Quick thoughts on the GoT premiere
Apr. 15th, 2019 07:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamySoooo... Game of Thrones 8.01.
...not that there's a whole lot to spoil. 8.01 mostly serves to catch us up, which seems a waste of all those recaps HBO has been pushing on us for the last six months or so. Still, an enjoyable episode:
The opening credits focus almost entirely on Winterfell and King's Landing, in quite a bit of detail. Including both throne rooms, both crypts, and the big-ass dragon crossbow. Hmmm.
Arya watching everyone file in is all of us. As is Sansa's grin at Jon not being able to figure Bran out.
TYRION: You're lucky. At least your balls don't freeze off.
VARYS: You take great offense at dwarf jokes but love telling eunuch jokes. Why is that?
TYRION: Because I have balls and you don't.
The Lady of Bear Island calling out Jon. Fuck yeah! (Just make her queen already.) And Dany didn't come all this way to play nice. Seriously, her arrogance probably isn't doing her any favours right now.
"What do dragons eat, anyway?"
"Whatever they want."
Also, Sansa and Tyrion meeting for the first time since Joffrey's death ("It had its moments") and Sansa immediately calling out the stupidity of trusting Cersei. There's a whole lot of plotpatching going on here; they've had 18 months to mull over the... less good plot elements of s6 and s7. Now let's see them do better.
We get a shot of Jon looking at the faces in the Weirwood trees. Book readers tell me this may be important. Then again, book readers tell me that a lot of things that have never been established in the TV series may be important. Nice reunion with Arya, too.
Yara!
Yara headbutting the fuck out of Theon! (And then telling him to go fight with the Starks. Oh yay.)
Cersei being a petulant child at not getting any elephants!
Bronn tries to get his whorin' on (I hadn't missed this part of the show) and is interrupted first by endless dragon talk and then by Qyburn, who hires him (or claims Cersei asked him to hire him) to kill Jaime and Tyrion. Seriously, Qyburn, what's up with all the crossbows? You realise what Freud would have had to say about that, right?
Jon rides a dragon. Or I guess technically... does clinging desperately to the back of a dragon actually count as riding one?
There's a moment somewhere of Varys, Tyrion and Davos mulling over what good they are now, if the Queen will listen to the advise of old men. Not to break a lance for the cause of mansplaining, but I really hope Tyrion will find some use for himself, he hasn't been his old self in a long time.
Gendry awkwardly flirting with Arya, and Arya not being entirely averse to the idea. I forgot about this ship. I don't know if Arya is completely beyond such things at this point, but it's nice to see her actually smile at something other than killing people. And what was that weapon she wanted made? Looked like some form of cup-in-ball harpoon or something?
And then we get to the big emotional scene of the episode, and the one that sets up something new: Sam finding out about his father and brother. (I'm surprised he hadn't found out somehow, but I guess news travels arbitrarily in Westeros.) And getting back at Dany by telling Jon he's Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of his name, King in the North, The White Wolf, The Undead, The Aunt Fucker, Rightful Heir to the Throne. And asking him these questionsthree two:
"Would you have executed my family?"
"You gave up your crown to save your people. Would she do the same?"
Jon has no answer for either question (or rather, he probably does). Which is interesting, and it's a good conflict, and yet I can't help but agree with Jon: NONE OF THIS SHOULD MATTER *RIGHT NOW*. Sort out all your heraldic shit and stop fucking your aunts AFTER the world ends, people. This isn't a Brexit debate. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm still Team Whitewalker deep in my cold black heart.
Speaking of which, TORMUND SURVIVED!
"Stay back, he's got blue eyes!"
"I've ALWAYS had blue eyes!"
:D
And RIP House Umber, missed by no one. And Jaime is back at Winterfell, and Bran is there to creep at him.
So I guess we're setting up for the big battle in... next episode, hopefully? Or episode three? It's hard to make predictions with so little new information, but we know that they don't have the food to hold Winterfell for long anyway (would it kill each Unsullied to carry, I dunno, a backpack of some sort?) and the Army of Darkness (sorry), who we notably didn't even see a glimpse of this week, is about to descend on them anyway. So... I'm guessing Winterfell falls in episode 3? Hopefully with some high-profile deaths, because this is getting ridiculous. We've lost, what, Thoros of Myr since the s6 finale?
• Episode one – 54 mins <-- Everyone says hello
• Episode two – 58 mins
• Episode three – 60 minutes
• Episode four – 78 minutes
• Episode five – 80 minutes
• Episode six – 80 minutes
...not that there's a whole lot to spoil. 8.01 mostly serves to catch us up, which seems a waste of all those recaps HBO has been pushing on us for the last six months or so. Still, an enjoyable episode:
The opening credits focus almost entirely on Winterfell and King's Landing, in quite a bit of detail. Including both throne rooms, both crypts, and the big-ass dragon crossbow. Hmmm.
Arya watching everyone file in is all of us. As is Sansa's grin at Jon not being able to figure Bran out.
TYRION: You're lucky. At least your balls don't freeze off.
VARYS: You take great offense at dwarf jokes but love telling eunuch jokes. Why is that?
TYRION: Because I have balls and you don't.
The Lady of Bear Island calling out Jon. Fuck yeah! (Just make her queen already.) And Dany didn't come all this way to play nice. Seriously, her arrogance probably isn't doing her any favours right now.
"What do dragons eat, anyway?"
"Whatever they want."
Also, Sansa and Tyrion meeting for the first time since Joffrey's death ("It had its moments") and Sansa immediately calling out the stupidity of trusting Cersei. There's a whole lot of plotpatching going on here; they've had 18 months to mull over the... less good plot elements of s6 and s7. Now let's see them do better.
