[Re-Watch Project 6x10] The Winds of Winter - Discussion

"Well, Father always promised, didn't he?"

We've reached the end of season 6, and all the pieces are coming home for the final acts. This episode pulls so much out of me. From the first ping of the Bells of the Sept of Baelor, to the last ring of 'the King in the North' there are no missteps in this one. Directing, acting, writing - all come together and setup where we go from here.

The last Baratheon king flies out of a window, echos of a Stark flying to his destiny from a window. The last Targaryen sets sail for home, aligned with several Westeros families against the Lannister widow on the Iron Throne. A bastard rises to the highest point in preparation for the great war to come.

A magnificent final act to a season that never failed to deliver on emotion or action. Is it any wonder we are all on edge for Season 7?

Amazing episode, everything in it was powerful, Ceresi's revenge to Dany's dismissal of Daario, and her return home, and of course, the confirmation of R+L=J, the KitN chants brought tears to my eyes. 31 days and change, I just can't wait. Season 7 has a lot to live up to, but form the way everything sounds, we should be in for a treat.

This was one of those episodes that was unquestionably a "10" right away. To me it's the best hour of GOT since "The Rains of Castamere" and "Blackwater", and the perfect conclusion to the second act. From that first close-up of Cersei looking mournful yet in control, I was sold. There is real beauty to the King's Landing scenes. Damn cathartic episode.

Seasons 7 and 8 will need to be pretty damn lucky to come close to it.

You've done an amazing job with this project, Envie. Seriously. Well done! 

Seriously, we wouldn't have made it without your reminders and well put together narratives and exposition. I love this series and I'm so ready for this season. Even now, I'm going through and enjoying the occasional 'favorites' reel. Then I go to the forum and see what everyone else had to say. Thank you for taking on this project and seeing us through.

Now - onward and upward!

Very difficult episode to put in words, very beautiful and powerful. A true work of art, I love the music and the way it's used in this show in general but this episode especially.

Agreed, I thoroughly enjoyed going back through the series and getting to discuss the episodes with everyone, and your insight is always thought provoking Envie, Great job!

What a magnificent episode! Every single scene was really major, as has been true so often this season. It's been great to participate in the re-watch. I didn't make it past the beginning of the 2nd season in the earlier one, but this time I've put each one on my calendar, with reminders set in place!

KL: I hadn't remembered that Margaery started looking around for Cersei even at the very beginning. One of my favorite scenes at the Sept was when she turned on the HS and told him to nevermind "the bloody gods!" So effective to really see the little birds in action, and the wildfire explosions that seemed to go on and on and on were even more spectacular that Blackwater Bay. That music, an operatic aria, was so spectacularly powerful!  One thing that hadn't particularly stood out to me at first watch that really did this time was my sense that had Cersei gone directly to Tommen after the explosion rather than going to Sister Unella to taunt her, Tommen might not have jumped. Perhaps he would have, anyway, but I don't think he would have felt quite the terrific aloneness and despair that I believe he did. We do know that by this time he did have a pretty clear sense of what Cersei was capable of, but still ...

The finely crafted humor interspersed among all the scenes of heavy import were so well done, I thought, and so needed. "No need to call me Ser just because I'm an anointed knight" from Bronn -- and that whole scene with Walder Frey and Jamie was just priceless. The interaction between Sam and the 'receptionist maester' (no idea what he'd be called) was hysterical - that guy deserves an emmy nomination just for the way he played that part. Then seeing Sam's eyes and amazement at all those books - what a "yay!" moment for poor Sam, especially after the dinner scene at Horn Hill.  And I think Dorne showed droll Lady Olenna at her very best in all the seasons so far - "Do shut up dear and let the grown women speak."

I so want Jon and Sansa to remain united. He's so very much Ned's 'son', mirroring what Ned told Arya and Sansa in KL about the need to trust each other, stay in the pack. I think LF in this episode is the most revolting I've ever found him - because, of course, he's drooling over Sansa, like the fairy tale wolf over Little Red Riding Hood. Sansa is much too smart to trust LF ("Only a fool would trust LF"), but I fear she may be ultimately seduced into siding with him, even if it's using him, against Jon. I liked the KitN scene very much - Jon and Arya are my very favorites, and Lyanna Mormont is a jewel - but for some reason it didn't fill me with quite the degree of elation that I thought it would, perhaps because at this point the reality of the overwhelming risks posed to him/them is all too clear, unlike it seemed with Robb back in S2.

Of all the scenes in GOT, the one where Tyrion tells Dany he believes in her and she makes him Hand of the Queen is the one that makes me cry outright. In the books, it's in AGOT where Jon said goodbye to Tyrion up on the wall and called him "Friend".  And the final scene where Dany's fleet moves out, with her & Tyrion at the helm, Yara & Theon behind them, and Missandei & Varys behind them, and the dragons flying overhead, has got to be the most powerful "YES!!!" scenes of all 6 seasons.

From Benjen, TV viewers get the message that ancient spells, strong magic, were carved into the foundation of the wall to protect men from what lies beyond, and "the dead cannot pass."   But we know there are other ways, that the dead are definitely coming anyway. And we get the TOJ!!! I'd vote that 'most anticipated scene', at least for me! I'm not completely sure that all non-book folks got the message that Rhaegar is Jon's father, though, despite all the hints in so many prior episodes - one of my close friends, a super smart woman, didn't, much to my surprise, and is still waiting to find out.  And I'm still hoping for a reveal that (please, please) Lyanna and Rhaegar were married, before a weir wood tree at least, so that Jon won't be another bastard, all over again.