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Game of Thrones *NO BOOK SPOILERS* |OT| Season 5 - Sundays on HBO [Read the OP]

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borborygmus

Member
I desperately need the next few episodes to redeem the crappiness of this season. Here's a bunch of stuff off the top of my head that has made this season terrible:

- Cersei armed the Sparrows ages ago, and we still didn't get a single scene showing any interaction between Cersei and King Tommen. This interaction should have been inevitable and very consequential in exposing the actual power structure of the royalty to the viewers; it's extremely lazy to ignore this. We're supposed to believe they never discussed the arming of the Sparrows, or that they discussed it behind the scenes and nothing came of the discussion?

- Lansel Lannister repented and was allowed to join the Sparrows, yet the now armed Sparrows seem to be killing some people without offering them any chance to repent. Additionally, the high Sparrow told Cersei that he never expected or wished that the Sparrows be armed, and yet now they are. Instead of the gazillion boring filler scenes this season, I'd have liked more development of the Sparrows and their actual values because they're seriously all over the place.

- We need to be shown what was offered to the brothel steward in exchange for his testimony against Loras. The birthmark thing is ridiculously flimsy evidence against Loras. There is no evidence whatsoever that Margaery knew of her brother's actions and yet she's incarcerated. This entire segment was stupid.

- The Dorne subplot has taken several episodes to culminate in the worst fight scene in the history of the show. The Sand Snakes are barely even characters; both the Sand Snakes and Jamie+Bronn decided to abduct a girl in broad daylight, at the same time, in plain sight of the ruler of Dorne and his guards. The choreography is garbage. Everything about this arc absolutely stinks as a follow up to Oberyn's arc in season 4.

- Danaerys' decisions are now somehow even more stupid than they were until now. She must be on drugs. There's no other explanation for murdering a slave owner to set an example, imprisoning the former slave owners, and then randomly changing her mind and marrying one of them.

You'd think all the contrivances and shitty plot devices would at least expedite things, but the season's also been packed with filler scenes and "teases," like the fate of the Mountain, and nothing seems to be getting to the point.
 

Dennis

Banned
Things are going a little slow this season......who am I kidding every season has felt slow to me.

Stiling riveting TV though.
 
Things are going a little slow this season......who am I kidding every season has felt slow to me.

Stiling riveting TV though.

This season is just .... a snails pace. What has really happened this season?

Stannis has left the Wall .... wow

Sansa has entered Winterfell .... wow

LF has went to Kings Landing ... wow

Jon Snow has ... not yet left the Wall .. wow

Dany has done nothing at all

Arya has swept floors and cleaned dead bodies

I am not even going to mention Dorne. Its just ... bad and writers should be ashamed.

When you actually break down what has happened this season. Its pretty pathetic. I mean they are setting it up to where some interesting things could go down, so hopefully these final 3 episodes can redeem the season. But doesnt excuse the first 6 episodes being this poor.
 

Vashetti

Banned
When you actually break down what has happened this season. Its pretty pathetic. I mean they are setting it up to where some interesting things could go down, so hopefully these final 3 episodes can redeem the season. But doesnt excuse the first 6 episodes being this poor.

4
 

Venture

Member
Actually Ned had one of his bannermen deliver a message to Stannis directly, spilling the beans about the Lannisters and informing him of his rightful claim to the Throne. Later, Stannis sends out ravens to each kingdom declaring himself OTK.

https://youtu.be/4iimpkprnTk

#letnomanclaimignorance
That's right. Thanks.
Got_Know.jpg
 
I'll be happy enough tonight if there's no Dany again. Honestly, I'm just not going to be interested in that story-line until Varys and Tyrion make their way to her.
 

Curufinwe

Member
The idea that we need to be shown why Olyvar, the brothel worker and sex buddy to Loras, testified for the Faith Militant is funny. They clearly have the power to lock him up and persecute him for being gay, and used that leverage to get him to tell the truth about Loras and Margery.
 

zma1013

Member
I desperately need the next few episodes to redeem the crappiness of this season. Here's a bunch of stuff off the top of my head that has made this season terrible:

- Cersei armed the Sparrows ages ago, and we still didn't get a single scene showing any interaction between Cersei and King Tommen. This interaction should have been inevitable and very consequential in exposing the actual power structure of the royalty to the viewers; it's extremely lazy to ignore this. We're supposed to believe they never discussed the arming of the Sparrows, or that they discussed it behind the scenes and nothing came of the discussion?

Well at least for this point, I don't think she told King Tommen anything about it. She's scheming and planning things behind his back.
 

borborygmus

Member
The idea that we need to be shown why Olyvar, the brothel worker and sex buddy to Loras, testified for the Faith Militant is funny. They clearly have the power to lock him up and persecute him for being gay, and used that leverage to get him to tell the truth about Loras and Margery.

That particular bullet point contains more subpoints than just the bit about the steward. I'll concede that we don't necessarily need to know what he was offered. The rest of what I wrote in that bullet point still stands though.

