Interesting, must go back and watch it again, brave lad standing in front of 40/80 charging horses.

Still I love the tracking shot following the horses on the charge, the photography in this episode in particular has been excellent.

"The king in the north!"
The queen in the south
Little birds in the tunnels
Varys in Dorn
Arya in the Freys kitchen
Great season finale

As much as last episode was outstanding in cinematography, the music on the finale was brilliant.

Yes, there were many big moments in the episode, and I would agree it is one of the top episodes ever in the series.

But there were SO MANY LOOSE ENDS! So many plots developed in the season that went nowhere (Uncle Benjen, Margaery's big plan, Brienne, Edmure, The Hound). Instead we get 5 minutes of Sam making Disney princess eyes in the Citadel's library. It almost seem that those plots were the true sacrifice to let the big moments happen.

This could also be the highest casualty count for named characters in a single episode. No wonder the main actors are getting a big raise for next season.

Last ten episode season for GoT. 13 episodes left for the next 2 years. Hopefully less episodes also mean higher production values and longer running times.

And lets have a moment of silence for the biggest losses in the episode -

The greatest singing voice of the Seven Kingdoms -



And random King's Landing citizen #3, killed by a bell on his way to a brothel.

Also - Kudos to Tommen for making "King's Landing" live up to it's name.

Great episode, with some great cinematography. The Wildfire thing was kinda obvious with the hints we've gotten in previous episodes, but very, very well done. The whole opening montage and lead-up to the "bombe surprise" was masterfully executed.

In the books, Loras Tyrell was severely injured (hit by several quarrels, doused with boiling oil) while leading the assault on Dragonstone. That gives the authors/producers an opening to maybe bring him back next season (or the final season).

Good to see Tommen go (another good and surprising scene), still would have preferred to have Zombieclegane smash his head against the wall ; I briefly had this vision of Tommen trying to stab his mother for blowing up the Sept of Baelor, and Clegane protecting her. Maybe a little corny, but even more tragic in the "unintended consequences" department.

I knew Sansa wasn't "smitten" by Baelish, and has seen right through him.

One of the most interesting things coming next season will be if and how Jon Snow finds out about his real family situation (I suspect Bran will drift down to Winterfell sooner or later and simply tell him). And how they are going to prove it to the rest of Westeros. The only surviving eye-witness would be Howland Reed. Hopefully he will survive that long.

Speculation: what about "Kingslayer" Jamie may also become a Queenslayer? History could repeat itself, with Mad Queen Cercei threatening to blow up King's Landing should Daenerys' "Coalition of the Willing" try to take the city by force, and Jamie finally realizing that his sister is beyond hope.

He'd have to get past grape ape first.

Well, they are brother and sister, and do sleep with each other. Pretty certain Cercei would not have grape ape watch that. So there would be a window of opportunity.

And maybe beforehand - to the infinite delight of Bib - Cleganbowl does happen after all, with the Hound winning (or Loras comes back and manages to kill the Mountain...erm, permanently. Or Drogon eats him ).

Loved the build in the music for the first set piece, the piano and the strings then the cello and organ, the cellist, I think, did a wonderful job, that was not the easiest score to play. It was well worth a second run through just to listen to it again.

The music in the whole series has been very good and does a wonderful job of setting the mood.

Really didn't expect Arya to get over there and start working on her list again so fast, but I liked it. Good episode. Seems like the season just started though.

Yup, they really have a problem with time and distances*, or more accurately, are sacrificing those in favor of convenient plot devices. Well, we have the books for more "accuracy", so I don't really mind (that much).



*for example, it took Varis only one episode to sail to Dorne and back again in time to stand on the quarterdeck with Dany. And for Arya to travel from Braavos (which is in the east), so travel all the way do the west coast of Westeros, and get a job as a servant that has access to the Lord himself?

This episode spanned quite a bit of time. The elapsed minutes from the destruction of the High Sept to Tyrell's meeting in Dorne were few, but they already knew. Varys spent the last few eps getting there, then he gets back and reverses course with the fleet again in the last few minutes, implying an even greater lapse of time.

This is something that many films and shows have dealt with, to varying degrees of success, over the years. If you have one hour of story that covers a month, but all the events take place in the beginning, middle, and ending 3 days of the month, you may not have the time to clearly show that two weeks separate start from middle and middle from end.



The Jedi Master

Other shows/movies resolve this with captions like "meanwhile in..." or "two weeks later", but that probably would not fit into the style of GoT.

It's just that the books seem to be a little clearer regarding how much time has passed (1 year for Game of Thrones, then 6,4,6 and 8 months for each of the following books.)

Still, the timeline is nevertheless all over the place. It would have taken weeks if not months for the Ironborn fleet to sail from their Iron Islands to Mereen, not to mention weeks for Theon to travel from somewhere between Winterfell and Castle Black back home.

Messages are ususally sent by R-Mail, which I assume to be reasonably fast. But Olenna was last seen leaving for Highgarden, and next we see her in Sunspear in Dorne, plotting with that nest of Sandvipers.

Meanwhile, Cercei's hair hasn't grown back. Or are we to assume that she just digs her new tomboyish looks? And Gilly's baby does not grow at all?

