Gamer Throons (SPOILERS for S6Ep8)

Old Man Rating: 5, and that's generous. Most of the episodes this season I've enjoyed but this disappointed in several ways.

Arya. No tinfoil - fine - but then what the flip flippety flop was she doing in the last episode, if that really was her? How stupid do you have to be to draw attention to yourself and then just chill - unarmed - enjoying the view from the bridge, knowing that the Worlds' Deadliest Assassins(tm) are after you? And that wound would have killed her - no way that knife didn't pierce an intestine and it was twisted. She would have died of septic shock even if she hadn't jumped into a canal full of human waste and Seven knows what else. A cuddle, a bandage and a light opioid (which is what Milk of the Poppy seems to be) would not have changed that, and with the abs pierced like that no way could she do that parkour. Her end scene with Jaqen was strong and nicely done, but the rest was ridiculous - out of character and poorly written. I did like that Lady Crane had changed her lines per Arya's suggestion but that was nowhere near enough to save a very poorly written arc. Bring on the book.

Cleganebowl DENIED. Get Lowpe. A bit meh but good to have the Hound back so hopefully better is round the corner.

Mereen - really? Really?

Riverrun - like last week this was a highlight for me and it's a shame it's over. Jaime and Brienne's scene was beautifully put together, well acted and well shot. The only thing I didn't get was Blackfish choosing certain death over helping his niece. Did like the Jaime-Brienne Wave Of Poignancy at the end of it.

Kings Landing. Cersei's Bonfire of the Sanities has already been heavily foreshadowed - I think they took it too far in this episode as it's pretty much certain now how it's going to go down. They could have left a little doubt and not made it blindingly obvious. The actor who plays Tommen did a great job portraying his weakness and Headey was superb as always - she gets a lot of nuance just in her face and the way she holds herself. Cleganebowl RE-DENIED. Get Lowper. "I choose violence" was a brilliant line well set up, but what followed was, well, I really should try to find a synonym for meh so as not to repeat myself so much.

Maybe my expectations were too high but really this was a disappointing episode for me. The stupidity of Arya - quite out of character, she was very resourceful previously, fooling Tywin among other things, tricking Jaqen to get out of Harrenhal, taking out Meryn Trant - and the unreality of her survival really set a bad tone from the start.

Whole episode next week is Winterfell, obvs, leaving The Burning Of Kings Landing, ToJ redux and Ominous Things Oop North for Ep 10. I think the wall isn't coming down this season (it's coming down fo'shizzle, but probably not yet) but would quite like to be wrong on that.

Posted By: Old Man, Jun 13, 13:08:23