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Television Game of Thrones (TV) • The watch has ended

Fully Fledged

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Dont think Highgarden is/should be a priority. She bloody cant go to Kings Landing cause she doesnt have the ships or the men. She needs to ally with the North ASAP.

She has to somehow defeat Euron and his fleet outside of Kings Landing. Because if she was to hit KL, then there is a chance her dragons can die with those fecking huge crossbows. That coupled with going up with Lannister plus the Greyjoys would be hard. So if she somehow defeats Euron at sea, then when she hits KL even if her dragons die, her dothraki and the North can defeat Cersei.
Yeah she needs the North but the chance to crush the Lannister army is too big to miss. They are at Highgarden.
 

RDCR07

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Yeah she needs the North but the chance to crush the Lannister army is too big to miss. They are at Highgarden.
Not the entire army though. Firstly she cant afford to send men to Highgarden. Secondly she will lose men during the battle. Finally she will have to use those surviving to hold down the fort at Highgarden. Just like how Jaime thought it was worthless to capture Casterly Rock, Dany should think it be worthless to recapture Highgarden. Her focus should be on getting rid of Euron's fleet to level the playing field.
 

robinamicrowave

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Just watched the episode through again. A solid hour that perhaps, as the AV Club have suggested, concludes this little trilogy of set-up episodes for the final civil war of the entire series. Not the best episode they've ever done, but a solid one full of some big surprises and some nice dialogue.

But more to the point of my post: the allies and territories have been established now, and we're fully tuned in. The following will sound a little "official" but it's just for the benefit of those who don't remember all the names.

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY

The War for the Iron Throne
Daenerys Targaryen will have her Hand of the Queen Tyrion Lannister, the knight Ser Jorah and Lord Varys as her "advisers". Some of the Greyjoy fleet will return from their defeat to Euron Greyjoy soon and rejoin her forces. She controls the Dothraki horde, the Unsullied army (once they march back over to Dragonstone following their defeat at Casterly Rock), and her three dragons: Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal. Daenerys does not officially have rule over the Stormlands, but while the war is on standby it is where she is currently based. Potentially, thanks to an uneasy alliance with the King in the North Jon Snow, she could have access to the entire North, the Knights of the Vale and the wildling army.

Queen Cersei will have Qyburn (the King's Landing maester), Gregor Clegane ("The Mountain") and her brother Jaime Lannister as her "advisers. Jaime Lannister controls the Lannister army, whilst the majority of the Greyjoy fleet belongs to Cersei due to her her alliance with Euron Greyjoy. The Tarly army swore allegiance to the crown, and their leader, Randyll Tarly, will accompany them as a bannerman. Cersei currently controls Highgarden and the Reach following their victory over, and elimination of, House Tyrell, as well as the capital, King's Landing, and Riverrun. Ellaria Sand and Tyene Sand, two leaders of the Dornish army, are currently hostages of Cersei, leaving the Dornish army without a leader. It is unlikely that they will play a part in the coming war.

So we're at something of a level playing field now with regards to the itinerary of both sides, with the Iron Bank sitting and waiting to see who wins the war before committing to any permanent arrangements.

The War for the Dawn
The Night King, the White Walkers and the now-readied Army of the Dead are north of The Wall, marching towards Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, considering it to be a weak point they can exploit in order to breach, cross, or circumvent The Wall. King in the North Jon Snow has instructed a small band of wildlings to guard Eastwatch-by-the-Sea until further notice, having last seen the Army of the Dead at Hardhome, a harbour and fishing village north of The Wall. The wildling army, lead by Tormund Giantsbane, are likely to be joined by Sandor Clegane ("The Hound"), Lord Beric Dondarrion and the red priest Thoros of Myr - the trio, travelling with the Brotherhood Without Banners, have had visions of the Night King and his army, encouraging them to investigate.

In an attempt to increase his chances of defeating the Army of the Dead, King in the North Jon Snow has travelled south with Davos Seaworth to enter an uneasy alliance with Daenerys Targaryen, and has requested her permission to mine dragonglass (obsidian), a volcanic material stored in the rock surfaces underneath Dragonstone. Dragonglass is one of two known substances capable of killing White Walkers, along with Valryian steel. The alliance remains uneasy to due Jon's disinterest in the War for the Iron Throne, a conflict that Daenerys and her advisers are intent on winning before shifting focus anywhere else.

Brother of the Night's Watch Samwell Tarly, as well as partner Gilly and son Sam, is aiding Jon Snow from afar at the Citadel. His mission is to investigate the qualities of Valyrian steel and dragonglass and understand their role in defeating the Night King and his army.

