Please submit feedback here after Season 6 Episode 8 – ‘No One’ has aired and we’ll be glad to share it in our midweek podcast.
While Jaime weighs his options, Cersei answers a request. Tyrion’s plans bear fruit. Arya faces a new test.
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no one is truly no one
I’m assuming this episode will receive a lot of fan whining and complaints as many fan assumptions were overturned. That they were overturned isn’t a surprise as GRRM has provided us with countless surprise twists in the books so why should the outcome of these show twists be obvious?
Arya’s sanctuary and adventures in the House of Black and White have resolved with a faceless person’s face on the wall, resolving Jacquen’s dilemma when Arya named him as someone to die (back at Harrenhall). And Arya returned to using her skills as the girl who chased cats through the streets and catacombs of King’s Landing.
Arya has absorbed the different roles she was playing as a lost litle girl into herself, and has found Arya Stark the young woman. I’m hoping to see her sometime hunting enemies in the dark crypts under Winterfell.
Its so interesting to see the showrunners mixing up the season’s routine and giving us a different style of story for episode 8 compared with previous episode 8s. This season’s tempo has reminded me of season 2 which also flew through the plot, and in that season the big fight was episode 9.
Feedback on Podcast for Season 6, Episode 8
Overall I gave this episode a 62 out of a 100.
I thought the show was very uneven with the treatment of certain storylines and characters.
Best Line: ‘I killed you once before, Dondarrion. Happy to do it again.’
The Good:
• Ha! Tyrion did a callback to his story about the Honeycomb and the Ass (he unleashed at the Vale to Lysa Arryn.) Loved it! In a past ‘A Pod of Casts’ Season 4 review I mentioned it would be funny if Tyrion ended up in Dorn running his own Vineyard and it appears that’s exactly what’s on his mind!
• Edmure in front of Riverrun held by knife point; yielded no surrender. Edmure free of his own accord as Lord of Riverrun (with the threat of a catapulted son forced into his mind); requesting entry to his castle; yielded surrender. If anything, this shows how Jaime has the shrewdness of his father Tywin and determination to get back to Cersei asap.
• Lovely intersections of desperation at Riverrun for Blackfish, the Freys, Brienne, Jaime and Edmure.
• Jaime’s talk with Brienne was wonderful at showing their love and loyalty to the folks on their sides and themselves. Why do I get the impression that one of them will end up killing the other or that it may be the last time either of them see each other?
• Lady Brienne’s attempts at persuading the Blackfish were powerfully honest and to the point.
• Cersei has lost her ability to use Trial by Combat (See the Unknown.)
• The Hound pulling the boots of the yellow cloak’s legs as he was being hung was cold blooded, dark and humorous.
• Arya’s action scenes were exciting (very Terminator 2 like with the actions and looks of the Waif). (See the Bad).
The Bad:
• Good action and suspense for me demands some type of plausibility of the performers being able to carry it out in order for me to remain focused on it. I can buy that Arya has had extensive training and she has become a great fighter. However, what I have seen the past two episodes with Arya were beyond what I believed she was capable of enduring and performing; especially in the damaged state the waif left her in the prior episode. This distracted me from the goal the writers were trying to achieve with her. Sorry folks. If she didn’t have the wounds I would have totally bought it. The show-runners felt it was more important to shock us with her fierce stabbing last episode and now they have to make that work with this heavy action sequence and it just doesn’t work for me. Also what was the point of going to Braavos for her?
• Blackfish’s off screen death was just weak sauce.
• Mace Tyrell was in the medium shots among the small council surrounding Tommen when he made the announcement about Cersei’s Trial. I still don’t understand why his mother is a target of the High Sparrow yet he isn’t. Is it because he is Master of Coin?
The Unknown:
• Why did the High Sparrow renege on his promise for Cersei to be able to stay in the Red Keep until her Trial?
• Where is Arya off to in Westeros? Where did she get all that money to give the Westerosi sailors? Was that the money that Bianca gave her in order to murder Lady Crane?
• Is Varys going to seek out Yara in Volantis to bargain for ships? Or is he actually going to Westeros?
