Game of Thrones Season 7 Review (Spoilers)

• Series Title: Game of Thrones
• Season: 7
• Episodes: 7
• Discs: 3
• Network:  HBO
• Cast: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Caster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen, Gwendoline Christie, Jerome Flynn, Diana Rigg, Jim Broadbent
• Format: Widescreen, Color, Blu-Ray, NTSC

I did watch season 7 twice on Blu-Ray, this show is too complex to catch everything on the first run through. Season 7 is reduced to seven episodes, though some have longer running times. Still, I felt the lack of three episodes keenly – and some of the rough spots wouldn’t have been quite so rough if the running time of the entire season was longer.

The season opens with Daenerys returning to her ancient, family seat of Dragonstone. She is now allies with Yara of the Iron Islands, Ellaria Sand of Dorne, and Olenna Tyrell of HighGarden, all of whom are united in wanting to overthrow Cersei. After a very interesting meeting and discussion of their plans between the women, with some advice from Tyrion and Varys, Daenerys decides to sent part of Yara’s fleet, under Yara’s command to transport Ellaria and her daughters to Dorne to pick up her army and bring it back to Westros to attack Cersei. It does not go well. The fleet is attacked by Euron Greyjoy, and the ships destroyed. Those sailing on them are killed or captured, with Euron capturing Yara, Ellaria, and Ellaria’s eldest daughter and taking them to King’s Landing. The two younger Sand girls are killed. In retrospect, they should have sent a raven.

This isn’t the only set-back for Daenerys, though. Tyrion convinces her to attack Castlery Rock, using an underground tunnel to get in to the castle. The attack actually goes OK, but the castle is strangely empty. While Daenerys’ Unsullied army attacked Castlery Rock, Jaime takes the majority of the Lannister Army to Highgarden to take the castle. Jaime offers Olenna poisoned wine and she takes it – then she tells him that she killed Joffery. Later when Jaime tells Cersei this, she doesn’t seem to believe him.

Meanwhile, Daenerys invites Jon Snow to Dragonstone to bend the knee. Jon also receives a raven from Samwell Tarly at the Citadel, telling him that there is a mountain of dragonglass beneath Dragonstone, which is needed to forge weapons to fight the army of the dead and the White Walkers. Jon goes to Dragonstone. Jon introduces himself as the King in the North, which angers Daenerys who keeps getting focused on having him bend the knee. It seems to be an impass, but Tyrion convinces Daenerys to let Jon mine dragonglass. Jon finds and shows Daenerys some cave drawings of the Children of the Forest and the First Men fighting the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead together. He then starts mining, destroying the evidence and information.

In the citadel, Samwell Tarly runs into Ser Jorah Mormont who is dying from Greyscale. He performs an experimental procedure and saves Jorah’s life. Samwell also discovers the information about the dragonglass, but it is actually Gilly who discovers the truth of Jon Snow’s parentage.

Meanwhile, in Winterfell, Sansa is defacto ruler. Bran makes his way to Winterfell, tells her he’s the Three-Eyed Raven, and dismisses Meera, who goes back to her family. Lord Baelish is quickly up to his old tricks, whispering in the ear of Sansa and Arya – trying to turn the two sisters on each other. It does not work, in the last episode of the season, Sansa formally accuses Baelish of murder (of Lysa, their aunt) and treason. Sansa, no doubt with help from Arya and Bran, had put together everything Baelish did – turning Lysa and Catelyn against each other, supplying Lysa with poison to kill her husband, Jon Arryn, then blaming it on the Lannisters, and betraying Ned Stark in King’s Landing. Not to mention it was Lord Baelish who orchestrated the death of King Joffrey – which Sansa and Tyrion were blamed for. Sansa orders Lord Petyr Baelish be executed and Arya carries out the sentence. Sansa, Lady of Winterfell, also prepares her people for The Long Night – gathering food and grain into Winterfell’s stores, preparing weapons, having all the people, both male and female, learn how to fight.

Euron brings Cersei the gift of Ellaria and her daughter. Cersei has the two chained up in her dungeon, kisses the daughter, then wipes her lips and takes the antidote. Ellaria will have to watch her daughter die the same way that Mycella Baratheon did. We never see Ellaria again. Yara, meanwhile is taken, as prisoner, to the Iron Islands.

After two defeats, Daenerys decides to try a new strategy. She leads her armies from dragonback to attack the transport of Highgarden’s gold and grain stores to King’s Landing. She and her armies are extremely successful in this attack, but her dragons prove to be the WMDs of Westros – turning men to ash in seconds. Also, the majority of the grain wagons are destroyed not captured. Daenerys demands the few survivors bend the knee – and the majority do, joining her forces. Randall Tarly and his son, Dickon, refuse to bend the knee. Tyrion proposes they be forced to “take the black” and be sent to the Wall. Daenerys declines, and when the Tarly men still refuse to bend the knee, she executes them by dragonfire.