Well at least for this point, I don't think she told King Tommen anything about it. She's scheming and planning things behind his back.

Cersei specifically mentioned she'd get the king to sign off on it, and they make numerous subsequent mentions of it being Tommen that approved it, not the regent. Either way, I wouldn't be wondering about this if the show wasn't so lazy about it. We should know this by now.

Besides, even if Cersei kept it from him (although... wouldn't she sign it as regent, rather than in Tommen's name?), he's known for a while now since they decided to oppose him openly.
 

Limit

Member
How big of an army does the vale have? The way little finger worded his plan to ceresi when talking about taking soldiers from vale to the north it sounded like it might be a special ops group as opposed to a regular army. Anything that more observant viewers of the show have deciphered on this subject matter?
 

Jackpot

Banned
- Cersei armed the Sparrows ages ago, and we still didn't get a single scene showing any interaction between Cersei and King Tommen. This interaction should have been inevitable and very consequential in exposing the actual power structure of the royalty to the viewers; it's extremely lazy to ignore this. We're supposed to believe they never discussed the arming of the Sparrows, or that they discussed it behind the scenes and nothing came of the discussion?

agreed.
 

Curufinwe

Member
How big of an army does the vale have? The way little finger worded his plan to ceresi when talking about taking soldiers from vale to the north it sounded like it might be a special ops group as opposed to a regular army. Anything that more observant viewers of the show have deciphered on this subject matter?

The HBO site probably has some info on that. I'm sure the show had mentioned that their armies haven't been directly involved in the war of the 5 kings, so they're probably in pretty good condition compared to the Lannister forces who got pummeled by Robb's men till he got himself killed putting his penis ahead of common sense.
 

Griss

Member
I'm looking forward to tonight's episode. (There is one tonight, right?) If things don't start picking up now then we really will be looking at a poor season with maybe one big battle at the end to try and redeem it.

I went back and watched some of season 1 and the difference in quality is night and day. I still have faith that they'll turn it around, though, and I'm really hoping it starts tonight. Stannis is on the move against the Boltons, Jon should be on the move, Tyrion should be nearing Dany as Jorah is going to be sold into the slave pits, things in King's Landing are getting interesting. Things might start flowing again. Now I'm wondering whether I should go watch a preview or not...
 

Nameless

Member
I desperately need the next few episodes to redeem the crappiness of this season. Here's a bunch of stuff off the top of my head that has made this season terrible:

- Cersei armed the Sparrows ages ago, and we still didn't get a single scene showing any interaction between Cersei and King Tommen. This interaction should have been inevitable and very consequential in exposing the actual power structure of the royalty to the viewers; it's extremely lazy to ignore this. We're supposed to believe they never discussed the arming of the Sparrows, or that they discussed it behind the scenes and nothing came of the discussion?

- .

Tommen calls her on arming the Faith Militant in "Sons of the Harpy". She admitted to it flat out because she knew he wasn't going to challenge her, and he didn't -- not sure why we needed more than that . A constant theme on Game of Thrones, dare I say the theme, is that true power reigns supreme, all these titles & positions people are playing for are secondary, and often don't mean much in and of themselves. Tywin never sat on the Iron Throne but his word was law. As much as Joffrey liked to flex his kingly muscle, when it came down to it, he answered to Tywin like everyone else. Officially Robyn Arryn has control of The Vale, but Littlefinger is the one dictating the direction of that entire kingdom. Sure Roose Bolton might be Warden of the North, but the battered, broken House on the brink of extinction still hold sway despite being stripped of all legal authority.

Lannister soldiers along with the City Watch make up most of King Landing's military infrastructure. These men were loyal to, and/or paid by Tywin and now they're following his daughter. And why wouldn't they? She has political experience, connections, and people fear her. She also has control of the Royal Treasury, which ultimately decided every thing when Ned challenged her in S1. The latter could very well prove to her downfall given the status of her family's finances, but Tommen has none of these things, and doesn't seem to have what it takes to obtain them were he so inclined. Margeaery being Queen doesn't magically give her functional authority over another House's bannermen.
 
New Episode Tonight: The Gift

The part about
Stannis being stubborn
scares me. Could that cost him the battle? He might make mistakes or rush headlong into battle without a good plan, but someone here told me he's supposed to be a brilliant strategist and tactician and battlefield commander, so he should be fine. He's already being stubborn by not listening to the advice of Davos and waiting for the potential reinforcements of thousands of wildlings that could be added to his army and bolster his forces against the Boltons in the inevitable upcoming battle. Instead he's going to lose more of his own men and I'm not sure bringing his daughter is a good idea but maybe it's a plot device so the Mellisendre can sacrifice her to use magic to destroy the Boltons defences/trump card/ace up there sleeve trap that they were scheming to use so Stannis can win at great cost.

