Legacies, Season 1, Episode 2: Some People Just Want to Watch the World Burn

Landon lied to Hope so now she knows all men are terrible ever and she will never trust again and everything is terrible and…

Ye gods, she’s certainly a Mikkaelson, isn’t she? Spare me from the melodrama.

She’s been lectured by school councillor Emma about using dark magic and how bad it is. She does cover for Josie but then yells about how she had to do it because it’s alllll her fault that Landon took the knife and she has to do everything she has to find him and it’s all on her

Oh. My. Gods. We have a protagonist as melodramatic as an Original and as self absorbed as Elena. Gods preserve us all.

She also wants to go out there to take down Landon with her best dark magic revenge spells. Why she even has access to dark magic revenge spells I don’t know.

Lizzie and Josie are also having drama because Josie helped Hope with dark magic and didn’t tell Lizzie - which annoys Lizzie and doesn’t help with her general insecurity that no-one cares about her or values her with both her father and sister seeming to be more focused on Hope. Lizzie’s issues are not helped by Alaric skipping out on the school football game which Lizzie’s part of in order to go Landon hunting.

Penny is still a caricature of awful. And they’re pissed at MG for being in her presence.

So on that Landon hunt - Alaric decides to take Hope and Rafael.

…

..

.

Alaric… this is a problem. Is this a problem with having a human run the school because he relies on his students to actually help him do stuff. I mean, it’d help if they dropped in one super powered co-teacher (Caroline, wherefore art thou Caroline?) or had an Original or powerful witch on speed dial for major issues. Instead he decides to take two of his students on a road trip to hunt down a threat to the school. One of which is on a rage filled black magic revenge kick and the other is brand new to the supernatural and convinced that Landon could do not wrong

This is not good decision making.

Hope insists that Landon is the worst thing ever while Rafael insists he could do no wrong ever. This is a fun road trip.

They arrive at the site of the bus incineration and find an oddly mute woman in a rather dated dress looking all scorched and traumatised. Alaric decides she needs to go to a hospital so he’s going to go with her while Rafael and Hope go looking for Landon alone.

…

..

.

I say, again, Alaric is not making good decisions here. So the traditions of The Originals and The Vampire Diaries continue

They find Landon and, of course, go in with Hope magic blazing despite assuring Rafael he’d have time to talk to his friend (Rafael swears Landon is made of angel’s tears and saintliness) to demand why he stole the knife and slaughtered a bus full of innocent people and lied to her about being compelled.

He admits to stealing the knife - but he doesn’t know why. He admits to lying (because, hey, the alternative was being locked in a basement cage). But he totally didn’t burn everyone. That was another passenger - a fire breathing woman who demanded the knife.

Which would be dubious except Alaric has his phone and watch stolen by the woman he’s escorting to the hospital who then breaths fire.

He runs to them and reveals Landon was telling the truth - oh except he lied about losing the knife because he still has it.

Alaric originally decides that she’s a rare pyromancer witch - but looking at the shiny things she’s stealing they realise hoards riches + breathes fire = dragon. Alaric protests dragons don’t exist and the rest of the cast hit him with a script and a note of the genre he’s actually part of. Of course it exists. It always exists.

Hope uses woo-woo to enchant the knife with dragonfire (because massive woo-woo always helps) so Rafael can stab the dragon and they can call it a win. Victory

The Magicians, season 3, Episode 6: Do You Like Teeth

Alice and Julia have decided to go through with the plan to transfer magic from Julia to Alice - and Alice is almost painfully excited. They’re going to use a repurposed hedge witch spell that originally was used to steal magic.

They start  - and are interrupted by Penny who attracts their attention by possessing a singing fish.

This is not the most dignified way to communicate.

He warns them that he’s seen this before - and it killed the witches in question. But it’s also Fogg’s spell - yes Dean Henry Fogg.

