S05E09: The Dance of Dragons - Have NOT read the books

Strongbow10 · 08-06-2015 04:41PM

stupid question but why did Jorrah throw the spear? was it to prevent an attack on the queen? I was half asleep watching this morning

ceadaoin. · 08-06-2015 04:49PM

Hank Scorpio wrote: »

Writing and acting was poor in that episode imo.

Nothing was shown of Ramsey and his attackers, simultaneously lighting fires all at once and nobody seeing them felt lazy. Although they were attacked, Stannis deciding to sacrifice his daughter out of the blue just seemed misplaced without any build up and Davos just riding off into the sunset, or the talking in Dorne to Jaime with Bronn getting a smack on his head felt really poorly done. Haven't warmed to the Dorne stuff at all. Hand slapping each other in prison, so badass! I'm convinced.

Another thing that irked me was the scene with the young girl in the brothel. We already had a Sansa rape scene this season. I got it, Arya doesn't like Meryn Trant because he killed the swordman who trained her and was a robot for Joffrey. It just felt like she was aimlessly following him around then ended it with a shock scene which wasn't needed.

Olly's screen time involves him giving Jon Snow a dirty look, it must be the 3rd or 4th time this has happened. Tyrion looks unconvincing in this new role so far and it would be a shame for his cunning and devious ways to be reduced to something flat.

Hate to say it but I don't rate Emilia Clarke as an actress, she has the same expression on her face as posted in that gif above whenever anything comes up, that or a blank expression. The final scene was poorly done too I thought and the CGI bad. They seemed totally outnumbered, I know the Dragon killed men but it just didn't work for me at all. Her riding off and leaving the comrades behind didn't feel right either.

I thought the last episode was excellent but season 5 has easily been the worst so far imho. Would rate this episode a 5

Stannis sacrificing Shireen wasn't out of the blue really. He had discussed it with Melisandre not too long ago when he point blank refused and obviously his changing fortunes made him reconsider. I thought the point of the Meryn Trant scene was to show a way for Arya to gain access to him and finally tick a name off her list. I do think Aryas story was given too much screen time this episode though, it could have been a lot shorter.

ceadaoin. · 08-06-2015 04:51PM

Strongbow10 wrote: »

stupid question but why did Jorrah throw the spear? was it to prevent an attack on the queen? I was half asleep watching this morning

Yeah there was one of those harpy fellas creeping up behind her while everyone was distracted.

Austria! · 08-06-2015 05:19PM

I didn't like the 20 good men nonsense. It strains credibility to have them get away with that. Of course it was to give Stanis motivation to burn his daughter, but that could have easily been done with some hired soldiers running away, or a sickness running through the camp etc.

Did Davos know they were going to burn her? If he did his behaviour is in complete contrast to him saving Gendry who he didn't know at all.

Slight question over the logistics of everyone in the stadium being sons of the harpy, big questions on why they stood menacingly around her for a while instead of attacking. Odd that the dragons could burn that slavers bay place to the ground as babies, but that one struggled with half a stadium of people.

Happy to see Bronn live, less happy to see those sand sisters change from deadly assassins to happy slappers.

Think would have been better to swap the last two scenes. Hard to be elated for Dani after the girl died, but having been elated for Dani and then getting that upsetting burning would have made it even more gut-wrenching.

Arya's story has been terrible, but now things are happening it's ok again.

K4t wrote: »

Terrible episode up until Sir Friend zone threw the spear towards the royal box. Another tedious battle scene transpires from there

It was a terrible episode until the last scene, which was a tedious battle scene? Is this like two negatives making a positive for you?

PressRun · 08-06-2015 05:53PM

I'm finding it difficult to read what Melisandre is about. Something tells me she has a whole other agenda that doesn't really include Stannis and he's being taken for a fool.

mrkite77 · 08-06-2015 05:58PM

Austria! wrote: »

Did Davos know they were going to burn her? If he did his behaviour is in complete contrast to him saving Gendry who he didn't know at all.

