Summary: Ross reveals that his wedding will take place in a month and Rachel starts to freak out. Chandler gets annoyed when Joey starts snoring loudly in his sleep. Monica and Phoebe have fun wearing wedding dresses.
The Good: There was some really good stuff here. Rachel is always spectacular when she is overreacting and that was the same here. Watching her estrange Joshua was really entertaining and it was written fairly well throughout. I really liked the final joke with Rachel answering the door in her dress only for it to be Joshua instead of Chandler. I really liked how the central Rachel storyline tied into the Monica/Phoebe and Chandler/Joey storylines too. The best moments from those four characters came when they were interacting with Rachel. The Bad: The side stories felt like bland filler and didn't accomplish much. They weren't very funny on their own either. Joey talking in his sleep looked really bad and Chandler came off as an asshole at some parts of the episode. Best Moment: The "woopah" joke was really funny and was the best interaction in the episode. Character of the Episode: Rachel. Conclusion: This was another solid but unspectacular episode. It had funny moments but nothing in particular stuck with me after watching it. It seems like every season of "Friends" after the first is destined to have a stretch of weaker episodes in its back half. Hopefully this season can end on a high point. Score: 64
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Summary: Arya returns to Winterfell and meets with Sansa and Bran. Littlefinger tries to win Bran's trust but Bran reveals he knows the things that Littlefinger has done. Bran thanks Meera and she leaves. Dany and Jon grow closer as Jon shows her some cave paintings of White Walkers. Theon returns to Dragonstone and reunites with Jon who is suitably angry. Dany takes Drogon and her army and attacks Jaime and Bronn's group on the Roseroad. Bronn injures Drogon with Qyburn's scorpion. Jaime tries to attack Dany and is nearly killed. Bronn saves him and throws him into a lake.
The Good: This was an outstanding episode. There were a number of strong scenes throughout the episode culminating in one of the show's very best battles. The scenes at Winterfell were all extremely strong. Arya's return was genuinely emotional especially since she had spent 3 entire seasons wandering Westeros in an attempt to go home. Now she is finally back and it feels really good. I love the callback to season 1 with Arya having to get past two guards who don't believe that she is who she says he is. It was a nice way to bring everything together. The reunion with Sansa was a lovely moment. I love that they were both able to cast aside the past where they always bickered with each other and viewed each other as fully grown women, and most importantly, as family. I also love Arya mentioning her kill list which Sansa didn't believe only for Bran to reveal the truth. Speaking of Bran, he's more interesting than he has ever been. I thought the scene with Littlefigner was terrific. I really like the idea of Littlefinger trying to win over Bran since he is the technical heir to Winterfell now. I was intrigued by the scene all the way through, and I was genuinely surprised when Bran quoted "chaos is a ladder". Bran is a total wildcard now and I'm excited to see what else he knows. The ensuing scene with Meera was terrific too. His cold goodbye to her was sad and did a good job of demonstrating how much Bran has lost himself after last season. I also really liked Bran's awkward attempt at kindness when he gave Arya the dagger. Arya and Brienne's spar was really enjoyable. It was choreographed nicely and was a good way to show us how much better Arya has gotten at fighting after her training in Braavos. It also helped present a very real threat to Littlefinger, who may have to do something out of the ordinary to survive (see: The Unknown). The scenes at Dragonstone were also very good. I'm interested by this apparent Jon and Dany romance which was slightly hinted at last episode but I wasn't sure that they were heading in that direction. Now it seems very apparent that they are heading towards a romance. I thought the cave scene was done very well and it was nice to get the characters to bond. The reunion between Jon and Theon was very good. This season has been filled with reunions and they are all great. This one wasn't a heartfelt one but was instead very tense. Jon had plenty of reasons to be angry at Theon and it was good to see him let out the anger. I also liked Davos talking with Jon about his relationship with Dany. The "good heart" joke was funny as he is very clearly attracted to Missandei. This takes things to the battle at the end of the episode. And what a battle it was. First of all, it looked spectacular as expected. The dragon assault was awesome and the CGI looked absolutely incredible. The cinematography was wonderful too throughout the episode. I especially liked the longshot with Bronn as he struggled to get to the scorpion. It was like Jon's longshot only even more intense and chaotic. The battle works so well because there are tons of characters we care about involved. I was extremely worried that Dany, Bronn or Jaime were about to take heavy losses or even die in this battle. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and ratcheted up the tension to an insane level. Bronn firing at Drogon and Jaime charging at Dany had me speechless and completely invested. I also thought the emotions of the battle were really well done. Bronn deciding to risk his life, Tyrion watching his men die and Jaime make a foolish decision and Dany fearfully riding the wounded Drogon were all powerful moments that got a reaction out of me through all of the intense action. The Bad: I forgot to mention this in my last review, but it doesn't feel right that Tyrion was outsmarted by his siblings. After all, he has always been the smart one while Cersei has been positively stupid at times and Jaime is no genius tactician. The ending cliffhanger is a bit annoying with Jaime sinking. It's obvious he won't die from drowning. Like every battle, there were a few logic gaps here. I don't have an issue with Dany finding the army. After all they are travelling in a long line from Highgarden to King's Landing. She would be hard-pressed to miss them. The issue I do have is on how she got her army to the mainland. Yara's fleet just got decimated by Euron. So how did Dany transport an army to the mainland without boats? That makes no sense. The next major issue comes from the battle itself. I thought it was incredibly stupid that Dany burned all of the gold and the food. Logically, she would take it for herself and use it, but instead she burns perfectly good supplies. If she attacked with only a dragon, burning the supplies would be smart. But since she totally outmatched the Lannisters army, surely she would just kill them and take the food for herself. The Unknown: What happens to Jaime and Bronn now? Will they be prisoners? Perhaps Bronn will be executed? Will this Dany and Jon romance become a full-on storyline? What does Littlefinger do next? I suspect we may be hearing that he has some urgent business in The Vale that he must attend to now that he is surrounded by threats in Arya and Bran. Best Moment: There are so many moments to pick in this episode. I'll go with Jaime's final charge towards Dany. I really feared that he was about to die there. Character of the Episode: Dany. Conclusion: This episode was excellent. Tons of powerful moments capped off with a spectacular battle made this a true series highlight. Even though the way this show works has changed over the past few seasons, this episode proves that this series can still be incredible. Score: 81 Summary: Andrea and Michonne see a helicopter crash and investigate. A group comes by and the two hide but they are found by Merle. The two are taken to a community called Woodbury which is run by a man called The Governor. Both women are distrustful but The Governor convinces them to stay for a little bit. There is a survivor from the helicopter crash who leads The Governor to his group of survivors. The Governor kills all of them and takes their supplies.
The Good: This was solid for the most part. It may not have been the most exciting episode to watch (see: The Bad), but the direction that the show has chosen to go is potentially extremely interesting. I thought the scene at the site of the helicopter crash was very tense, and was the most exciting moment of the episode. I was on the edge of my seat as I was nervous that The Governor's group would discover Michonne and Andrea while also being nervous that Andrea and Michonne would do something rash since they weren't aware that everyone is infected. The ending reveal of Merle being with the group was terrific and got me pretty excited for the upcoming scenes in the episode. The reintroduction of Merle was well done and his character remains as vile and obtuse as ever, which is a certain improvement on most of the other bland characters in this show. The new characters were pretty solid too, with the highlight being The Governor. I thought David Morrissey was a good casting choice and he helped bring The Governor's complexity to light. Evidently, The Governor appears to be a sort of mirror for Rick who is another man doing his best to lead his people. But like Rick, The Governor is still living in this world and is forced to make tough choices, like the one to kill the military group to take all of their supplies. I like that The Governor has been portrayed as a grey character, and judging by the final scene, he has many more layers to him that we have yet to see. The community of Woodbury is really good. I like that the show is exploring the potential of a new community being formed in the wreckage of the world. I appreciated the small size of the community, as it felt very realistic and it didn't at all feel like a stretch that this place could exist. It makes sense for survivors to flock to a leader, and The Governor happened to be placed in charge of this community. I was pleased to learn that the walkers don't need to eat. I hope that Milton can be used to provide us some more information about walkers in the future. The Bad: This show still struggles with its characters. We have known Andrea for over 2 seasons and yet she hardly has a character. Spending an hour with an underdeveloped character like her is really dull and that hurt my enjoyment of this episode. The show also failed to meaningfully develop anyone aside from The Governor which meant that there was no character journey to make this episode a little more enjoyable. I tend to really enjoy episodes which focus on one single character and storyline, but there needs to be an emotional journey for the episode to succeed. Michonne's character was awful in this episode. We hardly know her, so this was the opportune time for us to get more acquainted with her and so we can care for her character. yet we only get one scene to characterize her which hardly tells us anything about her. So far, she is boring, unimaginative and dull. That can't be the result of a character who just had an entire episode to grow and develop. Her decision to not trust The Governor is totally unearned. Why doesn't she just agree to sit around for one day to figure out more? Surely she is smart enough to understand that if he was going to kill them, they would already be dead. The Unknown: I see some huge potential for this story. The idea that there are characters in two different communities being developed can be a really good one and it can lead to some complex emotions if both groups come into conflict. But I'm nervous that The Governor will simply be portrayed as evil for the sake of it which will sacrifice these emotions. Also, I don't trust this show to have capable enough character development to make this story work, which is a red flag. With 16 episodes in the season, I hope to see better character development, but these first three episodes haven't delivered in that regard. Let's hope for the best with this story. What other secrets are there in Woodbury? What else is The Governor hiding? What happened to his family? Why does he keep a collection of walker heads? Best Moment: Merle's return was a delightful moment. Character of the Episode: The Governor. Conclusion: This episode did a good job of introducing a new community and that was interesting. Unfortunately it didn't do much else and lacked in character development which made this a rather dull hour to watch. I like the direction this episode went, but the actual episode left a lot to be desired. Score: 57 Summary: Jon arrives on Dragonstone and meets with Dany. Dany doesn't believe Jon's claims and Jon refuses to bend the knee. News arrives of the destruction of Yara's fleet. Euron returns to King's Landing and gifts Cersei her vengeance on Ellaria. Bran returns to Winterfell and reunites with Sansa. Jorah is cured and leaves while Sam is allowed to stay. The Unsullied attack Casterly Rock but the Lannister army is gone. Euron's fleet attacks them. The Lannister army takes Highgarden. Jaime allows Olenna to die through a painless poison and in exchange Olenna reveals that she murdered Joffrey.
