"Book readers" - Season 8 Episode 2 "A Knight of the 7 Kin" - Spoilers post 2 fo

22-04-2019 10:02AM

Easily and by a long shot the worst episode of GoT ever.

Does anyone else remember the tenseness before the Battle of Blackwater Bay? With Cersai ready to kill herself?
Before the Battle with the dead, we get shltty songs and a meaningless knighthood.

Where's the battle plans? Why isn't Bran warging to see exactly where they are? There are a million different things. Why are the crypts empty if people were being told to go there?

RobbingBandit · 22-04-2019 10:03AM

Don't know what Bran is at at all can't get a ****ing read on him. Dolorous Edd and Sam banter was gold haven't seen drunk Tyrion in ages his lines were witless

Pod is a squire and a bard, Tom O'Sevens sang that song for a dwarf lady the ghost of high heart in a storm of swords, subtle writing as every by hbo Pod sings it on request on the eve of a battle.

....... · 22-04-2019 10:16AM

Given the whole battle for Helms Deep buzz, who can it be who shows up with the dawn?

My money is on the Return of the King, the one true king, Stannis Baratheon. We didn't see him die, and the last scene he was in was outside Winterfell. My bet is that he holes up in Wintertown til his leg healed (foreshadowed by the Hound looking like a goner but reappearing with his leg healed).

Towards the end of the battle next week Stannis will come charging toward Winterfell on a white stallion, Melisandre behind him birthing a massive shadow demon with the face of Syrio Forell which will fly into the godswood, attach to the Night Kings face alien facehugger style and obliterate him. The shadow demon will then take human form, break the 4th wall and announce to the audience, Not Today.

/series

Baggly · 22-04-2019 10:17AM

Just take my money.

Nerdlingr · 22-04-2019 10:23AM

Another filler of an episode for me. Few nice bits here and there but basically a rehash of episode 1. I guess with so many characters the reunions take 2 episodes to cover all of them.
I may be in the minority here but Arya annoys the hell out of me. Her air of superiority does my head in. They've made her into this zen like over-confident ninja goddess. I haven't liked her character since she left the hound .

PhuckHugh · 22-04-2019 10:26AM

Was another slow burner but to be expected really - they have to build for the next few episodes as there is gonna be a lot of characters killed off and of course a few twists and betrayals a long the way. As someone who served in the FCA I can appreciate that calm / eerie feeling before battle when you question the ridiculousness of life.

22-04-2019 10:28AM

Fair enough they could let it build up, but let it build up with Tormund describing exactly what he saw the dragon do at the wall.

Blows my mind that no one is talking about the possibility of a damn dragon.

mr_cochise · 22-04-2019 10:29AM

Deleted User wrote:

Does anyone else remember the tenseness before the Battle of Blackwater Bay? With Cersai ready to kill herself? Before the Battle with the dead, we get shltty songs and a meaningless knighthood.

Deleted User wrote:

Easily and by a long shot the worst episode of GoT ever.

Deleted User wrote:

Where's the battle plans? Why isn't Bran warging to see exactly where they are? There are a million different things. Why are the crypts empty if people were being told to go there?

I sometimes wonder if internet forums had existed when Michelangelo was painting the Sistine chapel how some of the commentary might have went...'ooh no, he used the wrong shade of green there.....his brush strokes aren't the same in that corner as when he first started..his creativity has really gone downhill since the pope went on holidays....

Phileas Frog · 22-04-2019 10:32AM

PhuckHugh wrote: »

As someone who served in the FCA I can appreciate that calm / eerie feeling before battle when you question the ridiculousness of life.

Phuck me, I've heard it all now... How many battles did you fight in in the FCA?? Being dug in on cemetery hill doesn't count.

22-04-2019 10:36AM

I'm genuinely pissed off at the ludicrous decisions being made by the showmakers. This is the first time I've ever ranted about GoT and it's well-deserved for many reasons.

It's certainly the first time I've finished an episode and considered myself possibly done with the show. I read three and a half of the books, so I'm into the story plenty, and then it's just getting mangled in front of our eyes, and this is the only ending we'll ever get.

