Lord Parramandas's written reviews
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:02 pm
UPDATE - REVIEW FOR EPISODE 6 IS HERE!
This is a thread where I will post my written reviews. They're completely book-and-filming-spoiler free, despite me reading the books several years ago. But the reviews may include information revealed in "Histories and Lore" videos which are canon to the show.
S07E01 - DRAGONSTONE
Drums pounding while a green-and-golden banner with a white elephant is raised atop the tallest tower
Hello again everyone! The time has come and Lord Parramandas has officially returned to continue the journey and add new pages to the history writings. From what I’ve seen from this episode, I’m sure we have a hell of a journey ahead. Last year, I used to start this post with »it’s time for a brief review« but as the season progressed those writings became anything but brief and I’m sure writing 114 Memory Lane posts for LOST episodes during the year left its tollas well… so, no more »brief« reviews. For those who followed them last year, you know the formula and it’s no different this year. There is a lot I need to cover, so let us begin! (On a side note, I did manage to watch the episode with Slovenian subtitles today, despite the early hour)
ARYA: So, we got a »cold opening« in this season again. For me, it was pretty predictable outcome as soon as I saw lord Frey (which was of course Arya in disguise). So with one swoop, most of his sons and grandsons…well, died. I’m sure this is a scene that many of you cheered for Arya, BUT the scene was also quite disturbing for me. Sure, Freys deserved it but to think that Arya just performed a mass murder of dozens of people in a manner that was quite similar to Red Wedding… at this point, I cannot go past »it is wrong to answer one crime with another« and like I said above, the scene itself is quite unpleasant for me. Well, maybe that’s its purpose considering the second Arya scene on which I will focus a bit later. I wonder who is head of the house now… there were no children among them so I assume new lord Frey must be very young. Or maybe a lady… Also, I would personally more like to see House Frey destory itself in a »war for the lordship«.
WINTERFELL: And here I come to the story, that has been discussed through the year in such an unpleasant manner that I sometimes wanted to leave WotW all together. Usually in the manner »Jon is a good guy and Sansa is selfish and she will be an ass to him« – well, I must say that in this scene, it is certainly not the case for me and I sense all Sophie’s interviews were very Littlefinger-biased. She’s not »on Littlefinger’s side« in this episode. She’s officially on Jon’s and she’s aware of LF’s sly nature. But still, the two siblings cannot do without their arguments. I must say I enjoyed their scenes a lot. Both stubborn in some way, but they both made some great points. So in a matter of speaking, there was a struggle what to do with Umbers and Karstarks. Sansa wanted their castles to be granted to other families while Jon was willing to pardon them and name new heirs according to bloodline. Who is right? Well, we can never be completely sure as that depends on heirs themselves but as Jon is the king, it was his word that prevailed. A young boy Ned became a new lord Umber and a young woman Alys became new lady Karstark.
And then of course followed a funny argument between the siblings and I was like »Jon, you made a good point… no, Sansa, you made better now…. and now Jon again…« Really, the scene and the characters really got me in a very good mood. So different but yet so similar, both possessing the typical Nothern stubborness. And I cannot go past fact that Sansa praised Jon for his ruling. They are surely not »enemies« and there is family bond between them… but of course, a shadow of a snake looms above them both in a form of Littlefinger. That man will surely mean trouble. I wished Sansa good fortune in the wars to come in my S6 finale review and I will wish the same to her again, and to Jon as well. Stand together as a family instead as enemies for power struggle. They’re both among my top characters and I hope it stays that way
KING’S LANDING: And now to another two of my top characters, also siblings. Cersei commited a purge in KL in previous episode and now, she was left with no firm allies, even Freys, and Jaime faced her with that fact. But as Ben Linus from LOST would say »I always have a plan« and so did Cersei, at least she thought that way. And this plan was forming an alliance with newly-made king Euron Greyjoy from Iron Islands. I got an impression in this episode that Euron has mental issues… I don’t know, his character gave me a bit of Ramsay vibe and he seems some sort of a hidden psychopath. In this particular episode, he proposed Cersei to marry him (Jaime’s face expression was priceless) and when she refused, he promised her a worthy gift. I don’t know but I have a feeling this gift will involve killing someone we know. So yes, he’s certainly dangerous.
ARYA (PART 2): I described in first Arya part that I’m worried for her character but this second part gave me some hope. I will mention at this point, that Arya is a character I’m pretty neutral about. How would I say… I like several scenes, but I was never a big fan of the character. I somehow cannot warm up to her. BUT if there are more scenes like this one, it may change. So here, Arya met a bunch of Lannister soldiers in the forest (Ed Sheeran included). In any other season, the scene would probably end with all the soldiers being killed… but here, the soldiers seemed pretty nice men, offering Arya food and beer. Well, I think that’s the point of the scene… if House Lannister’s leaders are corrupt, that doesn’t mean every soldier in their service is bad. After all, they’re just people and maybe this represents that Arya may still not be too far gone. Maybe she will learn even more that the world is not »black and white« like she did with the Hound and the rest of the Faceless men.