The Good: This was a very strong episode with a number of great scenes. The big one was Jon and Dany's first meeting. The moment felt appropriately significant and was very fun to watch. The initial introduction was hilarious as Missandei spewed Dany's 500 titles and Davos responded with "this is Jon Snow... he's King in the North". The ensuing conversation was really strong and both characters stuck to their morals while conversing. Both went in with their own ideals, Dany wanted Jon's loyalty and Jon wanted Dany to fight the dead. Dany pleasingly didn't believe Jon's claims as they do sound rather insane and Jon pleasingly did not kneel to somebody he didn't even know. Both characters are asking for things we want to see happen, but thankfully the writers show restraint and now we have to see both Dany and Jon win each other's trust. Tyrion was excellent in this episode and had several strong moments of dialogue. Tyrion and Jon's scenes were terrifically written and served as a strong reunion between two friends. I appreciated Tyrion honestly telling Jon what he thinks about the White Walkers threat, and it does a good job of making me anticipate a team-up from these characters. I enjoyed the scenes in King's Landing. Euron feels incredibly out of place in this show but I enjoy his charismatic personality too much to be bothered by it. He had some great moments in this episode too and has been one of my favourite aspects of this season. Cersei's vengeance on Ellaria was really good. I'm pleased that we weren't given any gratuitous violence surrounding how Cersei tortures Ellaria and we instead got to focus on the emotions of the scene. Cersei enjoyed getting revenge and Ellaria suffered watching her daughter get a death sentence and those were thankfully the moments we focused on. The ending strategy sequence was conveyed pretty well. I liked Tyrion talking through the plan to take Casterly Rock as it happened and the sequence was crafted well. The twist that it was the trap was pretty good and caught me by surprise. I was surprised to see Dany lose practically all of her allies in two back to back episodes but I think it is a good development overall. This forces Dany to respect Jon and win over his trust as he is her only hope for an ally now. The final scene with Jaime and Olenna was awesome (see: Best Moment). I thought Olenna's last scene was executed very well as she got a death fitting of the title "Queen of Thorns", pricking Jaime for showing her a little bit of mercy. I also appreciate the irony of Olenna dying via poison, the same way she murdered Joffrey. A few other scenes were done very well too. I was really happy with Sansa and Bran's reunion. It was a sweet moment, but it was quickly spoiled by the fact that Bran isn't himself anymore. His scene with Sansa at the Weirwood was really creepy and did a great job of making Bran feel like a more interesting character. He has been stale for a long time so this new change actually feels refreshing. The Archmaester's reaction to Sam's operation was good too. I appreciate that he gave Sam credit for performing an extremely tough operation but still punished him for breaking the rules. The Bad: Dany is too rude to Jon for my liking. Surely she understands that he is a King and should be treated with more respect than he is. Yet for some reason she slanders him at every opportunity and he sometimes does the same to her. Robb was much better at the young king business because at least he tried to carry himself like royalty while also respecting his allies. Jorah's Greyscale ended up being a bit pointless. It accomplished nothing important and only served to be a delaying tactic so he doesn't get back with Dany so quick. It's a shame as I saw some potential in that storyline. This episode really suffered from the 7 episode season. The developments all felt extremely rushed and a whole ton happened here with little time to breathe. The ending sequence felt like it could have happened over two episodes but we got it all in under ten minutes which is crazy. It wasn't a huge problem since this episode was very good overall but it could lead to issues later on. Also, Highgarden was weirdly easy to take. No siege or anything and Jaime practically just walked right inside. The excuse that Tyrells suck at fighting is nowhere near good enough to explain this. A bunch of nitpicks again with the writing. How did Euron know the method of Myrcella's death which he referenced to Cersei? There is no way he would have received word about it. Tyrion's reference to Bronn felt like blatant and unnecessary fanservice. Euron made it to Casterly Rock at a shockingly fast rate which shouldn't be possible. I was confused why everyone at King's Landing were cheering on Euron. I thought they hated Cersei. Did they already forget that she blew up the Sept? The Unknown: Has Melisandre seen her own death? Apparently she has seen Varys' too. How do they die? Will it be significant? Will Dany and Jon end up forming an aliance? Best Moment: Jaime is a good man and he showed mercy to Olenna. A kindness that Cersei never would have given. And despite that, he still ended up suffering as Olenna thanked him in the most brutal way possible. I guess showing mercy will be another mistake for Jaime to learn from. Character of the Episode: Olenna. Conclusion: This was very good. There were a lot of good scenes and the story progressed in good ways even if it felt a little rushed. This was a good return to form after the previous episode. Score: 69 Summary: Monica and Rachel try to get Joey and Chandler to trade their apartment back to them. Ross is continually upset that Emily has to go back to London and searches for a way to get to stay with her.
The Good: I thought this was pretty solid. The Ross story was the best one here. I thought his relationship with Emily came off very well and I bought into their love. The decision to marry was a big development and it had a nice comedic atmosphere to it. There were some funny moments in the other storyline too, mostly provided by Chandler and Joey. The Bad: This wasn't a particularly funny or memorable episode. It just existed. Also, the way that Monica and Rachel reclaimed their apartment was pretty silly and unrealistic even if it was moderately funny. Joey also bordered on excessively stupid, so much so that he wasn't really himself anymore in certain scenes. Best Moment: Joey telling Ross that Rachel and Monica kissed was pretty great. Character of the Episode: Ross. Conclusion: This was an average episode with some good moments. Score: 60 Summary: Dany decides to trust Varys but lets him know that she will kill him if he betrays her. Dany meets with Ellaria and Olenna and prepares a strategy. Grey Worm and Missandei openly admit their feelings. Yara and Theon take Ellaria back to Dorne on their fleet. Sam realizes that Jorah is a Mormont so he decides to help him cure the Greyscale by performing a forbidden operation. Arya runs into Hot Pie who tells her that Jon took Winterfell. Arya heads North instead and she briefly encounters Nymeria. Jon receives an invitation from Dany who wants him to bend the knee. Jon decides to go meet her and leaves Sansa in charge. Yara's fleet is attacked by Euron. The Sand Snakes are killed and both Yara and Ellaria are taken captive. Theon escapes.
The Good: I enjoyed Dany's conversation with Varys. Varys' true loyalties have always been murky and I'm glad that Dany didn't just blindly trust him. While she decides to let him live and serve her, she certainly doesn't trust him. The conversation was really strong. I also liked seeing Dany form her strategy with Olenna and Ellaria, as it was necessary to understand what she plans to do next. I appreciate that Dany doesn't intend to play to Cersei's game by attacking King's Landing and having the people of Westeros turn on her. And on the other side of that, I appreciate that Cersei and Jaime are using the foreigner card on Dany to get the people of Westeros to remain loyal. I enjoyed Sam's story on the surface. His interactions with the Archmaester remain fun and I like that the Archmaester sticks to his beliefs despite what Sam wants. I also appreciate that the Archmaester is aware of everything Sam brings up, which makes sense considering his title. I liked the idea of Sam deciding to help Jorah upon discovering his family name as Sam is still loyal to Jeor. Also, the cut from the operation to pie was terrific. Arya's storyline was really good. I was glad to see her run into Hot Pie again and it served as a good way for her to set her sights towards Winterfell instead with the intentions of reuniting with her siblings. Let's hope they aren't dead when she arrives like everyone else. The ensuing reunion with Nymeria was also great. I really liked the storytelling. After Nymeria rejected Arya, she realized that Nymeria has changed. The irony is that Nymeria likely rejected Arya because she knew she had changed as well. I am pleased with the development of Jon going to meet Dany, which should be a fantastic moment to behold even if the way to get there is a bit illogical (see: The Bad). The Sand Snakes are dead! Thank god for that, and also thank you Euron. I continue to like him and taking out the show's worst characters certainly helps with that. The Bad: Unfortunately the sea battle was very poor in my eyes. Not only did it subject us to more Sand Snakes, but the action was no good. It was hard to get engaged since we could never focus on characters we care about. And since everything was so dark and the camera cut too much, it was nearly impossible to figure out what was actually going on. Which of course makes this entire battle illogical anyways. Euron being able to locate Yara's fleet in the pitch black is simply ridiculous and a battle like this would never happen at night. It's a bit convenient that Sam can learn an advanced procedure to cure Greyscale over night with no medical experience whatsoever. Also, I wish we could learn more about what Sam is putting on the line by doing this. Has he learned enough at the Citadel? Does he care if he's thrown out, which he probably will be? We need to know what kind of consequences Sam will be facing for his decision to do this to have any drama. I wasn't happy with the Grey Worm and Missandei scene either. With only 7 episodes in this season, it feels like we really shouldn't be spending so much time with these two. If they provided something more than the required quota of nudity I would be fine with it, but there really wasn't much to see here. There were some other illogical moments here as well. So Dany decided not to talk with Varys about his loyalties until arriving in Westeros. Why wait so long? Also, Dany's plan is a little odd. Apparently she is sending her men to Casterly Rock by boat. If you look at a map, this makes no sense and a fleet would take ages to get all the way over there. I could buy into Euron getting to King's Landing if only because there was a notable timeskip between seasons, but this will take forever. Lastly, Jon's decision to meet Dany in person makes no sense. A King would never go to a meeting himself and would usually send somebody else. Jon has Davos who is literally made for a job like this, but instead he is going himself for some reason. Jon already approached Sansa about questioning him in front of everyone and yet she does it here again. To make matters worse, she stops talking once Jon gives her power like it's all she wanted by questioning him. It is actually annoying how much she pesters Jon and it doesn't fit with her character at all to behave like this. Sansa has been a character I always sympathized with, and the show is making me dislike her. Furthermore, it isn't only Sansa who is being treated poorly as a character but Littlefinger too. His conversation with Jon was so stupid and I can't imagine what he thought to accomplish by telling Jon he loves Sansa. For a master manipulator, he is uncharacteristically poor at getting people to trust him. The Unknown: Will Randyll choose to join with Jaime or will he remain with Olenna? How will Theon survive now that he is stranded in the water? Was Euron's attack intentional or did he just happen to run into Yara's fleet after leaving King's Landing? If it was intentional (which makes no sense since he wouldn't know where Yara was), does he plan to use his hostages as Cersei's gift? Best Moment: I'll go with Arya reuniting with Nymeria for its story value. Character of the Episode: Euron. Conclusion: This was an average episode with ups and downs until the final battle which condemned this episode as a weak one. But despite that, this episode feels more like a bump in the road than something genuinely concerning. Score: 55 Summary: Arya uses Walder's face and poisons all of the Freys, destroying their house. Arya heads towards King's Landing next. Bran passes through Castle Black. Jon Cersei forges an alliance with Euron, who Jaime doesn't trust. Sam adjusts to life at the Citadel which isn't treating him well. Sam sneaks into the restricted section to read books about the White Walkers. Jorah is in the Citadel. The Hound and the Brotherhood seek shelter at a house. The Hound recognizes the location from his time with Arya and is disheartened to see the family dead. Thoros shows The Hound a vision in the fire. Dany arrives on Dragonstone.
