The Game of Thrones Fantasy League

Game of Thrones – 8.03 – The Long Night Ah wow, I guessed right about the title of this episode! This was a juggernaut of an episode and one of the trickiest to record scores for. There has never been television on a scale like this. Has there been anything as metal as seeing two dragons claw out the throat of an ice zombie dragon? This episode contained some extraordinary grace notes: I just love Jon entering Winterfell as dozens of wights precipitate behind him; the smirk the Night King gives as he emerges from the dragonfire unscathed; his “come at me bro” ¯\_(“”)_/¯ pose; Jon coming out to face Viserion; Daenerys picking up and wielding a sword; Lyanna Mormont’s glorious charge; Beric’s sword throw; the wights scrabbling over Drogon like frenzied ants; the Deakins-esque illumination of the fog with fire; and Arya’s checkmate dagger move. I could have done with some more meaty combat from the point of view of Brienne, Jamie, Pod, Tormund and Gendry, however. Bran wa...

Game of Thrones – 8.02 – A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms There is a disagreement in Thrones fandom about what the show should be, people talking in rooms or ice zombies and dragons. I personally enjoy a healthy dose of both and it’s wonderful that before we’re hit with the inevitable spectacle of next week, we’re served with this elegant and wistful episode that focuses on these characters’ complexities. However, this doesn’t transfer so healthily in terms of fantasy league points as this episode scraped just over half of what the first episode got. It’s quite nice that this episode is titled “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”, referring to Brienne, as that is also the name of GRRM’s chronicles about Ser Duncan the Tall, who has been hinted in the books as an ancestor of Brienne’s. Everyone keeps saying that people will be safe in the crypt: please, if you’re about to face off with someone who can bring people back from the dead, sheltering alongside a bunch of skelet...

Game of Thrones – 8.01 – Winterfell Yaaaaay, the show has returned! A huge thank you to everyone for the money you've raised and taking a leap of faith of faith that this thing works.  Brace yourselves for a dramatic season! The premiere had a really strong showing for points, 1326 gained in total, thanks to all those reunions! So much happened in this premiere, there’s a lot to chew on. First and foremost, I’m most troubled at how Cersei is back on the wine. She had been abstaining during season 7 as she was pregnant. However she only volunteered that information to her brothers, was that just a manipulative lie? Or is she actually pregnant and just pretending to Euron that she’s not in order to pass the parentage of her new incest-borne child off as someone who’s not her brother? Having new opening titles makes sense, I like that we now have some scale of how many stairs are in the Tower of the Hand at the Red Keep. Who knew Theon’s rescue mission would resolve so qu...