He’s not doing so well - and he’s not exactly happy they’ve been keeping Julia’s magic from him but, as they point out, he’s been very drunk all the time. He doesn’t deny this or make excuses - because he’s a magicless magician, a Dean without a school, and an unemployed blind black man in an even more prejudiced America (it turns out they were using magic to “increase tolerance 38% which Henry is already scathing about and clearly unimpressed by how little tolerance that actually amounted to). In other words, Henry has plenty of reasons to be drunk.

He does tell them about the spell - and that they need the flesh of a magical creature. Specifically an incubus. Which means they go to an incubus to ask to use his penis

And I was all ready to roll my eyes because this is freaking Magicians but at least someone on the writer team decided that they’d used up their quota of forced sexual situations for the next 11 centuries and backed off. Turns out that the Incubus isn’t into sex, feeds on stress, and is happy to lend them his regrowing tail.

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 6: Beyond the Wall

This episode was interesting in that we had major events happen but it didn’t feel rushed or packed and we didn’t have a gazillion storylines everywhere. We even only used a little plot bending (honestly, my main issue this season is how the plot broke itself to make it work -between Cersei’s prescient army, High Garden, the fleet of ships apparently made by Santa’s Elves and last episode’s ability to teleport the length and breadth of the entire continent in a few days is beginning to really annoy me).

So on that note let’s begin with the most annoying storyline - Winterfell. Where Arya and Sansa begin reminiscing about their childhood, their beloved father and Arya’s wish to step outside of the constraints that society put on her and which her father supported her through. This shows her childhood disdain for Sansa as well as her devotion to her father and Jon

She taunts Sansa about the letter she wrote as a child and considers it a betrayal, adding what the northern lords (and, more importantly, Lyanna Mormont) would think.

What strikes me most about this scene is that while Arya has learned many skills and become tough and hard and unforgiving she’s also been isolated. We talk a lot about how much everyone has grown and changed but here we see that in many ways she IS still a child. Her condemnation of Sansa is childish - it shows a complete unwillingness to deal with greater political realities, a complete naivety over what you can actually do and what is a smart answer.

Sansa tries to point this out - and rejects any idea she’s a coward or weak because of what she has endured and survived. Sadly Sansa, in an act that is utterly bemusing, turns to Littlefinger (who, of course, doesn’t reveal that he’s the one who led to Arya finding the letter anyway) who tries to drive more a rift between them and even suggests he use Brienne as a bodyguard

Sansa doesn’t do that because she has an invite from Cersei… yeah no. Sansa is not having that. Brienne can go and rely on the sexual tension between her and Jaime to keep things safe. Brienne wants to stay to protect Sansa. Not from Arya - but from everyone, because as long as Littlefinger’s around everyone can have their loyalty manipulated. She’s not wrong - but Sansa won’t hear it

Later she does discover Arya’s stash of faces and Arya menacingly explains what they all mean in a not-quite-overtly-threatening-but-the-threat-is-there manner.

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 5: Eastwatch

This episode I am reminded of the action pack awesomeness of last episode - and also how quickly things need to move, especially since there are only 2 episodes left this season

I see this and then I see Ser Jorah and Gendrey and Sam and I have to fight the urge to tell them all to go away. You’re distractions. You’re not needed!

The Lannisters, Daenerys and Great Big Lizards

So we have a whole lot of dead soldiers after the dragons had the most overcooked BBQ since your dad’s last cook out. Tyrion is there and rather traumatised by the horror of it all. And then things get a little more worrisome…

Because Daenerys demands everyone bend the knee or die. The Tarly’s (Sam’s father and brother) refuse. Tyrion pleas for mercy from Daenerys, pleas for the Tarly’s to bend (since they just betrayed Olenna so they’re not THAT loyal). But both are inflexible… and Daenerys has them both burned alive. Oh, yes, Dracarys is fine.

This makes everyone else kneel.

