It's been in the back of my head for a long time. One of my favorite parts in A Dance with Dragons is how Jaime begins to realize how cruel and possibly crazy his sister lover truly is and part of him is grateful to leave King's Landing to handle the situation in Riverrun (in the books he hasn't returned yet...for a very good reason...).
Um......no discussion about the premiere episode? That was tonight, right? I haven't seen it yet, but was hoping for a poll to get a sense of how good it was.
I will say that it cold-opened with one of the best scenes in the show's history. Spoiler: Winter has come... "When people ask you what happened here, tell them the 'The North remembers'. Tell them, 'Winter came for House Frey'."
The opening was odd. At first I was like "what?". A half second later I figured out what was going on and I had a smile on my face the whole time because I knew exactly what was happening. Usually I don't see things like that coming.
It just clicked with me why the Hound dug those graves. It was the father and daughter he robbed of silver in Season 4, when he was traveling with Arya. They made him and Arya rabbit stew.
If I remember correctly the little girl's name was Sally? I was pleased, though a little sad, that they showed what became of her and her father. I wonder if Arya released Edmure Tully from the dungeon. In episode 6.10 WAlder Frey told Jaime that he had put Edmure back in the dungeon.
After Arya's marvelous revenge, most of the episode was a lot recapping and table-setting like every premiere. I don't mind that but I do hope everything kick in high gear in the next episode considering the limited season. Took me awhile figure out who the occupants of the farmhouse were (only because it's been so long since that episode), but I loved that this episode reconnected with the Hound's past misdeeds and showed his regret for his actions. Lyanna continues to kick ass. I hope she gets one of the many rumored spin-offs. Hm, that's a good question. I was too busy relishing Arya's sweeping revenge to think of that, despite watching the finale the night before. Hopefully he'll appear once more befor the end.
It was great fun - I'm pretty sure the Kingslayer's going to off Cersei at some point (and she'll probably take him with her). Sam's day job was hilarious - but at least he's got Jorah to connect with...
"Dragonstone" was yet another solid premiere for the series, setting the table and looking backwards in equal measure and resisting the temptation to rush things because of the shorter season length. Adding Jim Broadbent (whom I didn't recognize, for some reason) as Archmeister Marwen and bringing in Ed Sheeran (whom I also didn't recognize) for what may or may not be a one-off role helped set in motion some interesting individual character plotlines that I fully expect to end up driving a lot of the season even though its primary focus will likely be the larger arcs of Dany invading and Jon dealing with the Night King. I know from watching Afterbuzz TV's GoT aftershow that there are a lot of people assuming that Jaime will end up killing Cersei before too long, but I really don't think that's the direction the show is headed because if it was, the writers wouldn't have brandished the "Chekov's Gun" of Arya heading to King's Landing to kill her.
SO... Lots of interesting things going on in this episode. Fantastic start to season with Arya's revenge. Good question about Edmure. Totally forgot about him. Would have been a nice piece of exposition, but it likely would have slowed down the pacing. I am MOST fascinated by Euron Greyjoy's promise to Cersei to bring her something "priceless" in exchange for her hand in marriage and off he goes...but to where? And what could possibly be so valuable that Cersei would have no choice but to accept? Here's my theory. Since it's based off of something fairly small, yet critical, in the books, I'm going to put it in spoiler tags: Spoiler In the books, when Euron comes home for the Kingsmoot at the Iron Islands following his brother's death (not at his hands, BTW, but vis-à-vis Melesandre's "leach" ceremony), he brings with him an impressive artifact: a massive horn called "Dragonbinder" inscribed with ancient runes and designs that he discovered at Valyria while in exile. When blown, it kills one of Euron's crew by being burned alive, but it's supposed to have the power to be able to bind and control a dragon for anyone who uses it for that purpose. From the Wiki: "The horn is six feet (1,83 meters) long. It is made from the horn of what must have been an enormous dragon. It has a black gleam, and is banded with red gold and Valyrian steel. When touched the horn feels warm and smooth. Its surface is shiny and reflective, though the reflection depicted is somehow twisted. The bands of the horn are covered by strange writings, Valyrian glyphs. When the horn sounds, the glyphs glow red-hot and then white-hot." ...and... "The horn's noise sounds like the screaming of a thousand souls and it seems to listeners as if their very bones are aflame and searing their flesh from within. Cragorn, the man who blows the horn for Euron, collapses with blisters on his lips, and the tattoo he has of a bird on his chest is bleeding." ...and... "Euron gives Victarion the horn when he sends him to Meereen to bring Daenerys Targaryen back to him. He has it with him aboard the Iron Victory. According to Moqorro, the Valyrian glyphs on the horn read, 'I am Dragonbinder ... No mortal man should sound me and live ... Blood for fire, fire for blood.'" ...and... "Moqorro says whoever blows the horn will die but any dragons that hear will obey the horn's master. The red priests says Victarion must be made the horn's master and he must claim the horn with blood." Since Euron never arrived with this horn in the show (and Victarion never existed in the show), the character may still know of it and may be heading back out to Valyria to go get it and bring it back to Cersei to either turn or destroy Dany's dragons.
