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Post by o on Apr 15, 2019 13:21:56 GMT 1
I enjoyed that, more later Although I think most of the GofT fans on here have seen it judging by my facebook
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Post by greendemon on Apr 15, 2019 14:00:03 GMT 1
It was good but I wish I hadn't stayed up! I probably should have just taken the day off but I decided to work from home and now my brain is meltiiiiinnnngg...
Will post my thoughts (along with my S1-7 countdown top 3) this evening.
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Post by o on Apr 15, 2019 14:10:24 GMT 1
I may stay up for the finale, or wake back up for it and take the day off, but for a "normal" episode I take my hat off to you and Jordan!
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Post by Jordan on Apr 15, 2019 20:29:21 GMT 1
I was far too drunk the first time I watched it - makes a lot more sense to me now
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Post by Jordan on Apr 15, 2019 21:55:15 GMT 1
So two interesting things I noticed from the episode that I haven’t seen anyone else chatting about online...
Cersei is drinking wine again.
They are making damned sure that we know which characters have valerian steel swords. Jon, Arya, Sam (for now). And I bet Jamie makes a comment to Brienne about hers in the next episode.
Also so many characters getting screentime but no lines in this episode. Brienne, Misandei, Greyworm, Podrick..
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Post by o on Apr 15, 2019 22:29:02 GMT 1
My daughter is convinced that Cersei isn't pregnant, but I dont know what bearing that has on the overall storyline really? That giant ballista they tried to use against the dragon, they could do with making one into dragonglass and fire it at the Night King! I really enjoyed all the meet ups, and filling in the stories for people that didn't know what had happened, poor Samwell And John getting a whammy of info all at once, what will he do with it? And is Euron one of the worse characters either, he's like Captain Flashheart from Blackadder without the humour!
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Post by greendemon on Apr 16, 2019 11:16:05 GMT 1
Solid opening episode - mostly made up of reunions/characters getting to where they needed to be, but they still managed to deal with a few plot points. I thought Theon rescuing Yara was really rushed and somewhat anticlimactic but I guess at least it's done now. I don't recall seeing any footage of Theon at all in the trailers so I'm wondering if something happens to him, or if he was just excluded to avoid spoiling that he rescues Yara. Loved all the callbacks to the first ever episode - the boy climbing the walls to watch the army arriving at Winterfell (they even used the same music!), "Winterfell is yours, your Grace", Arya going AWOL... nice touch. I think all the reunion scenes were handled really well. Arya and Jon seeing each other again was just adorable. Liked the dragon riding scene but oh my goodness their romance makes me cringe. "So keep your Queen warm"... barf! Almost as bad as "bad pussy" The dragons watching them was hilarious though. I think your daughter might be right about Cersei, o - though it could go either way. I didn't like that she gave in to Euron, who is a thoroughly unpleasant character. One theory is that she is planning to pass off her pregnancy as Euron's but surely the timings aren't right? She did originally say she was going to tell everyone it was Jaime's but that was before he left. Oh and I don't buy for a minute that Bronn is going to kill either of them. My partner actually has a theory that Qyburn, not Cersei, was behind the order because he knew Cersei wouldn't want to kill Jaime, although the whole "poetic justice" thing with the crossbow killing Tyrion is very Cersei. Sad there are no elephants. We had better be getting Ghost, Nymeria and her pack AND ice spiders (big as hounds!) Sam crying when Daenerys told him about his family just broke my heart; beautiful acting from John Bradley. The reveal with Jon's parentage was done quite well, though it feels as though he doesn't yet realise that he's been having sexy fun times with his auntie... oops Looking forward to the the fallout from this as well as Jaime's arrival next week. Loved the scene at Last Hearth, comedy gold from Tormund ("I've always had blue eyes!") but oh my goodness, poor little Ned Umber, undead and screaming and on fire! That was terrifying. Really struggled to sleep after that which was unfortunate as it was gone 3am on a school night! My favourite bit though? The opening credits. Really makes you feel that Winter Has Come. Loved the emphasis on the crypts of Winterfell. I'm really starting to think that the rumours are true that all the ancient (and maybe not so ancient!) dead Starks will be reanimated...
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Post by o on Apr 16, 2019 12:44:26 GMT 1
Yes, I loved the symmetry with the first episode as well, down in the crypts where Ned and Robert met and chatted, the climbing boy, Jaime seeing Bran again for the first time since the 1st episode? And I'd forgotten the bit where Cersei says about being disappointed there were no elephants, a sign of her impending madness, and Jaime has to kill the mad Queen as he did the mad King? Surely not? And yes if Winterfell is overrun, then the dead in the crypts may well join the undead? Does he need ones with falling off arms and legs though? Oh and I love that they had to have a scene to send Bronn off away from King's Landing, just so we don't have to have any Cersei/Bronn scenes!
