Game of Thrones

Started by Chris L, Jul 05, 2017, 01:03 PM

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Chris L

Some of you must be watching Game of Thrones, right? And some of you may be having trouble keeping up with all the characters and plot threads. The new season starts next Sunday and the New York Times is helpfully offering a weekly newsletter for confused viewers that will contain links to sites that explain what you just saw.

And to get you off to a fast start, they also have an article reminding viewers just what state everything was in at the end of last season.

Should you want to talk about the show in general, this is the thread for it.
But us, old friend,
What's to discuss, old friend?

Bobster


Chris L

But us, old friend,
What's to discuss, old friend?

Chris L

Game of Thrones is officially back. Feel free to talk about it, using our new spoiler feature if you want to mention what actually happens in an episode.

With only seven episodes in the season they're going to need to move a bit faster than usual, which is all to the best. George R.R. Martin liked taking his sweet time getting the plot where it needed to go, but the showrunners are no longer under any constraint to follow his lead. I seriously wonder if Martin will even bother finishing the next book. (It would probably sell like crazy, but I have a feeling that he no longer feels the need for money and just wants to bask in his newfound fame.)

Now that
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Daenerys is back home in Westeros, we should see some serious dragon action soon. (Sorry. I just wanted to use the spoiler feature. ;) )
But us, old friend,
What's to discuss, old friend?

valmont

This post is pretty much all spoiler, sorry.

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I feel so vindicated by Episode 1!

I had been thinking that when Daenerys told Jorah to find the cure for stoneflesh, the likely place to start looking for it is among the maesters, so he should go straight to Oldtown and wouldn't it be fun if he happened to meet up with Sam!

And almost from his first appearance, I wondered whether Sandor "The Hound" Clegane might be on an arc of redemption.  It was clear by the end of the first season that he was smitten by Sansa and wanted to do whatever he could to protect her.

Predictions:
Baelish will try to find a way to get rid of Brienne so that Sansa will have to turn to him for help.
Euron will kidnap Tyrion and bring him back to the Red Keep as an offering to Cersei.

People whose whereabouts I expect to be shown soon:
Melisandre
Gendry
Nymiria (I think we caught a glimpse in the preview?)
I have not read the books, but there is a character I know about whom we have not yet seen, and I am hoping we will soon.  The scenes with Clegane, Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr came so close.  But I also know that the show diverges from the books at many points.
I was born to ask "why was I born?"

valmont

Vanity Fair has a good recap of this week's episode.

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http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/07/game-of-thrones-how-did-euron-find-yara-sand-snakes-iron-fleet-attack-is-yara-dead

So it is not Tyrion but Ellaria whom Euron will take to Cersei as a gift.  Huge sigh of relief there.
And it now looks as though Baelish will try to get rid of Jon rather than Brienne.
Worried about Sam.  He's wearing gloves, but nothing protecting his face. 
I was born to ask "why was I born?"

Chris L

#6
Then Sam had better be quick about writing his history book. A fan theory that I hadn't encountered before argues rather convincingly that Samwell will turn out, in the end, to be the author of A Song of Ice and Fire. (He looks a bit like George R.R. Martin.) After all, the Archmaester has suggested that he write interestingly and Sam wants to give his history a poetic title.

If the producers knew this from the beginning, they may even have cast an actor that looks like Martin as an inside joke.

Samwell Tarly May Have Written Game of Thrones
But us, old friend,
What's to discuss, old friend?

Chris L

And @valmont, to directly address your point,
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I assume that the maesters have convincing evidence that greyscale isn't an airborne disease but must be transmitted by direct physical contact. He'd better not kiss Jorah, though.

And good call on your earlier predictions. By now, of course, you know that Melisandre and Nymeria are back, but it looks like they've dismissed the latter from the story.
But us, old friend,
What's to discuss, old friend?

valmont

I was very glad to see 
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Jon entrusting Winterfell to Sansa without hesitation. They have had disagreements, but he can see that in her own way she will be a strong leader.  And so Arya is now on her way back home, but Jon will already be gone when she gets there. :(

I had the same thought about Samwell turning out to be the author of the books. :)

I loved the exchange between Daenerys and Varys.  She is growing wiser.  Very interesting to see Melisandre rallying behind D, though I suppose if you worship fire and there are dragons in the world you will naturally be drawn to them.

WHERE IS GENDRY?  Only two people in the world knows about Jon's claim to the Iron Throne, but there are plenty who know about Gendry's claim. 

I was born to ask "why was I born?"

Bobster


valmont

Utterly thrilling.  Jam-packed with incident.  More happened tonight than happened in all of the first season.  It's gonna take a while to process all of this.
I was born to ask "why was I born?"

Chris L

I'm amused that I start receiving spoilers about Game of Thrones on my Apple Watch at exactly 7 p.m. Sunday evenings, which is when the show ends on the east coast. Since we watch on HBO Go, that's usually while we're watching or, last weekend, while we were waiting for Sondheim on Sondheim to begin at the Hollywood Bowl. Fortunately the spoilers (from The Hollywood Reporter) are pretty vague and don't ruin the episode. (Tonight's alluded vaguely to
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the meeting between Jon Snow and Daenaerys.)


My main concern at this point is
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when the hell is Daenaerys going to discover that Jon Snow is her nephew. It would certainly change her attitude toward him, either making her friendlier or afraid that he's competition for the throne. The only character that knows about the relationship is Bran and, though he's now at Winterfell with Sansa, he isn't being very talkative. You'd think he'd be more eager to share this revelation with the only other person there with whom he shared Jon Snow as a supposed half-brother, but maybe he considers it privileged information of the Three-Eyed Raven. He knows everything about everything, so maybe he feels that with great knowledge comes a great responsibility to keep his mouth shut.

But us, old friend,
What's to discuss, old friend?

valmont

It's depressing that, in addition to facebook posts and message boards, we now have to guard against spoilers from news organizations.
I was born to ask "why was I born?"

AmyG

Quote from: valmont on Jul 31, 2017, 04:46 AMIt's depressing that, in addition to facebook posts and message boards, we now have to guard against spoilers from news organizations.
Yeah, I had to stop following Entertainment Weekly because they always spoil stuff right in my feed. You don't even have to go to the article. They thought they were being subtle but anybody with any sense could figure it out from the headline together with the picture.

Bobster

I used to really get furious about that.  But then, about 20 or so years ago, I saw the writing on the wall of the internet and decided to heck with it.

Now I tend to read before I watch so I can see things develop.   :)

Now that I think about it, I am the type who reads the end of mysteries...