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Lazy Sundays: Hardhome (Game of Thrones Episode 5.08)
I can’t believe we only have two more episodes left in the season, but ‘Hardhome’ was definitely a doozy this week. Let’s get into it!
1. Ooh, Sansa! I think we’re going to see her snap and take care of Ramsay personally at some point. She stole that corkscrew from the construction and I think at this point she’s willing to use it, especially after Theon/Reek’s confession that he really didn’t kill her brothers.
2. Gah, poor Ser Jorah once again. Tyrion was totally right in a logical way (especially when you consider his greyscale) but his eyes when Daenerys told him to leave again were heartbreaking.
3. Sam and Gilly are so cute together. I think their relationship will end badly for both of them but I’m just enjoying it now.
4. Cersei is being set up to confess; we’re seeing her at an entirely new low. I think the season’s finale, Mother’s Mercy will have her carry out the High Sparrow’s special punishment.
5. Okay, I absolutely loved the battle at Hardhome. It was a well shot scene, not too terribly corny with the wildling council and the action was amazing. I loved seeing Night’s King stare at Jon Snow and just raise his hands, adding the dead wildlings to his army at the very end. It was incredibly chilling and the whole scene was just perfect. It definitely makes up for the really horrible Sand Snake fight scene.
So what did you guys think about this Sunday’s episode?
Lazy Sundays: The Gift (Game of Thrones Episode 5.07)
I actually missed Sunday because I was busy travelling but I’m backdating this post to make sure it actually sort of makes sense. Because I just can’t go a week without a proper Game of Thrones recap.
1. Jon is off to go and negotiate with the Free Folk over at Hardhome and as Ser Alliser points out, Sam is quickly losing friends.
2. On that note, awesome Sam! He’s finally realized that he loves Gilly enough to conquer his natural cowardice for her. Had Ghost not stepped in I have no doubt he would have charged those two guys again.
3. I thought the change from the books regarding Aemon’s death was interesting. I wonder how they’re going to get Sam and Gilly on a boat to the Citadel so Sam can be a maester?
4. Hmm…Sansa picked up what looked like a corkscrew when Ramsay was tormenting her. Now that Theon’s no longer a viable option for her, I wonder what she will be driven to do? The episode 8 trailer seems to hint at what she wants to do.
5. Good on Stannis for refusing to sacrifice Shireen. It shows that no matter how taken he is with Melisandre, he clearly loves his daughter more.
6. I honestly thought Bronn was going to die and the whole poison-antidote scene with Tyene seemed a little dumb to me. Sure, that’s her personality but it felt almost as contrived as that whole fight scene last episode.
7. Wow, the Jorah and Tyrion timelines are really going fast. Neither of them has really suffered under slavery the way they do in the books. Bam! They’re sold as slaves. Bam! They’re meeting Daenerys. Things are going to get ineresting very quickly here.
8. On that hand, as a purely physical attraction I admire Daenerys’ taste in men. But when you actually examine Daario as a person there are a LOT of red flags. Girl, you need to stop listening to him!
9. Poor Tommen. He really seems to want to help Margarey but at the same time he doesn’t have the leadership experience to make a complicated political maneuver in order to appease the Faith Militant without losing face.
10. Ha! Cersei finally got caught in her own trap. Things are going to get very, very interesting from here.
11. Lady Olenna may be the Queen of Thorns but she doesn’t seem to understand true religious fanatics very well. They don’t care what you do to them! They’ve got their god/gods on their side! And the High Sparrow is utterly devoted to his belief that every sinner is equal.
12. Hmm…I wonder what Littlefinger is up to now. I don’t think even he can put a leash back on the rabid dog that is the Faith Militant now, no matter what he seems to promise Lady Olenna.
So what did you guys think of this episode?
Discussion: Connecting With Other Bloggers
One of the things that’s just part of being a blogger is (of course) connecting with other bloggers. I find that the most common way I connect with my fellow bloggers has been through leaving comments on other blogs or responding to the awesome comments here on my blog. I’m not a big user of social media but I have connected with a couple people on Twitter who then started following The Mad Reviewer.
