Game of Thrones: Disappointment

There are now two plotlines that I am very disappointed in at this point: Dorne and Margaery/Tommen. And Daeny’s plotline? We’ll go over that in a bit.

I’m not going to go over the plotline for Dorne much. I think the rest of the internet has gone over the complete cluster that is the Dorne subplot including the meager exit of the Martells and the eradication of the family of Oberyn (I seriously still cannot believe the showrunners thought this was a good idea, given how well Doran played the game in the books and how a woman who loved Oberyn so much should never want to kill his entire family line, but whatever). This was a plotline that unfortunately could have used a better steward than the showrunners, in my opinion. The bad accents. The stupid lines. The pettiness. Ugh.

Anyway, Margaery and Tommen. What a complete let down! Yeah, some of my angst about this plotline may be due to the fact that I had envisioned this sweeping gesture by the Tyrells (way before Cersei requested the gesture) resulting in the sad death of a strong Margaery and the ruining of Tommen and subsequently Cersei (you can read my poor prediction here). But don’t I have the right to feel a little let down here? How did you feel about the way this developed?

Margaery was one of the strongest female characters playing the game, and even if the showrunners would argue that she is still playing the game with the High Sparrow, I think they’ve completely missed the mark and made her into a much weaker character for no reason. Think about the history of the character. She and her family had put her into a queen position with Renly, then Joffrey, and now Tommen. Do you understand how ridiculously well the Tyrells had played the game to get her in all three of those positions? And she seemed to understand her position throughout–it wasn’t like she was the unwitting pawn of her grandmother.  Three separate candidates for Queendom, and an absolutely sharp intellect that was perfectly adept at playing the game. She played Joffrey’s personality against him to make him love her more. She played Tommen’s ignorance into complete devotion.

And what about her manipulation of the people? Do you remember how much she had played the population into not only loving her but also got them to even cheer Joffrey just by association with her? She played the population and made them love her, and yet not one person in the crowd of King’s Landing begged for her release? Not one riot? Not one whimper of protest? What kind of writing was it to even hint that the population could become so godstruck by this resurgence of religion that they would forget their allegiance to her? Does religion ever spread so quickly as it did in this season that entire populations forget everything they love and replace it with religion in a span of weeks?

There was NO sign that religion was this widely regarded by the people in King’s Landing up to this point. Look at the Battle on the Blackwater.

When shit hit the fan and people lost hope, what did the people do? Did they all start praying? No, they looked for a person to step up. This turned out to be Tyrion but earlier, the soldiers and people had hoped it would be Joffrey. There were not mass shouts of “Please, Stranger, help us” or anything like that. This has felt absurd.

When her family’s army arrives at the steps in Episode 6, and she sees them, a strong character would have played this. She would have ordered the charge. Can you imagine how strong this would have played with her family? Even if she were to die, she would have been a martyr that the people SHOULD (given how they pined for her before her imprisonment) have gotten behind to overthrow the entire sect of religious nutjobs. The Tyrells could have just watched it unfold, maybe without Margaery, but even stronger than before because the people would have been completely behind them.

Margaery has to know that this religion is not the pillar of the throne. Even playing them and making them even stronger than Cersei did by accident is not going to make her safer or her rule more solidified. Her husband also knows this as one of the few pieces of advice that his grandfather Tywin gave him was that faith cannot be the basis of the throne. I mean watch this video and understand just how much Tywin would be rolling over in his grave about this development. Baelor the Blessed was a laughing stock of the kingdom and for a good reason. This religion is neither well-financed nor well-armed. What could they possibly do against a mounted cavalry? Nothing. They’re more likely to cause a stampede and get everyone around them killed than they are to do anything worth doing.

What the absolute hell is going on with the writing this season? Cersei is arrogant and overconfident, but she was never this stupid. Jaime’s defrocking as Kingsguard? His reaction to this was pretty much the only part of this episode that was in character for the Lannisters. And next week, we’re just going to have Jaime allowing the Blackfish at Riverrun to go, as he did in the books? That was probably the weakest Lannister moment in the book, and it showed how a major wedge had come between Cersei and Jaime, that he wouldn’t even come to save her because of how she had alienated him and overplayed her spite hand before her atonement. Now? Now, the action’s at her suggestion.

