The Westeros Watch Part Thirty-One

Season seven. The last episodes to date of Game of Thrones. Jimmy Impossible is almost caught up.

Right now, let’s see what he and Tom have to say about the episodes “Dragonstone” and “Stormborn”.

tomk: You know, after these two episodes, I think we’ve learned more about Robert Baratheon since season one.

jimmy: Speaking of season one, on a related note, I finished the first book.

tomk: And…?

jimmy: I liked it. The first season was a pretty faithful adaptation outside of the dropping of the final Stark/Lannister battle due to budgeting. From what you’ve told me, subsequent seasons will differ more greatly from the source material.

tomk: It will differ more as it goes along.

You should write a review somewhere!

jimmy: Heh. I can’t think of any place. 🙂

tomk: “Big Jimmy’s Lit Blog!”

jimmy: Haha.

Well, the other thing before we really get started…why has everyone started dressing like Romulans?

tomk: It means they are super-serious.

Cersei takes it too far by also adopting the haircut.

jimmy: Exactly! Though that was more brought on by the events of last season.

tomk: Speaking of, Cersei may not be as screwed as she appeared to be.

jimmy: Well, she’s got that giant map room!

tomk: And the stable presence of Euron Greyjoy!

And maybe Sam’s father.

jimmy: Maybe.

tomk: But hey, Euron gets results.

jimmy: There’s no arguing that. No results…Theon.

tomk: He had a Reek flashback. You don’t recover from stuff like that that quickly.

jimmy: Or at all.

tomk: And two Sand Snakes were killed by their own weapons. Don’t be the idiot who brings a whip to a sword fight.

jimmy: I think their real weapon was being pretty, which is also not of much use in a sword fight with Euron.

tomk: You know, whip girl (even I can’t remember the characters’ names) is also on Iron Fist and Watson’s knowing she was getting killed off was his Sand Snake story. I think.

jimmy: She was one of the only good qualities of Iron Fist…until the crappy writing overwhelmed her.

tomk: I agree there. Her acting choices seem to be a large role in a crappy series or a forgettable one in a massive hit.

jimmy: Your favorite Dorne characters had a bad day.

tomk: All Dorne characters eventually do.

jimmy: And I guess Ellaria has become Euron’s “gift” to Cersei.

tomk: There is one Sand Snake left!

jimmy: For now.

tomk: Yara will need help in the future.

jimmy: Hopefully from someone other than Theon.

tomk: Theon? I am sure he drowned after jumping overboard. Clearly his story is over.

jimmy: Hey, if Rose can survive on that door…

tomk: I knew Euron reminded me of something from Titanic! He must have been the iceberg!

jimmy: He wreaks as much havoc.

tomk: And smiles when someone whips him.

jimmy: That’s called foreplay.

tomk: …I’m not going there…

jimmy: Watson would, which means you’re making the right call.

tomk: So…how about the Frey Family Reunion?

jimmy: Arya continues to rock! Another great scene for her.

tomk: The other Freys should have been cautious when Walder stood up.

jimmy: They should have listened to you for the last 6 seasons!

tomk: The North remembers.

jimmy: And the North kicks ass.

tomk: Plus, the North let Ed Sheeran live, reunited with Nymeria, and ran into your favorite baker.

jimmy: The Ed Sheeran thing was actually a bit off-putting to me. It was one of those times that Watson would complain about being taken out of the moment. Great to get some resolution with Nymeria. And everyone loves some Hot Pie!

tomk: I think the important thing is Arya turned around to go to Winterfell instead of King’s Landing.

jimmy: The power of home.

tomk: A Hot Pie will always show the way.

But hey, Bran also seems to be going home. If the Starks had trouble when they all separated, now that the survivors are coming together again, the children all older, wiser, and with new experiences that can theoretically only help them, the North looks to be a lot more formidable right now.

jimmy: It is interesting that the clan is all reuniting. Except for Robb. Poor Robb.

tomk: And Rickon.

jimmy: Right. Poor Rickon.

tomk: The Forgotten Stark.

Not forgotten: Jorah.

jimmy: No thanks to Sam’s Boss.

tomk: The Archmaester has a bigger picture to concern himself with.

jimmy: Which leaves it to Sam to step up and safe the day. Again.

tomk: He’s getting good at it. Also good at distributing and collecting various bowls of liquids.

jimmy: Haha. Yeah, that whole process looked incredibly painful.

tomk: Everyone has to start somewhere.

jimmy: And now we have a healthy Jorah.

tomk: As long as it didn’t get Sam sick in return.

jimmy: That was mentioned as a fear of the process. Which would be very unfortunate.

tomk: True.

Of course, this is the shortened season seven. Everything moves faster. Look how long it took Qyburn to invent an anti-dragon weapon.

jimmy: Good point about the quickened pacing. Yeah he whipped that up pretty quick. And it made short work of the demon’s head in the basement.

tomk: Yeah. As long as live dragons hold perfectly still, he can kill them without any problems.

jimmy: Which they are known to do.

tomk: Did you notice Qyburn wears the badge for Hand of the Queen?

jimmy: I did. There’s not many characters left to choose from for such things in any case.

tomk: Well so few Cersei trusts beyond Jaime and the Mountain.

jimmy: And that’s about the extent of it. She probably doesn’t trust Bronn.

tomk: Considering the past of the two actors involved, she probably hasn’t even met Bronn.

jimmy: Oh, right. I forgot about that. 🙂

tomk: It’s why you never see Jenny and Watson in the same room.

jimmy: Or anybody and Watson.

tomk: True.