After this win, Daenerys is in a stronger position. But Jon reminds her of the threat of to the North, that is, the Army of the Dead. Lord Tyrion also thinks the coming war is more important. An expedition of the now returned Jorah Mormont, Jon Snow, a few wildings (including Tormund Giantsbane), several of the Band without Banners, and the Hound set off to capture a member of the army of the dead to show Cersei they are serious about the threat and the need for a ceasefire. This expedition pretty much takes up all of episode six. They are successful in capturing a dead soldier, but not without cost, both in members of the expedition (a red priest dies), and in Daenerys losing one of her dragons – which is resurrected by the Night King and turned into an Ice Dragon. Jon however does discover that if you kill a White Walker, the army of the dead soldiers it turned also die.

The dead soldier is taken to a discussion at King’s Landing. Everyone is there – both Daenerys allies and Cersei’s allies. Cersei shows an incredible amount of arrogance, claiming that Tyrion, Jon, and Daenerys are all making up the stories of the Army of the Dead. The Hound opens the box containing the soldier, and although she is frightened – Cersei still refuses to honor the ceasefire, claiming the Army of the Dead will hit the North first, so let them.

Tyrion speaks with Cersei later, and gets her to agree to the ceasefire. However, after that Cersei interrupts Jaime’s organizing of Lannister troops to send North and reveals she will not keep the deal. Jaime becomes angry at the double-cross, and Cersei threatens to have the Mountain kill him. She’s pregnant, so she thinks she no longer needs Jaime. Jaime leaves King’s Landing in civilian (not Lannister) armor on horseback. It begins to snow in King’s Landing. The Army of the Dead attacks Eastwatch, and the Ice Dragon destroys the wall.

There are some issues with this season. First, it starts with four strong women strategizing the way to defeat another women, Cersei Lannister. To give the show credit, Varys is shown providing information after swearing his loyalty to Daenerys and Lord Tyrion only gives his advice – he doesn’t take over the conversation, talk down to Daenerys, or mansplain to her. Tyrion treats her with respect, and supplies suggestions. But then all of the women other than Daenerys are taken out of the picture. Ellaria is captured, forced to watch her daughter die, and we never see her again after that. We never see anyone in Dorne. Presumably, her entire country must know Cersei Lannister has killed the Sand sisters and captured Ellaria – you’d think they would want to rescue their queen. Yara also disappears – we see Euron parade her through the streets of King’s Landing, know he keeps her captured, and she’s mentioned in the great debate in episode 7. Theon also gathers some of Yara’s men and vows to rescue her – but not until episode 7. Shouldn’t he have done that a bit earlier? And Olenna simply drinks a glass of poisoned wine handed to her by Jaime Lannister when her forces are defeated and her castle captured. Seriously? So we go from four strong women, including Daenerys, to just Daenerys. Daenerys is cool – but I liked the idea of a group of women taking over Westros (including Sansa in the North).

Another issue is the Citadel. The Citadel is the library of all the information in Westros – yet the Maesters jealously guard their information. Civilians aren’t allowed in. Women aren’t allowed at all. The Maesters are shown to be arrogant, and mock what they do not know. When Bran sends them a warning about the Long Night, they pooh-pooh the information, even when Sam says they should pay attention to the warning. The Archmaester is willing to let Ser Jorah die rather than treat him because it’s dangerous. Samwell treats him anyway – and cures him. Once Jorah is cured, he puts on his shirt covered in stains from the weeping Greyscale – why didn’t they just burn the shirt? Surely, the Citadel can spare some clothes?

The entire expedition north of the wall seemed pretty pointless to me. This show seems to have to do at least one episode at or north of the wall per season – and it’s even more so this time. Cersei is so arrogant she doesn’t quite get that the dead are a threat to her as well as her enemies. Also, Daenerys just supplied the Night King with his own WMD in the form of an Ice Dragon. The only thing the expedition did was that Jon found out that not only can the dead be killed by burning, dragonglass, and Valerian steel swords – but also if you kill a White Walker, all the dead it created explode. So basically, the dead are vampires. We’ve also been just handed the end of the story – they don’t have to kill the Army of the Dead – they just have to kill the White Walkers, and, ultimately, the Night King. In other words, kill the commanders and the army will fall apart – a very old Medieval battle strategy.

Finally, we discover that Jon Snow is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Not only that, but the previous marriage was annulled and the two were married, making Jon not a Snow at all but the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne. And, since the previous marriage was annulled, the two were legally married, and Rhaegar did not kidnap or rape Lyanna but legally married her and they were star-crossed lovers – there was no reason for Robert’s rebellion in the first place (similar to Lysa blaming her husband’s death on the Lannisters when she was responsible herself). But considering that Jon, like Jorah and Tyrion, has, by the end of the season, fallen in love with Daenerys, and the two sleep together – it’s a real problem making Jon the legitimate heir to the throne, rather than Daenerys.

Jon, after all, isn’t a great leader. People follow him – and he usually leads them into disaster. Jon’s expedition to kidnap a member of the army of the dead to convince Cersei to help in the Great War – backfires. Hard Home – backfired. Jon inspires loyalty, but he’s a bit cursed when it comes to making plans. I did find it interesting that when he tells Cersei and everyone listening how to kill the Army of the Dead – he only mentions two of the four ways we know about so far. But I do not want to see Jon steal the iron throne from Daenerys – who is a good leader. I find it a bit frustrating that considering how well she did conquering Slaver’s Bay twice, that she’s suddenly having so much trouble.

Samwell Tarly makes it back to Winterfell, and he and Bran realise the truth about Jon’s parentage.