And Daeny? The vision of her burning the Khals alive was well done. I think everyone can agree with that.  The scene of her riding a dragon and giving an unnecessary speech that in no way drives the plot forward? I saw the after episode wrap up with the showrunners, and I get that they like this cyclical connection with Khal’s speech for Daeny. But everyone was bowing to her after she burned the Khals. Everyone was onboard. Theatricality is fine. Why not?! But this dragon scene literally has no purpose. What are the horsemen going to do? Build her 1,000 ships? I mean, maybe they think that mentioning this sets up the connection to the coming Greyjoy fleet and the marriage proposal. Maybe this would all work. But Daeny’s storyline, despite the dragons, feels a bit weaker than Sansa or Margaery’s up-to-this-point.

Sure, Daeny has overcome adversity, but she has not done it with her intellect. She has done it with her dragons and by letting people underestimate her. Think about it. When it comes to ruling people, she has never been very good at this, and she is not learning new things. She lost her husband and the first dothraki horde because of her overreliance on her poor judgement of character. She lost her dragons and got them back because of other people not quite understanding the “I control fire-breathing dragons” thing. She burned the slave masters with similar misogyny and men underestimating her. She burned the khals with similar misogyny and men underestimating her. She almost died due to not taking the Harpies seriously enough, and a dragon saved her. She didn’t do it. She has simply been a stock “saved-by-prophecy” character apparently constructed with boobs and white/blonde hair.

Does this not feel like lazy storywriting to you? I mean, don’t get me wrong. Maybe this series is exactly what Ian McShane joked that it was: “tits and dragons.” I can love a series like that. I’ve loved worse concepts. But there are only so many times that you should succeed because people underestimated you. You keep winning, and people should definitely stop underestimating you. You have three fire-breathing dragons bigger than any other creatures in Westeros, and no one, and I mean no one, should be underestimating you. We should be far beyond the point that Daeny is underestimated. If Daeny blazes across Westeros simply because men underestimate her, I’m going to get physically sick watching how this plays out. Maybe she’ll just be the incapable ruler with the infinite power of three dragons at her call. Maybe that’s the point of the character arc: that sometimes you are just born with so much power and righteous direction that you can bumble your way through almost anything and still win.

Contrast this story to Sansa or Margaery or even Arya. Adversity has been heaped on them, and they have used wits and some luck to get themselves into better positions. Granted, Margaery’s position seems undermined now, and Sansa is going to feel some repercussions for her time with the Lannisters during her visit to the Northern families in the next episode. But Sansa is still the strongest female position right now, in terms of strength of character. Daeny does not grow as a person, she relies on others to fix her problems and get her out of trouble. She’s a damsel in distress with dragons. Does that not sound ridiculous?

Arya? She has sliced her way through the world to avenge her family. She’s even drawn the wrath of a God’s followers, and I think she’s going to kill the Waif soon, despite the Waif being so much better than her at everything, really. Arya, if the writers are doing their job, is going to be almost killed but she is going to use the Waif’s confidence against her, and Needle will come as a surprise. Please, please, please, at least get that right. Please let the face that goes on the wall (the one Jaqen promised must happen) be the Waif’s.

Sansa? Raped. Beaten. Humiliated by Ramsay and Joffrey and countless others. Used and abused but not broken. Maybe even a bit stronger with each action. Growing. Becoming a player of the game despite the people around her. Finally in a position of power to see her justice come to pass. I think she’s going to survive the Game of Thrones, unless she makes more decisions like she did with Petyr and the rejection of an entire army. This certainly shows problems in her growth.

Margaery? She’s going to fall now, and it’s going to be sad. Not because the showrunners are going to kill a strong character that I’ve grown to like but because her downfall will now not be of a martyr but of a character that I just don’t like the plot of. That I don’t believe the people’s reaction to her incarceration or the rest of these events. The whole series requires a suspension of disbelief, and I’m willing to do that, but the interaction of people still has to make sense. And I don’t feel this story is making much sense right now.

Predictions are light in this post as I feel like the showrunners are relying on randomness more than useful foreshadowing at this point. Part of the reason for that is because Martin gave them so much foreshadowing in the books, and now they are obviously winging it. I’m sure I’ll watch this series to the end, but man, I’m certainly not as happy with the way this episode played out as I was with Hodor’s finale.

Post episode 5 Game of Thrones catch up

Watching episode 5 (The Door) was a slightly agonizing: not because the episode was bad (it was actually quite good) but because some of my previous predictions (or at least the details of some of the predictions and not the outcomes) seemed to come off the rails a bit. Arya’s choice may be tied to a common actress rather than Jon (I updated my Arya prediction with this sidestep), although I would argue the actor troop’s portrayal of Arya’s family members Ned, Sansa and even Tyrion’s demeanor may have set her off on a path to correct public perception of people she still loves (regardless of whether she is trying to pretend she is not Arya Stark anymore).

