though ?
I wouldn’t be so sure about episode 10
The organizational structure of the Faceless Men is left quite ambiguous, but I can’t imagine that they could function at all if they were truly a collection of interchangeable “No Ones” with no identity or motivation.
Clearly, magic is real in this world, but we don’t know if the “gods” are really anything more than powerful people using magic to manipulate people into doing things. The Old Gods could be The Three-eyed Raven whispering to people in visions, R’hllor could be someone broadcasting visions to anyone who stares too long into a fire (Valyrian Glass Candles might be able to do this). The Many-faced God might similarly be “Someone” with specific motives, using a cult of death-worshipers to advance his agenda.
The magical face changing makes it very difficult to know for certain whether the apparent distinct individual personalities of the characters was real, or whether they were just playing specific roles, but seeing how it played out in the end, I’m inclined to believe that it was real. By this I mean that there was a specific person who usually wore the Jaqen face, and that the Waif was a specific person who usually appeared in her natural face (since it seemed quite clear that Arya cut her face off at the end and added it to the Hall, rather than just pulling off a mask and returning it to its place in the Hall).
If this assumption is correct, then it seems to me that “Jaqen” was clearly the highest ranking Faceless Man shown at the HoBaW. The Waif seems like a trainee who is more skilled at fighting (perhaps she had fighting skill before joining), but not much further along in her Faceless Man training than Arya. Perhaps the Waif had been required to do a bunch of stuff to prove that she was worthy of training, and she was jealous that Arya basically just walked up and was allowed in.
Arya may have already proven that she had a sufficient degree of cleverness, resourcefulness, and almost pathological lack of fear when she named Jaqen as her third kill to force him to help her escape from Harrenhal (the coin was a token that she had already passed the admission test).
The Waif’s blatant grudge against Arya may not have been explicitly addressed in the show, but it certainly appeared to me that “Jaqen” was pleased that Arya had put the Waif’s face in the Hall, rather than the other way around. The Waif was not a “seasoned Faceless Man”, but rather a slightly more advanced trainee who was badly failing her final test. She deliberately inflicted painful but not (immediately) lethal wounds, and casually stalked Arya through the streets to cause pain and fear rather than just slitting her throat when she had the chance, after being explicitly told not to make her suffer.
One key thing about the Faceless Men is that they consider death a gift, and they provide euthanasia as well as murder. “Don’t let her suffer” wasn’t just a casual request by Jaqen, but rather an explicit reminder of one of the key tenets of their religion. The Faceless Man training seems to rely on deliberate obscurity, where a major part of each test is to figure out what the true test is, and the Waif failed this test.
I agree that Arya running and jumping after being stabbed in the gut seems somewhat implausible, but she probably had developed a very high tolerance for pain after all the beatings the Waif gave her in training (some of those were quite brutal), and sometimes people do get lucky and survive horrible wounds.
The final exchange of the episode was:
“Finally a girl is No One.”
“A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and I’m going home.”
After this, “Jaqen” smiled like this is what he intended all along. He didn’t seem to see any contradiction between her being “No One” and being “Arya Stark of Winterfell”, and he certainly didn’t give any indication that he was going to send more assassins to hunt her down if she left. It seemed to me that she had in fact “passed” her test, as far as he was concerned.
I think there are some interesting parallels here to the conversation between Edmure and Jaime about identity basically being a story that we tell ourselves so that we can “believe that we’re decent”, even if that story is a giant mass of self-deceptions.
Perhaps the “No One” training of the Faceless Men isn’t really intended to completely discard identity, but rather to deconstruct it and recognize which parts of it are built on lies and self-deception. Perhaps trainees who give in to the constant psychological pressure to become emotionless killing machines are in fact the failures, and they become mere expendable tools (or new faces in the Hall).
Maybe those who pass the test are given the freedom to serve the Many Faced God as they see fit (perhaps until they’re called upon for some special task that’s more complicated or difficult than a simple petty killing). Jaqen may still consider Arya a member of the Faceless Men even though she’s going back to Westeros for her own reasons.
Looks like he chose the acting style for the scene in “The Broken Man” too. :
“but she’s still a young woman, and she lets her guard down, and she almost pays with her life. That was my choice in that moment.”
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/06/13/game-of-thrones-director-mark-mylod-talks-deaths-mistakes-and-stoneheart
IMO so many problems with audience belief could have been avoided by having Arya act a little more cautiously, suffering a less serious wound, and not playing for the “OMG she’s going to die!” angle. But who knows, maybe the silent millions out there feel differently.
I’m just disappointed that it is getting such lukewarm reviews, I found it far more entertaining than the last two episodes (which I’ll probably be shouted down about but after all the entire point of this show is just that, to entertain!) and I think I too will love the last two episodes!
I really loved that episode.. then I saw the reviews, well I was surprised.