And we have a long wait until season 8 the final season. Season 7 was a season of diplomacy and battles. There are a lot of strong women still left in Game of Thrones – and I want to see those women triumph. Daenerys is a great leader, especially when she talks of “breaking the wheel” – which is what she did in Essos by overthrowing slavery. Jon, not so much, despite his now revealed parentage, and he’s better as a consort or Warden of the North. Sansa is a still better choice for leading the North, and I can’t wait to see what he thinks of her work so far as Lady of Winterfell. Next season, the battle of the Great War will no doubt be important to the story. I also think that Jaime is going to join Tyrion and Daenerys, either at Dragonstone or Winterfell – where ever she is. That killing a White Walker, kills the troops it turned, is no doubt going to be important – but I think we can plan on seeing dragon-on-dragon violence too.

I hope the actual reason for The Long Night is actually explained.

Still the season, like all of Game of Thrones is recommended. The filming, the characters, the costumes – it’s all fantastic.

Read my Game of Thrones Season 6 Review.

Read my Game of Thrones Season 5 Review.

Read my Game of Thrones Season 4 Review.

Game of Thrones Season 6 Review

• Series Title: Game of Thrones
• Season: 6
• Episodes: 10
• Discs: 4
• Network:  HBO
• Cast: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Caster-Waldau, John Bradley, Aidan Gillen, Gwendoline Christie, Jerome Flynn, Julian Glover, Jonathan Pryce, Diana Rigg
• Format: Widescreen, Color, Blu-Ray, NTSC

Season 5 of Game of Thrones really was The Season Terrible Things happen to all the women. Season 6? The women get their revenge. Revenge has always been a strong theme and a strong motivator in Game of Thrones, but in Season 6 watching many of our favorite women get their sweet revenge is fun. Very fun.

Arya Stark is now a blind beggar on the streets of Bravos. The unnamed girl from the Facemen Men Assassins shows up to attack her, day after day, even through she is blind. She bests the girl once, and returns to the House of Black and White where her sight is restored. But still she cannot kill the actress, and thus she is in trouble. She makes plans to leave Bravos and is stabbed by the Nameless girl. With no one to help her, she turns to the actress who she refused to kill on orders. The actress takes her in and heals her, but the Nameless Girl arrives and kills the actress. Arya runs, but also leads the girl into a cave. She recovers her sword, Needle, and then cuts the only candle that brings light to the cave. We do not see or hear the fight, but we do see that Arya has placed the girl’s face in the hall of faces. She tells her Nameless Assasin friend that she is in no uncertain terms not No One but Arya Stark of Winterfell and she is going home. Arya also kills Walder Frey’s boys, feeds them to Walder Frey in a pie, and then kills him. This after Frey had shown himself to be quite nasty to the Blackfish of the Tullys and to Jaime Lannister.

The season opens with Sansa and Theon alive and running through the woods around Winterfell. They are set upon by Bolton men and rescued by Brienne of Tarth and Podrick. Brienne offers Sansa her service, and this time Sansa accepts. With oaths sworn, Theon decides to leave for the Iron Islands and Sansa, Podrick and Brienne head north. They reach Castle Black and Sansa convinces Jon Snow they need to take back Winterfell. Jon raises an army of Wildlings and men loyal to House Stark – but it doesn’t seem to be enough. The army arrives at a plain before Winterfell, near where Stannis was defeated. Despite Jon’s discussion of strategy with Ser Davos Seaworth, the Red Lady priestess, Sansa, and the new leader of the Wildings – the next day on the battlefield, Jon is provoked in to a massive mistake by the psychopath, Ramsay Snow Bolton. However, just as all seems lost, the Knights of the Vale, led by Petyr Littlefinger Baelish, arrive and the battle is won for House Stark. The Bolton banners fall at Winterfell, the Stark banners are raised, and Sansa and Jon seem to be co-ruling as the lead family of the North. All the Northern families pledge loyalty to the Starks (except some, like the Freys who have already pledged to House Lannister – we have seen what that got them eventually).

It should be noted that not only did Ramsay treat Sansa truly horribly, but he murdered his father, in front of an witness, and ordered that it be said he was, “poisoned by our enemies”. Ramsay also feds his step-mother and baby brother to his dogs. Not only is Ramsay’s army defeated by the Stark troops and the Army of the Vale, and not only is Ramsay humiliated by Jon Snow in single combat, but Sansa – in just about the most just and fitting way possible, destroys Ramsay by feeding him to his own dogs.

Cersei, humilated in the previous season by the High Sparrow, is sent to house arrest in the Red Keep. Margaery, after nearly a year (or more) in the cells of the Sept of Baylor, confesses her sins, but protects her brother. The Lannisters and Tyrells unite an army to attack the Sept and prevent Margery from undergoing the same humiliation as Cersei. But Tommen arrives at the Sept, having made a deal with the High Sparrow. Margaery is released, having simply given lip service to her repentance. She precedes to have the King’s ear, and has him banish trial by combat, which means Cersei will suffer an actual trial by seven septons. Margaery has Loras confess his crimes, being assured he’ll get a deal (he will lose his title and lands, but gain his life, albeit in exile. No doubt Margaery had plans to rescue him from his exile eventually.) But after Loras confesses, and the High Sparrow assures him he will have his deal – everyone notices that Cersei isn’t there. Margaery realises something is horribly wrong. But the Faith Militant and the High Sparrow refuse to let her or anyone else out. Cersai has her “Little Birds” blow up the Sept with wildfire. Tommen commits suicide in sorrow for Margaery. Cersai in the last scene of the season – takes the Iron Throne, becoming Queen Cersai, First of Her Name.

