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

Petyr was preparing to take the Vale army to the battle way before Sansa wrote the letter. I don't think Sansa's letter mattered.

except it is a giant fucking gamble that could get everyone killed, and does in fact get thousands of ppl killed unnecessarily?

― Roberto Spiralli, Monday, June 20, 2016 12:09 PM (21 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This entire situation is a gamble that could get everyone killed no matter the decision she makes...

― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Monday, June 20, 2016 10:12 AM (58 minutes ago)

a bunch of people died because she didn't say anything to jon, davros, etc. about this other army that was coming. And this is a point that we're not supposed to ignore, based on the context of the Mereen plot that preceded it, and the speech that Jon gave about Ramsay not being willing to die for his own men.

Also the bit from the preview for next episode where Sansa and Jon talk about trust ...

"The Vale will be here any minute" would have been useful during the negotiations when they met the day prior whether he was sure of it or not.

I feel they'll probably cover it next episode, yeah.

i don't suppose anybody's brought up that while daenerys was preening around telling people I told you so, large chunks of the city were being destroyed, lots of people murdered by the harpies? And if she was waiting for the dothraki hordes to arrive, one presumes they were just waiting for the dwagons to attack so they must've been more or less just waiting on her?
but yes: not a particularly well written show, often great production values, this has been a season of lowered expectations and great silliness cheek by jowl with occasional plot payoffs. again, i read all of this as benioff and weiss pivoting away from GRRM's "hang on, i almost have this figured out" endgame into a (likely much more sustainable) storyline with the playing pieces where they want them for the next few years and the seams are showing much more than I'd like.

D-40's distinction upthread between luck and fate is baffling to me. Isn't the latter just a handy way of explaining the former in the fantasy milieu.

many many xps

It was very convenient timing in both fights -- Dany and the Vale both arriving on the same day of the battles. I say it's poor writing.

I was expecting some GRRM twist to the Winterfell victory, like a reminder that they should be defending the wall instead of fighting each other. Sansa's smile was weak.

i thought there would be a twist like, Daeny forces the slavers to surrender - burns one ship as an example, the rest surrender, she gets her fleet, doesn't need the iron islands anymore

production values are so weirdly inconsistent on this show; single shot Jon Snow in the midst of cavalry was amazing work and then you have bizarre herky jerky speed frame rate dogs eating ramsay's face like a late 90's horror movie.

All I'm saying is that it is clear to at least the audience that the giant was as good as dead prior to that last eye shot in case you are arguing otherwise.

That is a crazy position to take at this point. If people had asked me what had happened to the Hound I might have said he was dead, or Jon, or Stannis or [spoiler who might still turn out to be alive in the show and is in the book]. I'm not saying the giant is alive, but claiming he is is now impossible. We have less reason to believe the giant is dead than Rob.

It was very convenient timing in both fights -- Dany and the Vale both arriving on the same day of the battles. I say it's poor writing.

I was expecting some GRRM twist to the Winterfell victory, like a reminder that they should be defending the wall instead of fighting each other. Sansa's smile was weak.

― remove butt (abanana), Monday, June 20, 2016 2:51 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You call it bad writing, George Lucas calls it poetry.

It was very convenient timing in both fights -- Dany and the Vale both arriving on the same day of the battles. I say it's poor writing.

this happens in every fantasy novel ever ftr

a fictional story with characters showing up at convenient times. crazy!

not a fan of the cliche but I do like the idea that the last-second arrival of help is from a mega-sketchy character with ulterior motives.

feels very game of thronesy

lol

it's definitely to his advantage that Jon's army was seriously diminished in the earlier fighting.

also where were all you people in the Prometheus thread when I needed you.

i mean.... please remember this is a television show and not something that actually happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― J0rdan S., Monday, June 20, 2016 12:14 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

h8 this argument

xp never saw that shit

next ep is surely the Big Reveal (to the audience if not the character in question) given that it was set up early in the season.

wait what was set up?

It really better be!

xp

what's going on in the tower

Not seen any comment on the hail of arrows presumably falling as heavily on Ramsay's own forces as on Snow's. Since they did seem to be a constant falling on a wide area in which the two sides were fighting. So presumably Ramsay didn't give a fuck about his own forces. I mean not just that he wouldn't even fight man to man for them beforehand.