Really, it’s not that far from what Daenerys has pulled before - brutal deaths for the disloyal and those who challenge her are pretty much par the course with Daenerys. Tyrion knows this - did he think she’d adopt new rules now she’s in “civilised” lands? Did he think she’d change when in “proper” countries of Westeros?

Of course I can definitely see the worry that while pleading repeatedly for Daenerys to be a gentle, merciful leader - the very reason why so many follow her (apparently) because she is kind (to people who are super loyal to her anyway). At the same time burning people alive is exactly what her father,  The Mad King Arys loved to burn people alive.

On the other hand - they betrayed Olenna.

Varys and Tyrion talk about this- both drinking and both clearly shaken. Tyrion, spin-master to the end, tries to downplay Daenerys burning people to death. Varys is very shaken -he served the Mad King, his spies dug out people the Mad King then burned to death. He has a truly haunting recounting of how he tried to deny he was responsible while clearly feeling very guilty for that. And now he’s seeing Daenerys heading down the same path and dragging them with him.

But she’s not the Mad King. Yet. That yet is their mission.

They’ve also received a sealed message for Jon

Tyrion: Have you read it

Varys: It’s a sealed message for the king in the North!

Tyrion: So what does it say?

Because you know Varys has read it. Of course he has. He probably read it before Bran even wrote it.

Daenerys also introduces Jon to Dracarys - and Dracarys bonds with his new step-daddy (I’m going to put this down to Jon’s Targaryen blood). And Daenerys discusses how she regards them as her children. Jon is discomforted by all the killing but Daenerys points out Jon’s wars to liberate Winterfel have hardly been bloodless: it’s fine to protect the people but you need to be in a position of strength in which to do it. She’s not exactly wrong - and nor is death by dragon any less dead than, say, death by sword.

He also downplays the whole coming back from the dead thing, just in time for Ser Jorah to come back and re-pledge himself to Daenerys. I get that I said this is a distraction but I really expected a more dramatic reunion here.

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 4: The Spoils of War

Well, that happened: the inevitable awesome burning action happened and we knew it was coming but it was still very awesome

But first let us join a much quieter but still very awesome and poignant moment in Winterfell

Three of the Stark sibling have now been reunited - Bran, Sansa and Arya. And I think this whole episode really powerfully shows us how much the siblings have changed. Bran has become almost robotic - completely emotionless even as Meera, a woman who has fought desperately to keep him alive, has carried him literally, watched Hodor die for him, watched her brother die for him, says goodbye. He shows no emotion even as she is devastated by this.

When he sees Arya and Sansa he is equally dispassionate with added levels of creepy and spooky. Sansa has heard about his visions and clearly didn’t believe them - until his talking about Arya’s list and journey makes it clear he isn’t just seeing things.

Another person taken aback by Bran’s spookiness is Littlefinger who tries to schmooze Bran with pretty words and the shiny knife that started this whole chaos - the knife that near murdered him, a murder and a knife which cause Catelyn Stark to imprison Tyrion and start the whole war going in an utter disaster

Bran is indifferent (he gives the knife to Arya) but he does mention “Chaos is a ladder” which is pretty much Petyr’s watchword. This freaks Petyr out severely (the Stark kids are rattling him good) while also suggesting that, yes, Littlefinger was the one behind all of this.

We’ve seen Sansa mature and become the incredibly strong, cunning woman she is today and now realising her young siblings have grown in the same time period. Especially poignant is her and Arya reflecting on their mutual difficult, painful stories- but Arya’s determined “this isn’t the end of their story” and it is beautiful to see Arya actually hope now.

Sansa originally laughs over Arya’s list only to have Bran’s visions confirm it - and then see Arya match Brienne (who towers over her) in a sparring match.

And I feel for Brienne - seeing the Stark children reunited as she promised Catelyn she would while acknowledging she did pretty much nothing to make it happen. The Starks are doing it for themselves.

