Season 6 Episode 8 "No One" - "Non book readers"

homerun_homer · 13-06-2016 04:56PM

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

The same army who, just last episode, were prepared to stand by and do nothing as the Freys threatened to cut their Lord's throat

The same men who rallied behind the Blackfish, retook Riverrun at their own peril and were prepared to die holding the castle during the siege are suddenly cool with just accepting Edmure's orders over those of the Blackfish and handing Riverrun over to the Freys?

Terrible writing .
The writing on the show the last few seasons has drastically deteriorated .

I guess the difference would be that Edmure never gave demands the first time around, he was held hostage and the Frey's were trying to threaten to kill him to get them to open the castle. This time he was free and they may have felt the need to follow orders and get him to safety, regardless of the consequences. I'm not saying it was well handled but that might be how it works in their heads.

Links234 · 13-06-2016 05:07PM

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

Why does everyone think the Blackfish story is done we didn't see him die, which going by GOT rules means he isn't yet dead. But if he is dead and that is the full extent of the Tully rebellion it was a bit of a damp squid story.

We didn't see Stannis die either, doesn't mean anything.

Honestly, the amount of off-screen deaths in this show really does annoy me. I know we shouldn't put the writers on a pedalstool, but you know, it's gotten really lazy and this ep was especially bad.

DeadHand · 13-06-2016 05:27PM

So disappointed they didn't give Blackfish a decent death scene. I understand the necessity of his death storywise, but it would have been so much more satisfying to see him go down fighting taking a few enemies with him or 1v1 against Jaime or Bronn. Duels and/or compelling death scenes have been one of the staples of the series so far and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to slip another one in. The only reason I can imagine they didn't was because the 70 year old Clive Russel wasn't up to it physically- though he did seem relatively spry. In any case, having a random soldier march up to Jaime and say "yea, he's dead" is one of the most anti-climatic ways possible to dispose of an excellent, much admired character.

The next episode could be a belter. Hopefully, it will be an episode long spectacle a la the battle of Blackwater or Castle Black.

13-06-2016 05:51PM

The Blackfish is dead. Ser Jamie Lannister asked to see him when his guard said they got him. Then the guard told him that the Blackfish died in battle. Why would Jamie's own man lie to him if the Blackfish had survived? To cover up a mistake, yes, but this isn't happening as the show is already heavy enough with subplots.

Right from when the Blackfish reappeared in the show, his death was telegraphed - "I will die in this castle before I give it up" etc. Just before his death while reasoning with Brienne and Pod, he did everything but look into the camera and say "I'm heading off to die now, g'luck" and wave his hand at us.

The show is guilty of too much happening off-screen, especially character deaths. In this case though, I can understand it especially given the age of the actor Clive Russell also. We already got to see an old warrior go out in a blaze of glory last season, Ser Barristan Selmy, so the way it was done with the Blackfish didn't bother me.

Edit: I just went to search for the age of Clive Russell (Blackfish) to confirm that he is in his golden years, and I found an interview with him that was just posted an hour ago, courtesy of the Independent. Death confirmed, as well as him discussing the fact that it was offscreen and other things from his scenes this season. It's a good, quick read. For non-book readers though, the author mentions the differences between the character in the show and the book (nothing too spoilery at all). Just skip the early, short paragraph that begins with "In George RR Martin's novels..." if you want to remain pure from the books...

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/game-of-thrones-season-6-blackfish-dead-clive-russell-interview-a7079706.html

OneOfThem Stumbled · 13-06-2016 05:57PM

So the actress cut open Arya, stitched up her gut, and closed her all up, and stuck her on an antibiotic IV? Pretty impressive, I must say.

Less impressive was Arya's behaviour last episode really being the product of stupidity. And if her intention was to get out of Bravos, seeing that she had arranged transportation and had the money to pay for it, why didn't she just get on the ship the next morning? Why wasn't the actress a little bit more concerned about the Faceless Men being after her? I mean the Faceless men are feared in Westeros: Bravos is the home of them! People in the streets ran when they simply saw Jaqen in his black man outfit! Were I her I'd have been out of Bravos like a shot. Gah. Otherwise the Arya stuff was good - at least we are rid of the whole "slap Arya around, cut off faces, ask Arya who she is" sub-plot.

I had high hopes for the River lands. Have I learned nothing? Do the Tullys do anything other than disappoint, ever? I loved that the men had divided loyalty, but it was all so simple. If as much time was given as "how to teach an unsullied how to tell jokes" it may have felt satisfactory.

Brienne: Come with me Blackfish and you can fight a battle! For the Starks! Don't worry about the distance, we have a teleporter.
Blackfish: Nah, think I'll step through my magic door instead. I may be alive, I may be dead. I might turn up again in two seasons' time for five minutes!