The Good: This was a solid season premiere which set up the story for the season really nicely with some welcome developments and strong moments. While this episode wasn't as skillfully written as most of the series and had inconsistencies, there were no major problems. Arya's storyline was pretty solid here. I really enjoyed the opening scene as it was a more enjoyable version of Arya's revenge on the Freys that what we got last season. It was a strong way to kick off the season and I appreciated the twist that Arya used Walder's face to kill the Freys instead of it being a flashback like I had initially expected. Arya's scene with the soldiers was a good way to give us more insight on what is on her mind now. We got a nice moment of her reflecting about Ned, while also showing how she has grown and letting us know that her current plan is to murder Cersei. It was a great showcase for Maisie Williams who conveyed these emotions spectacularly. Jaime and Cersei's scene was really good as it finally allowed Jaime to face the person Cersei has become. Cersei's lack of regard for Tommen's death was unsettling and was what I expected from her now that she has seemingly lost sight of the person she used to be. I liked the use of the floor map to serve as a quick recap of Cersei's position, and it showed that Cersei has a serious disadvantage despite being Queen. I thought the desperation of Cersei's situation was conveyed well and I bought into the idea that Cersei would turn to Euron for help. As for Euron, I really liked him in this episode. He didn't get a chance to show off his personality much last season, but here he was given the opportunity. He seems like a fun character with little regard for others and a hidden agenda of his own. I got a good laugh out of some of his taunts to Jaime. I'm very excited to see what kind of a role he will play in the show as his motives remain mostly unclear for the moment. I really liked Sam's time at the Citadel. The poop montage that opened up his storyline was tremendous with some great editing to give us an idea of what training to become a Maester is like. I also liked Jim Broadbent as the Archmaester and I like the possibly intentional Harry Potter reference with Jim Broadbent being asked about the restricted section in the library. I did like Sam making the decision to put matters into his own hands when he realized that the Maesters were not going to be of any help to his cause. Now it remains to be seen if Sam will be caught and ejected. I also loved the addition of Jorah to the storyline as it seems logical that Jorah would go to the Citadel in an attempt to find a cure to his Greyscale. The Hound's storyline was the strongest here. I loved the callback to season 4 when he encountered the father and daughter who he declared would be dead by the winter. Now he gets to see that they actually did die and in a very depressing way. It was powerful and served as a good way to show us how The Hound has matured from his time with Septon Ray. I also really enjoyed his ensuing conversation with Beric and Thoros. Beric revealing that he still has no idea why he is being brought back over and over is really good and helps put us into the mind of this seemingly immortal man. Also, Thoros introducing The Hound to the wonders of R'hllor was awesome. The Hound has always been a very pragmatic individual so to confront him with definitive proof of the supernatural in the presence of his one true fear was very smart and I thought Rory McCann did a stellar job of showing the surprise that The Hound was feeling. I also really enjoyed the artful final sequence of Dany arriving in Westeros. The sequence appropriately captured the emotions Dany would be feeling as she is finally back to her home and also did a great job of making the moment feel as important as it is. It was a great showcase of the visual production of the show too. Back in season 2 the production was never budgeted enough to showcase the beauty of Dragonstone, but now the budget is there and I really enjoyed seeing the brilliance of Dragonstone. The Bad: Most of the issues I had with this episode were just little nitpicks and inconsistencies with every storyline. First up, I was annoyed by Edd asking if Bran was a wildling, as if he wasn't going to let him through if he was. There is peace now between the Night's Watch and wildlings, so this was an illogical bit of dialogue to add unnecessary drama. I wasn't a fan of Sansa questioning Jon in the middle of everyone. Surely she would at least talk to him in private about this instead of undermining him. Having lived in King's Landing, she should certainly understand that having your men believe in you is important, yet she encourages Jon's men to question his leadership through her actions. The dragonglass discovery that Sam makes is stupid and certainly shouldn't be of any use. Why? Because Jon is with Davos who has lived on Dragonstone for years and most certainly knows about the cache of dragonglass! Also, I forgot to mention this in "The Winds of Winter" but how is Varys with Dany again when he was just in Dorne like two minutes ago? He can teleport! Finally, showing the Lannister soldiers as kind was a bit odd since all soldiers in this show have been portrayed as Some people will certainly take big issue with Ed Sheeran in this episode. Personally I don't mind it too much since he didn't really detract from my experience watching the show. Ed Sheeran was treated as just another guy and never took the focus away from the story being told. If that is the case, then it is a relatively harmless addition to the show that I certainly won't oppose in its entirety. But, I don't like the idea of celebrities being placed into TV dramas like this, regardless of what their role is. Even though Ed Sheeran didn't detract from the story, he became a major factor of discussion which is annoying. When discussing "Game of Thrones" I want to talk about the show, not Ed Sheeran. The Unknown: How do Arya's abilities work exactly? Apparently wearing a face actually gives you their vocal ability which is interesting. I would like to learn more about how these powers work but I don't think we will get an answer. I was about to put this next part in The Bad, but I had second thoughts as this may be an intentional detail. Apparently Cersei knows that Tyrion has been named as Dany's Hand. How? This may be another story inconsistency, but perhaps there is a proper answer to this. Does Cersei have a spy in Dany's group? Could Varys be loyal to her somehow? I'm not sure how that would make sense but it's possible. Who else could it be? What gift does Euron intend to bring Cersei? What does The Hound's vision mean? Will the White Walkers simply walk around The Wall? That is certainly a possibility if they freeze the sea and walk over the ice. Does that arrowhead mountain have any significance? Will Jorah find a cure in the Citadel? Will his interactions with Sam go somewhere? Best Moment: The Hound seeing the family dead in the corner was really powerful. Great storytelling. Character of the Episode: The Hound. Conclusion: While the show has certainly changed over the past few seasons, I can't deny that it is still compelling. This episode provided some very strong set-up for the season while having some powerful moments to boast as well. Score: 66 Summary: The High Sparrow, Kevan and the Tyrells gather in the Sept of Baelor for Cersei's trial. Cersei blows up the Sept and kills all of them. Tommen commits suicide in grief. Sam arrives in Oldtown. Davos reveals what Melisandre has done and Jon banishes her. Jon is declared King in the North. Bran visits the past and discovers that Jon is actually the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar. Dany secures allegiances with Dorne and Olenna. Tyrion is named Hand of the Queen. Dany finally heads towards Westeros.
The Good: This was a great season finale with a number of stand-out moments which delivered. It's a big step up from the debacle that ended season 5. The destruction of the Sept was a stellar sequence. As this show has gone on, the production has gotten better and better. With the spectacle of the previous episode and now the fantastically artistic sequence in this episode, it seems hard to imagine any other show ever pulling of cinematic feats like this. I appreciate that so much attention was given to this one moment as it was a massive event which changes the story significantly as Cersei has suddenly put herself in a position where she holds all power, getting sweet revenge on all of her enemies by blowing them up. Except Septa Unella, who she has much "better" plans for. It was in-character for Cersei to do something as crazy as this and it provided a fitting conclusion to the Margaery/Cersei feud. Margaery was great at playing the game, so to beat her Cersei destroyed the game. It's a great bit of storytelling. Also, I thought the musical piece composed specifically for this sequence was superb and darkly beautiful. Finally, I'll spare a thought for Pycelle who died a brutal death which was a long time coming. The fallout of the explosion was handled well too. I appreciated seeing Jaime come back to Cersei sitting on the iron throne, having murdered many innocents with wildfire. She committed the very crime that Jaime sacrificed his honour to prevent and I'm sure that this will lead to some big conflict between them. I enjoyed Jon's storyline too. Davos exploding at Melisandre was terrific and I really felt something for him, brought forward by Liam Cunningham's outstanding performance. He was so good here that it makes me genuinely confused why he wasn't given more time to mourn Stannis and Shireen's deaths last season. Hopefully there will be more for Davos to do next season but I'm not too sure where he goes from here. Jon being crowned King in the North was a great moment and a nice callback to Robb earning his men's loyalty back in season 1. Speaking of Jon, we finally got to know who his mother was! Of course it wasn't a particularly big surprise as many people had already pieced it together, but I still really appreciated the reveal. The cut to Jon's face with a music cue was a tremendous way to give us this reveal without saying a word of expositional dialogue. I have been hard on this show for the past two seasons for being weaker in the details, but I admit that this was exceptionally well done. I'm glad to see that Dany has made some allies in Westeros. Naturally, Cersei being on the throne has angered some of the kingdoms and so they have thrown in their lot with Dany. Gaining the allegiances of Dorne and the Reach is very big for Dany, and I look forward to the strategies which will be involved in her inevitable clash with Cersei. Also, we got some nice scenes of Olenna being Olenna which I will never complain about. I'm beyond pleased that Dany is finally heading to Westeros, and I can't wait to see what will come next season. Sam's story was brief but very good. It was nice to finally see Oldtown and the Citadel, plus it gave the show another reason to show off its lovely special effects. I really liked Sam's glee at finally having access to the library and I got a laugh out of him trying to say something to Gilly, only to excitedly shuffle away to the library. The Bad: I thought Tommen's death was a sad and powerful moment, but it was hurt by a weak follow-up to it. Namely the fact that Cersei didn't really react at all to his death. We know that Cersei values her children above everything, so why didn't we get more? Surely that story warranted a bit more focus as it could have led to a great realization for Cersei as she faces the consequences of her actions. Instead, we have been given the story that she no longer cares and appears to have completely lost it. I am fine with that story, but it needed to be built up in prior episodes, more than just some moments of foreshadowing. I wasn't happy with Dany making Tyrion her hand. What reason has Tyrion given to her for her to award him this position? Tyrion failed to rule Meereen while she was gone and caused a siege, so why does she put her faith in him? If Tyrion had been more successful and had the two of them shared more than three scenes together, this may have had greater impact. For example, if Jorah was in this scene instead it would be very emotional. Instead, we get Tyrion being made Dany's hand simply because it's a cool moment. I did not like Walder Frey's death at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see him dead but the way it happened was extremely unsatisfactory. It's very disappointing that the two men responsible for the red wedding, Frey and Roose, both died lame deaths. The problem with this death is that it made no sense. Arya left Braavos two episodes ago. Yet somehow she made it all the way to Westeros and crossed half the continent to get to The Twins. And after that she was able to easily infiltrate the place with her new abilities and murdered the Freys and took out Walder with total ease. Why should we care? This doesn't feel like a character journey for Arya at all. She just killed him and there was nothing to it. No relief, no specific satisfaction for Arya after a executing a tough job. All we are left with is "oh good Walder Frey is dead". That is nowhere near enough for the man responsible for one of the most brutal moments in TV history. Cersei was told to confess as soon as she was thrown into her cell. Did Loras not get the same option? He was broken a long time ago, so why didn't he just confess back then? The Unknown: What will Sam learn at the Citadel? Where will Melisandre go now? To Cersei? Dany? Perhaps she will secure an alliance with Dany. How will Jaime react to Cersei's actions? Best Moment: The entire 10 minute sequence of the destruction of the Sept was outstanding. The production made this really feel like one of the great TV moments. Character of the Episode: Cersei. Conclusion: This episode delivered an explosive ending to the season which changed the story in big ways and sets up season 7 very nicely. There were some issues with this, but as a whole it was tremendously exciting and exceeded my expectations. This season was thankfully a big improvement over the last but it still feels like something is missing from the show that was there before. This season was consistent and aside from "No One", there wasn't anything particularly bad about it, except the obvious flaws for each individual episode. However, the show does feel changed. This was perhaps the most eventful season to date, yet it was my second-least favourite. I believe this is because the show has run out of book material to adapt, and without GRRM's impeccable writing, the storylines have become simpler, less poignant and at times rushed. However, none of these flaws feels like they ruin the season. The biggest blessing for this show is that it has already invested me in its characters and storylines. Because of that, I still get a lot of enjoyment from these 10 episodes, and while it doesn't live up to the high standards of season 1-4, I can still say it was a good, fun season. Now with 13 episodes left, its time to see if "Game of Thrones" can have a final act that lives up to the high expectations. Score: 72 Summary: Dany attempts to get the masters to surrender. They refuse so Dany unleashes the Dothraki and her dragons on them. Tyrion brokers a peace agreement, killing the 2 head masters in exchange. Dany meets with Yara and Theon. They form an alliance. Jon and Sansa make final plans before battle. Both armies confront each other. Ramsay kills Rickon which infuriates Jon. The battle starts and Ramsay quickly gets the advantage. Littlefinger arrives with his army to turn the tables. Ramsay retreats to Winterfell but the door is broken by Wun Wun who dies. Jon defeats Ramsay and takes Winterfell. Sansa lets Ramsay's hounds eat and kill him.
