SPOILER ALERT! So am I the only one excited about a new round of GoT?

[beefcake]

What ever happened to Baratheon's bastard? He hasn't been back in it for...ever. Has he been written out?

[Dr. Zombie]

He was killed by Renly and the Red woman, wasn't he?

[Hammers]

I would place money on John Snow/Baratheon King of the North marrying Daenerys. Creating a royal super couple able to defeat both the Lanisters and the army of White walkers.

Quite obvious innit. A low odder.

[Andrew Rae]

He's a Targaryan though, isn't he? Bit much to marry his auntie, surely.

[Hammers]

He's a Targaryan though, isn't he? Bit much to marry his auntie, surely.

Not at all. Quite the thing, really.

[Charlie_]

I didn't quite get why Tommen just threw himself out of a window. It would have been much cooler if he would have at least tried to stand up to Cercei.

I have mixed views on that scene, I can argue for and against it.

Against it, yeah it means we missed out on a potentially very important scene of Tommen standing up to Cersei. None of her other children go to do that (well Joffrey was rude to her at one point). Could be pretty big for her....

But then, it was pretty shocking how he did it. I honestly wasn't expecting it, and a lot of this episode I could guess what would happen next... That was the one moment that genuinely took me by surprise, so that was good.

What did everyone think of Pycelle being stabbed to death by children? I feel that's a case of them taking a cool scene from the book and trying to shoe-horn it into their mangled plot. I feel it didn't make much sense and could potentially be a bit of a "wait...what?" moment for non-book readers. Why did Pycelle have to die, why was he stabbed to death by children, why wasn't he at the Sept to get blown up with everyone else, and why does Quyburn have an army of murderous children? It makes more sense in the books (the sept blowing up doesn't happen or at least hasn't yet, two politically important characters are murdered in a stand-alone incident, it's not Quyburn the children work for and it makes much more sense why there are children involved). But then I think I'm just getting tired of the endless stabbing scenes in this show... Perhaps this particularly ugly one just pushed it too far for me!!!!

I feel the same way about Walder Frey's death. They had a VERY cool plot / theory / event from the book, and tried to shoe-horn it into an event of their own devising, rather clumsily I think. Let's just say in the books, there are Frey pies, but it is so much more effective, and not shoved down your throat. More of a "Oh... wait... oh shit!" moment when you finally realise it, and it's nothing to do with Arya. A great character who has been cut from the shows is responsible (well actually he did briefly appear for the first time in this episode!), but it's left to the readers to actually notice what he's done.

As to the overall plot and direction the show is now taking, again I have mixed feelings. It seems like they are obviously tying up loose ends, killing off unwanted characters and making for a very neat showdown-like storyline to end the show. If it's true that the last 2 seasons are gonna be 7 episodes each, this makes sense. Now as a book reader I find what they are doing to be really dumbing it all down.... So.... Cersei is now the evil/mad tyrant, Jon Snow is the king in the north, and Daenarys comes up from the south to unify the realm and overthrow Cersei? Cersei gets overthrown, Daenarys sits the iron throne, and then I guess there'll be some sort of showdown between her and Jon. Jon will probably persuade her they need to work together, they'll defeat the white walkers with some helpful dragonfire and then... get married and live happily ever after? Hmmm I hope not.
BUT obviously it is impossible for a TV show to keep up with the intricacies of the books, I know they are at some point gonna have to bring it all in and go for some sort of neat conclusion. I just hope they don't completely dumb it down in the process.
Because the most important thing about the books to me is that it is not about good v evil, heroes v villains, etc. It is about real people. Shades of grey all over. That's what makes the story work.
The show could potentially be going in the direction of good guys uniting together to fight bad guys.

BUUUUUT...... For what it's worth, I have no idea how the books themselves are actually going to end. Finding a way to bring his epic story to a close without resorting to dumb good v evil showdowns is going to be ultimate test for GRRM as a writer. I don't know how the hell he's going to do it, we'll just have to wait and see! 

[Andrew Rae]

Not at all. Quite the thing, really.

I was mainly pointing out he's a Targaryan not a Baratheon. But I don't see it happening except where they fall in love, defeat everything, get married then Bran tells them they're nephew and auntie. And then one kills the other in some kind of sub-Shakespeare tragedy. "Noooooooooooooooooo!"

