HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones - Thread 2. There are a lot of nerds.

so anyway did I read Arya's implicit decision-making correctly? The actress asks her "Have you always liked pretending to be other people?" and then she exits with an excuse about her father, then offscreen she apparently comes to the conclusion that the answer is nope, just in time to return and blow up the spot.

it wouldn't make sense to have sean bean playing two different roles in the same episode
was impressed by how different he looked without the wig

yeah he didn't look like sean bean at all. incredible acting.

that's one thing i love about this show - you just can't tell when sean bean is going to show up next! the lannisters must be tearing their hair out, every time they think they've killed ned he pops up again!

he is played by sean bean.

Gilly cleans up nice.
― El Tomboto, Monday, May 30, 2016 2:15 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://i.imgur.com/LRdjQ.jpg

Apparently there are some folks (ahem, fucking paid recappers) who think Margaery's conversion is genuine. I have to say that seems like willful interpretation for people looking for an excuse to stop watching the show or trenchant challops to proclaim in the office canteen.

it seems weird that it would be a legit conversion since she talked to her brother right after talking to the sparrow last week and said she was going to fake it.

i feel like she's doing this just to fuck with the lannisters

Don't remember seeing anything of that guy who was in Misfits during this episode.

it was exceedingly mean of cersei to snatch away the return of bronn we've all been craving

Before Tommen walked out of the sept I honestly thought Loras was going to walk out as a member of the faith militant. I mean if there's a group where he can get all the buggery he wants, it's them.

nice to see richard e. grant aka withnail as one of the actors (guy who played tywin and got all in a huff backstage about the lead actress having ideas about the script)

have enjoyed this season for the most part, i think on some level it's embracing its inherent melodramatic aspects more than ever before rather than trying to be The Only Smart Fantasy Show Ever

ha that WAS withnail
thank you for that

always happy to see that dude's still around

presence of richard e. grant (also great in LA Story and pretty much everything really) in the previous ep was what emboldened me to make the "Arya runs away with the mummers" call... we'll see.

so anyway did I read Arya's implicit decision-making correctly? The actress asks her "Have you always liked pretending to be other people?" and then she exits with an excuse about her father, then offscreen she apparently comes to the conclusion that the answer is nope, just in time to return and blow up the spot.

― El Tomboto, Monday, May 30, 2016

i think... sort of? she's been pretending to be other people almost without pause since the end of season 1 and there's a legit character beat coming if she ever gets to be arya stark for real again.

Benjen must have some sweet crafting stations at his base for making custom chain weapons specially designed to fuck with wights. And where did he get the horse? Is it undead too?

― El Tomboto, Monday, May 30, 2016

aw c'mon it's fair to assume his buddies the Children had some gear lying around. think the horse is just a horse, tho it would have been awesome to see the more Mysteriously Northy great elk he rides in the book.

so anyway did I read Arya's implicit decision-making correctly?

yeah, she basically said "i'm not going to kill people just because someone tells me too. fuck this bullshit." and went and retrieved her remaining arya stark belongings (the sword), and is presumably hiding out until she can get the fuck out of braavos.

nice to see richard e. grant aka withnail as one of the actors (guy who played tywin and got all in a huff backstage about the lead actress having ideas about the script)

i thought this was sean bean?

/This was Emilia Clarke's best bit of acting so far.
/

are you joking? the "rousing speech" and the extras acting like cavemen was dire, i was wondering how many takes they did before going with that one. she just shouted stuff at a growing pitch.

Otm btw

Haha I didn't say it was good acting. (Though tbh I enjoyed it.)

i thought this was sean bean?

richard e grant is one of sean bean's aliases.

Though the "rousing speech" was fine but probably because it's giving some creedance to the "Dany is a villain" thing.

lol sure, i guess, if you want it to...

i mean it would be legit hilarious if the Big Twist is for Westeros to call upon its ancient defenders the White Walkers to defeat Mad Dany and her rampaging Dragons of Death but even then her heel turn would a dark phoenix arc at best. Lawful Evil Littlefinger villainy ain't gonna happen.

