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Guest
Another new episode and with it more of our heroes/villains setting the stage for bigger and better things down the road. No time for a proper re-cap, but there are few items I'd like to put out there for discussion...
***SPOILERS***
1. Cersei may not be a great leader, but she's pretty great at consolidating power (and leveraging family - in this case Mace's life - for power gain over Margaery). Sending Mace Tyrell (and Ser Meryn Trent) off to Braavos not only gives her more power, but also puts someone on Arya's 'list' right in her backyard. Arresting Loras was also a pretty bold move and she's dead set on taking Margaery down it seems. Will Tommen put up with it? In any event, arming the Faith Militant seems like it's going to bite her in the ass down the road; no way she can control them.
2. Jon Snow proves again he knows nothing and refuses Melissandre's sexual advances so he can stay 'faithful' to his dead love, Ygritte. Melissandre is quick to point out how dumb that is, but lets him slide nonetheless. Also, by dropping in Ygritte's 'you know nothing Jon Snow' line in at the end shows she still has the upper hand. At some point, I think she'll get her man. The other great scene here is Stannis and his daughter - easy to root for that guy now, right?
3. Tyrion and Jorah are an interesting duo. Best line of the night: 'What a waste of a good kidnapping!'. No kidding - Jorah is all instinct which is why he's been in Khaleesi's friend zone the past few years. Hoping this boat ride doesn't last too much longer - Tyrion and Dany is going to be awesome to watch.
4. Jaime and Bronn - these guys should have their own show. The fight against the Dornish patrol was well done and these two have great chemistry. Perfect for each other actually. The introduction of the Sand Snakes was a bit bizarre (they just hang out in the desert all day?) but cool to finally see them. I like where this story is going....
5. So, the big event of the night was the Sons of the Harpy ambushing a gaggle of Unsullied and for the most part, massacring them. This leads me to my one, huge, giant, colossal complaint - how on earth did a handful of rich slave owners murder a dozen or so of the best fighting men in the kingdom??? I get they were probably outnumbered 2-1, but still - all these guys do is fight. I guess one could say the closed quarters made their spears a bit less effective, but still. In the end, the Harpies wipe out all, including Ser Barriston Selmy (not nearly as impressive as one would think given how much we've heard about him), but Grey Worm. This makes things really interesting for Dany - one of her personal inner circle has been murdered, and the other gravely injured - how will she react?? Is she going to let the dragons out to once again assume authority?? Previews for next week suggest we see (at least one) dragons over Mereen - was it Drogon, or one of the others?
What did everyone think? I like the pace with which things are going now and you can see some great stuff on the horizon. For book readers, I think we have the most drastic change to the story in that Selmy dies in this episode. I think it was probably necessary given Tyrion's impending arrival, but still worth noting.
***SPOILERS***
1. Cersei may not be a great leader, but she's pretty great at consolidating power (and leveraging family - in this case Mace's life - for power gain over Margaery). Sending Mace Tyrell (and Ser Meryn Trent) off to Braavos not only gives her more power, but also puts someone on Arya's 'list' right in her backyard. Arresting Loras was also a pretty bold move and she's dead set on taking Margaery down it seems. Will Tommen put up with it? In any event, arming the Faith Militant seems like it's going to bite her in the ass down the road; no way she can control them.
2. Jon Snow proves again he knows nothing and refuses Melissandre's sexual advances so he can stay 'faithful' to his dead love, Ygritte. Melissandre is quick to point out how dumb that is, but lets him slide nonetheless. Also, by dropping in Ygritte's 'you know nothing Jon Snow' line in at the end shows she still has the upper hand. At some point, I think she'll get her man. The other great scene here is Stannis and his daughter - easy to root for that guy now, right?
3. Tyrion and Jorah are an interesting duo. Best line of the night: 'What a waste of a good kidnapping!'. No kidding - Jorah is all instinct which is why he's been in Khaleesi's friend zone the past few years. Hoping this boat ride doesn't last too much longer - Tyrion and Dany is going to be awesome to watch.
4. Jaime and Bronn - these guys should have their own show. The fight against the Dornish patrol was well done and these two have great chemistry. Perfect for each other actually. The introduction of the Sand Snakes was a bit bizarre (they just hang out in the desert all day?) but cool to finally see them. I like where this story is going....
5. So, the big event of the night was the Sons of the Harpy ambushing a gaggle of Unsullied and for the most part, massacring them. This leads me to my one, huge, giant, colossal complaint - how on earth did a handful of rich slave owners murder a dozen or so of the best fighting men in the kingdom??? I get they were probably outnumbered 2-1, but still - all these guys do is fight. I guess one could say the closed quarters made their spears a bit less effective, but still. In the end, the Harpies wipe out all, including Ser Barriston Selmy (not nearly as impressive as one would think given how much we've heard about him), but Grey Worm. This makes things really interesting for Dany - one of her personal inner circle has been murdered, and the other gravely injured - how will she react?? Is she going to let the dragons out to once again assume authority?? Previews for next week suggest we see (at least one) dragons over Mereen - was it Drogon, or one of the others?
What did everyone think? I like the pace with which things are going now and you can see some great stuff on the horizon. For book readers, I think we have the most drastic change to the story in that Selmy dies in this episode. I think it was probably necessary given Tyrion's impending arrival, but still worth noting.