Dialogue was definitely meh at times. I think Tyrion had possibly the blandest dialogue in the episode. Also the dick jokes are really old. They've been old since season 3.
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Grammar in the last two panels notwithstanding

 

@MonkeyEpoxy Now you're just being facetious and arguing in bad faith. The point being made here is that Jon didn't need to bend the knee. By this point Dany was already in on helping. He did it because he's leading with his dick and is just as eager for Targ pussy as he is to get rid of responsibility. Both of these are what Sansa challenged and she's not wrong.

Edit: Also, the Recap is back and funnier than ever. Arguably better than the episode itself.

 

Just wait till the final episode when it's Gendry that sits on the Iron Throne and it was all foreshadowed with the Baratheon theme as he entered Winterfell with Jon and Dany.

 

Precisely this. Jon bending the knee was about as well thought out a plot point as such gems as:

• “people still care what Cersei thinks and trust her to follow through”
• “lets send 8 guys, one of whom is fairly critical to everything, north of the Wall to capture a single dead guy and then lose a dragon all so that the night’s king can pass the Wall without too much more dues ex”
• “lets stage an extremely elaborate justice filled death for Petyr Baelish because it just seems so right.”

 

So, apparently George Lucas was on set helping direct that first episode. As much as I love the original Star Wars, the man is one of the worst directors in the world IMO.

 

Eh, I wouldn't say that. He's most definitely a better idea-guy than director, but he's got a talent for visual story-telling and is at least above average with a camera. As long as they didn't let him actually write anything, he likely wouldn't have harmed it much at all.

 

I always think things like this... but then I remember that his grand idea for the SW sequel trilogy was to make it all about the tiny microscopic immortal beings who are the true force wielders and humans are simply vessels they control/influence through their midichlorians.

 

Like I said, don't ever let the man actuality write anything, but you can't deny that pretty much all of the films Lucas helmed were quite well done, in terms of visual design and camera work. The man's excellent at visual storytelling, character and setting design, and he's wonderfully creative, just bursting at the seams with ideas and isn't afraid to chase them.

It's just... His big failings as a creator are that a) he can't write for shit (both narratives and especially dialogue) and b) he's too creative and lacks the discipline to manage it properly.

 

Ah. That explains the unnecessary CGI dragon ride and the empty, void, monotone Dany/Jon romance scenes.

 

“I hate snow. It’s wet, and cold, and it gets everywhere.” -Jon Snow.

“You’re pretty short for a st-Hand of the Queen.” -Sansa.

“No, Jon, I am your aunt!” -Dany

“You’re a man now.”
“Not yet.”
“What! How can you see the future and not be a man!”
“Take a seat...Jon”
-Brann and Jon


These just write themselves.

 

Tyrion and Davos really have the right idea, having Jon and Dany get hitched would have been a far the more sensible solution to all the political problems they currently have. It's such an obvious solution that it's rather baffling it's not getting pushed harder. Marriage alliances are medieval politics 101.

Especially since Jon and Dany are banging anyway. Pretty much everyone around them should be constantly saying "So when are you two getting married?"

Sure, when/if Jon's identity goes public the incest becomes problematic, but the Targs have been doing that for centuries. And that's assuming anyone outside of Sam, Bran, and Jon ever know. Which ... why should it go public? If he and Daenerys get hitched which of them has the rightful claim is a non-issue anyway. Which is just another reason why the two of them should get married already.

(And speaking of rightful claims, the fact that Bran should totally be the rightful Lord of Winterfell/King in the North is a point hasn't come up yet. Granted, by all indications he wouldn't want the title, but at the very least you'd think he'd need to formally renounce it or something).

 

Can Bran be Lord Stark if he can't father children? Unsure if he just lost his legs but his dick still works, but what happens in cases where the heir can't continue the line?

 

It's the logical and reasonable solution, yeah.

I don't think Dany would go for it. That's asking her to give up her entire identity, and while we as the viewer know it to be true that Jon is the rightful King, and Jon himself knows it to be true...

Take the recent example of Dany killing Samwell's family, the Tarly's. If she's not the rightful ruler, she had no right to do that. She's just a murderer at that point.

I think that's the angle the show is going to take.

I also like the idea that when Dany finds out Jon is the rightful heir she supports it... I could see that working, but I don't think it'll go that way.

 

Basically no one would recognize him as Lord Stark, especially not if his wife had to ride the lordly seed out of him, which is why in the books Manderly is trying to find Rickon(no idea about the show). In the same way that a marriage was not recognized until it was consummated, an heir would not be recognized if born out of suspicious circumstances(there would be those who thought he got Jon to do it for him). I'm pretty sure his dick also doesn't work, since he was paralyzed starting somewhere in his back; if he can't feel his legs there's a good chance he can't feel his dick, and when they found him his father mentally commented that he would never love a woman.

When the heir can't sire children, the heirship kind of quietly, politely skips to the next boy who can. If you're out of boys who can sire children, the line disappears.

 

There's no way in hell that Dany just up and gives up the Iron Throne just because Jon suddenly turns out to be the true heir.

For one, her brother had a better claim than her, and Dany had no problem icing him. Not a perfect comparison given that they're nothing alike, of course, but we know that at this point other Targaryens are nothing sacrosanct to her. What Viserys is a strong argument for is Dany being anti-incest - given how often he told her she was going to eventually be his sister-wife, it's unlikely Dany is going to be thrilled or even neutral about fucking her nephew.

(That's to say nothing of Jon, who almost certainly will be repulsed. While Targaryens might be fine with incest, he wasn't raised as a Targaryen - and more over, most of his entire family has been slaughtered over the matter of the Lannisters and their incest. I count the odds of Jon Snow saying 'oh well, it's fine when we do it' at absolute nil.)

For two, and most importantly, taking the Iron Throne is the cornerstone of Dany's entire personality, motivation and ego. Arguably, the unifying political theme of the entirety of the show and books is that the strongest claim to rule is power, not blood - Robert killing the Targaryens, Renly defying Stannis, Joffrey and the Lannisters, Dany and her dragons. Dany is absolutely not going to give two shits about Jon being a Targaryen if he gets in the way of taking the throne.

 

I imagine Bran would eventually take some time to “warg” out and have some fun, but as far as heir? Yeah he’s better off being the “court wizard”

 

Nah, Westerosi history mostly then has it go to the daughter’s husband, but with children taking her name, preserving the line.

 

It preserves the line genetically, but the name disappears. I suppose it's better that the daughter has a husband than not, but the house is just absorbed, politically speaking. That's why everyone in the North was losing their shit over Sansa and Arya, but in Clash of Kings, they weren't at the top of Robb's list of demands even though they're his sisters.

 

The children take the maiden name. Odds are she marries someone of slightly lower status to make it work.

 

This brings up a good point, why wasn't Orys Baratheon married matrilineally to the Dondarrion heiress?