tbf, last year's finale certainly wasn't uneventful!

Leaked set photos show Cersei WILL have a key scene.

 

And whilst I'm looking forward to that there's other stuff that I await particularly

There seems to be quite a bit left to fill for the final episode, presumably Arya's glorious revenge on Ser Meryn and some good King's Landing stuff. Another really enjoyable episode though. I liked the pragmatic way Doran dealt with everything in Dorne, finally a GoT leader whose principal reactions to his enemies don't involve torturing or slaughtering them.

 

Shereen's death was utterly painful, I was continually wishing that it would go another way the entire time. That's probably set back Stannis a lot, even though he's preferable to the Boltons, all that good work he's done of building up a fanbase lost with one action. :(

 

The fight scene in the arena did an excellent job of suddenly becoming very scary once again, I did get the 'only a dragon can save them now' feeling that prepared me for Drogon showing up but it was still immensely cool when he did so.

Great episode! The Shireen stuff was horrible, it was painful to watch. Stannis looks a broken man, I get that you're meant to hate him now but I cannot see him dying for a while yet. Be interesting to see what Davos does when he returns.

 

I cannot buy in to Arya's storyline at all this season. Way too boring/confusing, and that dude who she's following.. I'm sure 90% of the audience don't remember who he is.

 

Big thing for me was the Jorah & Dany moment.. THEY HELD HANDS JORAH HAS GREYSCALE. They then did a very obvious shot of Dany holding hands with Missandei. Oops, someone's getting greyscale, and not sure it will be Dany.

Shereen scene was hideous, in some ways harder to watch than the Red Wedding. Dany needs to make some dragon armour.

I cannot buy in to Arya's storyline at all this season. Way too boring/confusing, and that dude who she's following.. I'm sure 90% of the audience don't remember who he is.

 

That's probably why they put in the pedophile stuff out of nowhere, to give the audience a reason to hate him again, he's been a consistent background Kingsguard in every season, and is on her list because he was the guy who killed Syrio, but he was wearing a helmet then so it'd take some eagle-eyed watching to notice that. Sudden characterisation for seemingly little reason other than it being probably one of the only forms of evil the show hadn't delved into yet.

I agree that that's probably it for Daenerys this series.

Actually I doubt that. It would seem odd to leave it there unless they run out of time

A few major stills from the finale have leaked :(

The Walk of Shame scene was very hard to watch. Lena needs some kind of award.

 

 

Thank GOD Jon's dead. Such a bore of a character.

 

Edited June 15, 201510 yr by jase.

Amazing season finale! :o

 

 

I'm not convinced Jon is dead. Melisandre to finally do something good in her life please.

 

Kit Harington has said

he's definitely not coming back, though unless HBO confirm it, anything could change.

 

 

What a brilliant finale and season in general. I'm most worried about Daenerys's story next year, as I don't like the Dothraki much.

 

The walk of atonement was a fantastic scene (and I can't believe it lasted that long). What I don't understand is why they actually let Cersei go? It's so obvious she'll go after them after what they did to her!

 

Whilst I think Jon is probably dead there are a number of quotes from Martin that are deliberately ambiguous and he has explicitly stated that his parentage will be revealed. If he's dead why would that matter.

 

Thankfully everything from now onwards (except one or two minor things that appear in the books) is speculation so here goes.

 

There are also a number of in-show elements that mean he can come back - Melisandre (otherwise why bother with Thoros' appearance, it's the very definition of a Chekov's gun moment), Ghost is not far away and SOMEONE has to fly on those dragons, the obvious 2 choices are he and Tyrion, particularly if R+L=J and Tywin's hints are to be proven true.

 

So Jon will be back I feel, and you may not even need Kit for the role although I think he's giving us a bum steer.

 

 

Equally important is the fate of Stannis. Why, when he's been set up to be the very person we most want dead and given the glee with which the show gave Arya her vengeance, did the show suddenly go PG-13 with Brienne's execution? Maybe there's more to it yet. Especially after giving him a get out of trouble card with Davos.

 

And every single major character was left on a cliffhanger.

 

Anyway, Lena Headey stole the show and now she has Ser Mountainstein she'll get her revenge.

 

.

Edited June 15, 201510 yr by Severin

Some very interesting points there Severin. I was noticing the tendency to leave characters on cliffhangers, I was really noticing it as early as Arya. Whose execution of Ser Meryn was everything I wanted from her and does make up for her storyline not being the best this season.

 

 

I assume Sansa, Theon and Arya will be alright at least, I guess there's a soft bank of snow for the former two, they really better not be dead as I could go for a season of those two on the run.

 

 

 

Stannis and Jon are more tricky. There's something going on with Stannis and Brienne I agree and it'd be weird for his exit to be that easy. But then his storyline seems all wrapped up. Jon's death could well be cheapened by someone bringing him back to life but the exact reason I thought he was so safe was that there were so many unanswered questions left for him to answer so I don't buy this being the last we hear of him.