To Dragonstone where Daenerys and Jon Snow are beginning to show more chemistry before their inevitable marriage (and Davos definitely noticing) and Jon showing Daenerys the shiny cave of dragonglass he found complete with cave paintings from the Children of the Forest showing their alliance with the First Men to face off against the super creepy white Walkers.

This is his not so subtle message that they should stand together and Daenerys throws back that she’ll support him if he bends the knee. Yup, she’s broken record. He points out that his people will rebel. She says nope, he’s their king, he doesn’t say “lady, you have not met Lyanna Mormont” but he really should have.

He does speak to Missendei who tells some of her history for some nice characterisation but is really much much more about how totally awesome Daenerys is. And, y’know, it’s nice to confirm that everyone who follows Daenerys does it because they respect and love her and what she’s done and absolutely none of them give a shit about who her daddy was or what noble lineage she has. Which is good because it removes her entitlement to rule just because of her noble name which is a hard sell and full of (very historical accurate) entitlement

The bad side is basically the fact she’s selling herself as the Greatest of White Saviours. The whole Mhysa storyline was a hot hot mess and this being her selling point is just cringeworthy

Also no mention of dragons. I mean “we love her. Also she has burny lizards that kill people. And a legion of angry horsewarriors who think she’s a fire goddess and kill people. Oh and an army of people who’ve been slaves since birth and may not even know they’re free because did anyone actually check? Seriously most of the time Daenerys doesn’t even speak in a language most of them don’t understand, shouldn’t we do a survey or something?”

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 3: The Queen's Justice

Dragonstone

It’s the moment many have been waiting for - Jon Snow meets with Daenerys’ Targaryen at the Dragonstone

RING THE WEDDING BELLS

There’s also the excellent reunion between Jon and Tyrion as they both acknowledge their respect and knowledge for each other with extra acknowledgement that Sansa is smart and one to watch. Jon also gets to see the shiny dragons.

He is introduced to Daenerys with Tyrion reciting all her titles. While Davos just says “Jon Snow, king in the north” which I have to applaud. That was powerful

Actual negotiations are fraught. Jon wants help to kill the King of the Night and he’s really dramatic about that - but ultimately there’s not much reason for Daenerys to believe this and take her army north when she’s already in the middle of a war. Similarly while Daenerys demands Jon bend the knee he’s very clear that that’s really not going to happen for both the sake of the lords of the north and also simple reason: why? Why should he kneel?

The whole debate back and forther is good though because there is definite resect between them even though they’re in clear disagreement. Daenerys acknowledges that her father did evil, terrible things and she apologises for them. He acknowledges he shouldn’t judge her based on his record - but that doesn’t mean he actually has a reason to follow her.

It comes with lots of epic speeches - including one from Daenerys about all she has managed to endure and still keep going because of her great faith in herself. And another where Davos almost goes too far, both excellent describing why she should respect Jon Snow because of how, with no heritage, he has managed to unite the wildlings and the lords of the north. Of course he also mentions how he was stabbed in the heart and got up again

Though they do know about Mellisandre - who isn’t there because she knows Jon isn’t a fan and also because Varys is dropping not-too-subtle I’ll totally kill you hints.

When Tyrion and Jon have mutual moping session Tyrion does what he does best - point out that what Jon’s asking IS unreasonable. Sure he believes Jon, but he can’t expect other people who don’t know him to do so. So what DOES Jon want which is reasonable and achievable?

He also goes to Daenerys and points out why he believes Jon - because Jon has come to Dragonstone. And this is silly - Tyrion wouldn’t have done it, all of his advisors would have said no, but Jon came anyway. It must be because he truly wants something.

When Jon and Daenerys meet again, with Tyrion greasing the wheels, Daenerys offers Jon he resources and people to mine dragonglass. After all, it’s something he wants, something she really doesn’t care about and is a really easy way to build a relationship

This is reasonable diplomacy. Going from complete strangers to “Allies/serve me/let’s get married and have incest babies!” is a long path.

Which will be needed because everything is going wrong - to such an extent that Daenerys just wants to get on her dragons and go flying to burn everything.

