My newest network pitch: A Jorah and Daario buddy cop show!
Photo credit: HBO
Some quick thoughts on Sunday’s superb episode of Game of
Thrones right after I spend many years perfecting my ail…
“Many will die no matter what we do… Better them than us.”
-Olenna
Well that’s one way to get a whole colony of people to bow at your feet.
After spending what has felt like decades being stuck in
Meereen and subsequently in the Dothraki colony we finally get some much needed
Dany plot progression. Both George RR Martin and his adapting contemporaries
Weiss and Bennioff have taken way too much time letting Dany toil away in
nowhere land essentially taking the audience looking for any sort of payoff hostage.
It’s been one of the most frustrating aspects of the show’s run, Dany is one of
the most interesting characters that the world of Westeros has to offer and
having her waisting away in places that are not allowing her to be in contention to the iron throne has been one of the show's weaker points.
As such the sigh of relief I uttered when Dany managed to
lite all the Khals straight to Game of Thrones hell could have been heard from
miles away. Beyond just the necessary shock it provided Dany’s sizable leg of the
show, on its own the scene was just fantastic. It was yet another one of those
grand filmmaking gestures that Game of Thrones does so magnificently. Another perfect mix of great visuals and big storyline exclamation points. It is
impossible to not feel satisfied watching thousands of people bow to Dany
finally allowing her story to actually progress.
Better yet is that Tyrion seems to be doing a mighty fine
job of tying up her loose ends in Meereen. Tyrion the diplomat was in full
display in “Book of the Stranger” as we get to see him actually able to manage a comprimise with the masters of Meereen. Tyrion’s negotiating not only provide more scenery for the great Peter
Dinklage to chew but it also suggests that this show will not be sticking
around the great pyramids of Meereen which is a huge relief. Dany should
ultimately prove her leadership skills outside of a city in the Free World and
the show wrapping up its loose ends in Meereen while at the same time proving
just how great an advisor Tyrion can be is a fantastic way to push us onwards.
Dany’s leg of the story was not the only one to receive a
much needed move forward though, as we finally got to see Sansa and John Snow
be reunited for the first time in six whole seasons. It turns out that Jon’s
revival was entirely used an excuse to get him off of the wall, and to be
honest I am not too opposed to that. Is it a little bit cheap as a storytelling
device? Sure, but the way that we got to see Jon’s disenfranchisement with the
events of the wall last week and the satisfaction to be getting closer to giving our buddy Ramsey Snow his just deserts quelled most of my complaints. It will be interesting to see how the show will handle the
story on the wall, an arc that remains extremely important, when it lacks its
central character. Quite the balancing act is going to be required to keep the
audience engaged in the wall while Jon Snow is off being the supreme conqueror
of the North and I’m curious how the show will make it work.
Jamie and Cersci’s revenge tour also got rolling this week. After briefly stalling last week due to a lack of support, Jamie and
Cersci managed to use so mutual High Sparrow hatred in order to patch up things
with the Tyrells. I’ve been really enjoying the slow burn of the Lannisters vs
the High Sparrow and it seems to be heading towards its climax at the perfect
pace. I’m getting ready to move on from the same old tyrannical reign of the
High Sparrow (who continues to walk the line of being right yet completely
hateable very well) and the new found alliance between the Tyrells and the Lannisters
seems like a good place to begin the arc's finale.
“Book of the Strangers” provided some much needed juice to
the sixth season of Game of Thrones. We finally got a move on story arcs that have
been static for way too long and got the continuation of parts of the show that have only become
more intriguing. On top of it all it gave us some great movements of filmmaking
grandeur chief of much involved a lot of fire and whole city of people bowing. After
the questionable death and sudden revival of Jon Snow and an overabundance of
sprawl at the beginning of the season "Book of Stranger” has put Game of
Thrones back on the path to greatness in a most satisfying manner.
Some other musings:
- Meanwhile in the Iron Islands Theon returns just in time to endorse his sister as leader. I’m not entirely sure where we are going with it yet but it definitely seems like it has a lot of potential.
- Ramsey continues to be evil in Winterfell. Big surprise. This included one hell of a letter to Jon and Sansa which does not feel very leader like at all.
- With all the network cancellations this weekend can we get a season of the Jorah and Daario buddy cop show ordered? I’m setting my series recording now!
That’s all for me this week! Hopefully there will be more
weeks where I can review the show night of!
That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?
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