Ygrette needs to die somewhere in there too and Shae. I’m thinking them and Tywin make the deadly episode 9.
I think it’s:
Episode 8 - The Duel; Ygritte bites it
Episode 9 - The Battle with Mance
Episode 10 - Stannis at the Wall; Jon elected Commander; Zombie Cat; Tywin’s just desserts
So far, the pattern has been that the penultimate season episode is the one in which everything big happens. The final ep of the season is wrap-up and bits for the next season.
The word is that episode 10 is also going to be “big” and detracts a bit from the previous norms. It’s been mentioned basically the timeline above, though most of Episode 9 will involve the Wall and the “biggest battle we’ve ever done” type talk going about it.
— Alan
Exodor
5425
You can get a clue if you look up the episode titles
8 “The Mountain and the Viper”
9 “The Watchers on the Wall”
10 “The Children”
olaf
5426
The HBO series continues to trump the books.
The scene with Bronn and Tyrion was amazing. I don’t think, at all, that Bronn was telling Tyrion their friendship wasn’t authentic. Their friendship is very real. That made the Tyrion request and the Bronn response that much more meaningful. Bronn is not the killer for hire he once was and has a shit ton to lose fighting a dude who is a freak of nature physically and athletically and practices murdering people (what the fuck was that scene where he is just killing scrubs?). He points out, without any malice or sarcasm, that Tyrion has never risked his life for Bronn and wouldn’t in Bronn’s situation. Bronn was sad that he left there expecting his friend to be executed and Tyrion did not think less of Bronn at all after the exchange. Great scene.
This series is so good. It blows my mind it was able to equal or surpass the books in being badass. The writing and the acting together has to put this at the top of the HBO series totem pole, by a large margin. I guess technically the Sopranos had more viewers but I do not know how or why. That series got worse as it went along, GOT is getting better.
I figured Lysa getting pushed out the door would be good for episode 10 if they stuck to the normal plan to make episode 9 the big one. It would have been a nice cliffhanger. It would’ve needed to be directed differently than the clip I saw though.
Does Lady Stoneheart appear in book three? I can’t remember if I read that or it was spoiled for me a while ago.
She appears in the Epilogue of ASoS.
Oh that’s right. I have a terrible memory.
So much of the joy of the show is in the deep genius of their parallels and structure.
Look at this episode. We see Cersei and the Mountain. Then we get a scene where we talk about Gregor’s casual cruelty to Sandor, and then a scene where we talk about Cersei’s to Tyrion. Bronn talks about gaining a castle because ladies fall all the time, and then we see it happen.
Those are just the building blocks, of course. The levers behind it all are amazing scenes between spectacular actors. Crowd shots are all well and good, but I’ve never seen anything so driven by powerful duet scenes. I think the rewatchability will lie in savoring the acting again and again.
The scene with Oberyn and Tyrion was silent dynamite. I really like the actor that plays Oberyn so I’ll be bummed when he goes. It looks like he’s been working steadily on TV as recurring characters on various shows, but I hope he gets a lot more high profile roles from this appearance.
New Daario is pretty good too and does a great job coming across as very, very likeable.
Gendal
5432
The new Daario is the definition of milquetoast. The old one was smarmy and perfect.
rowe33
5433
Yeah I was just thinking of how we’ll be losing him soon during his Tyrion scene. They did a great job casting Oberyn for sure.
I prefer the former Mountain and Daario though, with the former being the greatest loss in my opinion. New Mountain just doesn’t seem as crazy fierce as the first one. Much better than the Skinny Mountain that came in between though.
I loved the scenes between Tyrion and Jaime and Tyrion and Bronn. You can see in Jaime’s face the pain he feels at not being able to defend his brother, and it’s clear he believes Tyrion to be innocent of killign Joffrey yet is powerless to stop his sister and father from seeing their scheme through to it’s bitter end. Then, with Bronn, it’s all about Bronn subtly showing Tyrion his gratitude by pointing out everything that’s going on in his life while at the same time trying not to have to come right out and say that he would be stupid to risk it all in a fight against The Mountain. In the end, he has to say exactly that, and only then does Tyrion realize what he’s asking his friend to do, and he relents. It’s a very compelling scene, and a sad one. In the books and in the show, in a story filled with deceit, betrayal and dishonor, the Tyrion-Bronn relationship is one of the most genuinely honest ones, and seeing it end is painful for readers/viewers.
I expect the season will end with the trial by combat and the reppearance of Theon Greyjoy next week. In Week 9 we’ll get the big fight at the Wall along with trouble in Mereen for Dany, in the Vale for Sansa and on the road for Arya and the Hound. In the final episode of the season we may see Stannis make a timely appearance (or they could save that for Week 1 next season), we’ll see Arya set off to Bravos, Bran will reach his tree, Sansa will discover her inner Stark and Tyrion will finally learn if Lannister patriarchs really do shit gold. The final scene could either be Brienne meeting Lady Stoneheart, Tyrion in the wake of his actions, or Arya sailing off into the sunset.
I can totally see Stannis making his timely appearance in Episode 9 and influencing actions in Episode 10 with Jon becoming the head.
— Alan
I’m not big on new Daario. He’s skinny and bland and I can’t disassociate him from his douchey role on Treme.
I’m a guy, a straight guy, but even I noticed in his scene with Dany that he just doesn’t have the element of overt sexuality that the previous Daario had. This new guy is serious and subtle. The other guy was bold, arrogant, and just generally more rockstar-ish. His pitch to Dany is basically “I’m good at fighting and fucking” and with the new guy I can see her buying into the fighting part, with the other guy I can see her buying into it all.
I think he’s a good enough actor, and his big scene where he killed Mereen’s champion was great, but it’s bad casting compared to the previous Daario, who was spot on - rock-starish, as above-said. This guy is more suited to a “dashing hero” role, and Daario isn’t quite that.
I didn’t feel it was played for laughs. It was about Arya internalising the “If you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk” message.
The previous Daario, Ed Skrein, had the look; good looking but easy to hate. New Daario just seems bland. Too bad Ed got the Transporter reboot gig.
Meanwhile, major character spoilers for next season have been leaked.
It’s not definitive that they’re writing out the Iron Islanders; this could just be a partial list. But it does make you wonder. Especially since the big question on my mind so far this season is when the axe is going to fall on Balon? Melisandre and Stannis burned his leach in the fire; he has to die, but will he stick around for a longer than expected? His death kicks off the Kingsmoot over there.