But they were loyal hounds like innit?

a bunch of people died because she didn't say anything to jon, davros, etc. about this other army that was coming. And this is a point that we're not supposed to ignore, based on the context of the Mereen plot that preceded it, and the speech that Jon gave about Ramsay not being willing to die for his own men.

― sarahell, Monday, June 20, 2016 1:33 PM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

isnt it entirely possible that she just sent a letter saying "please help me obi wan youre my only hope" and didn't hear back from him? again these guys arent communicating by cell phone. she may not have known he would show up and certainly wouldn't have had the network of spies to know there was an army approaching

it was noteworthy that Jon was the only one who actually fought, whereas Ramsay and Littlefinger just sat back on their horses.

Ramsay didn't care about the arrows hitting his own men, no. They even had Davos telling his archers to stand down for that reason and then immediately cutting to Ramsay yelling "loose!" to emphasize this.

D-40's distinction upthread between luck and fate is baffling to me. Isn't the latter just a handy way of explaining the former in the fantasy milieu.

― Οὖτις, Monday, June 20, 2016 1:43 PM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

should i have said chance instead of luck? things happen against the odds all the time, life is random, and this show to me seems to emphasize—especially so in the earlier good seasons—that myth & fate are written after the fact about a very brutal and often random reality.

Well Littlefinger isn't a fighter at all.

that battle scene was really incredibly shot. In the "behind the scenes" after they explained the pile of bodies stuff was based in accounts of the american civil war actually

Yeah it's pretty heavy to think about.

this show to me seems to emphasize—especially so in the earlier good seasons—that myth & fate are written after the fact about a very brutal and often random reality.

this is well put and that's a good theme but the show is getting very "print the legend" about it lately.

As it drives towards a climax it's bound to get more predictable and cliche "epic" as things narrow in and importance is placed on key characters.

this is well put and that's a good theme but the show is getting very "print the legend" about it lately.

― ryan, Monday, June 20, 2016 2:24 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i dont disagree, i find myself wishing they would emphasize this more than they are...like there were some real opportunities (someone talked about this upthread) when Jon Snow was brought back to life to make this aspect explicit but they kind of skimped on it

i read all of this as benioff and weiss pivoting away from GRRM's "hang on, i almost have this figured out" endgame into a (likely much more sustainable) storyline with the playing pieces where they want them for the next few years and the seams are showing much more than I'd like

Boyd was the best.

no you wouldn't, no one ever would. we would all run fastest to a to b.

https://youtu.be/A2_w-QCWpS0?t=33s

lol, i was also thinking "SERPENTINE! SERPENTINE!" in that scene

haha yeah this has already been covered in an earlier HBO show

the pile of bodies stuff was based in accounts of the american civil war actually

does this show have gatlings now

they're called wildlings

This was the stupidest episode they've ever done. Plothole on top of plothole, until the whole thing was an incomprehensible anticlimax. And oh, I see people have defended almost every awful stupid thing the characters did upthread. Lol. At this point I'm hoping GRRM goes in a bunch of different directions, because this show is headed towards the most boring, obvious resolution possible. Without being able to properly build to it, it seems.

But! But! The bad guy got his!

While it is true that lots of stupid things happened in this episode, if they address it in the future episodes, I'm ok with it. Both Jon and Sansa have proven to not be smart enough to look at the bigger picture and have caused the death of hundreds or thousands of people, but this is hardly unheard of in human history. I assume there are going to be consequences.

By this point I don't care about the plot holes. It's all about the spectacle now. Bring on the dragons vs white walkers battle and the big happy wedding.

Arya and Jon?

Not a very satisfying victory for team Jon/Sansa imo, only upper hand they had was moral, Ramsey deserved to win this since he did cool deceptive stuff, came up w a crazy plan, stuck to it and it would have worked if not for those damn ex machina knights. I mean I think it's great that Jon and Sansa are fallible but all their choices this ep were so poor it was neither dramatic nor fun.

I'm mystified by this interpretation of this episode but I guess we've gone back n forth enough about it at this point

yeah a bit late to the nitpicking party, maybe that post wasn't entirely necessary