The Good: Visually speaking, this was the most impressive episode that "Game of Thrones" has ever done. The assault on Meereen and the titular battle were shot spectacularly with gorgeous special effects and cinematography. I have never seen a TV show come as close to producing a movie-quality hour as this one episode. It is a tremendous feat. The spectacle in Meereen was pretty neat to watch. I will admit that it is extremely satisfying to see Dany finally living up to our expectations and conquering a city with fire and blood, which has been hyped for a long time now. I've been annoyed that Dany has taken so long to start conquering, but the wait has somewhat paid off because the moment feels much sweeter than it would have if it happened back in season 3. On the other side of the episode, the chaos of the central battle was superbly conveyed. The whole thing was an entertaining and jaw-dropping fight scene which delivered an appropriate amount of thrills and brutality. I especially loved some of the cinematography done in this battle. I really liked the camera following the arrows as they flew through the air into the battle. The sound effects were just as superb as the visuals. Better than that were the artistic shots to take us through the battle. The longshot showing Jon fighting is the battle was incredibly well done and left me really impressed at the co-ordination that it must have taken. The scene itself did a fantastic job of showcasing the brutality of battle by having Jon encounter many close calls while viciously fighting anyone that he could. The other scene I want to point out is when Jon was being trampled by his own army. It was a horrific thought conveyed perfectly as I legitimately felt claustrophobic because of the way the camera constantly showed us the rapidly moving army from the eyes of Jon who was suffering beneath all of it. The conclusion of the battle was pretty good as well. It was great to see Ramsay get his comeuppance and his brutal death was fitting for his character. It's good to finally be rid of his vile and torturous attitude. I got a laugh out of Yara subtly hinting at enjoying a wedding with Dany. A lot of the dialogue between Dany and Yara was pretty well written. The Bad: Unfortunately I found a lot of this episode to be lacking in substance. Sure, it was very pretty and exciting to watch, but there were many gaps underneath the surface. The first issues come from Meereen. The problem is that I wasn't very invested in Dany conquering Meereen. The set-up to this final confrontation was quite poor and I was never once excited for this big upcoming climax in the previous episodes. It just sort of happened, and then Dany came back to clean it up. It was cool, but what was the purpose of it? No character arcs were furthered and there was no development whatsoever. It was a fun scene but it lacked emotion and depth. Sadly it was not memorable and a few days after watching the episode, the scene has not stuck with me at all. Surely a climax like this ought to have resonated more than it did? The dealings with Yara and Dany were fine but it had one really dumb moment, and unfortunately that moment is central to the whole scene. That moment was Yara agreeing to abandon her entire way of life to suit Dany's needs. She has lived with the Ironborn her entire life yet for some reasons he thinks they will just agree to stop raiding and pillaging. Has she met them? No way that any of them agree to this. Yara would be kicked off of the salt throne in mere minutes if she goes through with this. Before I get to my qualms about the battle, I have to address the problem which has plagued this whole season. That problem is that the show has taken a liking for paint-by-the-numbers fantasy cliche scenes. The first four seasons would never have indulged in any generic scenes but this season has been full of them. It's worth noting how extremely basic this season has felt and the show has lost that morally grey feeling it had done such a great job exploring in the first four seasons. This is evidenced in this battle which is more good vs evil than any other human drama the show has done until this point. Where is the complexity of the Battle of the Blackwater or the Battle of Castle Black? I think that complexity helped make those battles feel more pivotal and special than this one. I did appreciate the dichotomy shown between Jon and Ramsay, but things like that have never been the reason why I liked this show. I don't watch this show to see a good vs evil battle, I watch it for the complex human drama conveyed through a variety of different characters in a medieval world. Speaking of generic scenes, one of the biggest ones in this episode was the Jon/Sansa shouting fight. Instead of staying true to these characters, their scene together features forced drama as both of them argue about the upcoming battle. It's hard to buy into Sansa being the one to do this with Jon considering her character arc and her lack of history in warfare, something the episode even acknowledges. Another generic scene was Sansa telling Ramsay he will die before just riding off. Such basic storytelling. This show is above things like that. The kick-off of the battle with Rickon dying was really bad. Rickon died and it left me feeling absolutely nothing. They didn't even try to make us sympathize with him or care for him. Hell he didn't even get a single line of dialogue this season! To do that and expect us to care for his death is ridiculous. And I caught the writers resorting to surprise to get a reaction out of us again to try to get us to feel something for Rickon. As I've said for the past season and a half, surprise is not an effective way of getting us to care about the scene that is being presented. We need emotion for that. Of course, Jon reacts very poorly to Rickon's death and stupidly compromises his entire strategy by charging Ramsay alone. What a stupid battle plan. Some moments in the battle didn't impress me. I was extremely displeased by Littlefinger's sudden arrival (oh look another "surprise!" moment). I hate the idea that Sansa knew about this yet she didn't tell Jon about it. Why on Earth would she keep it secret? Surely she would tell Jon and they would implement Littlefinger's army into their battle plans. It's a key asset, so use it. But instead we need a surprise, so she keeps it secret. Even dumber is the fact that Littlefinger got to Winterfell undetected. Did Ramsay leave no scouts from Winterfell to Moat Cailin? It's dumb enough for him to leave Moat Cailin unguarded, but to have no scouts whatsoever is the height of stupidity. Why should I fear this man who is a total dunce at strategy? The shield wall was a good visual moment but a very impractical one. Are we supposed to believe that every guy in Jon's group just gathered together and allowed themselves to be surrounded? Something like this would never work in real life. Men on foot would never be quick enough to surround an army. Ramsay killing Wun Wun with one final arrow was such a cartoony moment. We get it, Ramsay is evil. The Unknown: Will Yara betray Dany eventually? I sincerely hope her agreeing to Dany's terms is just to secure the alliance and not to actually follow through with it. Has Davos figured out what happened to Shireen? Maybe we can finally see him express some emotion regarding Stannis and Shireen's deaths. Best Moment: Jon being trampled by his own army was excellent. The suffocation was conveyed magnificently. Character of the Episode: Jon. Conclusion: This was one hell of a spectacle which was extremely enjoying from start to finish. But under the surface of the brilliant action, this was a poor episode filled with dumb moments and a basic layout which dampens the score significantly. Out of respect for the way this episode was put together and the fact that it was pretty fun, I won't give this a bad score but I feel like this could have been much, much better. Score: 65 Summary: Rick and co. return to the cell block with Hershel. The prisoners follow them and reveal that they have missed the entire outbreak after being locked in a cafeteria. Rick negotiates with them and agrees to help them clear out a cell block. The leader of the prisoners, Tomas, tries to kill Rick so Rick kills him and his friend. The other prisoners are allowed to live. Hershel wakes up and is alive.
The Good: I enjoyed most of this episode. It was pretty fun and continued the exciting pace of season 3, even though it had major flaws (see: The Bad). I liked the opening moments of the episode. The quick and efficient way that Rick's group dealt with Hershel losing blood and the prisoners was excellent. The pace was exciting and I liked the desperate mannerisms of the group as they struggled to get back to their cell block. The flippant way they treated the prisoners made sense as the prisoners hardly presented a threat to them and the importance of saving Hershel's life. While I had issues with the nature of the prisoner storyline (see: The Bad), I thought it led to a few terrific moments. I really liked the way that Tomas' violent nature started to slowly become apparent as he became more of a threat. It increased the tension as the episode went on and made the drama between Rick and the prisoners a lot more exciting. I thought Rick's cold murder of Tomas was fantastic and a perfect moment for him, as was him leaving Andrew to die. Rick has been hardened after killing Shane but we never knew how far he has gone. These dual kills showed us exactly how Rick's mind works now and it surprised me in a very good way. With Rick being smarter and more ruthless, it will likely make it tougher to pressure him, meaning that the drama this season should be more enjoyable than the slow and dull drama that occupied much of season 2. The scenes with Lori and Rick were quite good too. Their changed relationship is much better than what we got last season and I think that Lori's lack of likability actually works here by putting us firmly in Rick's corner and making it clear that Lori deserves what happened to her. This in turn makes us sympathize more with Lori by seeing her suffering so much. While I don't like Lori's character yet, this is an effective start to rehabbing her. Hershel's story was very good too. I thought Lauren Cohan was outstanding as she cried over Hershel and told him that he can die and be at peace. The acting carried the scene and brought out some genuine emotion regarding Hershel's relationship with Maggie. I also really enjoy the contrasts with how Maggie and Beth respectively dealt with Hershel's condition. The final moments where Hershel woke up and is alive were very good and I'm glad that we got a little bit of hope in this miserable world to keep the survivors going. We need moments like these for the depressing nature of the story to not get too grating. I liked the idea of Carol practicing surgeries on walker bodies. It was a fittingly grim moment that blends perfectly into the show. The Bad: The idea that the prisoners lived in that cafeteria for a year, not knowing that the world ended is a massive reach which I don't buy at all. It's a stupid idea that removes a lot of credibility from this world. Furthermore, it's frustrating how long it takes Rick and co. to tell the prisoners what happened to the world. It's not interesting and feels like stalling. Also, the dialogue from the prisoners is quite bad and does a very poor job of characterizing them. Yes, even though this season got off to a good start, the show is still failing to do characterization and character development. It's disappointing and I get the sense that the show may still fail to hit the next level without good character work. How dumb was it when the prisoners attacked the walkers? They had been told several times to aim for the heads, yet none of them listened. This was way too unbelievable, especially since every prisoner did this, and since Rick must have told them three or four times to go for the head. Lori is seriously still not watching over Carl. Man, I'm with Carl on this, because Lori really needed to discipline the kid so he wouldn't just go off whenever he feels like it. She is still a terrible parent. Sure she admits to it, but at least make her try to improve her parenting skill. The Unknown: Can we trust the two surviving prisoners? Who was watching Carol from the forest? Is it a new threat? Best Moment: Maggie crying over Hershel was a great scene. Character of the Episode: Maggie. Conclusion: In terms of pacing and excitement, this was a good follow-up to the season premiere. But the prisoner storyline is built on a really weak foundation and fails to provide enough emotion and character development to justify its existence. While this episode doesn't mean that the rest of this season will be poor, it's definitely a worrying sign. Score: 60 Summary: Jaime speaks with Brienne who wants to get Blackfish to surrender. Blackfish refuses to do so. Jaime sends Edmure into Riverrun, who convinces the soldiers to open the gates. The Lannisters take Riverrun and Blackfish dies. Brienne escapes. Tommen decrees that Trial by Combat is no longer a valid trial to Cersei's detriment. The Hound meets up with the Brotherhood and joins up with them. The masters attack Meereen with their forces but Dany returns in the nick of time. Arya goes to Lady Crane to heal. The Waif kills Lady Crane and chases Arya. Arya manages to kill her and finally escapes Braavos.