• What does Cersei have up her sleeve now that Trial by Combat has been eliminated as a trial method for her? Does Tommen know who his real father is? If he doesn’t is that a way for Cersei to stop the Trial or punishment after trial? Is Tommen smart enough to know that would be a threat to his legitimacy as a King and also the Faith Militant? (His decree through Cersei is what created them.)
• If the Slavers are boat bound with their attacks on Meereen, how will the Dothraki Calvary ride in and save the day? It has to be the Dragons that lead the charge. Who will end up riding all three besides Dany?
• With the changes at King’s Landing, will the Iron Bank of Bravos call in to collect on the debts owed to them? Money has to be a problem for the realm now that Brothels have been destroyed in King’s Landing. Does King’s Landing owe the Tyrells money as well as the Lannisters and the Iron Bank? Perhaps that’s why Mace is still in the Small Council?
• Do either of you think it is possible for the Tyrells to end up fighting on the Stark’s side?
• What was the old rumor Cersei told Kyburn about that he had his birds investigate? Could it be something on the High Sparrow? Could it be the Wildfire we saw in Bran’s visions?
I think Jaime Lannister wins this week’s Game of Thrones.
She ran calling Wildfire!
Season 3 Episode 5, (Kissed by Fire) in the bath scene with Brienne, Jaime says the following:
‘(Aerys) had his pyromancer place caches of wildfire all over the city– beneath the Sept of Baelor and the slums of Flea Bottom. Under houses, stables, taverns. Even beneath the Red Keep itself.’ When he was talking about slaying the Mad King.
There’s no doubt in my mind he told Cersei this story as well. Is this the rumor that has been corroborated by Qyburn?
What is your theory on this?
No one will subscribe to HBO if they continue to make poor TV
This was an anti-climactic and in my opinion disappointing episode.
I think the Mountain ripping out some guy’s spine was pretty awesome. However, did Cersei really think that murdering a member of the Faith Militant would not have some blowback? The minute she said “I choose violence” she needed to commit to it. Every one of the Faith Militant should have either been killed or placed in the black cells or even better given to Qyburn for his research. The ruling elite still have power especially in their own home.
Along that line of thought why is the Mountain even around anymore? The other members of the Kings Guard have either converted or fired and replaced or killed off recently. Why fire Jamie but not the Mountain, who is a much bigger affront to Gods and Men. It is not like his resurrection is a secret, the entire small council knows.
I am very disappointed with the lack of character development in the Hound. Okay he is a wise cracking bad guy, sort off, again. So what? He never renounced violence or anything. I guess they are heading North now to fight the White Walkers. Alright, I like that. Finally, someone looking at the bigger picture.
Arya’s entire story line for the last several seasons, it seems, was pointless filler. WTF. She gets gut stabbed by a trained assassin but a few days later she is a parkour expert, leaping from roof tops. Well at least it is over. I wonder if Arya will take over Ser Davos’ mission in White Harbor. She will probably arrive there, somehow gain an audience with Lord Manderly and convince him to join the Stark cause. Then the Manderly Knights will arrive to help defeat the Bolton forces.
Not only did Arya forget she was dealing with a faceless assassin’s guild but Jaquen H’ghar seemed to forget that he was the leader of the faceless assassin’s guild. Arya just snuck up on him. Threatened him with a sword and he just smirks. If his goal was to teach her how to seek vengeance for her family, then why not just train her? Why bother with the whole who are you nonsense?
Jokes… I have a joke. Who has two thumbs and is cancelling his HBO subscription? Wait for is …. This guy. Hey Grey Worm, instead of sitting around chit chatting and making bad jokes why don’t you post guards? How is it even remotely possible that a fleet of ships, all with the same obvious marking, sail into your harbor and no one see it until they are attacking? It is a good thing that they decided to bombard the city and not immediately land troops, the second Battle for Meereen would be over already.
