Season 5 x 09: The Dance of Dragons - HAVE READ the books

Iwasfrozen · 08-06-2015 10:26pm

bopper wrote: »

Well the finale is called "Mother's Mercy", but that could probably just be the creators being teasing b*stards.

"Mother's Mercy" is reffering to Cersei's confession and walk of shame.

razorblunt · 08-06-2015 10:26pm

Zillah wrote: »

Thought this too, actually, it came across as very natural compared to a lot of the forced 'exotic' accents we hear. Makes sense given that he is of Arab descent.

Fun fact, his full name is: Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi.

He also knew Arabic as a child and forgot it when he moved to England.

But he's Dave to his mates.

Iwasfrozen · 08-06-2015 10:28pm

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Not in this show - everyone will conveniently forget that kinslaying is supposed to be a big deal. Until maybe halfway through next season when the concept will be needed for a plotpoint.
Consistency is long dead.

The Old Gods hate kinslaying, if this happens in the books I can see the bizzard getting much worse for Stannis.

bopper · 08-06-2015 10:32pm

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

"Mother's Mercy" is reffering to Cersei's confession and walk of shame.

I know but the title could refer to a few things in the episode (such as Jon's parentage being revealed if the rumours are true). Mother Mercy was one of the names Stoneheart used in AFFC, but it could just be coincidence or a simple nod to the character.

JJayoo · 08-06-2015 10:59pm

I think blonde flew off on the dragon to get the other two dragons because now she trusts her control over them and all 3 dragons will return and make sh1t of the arena

csallmighty · 08-06-2015 11:04pm

20 good men :rolleyes:

Sleepy · 08-06-2015 11:09pm

MrWalsh wrote: »

thought Hizdar was responsible for the chaos so was surprised to see him stabbed.

https://meereeneseblot.wordpress.com/2013/09/27/untangling-the-meereenese-knot-part-i-who-poisoned-the-locusts/

It's a long read, but honestly, this site has the best analysis of ASOIAF I've read anywhere.

The Gibzilla · 08-06-2015 11:32pm

I presume Arya killing Trant will result in her being blinded by the House of Black & White?

I'm surprised that Hizdahr was stabbed. It looked to be fatal too, but then again it was Ser Barristan who had it in for in him in the books after Dany flies off so with Barristan dead, maybe there's no more need for Hizdahr.

What's the craic with Jorah going around grabbing Dany with his scaly hand? Also, she then holds Melisandre's hand, so does that mean that Ser Friendzone's version of the clap is doing the rounds now?

Owryan · 08-06-2015 11:35pm

I assume that if they stick with the Mereen storyline then Tyrion and Jorah are going to take over the role that Ser Barriston had in the books, but then again other than the harpys the writers haven't shown any external threats to Mereen.

Watched it with a non book reader and when Dany and the dragon flew off at the end they assumed she was bound for Westeros.

Not sure what to make of Stannis burning his daughter. Knew she was doomed when he sent Ser Davos back to castle Black but there was no indication (that i saw) that his decision was down to Melissandres influence. Was surprised to see his wife react the way she did tho, in the books she comes across as totally under Messandres control and willing to do whatever she asks.

Suppose next week will see how Jon's arc will develop. Mel isn't at castle Black to resurrect him if he is killed unless he goes to confront Stannis and then gets stabbed.

Washington Irving · 08-06-2015 11:39pm

bopper wrote: »

I know but the title could refer to a few things in the episode (such as Jon's parentage being revealed if the rumours are true). Mother Mercy was one of the names Stoneheart used in AFFC, but it could just be coincidence or a simple nod to the character.

The 'mother' part could also refer to Dany and 'Mercy' is the name of Arya's character in TWOW prologue

OneOfThem Stumbled · 08-06-2015 11:54pm

INITIATE RANT MODE... now

Stannis: the guy who observes the law NO MATTER WHAT.

Smuggler? That'll be your fingers mate.
Don't bend the knee? That'll be an execution.
Be related by blood to me? Burned at the - woah woah woah... when did being related to Stannis become a crime? Everyone he has killed up until now has broken the law of the realm (even if trumped up in some way). Surely Stannis broke the law here... hell if anyone else did it Stannis would be quite clear: punishable by death.

Okay: so Stannis' army may have been destroyed and his wife and daughter killed if the storm kept up and the army had no supplies to survive. They can't return to Castle Black and they can't lay siege to Winterfell. So obviously you requisition the supplies of a local lord or two. What? I mean, that's what makes sense, right? Oh sure a Northern lord would be unhappy to see a "southern" army march into his fort or homestead and start using up his supplies (not least the possibility of reprisals by the Boltons) - but they could hardly refuse, right? And the Northern lords notoriously hate the Boltons. How has this very basic army survival 101 evaded the "great strategist" Stannis!?

You have two options. 1) Do a proper job of protecting the supply train or 2) Burn your daughter at the stake. Hmm.