Daenerys, is captured by the Dothraki, and taken to the compound that is home to the widows of Khals. She rallies the women, and when the Khals convene to decide her fate, insulting and sexually humiliating her in the process, she grabs the burning braziers in the hut of the khal leaders. Grabbing the burning hot metal in her bare hands, she thrusts them down – and the hut burns. Daenerys emerges unburnt and unharmed from the hut. After this display, the Dothraki follow her. As the trek back to Meereen is long, Daenerys goes ahead, alone, and returns astride her dragon, Drogon. She gives the pep talk of her life, and gets a huge khalasar of fighting troops who agree to cross the Great Salt Sea on Wooden Horses and fight for her. Later, just as the slavers return to attack Meereen, Daenerys defeats the slavers in a display of Dragon Power.

Yara of the Ironborn discovers her uncle killed her father. Theon returns, but declares himself loyal to Yara and supports her claim. Yara makes a claim for the Salt Throne with Theon’s support. She has support but Euron, her uncle, blocks her claim. She, Theon, and as many loyal men they can gather leave and make their way to Essos. In a brilliant piece of diplomacy, Yara and Daenerys make an alliance – Yara will provide the ships and sailors, Daenerys will provide the army. Daenerys will place Yara on the Salt Throne and guarantee the Iron Islands independence. Yara will stop the pirating, raiding, and looting of mainland Westros.

Daenerys names Tyrion Lannister her Hand of the Queen. Tyrion had become a trusted advisor over the last year and a half. Daenerys, Tyrion, Varys – who had gone on a secret mission but returns, Missandei (her translator and aide), and Grey Worm stand on a ship, under the Fire and Blood dragon banner and head for Westros. Yara and Theon join them, under the banner of the Drowned God for the Iron Born.

Varys’ mission was to meet with Ellaria Sand of Dorne and Olenna of House Tyrell to arrange an alliance. We don’t hear the results of his arrangement, but he survived to return to Daenerys and get on a ship that is part of the invasion fleet.

Even Princess Shireen sees some justice, as Ser Davos finds the stag toy he made for her in the remains of a pyre, challenges the Red Woman priestess, and has her banished from Winterfell.

And young Lady Mormont of Bear Island, who committed 62 men to Jon and Sansa’s forces, is the first to declare loyalty to House Stark and is a bit of a badass as well.

So the women, at this point are winning – and an alliance between Daenerys, Yara, Dorne, Tyrell and House Stark would be awesome (and would soundly defeat the Lannisters). Cersei has, at long last, obtained the Iron Throne for herself, but she has possibly made a few enemies along the way (the sept was quite full when it was blown-up).

But the families are losing out and disappearing. House Baratheon is gone: Robert, Renly, Stannis are all dead – as is Stannis’ wife and child. The three “Baratheon’ children (actually the product of the Cersei/Jaime relationship) – Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen are all dead. As far as we know, only Jaime and Cersei are left. The Starks aren’t doing that much better. Only Jon, Sansa, and Arya remain. Bran is alive, but the Three-Eyed Raven. Rickon is dead, killed by Ramsay. The Boltons are all dead as well. Arya kills Walder Frey and his boys.

The Land of Westros may well be experiencing the Year of the Woman – if all goes well.

My Review of Season 5 of Game of Thrones.

My Review of Season 4 of Game of Thrones.

I was unable to watch season 7 when it aired on HBO, but I have the Blu-Ray box set so a review will be coming soon.

 

Game of Thrones Season 5 Review

• Series Title: Game of Thrones
• Season: 5
• Episodes: 10
• Discs: 4
• Network:  HBO
• Cast: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Caster-Waldau, Iain Glen, John Bradley, Aidan Gillen, Gwendoline Christie, Jerome Flynn, Julian Glover, Jonathan Pryce, Diana Rigg
• Format: Widescreen, Color, Blu-Ray, NTSC

I watched Game of Thrones season 5 when it aired on HBO, and bought the series on Blu-ray when it came out (for the special features), but I delayed re-watching it because it is a very difficult season to watch. I actually now have acquired seasons 6 and 7 on Blu-ray as well, which I will watch and review in due course. But season 5 is just hard – all of the main female characters suffer greatly and this is the season that caused the feminist fan website, The Mary Sue, to drop coverage of the show. However, having seen season 6, it does make this season a little bit easier to bear.

Season 5 opens with Arya Stark going to Bravos and to the House of Black and White, she seeks to become “no one”, to learn the secrets of being a faceless assassin. She’s first forced to merely clean the floors. She sees desperate people come to the House for healing, but only find death. She throws away her clothes and her money, but hides her sword, Needle, even though she’s told to dispose of it to become “no one”. She sees a father come in with his daughter, and convinces the daughter she will be healed if she drinks the water from the pool in the main hall. Later, she washes the girl’s body. Arya learns that the faces of the dead line huge pillars in a room in the House. She is given an assignment to pretend to sell cockles and mussels, but really she’s to spy on a man who holds ship masters in a life debt. While doing this she runs in to a man she knows from Westros, who takes and terrorizes the youngest prostitutes he can find in a brothel. She kills this man instead of the one she was assigned. This gets her in a lot of trouble. One of the faceless men takes poison and collapses, wearing the face of her friend – but it is a false face, Arya pulls several faces off the corpse, sees her own, and becomes blind.

