• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Game of Thrones!

Jaq

Remember, Humanity.
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
3,032
MBTI Type
ENTP
Enneagram
379
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Qre:us

New member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
4,890
Had a feeling when Cersei told Tywin the truth about her and Jaime, and stood up to him against her marriage to the Rose Prince. Whether she will admit it or not, I'm sure she got her resolve from watching Tyrion stand up against his father at the trial.

Tywin's days were numbered when his fearful children started to not fear him any more. Dying at the hands of Tyrion was just desserts. The father who resented him, who took part in framing him for a murder he did not commit, would be murdered by his very son. The ultimate act of usurping his power. Killing him at his most undignified.

What bugged me: WHY couldn't Brienne give Arya the breaded wolf? They were this close. Augh!!

Random thoughts: Ned Stark's brother from the Night Watch, he's still out there? Unaccounted for, right?

I ship Brienne and Jaime so hard. I hope they happen.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Wow. Some things were predictable, some things were just pretty crazy.



Random thoughts: Ned Stark's brother from the Night Watch, he's still out there? Unaccounted for, right?

Yeah, Benjen or something? I think he's unaccounted for.

Basically on this show, if I don't see someone die, then I don't accept they are dead.
After all, when someone DOES die, they tend to go over the top.

So non book readers... are your minds blown yet?

To be honest, my mind was more blown by the Mountain/Viper fight.

Here, pretty much all of it (except for maybe the scene with everyone's favorite ... lady of the night) was kinda predictable or at least made sense even if not specifically anticipated.

I find Tywin's power of denial amazing... to the degree he couldn't even really realize -- after all of Tyrion's responses -- what things he should and should not say and what would truly set Tyrion off.

 

Southern Kross

Away with the fairies
Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
2,910
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
So non book readers... are your minds blown yet?
Yes. :)

I like how they take moments where we might be tempted to relish (like Tyrion and Arya getting revenge) and make it so bitter sweet. The undermining of audience (emotional and narrative) expectation over and over again in this series is so brilliant. I read an observation that the show (and the books) basically subverts traditional fairy tales and even storytelling in general by killing off hero archetypes and the related sentimental and moralistic tropes. Good people die for nothing. True love ends in misery. Revenge is dissatisfying. Evil goes unpunished. Righteousness is elusive. Life is brutal. And yet it never feels like they're being deliberately contrary to mess with us. It feels like a harsh dose of reality and complexity, which elevates the story and makes it much more engaging.

Did anyone else watch the fight between The Hound and Brienne and feel rather conflicted about who you wanted to win? :unsure:
 

Haven

Blind Guardian
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
1,075
MBTI Type
ESFJ
Enneagram
2w3
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
This was a really good episode. I bet that's why they skipped a week, just so they could show it on Father's day. Well played.

I thought Benjen was the tree guy at first in the book, but I'm pretty sure he's dead.


I wonder what happened to the guy that's walking around with Ned Stark's bones. Nobody knows what he's up to.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Did you guys like the look on Arya's face when the Hound was talking to her there, and trying to goad her to do something for him? (and boy, he pulled out the stops, even making stuff up.)

I couldn't read her at all. It was fascinating.

Did anyone else watch the fight between The Hound and Brienne and feel rather conflicted about who you wanted to win? :unsure:

Yup, especially considering most people who lose fights seem to die on this show.

I thought Benjen was the tree guy at first in the book, but I'm pretty sure he's dead.
 

DiscoBiscuit

Meat Tornado
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Messages
14,794
Enneagram
8w9
Yup, especially considering most people who lose fights seem to die on this show.

That fight didn't happen in the books. It was smart for the show to use it to succinctly wrap up some loose ends, but if that fight had happened in the books, I think the Hound wins 7 out of 10 times.

A well choreographed fight though. The second half of this season has done much better with the one on one fight choreography that I was bitching about earlier in this thread.

The show is kind of on a girl power kick, so I can see why they threw that fight in there and had it play out the way it did.
 

Ivy

Strongly Ambivalent
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
23,989
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
6
The whole time I was thinking "please let this be a draw that ends with them having begrudging respect for each other." It was a pipe dream and I knew it at the time but I didn't want either one of them to die.
 

Qre:us

New member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
4,890
The whole time I was thinking "please let this be a draw that ends with them having begrudging respect for each other." It was a pipe dream and I knew it at the time but I didn't want either one of them to die.

Mmhm. I like the Hound, and I love Brienne. Her and Pod are awesome together!

I refuse to believe that the Hound is dead. If the Moutain is being turned into Frankenstein's monster in the Maester's laboratory, then the Hound cannot be dead. The Mountain is Hound's kill. The Hound will die, but not before taking out the Mountain.
 

DiscoBiscuit

Meat Tornado
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Messages
14,794
Enneagram
8w9
Did you guys like the look on Arya's face when the Hound was talking to her there, and trying to goad her to do something for him? (and boy, he pulled out the stops, even making stuff up.)