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 2: Stormborn

Time for the epic

Beginning with Dragonstone with everyone making the super dramatic speeches around Daenerys and planning her conquest of the world

First point which comes quickly from Tyrion and is picked up by Daenerys is that they don’t want to launch an all right assault, unleash the dragons and reduce everything to ashes. She actually wants to have a people to rule after this and not a whole load of more massacres.

Which brings us to what for me, was the most awesome part of the entire show: Varys and Daenerys. And I am waving the Varys flag here.

See there’s some unresolved issues between Daenerys and Varys. Varys served her father - and then betrayed him and served Robert Baratheon. And then was behind her marriage to Khal Drogo to try and set up Viserys as king (betraying Robert) and then tried to kill Daenerys at Robert’s command

They have history. While Tyrion repeatedly tries to speak in Varys’s defence, Daenerys points out that Varys has a major loyalty problem. What kind of servant is that?

“The kind of servant the kingdom needs. Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty”

And that’s just his opening line because Varys is on a role - yes he will betray the king because he is loyal to the people. And if you’re a cruel and terrible king (like her father) or an incompetent indifferent king (like Robert) then he will replace you for the sake of the people and the Realm. He’s not a noble or aristocrat, he grew up in the gutter and it is to the people he is loyal

You have Varys’s loyalty when you deserve it. And a knife in the back the second you don’t.

Daenerys seems to accept this - making him swear if he ever thinks she is not serving the people that he should say it to her face… but I notice she doesn’t promise to take note and she does promise to burn him alive if he betrays her.

Still team Varys. Hail Varys.

We also get the return of the Red Priestess Melisandre, still spouting prophecy but not aas confidently as before. She advises a big pinch of salt after her debacle of Stannis (though while Varys tries to rub her nose in it Daenerys notes that she’s decided to “pardon those who serve the wrong king” with extra royal side eye. Royal side eye is an important skill for any monarch)

Her prophecy is about a promised ruler (since the noun is non gendered in Valaryian) who will “bring the dawn” and also links her (and her dragons and dragon glass) with Jon Snow. I wonder how.

She decides to send a letter after Tyrion also speaks up for Jon (and wants to be best man). She also demands he bend the knee.

No not like that.

She gathers her advisors - all of them. This includes Yara from the Iron Isles, Ellaria from Dorne and her supreme awesomeness, Olenna from Highgarden. There is much snarking (Olenna is in the room) but ultimately everyone is impressed with her plan: the Tyrells and Dornish siege Kings Landing therefore dispelling the idea that scary, dark-skinned, savage foreign types are invading, with Yara using her ships to transport the Dornish. While Grey Worm takes the Unsullied and brings down Castlery Rock, smashing the Lannister’s power. It’s extra powerful that Tyrion describes this plan helping to assuage any doubts people may have about his loyalty (though he and Ellaria have issues over Mycella’s death)

It’s a good plan and gets lots of approval - though Olenna does hang back to add her own advice: people are stupid, she’s outlived all the smart men, and aristocrat or commoner, they need to fear her, she needs to be the dragon. I don’t know how much of this is wisdom and how much of this is bitterness because Margaery did play the game of being the most popular monarch around - and still died.

Game of Thrones, Season 7, Episode 1: Dragonstone

It’s back! And it has a previously?

On Game of Thrones? We may be here for several hours. Or it could be very short “he’s dead and him and him and definitely her and him and him and him”.

My a lot has happened on this show. And a whole lot have died.

ARYA

And many more are going to if Arya has her way. Because we open with Walder Frey who gathered his whole very very very very very big family to celebrate how they defeated the Starks. A toast to Victory! A toast to murdering pregnant women, and mothers of children, and guests you’ve offered safety to… at which point the gathered family realise they’re something up because it’s a very dubious toast. And then they all die to poison - except Walder Frey’s young wife who Walder stopped drinking

Walder then takes off his face and reveals, Arya. Oh yes, she just massacred the entire Frey family. Arya’s learning of Faceless Man skills has made her deeply terrifying

“Tell them the north remembers. Tell them winter came for House Frey”

And with a nifty flare for the dramatic.