BTW, why didn't Sam just send a raven to the Citadel, announcing his intent and upcoming visit? Or anyone sending any ravens for that matter, informing them of the events from what, 6-12 months back (assassination of Mormont, death of Maester Aemon, assassination and subsequent resignation of Jon Snow)? Surely he and Gilly didn't outpace a raven?

Actually, Varys did not "get back", as much as he was "picked up". Look at the sigils in the sails. The Martells and Tyrells were already sailing with Danny's captured fleet and the Ironborn.

More an issue with, as you said, establishing elapsed time more clearly than convenient plot device.

I just saw that reddit thread, too.

So we can assume the fleet is already in Westerosi waters and on its way to King's Landing?

Because what could go wrong with a seaborne invasion of that city? There are two guys on that quarterdeck who should tell Dany to land her troops somewhere safe and at least off-load the majority of her army. One is even the guy who's foiled the last attempt of such an invasion.

Who said they are going for King's Landing? As was mentioned in the episode, Daenerys will first be establishing alliances in Westeros before attacking. Although conquering a province or two could help with that too.


Oh...and I saw no reddit thread.

Two reasons: lack of imagination on the writer's part , and pressing time constraints. They've done their utmost to eliminate as many secondary plots as they could, or force their conclusions, in order to advance the main story arc.

Daenerys has no time to dally. She needs to get a firm hold over the southern part of Westeros, deal with the other Ironborn fleet, consolidate her power and establish contact with her nephew in the North, move her army there to face the White Walker juggernaut that is about to come. All in two shortened seasons (16 episodes all in all?). She's been dragging her heels enough in Slaver's Bay Bay of Dragons.

It will be interesting how the White Walkers and their zombie army will manage to cross the Wall (with its magic signs that supposedly prevent them from crossing it, according to Benjen).

I was wondering about that too. Either they can take the wall down somehow, or they know a way around/under/over.

I always assumed that Dragonstone would be the first step for Dany to return, considering that its inhabitants are said to be most loyal to the Targaryans.
Showdown in Kings Landing is further down - I assume a siege in which course Jaimie will "depose" crazy Cersei. In turn he will be pardoned (on advice by his brother) and maybe even become Lord of Casterly Rock.
Speaking of Tyrion, he will reunite with his wife Sansa, and they will be happy ever after.
Considering that the Targaryans have a history of marriage in the family, Dany and Jon Snow may find together - as cheesy as it may be - for the siege of Kings Landing and/or defense against the White Walkers.
No idea what major steps the plot holds for Bran and Arya - minor things, the former obviously revealing Jons identity, the latter maybe coming across Sandor C. again; maybe Bran gets to mindcontrol a dragon, ...

W.r.t. the time lapse, I think it is not really different to the books, there were always some plots spanning long timspans, while others seem to develop in fairly small steps (esp. in and around Kings Landing).

I wasn't surprised by the magical appearance of mounted knights onto a battlefield where the defenders were hopelessly outnumbered and outmaneuvered.

#1 Battle of Blackwater Bay - Lannister and Tully forces arrive to attack the left flank of the attackers to save the day!

#2 Battle Beyond the Wall - Stannis' forces arrive to attack the left flank of the attackers to save the day!

#3 Battle of Winterfell - Vale forces arrive to attack the left of the enemy to save the day!

Damn, the tactical lesson is to always have some pikemen to defend your left against sudden horse charges.



A few other observations:

Bran isn't going to show up to Winterfell and start spouting Targarian propaganda if he knows what's good for him. Wargs are one step up from witches south of The Wall.

Jamie is going to stab Cercie, but only in the HBO way.

Lady Mormont steals the show whenever she's on screen. Great child actor and script writing.

Davos. Sigh. Just put a sword through the Red Witch's heart and be done with it. We're all counting on you.

Tormund gets the Rick Grimes seal of approval for biting out the neck of the Umber.

Ramsey - how did they keep the dogs in their open pens until he woke up from his beating?

Arya is the sociopathic killer we all love to cheer for. Of all the GoT characters, she's the one that is truly scary in the whole murdering career path. Hell, the Hound might not think anything of killing a child under orders, but he doesn't like it. The Mountain, pre-zombie, would be a good challenge in that department, but he wasn't very smart or clever, so Arya gets the edge over him.

Anything in Dorne that doesn't show a lot of Tyene Sand ("The most beautiful woman in the world," according to Bron) is wasted film, IMHO.

During the Winterfell battle, at one point I had a flashback of another movie. "Why won't anyone fight me?" he shouted as swordsmen dashed about him. And then a shot of The Kurgan.

Tyrion is once again Hand of the King. Does he get to bridge the time spent as Hand for retirement purposes, or does he have to roll one over into the other, being careful not to incur a tax penalty?

The receptionist at the Citadel isn't really a dick. The guy needs a huge magnifying loop to read normal sized font on a manuscript two feet from his bent head. He couldn't see well enough to grab the scroll from Sam. Or maybe that's why he's a dick - his vision is so poor they made him mind the front desk as he's unsuited for anything else.

[edit]

The Night Witch could enter the Three Eyed Raven's cave because he marked Bran during a Warg event. If Bran goes south of The Wall, doesn't that negate the magical blah-blah that keeps the undead north of it?