Daenerys, meanwhile, discovers that being a successful ruler in Meereen is a lot more difficult than conquering the three cities she conquered previously. She closed the fighting pits, where slaves were forced to fight to the death. This angers the people. One of her advisors pleads with her to re-open the pits to appease the people, but she continually refuses. A group of rebels, the masked “Sons of the Harpy” attack and kill many of the Unsullied and another of Daenerys’ advisors. Daernerys tries to make a show of force, by planning to put one of the murderers on trial instead of executing him outright. One of the former slaves sneaks in to the prison and kills him while he awaits trial. Daernerys executes the man for murder, even though she probably would have executed the other man after his trial anyway. In an attempt to reduce the tensions in Meereen, Daenerys’ opens the fighting pits again, but to free men only. They are still matches to the death, however. She also agrees to make a political marriage to one of the Masters. Daenerys, Tyrion, Ser Mormont, Missandei (her translator and aide), and her lover/advisor attend the fights in the Great Pit – but the Sons of the Harpy attack, killing many in the crowds, and anyone around. Daenerys escapes on her big, black dragon, Drogon. She finds herself in the wilderness, with an injured dragon. Missandei and Tyrion stay in the palace to try to hold Meereen together, while Ser Mormont and Daenerys’ lover go to find her.

Jon Snow is promoted to Lord Commander of the Knight’s Watch, much to the dismay of some of the more conservative and angry members of the Watch. He leads an expedition to Hard Home to bring the Wildings to safety south of the Wall. They are attacked by the army of the dead and White Walkers. When he returns, Jon ends up sending Sam, Gilly, and baby Sam to the Citadel so Sam can become a Maester. This after Gilly was attacked and nearly raped by two men of the Night’s Watch. Jon is stabbed to death by Night’s Watchmen who were angry members of the Night’s Watch died on the expedition to Hard Home.

Stannis attempts to get anyone to help him attack and re-take Winterfell from the Boltons. Everyone refuses – the Wildings, Jon, other members of the Night’s Watch etc. Stannis also continually faces desertion of his men, especially the sellswords. The Red Lady and Mistress of the Lord of Light convinces him to make a terrible sacrifice to ensure his victory. Stannis reluctantly agrees and burns his own daughter, the Princess Shireen, at the stake. As a result, more of his troops desert, and his wife, who was cruel to her daughter anyway, kills herself. Stannis is routed at Winterfell, his troops killed or run off. He’s found by Brienne of Tarth, who kills him.

Littlefinger arranges for Sansa to marry Ramsay Bolton. Ramsay is, of course, a very sadistic person, who treats her horribly, and even rapes her. Sansa tries to escape once, and the woman helping her is flayed alive. Sansa does find out from Theon (“Reek”) that her brothers, Bran and Rickon, weren’t killed after all, but Theon doesn’t know where they are. Sansa places a light in the tower window, the signal for escape, but Brienne doesn’t see it because she’s off killing Stannis. Sansa and Theon jump from the battlements of Winterfell, and we don’t see the result.

Cersei sends Jaime to Dorne to recover their daughter, Myrcella. Jaime finds her and discovers she’s really in love with Prince Trystane. The leader in Dorne allows the two to return to King’s Landing to marry, but Myrcella is poisoned and dies.

Cersei speaks to the High Sparrow and has him re-establish the Faith Militant. She thinks she can use the Faith Militant to harass Margaery and Loras Tyrell. However, she didn’t expect to also find herself imprisoned, and later, after spending several weeks (or even months) in religious prison to face a walk of shame, naked, her hair sheared off, where she is insulted, stoned, and spat upon.

This season sees a lot of bad stuff happen to the women of the show. Shireen and Myrcella are complete innocents and good people who are killed in other people’s plots. Cersei’s “walk of shame” is hard to watch, and I found myself feeling sorry for her despite all the terrible things she’s done. Arya and Sansa are in percarious positions. And Daenerys seems to be in as bad as or worse a position than before she conquered Meereen and the other cities in Slaver’s Bay. This is a tough watch. But it doesn’t mean one should give up. Season 5 and 6 were both ordered by HBO at the same time, so in a sense, episode 10 of season 5 is really the middle of a 20-episode season. And season 6 has some great things that happen. But enough about that. Overall, this is still a recommended show that is worth watching.

Please also see my review of Game of Thrones Season 4.