The Good: Some developments were really good. I liked The Hound reuniting with the BWB. We haven't seen Beric and Thoros in ages, and it's nice to catch up with what they have been up to. Presumably they will have a large role to play as the series approaches its climax. The dialogue between them and The Hound was really good as expected and I like that The Hound chose to join them, having lost his purpose when Septon Ray's community was murdered. A lot of the scenes during the Riverrun siege were very well done. I liked Jaime and Brienne's conversation as they interacted as both friends and enemies in battle trying to follow their own paths. I liked their conversation even though it didn't really amount to much (see: The Bad). Better than that was Edmure and Jaime's conversation. The acting was stellar from Nikolaj Coster Waldau and Tobias Menzies who both put in great work with the dialogue they were given. I thought that this was a terrific scene for Jaime who once again reverted to being the man he pretends to be in order to come off as cold and menacing instead of the good man that we know him to be. I like that Jaime turns to this personality to get what he wants and it was a good way to show that Jaime doesn't care about what other people think about him. He will do the right thing in whatever method necessary no matter the cost, just like he did when he killed the Mad King. Some other small things were pretty good. Tyrion's jokes were pretty funny and I liked that we got some jokes which are specific to the world of Westeros. I also loved the callback to Tyrion getting interrupted at the Eyrie back in season one. The reveal that Trial by Combat is banned is a significant development that puts Cersei back in danger which adds more drama to the King's Landing storyline. While I didn't like how it happened, I'm glad that Arya has finally left Braavos. That story was starting to drag after taking nearly two seasons to resolve itself. I like Blackfish's armour. It looks like fish scales which is really cool. The Bad: Arya's storyline in Braavos was terrible television. I felt like I was watching a really bad action movie throughout all of it. To start, The Waif is out of character and stupid as the villain. I forgot to mention this in the previous review, but The Waif's method of attacking Arya was stupid. Instead of slitting Arya's throat and quickly killing her, The Waif lets her suffer which is exactly what Jaqen ordered her not to do. Then she somehow knows that Arya survived the stabbing, which is totally implausible. And then after that The Waif slowly goes after Arya, losing sight of her and refusing to kill her like an incompetent murderer, not a trained assassin. As ridiculous as that is, nothing is dumber than Arya somehow moving around so easily despite having been stabbed multiple times in the last episode. It's implausible, unrealistic and saps the scenes of any tension they could have had. It's genuinely terrible. Worse than this is how it makes the Faceless Men appear like an idiotic organization. Arya used her wit to kill The Waif, yet somehow in Jaqen's eyes that makes her no one? Really. Then what was the point of all the other training she was doing if all she had to do was murder The Waif. Also, Jaqen looks like a fool for investing so much time in Arya only to let her leave without a fight or anything, allowing her to do what she pleases. He even smiles! It's beyond stupid and undermines any credibility the Faceless Men had. Tyrion's story has been really disappointing this season. I have enjoyed the dialogue, but I'm incredibly disappointed that it all led nowhere. The Tyrion/Missandei/Grey Worm stuff has led absolutely nowhere and failed to pay off of the time spent on it. Furthermore, I was really annoyed by Tyrion being wrong about the masters. If he can't do his job right, what is the point of him even being there? The whole storyline felt like a waste of a great character. The end of Riverrun's siege ended up being underwhelming too. While it led to some good scenes, nothing really happened. Nothing has changed for any character and the whole storyline feels like filler. Jaime, Brienne and Bronn did nothing productive at all and we learned noting new. The only thing that happened is Blackfish died, but he hadn't done anything since season 3 so his death made hardly any difference. The fact that such a big siege happened and had no bearing on anything is really poor. Tommen's motivations are bizarre. Why would he make life so difficult for Cersei doing a trial? He does realize that if Cersei is guilty, Tommen's claim to the throne is gone right? Surely Margaery wouldn't allow him to do this either as it will make her lose all of her power. The Unknown: Where is Varys going? What did Cersei have Qyburn investigate? Apparently there was more than she expected which is likely good for her. It's just a question of what she is referring to. Where are the BWB heading? What is their current goal? I've noticed that the nature of the show has changed this season now that they have left the books behind. The show doesn't feel quite like itself anymore and it feels like there is much more treading water in the plot than there used to be. Because of that, the show doesn't grip me the way that it used to. I won't call it bad because I'm still enjoying the show and I think this season has been better than season 5, but it is something I've noticed. Best Moment: Jaime and Edmure's conversation was great. Character of the Episode: Jaime. Conclusion: Some things were good in this episode, but other things were really bad. Sadly, the bad outweighs the good for this episode. However, things are still looking good for the final two episodes, and hopefully this season won't end in total disaster like season 5. Score: 55 Summary: Rachel goes on a date with Joshua and is hoping that they get to have sex. Joey and Chandler debate on whose name is a better name for Phoebe's baby. Emily and Susan become friends but Ross becomes paranoid that Emily will turn lesbian.
The Good: This was a really fun episode with a pleasing pace featuring exciting storylines. Ross was terrific at conveying his usual paranoid self and I thought that his fear of Emily becoming a lesbian made sense based off of his past experiences and with how paranoid he always is. I also liked that we got a funny explanation for why Ross was always so nervous around Mark as he has become scarred by what Carol did to him. I appreciated it being mentioned and it led to a number of funny lines. Rachel's story was really good too. Rachel is at her best when she is being humiliated and I think that Jennifer Aniston does a terrific job of getting laughs out of her embarrassment, almost as good of a job as David Schwimmer which is high praise. Rachel has been great this season and continued to deliver in this episode. The Bad: The Phoebe/Chandler/Joey storyline isn't particularly good or memorable. Not many lines were witty and there wasn't enough humour to make it justifiable. These 3 characters' best moments were when they interacted with Ross and the others. Also, isn't it pretty mean for Chandler and Joey to manipulate Phoebe into naming her baby after one of them? That's a bit much, and I feel like Joey went too far by insulting Chandler's name just for this. Best Moment: Phoebe suddenly declaring that she hates the name Ross and Ross' response (what a weird way to kick me while I'm down) was a perfect moment. Character of the Episode: Ross. Conclusion: This was 2/3 of an excellent episode with Ross and Rachel's stories delivering but the C-story hurts the score. Despite this, it's still another really funny and well-written episode of "Friends". Score: 70 Summary: The Hound has survived and is part of a community led by Septon Ray. Ray tries to get The Hound to enjoy a peaceful life, but that is ruined when Ray and his community are murdered by thugs from the Brotherhood. The Hound seeks vengeance. Margaery is still loyal to her family and sends Olenna back to Highgarden for her safety. Jaime confronts Blackfish and wants a parley. Blackfish refuses the offer. Theon and Yara arrive in Essos on their way to meet Dany. Jon, Sansa and Davos travel around the North recruiting the loyalty of the smaller houses. They end up with less men than they were hoping for. Arya tries to flee Braavos but is surprise attacked by The Waif. Arya escapes but is mortally wounded.
The Good: This was another strong episode of set up and things are now very nicely placed for the end of the season. Last season was pretty rushed by its end with too many things to accomplish by the season's end and that resulted in the season ending in a total whimper. This season didn't over-extend itself like the last and looks to be heading towards a much more focused and satisfying conclusion. The story of The Hound's return was really well done and carried this episode. I thought the opening teaser was very well done and made for a terrific reveal of The Hound. I wasn't expecting anything like that this late in the season, so it delighted me and got me excited to see how his character will return to the overall story and who he would side with (see: The Unknown). Though the story could have used a few episodes to have a greater impact (see: The Bad), I thought it served its purpose well as a small self-contained story of how The Hound almost got to live out his days quietly, only for the cruelty of other's to bring him back to his violent nature. The story was told well and the presence of Ian McShane as Septon Ray added some extra charm to it. I was glad that there were several lengthy scenes dedicated to The Hound's return, making his story arc feel worthwhile whereas a rushed storyline would just come across poorly. The scenes in King's Landing were very good once more. It was good to get a better idea of how Margaery planned to go about her future. She hasn't abandoned her family and clearly still cares for Olenna and Loras, but she is still bent on climbing her way back up the ranks before she does anything to remove her enemies. I was glad to get plenty of Olenna in this episode, as she was as terrific as ever in two excellent scenes with Margaery and Cersei. Jon and Sansa's storyline was really good too and they made something special out of their attempts to gain the loyalty of the other northern houses. Jon's awkwardness was great as he had never been groomed to do any of this "lord" business being a bastard. He was simply improvising using experience from the Night's Watch and failed to be convincing on a number of occasions. Sansa had more promise, and I particularly loved her sternly reminding Lord Glover of his loyalties, showing that she has learned at least a little bit about getting people to do what she wants. But both of them were evidently quite poor at doing all of this, and so the much more experienced Davos had to step in to assist them by doing what he's best at. I loved the way he played to Lyanna Mormont's character and managed to convince her to send her men to Jon's cause. Speaking of which, I thought that Lyanna Mormont and Lord Glover were very good side characters. They had specific personalities and made logical decisions when accepting/refusing Jon's request for loyalty. The Riverrun scenes were pretty good. Jaime shined as we got to see a combination of the kind-hearted man we have come to know and the witty prick that he pretends to be. His leadership was great and I appreciated his attempt to get Blackfish to parley only for Blackfish to put him in his place and refuse to surrender. Theon and Yara had a really good scene as well. I was glad to see that Theon is still struggling to find himself after everything Ramsay did, and I liked seeing Yara help him return to the man he used to be. Theon's discomfort in the brothel was exquisitely acted by Alfie Allen and conveyed his struggle in a way that made it very easy to sympathize with him. Theon's like a recovering alcoholic now, a man who is suffering but knows he has to go through it to get better. Lastly, I like the development that Theon and Yara are heading to meet with Dany. It's a rare treat for us to see Dany interacting with Westerosi characters. Let's hope Theon and Yara make it to Meereen alive. The Bad: The Hound's story would have been better if we had an episode or two before he lost his new home. With it being a single episode story, it feels like almost unnecessary and doesn't carry the emotional weight it could have had otherwise. I found Arya's stabbing to be quite poor. Surely she would be a bit more careful knowing that the Faceless Men would be after her to kill her. But instead she walks around without a care in the world and gets stabbed for her foolishness. I can hardly buy that Arya even survived that (a similar stab wound almost immediately killed Talisa), but to have her jumping into the water, swimming and then walking around while bleeding so heavily is just absurd. Did none of the lords bring up how odd it that Jon is even int heir presence to begin with? Surely they would be more suspicious about why the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch suddenly deserted his post. Or do they know that Jon came back to life and they just don't care, because nobody else seems to be acknowledging how insane that is. The Unknown: Why is The Hound alive? Does he actually have a purpose for being back like Jon, or is he just lucky? Who will he side with now that he has nowhere to go? What is Margaery's plan? Does she plot to take out the sparrows? Take out Cersei? Both? Or does she plan to cement her position a little more first? Will Dany accept Theon and Yara's proposal or will she refuse them? Best Moment: I really liked Sansa reminding Lord Glover of his pledge of loyalty, only for Lord Glover to rebuke her viciously. Character of the Episode: The Hound. Conclusion: This certainly won't be remembered as one of the show's best episodes, but I thought this was pretty good with several stories getting the time they needed to deliver. Another solid episode. Score: 66 Summary: Bran and Meera are saved by an undead Benjen in their escape. Sam takes Gilly to his family's home. He tries to keep Gilly's wildling heritage a secret but it gets out. His father tells him to leave and that he will never be allowed back. Sam prepares to leave and decides to take Gilly with him at the last moment. Arya follows through with assassinating Lady Crane but stops at the last second. Arya escapes and tries to leave. The Waif reports this to Jaqen who is disappointed. Jaime and Mace confront the High Sparrow to stop him from going through with Margaery's walk of atonement. However, the High Sparrow reveals he never intended to since Margaery converted Tommen to the sparrows' side. Jaime is relieved of his position in the Kingsguard and sent to besiege Riverrun. Drogon arrives at Dany's location, completely winning the loyalty and support of the Dothraki.
