True Reviews, Updates and Common Sense Opinions
I decided to binge-watch HBO’s Watchmen (2019) after watching the first episode during the season premiere. I still remember the emotions that the first episode left me with. As a result, I decided to designate time to appropriately watch the series and write a full spoiler free season review.
Continue reading “Watchmen (2019) | Season 1 Series Review (HBO)”
I turned on the first episode of Watchmen (2019) by myself. I avoided every spoiler I could so that I could take in what I assumed would be another iteration of a heroic character saving the day when all hope was lost.
What I got was a jarring, hurtful, terrifying opening sequence representing the events during the race riots in Tulsa, OK also know as Black Wallstreet in 1921. I almost turned it off.
It’s evident that no matter how “evolved” we Americans claim to be or how different times are supposed to be, moments in history like the happening in Black Wallstreet still bring hurt and pain to those who were and are still affected by injustice today.
Continue reading “Watchmen (2019) based on one episode (HBO)”
Last night I watched my suspicions about Danerys come true. Usually, when she does something so destructive there is a clear reason. It just seemed so out of character. In fact, everyone seemed out of character during ‘The Bells’ episode and it left me, Jon Snow, and a lot of other viewers confused.
As always, I suggest you watch the episode in full because spoilers are below.
Spoilers ahead
Let’s start at the beginning of the episode. Lord Varys made it known last week that he planned to put Jon in position to be king of the Seven Kingdoms. He has a rightful claim to the throne, but more specifically because he has the better temperament to lead and people like him so they will follow.
Okay, that makes sense. Daenerys’ actions have been questionable lately and based on the trauma she’s dealt with (losing her dragon, Jorah, and Missandre and Jon not returning her affections), she is a bit unstable. She hasn’t given herself time to mourn and she isn’t making decisions with a sound mind.
But here is where I get lost.
Tyrion sees Varys confront Jon about being king and instead of going to Daenerys and saying some people know and advising to take actions that give confidence that she is better for the throne, he goes to her and says Varys betrayed you.
Tyrion at this point knew Daenerys was on her breaking point. Yet he actually gave her a reason to kill Varys. He’s been handling his duties all wrong causing her not to trust his judgment, which she tells him in episode 2 of this season. Tyrion made another bad call which acted as her stepping stool to burn Kings Landing to the ground later in the episode.
That being said, I really think Jon could have stopped all of this from happening. How? We all know how. Daenerys has been trying to be intimate with Jon for the last two weeks since she found out they were relatives.
Incest clearly makes Jon uncomfortable which is why he’s backed off of her that way. But, a man knows when his woman is about to go off the deep end.
Jon clearly knew or had assumptions that she was unstable and instead of trying to talk her off the ledge, he reaffirmed his loyalty to her. He also told her he loved her. But, once she tries to get close he shoves her away.
Which made it worse because in Daenerys’ mind if you love me then you should be intimate with me.
Jon’s inability to show her affection based on reasons (she’s his aunt) is the real reason why she burned Kingslanding to the ground.
Jon, it’s all your fault. Your inability to return her love is the reason she’s gone mad.
In Daenerys mind, she knows the people will follow Jon because they love him and she thinks that she is only feared. She tells Jon this and even though he doesn’t want the throne, it’s inevitable.
What if Daenerys decided, once she heard the bells of surrender ring from the castle, to burn it all down so that there is nothing left to rule.
It’s clear that at this point she’s lost the ability to reason, she doesn’t trust her advisors, and without Jon’s affections, she doesn’t feel loved. So now, burn the kingdom down, let the pieces fall where they may, and start fresh.
Other notes:
I can’t believe Arya is not dead! She literally was trampled by horses, smashed by a falling building, and engulfed in Daenerys’ fire while trying to escape Kings Landing. But, she is still alive.
I was not expecting Cersi and Jamie to go out like that. I thought Cersei had more of a plan, but I guess not. She went out like a mouse. It was a little sad though once the end came for her and Jamie.
Also, Sandor ‘the Hound’ Clegane and Gregor ‘the Mountain’ Clegane finally settled their odds going out in dragon fire. They had a cool exchange before it was all over with during Clegane Bowl.
My questions:
Is Jon now going to be compelled to get closer to Daenerys so that he can calm her down or will he be compelled to overthrow her because he’s seen her destructive capabilities?
What happens now that Kings Landing is destroyed?
What role will Sansa and Bran play in the story now that Kings Landing is destroyed?
Is Arya going to kill Daenerys for her actions?
Arya claimed that she was going to kill the queen. Maybe now her attention is drawn to Daenerys. Also, apparently in the television series Daenerys has green eyes, but George R.R Martin’s books explain that she has purple eyes. Hopefully, that’s not used as a workaround to let Arya kill her.
I guess we’ll see in the final episode next week.
Game of Thrones season 8, episode 4: Is Sansa right about Daenerys? (last weeks episode)
I watched 98% of Game of Thrones season 8 episode 3, The Long Night with my mouth slightly ajar because there were so many moments of anticipation, frustration, unbelief, and brilliance.
Last week, I was able to point out specific things that stuck out to me in my blog Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2: Daenerys we have a problem. This week I was pretty much stunned the entire episode. With that being said as always, I advise you watch the episode for yourself before reading. I won’t hit everything, but I will talk about most things.
Spoilers ahead
Initially, when the episode began I was filled with dread. In my head, everyone was going to bite the big one and then as soon as I saw Sam that pretty much confirmed he was going down first.
BUT THEN…
Melisandre showed up with her lord of light chants and lite the Dothraki swords on fire. Honestly, Melisandre played a huge roll in this war. I figured out that with her help it would be Winterfell for the win.