Non-Fiction Book Review – Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones: Seasons 1 & 2

• Title: Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones: Seasons 1 & 2
• Author: Bryan Cogman
• Date Reviewed on GoodReads: 11/03/2014

Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones is a beautiful coffee table book for the television series, specifically seasons 1 and 2 only. The pictures, especially the full-size ones and the double-page spreads are absolutely gorgeous. Often books like this have nice pictures but are skimpy on content. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, as much as I loved the beautiful photography. Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones covers not only the major houses: Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen, but all the important but minor characters that appeared in the television series as of Season 2. That is another asset of the book by the way, because it only covers the first two seasons, and it religiously avoids spoilers, if you still have not seen later seasons – it’s a safe read. And since Season Four won’t be released on DVD until February of 2015 – it’s a safe bet some fans of the show have only seen through Season 3 at least. This is a good book to get that avoids spoilers. Also, there are very, very few references to the books and none that are spoilry in nature (a few characters, in terms of casting, were, according to Inside HBO’s Game of Thrones quite different. The interviews on casting explain these choices.)

Besides giving a well-grounded, if brief, history of Westros, Essos, and the major and minor houses – the hardcover coffee-table book is filled with interviews: casting directors, actors, costuming directors, set designers, some information on locations, etc. It’s a thorough coverage of the television series’s first two years. I highly enjoyed it.

If you are a fan of HBO’s Game of Thrones television series this book belongs on your bookshelf.

There are a few things I would have liked to have seen: 1. The Credit Sequence for the show won an Emmy – I would have liked to read more about the development of the 3-D map, with pictures (I love models); and 2. I’d just like to see a map. Even with the map in the credits of the show – I’d like to get a better idea of where everything is. But there is a book due out this Fall for Series 3 and 4, so maybe these additional items will appear.

Highly recommended for fans of the show.

How to Design an Engaging Infographic

This Infographic from Buzzfeed is one of the best I’ve seen, and a perfect example of why and how engaging infographics work.

First, it takes information that, if it was presented in a written article, would simply be a list of easily forgotten statistics and turns it into an image that’s interesting and pleasing to look at. Many people, for example, if they read an article comparing characters on Game of Thrones with the most screen time verses characters with the least screen time, would most certainly find their eyes glazing over from all the numbers. I know I would. Yes, pure statistics have their place – but this infographic presents all the statistics in a way that is engaging, fun to look at, and all in one place – and it doesn’t change the nature of the statistical information – which is vitally important.

Second, as noted in the previous paragraph, the infographic presents the statistics in a non-judgmental way. Going by time on-screen only, Tyrion Lannister is the most popular character, followed by Daenerys, followed by a tie between Robb Stark and Jon Snow. However, the information is presented two ways – the actual screen time in minutes and seconds, and the size of the figures – with characters with more screen time physically bigger and characters with less physically smaller. Thus, the graphic is understandable on any size screen. The numbers are also legible, even on a smartphone screen. However, this graphic, importantly, does not  draw any conclusions whatsoever about Game of Thrones from screen time. This is good.

Too often statistics are reported in error to make a point, especially popular research information. There is a difference between causality (this causes that) and correlation (these two facts come up together often but one doesn’t cause the other). There is also a difference between scientific research including double blind studies, and public opinion polls (which can be easily rigged in several ways – such as writing questions in such a way that a certain response is given the most often and then reporting not the question but the response; or limiting responses to two polar opposite choices; or even only polling people in a certain area – where a specific response is expected.) In addition, public opinion polls often fail to include plus/minus accuracy factors, methodology, full wording of questions, etc. (I actually worked for a public opinion telephone survey company one Summer – the wording of questions would shock you, especially if you have any background in science. And I have two master of science degrees as well. I’ve done empirical research.)

Some basics for putting together Infographics

1. Decide what information you want to convey. Make it simple but also useful.

2. When designing your infographic – make it legible. If your audience can’t read it, it doesn’t do any good.

3. Make sure your Infographic says what you meant and it isn’t misleading by graphics or content.

4. Don’t have content that conflicts with images or vice versa.

5. Save your Infographic as a .jpg but make it the centerpiece of an article or blog post with additional information. Think of the graphic as a quick “cheat sheet” but the article as the lesson.

6. Use good pictures or graphics. If you are a company or business, be wary of copyright issues.

7. Have fun! Who said statistics and learning have to be boring?

Game of Thrones Season 4 Review (Spoilers)

• Game of Thrones
• Season 4
• Episodes: 10
• Discs:  5
• Network:  HBO
• Cast: Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Caster-Waldau, Iain Glen, Aidan Gillen, Gwendoline Christie
• Format: Widescreen, Color, DVD, NTSC

Game of Thrones is a series I actually found on DVD – I have never really seen the worth of paying for extra “movie” cable/satellite stations like HBO, Showtime, etc. My cousin had recommended the show to me, as had a few friends. But what convinced me to give the show a try was I happened to be on Twitter on a Sunday night and my feed filled up with all sorts of tweets about Game of Thrones. And this was from people like Marc Guggenheim the executive producer of CW’s Arrow, and Elijah Wood. Now, I know it’s common for television networks to require actors to keep up a Twitter feed for their show as part of the advertising and customer relations of the show. USA Network did that, and CW does that, and it’s fairly common. I’m sure there’s even specific requirements in the actor’s contract for Twitter and other Social Media activity while the show airs new episodes.

But Marc Guggenheim has no connection with Game of Thrones – he’s a producer on his own show. Likewise, Elijah Wood isn’t in Game of Thrones. And the tweets were of the “Can you believe what just happened?” variety. So, I figured, that if other television producers were, excuse the expression, “going all fanboy” about the show – it might just be good. And I’d seen a lot of media buzz about the show too, plus it was already winning Emmys, so I just figured – OK, I’ll give it a try.