Pretty sure he did. That's why he tried to take her with him, and why he gave her the statue and basically said "goodbye" to her. He knew he why he was being sent away, and it wasn't to ask for more soldiers.

K4t · 08-06-2015 06:08PM

Austria! wrote: »

It was a terrible episode until the last scene, which was a tedious battle scene? Is this like two negatives making a positive for you?

Tedious =/ Terrible. The throwing of the spear was the only thing done well in the entire episode imo, the only moment of tension or excitement - Shireen's burning was simply embarrassing. It's a much poorer show when Littlefinger and Roose Bolton are absent, and of course Jon Snow, who only had time to share another foreboding stare with Olly. I would have added Stannis to that list, but if Shireen has indeed been burned alive, then he's dead to me as a character, and I can see poor Ser Davos having a nervous breakdown wondering why he showed so much loyalty to a mad king.

wp_rathead · 08-06-2015 06:09PM

K4t wrote: »

Serious decline in quality this season unfortunately.

Since Episode 7 the season has picked up drastically
Can't understand how you found episode 8 poor but fair enough

Todd Toddington III · 08-06-2015 06:10PM

Essien wrote:

Poor enough attempt by Drogon tbh, I really thought he was a gonner there for a minute. After 5 seasons learning about how dragons conquer all, it would have been the ultimate let down.

He's still only a baby don't forget. Remember the size of the dragon skulls in Kings landing. As big as a small bus if I recall

FloatingVoter · 08-06-2015 06:22PM

Very Ray Harryhausen. Don't get me wrong, Clash of the Titans special effects / crap acting and beer kept us kids happy back in the day. But winking dragons and Russell Crowe with a crush just brings laughter. Nice to see the annoying child turned into a firelighter. One less.
If the dwarf gets killed, I'll be getting my coat. Nice piece of throat slashing and thoughtful stroking of beard at the end ..."hmmm, this dragon needs an agent and could come in useful back home".

Alfred Borden · 08-06-2015 06:25PM

Tywin has been a massive loss

K4t · 08-06-2015 06:28PM

PressRun wrote: »

I'm finding it difficult to read what Melisandre is about. Something tells me she has a whole other agenda that doesn't really include Stannis and he's being taken for a fool.

She has been a nut job from the beginning. Horrible creature. No better than the sparrows in Kingslanding. In fact, this season has been a massive indictment on religious fanaticism more than anything. Good article here on this week's episode - http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/game-of-thrones-shireen-melisandre-explainer/?_r=0

mrkite77 wrote: »

Pretty sure he did. That's why he tried to take her with him, and why he gave her the statue and basically said "goodbye" to her. He knew he why he was being sent away, and it wasn't to ask for more soldiers.

Disagree completely. Davos to Stannis - "A siege is no place for a young girl" - this would indicate that he did not know they were planning on burning Shireen, but rather that he was concerned for her safety in the conditions they were and subsequently would be living in when Stannis' army lay siege to Winterfell.

GottaGetGatt · 08-06-2015 06:31PM

mrkite77 wrote: »

Pretty sure he did. That's why he tried to take her with him, and why he gave her the statue and basically said "goodbye" to her. He knew he why he was being sent away, and it wasn't to ask for more soldiers.

No he didn't know.that's why Stannis sent him back to castle black.

Essien · 08-06-2015 06:32PM

K4t wrote: »

Disagree completely. Davos to Stannis - "A siege is no place for a young girl" - this would indicate that he did not know they were planning on burning Shireen, but rather that he was concerned for her safety in the conditions they were and subsequently would be living in when Stannis' army lay siege to Winterfell.

I was under the impression both he and Stannis knew what he was trying to do but neither wanted to say it.

K4t · 08-06-2015 06:48PM

Essien wrote: »

I was under the impression both he and Stannis knew what he was trying to do but neither wanted to say it.