I'm into this universe so I can watch a filler episode trying to really hammer home some heartache next week in a Marvel-style 80-minute blockbuster.

bnt · 22-04-2019 10:39AM

Pretty happy with the episode. It's right that the main players have to think about more than just the battle ahead of them, such as Sansa asking "what about the North?" Daenerys could find herself the Queen of Six Kingdoms. I imagine she was already questioning her assumptions about ruling all seven, and now with the revelations about Jon being a relative, it's all up in the air. She could conceivably take her dragons and Unsullied and walk away from Winterfell.

Kiith · 22-04-2019 10:40AM

I enjoyed it. Another slow enough episode, but it's built it up nicely for the battle next week. While a lot of it was fluff, it was enjoyable fluff.

Anyone else feel a bit weird seeing Arya in the nip? :pac:

awec · 22-04-2019 10:44AM

Tormund's character is starting to bug me. They've just turned him into the comic effect character. Big, uncouth tough guy who likes the big woman.

Every time he opens his mouth they try make him say something witty.

Agree with the poster above who mentioned they should have talked more about what they saw.

Loafing Oaf · 22-04-2019 11:08AM

Kiith wrote: »

Anyone else feel a bit weird seeing Arya in the nip? :pac:

If it's any comfort, I highly doubt the 'nip' bits were really Maisie Williams...

ceegee · 22-04-2019 11:09AM

Find it a bit funny the amount of comments online about Arya's sex scene.
Somehow her becoming a mass murderer, who cuts off her victims faces to wear, didn't weird people out but showing some arse and sideboob freaks them out

22-04-2019 11:11AM

I genuinely feel like I could have skipped these two episodes and missed nothing and be like in episode 3:

"Oh, Jon knows now. Cool."
"Oh, Jon can ride a dragon. Cool."
"Oh, Jon told Dany. Cool."

Quite similar to what I've already been doing having watched the two episodes.

"Oh, they must have found out about the ice dragon off-screen. Cool."
"Oh, Tormund describes what he saw off-screen presumably. Cool."
"Oh, Bran told Tyrion his story off-screen and now Tyrion is saying he thinks they'll survive. Cool."

The White Wolf · 22-04-2019 11:11AM

Not like it hasn't happened before either.....pretty sure the young one in both versions of Shameless ended up doing the same also.

RollieFingers · 22-04-2019 11:28AM

Just watching it for the sake of finding out what happens now really, thought it was very boring. Tormund was great as always, and the battle will be epic of course, but the show has definitely lost it's spark for me. Bran and Dany get so much screen time, but no room for the best character left in Cersei? First four seasons compared to the rest is like chalk and cheese, the quality has dropped off a cliff.

Baggly · 22-04-2019 11:30AM

Loafing Oaf wrote:

If it's any comfort, I highly doubt the 'nip' bits were really Maisie Williams...

She is 22 you know. Could be like.

awec · 22-04-2019 11:36AM

RollieFingers wrote: »

Just watching it for the sake of finding out what happens now really, thought it was very boring. Tormund was great as always, and the battle will be epic of course, but the show has definitely lost it's spark for me. Bran and Dany get so much screen time, but no room for the best character left in Cersei? First four seasons compared to the rest is like chalk and cheese, the quality has dropped off a cliff.

Cersei will probably dominate the last 3 episodes.

Loafing Oaf · 22-04-2019 11:36AM

Pter wrote: »

She is 22 you know. Could be like.

I don't want to get into a pervy forensic analysis but the way the scene is shot screams body double to me...

OneOfThem Stumbled · 22-04-2019 11:36AM

I'm wondering if there are pacing issues with this season. Two back-to-back episodes of battle buildup followed by two back-to-back episodes of battle? I get the impression that this is going to be one long climactic battle, rather than a campaign against the Night King.

Okay so the episode itself.

This was a wordy one, and mainly in relation to people's personal relationships. Some of this was just a continuation of the reunions of the previous episodes. This is all well and good (although time is precious when you have 6 hours in your final season) but I would have preferred 10 less minutes of inconsequential talk, and 10 more minutes answering the big questions.

Such as...

If this is the Lord of Light's battle... where is the Lord of Light? Who is his champion?
What about the Night King's dragon?
Why are you planning to charge the ranks of the dead with your cavalry? Feels like a bit of a waste.
They have been focusing all their energy on making weapons that can kill white walkers, and being able to kill white walkers is important, but the vast bulk of their forces are wights. What's the plan to deal with them?
Would it be wiser to just bring all your forces behind the walls?
What happens if the Night King doesn't give battle, but just lays siege to Winterfell? Winterfell can sustain that bloated population for little more than several days.
What happens when the dead breach the walls?
Why didn't the truce with Cersei involve procuring some wildfire?