I bought Season 1 on DVD and started watching it, by about halfway through – I ordered Season 2. Two episodes in to watching the second Season – I was ready to order Season 3. I checked on-line, and went, “February!!!” (I watched the show last Summer.)

Needless to say when  February rolled around I finally ordered and received it. And I was still hooked, so I ordered HBO – just to watch Game of Thrones.

So, yes, I’ve seen Season 4 before. And I do really love this series. It looks fantastic – very much like a movie. And the writing is excellent. There’s a lot of character growth, surprising moments, shocks, etc.

Spoilers below this point

Two episodes in – Joffrey is finally killed. Hazzah! The psychopathic king is gone. I expected, “Who killed Joffrey?” to be the season’s theme – but within a few episodes, we learned Littlefinger planned it – getting the poison, putting it into a necklace, getting someone to wear the necklace, etc. and Margery’s mother, Olenna Tyrell, also arranged for Joffrey’s death – and may have even been the one to put the poison in the king’s cup.

Of course, no one else in King’s Landing realizes this. Cersei and Tywin immediately blame Tyrion for King Joffrey’s death and have him arrested. Tyrion discovers those he thought his friends – aren’t, as he is betrayed over and over again. The few he thinks he can trust and whom he wants to protect he sends off. Eventually though, someone – somewhat unexpected, does help Tyrion – and Tyrion gets some revenge as well for the events of the season.

Meanwhile, Littlefinger gets Sansa to the Eyrie. There, Lysa finally gets Petyr to marry her. We also discover that it was Lysa, not the Lannisters, who arranged for the death of Jon Arryn (Remember him? – the former Hand of the King, who’s death starts Ned Stark on his journey to King’s Landing, where he dies – and the War of the Five Kings begins.) Anyway, Lysa is directly responsible for pretty much every death so far. And all of this because she was jealous of Cat, her sister, and hated her – and she pined for Littlefinger, and wanted to marry him not Jon Arryn. Lysa’s jealousy erupts and she attacks Sansa. Littlefinger then kills her – to protect Sansa, and no doubt as part of his own power games. In turn, Sansa lies before a tribunal to protect Littlefinger.

Arya and the Hound get to the Eyrie, but after Lysa has died – so they leave without ever going inside. Arya also runs into Brienne but doesn’t believe the woman she doesn’t know took a vow to protect Cat – which failed.  Brienne and the Hound fight – the Hound dies. The last shot of the season is Arya on a boat – going somewhere.

Jon, well, OK – let’s me perfectly honest, here. I always get bored when Game of Thrones goes to Castle Black or North of The Wall, or shows anything of the Wildlings. It’s the one storyline on the show I just can’t get in to and I really don’t care.  There’s been way too much build-up and teasing and not nearly enough actual story. After all, we’ve been told, “Winter is Coming” since the very beginning of Season 1. Episode 9 takes place entirely at the Battle for the Wall.

Dani makes it to Meereen, frees the slaves, then discovers ruling a country, especially ruling it fairly, is harder than conquering it.

I absolutely love Daenarys – and I always wish to see more of her. There were two things, possibly three, that happened in Season Four that I really hope are reversed for Season 5.

1. One of the former slaves comes to Dani and asks for permission to sell himself back to his master so he can be a teacher again. Dani grants this on a “one year contract only”. Why didn’t she just suggest that the Master PAY his former slave? Obviously the man was skilled – his skills deserve compensation.
2. Daenarys is told that her advisor, Ser Jorah Mormont, had – when they first met , four years ago, been selling information about her to the Baratheons and Lannisters. However, she never even gives him a chance to defend himself, then she exiles him. Now, fortunately, she didn’t kill him outright, but still, I liked Ser Jorah – and he was probably her best adviser. And, as he tried to point out, that the information came to light at this point, four years later, was suspicious at least. I mean, I realize that Dani thought she couldn’t trust him, but come on…
3. The Dragons. Last we see, Daenarys chains and locked up her dragons. I was unsure if this meant they’d die as well. I mean, seriously – was there air in that cave? Does she plan on feeding them? Giving them water? The dragons bleating for their Mom was so sad.

I really hope Daenarys’ dragons aren’t dead. I want to see her riding astride one and taking over Westros! Likewise, I hope that Ser Jorah comes back. I’d love it if Dani discovers one of her other advisers set him up.

And then there’s the Starks. OK, the living Starks are driving me nuts! Arya finally, finally, after three seasons of wandering around gets to the Eyrie, and she doesn’t even go inside – thus she totally misses Sansa. And she rejects Brienne – and I thought Arya and Brienne would be a great combination – they’d make for a great alliance. Jon Snow and Bran Stark also keep missing each other. I mean, seriously, how many times is one of them going to be in a building and the other one outside, and they never connect? And then there’s poor Rickon Stark – Bran sends Osha, Rickon, and Rickon’s direwolf, Shaggy Dog, off to “find a strong hold”, or whatever – and we never see him again. (Sort of like Arya’s direwolf from the first season.) I actually think it’s a bit of a plot hole to leave Rickon’s fate dangling for so long!