The Good: It was nice to see Sam's family. The scenes were good for the most part and I was pleased that Randyll Tarly lived up to being the monster that Sam said he was. The conclusion of the storyline was pretty great as Sam continues to showcase his newfound courage by escaping with Gilly and taking the family sword along with him in hilarious fashion. I really enjoyed the developments in King's Landing. The reveal that Tommen had joined forces with the sparrows was a legitimate surprise to me and I thought it was a terrific twist. Margaery is extremely charming and opportunistic, and she saw an opportunity to gain even more control. After some well-timed moves she has gained total control over Tommen and the sparrows, while also being beloved by the people. She has made the best out of a bad situation and positioned herself to be more unstoppable than ever. It was a perfect example of the political scheming that made me fall in love with this show to begin with. I'm really excited to see how the sparrows will be stopped since they have gained an insane amount of power. Arya's storyline was really good and it appears that her Faceless Man training has ended. Arya tried to swallow her emotions and kill Lady Crane, but she failed. She saved Lady Crane but it appears that she may pay the price for this. Even though she has escaped, Jaqen has sent the Waif against her, and with her face-changing abilities, you get the sense that Arya will never be safe no matter where she goes. This should lead to a really exciting and tense cat and mouse game to span out the rest of the season. I was glad to see Walder Frey again. I had almost forgotten about his awfulness. He has sat in power for a long time, and is still abusing his children unsurprisingly. I do hope that the siege of Riverrun goes badly and that Blackfish marches straight to the Twins and executes him but that may be hoping for too much. I am intrigued by Edmure being brought back into the story. Would the Tully heir be enough for Blackfish to surrender to the Freys? Also, Jaime is heading to Riverrun, so this siege may end up being more important and climactic that it initially seemed. I am excited to see what happens. The final scene with Dany rallying the Dothraki was pretty good. It wasn't anything new, but it was good to know that the Dothraki know exactly what they are getting into by supporting Dany so they aren't just blindly following her. Dany's speech was very good and it made sense that the Dothraki would follow her after that. The Bad: I'm still annoyed that we haven't been given more information about the sparrows. Apparently they have the support of the people, which doesn't make sense to me at all. last we saw, they were ransacking the city in search of sinners, so how did the people start supporting them? We need to see developments like these occur instead of having the people be loyal to whomever when the plot demands it. We spent a bit too much time with Sam for my liking. His story didn't need to get so much focus, especially since we didn't learn anything important by seeing the Tarly household. It's a fine side story, but it shouldn't be given more time than every other storyline in the episode. It's awfully convenient that Dany says she needs 1000 ships an episode after Euron announces that he will make a thousand ships. The Unknown: What were Bran's visions while Meera dragged him away? I saw the Mad King in there which is interesting. What will Bran learn next in the past? Also, we finally saw Benjen! He was apparently made into an undead by the Children, and has resided beyond The Wall. What is his purpose? Does he fight the White Walkers? Where does he live? How does he survive? Cersei's trial is coming and Jaime has left. While Cersei has The Mountain and is confident, this show has trained me not to expect that to go well. I get the sense that something is going to happen to prevent Cersei from using The Mountain in her trial. But now the question is, what will happen? Best Moment: The reveal that the Faith have allied with the Crown was really well done and caught me off guard. Character of the Episode: Margaery. Conclusion: While this was a really quiet episode, the developments were good and there weren't any major issues with this. It was an enjoyable episode throughout. It was around this time that season 5 started to sharply decline in quality. This season has had very strong set-up, so hopefully we can have a stronger climax this time around. Score: 66 Summary: Sansa meets with Littlefinger and refuses to accept his help out of anger. Jon, Davos and Sansa plot to turn the Northern houses against the Boltons to gain an army. Arya gets a second chance to prove herself. She discovers the woman she has been assigned to kill. Theon supports Yara in the Kingsmoot. Euron suddenly arrives and wins the approval of the Ironborn, becoming king. Theon and Yara escape with a fleet. Jorah reveals his Greyscale to Dany who orders him to get better. Jorah leaves to find a cure. Bran uses his powers alone and accidentally gives the Night King access into the cave. The wights attack and the Three-Eyed Raven and the Children all die. Hodor holds a door so Meera and Bran can escape. In the past, Hodor interacts with Bran and witnesses his own death, rendering him unable to speak anything other than "Hodor" a slur of "hold the door".
The Good: This was an excellent episode, focusing on just 4 primary locations which allowed each of the storylines enough time to breathe and get the most emotional impact out of what happened. Sansa's confrontation with Littlefinger lived up to my expectations. I'm really glad to see that Sansa despises Littlefinger for what he did and that she is smart enough to not fall for his tricks again. I liked the contrast with the last time Brieen, Sansa and Littlefinger met together as Sansa is now in full control and firmly trusts Brienne as opposed to Littlefinger. This time it isn't Brienne who is threatened, but rather it's Littlefinger, which is a good way to show progress in Sansa's story. I also like the idea that Jon, Davos and Sansa are turning to getting loyalty back from the North in order to get an army to defeat the Boltons. It makes sense and should lead to some good development as Jon and Sansa will get a good chance to prove their mettle as leaders by attempting to gain fealty from the other houses. Arya's story in Braavos was really good and allowed us to realize that Arya will never properly be no one as aspects of who she was will always haunt her. The play showcasing the War of the Five Kings was a great way to show this as she is visibly upset by the portrayals of Ned and Sansa which remind her of her past and her desire for vengeance. She has swallowed those emotions for now, but they will never truly be gone. I really enjoyed that play as well. It was a perfect example of Medieval comedy which provided a very enjoyable and jokey retelling of the war that has happened. The Ironborn have never been more interesting than they were in this episode. The Kingsmoot was very enjoyable to watch and I liked that the Ironborn followed power, sort of like the Dothraki which fits what we have learned about them over the seasons. I appreciated Yara's claim to the throne and I thought Theon's conflict was staged terrifically. He could have tried to claim the throne for himself and people would have followed him, but he finally makes the right choice and stands by Yara's side. But naturally Euron had to come and ruin everything as he took total control by using his experiences around the world as an advantage. I liked the crowning quite a bit. We have seen precious little of how the Ironborn operate, so to learn more about their religion and the Drowned God was very welcome. I thought Euron's "rebirth" to become king fit the religion very well and was a lovely bit of world-building. The few scenes across the Narrow Sea were pretty good. I really liked Kinvara's appearance. She hinted at the truth about Varys' mutilation which really interests me (see: The Unknown), and also allowed Varys to display his hate for magic again. Dany's farewell to Jorah was a touching scene and it effectively conveyed all of the emotions we should be feeling about Jorah with his Greyscale. Bran's story was the best part of this episode. The set-up for the wight invasion was really tense, particularly with Bran walking through the army of wights. It became genuinely scary when the Night King noticed his presence and the wight army all started looking at him. After that, the wights arrived surprisingly quickly, so fast that it totally caught me off guard. This led to the extremely exciting ending sequence as the wights raided and the situation looked extremely dire. The action was great and the scene had me at the edge of my seat the whole time. Then there was that heartbreaking ending sequence which delivered in a big way. Hodor's death was really surprising and I was downright stunned by what caused him to say "Hodor" for the rest of his life. The concept that Hodor had his whole life ruined by Bran because Bran needed him to keep a door closed to save his own skin is an awful fate, and to live one's own life whilst knowing how they would die is a real curse. The reveal of the origin of Hodor's name combined with his tragic death made for a really emotional gut-punch to end the episode. The final sequence had to be one of the very best moments of the show, and certainly the saddest. The Bad: Littlefinger can apparently teleport now. How did he get to Molestown so quickly when he was in the Eyrie an episode ago? Also, how did his army set up camp at Moat Cailin? Did Ramsay stupidly leave the place undefended? That's downright unbelievable. The reveal that the White Walkers were made by the Children is really significant. But it was so rushed and didn't seem to serve much of a purpose aside from providing an explanation, and a vague one at that. I want to learn more but I don't think we will which is really disappointing. Furthermore, the Three-Eyed Raven was a total disappointment. We spent seasons building up to Bran meeting him and he really didn't do much. He was just a device to get Bran to gain the time-travelling ability and immediately afterwards he was killed. The Unknown: I have tons of questions from this episode. Will Blackfish enlist his army to help Jon? Will he be able to head north in time? Hopefully he doesn't simply teleport like Littlefinger. Euron's decision to go after Daenerys is a huge deal. Will she accept an alliance with him? She has been looking for friends in Westeros so Euron's offer may entice her. But I can comfortably say Euron is not a good person, so is he trustworthy? Will he betray her? Also, I'm curious about Euron's crowning ceremony. Has a king ever died in that ceremony before? Where are Theon and Yara going to go with their fleet? So what was the voice that talked to Varys? What did it say? Is this important? I sure hope it is. I want answers. So it's been confirmed that Bran can interact with the past. What else has he actually done? I'm sure that Hodor isn't the only instance of Bran interacting with the past. What other significant events has he been involved in? Will the wights still catch up with Meera anyways? Hodor can only hold them off for so long, and Meera can't possibly be as fast as Hodor was at pulling Bran along. Best Moment: The final scene inter-cutting between Hodor's death and Wylis having a seizure was extremely sad. Heartbreaking stuff. Character of the Episode: Hodor. Conclusion: This was a terrific return to form. A strong episode with good storylines focused on character which was capped off by a tense climax with a heartbreaking ending. What more can you ask for? Score: 76 Summary: It's time for Emily to go back to London and Ross is sad she has to go. Monica convinces Ross to tell Emily that he loves her. Chandler and Joey get free porn on their TV and are afraid to turn it off. Phoebe learns that she will have triplets and scrambles to help Frank Jr. and Alice make money.
The Good: This was a pretty good episode, unspectacular but certainly not bad. Ross and Emily's love story was pretty good. I liked the sweet moments between them and the "thank you" gag was a really good one that paid off nicely in the end. There weren't any huge laughs, but I enjoyed watching it and there were enough small laughs to make it worthwhile. Chandler and Joey's porn story is a creative idea and it leads to a couple funny moments. Phoebe's attempt to help Frank and Alice was good and it fits her character as one who would do anything to help her friends, ridiculous as it is. The Bad: The episode just isn't that funny though. The porn story isn't as funny as it should be and most of the laughs are a variation of the same joke. Best Moment: Ross replying "thank you" to Emily confessing her love for him was a great continuation of that joke. Character of the Episode: Ross. Conclusion: This was a solid episode which was fun to watch with some good moments. It wasn't particularly funny or memorable but I liked it. Score: 65 Summary: Jon prepares to leave Castle Black but is stopped when Sansa arrives. Sansa tells Jon that they need to get the Boltons out of Winterfell but Jon is skeptical. He changes his mind when he receives a letter from Ramsay who lets him know that he has Rickon and wants Sansa back. The High Sparrow allows Margaery to visit Loras. Tommen tells Cersei that the sparrows plan to make Margaery do the walk of atonement. Olenna and Kevan ally with Cersei and Jaime to take out the sparrows. Littlefinger returns to The Vale and gets Robin to send his army to help Sansa. Theon wants to help Yara claim the throne. Ramsay kills Osha. Tyrion strikes a deal with the masters at Meereen but Grey Worm and Missandei aren't pleased. Dany murders the Khals at Vaes Dothrak, gaining the respect of the Dothraki.