I appear to be wrong about at least one other predictions details (possibly not the result) about Margaery. Was the secret of the High Sparrow about Margaery’s atonement or about Tyrell’s involvement in the assassination of King Joffrey? The next week trailer seems to show that it is the former, but I am still holding out that the really damning secret is still about the assassination. I’m leaning towards being probably wrong about this prediction now though because of the preview appearing to show an almost Atonement for Margaery directly before the troops come in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePO5JXVULM).

And Sansa Stark’s story? I unfortunately predicted that Sansa would be a bit irrational about Petyr when she saw him again, but I didn’t expect her to sever ties with him (though hopefully briefly, since Petyr is a good companion to have until Daenerys arrives in Westeros). She wants Winterfell, but she turns down what fans estimate is an army of 30k+, more than 10x the number she currently has through Jon, because she blames Petyr Baelish for Ramsey’s torture. The Knights of the Vale could have single-handedly ruined Ramsay’s force, but now she is forcing Jon to exclusively recruit from the other families in the North instead. Anyone who has played and been played by the game for this long should understand that you don’t look a gift horse like this in the mouth. He should have been forgiven for this play of his with Ramsay, no matter how irredeemable Littlefinger’s ambition might be as an objective thing, the game itself is only won through alliances. This emotional, instinctual repulsion of Petyr is typically rewarded in GoT with getting people you like killed. Then there is Sansa sending Brienne away, one of the only pure people that can and will protect her, and opening herself up to trouble. Why? Because she’s with Jon, a person she doesn’t trust enough to tell about her meeting with Petyr? I think Petyr will come to her aid anyway with his armies, but maybe not. Maybe his ambition takes him elsewhere for a bit. I worry Sansa is playing the game less wisely than she could be, and Jon will have a much tougher time at Winterfell because of it.

The new Fire priestess Kinvarra that talked with Tyrion and Varys? She’ll help fill in the power structure of Daenerys and probably provide more backstory about the gift of fire through the Dragons and maybe even the relationship it holds in fighting the White Walkers. However, I have a feeling Daenerys is going to come back and have immediate anger and mistrust issues with both the fire priestess and Varys, whom she still believes tried to spy on her and poison her as an enemy. Perhaps her recent emotional scene with Jora Mormont is enough to open herself to forgiving someone like Varys more easily. I expect she will forgive Varys, possibly after Tyrion vouches for him. I think she’s going to be less forgiving of Tyrion’s approach with the masters, and perhaps that will cause another Sons of the Harpy revolt which is likely to kill someone important (let’s hope not Greyworm or Missandei, but this may be the season for killing off the help, as seen with Hodor–though we know from the producers that Hodor’s fate was directly told to them by Martin).

The Witch Movie Review

The Witch is a new, low budget suspense/drama that has many unique elements going in its favor. It is a period piece that is apparently historically accurate in clothing, dialogue/accents and feel. The cinematography is unique and beautiful. What it is not is a horror film, and that has resulted in a very torn critic to audience score on review aggregator sites like Rotten Tomatoes, since the movie is being pitched as a horror film, which I would argue it is not.

There are genuinely creepy elements, but some of those scenes, which should set the tone for the audience, missed their mark. My wife, for instance, did not quite understand the implications of the abduction scene and what followed. I’m not going to spoil the scene or the movie, but I had read something about the scene before I saw the movie (in fact, the review I had read about the scene is a key reason why I was intrigued), and so I believe I understood the visual implications because I was prepared for them. However, I can understand why an audience member might completely miss the significance and the impact of the scene.

There were other scenes like Caleb’s return that were just bizarre. Not really creepy, not really powerful or impactful, just bizarre. The twins could have been extremely creepy but the ramifications for their behavior did not really reach a climax, in fact they sort of disappeared from the movie. There were audience members who were genuinely disappointed as some of the scenes unfolded in our theater and they were vocal about their feelings (especially the last ten minutes). More than one person sighed audibly or even muttered an expletive around me (the film is mostly silent so audience mutterings were more legible than some of the movie).