Since I’m not exactly a social media guru I suspect that my methods of connecting with fellow bloggers are not representative by any means. So what I want to know is this: How do you, as a blogger, connect with your colleagues? Looking back on some of the blogger friendships/partnerships you’ve developed, how did they start? And, more importantly, how do you maintain them?
I’m busy working all Saturday (ah, the joys of living in a tourist town) so I won’t be able to respond to your comments much but I will try to get to them before I board my flight on Sunday.
Lazy Sundays: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken (Game of Thrones Episode 5.06)
1. Ah, so we finally saw the room of faces in the House of Black and White. Finally, Arya’s storyline is getting way more exciting as her training starts in earnest.
2. Poor Ser Jorah and Tyrion again. Good thing Tyrion is a fast-talker! It also explains how he and Jorah make it to Meereen.
3. Hmm…so now we know all about Littlefinger’s plans. He wants the Boltons and Stannis to fight each other and with the crown’s approval he’ll swoop in with the army of the Vale to beat the winner, who will be licking his wounds. Then he can be warden of the north, marry his second choice (Sansa) and muster the north to fight the beaten and bloodied Lannisters and Tyrells for the rest of Westeros. Well played, Baelish. Well played.
4. Margarey and Loras are locked up! And Lady Olenna is on the scene. I’m thinking things are going to be interested when Olenna seeks out some of Cersei’s men and accuses her of the very thing she’s accusing Margarey and Loras of: immorality.
5. Trystane and Myrcella seem like a sweet couple. Your typical hormonal teenage couple, anyway.
6. Um, did anyone else find the fight between Jaime, Bronn and the Sand Snakes a little lame? Normally Game of Thrones has awesome stunt people and the fights are well choreographed but I just felt that scene was lacking. The actresses for the Sand Snakes are kind of unconvincing as warriors. It’s…disappointing. They looked as about convincing as I would in a fight and that’s, to be perfectly frank, pathetic.
7. Finally, we hear a bit of “The Dornishman’s Wife” from Bronn! As much as I love “The Rains of Castamere” it’s nice to hear something new.
8. Okay, the Sansa rape scene. Twitter is brimming with outrage over it, claiming that it was completely superfluous and unnecessary and an insult to George R. R. Martin’s original story. People on Twitter clearly have a short memory: do they not know that marital rape was totally a thing back then? Are people forgetting that even in Canada marital rape was only made illegal in 1983? And that criminalization of marital rape only started in the United States in the early 1970s? And most of all, do they not remember that Daenerys was raped on her wedding night too? This is what brides expect from their husbands in the Game of Thrones world! That’s why it was such a surprise to Sansa that Tyrion didn’t rape her on their wedding night. Ugh. People believe that depicting something is the same as condoning it, which it completely isn’t. I think it’s not gratuitous and that the rape scene there is setting up some very important character development for Sansa. Trust me when I say I’m the last person that would advocate for gratuitous rape.
So what did you think of tonight’s episode?
Lazy Sundays: Kill the Boy (Game of Thrones Episode 5.05)
As always, spoilers!
1. Poor Jon. I personally think he’s making the right choice in enlisting the help of the Free Folk but it sure doesn’t seem very popular with the rest of the Night’s Watch.
2. Sansa, just get out of there! There are warning bells going off left, right and centre: Theon turned into Reek, Ramsay’s clear enjoyment of mind games, etc.
3. I hope Brienne and Podrick do manage to rescue Sansa, but realistically they’re not going to. Still, it will be interesting to see them try.
4. Oh Daenerys…first you almost kill a man then you say he was right and tell him you’re going to get married. Are you always this romantic?
5. And wow, that Missandei-Grey Worm scene was amazing. Those two actors have such great chemistry together that they make every scene together so emotional.
6. No, Ser Jorah! Why, oh why, did you have to take Jon Connington’s storyline? Gah!
What did you guys think of tonight’s episode?