Winter is Coming (GoT is back)

[Lumine]

There are people who don't?

Despite being a fan of the Targaryens, I actually don't. While I know there are certain historical parallels and this appears to finally move the plot ahead in some regards, it always felt a bit cheap to me to have a Prince (and that particular sort of Prince) appearing literally out of nowhere while Daenerys's storyline continued to be... well, a slow mess.

Given the time constraints, number of characters and so on, I'd say it makes sense to leave that particular plotline out of the series (although of course we have no way of knowing how important he might or might not be to the end game).

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

There are people who don't?

I hate it, but then I've never liked any of the Targaryen plotlines.

[RI]

I generally like the Aegon storyline, but it's completely unnecessary to include in the adaptation.

[Enduro]

I generally like the Aegon storyline, but it's completely unnecessary to include in the adaptation.

I don't like Lannisters, except for Tyrion, and Jaimie is getting better, any storyline that's bad for Lannisters is good for me.

[dead0man]

Tywin was an excellent bad guy and so is his daughter.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Tywin was an excellent bad guy and so is his daughter.

Cersei's actually one of my favorite characters, though she's obviously a terrible person and ruler.

[dead0man]

Indeed....but I found myself rooting for her a little bit in the trailer when she's offered a choice surrender or violence and she went with violence.  Those churchy folk are bunch of c**nts.

[RI]

New trailer for season six

[Mr. Morden]

Some new clips from the early episodes of Season 6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWhysppFOQs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6sobj8azzQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlCFXpbX6eU

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Some new clips from the early episodes of Season 6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWhysppFOQs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6sobj8azzQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlCFXpbX6eU

Man, I was hoping for an Arya clip

[The Other Castro]

Some new clips from the early episodes of Season 6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWhysppFOQs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6sobj8azzQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlCFXpbX6eU

Man, I was hoping for an Arya clip

You're in luck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JnAyka8p-8&list=PLbwWsMYt-N_QyVjfGB0b-9d0dZU1cSTlx&index=1

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Some new clips from the early episodes of Season 6:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWhysppFOQs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6sobj8azzQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlCFXpbX6eU

Man, I was hoping for an Arya clip

You're in luck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JnAyka8p-8&list=PLbwWsMYt-N_QyVjfGB0b-9d0dZU1cSTlx&index=1

[Lumine]

So...

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

Great episode except for Dorne. D&D just had to make that subplot worse I guess...

[DINGO Joe]

May as well burn the books, they're way off the reservation at this point.

And HBO has somehow managed to ruin nudity too.

[Mr. Morden]

The Dorne plot makes no sense.  I get the feeling that when mapping out the story for Season 6, the writers realized that there wasn't time to keep going on the Dorne story anymore, so they wrote this in to truncate that storyline greatly.  I just can't believe that they really thought that this is where they'd be taking it back when that plot started last year (or in Season 4, if you want to count the introduction of Oberyn).

The Sansa plot also doesn't make much sense.  The Boltons had hundreds (thousands?) of horse riders, even after the battle with Stannis.  Even if Sansa and Theon survive the fall uninjured, they should barely be able to get anywhere before those riders catch up with them.  But only a handful make it to them, just a few minutes before Brienne does?  OK....

[Dereich]

I was hoping for great things from Alexander Siddig and his character....oh well. Anyone want to defend how that plotline has continued to develop?

[mvd10]

Spoilers alert


'Hey Dave the Dorne plotline sucked last year so I have an idea'
'I am listening Dan'
'Let's just kill all Dorne characters!'
'You mean all of them?!'
'No, only the ones that were well received'
'Great I'll shot it today'

Well I suppose everyone has always suspected the Melisandre thing, but to see it...

[DINGO Joe]

I was hoping for great things from Alexander Siddig and his character....oh well. Anyone want to defend how that plotline has continued to develop?

Yeah, my wife is a big Alexander Siddig fan and was quite displeased.  What's to defend? that plotline is now deader than Jon Snow King Robb. 

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Owen Teale is a great actor.  Loved how they've made Thorne an unusually complex depiction of a racist.  ShowThorne has many admirable qualities (see Watchers on the Wall) and clearly believes what he's saying (that he was forced to do something terrible to save the Watch b/c Jon left him no choice) and I like that he didn't try to pretend Jon had anything less than good intentions.  Part of why this works so well is Teale's performance.  

Anyway, the episode was a strong start, set most of the storylines up very quickly, and did so quite entertainingly.

Btw, let's not forget, Dorne was as bad (arguably even worse) in the books.  This isn't a case of "they changed it, now it sucks."  Dorne always sucked.  At least they got a semi-entertaining scene with Doran in this episode.

[dead0man]

I enjoyed it.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

Ellaria taking over Dorne is basically a stand-in for Aegon's invasion. It also explains why we see Jaime leading Tyrell armies.

What doesn't make sense to me is that supposedly Jaime in the Riverlands was happening this season? He obviously can't be two places at once so is that entire storyline going to be cut out or something? Were the reports wrong?

[Krago]

The Sansa plot also doesn't make much sense.  The Boltons had hundreds (thousands?) of horse riders, even after the battle with Stannis.  Even if Sansa and Theon survive the fall uninjured, they should barely be able to get anywhere before those riders catch up with them.  But only a handful make it to them, just a few minutes before Brienne does?  OK....

What happened to the hounds?  They were ready to rip Sansa apart, then Brienne and Pod show up and they disappear.  There wasn't any barking during that whole 'meat-and-mead' scene.

[Enduro]

I liked Sansa's escape, although it was implausible, it gave me something that I wanted to happen.

Daenerys was watchable, but boring.

Tyrion, and Jorah were underused this episode; HBO, don't let that happen the rest of the season.

Walda Bolton is going to die, Ramsey's only scene screamed "death to Walda, and her son!" It'll be a surprise, not a good or bad one, just a surprise, if her child isn't a boy.

While it did set up I expect to be an amazing plot line, I did want more from the wall, and King's Landing.

I disagree with the consensus, I really liked the Dorne twist. Made that plot line interesting for the first time since Oberyn's death. I'm looking forward to the inevitable Lannister/Martell war.

[RI]

They're obviously setting up Dorne as an ally for Dany's invasion in a very quick fashion. I didn't mind it.