Though I do hope Sam learns more from that teacher than Harry Potter did.

jimmy: Sam’s probably a better student than that trouble maker Potter. Wait…maybe Sam’s a troublemaker himself. He wasn’t exactly told to treat Jorah.

tomk: He was told the opposite.

Plus, he’s told not to worry about the White Walkers and the Endless Winter because those things tend to resolve themselves.

jimmy: Always a good idea to ignore the apocalypse.

tomk: The Maesters seem to be treating the White Walkers like a political revolution, not the Force of Nature they might be.

jimmy: Most people don’t believe in White Walkers or dragons until they show up at their doorstep.

tomk: Except…the Archmaester does believe Sam.

jimmy: Believing and doing something about it are two different things. And Sam doesn’t seem like the type to tell old wives tales.

tomk: Well, I think the problem is the Maesters have seen to treat all problems the same: they stay away, read their books, conduct their tests, and nothing really changes. The fact that this time its a bunch of ice zombies killing everything in their path doesn’t seem different to them even though this time it really should be.

jimmy: Well, there won’t be any of them left to read or conduct tests if Jon doesn’t pull their ass out of the fire.

tomk: Sam needs to get Jon more information.

jimmy: Like all that dragonglass he found.

tomk: Yeah, now Jon has a choice: go see the Dragon Queen that his people innately distrust and see if he can cut a deal, or, uh, not do that.

jimmy: Jon knows he doesn’t really have much choice.

tomk: And all Dany wants is complete and total obedience. I am sure that will work out well.

jimmy: It has so far for everyone on Game of Thrones.

tomk: Jon has other issues, like Sansa taking all her lessons on how to run things from people like Cersei and Littlefinger.

jimmy: And showing Jon up in front of the other lords.

tomk: Jon doesn’t necessarily mind Sansa disagreeing with him. He just doesn’t want her doing it in front of others. Plus, maybe she shouldn’t be so anxious to punish kids for their parents’ crimes.

jimmy: Agreed. And that last point is a little hypocritical of her…even if her father’s charges were trumped up.

tomk: Sansa is, understandably a bit paranoid after everything she’s been through.

jimmy: Fair enough. And like you said, she’s probably been more influenced in these matters by Cersei and Littlefinger than her parents.

tomk: And one of them is still hanging around.

And she isn’t wrong about Cersei.

jimmy: No, she’s not.

tomk: Fortunately, Cersei is busy.

But since everyone seems to be going to Winterfell, we should probably point out others are converging on the Wall, like the Army of the Dead, the WIldlings to back-up an abandoned Night’s Watch castle, and, you know, a handful of other guys whose members include guys who have flaming swords.

jimmy: And a guy who’s afraid of fire, but can see the future in it.

tomk: Fire tells people things, like maybe what they want to see.

Though who wants to see the undead as far as the eye can see in a blizzard is beyond me.

jimmy: Jack Frost?

tomk: The Frozen Governor?

Ice Negan?

jimmy: I think that’s a different show.

tomk: Probably. This one deals with returning to places where you did horrible things.

jimmy: That could be anywhere in Westeros.

But you mean the Hound?

tomk: I don’t mean Walder Frey. Even when he stood up, he still stayed in the same room.

jimmy: That whole storyline of Arya getting revenge for the Red Wedding is one of my favorite in the series.

And the Hound returning to find that family that he and Arya had left in dire straits previously was sad. They seem to be going out of their way to redeem him like that have with Jaime, but I think we always knew he had that side from his earliest days of dealing with Sansa.

tomk: Oddly enough, you could argue the Hound needed less redemption than Jaime. The Hound always knew what he was, or at least what he claimed to be. Do you think he mostly hated himself?

jimmy: He definitely needed/needs less redemption than Jaime. And he absolutely hates himself, though most of that is probably thanks to the trauma of growing up with The Mountain.

tomk: Don’t you just want those two to fight it out?

jimmy: Oh, I’m sure that’s coming.

tomk: Winter is coming.

jimmy: I’ve heard that mentioned once or twice.

tomk: It’s generally true.

Did we leave anything out? Tyrion’s battle plans? Lady Olenna’s advice? Sansa in charge of Winterfell in Jon’s absence?

jimmy: Did we mention Jon choking out Littlefinger?

tomk: That worked out so well for Ned.

jimmy: Ah, but Ned “trusted” Littlefinger. I don’t think Jon is making that mistake.

tomk: Does anyone truly trust Littlefinger at this point?

jimmy: Not Sansa. Really, no one probably did to begin with. Except Headless Ned.

tomk: Sansa got good results from calling him for aid, and his advice has been good for her overall survival.

jimmy: True. But that does not equate to trust.

tomk: It’s the best he’s got and the best he can ever hope for given his own personal philosophy. He’s not Varys. Varys actually sneaks around to benefit the realm, not himself.

jimmy: Of which he’s lucky he convinced Dany of.

tomk: As long as he plots openly instead of secretly, he’ll be alright.

jimmy: Hmm…what else? Yara and Ellaria’s short lived romance. And the Queen of Thorns living up to her name as you mentioned earlier.

tomk: Tyrion has a plan to conquer Westeros that has already hit a snag.

Lousy Euron…