I mean, "villain" is probably the wrong term here. The first season speech seemed "okay, that's a plan by this person vying for the throne" and now it's "uuh...smashing all their stone houses seems particularly shitty for someone so theoretically up with the people"

TBH personally Ive never viewed Dany as anything but self-serving just like the rest of em.

trayce that is the point of the entire series!

i guess i just read her big locker room speech as knowing your audience. iirc the staunchest dothraki bloodriders wet themselves in genuine terror at the notion of sea travel so she's gotta fire them up pretty good.

yeah otm. it was a stunt.

i know this is technically inverse or converse or whatever but she's basically trying to unite all the vikings for an invasion of moscow. in winter.

the real emotional core of the story is: how will drogon convince his brothers, now fully conditioned to institutional life, to leave mom's basement, take responsibility for their own decisions, and live like proper grown-up dragons.

"uuh...smashing all their stone houses seems particularly shitty for someone so theoretically up with the people"

― Gukbe, Monday, May 30, 2016 2:03 PM (58 minutes ago)

uh, her army wouldn't go anywhere, especially through that horrible desert to Mereen, and then get on boats, if they didn't get a chance to slaughter enemies and fuck shit up.

notice her speech did not include taking slaves and raping women, two of the Dothraki's traditionally fave things

I think Daario's reaction was the important sign.

"the people" don't live in stone houses, the kings do

i feel like she's doing this just to fuck with the lannisters

― akm, Monday, May 30, 2016 11:13 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is wrong...the high sparrow played her and she thought the only way she could get out was by trying to manipulate the king through the religion rather than outside of it, not realizing she was about to be freed. she put the plan into action (bc the high sparrow let her/knew or hoped she would) thus the look of surprise on her face when her family & the lannisters showed up w/ armies

Spent 5 episodes there thinking how well they had recast Brann, but made him too tall, Before realising it was actually the same boy! Wtf ?

he looks almost exactly the same but is taller

Anyone'd think he might have grown in the last 5 or so years.

I know but in a year it was a huge difference.

I guess we never saw him standing up since s1 tho.

tbh i kinda thought you were making another sean bean joke

What's the Sean Besn joke? I thought his performance was good.

Something tedious and unfunny THERE I SAID IT.

i may have been guilty of taking the sean bean conversation too far, but what can i do, he's in nearly every show and movie ever made.

I like the bickering acting troupe already, more than some long-standing story threads. Sam and Gilly meeting the parents, in particular, was really thin, basic stuff. The whole thing was so obvious and needlessly drawn out, and it only existed to put the sword in Samwell's hands. I was also straining to recall who exactly Blackfish was and his significance in which plot, and when and where etc etc. Kind of got lost in the mix of multiple characters and story threads for me, but whatever.
And I hope aaaaall of the endless house of black and white mumbo jumbo isn't going to end in a simple character reset for Arya.

I can't remember if Arya can just be like "well, that didn't work out, see you lads later, thanks for all the beatings," or if the many-facers have to kill her now.

they said they want to kill her, right? like that was a whole scene.

it is definitely really stupid in a way typical of this show if all the training was just a way to keep her character busy for a while.

I think i've figured out who wrote the 'bastard' letter on the show -- sansa gave jon some replica clothes to show that she could make forgeries.

Do you think the waif underwent the blindness lesson? I expect Arya could put out the candle and zatoichi her. does the waif know of arya's sword training in winterfell?

it is definitely really stupid in a way typical of this show if all the training was just a way to keep her character busy for a while.

― japanese mage (LocalGarda)

Yeah she should at least come out of it with some kind of badass superpower.

I think I've unconsciously lowered my expectations for GoT and as a result am really quite enjoying it right now.

I mean, "villain" is probably the wrong term here. The first season speech seemed "okay, that's a plan by this person vying for the throne" and now it's "uuh...smashing all their stone houses seems particularly shitty for someone so theoretically up with the people"

I think this has been poorly done, but there is a theme with Dany needing good advisers to temper her over the top messianic steez. They show us Dario egging her on (after Jorah has left) and I can't see her liking what Tyrion has done in her absence.

There's another thing going on where, while nearly every character is heading toward battle, some of the smarter ones (Tyrion, Margery, High Sparrow) has been able to use negotiations and truces to get what they want. Since this war with the Walkers is presumably due to humans breaking ancient treaties, negotiation skills may be important in the endgame. I'm hoping the last three hours are like the movie Lincolm.

I believe Arya comes out of it with some faceless assassin skills for sure.