Meanwhile elsewhere in Westeros (or Essos)

The Dorne plot has finally ended! Horray! And what happened? We had Jamie travelling to Dorne! Excitement! Landing at Dorne. Remember that? Then there was Xena Warrior Princess fight! Bronn got poisoned then unpoisoned. Jamie got arrested then unarrested. His daughter said "no" to going home, but now she's going anyway. Why. Oh. Why. Was so much time wasted on this farce of a plot? It could have been summed up in two sentences
"Hi Jamie. Seems like your diplomatic mission was a success. What took you so long?"
"Got held up by a slightly miffed Doran. Also there's malcontents trying to stir up war - but it got sorted in the end".

That's 5 sentences, but you get the idea.

Finally...

What's tougher: a man trained from birth to feel no pain, fear, or desires; who trains all day, every day to be a killing machine or... some dude with a knife. About even it seems... though when you take into account that the Unsullied are wearing armour and holding shields, and using spears, I'd just say that the knife wielding toffs are better warriors. Not suited to that sort of combat you say? Well waht sort are they suited to - they couldn't even work out how to form a shield wall in the centre of a fighting pit.

Well... at least there was the hardhome battle.

/rant

Zillah · 09-06-2015 12:17am

OneOfThem Stumbled wrote: »

So obviously you requisition the supplies of a local lord or two. What? I mean, that's what makes sense, right? Oh sure a Northern lord would be unhappy to see a "southern" army march into his fort or homestead and start using up his supplies (not least the possibility of reprisals by the Boltons) - but they could hardly refuse, right? And the Northern lords notoriously hate the Boltons. How has this very basic army survival 101 evaded the "great strategist" Stannis!?

The North is in many ways a gigantic wasteland. The nearest holding with any significant supplies could be hundreds of miles away, and as we saw, the army was in no state to go on such a march. Not to mention that any such supplies are likely behind high walls, and Stannis has lost his siege equipment, and, finally, he wouldn't want to be getting into a siege of anywhere other than Winterfell anyway.

Plenty wrong with the episode but this bit wouldn't worry me.

Mormegil · 09-06-2015 12:52am

Daario: On the day of the great games, gather all the Great Masters and Wise Masters and Worthy Masters you can find and slaughter them all.

Stange that the Sons of the Harpy were murdering a lot of the Masters gathered in the arena wasn't it?

RollieFingers · 09-06-2015 1:00am

The scene prior to the immolation, with Stannis and Shireen in the tent was excellent, hard to watch knowing what was about to happen

Mr.Prodston · 09-06-2015 1:10am

A bit late to the party but hopefully not too late to add to the outrage over Shireen.

There is a sense to it happening and they certainly signposted it through this season and parts of season 2 but how they actually went about it was absolutely God awful.

Maybe it does happen in future books but as it stands Shireen is nowhere near Stannis as she's at Castle Black. If Stannis is such a great military leader he would have ensured a better watch over camp at night, no matter how good those 20 men were. I'm even going to use this fecker and oh how I loathe it with every fiber of my being: :rolleyes: How that is the catalyst for the burning without any further onscreen consultation or hesitation from Stannis is ridiculous. If it's a matter of time then a little less MissandWorm earlier on could have squeezed it in.

Perhaps I'm just pissed that I was backing Stan and now I can't really justify that any more

but one of my favourite characters had his entire character assassinated tonight as far as I'm concerned. I'd have thought things would need to be even more desperate than they were beforehe stooped to that level. It just seems like a gigantic leap from having him being practically Father of the year to that in no time at all.

Very convenient that Davos buggered off back to the Wall too just when he was needed. It would've made far too much sense for him to go visit Wyman Manderley at the start of the season wouldn't it. The North may not remember but I do :mad:

...and breathe :pac: I liked Arya's scene and actually thought they did the Dragon thing pretty well. I might get into that tomorrow. At least Doran showed there's one useful character left from Dorne...

bur · 09-06-2015 1:47am

I'm honestly at a bit of a cross roads now after that. Stannis is one of the only reasons i'm even still interested in the books and they've just completely ruined him for me now. It would be one thing if they showed what drove him to it but nope, it was like he just woke up one morning and thought **** it, i can't be dealing with this cold anymore, today is the day i have my daughter burned at the stake.

Who am i supposed to get behind now? Emilia Clarke is such a bad actress she makes me want to throw things, and Dany is just annoying as a character anyway.

Hurry up GRRM.

Iwasfrozen · 09-06-2015 2:23am

bur wrote: »

I'm honestly at a bit of a cross roads now after that. Stannis is one of the only reasons i'm even still interested in the books and they've just completely ruined him for me now. It would be one thing if they showed what drove him to it but nope, it was like he just woke up one morning and thought **** it, i can't be dealing with this cold anymore, today is the day i have my daughter burned at the stake.

Who am i supposed to get behind now? Emilia Clarke is such a bad actress she makes me want to throw things, and Dany is just annoying as a character anyway.

Hurry up GRRM.

