Game of Thrones

[Eagaholic]

Btw, I have a theory. Everyone's bummed about Hodor but I think he might be back. He'll presumably be a wight, but why couldn't Bran still warg into him? It might be even easier then. But then poor Hodor's mind could become a battlefield of control between Bran the the Nights King. This could go in a hundred directions. The NK also has a trump card in that they not only control the mind but also animate so they presumably pull the plug on Hodor if Bran takes over. But Jojen said no human has been able to do wha bran did with Hodor before so he's got a pretty high ceiling. I mean, the 3ER has been waiting especially for him for 1000 years. So maybe Bran could re-animate, one way or another. Or at least sustain wights brought back. Or maybe Mel could help him out somehow there since she's now serving Jon (and was one of the very few that left Winterfell on horseback with him, so Jon is accepting her, no doubt why). Anyway, a hundred possibilities how they could develop a line like that, with Bran fighting the mental control battle while Jon and dragons and such fight the physical. Also, it would not be good if a giant like Wun Wun became a wight.

[smeags]

writers found a way to still keep people guessing.

[Eagaholic]

What an episode - reenterance of Benjen/Coldhands, Walder Frey, Blackfish - looks like D&D have been paying attention to fan mail. Not giving up hope of seeing Strong Belwas. And we got the Mad King and Randyll Tarley has some crib. Love how things are coming together in the last couple of eps but the out of nowhere just-in-the-nick-of-time card (tonight Benjen) is so overplayed it's getting to the point you can't trust anything. Looking forward to seeing just how well a girl's blind training pays off against the waif.

[Eagles_Legendz]

Fewer big things happened than in recent eps but seemed to set up the conflicts the last four episodes.  I'm assuming this is a long con by Marg to take down the Sparrow.

Not sure how I feel about Cersei/Jaime's relationship in the show.  Certainly a farrrr different path than in the books at this stage.  Will be interesting with him and Brienne on a collision course again.

[Munson]

Yeah I absolutely loved seeing the Mad King in Bran's visions. That was awesome. I really, really hope we get that entire vision fleshed out before this season is over. Jaime's path to redemption, possibly?

Kind of suspected Benjen was the guy on the horse, but was still pumped when we got confirmation. Wish we spent more time with him and Bran really. Guess they can't spend a quarter of every episode with the same story hah.

I didn't think Coldhands was Benjen in the books, I thought GRRM squashed that theory, but I like the story they gave on why he's still somewhat human.

[QB Eagles]

Not sure how I feel about Cersei/Jaime's relationship in the show.

It's been giving off heavy soap opera vibes. Basically just the same "no one can take what's ours, we will make them pay" style writing you can hear on any show with poorly written dialogue. The lack of GRRM source dialogue to draw upon has taken a toll. Wtf happened to the character progression of Season 4 Jaime? Love that he's getting away from his sister and I hope he doesn't come back there until it's time for him to kill her, because those scenes are wearing thin.

[QB Eagles]

By the way, could they be more obvious with the "1000 ships" thing? Book Euron is perhaps the biggest threat in the world, and a total badass I really wanted to see translated to the screen. I wonder if we'll even see show Euron again until he shows up in Meereen with his fleet and immediately gets roasted by a dragon while Dany yells some feminist slogans and steals his ships.

[Eagaholic]

Yeah, I lol'd at the "1000 ships," especially since even if the Iron Islands could crank out 10 ships a year it would still take 100 years (minus the few they already have left). One thing the show has done really well is find characters who look plausibly like they should - Young Ned was a terrific fit, Euron could easily be Theon's uncle and even little Sam could pass for Craster's kid. I hope the casting wasn't influenced by picking someone with a Greyjoy look over someone who would be a better fit as an actor.

The two current characters who always seem a step ahead of everyone else are the High Sparrow and Jaqen H, both of whom showed some cracks tonight. The Sparrow did an about face on the Shame Walk, wavering in his absolute truth and it is the will of the gods schtick (he had just said he didn't have he authority to hand over Marg, it was the will of the gods). Looks like High Sparrow is a full fledged player for the throne, if only by proxy, like Cersei. But he's not as iron clad as he had been.

There was a lot going on in Arya's scenes. My take is that she had a Stark moment in 'doing the right thing' when she outed the young understudy to Lady Crane ("watch out for that one, she wants you dead" after she knocked away the glass of rum). I think when she saw the understudy mouthing Cercei's lines during Joffrey's death scene Aya put together that she was the one who paid for the assassination because she wanted the job. Aya had previously voiced her misgivings because Lady Crane seemed like a good woman, to which Jaqen replied the hit was already paid for. By breaking the code of secrecy she basically could have exposed Jaqen and the House of Black and White because she thought it was simply a hit for pay. But JH could also have meant Lady Crane's life was already paid for in the Many Faced God sense that the life was already owed for reasons unknown to Arya. I don't think the waif was trained as an assassin like Arya is because she refers to herself in the first person instead of as "a girl" (tonight saying Jaqen "it was as I expected" and "you promised me"). Therefore Arya (with needle) would have a big advantage in the dark after having trained to fight while blind. Unless Jaqen is still one step ahead.

[Eagles_Legendz]

Not sure how I feel about Cersei/Jaime's relationship in the show.

It's been giving off heavy soap opera vibes. Basically just the same "no one can take what's ours, we will make them pay" style writing you can hear on any show with poorly written dialogue. The lack of GRRM source dialogue to draw upon has taken a toll. Wtf happened to the character progression of Season 4 Jaime? Love that he's getting away from his sister and I hope he doesn't come back there until it's time for him to kill her, because those scenes are wearing thin.

I would be surprised if Jaime kills Cersei [spoiler]in the show[/spoiler]

[Eagles_Legendz]

One thing that's being discussed somewhere is the wildfire images in Bran's vision of explosions through hallways is of the future not some alternate past - maybe Cersei wants to nuke KL after Tommen dies?

[Munson]

http://watchersonthewall.com/brans-vision-broken/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork

Screen cap break down of the visions. Knew we saw the Mad King but didn't realize we saw all those images of Jaime killing him. I remember speculating and/or agreeing with the speculation that the shadow of a guy getting stabbed was the Mad King getting killed, and I was hoping that was part of a whole vision we'd see from Bran, but looks like we'll just get these visions. Kinda bummed on that, but still awesome that we got them.

[smeags]

well now, a religious leader putting himself in line with the throne. that should workout well.

[QB Eagles]

Best episode of the season by a large margin.

[Munson]

The pre-credits reveal was a "yesssssss" moment

[smeags]

no doubt a ton of fans reacted that way. same at the end as well. heeeeee's baaaack.

jaime and jon/sansa are going to cross paths eventually, that should be a nice meeting. does it go by the books ?