Why would Edmure care so much for a son whom he has never seen? Who only exists to cement the Frey's hold on Riverrun?

Do anybody take the unsullied seriously any more? They can't fight anyone and have no tactical knowledge. They allow ships to sail right into the harbour and start bombarding the city at point blank range. They first of all allow the navy to be wiped out, then they seem to have no knowledge that siege defences are necessary. Grey Worm's final stroke of genius is to surrender the city and hold up in a temple without food or water. Oh unsullied.. wasn't it embarrassing enough when you were defeated by unarmoured, untrained masters wearing masks? Weren't a contingent of unsullied supposed to have held off an army of Dorthraki once? Were these Tully Dothraki by any chance?

Jamie, Hound scenes were good. Glad that the Brotherhood are still the good guys. Cersei scenes were oddly superfluous. Oh look, it's Daenerys.

J. Marston · 13-06-2016 06:00PM

Seen a bit of complaining online about characters dying off-screen in this episode. Fair enough about Blackfish, I suppose you can rightly complain about that although Clive Russsell's explanation stands up.

Don't get the Waif criticism though, they were fighting in the dark. Showing that on-screen would've been silly and the reveal of her butchered face was about the only good thing that came out of Arya's story in that episode.

EagererBeaver · 13-06-2016 08:23PM

Links234 wrote: »

I know we shouldn't put the writers on a pedalstool

Johnny Storm · 13-06-2016 08:57PM

Cool Blue Oyster Cult reference - the waif: "On your feet, or on your knees" ? :pac:

Vojera · 13-06-2016 09:00PM

I'm a bit disappointed overall.

I'm annoyed that yes, apparently Arya actually was just stupid enough to prance around Bravos without a care for her own safety. I've enjoyed the idea of the Faceless Men but it hasn't been executed too well of late. I'll be happy to see her move on.

The Meereenese Comedy Club made me cringe a little. It really felt to me that the writers were going "Tyrion's meant to be funny, how can we shoehorn that in?" I'm going to miss Varys from those scenes big time.

I've heard that Cersei was discussing

stuff that's probably too spoilery to leave here

with Qyburn. Dunno how true that is, I'm not a book reader. I think it's significant that she is still wearing her mourning clothes and now her only surviving child has turned against her. Her mental state is not in a good place.

Billy86 · 13-06-2016 09:06PM

Hank Scorpio wrote: »

That was pretty meh. Arya scenes Terminatoresque

The acting (more likely direction) of the actress in that scene was 100% definitely inspired by the T-1000 in Terminator 2.

It was awesome in Terminator. It was one of the single most cringeworthy things in the entirety of GOT though. Terribly ill fitted and made no sense in terms of how they (the assassins) typically operate.

Billy86 · 13-06-2016 09:10PM

muddypaws wrote: »

Enjoyed the episode, but maybe having read so much in here last week, was hoping for something much, much more from Arya, would have liked at least one of the boards theories to have come true.

Blackfish storyline, complete damp squib. My foolish female heart did break a tiny bit with Jaime and Brienne, sometimes no words are needed.

You know what really annoyed me about the Blackfish? They missed some potentially cool scenes according to book readers in terms of how he took the castle, and the look/demeanour/actor were great. If they had shown him doing that sometime in season 4 or early in 5, and just tipped gently back every once in a while, that could have been a pretty epic ending to his story. Instead we get "EVERYBODY MEET THE BLACKF-- oh no wait, he's dead. Anyway, moving on..."

lbj666 · 13-06-2016 09:22PM

I dunno, i enjoyed the Riverrun bit. The Edmure bit was a good twist but they should have planted some stuff more under our nose hinting it, such as mentioning Eds son before this episode, It was a card Jamie/Freys had that we should have known about.

I think the main point of the Riverrun story is really about Jamie and him developing into a proper tactical commander that his Dad wanted him to be, the show is definitely hinting about Jamie becoming a "a good guy" ( sorry i know theres no such thing in this but you know what i mean) but we are not there yet. Perhaps Cersei going totally bat**** crazy now will finally swing him.

The ending to Aryas current story was far too linear for my liking, but i suppose the theorys were a bit lame anyway.

I'd say Cleganebowl was a theory the show writers were delighted to see grow legs because the outlawing the trial by combat came as a good surprise.

I agree Mereen was done terribly

sky88 · 13-06-2016 10:42PM

3rd poor episode in a row.

after a great start the season has really lost its steam.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 13-06-2016 10:57PM

Pretty sh1tty episode I think.

Every, bloody week. It's incredibly boring reading this tripe after every episode.