A humble suggestion:

RollieFingers · 09-06-2015 2:34am

Hoping beyond hope that when the last scene in next weeks episode fades to black, instead of going to the credits, we get a "Meanwhile, in the Riverlands...." moment with the much anticipated appearance of Lady Stoneheart! I know it won't happen, but still, fingers crossed :P

ThunbergsAreGo · 09-06-2015 7:32am

Poor episodes and scenes, real let down after last week.

The two "big scenes" just didn't make sense to me

Nody · 09-06-2015 8:17am

razorblunt wrote: »

- I can get that the soldiers would go along with it, don't they all believe in the Red God now?

Stanis states in the book when they get snowed in when someone suggests a burning of a heretic "that half my army are heretics so there will be no fire sacrifices"

- Just use a flashback for Meryn Trent this paedo thing just insults the audience

They need to telegraph that he's a bad person for their American audience (remember the tit tax being used for the same reason) so that they cheer for Aria when she kills him.

ibarelycare · 09-06-2015 8:45am

The Gibzilla wrote: »

What's the craic with Jorah going around grabbing Dany with his scaly hand? Also, she then holds Melisandre's hand, so does that mean that Ser Friendzone's version of the clap is doing the rounds now?

The Greyscale is on his left hand, he touched her with his right hand.

bur wrote: »

Who am i supposed to get behind now? Emilia Clarke is such a bad actress she makes me want to throw things, and Dany is just annoying as a character anyway.

God she really is awful. Even just her expressions when she's not talking infuriate me and have me shouting at the TV!!

Mr Freeze · 09-06-2015 9:12am

So the letter that Davos is carrying to the wall, I'm sure he will teleport there in time for episode 10, but I think it might be orders instructing him to take the black.

Keep him out of Stannis' way and vice versa.

Or is it a pink letter equivalent that will make Jon come south?

If Stannis continues forward now and attacks Winterfell, with no siege engines and no knowledge of WF and no Manderleys and with blind faith, I do not see him surviving next week.

Plus you have Brienne who is yet to do something this season.

As others have said, Dorne has been utterly pointless, absolute rubbish.

I thought the CGI in Daznaks pit was good, I just think the scene with Dany on Drogon looked rubbish, I don't know how else they could have done it though, quicker edits or something so it doesn't look like never ending story. Drogon did look great.

Daith · 09-06-2015 9:13am

Not on last weeks level or any from previous episode 9.

Stannis and Shireen.....ok I can see it happening but agree with everyone that they didn't build up or show just how desperate Stannis is. Very rushed

Loved the Davos and Shireen scenes though. However it doe show how GoT can slip into Hollywood cliches.

"Read it to me after you get back"? Imagine the Red Wedding like that. Robb: Lets pray at the Weirwood Mother like we did in the past." Catelyn: "After the wedding son." Smile Smile, stab stab

The Dorne scenes are meh. Bashir and Aero are fine but the story is nonsense. Then again I found it the same with the books.

I enjoyed the fighting pit scenes. There's dodgy CGI for sure but I really enjoyed when Drogon is snarling at Dany then recognizes her. Thought it played well.

SparklersJo · 09-06-2015 9:17am

I know it's only a small thing, but what was with Dany closing her eyes and the close-up just before Drogon arrived? Was that her accepting her fate that she was about to be killed? Or was it implying that she was using some sort of dragon-summoning powers that she's suddenly developed?

NoCrackHaving · 09-06-2015 9:23am

ZeitgeistGlee wrote: »

After Hardholme this was an immensely unsatisfying episode. TV Stannis has never been a patch of the book version but this was a new low. The shambles that is the Dornish plotline is just adding insult to injury at this point.

You mean there is a plotline?

Sleepy · 09-06-2015 9:28am

In the "behind the show" clip the producers were talking about how it was her accepting that this was the end. Had Emilia Clark been a better actress, her look of surprise at hearing Drogon might have sold it.

MrWalsh · 09-06-2015 9:31am

Sleepy wrote: »

In the "behind the show" clip the producers were talking about how it was her accepting that this was the end. Had Emilia Clark been a better actress, her look of surprise at hearing Drogon might have sold it.

I got that from the scene, but then it occurred to me that in the show "fire cannot kill a dragon" so how was he going to kill her? Unless he chomped her. I was half hoping he would head boop her like a cat

Sleepy · 09-06-2015 9:35am

Did you read the blog I linked you to? It puts a really interesting angle on Dany's time in Mereen and Hizdahar in particular.

Mr Freeze · 09-06-2015 9:35am

SparklersJo wrote: »

I know it's only a small thing, but what was with Dany closing her eyes and the close-up just before Drogon arrived?

I took it as excepting her fate.

Tyrion was better than those unsullied, they were crap yet again.

celica00 · 09-06-2015 9:42am

Finally got to watch it too! Just excellent!

I actually think Emilia Clarke is really good, she is a very good actress, not sure why people are not happy with her, she act as she needs to in regards of her character.

Season 5 x 09: The Dance of Dragons - HAVE READ the books

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