7x01 Dragonstone review thread (spoilers)

I didn't care that Dragonstone was empty TBH. Stannis threw everything he had at Ramsay, so I don't think he had any spare soldiers lying around. Also, Jaime specified that its been abandoned since Stannis died so that seems to settle that IMO.

Hope so. In the books I've always thought Sansa would be the younger more beautiful queen to cast Cersei down. Would prefer Sanaa to bring about her downfall much more than either of her brothers

One of the biggest truths in the whole series

So back to that Sansa-Cersei thing I was talking about earlier: Sophie did an interview a while back where she said that Sansa's hairstyle is reflective of the people she's around:

Meanwhile this episode:



Guess there's more to this comparison than I gave it credit for. Bravo showrunners

Had a little bit of time to think about it- Liked the Sansa & Jon scene in the hall. I think Sansa putting forward her ideas was great, and its nice she is trying to show strength. However, i think, morally, she was wrong to want to strip the houses of their titles. They are only children and as Jon said, the sins of the father do not carry on to the sons and daughters.

Davey made a good point that Sansa's actions are beginning to be a lot like Cersei's. This is something Cersei would do, just like Cersei ordered Sansa's wolf to be executed in season 1. It's cruel and not just. I think Sansa is doing this because she thinks its the only way to survive, and her warning to Jon "Don't be like father" was one of the best lines of the episode. I think it shows that she does value family, and she does love Jon, but is afraid to get too attached to anyone for fear of losing them. The line really reflects Sansa's growth throughout the seasons and that she is finally learning to look out for herself. This is also displayed when she snubs littlefinger in the courtyard. She doesn't need him anymore AND she knows what he wants- this should be an interesting season.

I thought Emilia was pretty good this episode, she is usually good in the silent scenes when she just has to use emotion in her face. I think it was a pretty big thing for Dany to go home- but at the same time it would be like "oh i'm here, cool". She didn't grow up in this castle, she has no memories there and its not truly her home. I didn't think she would be emotional, i think she played it right. She's just glad to be home to start planning her conquering of Westeros. But at the same time, i don't think she'll ever feel comfortable as Queen because Westeros is not where she grew up. She craves family in her heart, and that's something she'll never have. i think that's what the 'red door' represents in the books.
Also i agree that the castle should not have been unmanned- its weird but i guess they only have so much dragon cgi in the budget- also we know any garrison Cersei had there would have been destroyed anyway.

I actually liked Euron's new costume, it suits his character more. However, not that impressed with Euron, but i think its an improvement on last season. It was obvious to me Cersei and Euron would band together. But their dynamic just didn't really work for me. And Jaime is really annoying lately.

Arya- upon reflection...
Her first scene was a good opener, but it is a bit over-the-top. She seems to be thirsty for vengeance and can take out a whole house, but can also show empathy (for those lannister soldiers). Her character has never been more confusing and complex. I really don't like the faceless men thing, when did she learn to actually do that?! the show never told us...in the book it involves some dark magic and is not an easy thing to train for. This is getting ridiculous. I think her lines to walder frey's wife made up for the ridiculousness of that scene. What a great moment "Tell them Winter came for them" (i'm paraphrasing) but yas gurll.
(also almost crine when that man said "i hope its a girl")

I actually could have done without the white walker scene as well, it was almost there as a reminder, but after hardhome, hold the door and various other things...PEOPLE REMEMBER. Don't show us a generic walking scene, show us an interesting scene with the Night's King. We still don't know much about him.
Also poor Meera, benjen left them very far from that wall

Even though the show loves using Arya as a killing machine, she has never killed someone who didn't deserve it besides the stable boy (that the show portrayed as an accident), so is it really that surprising to see her not killing those soldiers or stopping Walder's wife for drinking the poison when just last season she put her own life in danger just to save Lady Crane?