But yes – it goes without saying. Season 4 of Game of Thrones is awesome. I think it’s more awesome on first viewing, but I still enjoyed it a lot and I can definitely recommend the series. It’s not a show for young children though.

Awesome Women of Fantasy

This is a favorite meme pic of mine. I think I saw it originally on Facebook, possibly tumblr.  Anyway, I didn’t make it – I just found it. But I do love it.

I’d add Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time.

Game of Thrones Music Vid – Original Lyrics and Acting

I love this vid.  The parody lyrics are perfect.  The fan actors are good to OK, but the creativity involved at all levels are just stunning.  The lyrics are perfect, the editing is awesome, and the acting is good.  And I like the originality.  Go support these guys – this certainly took some work!

Usual Disclaimer:  Didn’t make it, just found it!

 

Game of Thrones – Roar – Music Vid

As always with vids – didn’t make it just found it.

This is an awesome vid that celebrates the Women of Game of Thrones.  I’m a fan of traditional history-based fantasy.  Well, of most fantasy actually, even the more fantastic and urban fantasy, but one drawback of the genre is the few women in the genre are often boring or weak.  Or they are merely there to be won as a prize by the man.  Even in books written more recently, there’s often only one or two token “strong” women, and the rest of the characters are male.

Not to detract from those books, as I said, I often love them.  JRR Tolkien, and Jim Butcher are two of my favorite authors.  However, something that has really drawn me in to the televised version of Game of Thrones, has been the strong women.  And they aren’t super-women, either, endowed with magical powers.  The women of Game of Thrones often start in very traditional roles:  wife, mother, princess, tomboy, victim, but they grow, they mature, and they become these incredible characters.

Cat Tully Stark – Her arranged marriage to Ned Stark produced five children.  And she starts as wife and mother.  She’s also by no means perfect (no Mary Sue here) – watch her continual criticism and hatred of Jon Snow – Ned’s illegitimate son.  Or her occasional bad advice to Robb Stark.  Yet she is very strong as well.  She does become Robb’s second-in-command, and although she doesn’t know everything – neither does Robb.  And actually, there are times when if Robb had listened to his mother, she would have saved him a lot of grief (not to mention other things I’m trying to avoid spoiling).

Arya – She’s Ned’s tomboy daughter, and usually a character like Arya would have to “grow up and learn to act like a girl”.  Arya becomes an expert fencer, learns when to keep her mouth shut but also learns when to speak up.  She’s fiercely loyal to her friends, and capable of defending those who can’t defend themselves.

Brienne – Brienne actually starts as a strong character.  She’s a female knight.  Though she starts in the service of Renly Baratheon, and seem to have a crush on him – Renly is gay.  He’s never slept with his wife of two years much less Brienne.  When – SPOILER –  Renly dies, Brienne becomes a wandering knight.  No one takes her seriously, despite her skills, and it wasn’t her fault Renly died.  Brienne reminds me of every woman who’s a pioneer in a field dominated by men – she’s belittled, her skills are made fun of, she’s put down, people don’t believe in her, and even other women insult her for choosing a “male career”.   Brienne has to have confidence in herself, the ability to ignore what everyone is saying to her about her career choice, and, when necessary, she has to prove herself over and over, just like every woman who chooses a male-dominated career.  I hope we see more of Brienne in the future.

Cersei – Mother of the current king, wife of the dead king, another “victim” of arranged marriage.  She’s been having a long-term affair with her brother, even right under her husband’s nose.  Thus her three surviving children are all from the affair.  When introduced, Cersei seems almost like pure evil:  spiteful, unfair, the type of mother who sees one child as “perfect”, and not a very good wife.  But over the first three years of Game of Thrones – we see more of Cersei and at least get to understand where she comes from.  It is Cersei who gives the program it’s title, when she says, “In the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.”

Daenerys – When we meet her, her brother literally sells her into marriage with Khal Drago, the leader of a troop of wild people, something like the Mongols.  Her brother watches as Daenerys is raped over and over again by her “husband”.  But Daenerys perseveres.  She learns to enjoy sex and to take control in her husband’s tent.  She becomes “Khaleesi” – his queen.  She has a child, but the child dies and then her husband dies as well.  But it is once she is on her own that we really begin to see Daenerys shine. She leads her dead husband’s people, she becomes Queen in actions as well as name. When she is victimized – she fights back.  And before long she’s conquered three city-states, and freed the slaves within them.  Daenerys hates slavery – because she once was one.  It helps that she owns three growing dragons.

Other women of Game of Thrones:  Sansa – who starts as the “perfect princess” but learns to stand on her own feet – the hard way; Ygritte – who grew up North of the wall, and has an entirely different world view; etc.

And that isn’t to say that Game of Thrones is some inverse world where women have all the power and men are weak and boring.  Tyrion Lannister is easily one of the most complex and fascinating characters of the show.  Jamie Lannister, like his sister, is someone one can despise and love in equal measure, depending on what he’s doing that week.  Jon Snow is a popular character, and it’s not simply because of Kit Harrison’s looks.  There are many more.

So watch the vid – because THAT’s what I’m talking about! – JM, Bitch with Wi-Fi (didn’t make the vid, did write this post).

10 Scenes from “Game of Thrones” that Really Happened – Answers.com

10 Scenes from “Game of Thrones” that Really Happened – Answers.com.