Arya can’t survive 2 stab wounds.. but the Hound, Beric and Jon can live cause the Gods have a plan!! The Gods clearly have a plan for Arya. The point of the Braavos storyline is for when Arya rocks back into Westeros as a great fighter you’ll know why.. The Arya that first got to Braavos would of been killed easily by the Waif, the Arya that leaves is a very dangerous person.
Jaime was great, he played Edmure beautifully, took the castle with no loss of life. Giving Brienne his Valyrian steel sword was his gesture of love and respect to Brienne. Unfortunately he has been with Cersei his entire life that will not get thrown aside so easily… and if it did it would be stupid.
Tyrion is desperately trying to find common ground with some totally different people.. you can see his desperation to feel at home, he’s in a foreign city trying to do his best, his longing for home when he imagined his Vineyard was amazing. I thought it was great. His under estimation of the Slavers also makes perfect sense, since he comes from Westeros and has absolutely no experince of Essos at all.
Anyway it moved all the pieces in place for the final 2 episodes.
Sacred Lime,
Thank you – THIS!
I’m going to stop reading any more comments on here now as it’s only disappointing me the outlandish expectations people seem to have of a tv show being adapted from a tome of books that were written by an author specifically in such a way so they never could be adapted for tv! They are doing a fantastic job and this is one of my favourite seasons for definite!
Tywin of the Hill,
When two people of the opposite sex (or same sex if you’re gay whatever) and close proximity in age have a deep admiration for each other it very easily blossoms into romantic type feelings. That’s only natural.
Shy Lady Dragon,
Those two do have great chemistry together. How have you been? You used to be on here quite a bit but don’t see ya much anymore. What did you think of the way Arya’s scenes played out recently?
There are only 11 days left for Kit’s play. I’m kinda torn. I gave up on the idea of splurging for it awhile back but hope I don’t regret it 🙁 For one thing I just have this fear that a) I’m going to get lost in London by myself. b) The show will be cancelled for whatever reason on the day I have tickets. c) Can’t say on open forum but this is the biggest reason I don’t travel long distance. Daamnit.
Daeryssa,
Yes me to, of course the tone of the show has changed, as the fantasy elements are now at the forefront rather than the background, so all the political stuff from the first seasons is winding down as most of the people involved have died. Whatever is left of Westeros at the end will need to band together to fight the Dead. How that happens is the fun of the show.
Seeing the remaining Stark’s try and regain the North after the incredible journeys they have been on, and then face the greatest threat of all is such a treat!! Just enjoy it! If I ever get a scene with Sansa, Jon, Arya and Bran together I might not watch TV ever again as there will be no point!
I’m afraid I disagree. That’s not how his scenes portrayed him to me at all but it’s interesting how different people can get opposing impressions on viewing the same scenes.
dragonbringer,
Coming from the Dany fan who thinks Dany is both ice and fire lol. Salty much?
Tyrion messed up as well. Some parts are believable because he has no idea about the culture of the place and he’s an idiot for thinking he can manipulate the slavers. Some parts are unbelievable because he has experience mounting a city’s defense from season 2, so the fact that he, Grey Worm and Missandei are taken by surprise by a large fleet they should have known of due to Varys’ spy network is ridiculous.
And yeah the slavers attacked because they knew Dany was missing, but Dany also had huge problems ruling and keeping the peace in season 5. Varys had to come in and get all the harpy intel for her. That is a fact.
Maybe one reason they decided not to go with a Jamie/Cersei split was they thought it would make him look extremely heartless while she’s becoming more isolated and seemingly powerless in KL. The separation process is gradual in the books, you have access to his thoughts, it would be more harsh on screen. Another reason is
ygritte,
That’s a nice coincidence! I was just about to reply to your post about Jaime having empathy for other people on the previous thread, but somehow I felt the need to return to this one… to find your reply 😉
I’ve been really busy and it makes me sad to be on such a bad timing – there are only 10 episodes a year! I somehow anticipated it when I decided not to join you on the trip to London and I’m glad I didn’t make promises I couldn’t keep. I’m under presure and I try to relax reading a little bit on WOTW and posting now and then, but somehow it doesn’t help me relax at all – I wish I had time a lot of time for GOT and not being allowed to makes me sad.
I can understand your disappointment for missing Kit’s play, but try to look at things with a positive mind: he’s young and becoming more and more famous and appreciated, of course other opportunities will come. Thank the Gods, we don’t live in Westeros, things can change for the best 🙂
I still don’t know what to say about Arya’s arc. I love Maisie and her character, but I couldn’t buy her surviving after all the stabbing and falling, even if I truly had feared for her life. I liked “the play within the show”, the Shakespearian vibe, Essie Davis and Arya embracing her identity as a Stark. But I don’t know what to believe about Jaqen, whom I used to like very much and I disliked the Waif and her behaviour.
LordDavos,
This.
tkk,
I didn’t insult or attack anyone. I was just honestly curious. I saw nothing wrong with the way she walked.
I thought it fitted the moment and atmosphere of the scene.
