S506 - Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken - Have Read the Books

Interesting episode, loved the barbed encounter between Cersei and Olenna

Bowed, Bent, Broken?

A solid episode there, plenty of story line movement and a break from the Wall. The highlight for me was the relationship being developed between Jorah and Tyrion, they understand each other and have come to respect each other. Some real panic from Tyrion there as he nearly got sliced!

The Kings Landing scenes were excellent again, I enjoyed the two meetings with Cersei. Littlefinger is playing her like fiddle while Olenna is screaming at her about what an idiot she is being. It will all come crashing down soon enough. Tommens frustratingly timid for my liking, would have preferred if Cersei hushed him rather than him being so cowardly.

Bronn's is a treasure, singing, kicking ass, getting a few digs in against the most disappointing characters this season "The Sand Snakes". Terrible actresses, a sellsword and a fúckin one armed man hold them off. While Oberyns missus sends them out likes shes fúckin Napoleon. I don't expect much of a reception for them in the non-readers thread. However I found Tristane and Mycrella relationship quite sweet, something not often seen in the show. I think Doran recognizes that too.

Finally the part of the episode that (intentionally) leaves a nasty bitter taste in the mouth: Winterfell. At first we see Sansa get an upper hand on Myranda but with the washing away of her black dye we see the quelled Sansa we saw in previous seasons. The scene is tastefully done and Theon's horrified expression is enough for us to know what Ramsay is doing. It just breaks my heart seeing another Stark being abused. Surely we'll see some retribution this season.

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

I'm gutted for Sansa. I feel in the books that she's one of the main heroes, but for her to be defiled in such a way weakens the character - I hope she can come back from it stronger.

It could have been alot worse.

People said she was strong against Myranda but after Myranda left she was clearly rattled.

I wonder if the Godswood will come into play? Is there a heart tree/weirdwood there? Maybe Bran might make a cameo

The Dorne scenes are very disjointed. They don't even feel connected to the main show. The fight scene was poor and resembled a bad 80s ninja film.

Aero Hotah and Doran are fine though.

podgemonster wrote: »

Dorne scenes have the same cheap feel of the Xena Warrior Princess series.

Yes that's exactly it.

Am i the only one who just couldn't give a rats arse about Arya's stroyline ? Where is it going, even bookwise ? For me, she's just become more or less irrelevant to the plotlines in Westeros. I'm expecting a major underwhelming payoff to her arc with the Faceless Men.

I reckon Bronn has been poisoned with that slice on his arm. There were cryptic clues in that song he was singing on the way to the Water Gardens. But the Dorne plotline is really disappointing for me this far. The sand snakes are actually just irritating. I hope Jaime and Bronn don't spend the entire season there, either get Myrcella and get on with it. Took four episodes just to get to the kip.

But the trial of the Tyrells and Sansa's predicament were well done. I can't wait to see Cersei's smug satisfaction get wiped from her face when her walk of shame is due. Olenna is the dog's bollox.

I'm just glad the writers didn't make Theon go down on Sansa.

If you take Oleanna Tyrell out of that episode I reckon it's probably the weakest one in a while. The writers are trying to pack far too much into each episode leaving them feel all over the place. The show is starting to suffer from only having 10 episodes per season but there's nothing that can be done about that. I'm losing interest in the show and so are my non reader friends, hopefully the last for episodes can salvage what has been a pretty poor season so far..

Was anyone else expecting Theon to rescue Sansa and maybe stab Ramsay at the end of that. I was egging him on. Really disappointed with how Sansa dealt with that, we had her getting all these pep talks with LF about lying and manipulation and her talk with Myranda I really hoping she was going to come into her against Ramsay.

I can't wait for the Tyrells to turn the High Sparrow on Cersei, that is going to be so satisfying.

Have to agree that this is the weakest season so far.

Also Starring LeVar Burton wrote: »

Dublin lad Michael Yare as the Slavers.

Thank you, I couldn't put my finger on why I recognised him. I played schoolboy football with Yare back in the day. Sound lad.

Anyway, I didn't hate that episode. I do have a query about Margaery's trial coming up. The claims against her were completely fabricated in the book. She's properly guilty of the crime she accused of in the show. T'will be interesting to see what happens.

Liam O wrote: »

He could have done that without throwing Sansa to the dogs though and probably will now in the books. Stannis will be seiging Winterfell with a weakened force and Bolton will be weak too even if he wins the battle of ice. It destroys Sansa's arc and all good characters in this universe have had a consistent enough arc. Right now all of Sansa's last season is pointless and stinks of bad planning.

Without the Lannisters onside the Boltons have nothing with the North against them and Littlefinger would see no need to give up his ace in Sansa to get them onside and could have just fed false intel to Cersei if he's going to turn her against the North and take it himself which seems to be the case.

Edit: I didn't deal with the Stannis thing. Sansa is the rightful heir to Winterfell as far as anyone knows. That would be enough for Stannis to put her there and he's jeopardised that by having her marry the family who killed her family. Another wrong. Stannis is purely about right and wrong and knows what Littlefinger is about. He's not for turning.

I am getting the impression you think Littlefinger may have an emotional attachment to Sansa. I don't think so, I believe he sees her as an important piece for him to play with and a good bargaining chip. He knows the Boltons are cruel but not stupid, he knows she'll be mistreated but also knows they aren't dumb enough to kill the only Stark left.

A consistent arc? This is Westoros, all characters are faced with setbacks. You could tell at her wedding she knew what horror happens afterwards. She developed her ability to manipulate in season 3 but she's now surrounded by enemies and has to play carefully. She knows how to get to Ramsay (Roose's Wife), she already got to Myranda and she knows she has the support of the smallfolk. There's another character with an incomplete arc and that is Theon/Reek, she maybe able to offer him redemption. There's still a lot that can happen at Winterfell and we are only 60% of the way through the season. I doubt Lady Sansa will spend the next 4 episodes lying on her back.

Stannis may dispise Littlefinger but an alliance with the Eeyrie would mean a good launch point for his ships and avoiding the Twins and the Riverlands. He accepted oaths of alliegances from Renly loyalists and was prepared to align with Mance, I'd imagine common sense would prevail.

As Littlefinger said himself "The last time the lords of North and Eerie joined forces they brought down the greatest dynasty ever know"