Game of Thrones - Our Watch has Ended

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Honestly the best way to open the next episode would be one of the main characters to die right off the bat. That way we at least know what we're in for. 

Cold open.

White Walkers approach the left flank where the Unsullied are.

Grey Worm puts on his helmet menacingly, turns around to maybe give one last "hurrah!" but then just gets obliterated by a spear.

[PARROTHEAD]

1 minute ago, sunnygsm said:

Battle strategy has never been particularly strong in shows/films. I'd just be disappointed if that was all we got after all the lore buildup. 

Same here. The NK seems to have some type of plan of his own. He shouldnt be falling for traps and bait. He should remain in a true general for of command.

[THE DUKE]

What i'm curious about is who all is just killed, and who all is killed, but then rise again as wights?  Will zombie Grey Worm kill Missendai, etc...?

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

1 minute ago, PARROTHEAD said:

Same here. The NK seems to have some type of plan of his own. He shouldnt be falling for traps and bait. He should remain in a true general for of command.

The most strategic thing he did was surround Jon & Friends at the frozen lake in order to bait out the dragons coming so he could steal one. Other than that, it's been pretty straight forward marching and slaughtering.

[Calvert28]

4 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

All the stuff with Brienne I thought fit the story and wasn't fan service.  Every bit of her story was earned.

Yea but why the knight stuff? It was about respect but the respect was earned with Jamie asking to serve under her. They didn't need it, and it was already taken care of earlier.

4 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

Things I thought were:

• Scarred girl to remind Davos of Shireen

I thought this scene could have been cut too with Lyanna and Tyrion making up for it with their scenes.

4 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

• Essentially every scene with Tormund, but especially the giants milk story/chugging

Yea that was funny but it was pointless.

4 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

• Arya and Gendry *(I could see a possibility of this being relevant, but i'm not counting on it in the show version of the story)

This one may be significant because Arya may die. But also this may be the way to continue the Baratheon line.

4 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

•  
• Grey Worm / Missendai "after" plans (100% they both die), this is Hollywood writing, not GRRM writing.

Yea its very cliche. Grey Worm I think lives though.

4 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

 

My highlights of the episode:

• Brienne vouching for Jamie, and that being enough for Sansa and Jon,  Jamie asking to serve her battalion, and Jamie knighting Brienne
• Bran and Jamie interaction
• Jon and Dany ending dialogue (and her reacting exactly pretty much how we expected)
• Sansa and Theon
• Sam giving Jorah Heartsbane and telling him how much his father meant to him was especially poignant considering the father Sam had

Best quote of the episode.

"The things we do for love." or

"The Lord of Light is going to wonder why he brought you back 19 times after I throw you off this ****ing rampart."

[PARROTHEAD]

1 minute ago, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

Honestly the best way to open the next episode would be one of the main characters to die right off the bat. That way we at least know what we're in for. 

Cold open.

White Walkers approach the left flank where the Unsullied are.

Grey Worm puts on his helmet menacingly, turns around to maybe give one last "hurrah!" but then just gets obliterated by a spear.

Brienne has command of the Unsullied? Id thought it would be Jorah and Grey Worm on the right together with the foreign troops, with Brienne and Jaime on the left commanding the Vale/North.

I know Brienne is on the left. But could have missed if GW mentioned anything.

[Dr LBC]

1 minute ago, PARROTHEAD said:

Same here. The NK seems to have some type of plan of his own. He shouldnt be falling for traps and bait. He should remain in a true general for of command.

To be fair, they killed off all the "expert strategists" in non-battle scenarios.  The closest you could get to one of the better battle (specifically, battle) strategists dying in battle was when Stannis basically led his men on a march to their own death, thus forfeiting his claim to the title.  Tywin (killed on the can), Randall Tarly (roasted for refusing to bend the knee), Robb (Thanks, Roose...), Ned (Payne'd).

[Calvert28]

6 minutes ago, The LBC said:

Just a thought (and one I don't particularly like, but it could represent things coming full-circle only to go a completely different direction on this particular branch from the one of the past), and I don't think they could get that far south fleeing the NK's army but what if the final showdown between Jon and the NK happens in the Trident?

I mean the neck where Moat Callin is. Near the twins.

[MacReady]

I haven't watched any of the new episodes yet.  I've been coming in here like this:

I feel like I'll just be able to sense when something major happens, and THAT is when I'll subscribe to HBO go.  I was hoping I'd be able to pay for only one month of it, but I think I'll have to get it before this next hyped up episode. 