That is a possibility but I think unlikely because Spoiler none of the magical horns have been depicted thus far. Mance Rayder's horn that supposedly can cause the Wall to fall was completely omitted and the horn that Sam discovers is only briefly seen and quickly forgotten about. The reviewers for Vox and A.V. Club independently suggested the same idea: Tyrion. I would prefer it to be your suggestion but I think Tyrion is much more likelier.
Ah...interesting point. Tyrion would make an interesting choice in that case. In keeping with good Martinist philosophy of "no character is safe", what better way to hold with that tradition than to clip one of the show's favorite characters. But I really do hope it's the other thing...
Hot damn.. what an opening scene (and i don't mean the character recap at the very beginning). I was confused at first seeing Walder Frey again with intact neck but once the maids brought in the wine it became crystal clear and i hollered and cheered when Arya revealed herself, is that wrong to cheer for the death of so many people? And it didn't let up soon.. the White Walkers marching with 3 Undead Giants! Lady Mormont once again kicking ass of men who could be her great grandfather Once again i could strangle Littlefinger and his bastard grin when Jon and Sansa had their public fight.. he thrives on this and it surely plays into his plans. I liked that Jon put down his foot even if it caused a rift between him and Sansa but that can be healed. I had read weeks ago about Ed Sheeran getting a part but forgot about it so when the scene came where Arya came upon the soldiers camp and one guys was singing i was like "Hey.. found an actor with a really good voice" only to see Sheeran seconds later in a close up and i started to laugh That was a nice little tidbit though i thought Arya would kill them for being Lannister soldiers since she made mental notes where their weapons were and when she admitted she wanted to kill Cersei i was thinking "Well.. that was a short cameo". But it was nice to see that even though they bear hated colors to Arya she realized they were just regular people who just happen to have uniforms of a family she hated but it was not their fault.. i think that was a good wakeup call for Arya that she needs to strike at the head and not be a mindless murderer. Euron Greyjoy insulting Jaime with clever jabs was priceless and Dany making landfall at her ancestral home was beautiful to see (and Jorah even makes an appearance!!) I agree that this episode is a setup episode but it's one of the best apart from the pilot episode and it bodes well for the season as short as it. We're back baby!!!
I was kind of surprised to see Jorah in the cell. I know Dany "ordered" him to go find a cure, and the Citadel would likely be a good place to start, but why keep him locked up like a prisoner instead of study him more closely? Is he due to turn into a grayscale zombie that quickly? Surely the Maesters haven't had an opportunity to look at someone in the process of being consumed by this rare disease close-up in some time, acquired by sailing through Old Valyria itself, no less!
Would you trust anyone with a disease that he can spread by mere touch? They don't know Jorah and have no reason to trust him.. he's most likely a study object for the Maesters (i think Jorah envisioned that differently when he asked them for help if it was like this) and they are just using the time until Jorah is gone to learn more about Greyscale.
I can see Tyrion being captured but not killed right away. I would be very surprised if Tyrion dies before the series finale. True, but I loved how she easily dismissed him away. "No need to seize the last word, Lord Baelish. I'll assume it was something clever." Yeah, that's exactly how I see it. Look no further than how they treat Sam, who is in training to become one of them. Of course, they locked up someone with Greyscale.
The writers left off the second half of said prophecy for a reason, and have shown that they're more than willing to, to paraphrase Fleetwood Mac, "go their own way", so unless they pull the rug out from us all, Arya killing Cersei is now really the only option they have since they put it out there, explicitly, as her "end goal". Jaime killing Cersei also doesn't make sense because, as was pointed out by the Afterbuzz TV aftershow for the seties, he himself once said that he'd gladly burn everything down to protect her, and nothing we've seen since that point has given us any reason why he'd suddenly distance himself from her since he can't really condemn her for doing what he himself declared that he was willing to do.