Valar Morghulis... season finale (A spoiler here, sort of)

[wonkishere]

Well, the final show of the season aired tonight. Unfortunately that means no more episodes for awhile, but we saw a lot of interesting things to look at.

I thought the arrival of the "big bad" white walkers was handled really well. They have been foreshadowing the coming of the next hard winter for a long time, and the suspense built up to this moment well. I think that graphically speaking, they looked just right. A slow, ponderous, but unstoppable looking enemy.

The 'mother of dragons' has never really been one of my favorite characters. I don't like characters who seem predestined to win. That said, I thought she had a really interesting sequence this episode. I do wish the magic wasn't handled quite this way, with multiple copies of the same sorceror popping up everywhere and doing all sorts of invincible things, until some other trick gets pulled out be the character in the end. I guess that's the nature of this part of the story though.

As badly as things went for Tyrion, probably the best thing for him is that at least he knows one person is with him, no matter what. That appears to be a new experience for them.

I thought I'd take the initiative and see what others thought of the episode.

 

[Boaz]

wonk, thanks for the thread. Let me jump in with my thoughts...

The episode covered almost everyone. Stannis and Mel. Robb, Mrs. Robb (dunno her name) and Catelyn. Brienne and Jaime. Tyrion, Pod, Varys, Shae, Baelish, Joffrey, Cersei, Tywin, Roz, Loras, Margaery, and Sansa. Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and Jaqen. Bran, Osha, Hodor, Rickon, Summer, Shaggy, Luwin, and Theon. Dany, Jorah, Xaro, Pyat, and the dragons. Sam, Jon, Qhorin, Ygritte, and Rattleshirt.

The exceptions were Davos, Sandor, Bronn, Dontos, Jeor, Aemon, Robb's vassals, Yara (Asha), Rodrik, and Ghost. The crew worked hard to get some of every storyline an update. Also, Jeor, Davos and Sandor are not supposed to really be updated at the end of ACOK.

The other exceptions were characters omitted from the season... (I'd typed the names out, but then I remembered that I must avoid spoilers in the TV threads.)

I wondered how they'd do the House of the Undying. I was really hoping Dany would see only one or two visions... and that those visions would be the important ones that I've been trying to figure out for twelve years. HBO is a bit more heavy handed in their approach... this is due to the enormous time constraints, mostly... but also because they don't know the full story, i.e. GRRM keeps his hidden meanings hidden... but I thought maybe he'd tell them to make sure they show (characters and prophecies omitted to avoid spoilers). So I figured the one or two visions would give me a clue to what GRRM really believed was the heart of the message in the House of the Undying. I was wrong.

I thought we'd get a glimpse of the King-beyond-the-Wall. I fully expected Jon to give us a major cliffhanger after meeting him. I was wrong.

I thought we might see Arstan Whitebeard. I was wrong.

I dunno what's going on with Dagmer. Did HBO just decide not to cast and film (name omitted) until next season? What is the explanation for Winterfell's burning?

I was sure Dontos would be reintroduced. Wasn't he in the first episode of the season? I thought he'd be the uplifting aspect to Sansa's story... her hope of escape. I was wrong.

Even though Dany's story did not clue me into the foreshadowing I wanted, it tried to look at Drogo. Did Dany truly say goodbye to him in her heart? And what was the deal with the baby's hair? He had his father's coloring... am I reading too much into that?

I thought the fact that Shae, in the last episode, was unconcerned about being raped and the fact that she wanted to find someone and by the fact, in this episode, that she stayed with Tyrion instead of gravitating towards another powerful man... that my theories on who she is are correct.

Sheesh, why am I even posting in this forum? I can't say anything for fear of spoiling the story.

Okay... here's the real post. I like the show. The Lannister boys are great. I hate the Stark boys. I liked how Littlefinger knew how to address the king in his loud voice instead of his usual subtle whispers. Varys is excellent. Neither Stannis, nor Jorah, nor Tywin look like they are written, but all three are brilliantly brought to life... I commend the casting director. I am currently watching The Tudors with some friends on Tuesday nights... we call it Tudor Tuesdays... and Katharine Howard is carrying on a torrid affair with Culpepper, but instead of being interested in her sex scenes (and there are a lot of them) I find myself being thankful that Emilia Clarke is Daenerys instead of Tamzin Merchant.

 

[Keldaris]

Robb and mystery lady's(Jeyne Westerling???)wedding felt wrong, The king in the north swearing his vows to the seven? Should have been the old gods >.<

 

[Mouse]

Just finished watching it so thought I'd comment before I forgot what happened.

I have read the books, years ago, but remember very little. So.

I've no idea who the shiny white dead guy was at the end. Was that ColdHands or haven't we seen that character yet?

The woman who Dany shut in the safe with the big dude. I thought she was the woman Dany sleeps with in the book? Or is that someone else?