Winterfell
Having been left in charge of the North by her brother and King in the North Jon Snow, Sansa Stark has assumed control of Winterfell following her brother's victory over the Boltons. Currently camped at Winterfell and preparing for winter, Sansa is currently playing host to House Arryn, the Knights of the Vale and House Mormont, as well as Petyr Baelish, Brienne of Tarth and maester Wolkan. Her brother Brandon Stark has returned from beyond The Wall but now goes by the name of the Three-Eyed Raven. Brandon's travelling companion Meera Reed has likely returned home to Greywater Watch. With eyes on the Iron Throne himself, Peter Baelish is using his relationship with Sansa to manipulate her. It is likely that they will soon be joined by Arya Stark, who is travelling north from The Twins after wiping out their entire house as revenge for their role in the Red Wedding.
 

Globule

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I thought it was very good overall. Characters were actually allowed space to breath and it didn't hinder plot progression. The hoary ideas and off pitch dialogue were kept to a minimum - or at least they were less noticeable. The story plotting at this stage seems pretty free-form, often silly and slightly contradictory but if they honour the spirit of the characters as they did here on the whole, then I really don't care. I think you can get away with Tyrion building a big secret hole in an impenetrable fortress if the lives and motivations of the characters are worth investing in. (1) Here they were. The Dany and Jon scenes had a few clunky moments but also some really good ones (I was surprised). I like the pirate guy; that type of wild vulgarity has been missing from the show. The final scene was very nice, reminding us that Jamie had an interesting dynamic once.

It was unusual in this iteration of the show to see so many of the better actors given extended screen time to act, rather than just show up. Tyrion, Davos, Jamie, Varys, Olenna. Even little finger got more than a sneery look. More of this.

My only strong dislike is having Cersie forever having to top her previous levels of villainy in the style of the Saw films, where deminishing returns meet elaborately contrived empty sadism. Yawn. (2)
1) To be fair, this was actually a clever callback and not just plot convenience. I can't remember when he said it, but there is an exchange in an earlier season when Tyrion says that he was in charge of the sewers at Casterly Rock.

2) Are you talking about the Sand Snake death? If so, I think this was handled quite well. I think the presence of the Mountain made me think they were going to be given the same treatment as the Shame woman, but to have her poison the daughter was quite poetic. I think it's completely in keeping with her character too. She murdered Mrycella, her innocent daughter, so I don't think it's merely empty sadism to get like-for-like revenge on Ellaria's not-so-innocent daughter.
 

DatIrishFella

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I love Euron, hes psychotic in a hilarious way. Pilou Asbaek is charismatic as feck, far cry from everything after his debut on the rope bridge in season six.
 

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I love Euron, hes psychotic in a hilarious way. Pilou Asbaek is charismatic as feck, far cry from everything after his debut on the rope bridge in season six.
Aye he's playing the part well, so much so that I kind of want him to win :lol:
 

Sylar

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I had a look at the reviews online and most are pretty much saying the same thing, good episode for the most part.
The timeline is hard to establish, but at the same time, not every story is linear as has been the case since the beginning.

One thing that I agree with, in previous seasons, that allowed other stories to breath and take place during the points. Now it has to sorta move fast and thats what were getting and I for one am happy. If you think about it, we only have about 10 episodes left. Thats a sad prospect :(

We have been set up for whats to come now, and thats the main wars. I think every episode will have lements of a battle now with maybe one or two with discussion on how to take out the WW.

I love Euron, hes psychotic in a hilarious way. Pilou Asbaek is charismatic as feck, far cry from everything after his debut on the rope bridge in season six.
His interactions with Jamie have been fantastic.
 

RDCR07

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I love Euron, hes psychotic in a hilarious way. Pilou Asbaek is charismatic as feck, far cry from everything after his debut on the rope bridge in season six.
I loved his advice seeking dialogue with Jaime. That was hilarious. I was about to get Jaime some cold water to address his burn!
 

Sylar

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This will surely be the most watched finale of a TV series hands down, easily beating Seinfeld and Friends.
Will be interesting how its calculated. Cos there will defo be more streams going on for this. But also it will be split between those who watch it live vs those who watch it the next day (as is the case right now).
 

robinamicrowave

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This will surely be the most watched finale of a TV series hands down, easily beating Seinfeld and Friends.
You think a series which is currently getting around 10m viewers for its penultimate season will jump up to 50m for its final episode?
 

kps88

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This will surely be the most watched finale of a TV series hands down, easily beating Seinfeld and Friends.
Doubt it. The days of a TV show getting Seinfeld finale numbers are gone. Don't think GOT has got the mass appeal of Seinfeld or Friends either.
 

Organic Potatoes

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I love Euron, hes psychotic in a hilarious way. Pilou Asbaek is charismatic as feck, far cry from everything after his debut on the rope bridge in season six.
Other than the cheesy as feck riding the plank whilst growling entrance to the ship battle, Euron has probably been the best part of this season so far.
 

JustAFan

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RedRazor

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A script and potentially episodes have been stolen, and are likely to be leaked. The script is already floating about if the news sites are correct.
 

Van Piorsing

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One of the best chapter in the series, great tempo and even Billy from Black Sails showed up.

