Episode 5x10: 'Mother's Mercy' - READERS thread

Didn't like that much.

The North. Horrible to see Stannis' character botched like it has been this season. Burning Shireen seemingly on a whim, resulting in his wife's suicide, half his army deserting with all his horses, along with 20 good men infiltrating his camp undetected and burning all food and provisions doesn't exactly scream master military commander. The same man who held off a year long siege eating cats, dogs and rats. Not convinced he is dead either. How did Melisandre get to Castle Black from near Winterfell in a couple of hours? Classic Game of Thrones convienience time warp, Littlefinger and baby Sam must have shared their secrets.

Tywin Lannister wrote:

I have felt from the beginning that Stannis was a greater danger than all the others combined.

Melisandre wrote:

In truth, the young lord commander and her king had more in common than either one would ever be willing to admit. Stannis had been a younger son living in the shadow of his elder brother, just as Jon Snow, bastard-born, had always been eclipsed by his trueborn sibling, the fallen hero men had called the Young Wolf. Both men were unbelievers by nature, mistrustful, suspicious. The only gods they truly worshipped were honor and duty.

Stannis Baratheon wrote:

Half my army is made up of unbelievers. I will have no burnings. Pray harder.

Yup, great job D&D. Spot on.

Sansa unlocking doors with a corkscrew.
Brienne looking away seconds before Sansa lighting the candle.
Myranda holding a bow to Sansa at point blank.
Sansa and Theon/Reek jumping from a doubtlessly fatal height. In a world of real life physics they are 100% dead. We'll see next Arpil.


Braavos. Thought this was done quite well for the most part. The painful signposting of 'Look! This guy is really bad!' aside. The scene is the House of Black and White was a little more 'magicky' than I'd have liked and Arya going blind without explanation was yet another needless tinkering but overall I still liked it.


Meereen. Got the job done, but a sellsword giving commands was slightly jarring, not that there were many other candidates. Jorah and Daario going off alone was ridiculous, not even a handful of Unsullied as an escort.

Dany and Drogon scenes were meh. He turned into Charizard and she just played the nagging female type trope. The Dothraki looked impressive and the shot of them circling round her looked great.


Dorne. Seemed silly that someone as intelligent and all-seeing as Doran would allow Ellaria and the Sand Snakes anywhere near Myrcella. Poisoning her made no strategic sense, her death is a complete disaster for Dorne as things stand. Tyene got one last cringe line in before Bronn set sail. The scene between Jamie and Myrcella was nice, if not relatively cliche.


King's Landing. Best scene in the episode. Lena Headey/her body double's performance was very well done. Thought the walk was as long as it needed to be. One of the few major scenes that didn't feel rushed. The mob was pretty much exactly as I had imagined it. Qyburn, for his lack of scenes, steals almost every one he is involved in for me, a fantastically played character. Robert Strong was 'meh', felt they made the rotted head way too obvious, would have liked a more shrouded face beneath the helm.

The Wall. As soon as Olly walked in and mentioned Benjen I nearly quit. I could feel the hype within me drain away. Thought each brother getting a stab a piece and repeating 'For the Watch' was a bit much. At least Olly didn't say 'For my parents' or similar. Ghost's absence is going to make it far less believable if Jon is resurrected.


The more they change the weaker the show gets.


And what are we left with? Balon Greyjoy, that's right, Balon Greyjoy, won the War of the Five Kings by default.

Washington Irving wrote: »

And what are we left with? Balon Greyjoy, that's right, Balon Greyjoy, won the War of the Five Kings by default.

You HAVE read it, right ?

Because he's pretty much out of the picture, which is why they haven't shown him for several seasons now.

Jelle1880 wrote: »

You HAVE read it, right ?

Because he's pretty much out of the picture, which is why they haven't shown him for several seasons now.

All that needs to be said is that he's dead in order to get the Kingsmoot underway. In the books I believe his deaths gets 2 lines of text or so.

I'm talking about the show, not the books.

The fact any mention of him has been omitted means he is presumably the last of the five kings still alive in the show. It was more a tongue-in-cheek joke than anything.

Washington Irving wrote:

Braavos. Though this was done quite well for the most part. The painful signposting of 'Look! This guy is really bad!' aside. The scene is the House of Black and White was a little more 'magicky' than I'd have liked and Arya going blind without explanation was yet another needless tinkering but overall I still liked it.

Thing I didn't get about this scene is that it starts with Arya leaving a fleshy skin mask back but the faces she's pulling of Jagar are wispy things that vanish once removed. Lack of consistency.

Say Jon and Stannis both are actually dead and not coming back in any shape or form.

Where is the story in the North actually going to go?

What is Davos going to do now? Do the Wildlings react to Jon's death, can't imagine Tormund being best pleased, nor Davos or half of the watch. What does Mel do? Does Brienne rescue Sansa and Theon and where do they go? What state is Bran going to be?

Presumably Jon and Edd et al who managed to make it back from Hardhome would have told Ser Alliser and the ungrateful sod, Olly what they saw. Which should have changed their minds about mutiny at that particular moment. Also why not just not open the gate if they were immediately going to kill him hours later?

Where do the Boltons go next? They've got nothing to do now only get set for winter.

Are Rickon and Osha with the Umbers or did they go to Skagos?

Will Littlefinger head back to the Vale/Winterfell or what's going on there?

No scene of Asha or Balon at all this year, why is he still alive? A friend who hasn't read the books wondered why he wasn't dead after Mel's leeches had offed Joff and Robb and I nearly let slip that he was. Surely the fact he hasn't died yet would have been a concern for Stannis putting all his faith in her. 2 out of 3 ain't good enough when it comes to trusting that killing your daughter is your only option.

Why not burn himself in the ultimate sacrifice so that Shireen would be Queen and the Barratheon line continued? What's greater than blood from a King's family member? An actual King.

A lot of questions there :pac:

Sam probably won't even make it to Oldtown, although there's got to be some interesting reads in those libraries.

If Jon is actually dead and gone it would actually be hilarious and pretty much scuppers everyones theories about everything. Has anyone since ADWD was released actually thought he was dead and not coming back at all?

The White Walkers seem like level headed chaps in comparison to most others

Eh, to be fair, didn't Stannis's army have a sizeable contingent of Braavosi sellswords? I think I remember Shireen being mentioned as part of his deal with the Iron Bank, maybe as security or to marry some Braavosi noble.

Just not convinced stannis is dead, would be poor form not to show it

I'd imagine that letting loose the hounds of war on the Faith Militant would provoke the common folk.

I'm not the only one who was reminded of The Magdalene Sisters by Cersei's imprisonment and walk of shame, am I?

Nim wrote: »

I think she felt threatened by the khalasar and dropped it so if someone comes looking for her, they'll know she was there.

It does sound far fetched. They'll have to track Drogon to the Dothraki Sea, find the charred bones, then the ring and I presume the horses would leave a lot of tracks.

How do you track something that flies?

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I'm not the only one who was reminded of The Magdalene Sisters by Cersei's imprisonment and walk of shame, am I?

You can swap "SHAME,SHAME, SHAME" for "You're not a man of Gawd ... you're not a man of Gawd"