Davos would rather have died than allow Shireen to be burnt alive imo (as would have Stannis, before he sacrificed his sanity to Melisandre). I don't think he would have willingly left the camp while knowing what was about to happen. The Stannis that Davos has served loyally for years has been disappearing for a while, and is certainly dead now if Shireen is; he can't be reasoned with anymore, just look at the amount of scenes where Davos speaks sense and uses reason to strengthen his arguments, yet Stannis simply ignores his advice and follows the word of that stupid b*tch. Whatever about Shireen, RIP Stannis.

Brendan Filone · 08-06-2015 06:53PM

Davos, I know why they call you the Onion Knight now for real.

mikefoxo · 08-06-2015 06:56PM

Can it get any worse than burning your child alive? Has GoT reached its zenith?

tvnutz · 08-06-2015 06:56PM

The CGI was dodgy when she was flying off but other than that it looked well. Its a TV show not a movie, can't be expecting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of special effects.

My annoyance was with how Drogan nearly went down over a few spears. I thought Dragons were so powerful that nothing could really stop them. He looked like he was nearly going to die. I assumed his skin would be so thick spears wouldn't be able to pierce them. Also all he had to do was fly in a circle around the arena breathing fire and that would have been that!

As for Stannis...no more support for him, hope he and the crazy fire lady get gutted!

08-06-2015 07:01PM

tvnutz wrote: »

The CGI was dodgy when she was flying off but other than that it looked well. Its a TV show not a movie, can't be expecting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of special effects.

My annoyance was with how Drogan nearly went down over a few spears. I thought Dragons were so powerful that nothing could really stop them. He looked like he was nearly going to die. I assumed his skin would be so thick spears wouldn't be able to pierce them. Also all he had to do was fly in a circle around the arena breathing fire and that would have been that!

As for Stannis...no more support for him, hope he and the crazy fire lady get gutted!

For the nth time in this thread - they aren't fully grown. The stories of dragons that we've heard mentioned through the span of the show (Field of Fire) make out that they have the ability to burn entire armies in minutes when fully grown.

Not a NSA agent · 08-06-2015 07:12PM

I used to like Stannis, I could see a few people thinking he's gone mad like Aegon did.

I think Aegon was the king Jamie killed but not sure.

wp_rathead · 08-06-2015 07:19PM

We have to remember that Stannis has a track record of this craic
He was burning his brother in law the first time we meet him
He has sacrificed many of his bannermen and soilders to the Lord of Light
He cheated on his wife with Red Woman to create a shadow creature to kill his own brother
He would have killed his nephew (Gendry) only for Davos to set him free

He does it because Red Woman is whispering in his ear whole time that he is the "chosen one" or something

Here is a scene with Stannis's wife and Red Woman where she basically admited that most of her magic are illusions
She also gives a foreshadowing of what is to happen to Shireen

brianregan09 · 08-06-2015 07:35PM

**** you Melisandre cu.nt was almost smirking when Shireen was burning

PressRun · 08-06-2015 07:41PM

K4t wrote: »

She has been a nut job from the beginning. Horrible creature. No better than the sparrows in Kingslanding. In fact, this season has been a massive indictment on religious fanaticism more than anything. Good article here on this week's episode - http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/game-of-thrones-shireen-melisandre-explainer/?_r=0

Oh, no doubt she's been a nut job from the beginning. I've never liked or trusted her, tbh. However, I just feel like something peculiar is going on with her, something that doesn't immediately meet the eye. I don't really think she's totally loyal to Stannis; I think he's being taken for a ride. That's not to say that her magic isn't real, we have seen that she does have some power of some kind, but I don't think she serves Stannis in the way that he thinks she does. As she says herself, she serves the Lord, first and foremost.

I dunno, but I don't think she is totally as she seems.

karma_ · 08-06-2015 07:43PM

wp_rathead wrote: »

We have to remember that Stannis has a track record of this craic
He was burning his brother in law the first time we meet him
He has sacrificed many of his bannermen and soilders to the Lord of Light
He cheated on his wife with Red Woman to create a shadow creature to kill his own brother
He would have killed his nephew (Gendry) only for Davos to set him free

He does it because Red Woman is whispering in his ear whole time that he is the "chosen one" or something

Here is a scene with Stannis's wife and Red Woman where she basically admited that most of her magic are illusions
She also gives a foreshadowing of what is to happen to Shireen

I am of the same opinion as yourself about her, she's a total fraud and a psychopath. That scene has to be there for a reason and wasn't she in awe of the other Red Priest we met, Thoros and his ability to resurrect Beric Dondarrion. Sure she birthed a shadow killer but maybe that has nothing to do with the Lord of Light.

