davidh777

Aaaaand we're still complaining about travel issues. Yeah, I wondered how long it would take for Dany to arrive, but we don't know how long they were sitting on that rock, and I don't really care to nitpick it. I'd rather continue to complain that the original plan to capture a wight was stupid, but at least Jon acknowledged that. I assume it will have some kind of payoff to make it worth our eye-rolling (meaning I assume the wight won't melt as soon as it crosses the wall).

Frankly I was mostly bummed about the dragon. Dany needs to figure out how to identify threats on the battlefield. And I was hoping they'd at least take a shot at the white walkers, but it looks like the plan all along was to evacuate. And I didn't expect the turning even though the bear should've been my clue.

kefrank

I disagree. In my opinion, her time with the Hound set up a character arc that allowed for someone who she hated and distrusted to earn a level of trust with her. There's also a key piece of dialog from that time in which the Hound tells Arya how he saved Sansa from being raped and killed by a mob in King's Landing and tells her to ask Sansa if she ever sees her again. For all of their petty disagreements shown earlier, this should have given Arya some sympathy toward her sister and, along with all the ugliness in the world she had seen with her own eyes by that point, given her reason to engage now with Sansa on a different level than her previous childish animosity. The way she is acting now devalues the arc her character was on in that entire time with the Hound, IMO.

Why So Blu?

People who bitch about the speed of ravens and pace of GOT need to realize. They are FORCED to finish the story in very few episodes. DEAL.

LurkerDan

good point, hadn't considered that (and had forgotten those specific details).

Noonan

My concern is how the show will effect the future books (assuming they ever come out). Will Martin take the time to flesh out extra story during all the travel? Or will he reduce the books down to what we see on the show and not add his own content?

bralph

The travel issues do not bother me much, but they were on full display in this episode. Putting those aside, the constant fake outs and last second saves of the primary characters are what really annoy me. There were three of those JUST for Jon Snow in this episode, and I never believed any of them for even a single second.

Why So Blu?

I don't think the books will adhere to what we've already seen on the show. That may be why he's taking his sweet time -- it would be sort of redundant if Martin adapted the show to his books now.

fumanstan

Regarding the Arya/Sansa stuff, while I get the complication and history between the two, for me it's just a conflict I don't really care to see at this juncture in the show. I hope it comes to a swift resolution, hopefully by way of Littlefinger's death.

Noonan

My concern is that Martin won't take the time to come up with all the extra content. Not only that, any extended content he writes would still have to match up with the outcome of the show. IMO, at best we'll get a bare bones wrap up book which re-tells the show story with some more colorful language and descriptions.

dex14

So, what day do you think the finale is going to get leaked? Seems like the hackers are threatening again.

Why So Blu?

I'm calling it now -- Varys will be King. I watched an old episode -- the one where Littlefinger tells Farys that chaos is a ladder and when Littlefinger asks him what he wants Farys turns and gives the sword throne a really long look. That is some serious fucking foreshadowing.

#thespider

/micdrop

andicus

I can live with the travel compression. As others have said, it's always happened. It's just a slightly larger scale in this episode.

The only real nitpick I have is the army of the dead pulling the dragon out of the water. The chains they were using were massive, and unless that army is of superhuman strength, they wouldn't even be able to lift the chains. Yes, total nitpick.

Bring on the season finale, as I'm really enjoying this!

slop101

This episode wasn't "hacked", it was mistakenly leaked by foreign HBO.

dex14

The last one that leaked prior to last nights was hacked.

davidh777

I agree. I don't really care about it unless it ends up leading to a major development.

Draven

I agree with all of the justifications for Sansa and Arya's behavior. Arya is a teenager and Sansa is not much older, they've never gotten along and now Arya is sniping at her sister. Seeing the letter was the last straw. Arya idolized her father. She said that if she were in Sansa's shoes, she wouldn't have done what Sansa did. Which is easy to say when you aren't actually in the situation.

It doesn't surprise me to see a teenager fly off the handle when her suspicions about her older sister are basically confirmed.

Arya will come around eventually, I'm sure.

boogieman03

But why does Arya give Sansa the dagger? What was the point/purpose of that?

If only they would sit for a few minutes and talk to each other about the last few years, they could work it out.

Or just go ask the all knowing-all seeing brother they have.

Giantrobo

Plus to me it shows just how fucked up/shady/clever Littlefinger is to be able to stir up discord with little effort.

davidh777

As I said earlier, this has to lead somewhere, then it'll be worth the effort. As much as we're complaining about the expedited pace this season, it'd be a waste to use this as plot filler.

Draven

Yes, teenagers often sit down to have mature conversations about their feelings towards their siblings.

Arya gave Sansa the dagger to say "I'm not going to kill you today." But she knows that Sansa can't use it against her - it's a total power play.

Something an immature child might do. Which, of course, Arya actually is.

DaveyJoe

We get the time/travel issues. We get them. But it's starting to get a bit silly to complain about the same thing week after week. It's like watching the Jersey Shore every week and complaining on the internet about the fact that they keep talking about gym, tan, and laundry. We get that you have an issue with it, but why do you keep watching a show and complaining about something that happens in it every week?

fumanstan

I don't watch every Game of Thrones episodes expecting travel stuff to stand out. It did in particular in this episode. So it's worth commenting, given the circumstances specific to this episode.

jfoobar

The show has always had "time warp" issues, arguably out of sheer necessity. The show has not always had "time travel" issues. These, along with the fairly massive change in show pacing, obviously rankle some viewers, myself included.

DaveyJoe

Bookmarking this for when you want to complain about the travel stuff next week.

windom

How does this whole "send a raven" thing work? Is it supposed to be like homing pigeons? Wouldn't that mean they would have had to take a raven or two that lived at Dragonstone when they went to Eastwatch in order for the raven to fly back to Dragonstone? It's always seemed like anyone can send a raven to any other location. This would seem to necessitate a big business of continually bringing ravens to remote locations just in case they need to bring a message back to their home.