Shae - I still like her. I liked her in the books, and like I said last ep, I <spoiler> don't like what happens to her in the books!</spoiler> Boaz, could you point me to your theories to her on the forum, please, so I can go and have a read?

In the books: does Sam die?<--- possible spoiler there.

I don't really get the Jaqen stuff. Does that mean there's a different actor playing him now?

Missed Bronn, but actually like Tyrion in this ep. I've liked him in the past two eps, actually, Peter Dinklage has sorted the accent out. (Or I've gotten used to it.)

Loved Brienne in this one. Her and Jaime's scenes were my fave in this ep.

What did Stannis see in the fire?

And, finally, after watching the UK Queer as Folk, I cannot look at Aiden Gillen (LittleFinger) in the same way. He's very good though.

 

[Syphon of Oor-Tael]

I think that we definitively have some foreshadowing here. The fact that Dany walked out of the throne hall and ended up coming out of what was a gate in the Wall must be.

Also, Mouse, the woman Dany shut in the safe was presumably Doreah. Judging by what happened, she helped Xaro Xoan Doxos capture the dragons. In the book, she did indeed teach Dany a thing or two about the art of lovemaking. Though she died during the trip through the red waste.

Jaqen is no more, and will not reappear. He was never really a person to begin with, just a construct of a Faceless Man.

Lastly, the man on the white horse? Most likely that is a real White Walker. One of the big evil that reanimated the dead in the first place.

 

[ArstenWhitebeard]

I didn't much care for the way they handled the House of the Undying, and its not due to the visions she saw, but the context in which she was supposed to have gone. I actually liked the visions she saw, even though they were not much like the books at all, and really they couldn't have been. In the books, you can use descriptions and see things from Dany's point of view which helps to hide certain aspects of the vision, but as a viewer, we would have been able to put more together from it.

SPOILER>> In the books, she has a vision of what is presumably TRW. GRRM hides this foreshadowing from us by using descriptive, but obscure, language. But if we had seen someone dressed like Robb with a wolf's head, we would have known it was Robb, and that would have given too much away. <<SPOILER

Lastly, the man on the white horse? Most likely that is a real White Walker. One of the big evil that reanimated the dead in the first place.

I agree that this almost definately was a white walker. I was really happy with the way they depicted them. I don't remember there being a description in the books that was really clear (thought this doesnt mean there wasn't one) I liked that he had a little beard and everything. Well Done!

I thought Sam was about to get his nick name in that last scene, but was actually happy that he didn't. it would have been too out of character at this point.

one last thing, Where the F is BFS?

 

[Mouse]

Also, Mouse, the woman Dany shut in the safe was presumably Doreah. Judging by what happened, she helped Xaro Xoan Doxos capture the dragons. In the book, she did indeed teach Dany a thing or two about the art of lovemaking. Though she died during the trip through the red waste.

Jaqen is no more, and will not reappear. He was never really a person to begin with, just a construct of a Faceless Man.

Lastly, the man on the white horse? Most likely that is a real White Walker. One of the big evil that reanimated the dead in the first place.

Aha. Thanks.

 

[svalbard]

one last thing, Where the F is BFS?

At a guess I reckon he is cut and there could be a change to the Mormont story where he fills that role.

Overall it was a fairly satisfying end to the series. The visions by Dany sort of confirms something for me as well and that is the R+L=J theory is gone by the wayside too.

Theon's speech was the highlight and I am really intrigued how that story is going to pan out. In the previous episode Roose Bolton mentioned his son so we can be pretty sure he will be appearing in series 3.

It will be a long wait for the next series. Any possibility it might sooner considering they are doing it over 20 episodes?

 

[Needle]

I will just say all in all I liked the final episode, i felt a little let down after the Blackwater episode but still very good.

I will stop there because I, like Boaz, can not control the spoilers which may spill forth! My typing fingers seem to have caught my big mouth syndrome!

 

[Brian G Turner]

LOVED this episode - thought it was brilliant.

It wasn't simply the way it tried to wrap up so many threads that had already been created - it was the way it carried so much pathos with it.

Tyrion's scene was lovely, for Shae and for Varys.

Dany's triumph was wonderful (the visions looked like things to tempt her away from searching for the dragons).

And at the end - when the horn blew once (it's going to be three!), when it blew twice (oh, yes, it will be three!), when it blew three times ... OMG. Loved the way the big old white walker looked like the ice was sublimating from him.

That was such a dramatic ending - and loved the music, too!

I know I've read the books, but the series has brought it so much more alive to me. I was impatient with the books, just wanting to get to the story - Arya, Dany, Theon, Davos all seemed so superficial to the main events - but they are tying in together very nicely the way the TV series presents them. Maybe I just lack a good reader's imagination.

 

[Symphinity]

What is the deal with leaving out all the prophecies from Dany's visit to the temple? I feel that they could have included this somehow in the episode. These prophecies, especially the ones about the 3 people who love her, hang over head as her story line proceeds in the books.