Ohh and about this episode...F U Stannis F U.

leonil7 · 08-06-2015 07:47PM

hope you all did not fail to notice the display of the braavos sword water dancing style by the gladiator from braavos. if not for the spear behind he would have killed jorah.

thought for a second i was watching a chinese wudang martial arts movie with the chinese dragon banner behind.

MythicalMadMan · 08-06-2015 08:32PM

tvnutz wrote: »

. Also all he had to do was fly in a circle around the arena breathing fire and that would have been that!

Not sure if many dragons have read the Art of War or are highly versed in Military Tactics

Rosie Rant · 08-06-2015 08:36PM

Poor Shireen

. I think Davos honestly believed that Stannis would not sacrifice his own daughter and that's why he followed orders and went back to Castle Black. He seemed to genuinely believe that he was going to see Shireen again.
- Or, perhaps he had started to believe in Melisandre's power and had resigned himself to the inevitable and his goodbye to his little teacher was a goodbye forever. That just isn't like Davos, though. I think he would have tried to save her if he'd known.

When 3 of my favourite characters (Tyrion, Jorah and Dany) were in trouble, surrounded in the middle of the arena I was shouting "Drogon!! Drogon!! Drogon!!" like I was frantically calling for a lost puppy or something. And he came to the rescue! Tyrion is a great fighter. I hope Dany will accept that Jorah has proved himself now and will be kinder to him - that's if she flies back, she did kind of abandon everyone there

. Maybe Drogon will take Danaerys to her homeland. Valyria?

Sudden Valley · 08-06-2015 08:43PM

Stannis suddenyl became the most interesting character in the show. Him and Ramsey are keeping the Westeros storyline bearable. The Dany storyline and kings landing, and cersei's daughter storylines are just so unengaging.

RichFTW · 08-06-2015 08:44PM

K4t wrote: »

Davos would rather have died than allow Shireen to be burnt alive imo (as would have Stannis, before he sacrificed his sanity to Melisandre). I don't think he would have willingly left the camp while knowing what was about to happen. The Stannis that Davos has served loyally for years has been disappearing for a while, and is certainly dead now if Shireen is; he can't be reasoned with anymore, just look at the amount of scenes where Davos speaks sense and uses reason to strengthen his arguments, yet Stannis simply ignores his advice and follows the word of that stupid b*tch. Whatever about Shireen, RIP Stannis.

Davos did know something was going to happen, although I don't think he expected her to be burned alive. After the camp is attacked and Davos asks Stanis what they are going to do now, Stanis looks over at Melisandre and says nothing. Davos looks very worried at this and later tries to convince Stanis to let him take Shireen. It's pretty clear he is worried for her safety and what Melisandre would do with her with he was not around.

I thought the episode was pretty strong myself. My heart was beating at a couple of points. You had the suspense of seeing if Stanis would back down at the last minute, would any of Dany's party be killed when surrounded in the pit and also would the dragon be killed after saving Dany. I really can't understand why a couple of people in here are complaining about this and previous episodes.

RichFTW · 08-06-2015 08:55PM

K4t wrote: »

The throwing of the spear was the only thing done well in the entire episode imo, the only moment of tension or excitement

If this was the only moment of tension for you, I would say you have either read the books and know what is going to happen or you are a robot. The strength of the show is that any lead character can be killed so you don't know what to expect. A number of characters (and a dragon) were put in situations where they could have easily been killed last night. Also it was an episode 9 so a WTF moment/death was on the cards given past experiences. Thus more tension.

S05E09: The Dance of Dragons - Have NOT read the books

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