Is Davos even still his hand after Stannis almost executed him after the betrayal with Gendry? Is he completely forgiven, the Red Woman said they needed him in the coming battle at the wall, which is over, but he helped Stannis win the loan from the Iron Bank that he couldn't have gotten without him, so I wonder if he is fully pardoned and forgiven and if Davos is still his hand since he still seems to be advising him and since Stannis couldn't have gotten the support of the Iron Bank without him.

The Grey Worm/Missandei love story subplot seems like filler and completely pointless and boring. Unless their characters have some sort of significance to the plot soon, I feel all this building up for no junk and the former slave translator would be wasteful and pontless, boring filler at it's finest. The unsullied were supposed to be these fearless badass fighters, and yet he just seems so boring, I wish Barry Selmy lived instead of him, despite being old as shit he was such a skilled fighter he managed to take out like ten of those sons of harpies like a badass grandpa.

Mellisendre said she could have stopped the wildfire at Blackwater, and she made a point to Stannis to insist and make sure he bring her this time, so I hope she uses her magic to fuck up the Boltons and ruin their trap and foil their sabotage plan just to see the look on their faces. When Roose and Ramsey have that surprised and scared look of disbelief and realize just how screwed and dead they really are, the look on their faces when their plan fails and their men are being slaughtered and overrun. What a priceless look to see shock disbelief and fear on the bad guys faces for once.

I'm guessing the inevitable battle for Winterfell will be in the penultimate episode, episode 9? And it will probably focus entirely on that plot point, just like Blackwater and the battle for The Wall? Team Stannis ftw!
 
The part about
Stannis being stubborn
scares me. Could that cost him the battle? He might make mistakes or rush headlong into battle without a good plan, but someone here told me he's supposed to be a brilliant strategist and tactician and battlefield commander, so he should be fine. He's already being stubborn by not listening to the advice of Davos and waiting for the potential reinforcements of thousands of wildlings that could be added to his army and bolster his forces against the Boltons in the inevitable upcoming battle. Instead he's going to lose more of his own men and I'm not sure bringing his daughter is a good idea but maybe it's a plot device so the Mellisendre can sacrifice her to use magic to destroy the Boltons defences/trump card/ace up there sleeve trap that they were scheming to use so Stannis can win at great cost.

Is Davos even still his hand after Stannis almost executed him after the betrayal with Gendry? Is he completely forgiven, the Red Woman said they needed him in the coming battle at the wall, which is over, but he helped Stannis win the loan from the Iron Bank that he couldn't have gotten without him, so I wonder if he is fully pardoned and forgiven and if Davos is still his hand since he still seems to be advising him and since Stannis couldn't have gotten the support of the Iron Bank without him.

The Grey Worm/Missandei love story subplot seems like filler and completely pointless and boring. Unless their characters have some sort of significance to the plot soon, I feel all this building up for no junk and the former slave translator would be wasteful and pontless, boring filler at it's finest. The unsullied were supposed to be these fearless badass fighters, and yet he just seems so boring, I wish Barry Selmy lived instead of him, despite being old as shit he was such a skilled fighter he managed to take out like ten of those sons of harpies like a badass grandpa.

Mellisendre said she could have stopped the wildfire at Blackwater, and she made a point to Stannis to insist and make sure he bring her this time, so I hope she uses her magic to fuck up the Boltons and ruin their trap and foil their sabotage plan just to see the look on their faces. When Roose and Ramsey have that surprised and scared look of disbelief and realize just how screwed and dead they really are, the look on their faces when their plan fails and their men are being slaughtered and overrun. What a priceless look to see shock disbelief and fear on the bad guys faces for once.

I'm guessing the inevitable battle for Winterfell will be in the penultimate episode, episode 9? And it will probably focus entirely on that plot point, just like Blackwater and the battle for The Wall? Team Stannis ftw!

You in the wrong thread or something? Most of this stuff seems pulled out of thin air. We have zero details of what the Boltons are thinking to fight against Stannis. All we know is that Ramsay will help Roose fight.

I mean you can kind of tell that the daughter of Stannis will have some importance but it's never been hinted she would be sacrificed and certainly not anything about the sacrifice being for some earth shattering magic potential.

Anyway. I just hope for a good episode.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
The Grey Worm/Missandei love story subplot seems like filler and completely pointless and boring. Unless their characters have some sort of significance to the plot soon, I feel all this building up for no junk and the former slave translator would be wasteful and pontless, boring filler at it's finest. The unsullied were supposed to be these fearless badass fighters, and yet he just seems so boring
I felt like this was going somewhere last season and then it just petered out. I figured the unsullied would start doing things like falling in love and decide that they didn't want to just waste their lives in battle. I mean as far as I can tell they are effectively still just slaves, it's pretty much taken for granted that they will do whatever dani wants.
 

Road

Member
This episode better be good.



But it's just going to be more going in circles until Stannis meets Bolton in ep 9 or 10.
 
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