That and

"that stab wound would/wouldn't kill you" bla bla bla...

alchemist33 · 13-06-2016 11:15PM

Mr.S wrote: »

Meh episode, obviously just a development episode to set things up but some parts where really poor:

Arya vs terminator - mostly how she was at the point of death in the last episode and then was able to run through the streets. I suppose heroin does wonders.

Though, glad she's finally on the move. Her story line was my least favourite.

Daenerys return was ****. The masters are attacking with ships and she's flying over with a big **** off dragon? At least burn a few!

She wants those ships

mrbloop · 13-06-2016 11:19PM

Averie Moldy Packaging wrote: »

Every, bloody week. It's incredibly boring reading this tripe after every episode.

That and

"that stab wound would/wouldn't kill you" bla bla bla...

Agreed. The fun is going out of reading these threads. The constant whinging about one thing or another is tiresome.
They should have done this, or they should have done that. That bit was too long, the other bit was too short..... whine whine whine..

seligehgit · 13-06-2016 11:31PM

Continuing to have a love affair with all things Game of Thrones,I thought much of the dialogue was really sharp.The Hound and the Brotherhood without Banners Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarrion,Jamie and Edmure,Tyrion’s two scenes …Could somebody advise as to what secret mission Varys was leaving to carry out?

Great to have the Hound back,no trial by combat with his monster brother the Mountain.:( Nice twist when all expected same.The unspoken of and equally unlikely love affair that is Jamie and Brienne.To echo previous posters Blackfish’s demise was a damp squib,so much the better if he died in battle fighting for Sansa in the north.The raising of the white flag was hard to credit after all his bluster last week irrespective of Jaime's powers of peruasion/coercion throwing a son Edmure did not know of into the pot.

So what’s this rumour Qyburn and Cersei spoke of?

TBH I loved the whole faceless men story with all it’s mind boggling confusion and intricacy.The fan theories were much more impressive than how it predictably ended up.Well telegraphed that our sexy badass waif would be killed by needle in same location.Dialogue with Jaqen H’aghar at the climax was great.I tend to suspend my belief when it comes to the curing properties of opium..milk of poppy and ignore the fact that it is an analgesic as opposed to a treatment for infections.Ditto I ignore the lack of nursing qualifications Lady Crane has.:)

Enjoyed the waif hunting her down like a T 800 irrespective of the fact that it was not the modus operandi of these invisible assassins.Cared less that Arya could have jumped on the ship earlier and excercised less than the required due care to prevent an expected attack.

Mereen/Daenrys is still the most disappointing storyline out of an epic that gives so much.Hurry up back to Westeros!

seligehgit · 13-06-2016 11:34PM

mrbloop wrote: »

Agreed. The fun is going out of reading these threads. The constant whinging about one thing or another is tiresome.
They should have done this, or they should have done that. That bit was too long, the other bit was too short..... whine whine whine..

Don't get it at all,great show with the varying storylines starting to come together for an expectant audience looking forward to an epic climax.

Links234 · 13-06-2016 11:38PM

seligehgit wrote: »

…Could somebody advise as to what secret mission Varys was leaving to carry out?

My guess is he's heard rumour of a certain absconded Ironborn fleet in Volantis and that's whom he was off to meet with.

A Primal Nut · 13-06-2016 11:48PM

I enjoyed the episode but I hope that's the end of the faceless man storyline. Actually in some ways I don't because we were never given a reason to care about that storyline and I'm disappointed that moment of realisation never came. Game Of Thrones is full all of all these storylines that interwine and all have them have meaning in the larger context....except this one. It was a waste of time and the ending with the terminator rip-off was out of place for the show.

It's a pity because before all this Arya was my favorite character, back when she had her kill list and before she tried to join the faceless men.

I liked the Daenerys return and it's interesting that I now have sympathy for Cersei, a character I used to hate.

Wonder will Brienne kill Jaime with his own sword at some point in the future? Maybe the Lannister army will be sent to help defend Winterfell when it's attacked.

mzungu · 13-06-2016 11:53PM

Good episode all around.

Good to see the BWB are still a decent lot. Mike Strutter was back...always a plus.

I guess there is some suspension of disbelief involved with the Arya stuff. But, is there a chance that some time had passed in between the opium poppy and the waif showing up? Regardless, the story has come to an end and it's good to see she will be moving (presumably) to Westeros.

Loved Qyburn's cheeky grin at Lancel after The Mountain did his party piece. Wonder what she and Qyburn were discussing about the 'rumours'? Shame about the ban on trial by combat, was looking forward to it.

So now that Mereen is under attack, and Winterfell soon to follow, the rest of this season will feature those two battles prominently. Looking forward to these last two episodes.