Kinda wow.
 

CassiusClaymore

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Decent episode.

Euron's army is ridiculously OP at the moment though. I know people have debated the time thing already but it does seem like he literally just constructed himself a world conquering armada and then ran through everyone in the space of a few episodes turning up everywhere he needs to in convenient fashion.
 

nme_pro

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That bamboozled me too. Thought he was referencing Billy from black sails who's hench, so I popped Carl Tanner into Google. Turns out he's an American opera singer which didn't help.

Googling the correct spelling didn't help that much either, that guy got got pretty early on
 

Minimalist

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This will surely be the most watched finale of a TV series hands down, easily beating Seinfeld and Friends.
Easily?! haha. Can't speak for Seinfield but you must not have been around for Friends - every cnut on the planet seemed to watch it.

Game of Thrones exists in a large echo chamber - plenty of people have never watched an episode and don't intend to because its just 'not for them'.
 

legolegs

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A script and potentially episodes have been stolen, and are likely to be leaked. The script is already floating about if the news sites are correct.
The whole season has been leaked a while ago.
(Unless you are talking about actual episodes.. I'm talking about the scrip of course)
 

RDCR07

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That bamboozled me too. Thought he was referencing Billy from black sails who's hench, so I popped Carl Tanner into Google. Turns out he's an American opera singer which didn't help.

Googling the correct spelling didn't help that much either, that guy got got pretty early on
He is the brother of the Night's Watch who killed/started a rebellion at Krasters Keep calling him a bastard.
 

Dante

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http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/07/game-of-thrones-most-popular-show-ratings

The fact that Game of Thrones is hugely popular should come as a shock to no one; the widespread dismay over next year’s shortened season alone should be enough to indicate how hooked we all are. But if it felt like Game of Thrones made leaps and bounds in popularity last summer, with its will-he/won’t-he Jon Snow cliff-hanger dominating the cultural conversation, that’s because it did. The fate of Kit Harington—and some other factors—grew the Game of Thrones audience by a whopping 25 percent this year.

Deadline reports that when accounting for repeat airings, DVR, HBO Go, HBO Now, and HBO on Demand together, Game of Thrones averaged an insane 25.1 million viewers for its sixth season. And that’s not even counting the record-breaking number of people who watched the season illegally through online torrents. Going by HBO’s numbers, Game of Thrones appears to have even beaten out ratings juggernauts like The Big Bang Theory and Sunday Night Football. The Walking Dead—taking a slight live-ratings hit from last year— drew in 18.4 million total viewers for its divisive Season 6 finale. Factoring in later online views, the AMC show’s numbers are flat and lack the massive growth of the HBO series.

The disparity in growth between Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead may have something to do with the zombie drama’s lack of momentum in recent seasons. Though that series tried to amp up the stakes with a number of deathly twists last year, the show has inevitably become a bit repetitive with Rick Grimes and his crew clashing and escaping from zombies week in and week out. Game of Thrones, on the other hand, has already announced a likely end date and is clearly building towards some kind of spectacular conclusion.

HBO’s chairman and C.E.O. Richard Plepler chalks up the growing popularity of Thrones to the network’s recent efforts to move into online platforms. “These record audiences reflect the options we have built into our business model over the last few years,” he said. “Combining the convenience of HBO on Demand and HBO Go with the subscription flexibility of HBO Now, our programming is being exposed to an ever growing audience.”

We’ll see if a delayed Season 7 does anything to put a dent in the show’s popularity. (It probably won’t.) If anything, I’d imagine that the less-crowded TV landscape of summer will make Game of Thrones even more inescapably popular.
Friends averaged roughly the same throughout its run (without reruns), but obviously never had to deal with piracy. It wouldn't surprise me if you could add another 50% to GoT's number and the two would come out fairly even. And that's only in the US. Worldwide, GoT is miles bigger than Friends ever was.
 

nme_pro

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He is the brother of the Night's Watch who killed/started a rebellion at Krasters Keep calling him a bastard.
The guy with knives right? Jon Snow killed him with an assist from someone else I think.

That's a pretty strange pick though in a show that had Drogo and a whole bunch of people who are 'famous' for being good at fighting.
 

JustAFan

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So why did Snow stop Sir Davos saying it?
1) Warning about the approach of an undead army and how evil they are, then saying "oh yeah, he's undead also" might not be a great idea. 2) Now knowing how anyone will react to the fact that he was brought back from the dead. 3) Not wanting the whole issue of him being brought back from the dead to take over as the point of the discussions. 4) Not wanting to seem more of a nut case Just a few quick thoughts as to why he might not want to let the secret out.
 

sullydnl

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So why did Snow stop Sir Davos saying it?
The whole "there's an army of snow zombies coming to kill us" shtick didn't seem to be getting the reaction he wanted. I just assumed he thought it was best to avoid complicating things further by mentioning his ressurection? It wouldn't exactly add plausibility to his story.