I couldn't read her at all. It was fascinating.

The reason she didn't do anything is that
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
That fight didn't happen in the books. It was smart for the show to use it to succinctly wrap up some loose ends, but if that fight had happened in the books, I think the Hound wins 7 out of 10 times.

That was more my expectation.
And that is not knocking on Brienne at all.
There are small things that would simply give the Hound an edge in a true free-for-all.

It looked to me like this fight could have gone either way.
In the end, it was decided by geography IMO.
So it wasn't decisive.
Another match-up could bring (easily) different results.

The reason she didn't do anything is that

Does it say that in the book?
In the show they kept it ambiguous, which I liked.

Mmhm. I like the Hound, and I love Brienne. Her and Pod are awesome together!

I refuse to believe that the Hound is dead. If the Moutain is being turned into Frankenstein's monster in the Maester's laboratory, then the Hound cannot be dead. The Mountain is Hound's kill. The Hound will die, but not before taking out the Mountain.

I hope he takes the Mountain out With Fire.

The whole time I was thinking "please let this be a draw that ends with them having begrudging respect for each other." It was a pipe dream and I knew it at the time but I didn't want either one of them to die.

Yup, same here. SO CONFLICTED.

I'm not sure whether I wanted to see "The Brienee & Podrick Show" or "Arya & The Hound Variety Hour" more, in terms of next year's touring schedule.
 

DiscoBiscuit

Meat Tornado
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Messages
14,794
Enneagram
8w9
That was more my expectation.
And that is not knocking on Brienne at all.
There are small things that would simply give the Hound an edge in a true free-for-all.

It looked to me like this fight could have gone either way.
In the end, it was decided by geography IMO.
So it wasn't decisive.
Another match-up could bring (easily) different results.



Does it say that in the book?
In the show they kept it ambiguous, which I liked.

Oh yea, that's not to take anything away from Brienne, she's probably in the top 1% of fighters in the realm. And she was able to beat (a substantially weakened and chained) Jaime, but the Hound is on another level and is a massive human. Now I would put a healthy two handed Jaime against the Hound and call it a coin flip because Jaime's faster and has better technique (and is widely regarded as one of the best swordsmen currently living), but the Hound is still one of the stoutest opponents in the realm. He took on five guys single handedly in the bar fight earlier in the season if you remember.

In this case, the hounds size would neutralize Brienne's size advantage she holds over many men. But either way the fight was convincingly shot and I don't really have any complaints.
 

Totenkindly

@.~*virinaĉo*~.@
Joined
Apr 19, 2007
Messages
50,187
MBTI Type
BELF
Enneagram
594
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
In this case, the hounds size would neutralize Brienne's size advantage she holds over many men. But either way the fight was convincingly shot and I don't really have any complaints.

As a side note, that "Foreshadowing Season 4" vid I posted a few days ago, at the marker I noted where I thought Gwendoline Christie as really funny -- turns out it was referring to this fight!

If you haven't watched her interview snippet, she was so excited that she could barely contain herself.
 

Qre:us

New member
Joined
Nov 21, 2008
Messages
4,890
Did you guys like the look on Arya's face when the Hound was talking to her there, and trying to goad her to do something for him? (and boy, he pulled out the stops, even making stuff up.)

I couldn't read her at all. It was fascinating.

I loved their interaction. It was so poignant. The reluctant teacher and the reluctant student finally comes to a head, where the teacher becomes the student, and the student delivers the hard-learned lessons.

Arya taking the Hound's silver coins, as he took from that poor father who wanted the Hound's protection, and the Hound "teaching" Arya, the hard-knocks of life, "Dead men don't need silver." Brilliant! Arya is great at delivering the "just desserts", like she did with the Kingsmen she killed, where she repeated to him to words he said to her friend when he killed him. In order for him to recognize who she is, and that he's at HER mercy, like he had her friend. And she gave him, what he gave her friend. Death without mercy.

Arya walking away: (1) He is not her kill anymore, and she begrudgingly likes him, a little bit, (2) She will kill on her own terms, not because someone wants it/begging for it. Control. The Hound is finally left powerless, and Arya gains that power.
 

Ivy

Strongly Ambivalent
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
23,989
MBTI Type
INFP
Enneagram
6
Yeah, I can't really see how the Hound could be dead either. If you don't see a clearly dead body it didn't happen. Even then sometimes it didn't happen (I thought Mountain was dead but apparently "they can rebuild him.")
 

DiscoBiscuit

Meat Tornado
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Messages
14,794
Enneagram
8w9
Does it say that in the book?
In the show they kept it ambiguous, which I liked.

Not to the best of my recollection. But the circumstances are different in the book so its kind of a mute point. It's just an educated guess of mine, but Arya grew attached to him in the time they spent together.
 
Top