Game of Thrones [SPOILERS]

[Shannow]

That escalated quickly.

[Merusk]

As soon as Jon hit Hardhome I said to my wife, "looks like this is the entire last half hour" pretty spot-on.

[Abagadro]

Definitely needed a steam-powered Gran Torino with helicopter blades on it.  Still awesome though.

[Setanta]

Friendzone just can't catch a break. I swear I'd pay to watch him play Job almost as much as I would to watch the traveling experiences of Arya and the Hound

[Tannhauser]

Just when I thought GoT was losing steam, they pull this out.  It kept going and I kept thinking "How much did this cost?"

Very well done.

[Setanta]

Agreed, it redeems the whole season. In fact I couldn't fault the entire episode.

[Chimpy]

Agreed, it redeems the whole season. In fact I couldn't fault the entire episode.

But it had zero boobs!

 

[Shannow]

Gotta give it a couple of points for Sansa actually having something good happen to her for once.

[Speedy Cerviche]

I wasn't too impressed, at least not up to the reaction it's getting... I mean it was great to see a high budget scene for TV, but I didn't like the shaky cam and quick action cuts. Maybe they had to do that to save money but it was pretty jarring.

Also some stuff didn't make sense like at one point skeletons seem to have an access way into the great hall and are pouring in against the people and giant in there but only a dozen or so do make it, chase the giant out, then they stop (conveniently leaving the place clear for Jon's fight). Also at some points the guys defending the palisade seem to be overwhelmed with skeletons pouring in over the top and various holes but then the next minute they are fine. Then finally the whole army of them jumping off the cliff didn't make sense, they woulda been smashed to pieces on the fall. We've already seen arrows, swords and axes bring down these reanimated skeletons with kinetic damage, but the impact of a 200 foot fall doesn't?

Again, good to see well done, high budget effects but I think weak writing and direction detracted from it.

[Khaldun]

I suppose you could argue that chopping limbs or heads off zombies disables them but falling keeps their bodies intact but yeah, that doesn't make much sense, given that it would pulverize their bones and muscles. Animate sacks of goo aren't very fearsome warriors. Maybe the White Walkers cast a feather fall spell.

[Chimpy]

Complaining that the unnatural don't follow natural laws naturally is kinda, well, unnatural.

[Samwise]

My only complaint about Hardhome is that, again, things are timed to coincide for dramatic convenience down to the second, just like the Jamie/snakes collision in the water gardens.  Unless Jon showing up was what precipitated the walker attack, but there was no indication of that -- it just seemed like really fortunate/unfortunate timing that they showed up the very instant Jon was starting the evacuation.  It's the sort of thing that happens in a dumb action movie.

There are worse things to be than a dumb action movie, I guess.  Overall a fun episode.

[Shannow]

Because its a fucking TV show and you know having him turn up 2 days before would be really boring? Sorry but that just seems like a dumb fucking thing to complain about.

The conversation between Tyrion and Daenerys was darn good.

[Ironwood]

bring down these reanimated skeletons with kinetic damage, but the impact of a 200 foot fall doesn't?

Slammed right into the past there.  Headfirst into my DM days.

"No, you can't fall that far with platemail on.  You're a puddle.  I don't care what your frigging DR is."

[satael]

The Hardhome fight was a spectacle and Tyrion keeps on being entertaining (especially the dialogue). Otherwise the story seems to be becoming stale (in my opinion) despite/due to too many storylines that just don't interest me for some reason.

[Rasix]

Based on their previous jumping prowess, you might expect them to leap at John's boat.   Yah, there were a lot of convenient action movie-isms in those scenes.  I liked the White Walker deciding to go non-lethal against Jon when the seemingly just go for the kill on everyone else.

It did the job.  Onward.  I liked most of what they did with the rest of the episode.

[Khaldun]

Well, I also thought the Night's King was going to freeze the waters or something--or do the ye olde Pirates of the Caribbean march across the bottom of the sea trick.

I can see it making sense to have the Walkers head for Hardhome pronto with the immiment arrival of a Stark/Targaryen--they may well have some kind of mystic alert system about the few remaining real threats they might face, and there's plenty of indications that the Starks alone may have some special role in the keeping of the North. (Isn't the 411 on the King himself that he's a Stark?). Bran, after all, is hooked up to his magic tree by now.

[Miguel]

There seems to have been much ado made about how Jon killed the White Walker with his sword, which wasn't dragon glass.  I couldn't tell if they were trying to say that his sword was special (they certainly focused on it for several shots, with the wolf head handle, right before the battle), or if it was something about Jon himself.  The King certainly spent most of the battle staring at him.

I haven't read the books, so perhaps there's some known-backstory that I'm missing.

[MahrinSkel]

Valyrian steel, forged in Dragon fire (like the Dragon Glass). In the books, it's supposed to appear irridescent.

