This doesn't actually bother me the way it does everyone else. We are prosecuting one case where the victim was stabbed 10 times, his intestines were protruding, and he managed to run away to safety. Then, we have another case where the victim was stabbed once, collapsed, and died. So yeah, apparently with stabbing, who knows what's going to happen.
Totally agree. It surprised me that so many people had such a strong reaction to Arya surviving her wounds. I've worked on or read numerous cases in which stabbing and shooting victims have survived grievous wounds under extraordinary circumstances.
Plus, that's the sort of thing every action/adventure show/movie does ... the hero survives a wound against all odds, whereas the villain and his henchmen are easily dispatched. If that really bothers you, I don't see why the whole genre doesn't bother you.
Other comments (mostly positive) that I don't think have been discussed yet:
1. I'm optimistic that they're going to start to get Jamie right. It's happening later than I would have liked, but the look he gave Cersei seemed to indicated that he's finally done with her. I think it's unfortunate that he's stayed loyal to her for so long with seemingly no repercussions from Tyrion's parting shots.
Yes, me too. I loved that look they shared with her on the Iron Throne. Pregnant with possibilities, that storyline.
2. Does anyone else think there's a chance Cersei was okay with the fact that Tommen was dead? We knew she was all about her children but we also knew that she was a believer in the prophecy that said they'd all die. I think she was resigned to that fact and basically said "fuck it, might as well be queen."
One blogger put it like this:
Cornered, Cersei had resorted to her credo about the “Game of Thrones” — you win or you die — and accepted her own dire fate, as prophesied by the witch years ago. Compared to her grief at the loss of Joffrey and Myrcella, she treated Tommen’s death as the price of doing business. Tired of trying to shape events as the person behind the person — be it a husband or son — she finally took the power she craved by force and dared anyone to stop her.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/26/a...ones-season-6-finale-recap-jon-snow.html?_r=0
That's pretty consistent with your take, which I think is a good one. She just had no grief left to give. Too dead inside to grieve any more; the power-lust took over.
3. King in the North was such an awesome scene, but does anyone else question Jon's character motivations? He flips pretty quickly from not wanting to sleep in Ned's bed on the premise that Sansa is the lady of Winterfell to all of a sudden accepting the mantle of King in the North. That felt a bit out of character to play up the Littlefinger - Sansa - Jon triangle.
Right. It'll be interesting to see where the showrunners take that triangle next season. That look between Sansa and Littlefinger at the end of the scene ... great acting from Sophie Turner. Was she afraid of Littlefinger's next plot? Or did she realize after looking at Littlefinger that she was as displeased as he that the North hadn't rallied around her?
4. Why is there such a sharp divide between show people and book people on Danaerys? Show people seem to view her as a co-hero in parallel with Jon and that the two of them unite to fight the White Walkers. Most book people I know absolutely hate her and thing she'll descend into madness and become an evil force that Jon will have to deal with in addition to the White Walkers.
I've never quite understood the ferocity of the Dany hate that some fans seem to feel. She is a very flawed person, but so are most characters in the books. Jmo, but to me she is not much worse than a lot of other characters who don't seem to generate such strong hatred. But leaving that aside for a moment, it might be that book readers feel a more palpable potential for madness in her because they are more sensitive to her Targ family history and because they are privy to a lot of the details of prophecies, etc., which showwatchers aren't.
5. I think the show made a smart decision to omit Robb Stark's will legitimizing Jon Snow as a Stark. Jon's true parentage legitimizes him anyways, so including the will would be redundant and unnecessarily complicated. Separately, do we know for sure whether Rhaegar and Lyanna got married? Jon Targ would be much more significant than Jon Sand.
I don't think we know, and I'm curious about that too.