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Post by Jordan on Apr 16, 2019 14:27:46 GMT 1
I have a theory Cersei may have made the pregnancy up completely, just as a card to play against Jamie (and Tyrion) - and it seems to have done the trick with Tyrion at least. And we don't really know that Jamie is against Cersei right now, more that he's just against the Night King.
Yara's rescue was so frustrating. Almost makes her kidnap being completely pointless altogether - I do however now get the feeling that we may be seeing the Iron Islands at some point during the season.
The timings and travelling on this show still really irritates me. Cersei revealed she was pregnant way before Euron went away. Now he's back with 20,000 men and she's still not showing even the slightest sign of a bump? This further makes me think she's faking it. Not to mention how quickly Little Ned Umber seemed to get back up to the Last Hearth - a journey that is supposed to take over a week on horseback. I suppose this is one of those things we have to get our heads around and sort of ignore as viewers. If anything taught us that, it's episode 6 of last season.
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Post by greendemon on Apr 16, 2019 14:39:57 GMT 1
I always liked the theory that Cersei's pregnancy is actually a "phantom pregnancy" - the body produces the symptoms of pregnancy but there's no baby. Queen Mary I had the same thing, and Game of Thrones/GRRM does love a good historical parallel...
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Post by o on Apr 16, 2019 17:04:42 GMT 1
Timings and movements are annoying, but I remember the same happening in Lost where people just popped up all over the place when they'd previously said so and so is a 45 min walk away etc. So can someone remind me where the iron islands are in relation to east or west? I'd assume they'd retreat to Dragonstone if they had to?
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Post by Jordan on Apr 16, 2019 18:49:33 GMT 1
Timings and movements are annoying, but I remember the same happening in Lost where people just popped up all over the place when they'd previously said so and so is a 45 min walk away etc. So can someone remind me where the iron islands are in relation to east or west? I'd assume they'd retreat to Dragonstone if they had to? The Iron Islands are in the far west, they're pretty close to Casterly Rock actually.
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Post by Smurfie on Apr 16, 2019 19:12:22 GMT 1
My favourite bit though? The opening credits. Really makes you feel that Winter Has Come. Loved the emphasis on the crypts of Winterfell. I'm really starting to think that the rumours are true that all the ancient (and maybe not so ancient!) dead Starks will be reanimated... And mine! I always love the starting credits. And I agree on the “keeping your Queen warm” definitely was very barfy - great episode on the whole - not enough Brienne of Tarth as always, but definitely a very good scene setter to launch us into this series.
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Post by greendemon on Apr 17, 2019 9:08:48 GMT 1
They are making damned sure that we know which characters have valerian steel swords. Jon, Arya, Sam (for now). And I bet Jamie makes a comment to Brienne about hers in the next episode. I was thinking about this just now. If I'm not mistaken, I think every Valyrian steel weapon we know about is now at Winterfell: Longclaw (Jon) Littlefinger's dagger (Arya) Heartsbane (Sam - but I think he'll give it to Jorah since I don't see him using it) Widow's Wail (Jaime) Oathkeeper (Brienne) Any others I've forgotten? Perhaps these characters will all share a common fate - a prospect that concerns me somewhat as of the above I think only Sam and maaaaybe Brienne are likely to survive until the end of S8...
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Post by Shireblogger on Apr 17, 2019 9:59:27 GMT 1
A solid episode. Lots of re-capping and reunions, all of which was handled well. Samwell and Arya win my awards for this episode. But, as with Season 7, I'm annoyed about the pacing. They're just trying to do too much too quickly. Part of the joy of the early seasons was how the plot unfolded and turned in a far more measured manner. Now it is wham bang thank you mam. The rescue of Yara is one example, and the near-instantaneous coupling of Cersei and Euron another. I'd also have liked to see more politics going on at Winterfell, as the various clans decide whether they are aligned with the Targaryen Queen or not. Sansa's excellent query about how they're all going to get fed needs further exploration too. After all, history tells us that any army is only as good as its supply lines. Incidentally, is it just me, or has Winterfell seen some serious construction work going on in the past few weeks ? I seem to recall it being a bleak and rather underfunded place, with a single large building and a wall surrounding the courtyard. Now it is a medieval-meets-Star Wars CGI dream, with twirls and flourishes and even its own walled forest. Shireblogger episode score: 6/10 (Relative to other GoTs, of course. Relative to any other soap opera 11/10.)
