Game of Thrones – Page 3 – Simon’s Incoherent Blog

Game of Thrones: Season 6, episode 5 – The Door

“Everyone is what they are, and where they are, for a reason.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

The run of superb episodes continues in the sixth season of Game of Thrones; it’s almost as if running out of the books has given the show a new spark. For the fifth week in a row we had revelations aplenty, plot twists, pithy humour and some high octane action. We also had some jawdroppingly emotional moments, particularly in the scenes that bookended the ep. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, episode 5 – The Door”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 4 – Book of the Stranger

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“You’re not going to serve. You’re going to die.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Blimey, it’s all go this season isn’t it? Only four episodes in, and the plot of Game of Thrones continues to advance at a frenetic pace this week. Benioff and Weiss, who seem to be writing almost every ep this year, continued to knock characters down like ninepins while finally showing us some of the show’s long-running plans coming to fruition. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 4 – Book of the Stranger”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 3 – Oathbreaker

“I wish you good fortune in the wars to come. Now it begins.”

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(SPOILER WARNING)

Amid the sprawling cast and multifarious plotlines of Game of Thrones, it’s actually rather easy to forget some of the characters exist (or at least, haven’ been killed yet). But as this week’s ep showed, that gives the showrunners the chance to use their newfound freedom, and show us what happened to them. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 3 – Oathbreaker”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 2 – Home

“The gods won’t mind. They spill more blood than the rest of us combined.”

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(SPOILER WARNING!)

It was another lively episode of Game of Thrones this week – not so much in terms of action, but in terms of the plot magnitude of events. Once more, it’s hard to be sure how much of this is the intent of showrunners Benioff and Weiss, and how much is based on what George RR Martin has told them about forthcoming plot. Still, this week saw yet more seismic shifts in Westeros’ balance of power, as the cull of important characters continued from last week. And yet I suspect that what will cause the most kerfuffle on the internet is not the characters who died as the one who didn’t. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 2 – Home”

Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 1 – The Red Woman

“Fuck prophecy. Fuck fate. Fuck everyone who isn’t us.”

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(SPOILER WARNING!)

So, we stride boldly into uncharted territory as Game of Thrones returns for its first season premiere Since The Books Ran Out. As if to show the training wheels were off, showrunners Benioff and Weiss immediately started running with radically new plotlines (though to be fair it might be based on what George RR Martin told them). This involved interspersing the usual collection of short establishing vignettes in the season premiere with some massive plot twists, and some seismic shifts in Westeros’ balance of power. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 6, Episode 1 – The Red Woman”

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 10 – Mother’s Mercy

“He raised his hands, and they all stood up at once. Tens of thousands, the biggest army in the world.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

In previous years, the season finale of Game of Thrones has tended to have the feel of an epilogue, a time to take stock after the tumultuous events of the action-packed ep9. With the last couple of eps having well and truly broken that formula, it was no surprise that this years’ season finale was something quite different; a veritable bloodbath of major characters, and a cornucopia of cliffhangers. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 10 – Mother’s Mercy”

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 9 – The Dance of Dragons

“Sometimes a person has to choose. Sometimes the world forces his hand.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

With the full throttle carnage usually expected from ep 9 of Game of Thrones having come early last week, this week the question was, what will ep 9 bring this year? As it turned out, it was much the same mix as last week, the Big Action Set Pieces split over two eps this year. As with last week, the ep started slow, then built to an unexpected epic battle in the third act; less epic than last week, perhaps, but that’s quibbling. By any other show’s standards, this might have been a season finale. In Game of Thrones, it was ep 9. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 9 – The Dance of Dragons”

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 8 – Hardhome

“I’ve seen the army of the dead. I’ve seen the White Walkers. And they’re coming for us. For all the living.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

Holy crap. If you’ve been waiting for the standard epic battle usually provided in ep9 of each season of Game of Thrones, well… it came early. And if you’ve also been missing The Walking Dead, this should have more than filled the void. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 8 – Hardhome”

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 7 – The Gift

“You should hold on to your candles. The nights are so long now.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After last week’s ep of dramatic payoffs to long gestating political plots in Game of Thrones comes… another one. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing; this was every bit as gripping and well—written as last week’s. Tonally though, it was so similar you could have watched the two together and been forgiven for thinking it was one extra long one. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 7 – The Gift”

Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 6 – Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

“I’m Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home. And you can’t frighten me.”

(SPOILER WARNING!)

After last week’s focus mainly on just two of its multifarious plotlines, this week Game of Thrones was back to business as usual with a lively ep taking in snippets of plenty of them. While there was little in the way of epic action, it was no less dramatic for that as all the patient political scheming of earlier episodes began to pay off in spades. And perhaps more than any ep I’ve seen yet, it was dominated by the show’s women, who were both the drivers and the victims in practically every snapshot this week. Continue reading “Game of Thrones: Season 5, Episode 6 – Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”