[ramssuperbowl99]

6 minutes ago, THE DUKE said:

All the stuff with Brienne I thought fit the story and wasn't fan service.  Every bit of her story was earned.

Things I thought were:

• Scarred girl to remind Davos of Shireen
• Essentially every scene with Tormund, but especially the giants milk story/chugging
• Arya and Gendry *(I could see a possibility of this being relevant, but i'm not counting on it in the show version of the story)
• Lyanna Mormont getting more than a few seconds of screen time at this point
• Grey Worm / Missendai "after" plans (100% they both die), this is Hollywood writing, not GRRM writing.

That's about it I think.  Jaime and Tyrion drifted towards it with the how Tyrion thought he would die and subsequent dialogue, but they got away from what could have been a cringeworthy conversation that added nothing and got back on track.

Of those the only one I would call "fan service" is Lyanna Mormont. Arya/Gendry is a maybe. We don't know the significance of the weapon he made for her, and them getting together was Arya rejecting the notion that she's a faceless man.

Davos/Shireen underscores the hopelessness and gives him some personal stakes. I don't know how you have a reference to one of the most hated moments in series history as "fan service", but Davos otherwise has very little emotional connection with anyone. He's kind of just been along for the ride since Stannis died. 

Tormund was there to give Jamie something to play off of. It's him saying Brienne should be a knight that is the last push to have that happen. Otherwise, Jamie is knighting her out of nowhere, and while there's some awkward segue, without that everyone would pop in here and talk about how forced it was.

Grey Worm/Missandei is setting up a tragic ending perfectly. Should they have put that dialogue 2 or 3 seasons earlier when Tyrion was making them tell jokes? 100%. But yeah, that's pretty typical of GRRM. Hell, he had Robb Stark's wife be pregnant for no other reason than to stab her at the Red Wedding. Deaths hurt more when you're emotionally invested, and this was a solid attempt at getting us invested in characters who otherwise fell flat on screen time. Better late than never.

[Calvert28]

2 minutes ago, The LBC said:

To be fair, they killed off all the "expert strategists" in non-battle scenarios.  The closest you could get to one of the better battle (specifically, battle) strategists dying in battle was when Stannis basically led his men on a march to their own death, thus forfeiting his claim to the title.  Tywin (killed on the can), Randall Tarly (roasted for refusing to bend the knee), Robb (Thanks, Roose...), Ned (Payne'd).

Jamie is actually a very capable military commander. His problem was being headstrong.

[MacReady]

Just now, ramssuperbowl99 said:

them getting together was Arya rejecting the notion that she's a faceless man.

Unless Gendry is easily confused or tricked. 

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

3 minutes ago, PARROTHEAD said:

Brienne has command of the Unsullied? Id thought it would be Jorah and Grey Worm on the right together with the foreign troops, with Brienne and Jaime on the left commanding the Vale/North.

I know Brienne is on the left. But could have missed if GW mentioned anything.

You're right. Change what I said to the right side

2 minutes ago, The LBC said:

To be fair, they killed off all the "expert strategists" in non-battle scenarios.  The closest you could get to one of the better battle (specifically, battle) strategists dying in battle was when Stannis basically led his men on a march to their own death, thus forfeiting his claim to the title.  Tywin (killed on the can), Randall Tarly (roasted for refusing to bend the knee), Robb (Thanks, Roose...), Ned (Payne'd).

Correct.

2 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

I haven't watched any of the new episodes yet.  I've been coming in here like this:

I feel like I'll just be able to sense when something major happens, and THAT is when I'll subscribe to HBO go.  I was hoping I'd be able to pay for only one month of it, but I think I'll have to get it before this next hyped up episode. 

Yeah you're right. Nothing's really happened yet, it's just been reunions and fillers while everyone prepares to die. You should subscribe now though because Episode 3 is going to be when the battle begins. Episode 2 ended with the White Walkers already within sight of Winterfell.

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

2 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

them getting together was Arya rejecting the notion that she's a faceless man.

I thought her rejecting she was a faceless man was when she told the faceless man "A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell..."

[ramssuperbowl99]

Just now, AFlaccoSeagulls said:

3 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

them getting together was Arya rejecting the notion that she's a faceless man.

I thought her rejecting she was a faceless man was when she told the faceless man "A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell..."

That was the biggest moment, this adds to that.