The Good: Jon and Sansa's reunion was awesome. It's hard to believe that there hasn't been a single reunion since season 1, and I think the extended time that the Starks spent apart from each other helped make this moment mean an absolute ton. It was genuinely heartwarming to see Jon and Sansa with family again, and their interactions as they caught up with each other again were terrific. Tyrion's story was great as usual. I really liked him treating with the masters of Yunkai and Astapor in peaceful ways, trying his best to come to a mutual understanding, something which Dany never even considered. It's a good way at showing how useful Tyrion would be as an advisor as his experience helps him understand that to rule a kingdom, you need to make peace and not war. I appreciate that Missandei and Grey Worm don't agree with Tyrion's mindset as they have no reason to trust him and their character arcs have given them no reason to have a desire for peace with the masters. I like the conflict between them and I'm excited to see where the storyline goes, and if Tyrion may end up making enemies in Meereen. Dany's storyline was very good for the most part and it was the best way to end a storyline which didn't really serve too much of a purpose. Jorah and Daario infiltrating Vaes Dothrak was a fun storyline carried by the characters' interacting with clever dialogue and the tense scene of them dealing with the Dothraki who discovered their presence. I also really like the way Jorah accidentally revealed his Greyscale to Daario. The final scene was pretty good and was a strong moment for Dany who proved to understand the Dothraki really well as she killed their Khals, leaving them no choice but to follow her after this great display of strength. It was great to see Littlefinger again after a pretty lengthy absence. I really enjoyed the way Littlefinger turned the tables on Lord Royce by accusing him of betraying them after he was threatened for giving Sansa to the Boltons. Littlefinger continues his reputation as a great manipulator in impressive ways. I also love the detail that Littlefinger has charmed Robin so much that Robin will just listen to every word that he says. The scenes in King's Landing were very good. I liked the High Sparrow's speech to Margaery as he revealed more of his backstory and how he began to embrace his sin. It was a powerful speech and continued to characterize the High Sparrow in good ways, as he remains a decent man despite the terror his sparrows are causing. Margaery's moment alone with Loras was pretty chilling as Loras clearly hasn't had it as easy as her due to the nature of his sins. Loras' tears was a good moment and continues our hatred of the sparrows. The other storylines were fine. I liked Ramsay's swift murder of Osha, a refreshing change from his usual ways. I appreciate that Ramsay recognized a threat in Osha and dealt with her immediately instead of leaving her alive. Additionally, I like that the writers recalled how Theon would likely have told Ramsay about Osha, which was a very good reason for him to not trust her. Yara and Theon's reunion was pretty good and I like that Theon wants to help her get the crown after Balon's death. The Greyjoy storyline is set up well, so let's hope it ends up being better than the debacle that was Dorne. The Bad: There were some missed opportunities at The Wall. I was disappointed that we didn't see Sansa learn about Jon's resurrection. I was also perplexed by the idea that Sansa wouldn't really care about the fact that Jon died and came back. She has never seen any magic before now, so surely she would be more shocked. I also thought that Brienne's reveal that she killed Stannis was a bit awkward and out of place. It didn't lead to anything and there was something a bit odd about the way she was written that didn't sit well with me. I also feel that the Davos and Melisandre scene should have happened much, much earlier as Davos has now spent a long time seemingly ignoring the fact that Stannis died. The coming war against the Faith Militant hasn't engaged me in the way that it should. This is because we have absolutely no idea how big of a threat they are. I was under the impression that they weren't too big of a problem, but the meeting in this episode apparently suggested otherwise. It also makes Olenna and Kevan look foolish for not cooperating with Cersei if the Faith were such a big threat. Well whatever way it is, the issue still stands because I still don't know how much of a threat they are. Do they have friends in the capital? How many are there? How much control do they have? How many forces do Olenna and Kevan have? We need answers to these questions for the coming drama to mean anything. This next paragraph isn't a knock on this episode specifically but on the show as a whole. I've wanted to delve into Ramsay's insufficiencies for a while now, and I think now is a good time to tackle it. Ramsay has disappointed me so far and I really feel like I have to get into why he isn't delivering for me as much as Joffrey did. For one, Ramsay is too shallow. Joffrey had more to him than his sadistic ways, and he was so loathed due to the fact that he was weak and never deserved his position of power. The horrible thing was that anyone could kill Joffrey, but nobody did because his position of king saved him. That increased our hate of him exponentially. Ramsay does not have these layers. He is just a generic bad guy who happens to torture people. And the torture isn't effective because it is shown too much. I have grown almost numb to torture in this show and that prevents me from hating Ramsay like I should. Joffrey's sadism was shown in bursts, making it effective in disgusting me, but Ramsay's villainy doesn't exhibit this trait, and it exhausts me instead of disgusting me. Furthermore, Joffrey's acts were never done solely to make us hate him more. It accomplished other necessary story beats while also making us despise him. So many things have been done with Ramsay with the sole purpose of making him more vile, including sacrificing entire characters and storylines to just make us hate this guy even more. It's not effective storytelling and makes hate Ramsay's character. I loved to hate Joffrey, but I just want Ramsay off my screen. Iwan Rheon's great acting is being wasted on his character. It was awfully convenient that Ramsay declared war on Jon right as he decided to stop fighting. It was a bit too easy of a way to get Jon to go to war against the Boltons. Dany's Khal murder was played for surprise, which unsurprisingly didn't please me. I've been vocal on my displeasure with the show's drift towards wanting to shock us and I stand by that here. I think it would have been more dramatic for us to see Dany set up for this murder instead of it just happening suddenly. I don't know how Dany was able to sneak flammable material into the building with nobody knowing. The Unknown: Does Tormund like Brienne? Oddly enough, I have no problem with that. Best Moment: Jon and Sansa's reunion was very emotional and satisfying. It was a scene six seasons in the making. Character of the Episode: Dany. Conclusion: This was flawed, like all the other episodes this season. However, there was plenty to enjoy here and I think a lot of the scenes delivered to make this a really good episode. Score: 66 Summary: Winter has passed and the group are surviving by going house to house. They come across a prison overrun by walkers. Rick wants to take the field outside and the group is successful in doing so. Rick continues to push forwards and the group find a habitable cell block. Rick continues to push forwards into the depths of the prison with a smaller group. The group is attacked and separated by walkers. Hershel's leg is bitten. The group get back together and find a safe room. Rick amputates Hershel's leg. The group finds survivors in the prison. Andrea and Michonne travel on their own. Andrea isn't well.
The Good: This was an excellent season premiere. This kind of episode is exactly what I've wanted from "The Walking Dead" and it has made for the best episode since the pilot. The opening scene was fantastic. The total silence in which the group did their job was terrific and did a wonderful job of conveying how much better they have become at surviving in this world. The efficient way in which they cleared the house was really fun to watch and there were loads of small moments that I appreciated. Seeing Carl's growth with a gun was great, and I also appreciated him looting the cupboards to see what kind of food he could find. I also liked Daryl with the owl. He finds the owl but instead of appreciating that it wasn't a walker, he quickly kills it so the group could eat it. It's a lovely moment to highlight the change in the group's morals as nobody complains while they eat the owl. Lastly, I loved how quickly the group reacted to the arrival of a herd as they rapidly took the loot they needed, jumped in their cars and drove away. This was such a fun scene to establish a timeskip while also including a lot of intelligent details to make it plausible that this group could survive in this world. Everything after this opening scene lived up to the expectations as well. I really enjoyed the brief planning sequence as it highlighted how cooperative the group is now with no hostilities towards each other. I'm extremely glad that we don't need to deal with more infighting melodrama within the group and hopefully this can lead to proper character development and a more exciting season. Adding on to that was the idea that the group was keeping track of walker herds that they discovered and trying to predict their movements. This was a fantastic detail to let us know that the group was being restricted by walkers throughout the winter with few places to actually go. It makes it more plausible that the group hasn't encountered any other survivors or safe zones if they have been in the same area just looting and pillaging different homes. The taking of the prison was equally excellent. The teamwork that everyone exhibited as they cleared the field was really impressive and the skillful direction made it clear how impressive of a feat it was to just take the field. I appreciates Rick's hungry desire to get more of the prison as he didn't settle on sitting around, forcing the group to push forwards to loot more of the prison. Once again, it was the details which impressed me the most as the group started pushing into the prison. The walkers wearing prison suits and riot gear were really good threats and obstacles for the group, and I really liked seeing them figure out an efficient way to kill them. Furthermore, I loved how Daryl used the walkers' clothing and a dose of logic to decipher that there was likely a breach in the prison wall somewhere in the facility. The details here made this even more impressive to watch. The final five minutes of the episode were fantastic. As tense as everything was before it, the mission inside the depths of the prison hit a new level. The claustrophobic, maze feeling created by the prison created an escalating sense of fear and put me on the edge of my seat in tension. Then Hershel got bit (the walker just sitting silently for so long was pretty contrived but I'll let it slide considering how good the rest of this sequence was). Hershel's bite was a big surprise because I wasn't expecting a major death this early in the season and a bite has been a death sentence in previous seasons. But then we got the epic twist of Rick trying to save Hershel by violently amputating his leg, which was a signature "Walking Dead" moment. There were many signature moments in this episode which made it even better. I appreciate the irony of a prison, the most violent place in a civilized world being viewed as a symbol of hope and safety, and a cell block of all places being a safe sleeping place. I was also grossed out by the idea of Lori's baby killing her from the inside out, which was a horrific and terrifying thought that did a tremendous job of highlighting how scary it would be to just live in a world with walkers, not knowing when you may next be bit. This episode in general made the idea of a zombie apocalypse terrifying again and I greatly appreciate that. As a final note on the taking of the prison, I loved the idea of spray painting arrows so the group can find their way back. As I said before, the details were impressive in this episode. There were some good hints of characterization too which is refreshing. Daryl and Carol's relationship has progressed as the two of them seem more comfortable with each other. Beth and Carl have developed a friendship which is nice. Rick has turned on Lori after what happened at the end of season 2. I can't lie, I was pretty happy about this because of how poorly Lori was presented last season. She does seem to be a little improved this season so we will see if her character can win me over. I was also pleased that Beth and T-Dog got lines and an increased presence in this episode. While there wasn't a ton of character development for them, there are 15 other episodes this season to give them something to do. I hope that the extended season length will lead to more character storylines as opposed to the meaningless arguments we got last season. The few scenes with Andrea and Michonne were good. I'm interested in learning more about Michonne and her relationship with Andrea, and I think there is potential to tell a good story which is isolated from the main storyline. The cliff-hanger was very good as well and excites me for the next episode. It more than did its job. The Bad: It's a shame we didn't get to see more of the group's time on the road. For us, the group only just left the farm an episode ago, so everyone's happiness in the prison didn't really have an emotional impact. I'm also a little disappointed that we didn't see a lot of the development that the characters went through. I've always hated timeskips for that reason. They seem like a lazy way to get characters from point A to point B without showing us any of it. There weren't many things wrong with this episode. The only other things are nitpicks. I would have liked that the group had learned to stab the heads of dead bodies as well as we have seen that walkers have a tendency to lay around for... some reason. Let's hope that the group learns from Hershel's bite and adapts this into their survival strategy. Scratches have been confirmed to still be a threat. If that's the case, it seems stupid that all of these characters aren't wearing full sleeve shirts to protect their skin. Also, the riot gear should really be used more by the group, regardless of what Daryl says. Surely they would at least want to take the gear from the walkers for further use. Again, none of these issues are that big, but seeing that this episode included a lot of excellent details, I would have loved for these things to be addressed too. The Unknown: Who are the men in the prison? How long have they been there? Were they prisoners? Are they a threat to the main group? Will Hershel survive the amputation or will he die? Is he still infected or does an amputation work to save the victims? I noticed Michonne's walkers have no arms and their mouths have been smashed to render them harmless. Does she use them for strategic purposes? Perhaps to help mask her scent from other walkers? Also, does this confirm that walkers don't need to eat to survive? Best Moment: The opening montage is what I'm going with, but there were a number of great moments here to pick from. Character of the Episode: Rick. Conclusion: This was a terrific way to start season 3. The episode was tense, fast-paced, exciting to watch and detail-oriented which improves on a lot of my complaints from season 2. If we can get some good character development in the next few episodes, "The Walking Dead" may finally live up to its full potential. This is certainly a step in the right direction. Score: 75 Summary: Jon wakes up, stunning Davos and Melisandre. He has those who stabbed him executed before declaring his watch has ended. Edd is now in charge of Castle Black. Sam gets seasick on the way to Oldtown. He reveals to Gilly that he plans to take her to Horn Hill. Bran visits the past and watches Ned fight Arthur Dayne. Varys gets more information in Meereen. Qyburn tries to get allied with Varys' little birds. Cersei and Jaime force themselves onto the small council but still don't get any information. Tommen tries to get the High Sparrow to pardon Cersei but fails. Arya's training continues and she gets her eyes back. Ramsay is given Rickon as a gift.