BROTHERHOOD: Speaking of Hound, he was traveling with the brotherhood towards North and they came across an abandoned cabin. I immediately recognized the place… it was where that kind farmer and his daughter Sally lived in S4. And Sandor was the person who stole their silver as he was sure they will be dead when the winter comes. And yes, they were dead in this episode, Sally in her father’s arms… two frozen corpses. Of course, Sandor buried them soon after, showing his character progression he achieved since S4. At this moment I will also mention that I love how the producers decided to keep Beric in the story. I’m sure this character can contribute a lot.
OLDTOWN: Sam’s life in a Citadel is… well, not particulary pleasant. Transporting books in the library, emptying chamber pots, filling the bowls with stew, helping the archmaester dissect the corpses. I wouldn’t like to be in his place. When it comes to the story, the first important part is that he stole a couple books from the forbidden section in the library, learning about the hidden dragonstone mountain on the island called… well, Dragonstone. And secondly, he found Jorah Mormont in Oldtown, who was being isolated in a cell due to greyscale. I must say his state gradually became worse since S6. And moving back to first important thing, Sam mentioned he needed to inform Jon about dragonglass and I’m sure he just set the events in motion for Jon and Dany to meet up. I’m not that thrilled about this meeting though but I suspect it may happen in near future.
DRAGONSTONE: Speaking of Dany, the team Targaryen (a silver queen, a dwarf, a eunuch soldier, a translator and a spider) arrived to Dragonstone, the place where Aegon started his invasion. Quite a strange feeling to see the fortress abandoned and a lone Stannis banner hanging in a throne chamber. Such a majestic fortress, but so isolated from the rest of the world. I really liked how Dany touched the ground when she disembarked, returning to the place where she was born. And now, they can begin… begin what? Well, that awaits for the next episode.
The army of dead is marching (shown in post-prologue scene) and sooner or later, it will reach the Wall and find their way across it… or through it. But all that still awaits us. This episode set up the groundwork for the season, being more calm in pace, but reintroducing many characters in the process. I enjoyed all scenes and I can say I can proclaim this one as my second favorite premiere so far, just behind »Two Swords«. And now comes the lord’s verdict… on my ranklist, I think I will put it on rank 23 ahead of »No One« and behind »A Golden Crown« (both 9 rated episodes).
So this is it! The journey has started again and I hope you enjoyed this episode as well. And if not… well, bad for you. With best regards from Lord Parramandas
This is a thread where I will post my written reviews. They're completely book-and-filming-spoiler free, despite me reading the books several years ago. But the reviews may include information revealed in "Histories and Lore" videos which are canon to the show.
S07E01 - DRAGONSTONE
Drums pounding while a green-and-golden banner with a white elephant is raised atop the tallest tower
Hello again everyone! The time has come and Lord Parramandas has officially returned to continue the journey and add new pages to the history writings. From what I’ve seen from this episode, I’m sure we have a hell of a journey ahead. Last year, I used to start this post with »it’s time for a brief review« but as the season progressed those writings became anything but brief and I’m sure writing 114 Memory Lane posts for LOST episodes during the year left its tollas well… so, no more »brief« reviews. For those who followed them last year, you know the formula and it’s no different this year. There is a lot I need to cover, so let us begin! (On a side note, I did manage to watch the episode with Slovenian subtitles today, despite the early hour)
ARYA: So, we got a »cold opening« in this season again. For me, it was pretty predictable outcome as soon as I saw lord Frey (which was of course Arya in disguise). So with one swoop, most of his sons and grandsons…well, died. I’m sure this is a scene that many of you cheered for Arya, BUT the scene was also quite disturbing for me. Sure, Freys deserved it but to think that Arya just performed a mass murder of dozens of people in a manner that was quite similar to Red Wedding… at this point, I cannot go past »it is wrong to answer one crime with another« and like I said above, the scene itself is quite unpleasant for me. Well, maybe that’s its purpose considering the second Arya scene on which I will focus a bit later. I wonder who is head of the house now… there were no children among them so I assume new lord Frey must be very young. Or maybe a lady… Also, I would personally more like to see House Frey destory itself in a »war for the lordship«.
WINTERFELL: And here I come to the story, that has been discussed through the year in such an unpleasant manner that I sometimes wanted to leave WotW all together. Usually in the manner »Jon is a good guy and Sansa is selfish and she will be an ass to him« – well, I must say that in this scene, it is certainly not the case for me and I sense all Sophie’s interviews were very Littlefinger-biased. She’s not »on Littlefinger’s side« in this episode. She’s officially on Jon’s and she’s aware of LF’s sly nature. But still, the two siblings cannot do without their arguments. I must say I enjoyed their scenes a lot. Both stubborn in some way, but they both made some great points. So in a matter of speaking, there was a struggle what to do with Umbers and Karstarks. Sansa wanted their castles to be granted to other families while Jon was willing to pardon them and name new heirs according to bloodline. Who is right? Well, we can never be completely sure as that depends on heirs themselves but as Jon is the king, it was his word that prevailed. A young boy Ned became a new lord Umber and a young woman Alys became new lady Karstark.