We get a shot of Jon looking at the faces in the Weirwood trees. Book readers tell me this may be important. Then again, book readers tell me that a lot of things that have never been established in the TV series may be important. Nice reunion with Arya, too.
Yara!
Yara headbutting the fuck out of Theon! (And then telling him to go fight with the Starks. Oh yay.)
Cersei being a petulant child at not getting any elephants!
Bronn tries to get his whorin' on (I hadn't missed this part of the show) and is interrupted first by endless dragon talk and then by Qyburn, who hires him (or claims Cersei asked him to hire him) to kill Jaime and Tyrion. Seriously, Qyburn, what's up with all the crossbows? You realise what Freud would have had to say about that, right?
Jon rides a dragon. Or I guess technically... does clinging desperately to the back of a dragon actually count as riding one?
There's a moment somewhere of Varys, Tyrion and Davos mulling over what good they are now, if the Queen will listen to the advise of old men. Not to break a lance for the cause of mansplaining, but I really hope Tyrion will find some use for himself, he hasn't been his old self in a long time.
Gendry awkwardly flirting with Arya, and Arya not being entirely averse to the idea. I forgot about this ship. I don't know if Arya is completely beyond such things at this point, but it's nice to see her actually smile at something other than killing people. And what was that weapon she wanted made? Looked like some form of cup-in-ball harpoon or something?
And then we get to the big emotional scene of the episode, and the one that sets up something new: Sam finding out about his father and brother. (I'm surprised he hadn't found out somehow, but I guess news travels arbitrarily in Westeros.) And getting back at Dany by telling Jon he's Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of his name, King in the North, The White Wolf, The Undead, The Aunt Fucker, Rightful Heir to the Throne. And asking him these questions
"Would you have executed my family?"
"You gave up your crown to save your people. Would she do the same?"
Jon has no answer for either question (or rather, he probably does). Which is interesting, and it's a good conflict, and yet I can't help but agree with Jon: NONE OF THIS SHOULD MATTER *RIGHT NOW*. Sort out all your heraldic shit and stop fucking your aunts AFTER the world ends, people. This isn't a Brexit debate. Oh, who am I kidding, I'm still Team Whitewalker deep in my cold black heart.
Speaking of which, TORMUND SURVIVED!
"Stay back, he's got blue eyes!"
"I've ALWAYS had blue eyes!"
:D
And RIP House Umber, missed by no one. And Jaime is back at Winterfell, and Bran is there to creep at him.
So I guess we're setting up for the big battle in... next episode, hopefully? Or episode three? It's hard to make predictions with so little new information, but we know that they don't have the food to hold Winterfell for long anyway (would it kill each Unsullied to carry, I dunno, a backpack of some sort?) and the Army of Darkness (sorry), who we notably didn't even see a glimpse of this week, is about to descend on them anyway. So... I'm guessing Winterfell falls in episode 3? Hopefully with some high-profile deaths, because this is getting ridiculous. We've lost, what, Thoros of Myr since the s6 finale?
• Episode one – 54 mins <-- Everyone says hello
• Episode two – 58 mins
• Episode three – 60 minutes
• Episode four – 78 minutes
• Episode five – 80 minutes
• Episode six – 80 minutes
no subject
Date: 2019-04-18 09:23 am (UTC)(would it kill each Unsullied to carry, I dunno, a backpack of some sort?)
One containing a big woolly jumper. They're still going bare-armed, aren't they? Or am I remembering wrong? I'm worried about them, and about Grey Worm and Missandei. If anyone important(ish) has to die in the next few episodes I hope it isn't them?
Bronn tries to get his whorin' on (I hadn't missed this part of the show)
I hadn't missed it either, but it did amuse me a little that it was so obvious having sex with Bronn was just a job to these women, and they'd far rather be talking about (the Westeros equivalent) of what's on TV.
Including both throne rooms, both crypts, and the big-ass dragon crossbow. Hmmm.
Good catch. It was too fast for me to follow. I'm seriously worried about the other dragons now. Apart from Sam, they're the characters I like best. I don't want to see another one die.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-18 10:57 am (UTC)I think he's off it; she didn't kill him when she had the chance (though she left him for dead) and she apparently lied when she told Jaqen that she wanted to kill him.
I'm worried about them, and about Grey Worm and Missandei. If anyone important(ish) has to die in the next few episodes I hope it isn't them?
Agreed. They were two of the very few remaining characters we didn't check in with here, so I'm hoping there's more story for them and they're not being demoted to dragonfodder.
it did amuse me a little that it was so obvious having sex with Bronn was just a job to these women, and they'd far rather be talking about (the Westeros equivalent) of what's on TV.
Yep. And apparently one of those soldiers they discussed was the one played by Ed Sheeran in s7, and I'll forgive a scene a lot if it makes me picture Ed Sheeran with his eyelids burned off. :)
I'm seriously worried about the other dragons now.
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if both of them get killed this season, though I agree that they both deserve to live far more than most of the human characters. If the end game is some sort of post-magic post-fantasy kingdom, then it'd be hard to have dragons flying about. Then again, I could be (and probably am) very very wrong about that.
Maybe they can both be turned into ice dragons and rule Westeros with their brother and the Night King as their puppet?
no subject
Date: 2019-04-18 02:32 pm (UTC)Well, only briefly when they were riding into Winterfell and everyone was looking at them funny.
That's quite funny about Ed Sheeran's character. I kind of agree. Though M and Mr M did bump into him in a bar in London once and said he seemed like a nice guy.
Maybe they can both be turned into ice dragons and rule Westeros with their brother and the Night King as their puppet?
That sounds like the best of all possible outcomes to me. :)