The ending was a bit unfortunate, honestly. I think it marred the overall impact the movie might have had with me. There is so much potential with this context, and the slow-build of the movie should have had a payoff that either pushed the story into horror or really tugged at the heartstrings of the audience with the plight of the protagonist, but it simply did neither. It went into fairy tale land and unapologetically so, according to the closing credits.

So, here I am trying to sum up a recommendation on the film. My wife probably put it best to me, “it was ok.” I think I would add to that sentiment the statement “I don’t think I will ever watch it again.” My overall impression of the movie is that the director loved the source material and I enjoyed the slow build of the movie. My main problem with the movie is that the payoff was underwhelming, that I had less attachment to the main characters than I wanted to, and consequently, the results of the movie were less powerful than they should have been. If you need a star count, I would say 3 out of 5. It was better than most films, and as a history buff, I found much of the movie interesting and thought-provoking. As a movie goer and story enthusiast, I was less happy with the product of the overall storytelling, especially the ending. I think if it had ended almost any other reasonable way, I would have enjoyed the story much more (and I don’t mean what happened to the parents, I mean what happened to the main character).

New fanfiction available

Alan Tudyk (Firefly/Serenity, 28 days, A Knight’s Tale, Death at a Funeral) has offered to read the winning story for the Con Man contest on Inkitt. If you’re unfamiliar with Alan, he’s an actor who usually plays an eccentric character in whatever movie is graced with his presence.

In Death at a Funeral, he played a nervous suitor of one of the protagonists who takes the wrong drugs before meeting her parents, and he ends up stripping naked at a funeral. In 28 days, he plays a humorous homosexual drug addict who has one of my favorite lines in cinema “Oh my God! Look at my package!” In a Knight’s Tale, he plays a man of few words, but of which most of those words hilariously threaten Geoffrey Chaucer. In Firely, one of my favorite TV series of all time, he plays pilot Hoban Washburne, a brilliant character who comes to a very untimely death in the movie Serenity.

For those familiar with Firely, you know that the series was poorly pitched by Fox and doomed to failure, despite the fact that it should have been a surefire winner. His new series Conman appears to be a parody of his life and those of the cast after finding fame in the ComicCon circuits. Anyway, as a promotion for the series, he has agreed to voice a short story for Firefly or Conman, and I really couldn’t pass up taking a shot at some Firefly fanfiction. You can read my entry here:

Serenity: The Dream that Never Was

If you like it, please vote for it. Regardless, definitely check out more of Alan Tudyk’s performances. Whichever author ends up winning this competition, you can rest assured that the reading of the winning story will be a lot of fun.

Deadpool Movie Review

So, a friend of mine managed to snag a bunch of tickets for an advanced screening of Deadpool in Pittsburgh yesterday, and I thought I would share my perspective on the movie.

First, I have never read the Deadpool comics. I have seen several humorous Deadpool cosplayers on the internet. I have watched the X Men Origins: Wolverine debut of the character, and so I was very misled about who or what Deadpool actually was in the comics. I think I’m the main target audience for this movie, as far as demographics go. I’m a man, under 40, who likes superhero movies, action, nudity, magic, science, cursing, gratuitous revenge killing, and tight outfits. I also don’t mind someone breaking the fourth wall at all, and that’s a really good thing, because Deadpool is going to be all-up-in-your-grill, if you know what I mean.

So, that disclaimer out of the way, as someone who has never read a Deadpool comic and has absolutely zero invested in the character or his interactions in the Marvel universe, I absolutely loved the movie. So did everyone in the theater. I’m pretty sure that people outside of the theater loved the movie, simply because everyone who left the theater was in such a great mood as they interacted with their community. Okay, that’s probably taking things a little too far. But that is exactly what Deadpool is.

Ryan Reynolds, as you probably guessed from his twitter account, is perfect for this character. The interaction he has with Morena Baccarin is hilarious. The interaction he has with unicorns is both disturbing and hilarious. Miniature hands? Yeah. Disturbing and hilarious. Francis? Let me spell it out for you: h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s (you’ll get this when you see the movie).

What you can expect from the movie:

1. Insults
2. A hilarious Marvel cameo
3. General hilarity and slapstick
4. Violence
5. Nudity
6. Fourth wall breaking
7. Disturbing things done to unicorns
8. Ridiculously funny credit scenes (intro and outro)
9. A satisfying story
10. Action
11. An elevated level of sarcastic wit when you leave the theater

Overall: 5 stars. I went to the movie expecting something specific, and it delivered exactly what I was expecting and more. Hilarious.