The Good: This was a stronger episode that did a good job of setting up the story for the rest of the season without indulging in the show's worst habits. Bran's story was the most intriguing in this episode. I really liked the swordfight showcasing Ned vs Arthur Dayne. It was really well done and was probably the best choreographed swordfight in the show. I really enjoyed that aspect, but I also loved the idea that honourable Ned only won the duel when Howland Reed stabbed Arthur Dayne in the back yet got praised as a hero for it. That was a signature "Game of Thrones" moment which I really enjoyed. Furthermore, I like the development with how attached Bran has become with visiting the past. The explanation that it is the only time he can walk makes perfect sense so we can understand why Bran has such a hard time going back to the real world. I really liked the amount of information we got on Varys in this episode. I enjoyed seeing him getting information by being kind and rewarding people as opposed to torture. It's fitting for his character and a breath of fresh air after we have been subjected to Ramsay for so long. I was pleased that the show actually addressed how Varys' little birds work. The idea that they are a connected network of little children who casually listen in on conversations and report information is impressively brilliant and a logical way to explain how Varys is able to obtain so much information. The small council scene was terrific. I really like that Cersei and Jaime are still failing to achieve anything as they get completely beaten by Kevan and Olenna who refuse to do their dealings with them. It's great to see Cersei continue to fail in her assertion of power which is realistic for somebody with little leverage on their side. Furthermore, Tommen isn't particularly useful for Cersei either as he is still young, so he falls prey to the wisdom of the High Sparrow who dissolves his anger in impressive fashion. Tommen isn't as vile or stupid as Joffrey so he isn't able to get what he wants in the way that Joffrey did. As an aside, I got a good laugh out of Pycelle insulting The Mountain unknowingly and immediately regretting it. His slow and terrified walk past The Mountain was pretty great. Arya's training continues to deliver. The montage in this episode was really well done and was put together with expert editing. I really enjoyed seeing Arya's improvement in her training as she gets her vision back and may be back to doing assassination missions once more. The other odd scenes were enjoyable. Tyrion's scenes were tremendously fun as always. He didn't do much more than make funny conversation in this episode, but I enjoyed it a lot. Poor Sam is seasick on the way to Oldtown. I appreciate that the show may actually be showing us his family to deepen the world a little more. I look forward to that. The execution of Alliser and Olly was a powerful moment. I thought Alliser's final words were very good and consistent with his character. The Bad: I was disappointed by the reactions to Jon's revival. Davos and Melisandre were fittingly surprised but everyone else hardly reacted at all which was bad. Tormund's joke was funny but his reaction was nonsensical. Jon just came back to life and he doesn't even seem to care! Furthermore, Alliser's final moments were ruined by the fact that he didn't even seem to address the ridiculousness of the idea that Jon is alive again. This is a big deal and I'm annoyed that the show doesn't seem to be treating it as a significant event which it certainly is. Does Jon really have the authority to just leave now? I would have liked more time to see more people discuss this rather than Jon suddenly leaving without a care in the world. Arya's training has been a bit repetitive this season. It's not a big problem as I have enjoyed the way the scenes are constructed, but it could become an issue if we don't get anything new for her. I hope that we don't have to sit through Ramsay torturing Rickon now. Please don't do that, it's not needed. The Unknown: What happened in the Tower of Joy? Was Lyanna in there? What happened to her? Also, did Ned actually hear Bran? What does that mean? Can Bran interact with the past? Could this become a big part of the story later? What are Tyrion and Varys planning? What is the message? I recall Beric saying that he lost a little bit of his mind every time he came back to life. Will Jon be affected in a similar way? What will Ramsay do with Rickon and Osha? Best Moment: The swordfight was very good, my favourite moment of the episode. Character of the Episode: Varys. Conclusion: This was a better episode with some good set up and it could have been even better had Jon's resurrection been treated appropriately. Aside from that, this was a solid episode. Score: 65 Summary: Bran is with the Three-Eyed Raven and is learning to visit the past with his powers. Tommen prevents Cersei from attending Myrcella's funeral as the sparrows would take her into custody again. Jaime confronts the High Sparrow who threatens him with his power. Ramsay kills Roose, his wife and his son to take control over Winterfell. Tyrion tames Dany's dragons to ensure that they can be used as assets. Sansa and Brienne head to Castle Black while Theon chooses to go home. Euron Greyjoy returns to Pyke and kills Balon. The wildlings come to Davos' aid. Alliser is thrown in a cell. Davos has Melisandre attempt to bring Jon back to life. Jon wakes up.
The Good: It was great to see Bran again after he was absent for an entire season. His new ability to visit and interact with the past is a really exciting development and opens up the story in a big way. I expect that we can get some big reveals about the past through Bran and I can't wait to see what the story has in store for us. Tyrion talking to the dragons was a fantastic scene. Tyrion's character has always been a ton of fun, and his tongue is his strongest aspect. To have him play off of this aspect by speaking with dragons was creative, tense and exciting in a way that Tyrion's story hasn't been in a while. I am looking forward to seeing Tyrion attempt to repair Meereen, and I hope that it can be somewhat similar in quality to Tyrion's time as Hand of the King in season 2. I am intrigued by the new Greyjoy storyline. I like that we finally caught back up with Balon who finally died (the leeches took their sweet time didn't they), and his death has been used to introduce a new character. Euron is interesting and I suspect that he will become a major player in the story. It's about time that the Greyjoys become a central point in the story once again. Jon waking up was a good development and a huge moment. I really hope that his relationships with everyone are radically changed now that he has come back to life and I'm excited to see what this will lead to. Furthermore, I am looking forward to seeing Melisandre's reaction to realizing that she actually succeeded in bringing Jon back to life. This could be a huge moment for her character as well, and I'm quickly becoming more invested in her. There were a few other moments I really liked. The arrest of Ser Alliser was a great moment, and I like the development of the wildlings taking control over the Night's Watch, highlighting that Alliser didn't make a smart move by killing Jon but rather an idiotic and prideful move. I really liked that one guy who was bragging about what happened with Cersei. Of course some people would make stupidly fake rumours about what happened and I thought it was a lovely bit of detail. Having The Mountain kill him was pretty satisfying too. Lastly, I appreciated Brienne telling Sansa about Arya. While Sansa hasn't really cared for Arya in any of her scenes, it's a good way to demonstrate how much she has grown by having her reflect about Arya as much as she does. The Bad: There were some big problems in this episode which was disappointing. The sparrows remain too murky to pose a real threat. We have no idea about their numbers, who has sided with them and how much control they have over the city. This makes the High Sparrows threat to Jaime lack impact because we aren't sure how much power these people actually have. If I can't figure out how much of a threat they pose, the drama created from their story is lessened. I did not like Ramsay killing Roose at all. Roose orchestrated the red wedding, yet this is how he dies? It's very unsatisfying to see him die such a lame death with no impact. I suppose it's sort of fitting that he died similar to how he killed Robb, but to have Ramsay do it was just ridiculous. Furthermore, I hate that his death had the sole purpose of making Ramsay even more despicable. We already hate the guy, so this was completely unnecessary. I'm annoyed that Ramsay has been prioritized over the more interesting Roose. Then we had to sit through Ramsay killing Roose's wife and kid. This show has lost all of the restraint that it used to have. We didn't need to see this scene for any reason. Additionally, having Roose get killed in a similar way to Balon in the same episode was a bad idea. Theon's redemption wasn't as good as it should have been which is disappointing. I wish he was exhibiting more trauma from his time as Reek, but instead he is behaving like a clichéd hero which is not who Theon was. The show has always been good at portraying gray characters and Theon was always one of the best. As such, it's disappointing to see his character go in such a bland, stereotypical direction. There were some issues with the story at Castle Black. The main one is the predictability of Jon's return. It took away any surprise from the moment and made every scene in this episode feel like it was just building up for Jon's return, preventing the moments from standing on their own. Another issue is the entirety of Davos' character who is behaving in quizzically. As I said in my review of "Mother's Mercy", Davos should be much more affected by the loss of his entire cause, yet for some reason he hasn't even addressed it. Apparently he is just loyal to Jon now and has completely abandoned his attachment to Stannis. I can hardly buy his desperation to get Melisandre to bring Jon back to life, and I feel like he should have been more worried about what happened to Stannis instead of focusing on saving Jon. The Unknown: What happened to Hodor? Why is he simple? It feels like there is an actual story behind his character which is very interesting. It isn't a story I was expecting, but if there is a reason behind it, I'm curious to learn what it was. What else will Bran find in the past? Surely there is a reason he has been given this power, and there will be some important things for him to discover. What is Euron up to? Is he trying to become the Salt King? What are his goals? Will he make the Greyjoys relevant again? Will he raid The North like Balon did? How will everyone treat Jon when he makes his revival known? What will Melisandre's reaction be? How will her powers be affected by this? Best Moment: Tyrion talking to the dragons. Even as this show stumbles, I still love Tyrion. Character of the Episode: Tyrion. Conclusion: This was a decent episode with some big developments but a consistent amount of flaws in its stories. Like in the last episode, the good and the bad cancelled out and I was left feeling neutral towards the episode. But the story is picking up, so let's hope that there can be better stuff in the later episodes this season. Score: 60 Summary: Davos, Edd and a few stragglers discover Jon's body and lock themselves in a room with him. Edd goes to secure some help from the wildlings. Ramsay's men track down Theon and Sansa but Brienne arrives to save them. Sansa accepts her service. Arya continues her training blind. Tyrion and Varys survey the conditions in Meereen. Dany is being taken to Vaes Dothrak after she reveals to be a khaleesi. Ellaria kills Doran and the Sand Snakes kill Trystane. Melisandre is using magic to make herself not age.
The Good: This was a fine season premiere. Like most season premieres, the plot was pretty much stagnant here and the story was just inching forward and setting things up. The fallout from Jon's death was really good. The situation that Davos and Edd found themselves in was extremely tense as they were essentially trapped in a single room with enemies everywhere outside. The fear in their situation is really well executed, making this the most intense storyline in the episode. Furthermore, I was really impressed by Alliser's speech to the men of the Night's Watch. It makes him more than a cookie cutter villain as it proves that he believes he did the right thing by killing Jon. A speech like that was very necessary to keep this story realistic and I'm glad we got it. Furthermore, I'm glad that there was unease over Jon's death and that everyone didn't immediately side with Alliser. Roose and Ramsay's scene was pretty good. Roose is still fantastic and I love how he subtly threatened Ramsay for his mistake. This scene was effective at making me think for a little bit that Sansa would actually get brought back to Winterfell. I was getting ready to vent about that, but of course that wasn't the case. Brienne came in and saved Sansa, and due to the Ramsay/Roose scene, the moment had more emotional impact as it meant that Sansa likely wouldn't be going back to Winterfell. The fight itself was good and I especially liked Pod fighting and killing. The ensuing moment with Sansa accepting Brienne's service was a really great moment as well (see: Best Moment). The other scenes in this episode were good but unspectacular. Varys and Tyrion continued to be great as they walked around Meereen, exploring the chaos that Dany has left behind. Their conversations were really well done as always. I was pleased to see Arya continuing her training, and the idea that she had to do it blind is a good way to escalate her training. The final scene was interesting and fairly surprising. I wonder what the significance of Melisandre's true form is (see: The Unknown). The Bad: This episode was stuck cleaning up the mess that Dorne created last season. The deaths of Doran and Trystane were practically meaningless and dull due to how sloppy the Dorne story has been. Let's hope that we can be done with these characters for now. Dany's story is pretty much treading water in this episode. The whole Dothraki subplot is hard to care about since we spent so much time with them in season 1 and know almost everything about them. I don't care to explore more about the Dothraki and I feel like we are just biding time until Dany inevitably wins them over for her army. As evidenced by the short length of this review, not much happened here. Even compared to other season premieres this episode was slow and didn't accomplish much of interest. There wasn't much that was bad, but there wasn't much that was good either. The Unknown: What does Ellaria do next? Does she have a plan for what comes next? Will she take on a larger bearing in the plot? I hope not. Will Edd get the wildlings in time? I wonder if they will even come to help Jon if he's dead. Also, is Jon coming back then? The fact that his body is still there seems to suggest that he may be coming back. I suspect that Melisandre will probably be the one bringing him back. What was with that final scene? How can Melisandre use magic to make herself so much younger? I'm very interested in her magic and I would love to learn more about how she obtained this magic power. Furthermore, what is the significance of this? Is Melisandre immortal? Will this come into play later? Why show it to us now? I hope that this means Melisandre will become a more significant character going forwards. Also, does this mean all of the red priests are immortal? Does that include Thoros too? Best Moment: Sansa accepting Brienne's service with vows was pretty emotional. I also liked that Sansa couldn't remember all of them and needed some help getting through them. It's a good reminder of how young she still is. Character of the Episode: Sansa. Conclusion: This was a fine season premiere to set up the season. Nothing of importance happened here but there was nothing particularly worrying either. Hopefully this season can be better than the last. Score: 60 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
February 2024
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