Yeah, I too believe that is the case since they brought up wildfire + mad King + Jaime earlier this season. With limited minutes the show has never been able to pull subtle clues and now I’m certain of the identity of the valonqar.
mau,
It’s HBO’s & G.R.R.M’s fault. HBO started making a show from a book series that wasn’t finished and G.R.R.M has had a lot of time to finish the books.
RJ,
I understand your point, and I have had the same discussion myself. But one thing that GoT (both show and books) have always prided themselves on is that yes, there is magic, dragons, etc. But the things that are grounded in reality have always been and remain grounded in reality. Arya getting sliced and stabbed, falling into filthy water, and getting stitched up before parkouring around the city the next day is not reality. The “rules” of their own definition of reality have been broken. The chase scene was masterfully done, but I just could not enjoy it because I was rolling my eyes the entire time thinking about the huge lapse in reality that just occurred.
Flayed Potatoes,
What’s wrong with dany being ice and fire …
She is the one gets told about song of ice and fire and drinks from cup of ice and fire..
What’s fact is dany came to the conclusion who is harpy on her own ..no needing of varys at all
Here is as good as anywhere to say I really loved the end credits music on the episode, a lovely variation on “Arya’s Theme”.
Sorry for the total embed fail 🙁
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBYe9qYzr9o&w=560&h=315%5D
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBYe9qYzr9o&w=560&h=315]I really hope Varys had a deal with Prince Dorn and is going to Dorne to meet with Ellaria and the Sand Snakes accompanied by some little birds.
I want to believe that Arya planned this whole thing. She had training the waif didn’t have during her blind period. The waif was great in her own environment, but she lacked the training to use her senses. I think Arya knew her way would be the only way she would be able to beat the waif. She drew the waif out and got stabbed, which was a way to keep the waif on her trail. She knew the waif wouldn’t stop trying to get her. And in the end, she drew the waif into her lair, set the scene (darkness), and used her own talents of being able to fight blind to defeat her. Of course, that’s just my take on it.
Casso,
I enjoyed your comments. Well written and thought provoking. I have been intrigued by Arya’s journey.
IMHO last episode(s) were very inconsistent when it comes to quality of writing. Riverun and the North were great, but the rest turned out to be quite crap. While KL is still bearable, although a bit stuck in once place (Cercei character in particular, she is basically loosing her last child to fanatics and all reaction we get from her is… walking around with the claganstein…), Mereen feels really fast forwarded. In Dany line you got no mini subplots to give some life to the Dothraki (or at least Dany eating funny berries to get those visions), last weeks Tyrion vs Misandei/Worm was like… haven’t we just had the same conversation a few episodes back? It is not fun, it does not reveal anything important, it is just… dorne. Oh yeah, and we forgot the siege from the books, so here it is (no moral points like in the books, no plague around Mereen, etc., any of that would have been better than drinking joke game…)
And Arya line… 2 seasons of stick fighting, unrealistic stunt run with mortal wounds (why waif does not know how to kill someone?), very weird final confrontation in the Halls and awkward kktnxbye… quite dorne.
All in all, what somewhat irritates me, is why they could not have just left Arianne of Dorne in the plot, have the young griff with it and fill the time with that, rather than feeding us Arya/Mereen/KL/Dorne and other rushed minor plots. It is not like they did not know what drag Bravos and Mereen were in the books… I am glad they got rid of Quenteeeeeen the prince line, but yeah… it feels like Arya/KL/Mereen are turning into Dorne and that is a bit too much.
I once brought a jackass and a honeycomb into a brothel. They asked me why and I said sometimes you need to fill your time with nonsense before getting to the good stuff.
Thank you episode 8 for getting us back on track. Now the major characters are again converging towards their main antagonists on the show.
Arya heading back to Westeros
Brienne going back to protect the Starks
Dany returns to Meereen
Cersei openly fighting her foes
Jaime free again to focus on his Cersei obsession
Welcome Episode 9
Was that a battle up North I hear?
MakeThemBurn,
Yes the show will go for the most dramatic, tragic, symbolic option.
Mihnea,
The book gradual split would feel too ordinary for tv after all that pair has been through. They are both coming across as doomed at this stage.
Casso,
I almost never read long posts, but read yours and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Have suspected that Arya will be a FM “mole” in Westeros, to be called upon when least expected.
Shy Lady Dragon,
Becoming more and more famous means there will be less opportunities I think. It appears he is very gracious and doesn’t mind signing autographs or taking pics with fans now, at more of an intimate venue such as the theater, but when’s the next time he’ll do a play? And in America…never. The only time he will be here is for press events for GOT and maybe filming movie in the future but there is no standing around greeting and talking to fans at these things. At any rate I wanted to meet the unpretentious KH not one 10 years from now who probably won’t give the time of day. But it is what it is and I’m not going to dwell on it when there are more important things in life like…um well work, studies, taking care of dogs and going to the gym? Fun stuff there lol. Hope to see you chime in after BOTB 🙂