The Red Woman with the assist.
However, the episode actually started to ramp up and of course the Dothraki got run over by the Night King’s army of the undead and that’s all folks.
The Night King made me so mad the entire episode! In theory, Daenerys and Jon’s plan should have worked. Two dragons should be able to overwhelm one dragon dead or alive. But, the Night King decided he was going to bring a huge snow storm with him which made it easier for him to thrive on his dragon in the fight.
Did we know that he could conjure snow storms?
Eventually, the Night King fell off his dragon and hit the ground and Daenerys called out “Dracarys”!
I knew it wasn’t over but she was convincing.
Mind you the war is raging on and Sam, Jorah, Brienne, Jamie, Tormund, the Hound, Gendry, Beric, Grey Worm, and Arya are just stabbing and scratching to stay alive. I started to swell up with tears. But the best part of the fight was when Beric realized Arya was better than all of them.
Let’s stay with Arya for a moment. She shined like the beautiful butterfly assassin that she is. There’s a moment when the Hound is frozen and hopeless and Arya is tearing through the zombies. Eventually that does catch up with her though.
Okay, back to the Night King.
Jon Snow’s only mission is to kill the Night King. When he finally gets a chance the Night King initiates the biggest cheat code ever! He just raises a whole new dead army.
A WHOLE NEW ARMY!
He raised so many dead people that they started falling out of the sky. But he was too smug and that was his down fall. He finally got to Bran in the garden.
Bigger spoilers ahead
Sadly Theon Greyjoy didn’t make it. He fought brave though and I think he really redeemed himself. Jorah Mormont and Lyanna Mormont both went out in a blaze of glory. Edd died being a protector. Beric and Melisandre both played a crucial part in setting up the final act before they died.
Here’s where the Night King messed up. He was so blood thirsty to kill Bran that he missed an important another Stark.
ARYA! Arya for the win!
Arya legit blind sided the Night King and stabbed him in the heart! He broke into a million snow flakes and his army just dropped dead again! It was amazing!
I did not see that coming.
This episode was so good. I didn’t even talk about everything. I’m still trying to wrap my head around half of what I saw. I am surprised the Bran didn’t keel over after Arya stabbed the Night King. I guess that theory about them being connected is on the shelf for now.
Is the Night King really dead?
Probably.
Serious Questions:
Bran is still alive, so Cersei is next at least in Daenerys’ eyes. So will Bran be this huge cheat code to help them take Kings Landing?
Jamie is still alive, so will he flip back to Cersei’s side now that the Night King is dead? Or will he bend the knee to Daenerys?
What other threats can Bran see coming?
What about Jon and Daenerys? Does that even matter at this point
What happens next?
I’m not surprised that there were major moments in pretty much every scene this week. But, I am only going to harp on a few because we have so much to find out with so little time.
I don’t know if this is on purpose, but I’m starting to have a real issue with Daenerys Targaryen.
spoilers ahead
Back to what I was saying about Daenerys. So I think she is rapidly losing her mind.
Why?
After all of this time of saying, “I’m nothing like my father”, she is clearly turning in to him. Why else would she freak out when she saw Jamie? I could understand if she thought he wanted to kill her for Cersei given the history. But then she gave this speech about getting revenge for her father based on the talks that she had with her brother in their younger years.
Really? You want revenge for the mad king?
Okay, let’s move past the revenge because he still killed her dad. Even if he was crazy, Daenerys would still be expected to feel some type of way when she saw Jamie.
But then Daenerys goes to talk with Sansa. They talk about love and being a team to get through this war.
What a great start!
Things fall apart when Sansa pretty much says that she expects Winterfell to be independent once Daenerys takes the Iron Throne. Daenerys seemed to have a mini meltdown. After all that talk about loving Jon and she won’t even consider it.
Very power hungry.
Lastly, Jon Snow straight up tells Daenerys that he is Aegon Targaryen. She doesn’t freak out because she’s his aunt and she’s in love with him.
I mean shouldn’t that be the issue?
No, her issue is that he is the last living male Targaryen. Luckily the White Walkers are approaching Winterfell and they didn’t have time to go over it further.
Seriously the entire episode was about relationships, trust, and love. We saw examples between Theon and Sansa, Missandei and Grey Worm, Sam and Gilly, Jamie and Brienne, and even Arya and Gendry.
Every time it was time for Daenerys to demonstrate those traits, she failed big time.
If you watch the whole episode you will see I’m right. Look at the way she treats Tyrion too.
This is just my opinion and now I have to wait a whole week. This is getting so good! I’ll see you next week.
Game of Thrones season 8 episode 1: Most shocking events
This episode set up a lot of stuff. With only 6 episodes, I’m glad we got the ball running early.
I am not going to spoil the whole episode of Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 1. However, I will say that a few spoils. Please make sure you’ve watched it before you read this.
This entire episode was a shock fest, but I’m going to list a few instances that blew me away the most and caused me the most questions.
spoilers ahead
Honorable mention to Jamie Lannister on his crusade for redemption. Now he’s got to face Daenerys because he killed her dad. But, he’s only here to help so next week we’ll see if Daenerys is able to contain her rage. She’s been a little wrath-y lately.
Game of Thrones airs Sunday nights at 9 pm on HBO! I’ll be doing the same thing next week. Check back here for more thoughts.
Here is an update for you Game of Thrones fans.
According to freepreview.tv, HBO and Cinemax from April 8th to April 14th!
The are promoting the final season of Game of Thrones! If you need to catch up or just need a refresher, Game of Thrones will be available all week. They’ll be live showings and on-demand is available as well.
Have fun!