Why bother with the Blackfish if he is going to be killed off screen? He should have died trying to kill Edmure or escaped or fought Bronn and died heroically. If the only reason for this subplot was to get Jamie out of Kings Landing then could have sent him anywhere, on any quest, Bravos to negotiate with the Iron Bank perhaps. Wasn’t the Crown being in massive debt an important plot point last season? Didn’t Lord Tyrell travel there with Meryn Trant, was that whole plot just to blind Arya. How can the Crown afford the Lannister army in the field? There is no money. I guess none of it really matters Cersei will be burning down the city next week anyway.
Why does anyone think that the Wildling are going to stand up against a Bolton Cavalry charge or break the Bolton shield wall. They are ill disciplined and ill equipped raiders. They were crushed by Stannis when there were tens-of-thousands of Wildling Warriors, not there is only 2 thousand.
HBO has a difficult time producing series that last longer than 5 seasons. The Sopranos, True Blood, Oz and Sex in the City all started strong then devolved into scenes that were designed to be fan service with incoherent story lines. If you doubt me just remember the last two seasons of the Sopranos.
Please HBO just end the show it before it is too late. Just quit after this season. Take next year off. Figure out what you want to do and say, create a plan, then execute it. Don’t just throw some crap together with a bunch of fan service scenes. And in the name of the Old Gods and the New, please do not make some money grabbing spin-off, I am talking about you Fear the Walking Dead, until this series is finished. Lessons are learned and adopted.
Martin needs to either begin working on this next book (which I do not believe that he has), hire a ghost writer to finish it, or turn it over to an entirely different author. He can cite ill health or something. Each episode makes me want to read the next book a little less. I know the books and show are different things but at this point I don’t care. It is very disappointing.
If I had to pick someone Jamie won the game of thrones. He can go home just in time to see the city on fire, maybe try to rescue Tommen, then strangle Cersei.
I love this post!
I love this post! When you mentioned parkour Brian, I couldn’t stop laughing because I was reliving Arya sliding on her stomach on the stairs under that cart on top of her series of waif induced knife wounds and then running getting up in a full run.
“Martin needs to either begin working on this next book (which I do not believe that he has), hire a ghost writer to finish it, or turn it over to an entirely different author. He can cite ill health or something. Each episode makes me want to read the next book a little less. I know the books and show are different things but at this point I don’t care. It is very disappointing.”
This isn’t going to happen simply because GRRM is a gardener style writer. That is that he has a few major plot points identified but doesn’t plan the detail. He just writes as he goes, fill in detail, prunes here and there. There is highly unlikely to be a detailed synopsis of the future books, even in GRRM’s head.
PS re “Why does anyone think that the Wildling are going to stand up against a Bolton Cavalry charge or break the Bolton shield wall. They are ill disciplined and ill equipped raiders. They were crushed by Stannis when there were tens-of-thousands of Wildling Warriors, not there is only 2 thousand.”
They don’t think that.
Jon is depressed – he died and didn’t see Ygritte in heaven as he promised her, he is lost and just can’t be bothered to find more soldiers.
Davos has no sway and doesn’t know the northern houses.
Sansa knows its a mess and is trying to get help, I assume from Lord Royce.
However, Davos may have more influence than they realise. How many of the Bolton’s forces are the Bravosi mercenaries that Davos hired? Will they change sides again?
I think Varys s going to Kingslanding to talk to about Dany and her Dragons (that old rumor is true). Dragons are real and Dany needs ships.
I was a little disappointed in not seeing Arya kick Waif ass but found myself satisfied at seeing waifface on the wall in the house of black n white. I’m still trying to figure out why Jaqen was so pleased by what happened.
Edmure s a spinless wimp n I hope he gets his. RIP Blackfish
The only person that can help Sansa is Little Finger, will he?
You hear Jon Snow say in the previews “if I die don’t bring me back” I just hope Jon has the balls to fight this out with Ramsey. For Ramsey will have no mercy.
Evil Jamie rocked this week!!
As well as the Hound whipping out more then just a personality lol
Thanks guys have a great week.
Phillykat71
Botched Bravos
Well so much for all those Arya theories most of which would’ve been better than what they gave us.
Down with Edmure long live the Black Fish!