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Post by Jordan on Apr 17, 2019 10:43:32 GMT 1
They are making damned sure that we know which characters have valerian steel swords. Jon, Arya, Sam (for now). And I bet Jamie makes a comment to Brienne about hers in the next episode. I was thinking about this just now. If I'm not mistaken, I think every Valyrian steel weapon we know about is now at Winterfell: Longclaw (Jon) Littlefinger's dagger (Arya) Heartsbane (Sam - but I think he'll give it to Jorah since I don't see him using it) Widow's Wail (Jaime) Oathkeeper (Brienne) Any others I've forgotten? Perhaps these characters will all share a common fate - a prospect that concerns me somewhat as of the above I think only Sam and maaaaybe Brienne are likely to survive until the end of S8... I think that's all of them! So only Widow's Wail and Oathkeeper to be referenced so far - but they'll definitely do that next week. It's probably nothing more than just reminding us why some swords work against the WW's and others don't. I'm more interested to see all the interesting ways they're going to use the dragon-glass - they seemed to point towards Gendry's crafting quite a lot in this episode too.
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Post by o on Apr 17, 2019 13:37:23 GMT 1
They need arrowheads and people to fire them, one arrow could go through a few of the dead and kill a few at a time, but obviously they need to aim for the leaders which will kill the ones they turned or something? And yes Shireb, I thought that about Winterfell as well, never knew where the Godswood was, and now it turns out it's right next door with it's own wall, and yes I'm sure it has doubled in size as well. I agree a little about the pacing, but this is the endgame now, Euron has been nagging cersei for a couple of seasons as well, not sure what bearing it all has on anything though. So the Golden Company are 20k strong, I wonder if someone will pay them coin to fight the dead before defending Cersei?
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Post by Jordan on Apr 17, 2019 13:40:06 GMT 1
The way Winterfell appeared in this last episode is far closer to how it's described in the books, so I think it's an improvement. I think they've managed to skirt around it's overall appearance so far as they've not had to film dragons flying overheard.
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Post by greendemon on Apr 17, 2019 23:36:34 GMT 1
But, as with Season 7, I'm annoyed about the pacing. They're just trying to do too much too quickly. Part of the joy of the early seasons was how the plot unfolded and turned in a far more measured manner. Now it is wham bang thank you mam. The rescue of Yara is one example, and the near-instantaneous coupling of Cersei and Euron another. Definitely agree with this - I do appreciate they only have 6 episodes, but to be honest this and Season 7 in general underlines for me why 10-episode seasons are so much better. The storylines actually have room to develop and breathe at a natural pace, and we don't have to literally have Bran telling everyone else to get on with it. The pacing in this episode didn't feel *quite* as crazy as Season 7 with the speed with which characters seem to be rushing about - I assume that just because of the nature of this season focusing more in one or two locations, there will be less of that anyway. So it wasn't totally immersion-breaking for me. But I do feel that there's an urgency to everything that feels unnatural even considering the imminent WW threat.
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Post by greendemon on Apr 17, 2019 23:56:35 GMT 1
So does anyone have any thoughts on who will live and who will die before Season 8 is done? I was thinking of doing a GoT predicta but never got around to it before the first episode what with my countdown thread. Even this fangirl only has time for so much... At the moment (based on E1 and general speculation; haven't seen any spoilers for E2) this is who I'm feeling will definitely die: Already Dead category: Beric, Jon Snow, The Mountain
Too Evil and/or Insane to Live category: Cersei, Euron, Qyburn
Will Die Being Redeemed/Fulfilling Their Destiny category: Melisandre, Jaime, Jorah, Sandor
Death Already Prophesied category: Varys, also Melisandre
No category but probably dead anyway: Grey Worm, *whisper it* Arya
And I think these will definitely live: Tyrion - because there has to be a Lannister left right? His father hated him and wanted him dead; how deliciously ironic would it be if he was the only person left to continue the Lannister name? Gendry - it just feels like he needs to be legitimised to continue House Baratheon Brienne (assuming Arya dies) - if Arya dies then she has to live; I also think her fate will be connected with Jaime's somehow. Perhaps she has to kill him? That would be awful but also, I think, fitting. Sam, Gilly and Little Sam - Sam has to write the story, and I don't see anything bad happening to Gilly or Little Sam Missandei - I'm getting bad vibes about Grey Worm which means she'll probably live Sansa - I can't think of a good reason for her to die, and at least one of the Starks ought to survive Bronn - because if things get really hairy he'll just run away Yara - because if things get really hairy she can just stay on the Iron Islands where it's safe Anyone not mentioned, I can't call at the moment. I hope I'm wrong about some of those...
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