--Dave

[Samwise]

Valryian steel is basically the equivalent of mithril in terms of how rare/important it is.  I liked the line Tyrion had about how the old Valyrians were "the best at everything".  Standard fantasy "ancient civilization that made really cool irreplaceable shit" trope.

Other Valyrian steel weapons mentioned on the show besides Jon's sword Longclaw: the unnamed dagger that was used to attack Bran (the one Tyrion had won in a bet), and Ned's sword Ice (which was reforged into Joffrey's sword Widow's Wail, and Brienne's sword Oathkeeper).  I can't remember if we know what happened to Joffrey's sword after his death.

[Merusk]

Yeah, they set that up very very poorly in the show. You've gotten almost none of the backstory on the Valyrians and the special qualities of their steel.

Hell, the best they could do to set things for this episode was replay the single clip where it's mentioned when Jon's given Longclaw in the "previously on" intro.

[Threash]

I think Samwell mentioned his father owned one also.  They are rare enough that not many people have them, but common enough that Tywin felt his family were the only major house without one.

[Riggswolfe]

Yeah, they set that up very very poorly in the show. You've gotten almost none of the backstory on the Valyrians and the special qualities of their steel.

Hell, the best they could do to set things for this episode was replay the single clip where it's mentioned when Jon's given Longclaw in the "previously on" intro.

In fairness, Jon looks utterly shocked when his sword doesn't shatter. I think that is intended to imply that even most people in the world don't understand how special Valyrian steel is.

[DraconianOne]

Game of Thrones: Wrath of the Lich King.

[Khaldun]

Actually the show has told us more in a funny kind of way about the Doom that took Valyria than the books really have, due to that one scene with Friendzone and Tyrion. I think once you grasp that Valyria was in the hottest part of Essos and it was destroyed by a Volcano, you begin to wonder if that isn't the Fire equivalent of the White Walkers--so many Dragons, so much Fire, so much magic, that it did as much damage to Valyria as the Walkers might do to Westeros. So Jon's sword doing that kind of damage makes sense not just because it's a really strong blade, but because it's one of the last things that the most Fire-oriented civilization made.

[Threash]

In fairness, Jon looks utterly shocked when his sword doesn't shatter. I think that is intended to imply that even most people in the world don't understand how special Valyrian steel is.

Hell, the damn white walker looks utterly shocked when the sword doesn't shatter.

[Merusk]

I dunno, his reaction left me a little cold.

[HaemishM]

That was an awesome fucking episode, better than anything all season. The Hardhome battle scene alone was better than the Battle of Blackwater Bay. After this and the siege of the Wall last season, it appears they really know how to use their budget wisely on the big battle scenes.

[Tannhauser]

Amen.  They turned the White Walkers from a joke into a fucking terrifying force in twenty minutes.

[Lantyssa]

From the books, owning a Valyrian steel weapon is a huge mark of prestige.  But they're a symbol that cannot be bought, and that frustrated Tywin to no end because for all their gold, they still couldn't get a hold of one.  Claiming Ice was both a huge victory for Lanister and a giant poke in the eye for Stark.

While they're considered exceptional weapons in their own right, no one really considers them more than a status symbol.  People don't much believe in magic though, because its most obvious signs had faded from the world.  The White Walkers were just a story to frighten children into behaving.  The people have forgotten, much less that all those blades probably formed the bulwark of the defense against the last incursion.

[MahrinSkel]

Actually the show has told us more in a funny kind of way about the Doom that took Valyria than the books really have, due to that one scene with Friendzone and Tyrion. I think once you grasp that Valyria was in the hottest part of Essos and it was destroyed by a Volcano, you begin to wonder if that isn't the Fire equivalent of the White Walkers--so many Dragons, so much Fire, so much magic, that it did as much damage to Valyria as the Walkers might do to Westeros. So Jon's sword doing that kind of damage makes sense not just because it's a really strong blade, but because it's one of the last things that the most Fire-oriented civilization made.

Spoilered for meming with intent

[schild]

Show went from 5/7ths being terrible to only 4/7ths. Good job db weiss. Lucky Wander Boy continues to be his best work.

[kaid]

There seems to have been much ado made about how Jon killed the White Walker with his sword, which wasn't dragon glass.  I couldn't tell if they were trying to say that his sword was special (they certainly focused on it for several shots, with the wolf head handle, right before the battle), or if it was something about Jon himself.  The King certainly spent most of the battle staring at him.

I haven't read the books, so perhaps there's some known-backstory that I'm missing.

His sword is valaryian steel aka dragon steel. Originally forged in old valaryia with some rumors of needing dragons to do the initial forging so like dragon glass it is effective vs white walkers. unfortunately the art of forging such weapons is lost and about the best anybody can do is reforge existing weapons into other weapons.

[Lantyssa]

To be fair to the smithies, it is really hard to forge a sword with dragon breath when there hadn't been any dragons around for a while.

[Paelos]

To be fair to the smithies, it is really hard to forge a sword with dragon breath when there hadn't been any dragons around for a while.

Quitters.