Not digging the first two episode which I just watched yesterday back-to-back. I might be wrong but it seems like the slowest start of any of the seasons so far.
Glad to see i'm not the only one. Don't get me wrong, the show is keeping my attention throughout as usual. The material and how it's produced is so high quality that it'd be hard not to be glued to the television. Still, the wait for a new season feels long enough and then when barely anything of note goes down, and were just darting from character to character, it does start to feel thin.
this episode was one of the weaker imo
so the plotline with arya and the house of black and white was really awkward. she was turned away but what purpose did that fill? i dont feel like anything significant occurred for Jaqen H'ghar to then accept her. (maybe he hates pigeons?)
the subplot with daenerys has alot of problems she goes back and forth over what to do with the sons of the harpy confining with advisors then when the slave kills the prisoner hastily decides to kill the slave in public execution makes no sense. then for the city to fall into riot when this is a city which celebrates its fighting pits is dumb.
also the subplot with breanne and pod finally meeting up with sanza is about the worst payoff i've ever.
The Arya scenes this episode felt formulaic/predictable. Arya finally gets to a place, it would be too easy and fun to just be let in so she's turned away for some reason, roams the streets for a while, says some cool lines about death and dead men, then is finally let in. Tune in next week for what you thought you'd see this week.
I'm getting my fill of Daenery's clumsily learning to rule and it makes it even worse that she's losing more and more control over the one thing which made her great, dragons. You would have thought season's ago that at the age the Dragons are now, they would be factoring in in some way to the main plot instead of just being occasional decorations.
And the Brienne thread is becoming comical.
Brienne: I'm here to protect you with my life.
Stark Girl: No, thanks. Go away. (
Stark girls companion attempts to have Brienne killed). It's hard to argue with Littlefingers logic, everyone she serves has died, and i'm not sure what Brienne even expects to do with Sansa if she were to go with her. If it's because of her vow then it's already failed since Arya wouldn't come.
Some good bits tho. Jon Snow getting promoted was cool and it was the one part I had, like an idiot, accidentally spoiled for myself on wikipedia years ago. Seeing Dorne and the water gardens was nice. I'm glad the actress who played Oberyn's girl is back. Looking forward to the adventures of Bronn and Jaime as well.