Irish94 · 13-06-2016 11:55PM

Mixed episode.

Last week Jamie gave out to Walder Frey for letting an army of 8,000 strong sneak up upon them, yet Brienne and Pod were able to glide into the Lannister camp within a few hundred yards unnoticed. Silly. A nice moment between Jamie and Brienne at the end of the Riverrun scene, the relationship that has developed among them has been portrayed brilliantly by both actors.

Shame about the death of Blackfish, it is unfortunate that he got an off screen death but Clive Russel was exceptional in the role. A small bit I liked was how he admitted his shame of running away after the Red Wedding and kind of accepted his fate at the end, knowing he was going to die.

Interesting to see what happens in Kings Landing, Tommen is acting like a bum boy but hopefully he get what is coming too him, he is too soft and he is getting nothing in return, judging from the High Sparrows comments of Margery not performing in the bedroom. What's it all for Tommen so?

So Arya spend the best part of two seasons in Braavos for what exactly? Terrible plot. Maybe it showed Arya's development as a character but overall it was an extremely disappointing plot. I'm not going to discuss her sudden healing abilities as it his GoT remember, people come back from the dead!

The Hound, brilliant. No words needed.

Side note - Don't know if it just me but the sound this season has been extremely poor. I had to turn on the subtitles to properly understand the conversation between Lord Edmure and Jamie Lannister. Not the first time I have done it this season. Anyone else experiencing this?

mzungu · 14-06-2016 12:01AM

A Primal Nut wrote: »

I enjoyed the episode but I hope that's the end of the faceless man storyline.

Are the Faceless Men finished with her though? Arya killed one of their members. I reckon they will be back again at some stage.

mzungu · 14-06-2016 12:08AM

Shame about the death of Blackfish, it is unfortunate that he got an off screen death but Clive Russel was exceptional in the role. A small bit I liked was how he admitted his shame of running away after the Red Wedding and kind of accepted his fate at the end, knowing he was going to die.

Would have been great if there was more of the Blackfish. An interesting character from what little we saw.

Degag · 14-06-2016 12:19AM

Anyone else think The Hound scenes were slightly contrived this week? Just the dialogue when he killed the last guy with the axe seemed a bit off. Loved the "I prefer chicken" line though!

lazybones32 · 14-06-2016 12:24AM

Irish94 wrote: »

A nice moment between Jamie and Brienne at the end of the Riverrun scene, the relationship that has developed among them has been portrayed brilliantly by both actors.

I thought it was quite corny...not their last actual meeting but when they recognised each other, at nighttime, from the top of a castle to a wee boat slowly moving down the river...

Irish94 wrote: »

Interesting to see what happens in Kings Landing, Tommen is acting like a bum boy but hopefully he get what is coming too him, he is too soft and he is getting nothing in return, judging from the High Sparrows comments of Margery not performing in the bedroom. What's it all for Tommen so?

If the witch was right, Cersei will lose all 3 incestlings...I don't hate Tommen, he's just being used by everyone around him - mommy included - and his destruction seems inevitable.

Irish94 wrote: »

I'm not going to discuss her sudden healing abilities as it his GoT remember, people come back from the dead!

We don't know how much time elapsed but people assume it was 24hrs. Adrenaline can do wonders in making a person run for their life and the actress did say she was the stabby-kind at the start of the show....right person at the right time, I guess!:pac:

NomadicGray · 14-06-2016 12:37AM

Something about the episode was really cheesy, from start to end, in a bad way. Shame to see theyve reneged on any of the character development Jamie had and he's still just his sisters bitch. Arya storyline was pretty atrocious by the end.
Hopefully there'll be some interesting scenes with Jon & the Boltons to come. But I feel I'll be disappointed by a season that I felt was going strong until episode 5 or 6.

Tenger · 14-06-2016 12:45AM

Links234 wrote: »

We didn't see Stannis die either, doesn't mean anything.

Honestly, the amount of off-screen deaths in this show really does annoy me. I know we shouldn't put the writers on a pedalstool, but you know, it's gotten really lazy and this ep was especially bad.

Those pedal-stools can be a little high sometimes........

mooseknunkle wrote: »

Another meh episode thats 3 in a row now,theres so much going on that with just 2 episodes left there will be a lot of unanswered questions.

Welcome to game of thrones....

shrewdness · 14-06-2016 01:12AM

"You're getting old Clegane"

"He's not"

How I've missed The Hound.

BoJack Horseman · 14-06-2016 01:13AM

shrewdness wrote: »

"You're getting old Clegane"

"He's not"

How I've missed The Hound.

He had all the best lines.

Season 6 Episode 8 "No One" - "Non book readers"

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