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

This episode reminded me why I stopped watching in the first place!

Glad that Varys gets to do some machinations now though. Love that guy.

I enjoyed the shot of Varys gasping for air on the beach which reminded me of my favourite mad book theory!
https://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/1gvbr7/all_spoilerstheory_the_best_theory_about_varys_i/

despite the fact he's an orientalist mishmash played by a white guy, varys is my fav character, but he mostly stands in for the courtly atmosphere and ritual that the show doesn't really seem to bother with/get.

xpost First few comments are pretty funny.

I chuckled when Varys brought up "the Realm" since I don't think we've actually seen a regular Weaterosi citizen since like s5 or something

Yeah, and Tyrion mentioned the riots back in season 2, which I'd thought they'd rather sweep under the carpet since the citizens have basically stopped existing for a while. He said the people of King's Landing would rise up if they could, and I had to think 'How?' How has Cersei been keeping them down better than could be done in season 2, after she's lost her armies again and again and again?

Well, presumably the citizens of King's Landing are a bit wary of going against a Queen who set up a massive explosion just to get rid of a few opponents, which must've resulted in hundreds of dead civilians too.

Yeah, governments terror bombing their own people always leads to perfect calm and order. No secret plots of any kind.

it's too bad they haven't even suggested it cause a popular uprising where all these idiots get murdered by nameless commoners would be a hilarious ending

Barristan Selmy was murdered like that, though

Took me a minute to even remember who he was tbh

Presumably won't be seeing Dario again but you'd think he'd have rustled up reinforcements for Dany at times like this. Essos is probably back in the hands of slavers anyway.

my daughter is binge watching from the beginning so I've watched a few with her. the plot and dialogue really are so much sharper in the early couple of seasons. I am enjoying the big popcorn spectacle of dragons and zombies and big crossbows but I miss Tywin's hardnosed dictatorship, I miss Margaery's arched eyebrow, I miss Joffery being a prick.

the populist revolt against the crown came when the sparrows took over king's landing for a short time, but cersei outmaneuvered them by blowing them all to hell.

we need half an episode to explain the current political situation among the commoners in King's Landing

you just know that Cersei spun that entire thing as "they mysteriously blew themselves up shortly after they humiliated me. terrible tragedy."

eh, just tell them the angry, jealous god of the Faith of the Seven decided to punish the false-worshipers with cleansing green fire, people always believe that kind of shit

green fire can't melt steel beams, Debra

i just realized dany could've stayed across the sea and rule over a continent of incredible beauty and power that needed her intervention to end slavery etc and instead she decided to go to westeros to rule over a bunch of dead assholes.

She was sure they'd be greeted as liberators

Have we gotten any hints at how Cersei is doing as queen? I mean, maybe she's doing a great job and no one gives her any credit. Her illegitimacy is primarily implied to be because she's been mean to the protagonists, right?

(I mean, other than mass murdering religious fanatics and other ruling class schemers...)

maybe building the giant crossbow spurred economic growth and provided good jobs to working class citizens of Kings Landing

giant crossbow factory an economic, social boon to king's landing society

also we don't see how well the Golden Company mercenaries are interacting with the locals -- they could be a boon for the local economy, or they could be doing what mercenaries tend to do which is start fights and rape

A boon for the King's Landing sex industry is my guess.

otoh there could be massive public works projects she has implemented that vastly improve the quality of life for the poorest citizens

xp - i bet gambling industry is also doing well due to the presence of the guest workers

or she could have rounded up all the children in Flea Bottom of unknown parentage and put them in cages somewhere outside the city ... i feel like these are things missing from the current season

Cersei strikes me as more of a shock doctrine devotee than a Keynesian tbh.

calling the poorest neighbourhood in the city "flea bottom" is a little bit on the nose

more like on the butt

Cersei telling the population about a caravan of foreigners surely

Come to take all the sell sword and whoring jobs

she's already brought in a bunch of foreign sell swords! Under the H1B visa -- Have 1 Blade

She invited Tyrion to the Red Keep to talk about infrastructure initiatives.

she's already brought in a bunch of foreign sell swords! Under the H1B visa -- Have 1 Blade

― sarahell, Tuesday, May 7, 2019 9:34 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*applauso*

Indeed worthy of a citizen_kane_clap.gif.

the recoil from a ballista that could have gone that distance at that speed would have destroyed the deck of the ship that fired it.

source: i've read the master and commander books.

it was maddening bullshit

i want hard fantasy

i can only imagine the counter measure they come up with for the crossbows will be equally ridiculous

It'll be a dragon that shoots dragons at boats.

there's also the small matter of they could have shot a giant crossbow at Dany and killed her right then and there

It's just like Cersei to follow the basic rules but not the spirit of a parley

more bitching - won't Cersei's human shield strategy make it more difficult to shelter and feed everyone in the red keep? wasn't their grain supply incinerated by the dragons a couple weeks/months before? I say they should just siege king's landing, blame Cersei and starve everyone into submission.

also feel like Dany's 'we must push ahead in spite of all common sense' strategy reeks of Stannis' game plan and we all know where he ended up.

I say they should just siege king's landing, blame Cersei and starve everyone into submission.

this was literally the plan until euron killed the dragon

Yeah they did pretty much say theyd surround and starve the red keep off til they all cried uncle.

required by law to post this every once in awhile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCqjR1gHyIQ

one of the best episodes