 

 

 

Myrcella's death really cut to me actually, for such an innocent character to go that way and just after she'd come to terms with her parentage and it seemed the Dorne storyline was wrapping it up nicely, although I guess this'll have repercussions. Sadly, after Selyse, Meryn and that girl who Theon pushed off the ramparts she's probably the most definitely dead character who died this finale. My god, we killed a lot of them tonight.

 

 

Cersei's scene was by far the best, so brutal, so utterly crushing and it does force you to sympathise with her after she deals so well with absorbing that much hatred. There's still a lot of loose ends in the KL storyline so that'll be fun to see next season.

I'm not convinced Myrcella's dead, even with episode 1's prophecy which fits only if you take 'golden will be their crowns' to refer to her hair. She couldyet marry Trystane and wear a genuine crown if something happens to Tommen sooner It doesn't look good for her but she might survive with severe health problems.

If that hasn't got Lena Headey an Emmy nomination, I don't know what will. That was powerful, was really hard not to feel for her then even despite all that she's done to warrant it. Gosh, she's gonna be hellbent on making them pay for that next series though.

 

 

It came to my mind that Jon might become a white walker now? :o I don't think it's the last we'll hear of him, not the least as The Wall would just fall apart with all the wildlings there now and it's a bit early in the series to suggest that one party's completely done for in the quest for throne. Stannis I'm really not convinced about, it fit as a broken man finally perishing etc. but, like Severin said, I'd be surprised they'd resort to a quiet death like that for such a big character, especially as a short amount of time later, Meryn was shown bloodily murdered!

 

 

I can't get over the amount that episode teased us with all those cliffhangers! :drama: The one happy point was seeing Theon snap out of it and him and Sansa escaping, dunno if they'll be fit for walking after that jump though. Arya's storyline I still don't really get, been a bit of a confusing point throughout the series there, hopefully a bit more light's spread on it next season.

 

OMG it's over :( This series went from a slow start to one bombshell after another, I've loved every minute.

ALSO the show seems to have forgotten about Margaery with all this Cersei stuff, would've been nice to get some sort of hint that she's yanno still alive.

Edited June 15, 201510 yr by Chez Wombat

Margery? Pah!

 

I need to know if Gendry's still rowing.

 

 

Seriously, though I do feel the show has rushed things a bit at the expense of clarity this season. Some things felt rushed, Cersei's mismanagement and installation of The Faith could've done with better detail, Dorne was basically really a weak plotline when it could have been so much more threatening, the Sons Of The Harpy thread lacked somewhat too and why were the supposedly fearsome Unsullied pretty crap in every battle they went into? Kevan had all of 2 scenes when he's supposed to be running the place for about 4 episodes? And we do so miss Varys. He's important.

 

 

Plus, there's a LOT of plot threads left hanging. For example the Ironborn still control the North West coast and Balon hasn't appeared in ages. The Riverlands are supposed to still be at war.

The Frey's have all but been forgotten about, yes they're allied with the Bolton's but are we to believe the houses still loyal to the Stark's are crushed. Are they working in secret? Has the North forgotten? Does nobody make a move against either of them. (This is a considerable subplot in the books). Where's the Blackfish? What happened to Edmure Tully?

Where did Ser Ilyn Payne go? (Yes, I know the actor was ill but a reference wouldn't hurt).

 

What they've done, they've usually done well but I personally think the series either needed another 5 episodes or would have benefitted from being over 2 seasons. I know there'd be many issues with this and I understand sacrifices had to be made particularly with fast ageing cast members and a 7 series remit but I just feel it would have given us a stronger show overall.

I'm putting season 5 down as the weakest albeit with a strong final 3 episodes and possible best ever in Hardhome.

Edited June 15, 201510 yr by Severin

I wonder, how's the current ranking of 'characters who must meet a swift and grisly end looking now'?

 

I make it something like this. #teamwhitewalkers

 

1. Olly

2. Ramsey Bolton

3. Ellaria Sand

4. Alliser Thorne

5. Walder Frey

6. Roose Bolton

7. Melisandre

8. Stannis (?)

 

I'm not even that sure who to blame for everything happening in King's Landing now as it's clearly gone beyond what Cersei can control and I'm not sure the High Sparrow is meaningfully malevolent... yet.

 

So long to wait now. I think I can sympathise with people who were ahead in the books, I'll only have to wait a fraction of the time they've been waiting.

I don't think many people will hate Olly that much. He's a grieving, emotionally messed up child who isn't smart or wise enough to understand what Jon was trying to do.

Ser Alliser was the ring leader.

 

I don't see Elaria Sand being that hated either, she's grieving too, and everybody LOVED Oberyn. Plus we don't really know her victim that well really.

No room on the list for Littlefinger, Ser Strong or Ser Ilyn Payne?