re: Game of Thrones S7E6: "Beyond The Wall", HODORS ONLY (No Book Readers)

Decent episode last night, but kinda frustrating for me. I feel like I may feel differently about it had it not been the penultimate episode of the season.

This season has been great, but does anybody else feel like a lot of things are kinda being rushed? The timeline on this show drives me insane sometimes.

They walk for what seems like a REALLY long time (which it has to be since they were walking around mountains and whatnot) and finally find the walkers. But once they get start getting surrounded, they send Gendry back to Eastwatch and he seems to make it there in a matter of hours. And then he sends a raven to Dragonstone, and then Dany comes and rescues them. Now, I guess they could've been standing there on the lake for like three days, but it sure as hell only seemed like it was a few hours. I don't know, that just sat weird with me.

Where is the rest of the army? Seemed odd that they would ever split up since there isn't any reason to. Which made it weird that they found a small party of like 15 of them instead of the whole army. I guess they were like the scouting party? So do they communicate and stuff like that, like an actual army? Or do the legit Wights just control them (I assume it is this)?

Also, I assume they don't sleep or eat or stop to make camp since they are basically the walking undead...so if they are forever marching south, then the area north of the wall must be VASTLY bigger than I seem to think it is since it has taken them this long and they aren't even at the wall yet.

Thought it was funny that the Hound caused shite to pop off just because he was being an a-hole bully.

The fight scene was cool, but I didn't get how they didn't get overrun from all sides.

Also thought it was weird that the NK threw the spear at the flying dragon instead of the giant one that was stationary and right in front of them. Also, seems like Jon could've been like "Hey, Dany...tell him to shoot fire at that dude right over there." Just seems weird that they make note of how Jon killed that one dude and the rest of the WWs exploded, but then they abandoned that strategy at the lake. And why did that one walker not die when Jon killed the leader...I assume maybe because he wasn't specifically the one who turned that walker in the first place? Seemed awfully convenient. Just like Benjen.

Pulling the dragon out at the end and turning it WW was pretty cool. For whatever reason, I wasn't expecting that when they had killed it at first. But that is damn sure one way to even the score a bit.

The Sansa/Arya stuff just felt really weird and off. Felt SUPER forced, just like the WW storyline (stupid idea to try to go get one and bring it to Cersei, I mean). I know that they didn't always get along as kids, but surely Arya isn't stupid enough to believe that Sansa wanted to get their father killed, or that Cersei wasn't capable of forcing her to write that letter. Also, if they would just talk to each other instead of speaking in code, maybe they could get somewhere. Instead of saying "I had to endure lots of shite, shite you wouldn't have been able to...you have no idea..." Sansa could be like "Joffrey was a murderous psycho and the Lannisters made me do horrible things, like..." maybe Arya would be more inclined to believe her.

For someone so hell bent on taking over the world, Dany sure as hell is shortsighted as frick. It's maddening sometimes.

Sucks there is only one episode left. I feel like a lot of time was wasted in an episode of 70+ minutes. And it felt like every ten minutes there was a deus ex machina that came into play. I know I'll prolly catch shite for thinking that, but oh well.

Does dragon glass kill wights though? I know it kills walkers, but I've never seen it used for wights

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the faces thing is a massive leap. I guess she is threatening Sansa. But she is a foot shorter than her. Who would believe that?

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Not that we'll get any book help in a Hodor thread, but I've always assumed that there was some Many Faced God magic tied into the disguises and not just a simple putting on an extremely realistic mask. Basically it's a blessing, not a skill. I don't know if that's true or not, but it seems like too good of an explanation in a world where magic is allowed for it to not be the case.

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In an episode with great dialogue theirs fell way short.

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Speaking of great dialogue, I liked all the conversations between the party of 7 members, but especially Tormand and the Hound talking about Brienne.

The goddamn Night King was like "how much you wanna bet I can throw a spear over them mountains?"

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I know that they didn't always get along as kids, but surely Arya isn't stupid enough to believe that Sansa wanted to get their father killed, or that Cersei wasn't capable of forcing her to write that letter.

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Arya has always been stubborn, it's one of the most frustrating things about her. She is one tracked minded like hell, so if she latches on to Sansa being partly responsible for Ned's death, it's logical, to me at least that she won't let it go. Sansa is a spoiled brat who, though she's been through some bad stuff, wouldn't think anyone else has suffered. Arya will always be loyal to Jon over Sansa, and Sansa has given her ample reason to be skeptical of her loyalty (she lied about the wolf in Season 1, was so happy to get to KL and leave Winterfell, was on stage with Joffrey when Ned got beheaded, married a Bolton, conspired with Littlefinger, wrote the note, etc.) so if Arya thinks she is going to screw over Jon, then taking her out or at least threatening her is logical. The feud does seem a little forced to an extent, but it also seems pretty natural

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Dany sure as hell is shortsighted

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When has she ever thought ahead? Sure you freed a bunch of cities then abandon them and are surprised when the people you overthrew fight back. She never plays the long game and it makes it really hard to take her serious as someone who can be a great leader. Her shortsightedness is extremely maddening.

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So do they communicate and stuff like that, like an actual army?

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The wight they captured seemed to be screaming to signal the others which suggests non telepathic communication. Or at least he was out of range for that.

It also makes me wonder about their nature. I had been assuming this was just massive warging puppetry. But I'm not as sure that they're being micromanaged to that level. Maybe they're just given some basic programming. The zombie Polar bear seemed to be acting independently. Although maybe that encounter is the reason there was a scouting party to find in the first place?

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The fight scene was cool, but I didn't get how they didn't get overrun from all sides.

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I was wondering that myself since they were only defending half of the rock outcropping they were on. They eventually showed a shot from the back and the backside was elevated enough that the wights couldn't get to them.

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Also thought it was weird that the NK threw the spear at the flying dragon instead of the giant one that was stationary and right in front of them

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I think it's possible that when we get the NKs origin story he'll have had a vision of him getting Viserius which is why he targets him. I've seen anther theory that since Drogon was on the rock that spearing him would have caused him to burst into flames without falling into the water rendering him useless to the NK. Viserius conveniently put himself out and was saved for future use by falling through the ice.

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it felt like every ten minutes there was a deus ex machina that came into play. I know I'll prolly catch shite for thinking that, but oh well.

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That was a common complaint on this episode but I disagree. Uncle Benjen was created by people with visions of the future, so him being perfectly positioned to save Bran and Jon has a built in explanation. I also don't think Dany and her dragons coming to save the day is a cop out. The only problem with it was the turn around time seems unrealistic.

Completely agree. Things that happened in seasons past were okay. But now it seems to be the standard. Like almost killing someone. The only suspence is "who" will save Jon this time. Even that is getting predictable

Can't believe no one of significance died in that ridiculous plot to steal the dead. Based on what I've seen, the army of the dead isn't as great as Jon thinks.

A proper plan and they would already be wiped out.

The Night King is just a horrible, lazy, Marvel-level big bad. If next week is all south of the wall, they will have failed to accomplish the most important task facing the show to shift him from an avatar to a character. And worse yet it looks like they won't even try.