The Shoemaker wrote:Kind of felt like another Sansa rape scene where it was included just to shock us, especially since this isn't the moment in the books where this happens. They really just showed us scenes of Stannis being a caring father just to surprise us when he's willing to burn her.
Where in the books this happens is not relevant, since this isn't the books. Also, the Sansa rape scene wasn't included just to shock us—it's an important part of the story. Similarly, this (and Stannis's setup) isn't just a cheap surprise, but an important part of the story. We didn't get to see anything at Dragonstone. We know Stannis is serious and dutifully supported his brother's war, but now this is his claim to the throne. This is the one thing he believes in, and to top it off, he's desperate. All the scenes between Stannis and his daughter leading up to this episode show us just how much he believes in it, needs it, wants it, and just how difficult a decision it is for him. Not only that, but since we can't see the future, we don't know how this is going to affect him yet. This will definitely be the setup for a breaking point with Stannis. I don't think it's fair to be dismissive of good craft just because it's different from other, slightly pulpier craft.
The Shoemaker wrote:If this is the last we see of Dorne this season I really have to wonder why they included it.
I can't tell if you're serious. There's a lot going on in these scenes. I thought they did a wonderful job of setting up Doran's character, showing how different he is from Oberyn, and also giving a little hint of some quiet genius bubbling under the surface. I think we have a good reason to be suspicious of his obsequiousness.
The Shoemaker wrote:Danny's scene was a little sloppy at times, ended up just looking like a lot of standing around (why didn't the harpy just throw a spear and harpoon Danny like Jorah did to them?).
Because it's not as personal. They're not soldiers. They're not just trying to kill her. They're assassins. They want her death to symbolize something.
The Shoemaker wrote:I heard people complain about the CGI but I thought it was fine. On a side note, was did the Harpy decide to kill the people in the crowd? Aren't those the people they were fighting for? Did the marriage and opening the pits do nothing? I can't remember what the show said their motivation was, maybe they're just a terrorist group and that's it?
I think the marriage and opening the pits doing nothing is supposed to be the plot point of that attack. We don't know their motivation. We don't know what they want. Even her capitulations didn't save her. She can't control the city. Now what? It's a low moment for her. It's going to be a pivotal moment. I thought the CGI was the worst part of the scene. The whole set piece was brilliantly executed except for that one weak point. The CGI on Drogon was fine, it was just the flying away part that was sloppy. But I give them a pass on that, since that shit's expensive, and this is still just HBO's TV budget after all.
The Shoemaker wrote:Arya was not bad, perhaps a bit too much staring on her part. I wonder if she'll manage to kill both of her targets next week or just settle on one.
I found her scene nicely tense. She can't trick her mentor though—he definitely knows what's going on—so I'm left wondering whether Meryn is her true target after all (or whether this is meant to test her commitment to letting go of her old Arya-grudges).
As for your spoiler question, is the next episode the season finale? Because if so, then yes, I can see that happening at the end of the season.
The huge spoiler being the white walker menacingly staring Jon down while raising all the dead wildlings from the dead. Anyway, all those corpses aren't white walkers, they're just animated corpses/zombies, a hired dead army. The crazy samurai ones are the actual race of white walkers, whatever they are. We don't even know that they're dead, just that they're aligned with death (although, of course, the Faceless Man would argue that all gods are just death wearing different faces). I suspect the true samurai walkers have to be "born" like the baby we saw a couple seasons ago.