FFS is not like she just goes around killing everyone she finds in her path

Okay so, my tuppence worth:

  The Bad:

1./ Bran definitely needed a short second scene behind the wall in there somewhere, IMO. Felt weirdly incomplete with just that one scene of them letting him in, like they'd switched the immediate follow up to a later episode late in the edit.

2./ The argument LSH undermined the power of the red wedding is kind of made a nonsense of by the fact this whole chapter of the TV show ends with T-1000 Arya doing another M.I. face swap (and a huge note of magical realism, even for the rules of this magical universe, far exceeding a sentient zombie who has to work with outlaws, settling for hanging sad-sacks like Merrett from the sprawling Frey clan before she can dream of inflitrating the Twins.) Deus Ex Machina, rush-to-the-end storytelling you expect from Hollywood. The Freys rose to prominence in the show as an unsuspected threat; they take their leave a predictable joke. And forgetting Edmure in the midst of all this kinda pisses over everything they somehow clawed back for his character in S6.

3./ The rightly maligned Sheeran cameo was indeed the episode low, IMO, especially in view of how carefully G.O.T. has approached  celebrity cameos in the past. Just a massively over-conspicuous mis-step, even if the basic idea of humanising Lannister infantrymen was well intentioned. This bunch were about as believable as Cersei’s soldiers as kindergarten kids in costume.

4./ Euron still underwhelms me. Shoo-in cartoon villian replacement for Ramsay but they could have had so much more nuance with a better actor than this guy doing his pissed up rockstar/Ollie Reed.

5./All in all, just that familiar problem peculiar to G.O.T. of repetition where it's not needed and skimping on detail where it IS. E.g: Precious little sense of Jaime wrestling with his sister having committed a similar(-ish) act upon a big chunk of King's Landing to the Mad King he stabbed in the back. And as others have said ~ why is Dragonstone un-garrisoned? (then again, better nowt than another like Ed Sheeran's nursery school contingent sent to man The Twins ... )

The Good:

1./ All The Hound scenes were fantastic (esp. the "Who d’you think you’re fooling with that top-knot, bald cunt!” to Thoros. )Great that they homaged the grave-digger, as well as bringing back the farmer subplot from season 4 full circle to establish Sandor experiencing the alien concept of guilt. Almost made me forgive the new BWB plot excising LSH. Almost ...

2./ Samwell's shit-montage be damned, Broadbent aced it at The Citadel. That line about the dog was class.

3./ Loved Jorah's "horror hand!" cameo from the medic cell and "Is she here yet? The Dragonqueen??" seguing so well into Dany’s silent arrival at Dragonstone. Episode highlight for me, tbh. Pitch perfect pacing.

4./ That beach in the basque region. Wow. Worth the grief they underwent with the paps for those gorgeous visuals alone.

5./Ah, the Dragonstone map table. Almost makes you nostalgic for the more innocent times of Mel & Stannis getting their freak on and the sacrificial screams of Red God unbelievers wafting from the beach ...

All in all, I'd say: 7.5/10. Decent episode, but wasn't blown away and it didn't feel a game-changer despite events with Dany's homecoming clearly having reached that point by the end.

Pluses, minuses and length of later episodes aside, I think we’ve probably been fed a bit of a line re: everything feeling more movie-level-expensive per individual episode this year, etc. Bar that aerial exterior of Dragonstone, this felt pretty much like every other episode of Thrones to me, tbh ~ (very) high end TV, with rationed SFX shots, saving the bigger bucks for the last two eps. 

The difference this year is more that it's probably half and half, i.e: we'll undoubtedly get some cash-splash in episodes 2 & 4, before they hit 6 & 7 but other than that, IMO, it's not the every episode = MASSIVE kinda deal they hyped. Going by the premiere, 1,3 and 5 are all probably pretty standard.

I agree with pretty much all this. I didnt really like the Arya scenes but at least it makes me think that Lady Stoneheart will be fucking the Freys up even more in the books cause its obviously not gonna be Arya who takes them out.
Yeah Dragonstone being deserted makes little sense no matter how you slice it