[Hupp n at em]

Thought the Tommen scene was excellent, are we thinking of the same Tommen? He couldn't even bear to look in his mother's direction when he made the announcement about banning Trial by Combat, there was no way he was going to stand up to her  He'd quite taken to both his faith and Margery, and Cersei took them both away.  Cersei, who would never step in when Joff would bully him, and who he's figured out murdered his father.  He has continually been maneuvered and used by other people and put in their power, so throwing himself out the window is not only him choosing something for himself, it's also about the only way he could stick it to Cersei, and quite easy to do when he has nothing left to live for.

[nic-e]

I think tommens suicide was his stand up to his mother.
He knew more than any of her children how much she cared for them, and he knew she'd done what she did for him, at least in her own mind.
He could stand up to her, imprison her, even execute her, and she wouldn't care because she'd have beaten fate and saved her last child.

So he did all he could to defeat her and finally gain freedom from a system he was never in control of.

[Hupp n at em]

I think tommens suicide was his stand up to his mother.
He knew more than any of her children how much she cared for them, and he knew she'd done what she did for him, at least in her own mind.
He could stand up to her, imprison her, even execute her, and she wouldn't care because she'd have beaten fate and saved her last child.

So he did all he could to defeat her and finally gain freedom from a system he was never in control of.

I knew someone would come along and express it in better words than I did, so ignore mine and read this instead.   

[Mad Doc Morris]

Final episode – lots of teleporting and loose ends desperately tied together. I'm rather surprised how few surprises remain. And what is not already expected feels like a let down, e.g. the surgical strike with wildfire instead of burning King's Landing to ashes.
Now that Jon's Targaryen ancestry is more or less revealed (did they really have to proclaim another King of the North?), next season we'll most likely see Bran informing Tyrion that he's Daenery's half-brother. Very few other 'secrets' left.

BUUUUUT...... For what it's worth, I have no idea how the books themselves are actually going to end. Finding a way to bring his epic story to a close without resorting to dumb good v evil showdowns is going to be ultimate test for GRRM as a writer. I don't know how the hell he's going to do it, we'll just have to wait and see! 

'Winds of Winter' is long overdue, and now S6 has drawn to an end, I'm almost sure it's going to be the last book of the SoIaF series. GRRM may release it at some point, because he's actually written at least some parts. But what's the incentive to continue? The TV show has outpaced him already, and however clumsy and lazy the scripts are, the plot and its final solution will be revealed.

I'd be more than happy if GRRM had already written all missing books and were to release them in one go in advance to the final season the year after next. Writing doesn't work like that, though, particularly not under extreme pressure. I wanted to be angry, but I actually sympathise with GRRM.

[beefcake]

He was killed by Renly and the Red woman, wasn't he?

I know he killed Rickon. But when did he kill the Baratheon bastard, the one that was travelling with Arya for a bit in the early seasons, season 2 or 3.

[nic-e]

Gendry is still rowing.  he will turn up in the last episode and punch out the night king with his now giant arms, then row the entire planet through space to position it better and give it a proper season cycle.

[Hammers]

I was mainly pointing out he's a Targaryan not a Baratheon. But I don't see it happening except where they fall in love, defeat everything, get married then Bran tells them they're nephew and auntie. And then one kills the other in some kind of sub-Shakespeare tragedy. "Noooooooooooooooooo!"

Targaryans also intermarry like rabbits.

[Captain Blood]

Loved that. Thought episodes 1 - 8 were distinctly meh, episode 9 was rather good, and in terms of pure drama (despite all the nonsensical time travelling) I thought episode 10 was outstanding. The question, I suppose is: is such a long, slow, and sometimes frankly dull and uneventful burn, really justified by having a glorious and almighty humdinger of a finale?
Of course, like all stories, there's an arc and a build towards a climax in each season - fair enough. But this now seems to have reached a ludicrous extreme, where the audience is starved of great moments for most of the series, just in order to deliver an even more massive hit or rush at the end. On the whole I'd prefer the drama to be spread out a bit more, as I'm sure it was in earlier seasons.
But, for this episode, I have to say - epic job. Almost too many brilliant, beautiful, vengeful and otherwise satisfying moments to take them all in. i might have to go and watch it again in fact