Benioff and Weiss as usual seem concerned with boring people, so would rather a quip from the Hound about throwing Beric over the walls than have him talk about a verified God who is heavily invested in the coming battle.

Can ground touched by dragon fire act as a ward against the dead, in the same way that metal tempered with dragon fire (valyrian steel) has magical properties? Can Bran warg into a dragon; can he potentially fight the Night King for control over the Night King's dragon? Can the Night King even approach the Godswood, seeing that it is an area imbued with some power from the Old Gods? Nobody here seems to care

How was the Night King defeated before? Bran must know.

Also is the Night's Watch literally only 2 guys now? Literally?!

But kudos for Jorah talking to his cousin. That was a nicely written and directed little encounter I didn't expect to see.

letowski · 22-04-2019 11:38AM

I liked the episode, I thought it built things up nicely.

Just one thing, I didn't think dialogue during the drinking scene in front of the fire was good. Yes Tormund is funny, and Brienne becoming a knight was cool, but the dialogue was too brash, with forced humor. I didn't capture the nervousness, sombre and apprehension before a bloody war which they are all likely going to die in. I would have liked if someone would have told a poignant story on the eve of battle.

I guess Robert's wish in Season 1, for his son and Ned's daughter to get together finally came true lol

Baggly · 22-04-2019 11:43AM

Loafing Oaf wrote:

I don't want to get into a pervy forensic analysis but the way the scene is shot screams body double to me...

Me too. I do agree. But Williams doing a nude scene wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility. She isn't the 14 year old she was when filming started (14 iirc)

Paddy Cow · 22-04-2019 11:45AM

The White Wolf wrote: »

Probably exactly that - to try and build a relationship with Sansa. Sophie was great in this episode, I mean everyone brought their A game in a character driven episode but Sophie really was wonderful.

I can forgive Dany's reaction to Jon anyway - it was basically her turn this week to see her world come crashing down just like it was for Jon last week.

Excellent episode laying the ground for the madness to come next week.

She really has come along way. In the beginning I liked Arya and found Sansa annoying but that's changed. Now I find Arya to be a one-dimensional, smug, pain in the ar$e and I won't be upset if she dies in battle. Sansa was brilliant the way she handled Dany. It's ok for Dany to take back her home but not ok for Sansa. Sansa is definitely the smarter of the two there. I hope she survives. I can't stand Dany at this stage. I'd rather see Cersei get the throne than her!

bnt · 22-04-2019 11:49AM

Maisie gave an interview to EW about the scene. On the one hand, there was no body double, but on the other hand she was in control of what was shown in the end after CGI.

“David and Dan were like: ‘You can show as much or as little as you want,’” Williams says. “So I kept myself pretty private. I don’t think it’s important for Arya to flash. This beat isn’t really about that. And everybody else has already done it on the show, so… “

On Reddit there were maybe a couple of commenters expressing some unease about the scene ... and far more commenters having a go at them for appearing to express any unease. :rolleyes:

Mr. Incognito · 22-04-2019 11:51AM

I thought it was a beautiful episode.

That and the previous episode will age much better by the end of the series when almost everyone is dead.

People are inpatient for carnage and instead should be appreciating saying goodbye to these characters.

Baggly · 22-04-2019 11:51AM

What was shown didn't upset me or phase me: and I think it's good she was allowed to control what ended up in there. Case closed I guess.

Baggly · 22-04-2019 11:53AM

Mr. Incognito wrote:

People are inpatient for carnage and instead should be appreciating saying goodbye to these characters.

I think when we reach the end we will be glad of these two episodes.

I am very impatient for things to get going but that has happened before with GoT and on rewatch it's there types of episodes that bring flavour to the action.

blackwhite · 22-04-2019 12:06PM

Was it just me, or was the Night’s King missing from the final shot of white walkers?

Whether he’s just overhead on his ice dragon,

or the theories about his plan to attack Kings Landing are correct remains

to be seen

"Book readers" - Season 8 Episode 2 "A Knight of the 7 Kin" - Spoilers post 2 fo

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