And then of course followed a funny argument between the siblings and I was like »Jon, you made a good point… no, Sansa, you made better now…. and now Jon again…« Really, the scene and the characters really got me in a very good mood. So different but yet so similar, both possessing the typical Nothern stubborness. And I cannot go past fact that Sansa praised Jon for his ruling. They are surely not »enemies« and there is family bond between them… but of course, a shadow of a snake looms above them both in a form of Littlefinger. That man will surely mean trouble. I wished Sansa good fortune in the wars to come in my S6 finale review and I will wish the same to her again, and to Jon as well. Stand together as a family instead as enemies for power struggle. They’re both among my top characters and I hope it stays that way
KING’S LANDING: And now to another two of my top characters, also siblings. Cersei commited a purge in KL in previous episode and now, she was left with no firm allies, even Freys, and Jaime faced her with that fact. But as Ben Linus from LOST would say »I always have a plan« and so did Cersei, at least she thought that way. And this plan was forming an alliance with newly-made king Euron Greyjoy from Iron Islands. I got an impression in this episode that Euron has mental issues… I don’t know, his character gave me a bit of Ramsay vibe and he seems some sort of a hidden psychopath. In this particular episode, he proposed Cersei to marry him (Jaime’s face expression was priceless) and when she refused, he promised her a worthy gift. I don’t know but I have a feeling this gift will involve killing someone we know. So yes, he’s certainly dangerous.
ARYA (PART 2): I described in first Arya part that I’m worried for her character but this second part gave me some hope. I will mention at this point, that Arya is a character I’m pretty neutral about. How would I say… I like several scenes, but I was never a big fan of the character. I somehow cannot warm up to her. BUT if there are more scenes like this one, it may change. So here, Arya met a bunch of Lannister soldiers in the forest (Ed Sheeran included). In any other season, the scene would probably end with all the soldiers being killed… but here, the soldiers seemed pretty nice men, offering Arya food and beer. Well, I think that’s the point of the scene… if House Lannister’s leaders are corrupt, that doesn’t mean every soldier in their service is bad. After all, they’re just people and maybe this represents that Arya may still not be too far gone. Maybe she will learn even more that the world is not »black and white« like she did with the Hound and the rest of the Faceless men.
BROTHERHOOD: Speaking of Hound, he was traveling with the brotherhood towards North and they came across an abandoned cabin. I immediately recognized the place… it was where that kind farmer and his daughter Sally lived in S4. And Sandor was the person who stole their silver as he was sure they will be dead when the winter comes. And yes, they were dead in this episode, Sally in her father’s arms… two frozen corpses. Of course, Sandor buried them soon after, showing his character progression he achieved since S4. At this moment I will also mention that I love how the producers decided to keep Beric in the story. I’m sure this character can contribute a lot.
OLDTOWN: Sam’s life in a Citadel is… well, not particulary pleasant. Transporting books in the library, emptying chamber pots, filling the bowls with stew, helping the archmaester dissect the corpses. I wouldn’t like to be in his place. When it comes to the story, the first important part is that he stole a couple books from the forbidden section in the library, learning about the hidden dragonstone mountain on the island called… well, Dragonstone. And secondly, he found Jorah Mormont in Oldtown, who was being isolated in a cell due to greyscale. I must say his state gradually became worse since S6. And moving back to first important thing, Sam mentioned he needed to inform Jon about dragonglass and I’m sure he just set the events in motion for Jon and Dany to meet up. I’m not that thrilled about this meeting though but I suspect it may happen in near future.
DRAGONSTONE: Speaking of Dany, the team Targaryen (a silver queen, a dwarf, a eunuch soldier, a translator and a spider) arrived to Dragonstone, the place where Aegon started his invasion. Quite a strange feeling to see the fortress abandoned and a lone Stannis banner hanging in a throne chamber. Such a majestic fortress, but so isolated from the rest of the world. I really liked how Dany touched the ground when she disembarked, returning to the place where she was born. And now, they can begin… begin what? Well, that awaits for the next episode.
The army of dead is marching (shown in post-prologue scene) and sooner or later, it will reach the Wall and find their way across it… or through it. But all that still awaits us. This episode set up the groundwork for the season, being more calm in pace, but reintroducing many characters in the process. I enjoyed all scenes and I can say I can proclaim this one as my second favorite premiere so far, just behind »Two Swords«. And now comes the lord’s verdict… on my ranklist, I think I will put it on rank 23 ahead of »No One« and behind »A Golden Crown« (both 9 rated episodes).
So this is it! The journey has started again and I hope you enjoyed this episode as well. And if not… well, bad for you. With best regards from Lord Parramandas