Still to temper the ruthlessness as she leaves she runs into Ed Sheeren doing a cameo and a bunch of Lannister soldiers who are almost impossibly nice; reminding us that while kings and queens fight and kill and plot and scheme, the ordinary people on every side just want to live their lives and not fight these endless pointless wars. It’s a nice break of normality among the endless violence

The North

We also have a scene of the marching horde of White Walkers, reminding us what’s coming. It’s almost as a scary as Arya

Bran and Meera have finally made it to the wall, bringing some ominous prophecy with them. This could be interesting because technically Bran has a stronger claim to the throne than Jon does.

Jon has gathered his followers and is an inspirational and passionate ruler. He has them gathering dragonglass to kill white walkers, has Tormund have the Wildlings defending the wall and the castles, he wants everyone over the age of 10 to learn how to fight: including women

Some object. But Lyanna Mormont agrees women should also learn to fight. I’d also back her against a white walker giant any day.

Of course, not one man dare speak against her because she’s Lyanna Mormont and can slay dragons with her withering stare.

Next on the agenda is the castles of the Umbers and the Karstarks who betrayed House Stark. Sir Royce wants to tear them down for being traitors - he has a sense of honour and stupidity to make him a Stark, without the compassion. Sansa points out castles have done nothing wrong and are useful things to have. There follows a very public argument between Sansa and Jon: Sansa says give them to loyal houses as a reward and to punish traitors while Jon says the house has been loyal for generations and you can’t punish the current house leaders (who are little more than children) for the sins of their fathers. They argue and in the end Jon lays down the law and insists - before making a big charismatic speech which everyone cheers as they accept his new vassals.

Afterwards Jon is super pouty with Sansa for “undermining” him but she isn’t going to meekly take it. She, rather brutally but extremely accurately, says he has to be smarter than their dad and than Rob - and she’s not wrong. He asks if smarter means “listening to you” and she says that wouldn’t be so bad. She points out that Joffrey was a king who wouldn’t listen to people criticising or commenting either: Jon takes exception to the comparison but she says he’s nothing like Joffrey - and that’s not entirely a compliment: because whatever else he was, Joffrey was vicious to his enemies. She also has a level of admiration for Cersei who “taught her a lot”

This argument wasn’t resolved but I can see it rumbling for some time.

She also recognises (we also see how Jon, a northerner, cannot be buttered up) how sheltered she was before - and how unhelpful and useless that was.

I actually think they work well together - Sansa is smarter, more politically savvy and more ruthless while Jon is charismatic and impressed and good and noble (i.e. he’s a damn stupid Stark whose Stupid Good Alignment will get him both loved and killed, while she has honed a sufficient dose of Kings Landing ruthless politicking to keep him alive). And as for openly arguing - again, after several dictatorial rulers a bit of open descent and questioning isn’t a bad thing: especially since Sansa publically putting in a world will also touch on anyone a little wavery about Jon being a Bastard. Also, Northerners aren’t like Kings Landing - they speak out.

I want to see how this dynamic develops t

Legion (Talon #4) by Julie Kagawa

The Talon has prepared for a long time to finally bring down the Order of St George and remove all of their competition to become dominant in the world. They have a Legion

Cloned dragons, without souls or personalities, just automata of dragons designed to fight and die. Finally Talon has numbers: and Dante is the conflicted master of them to unleash them

But behind that the Elder Wyrm continues to have another sinister plan – which directly involves Ember.

Ember is faced with being directly in opposition with her brother, having to protect an organisation bent on her destruction and dodge the machinations of a dragon who has lived for a millennium.

Broken record moment? I really really do feel that this series has really missed a lot of opportunity to properly develop the character of the dragons. We still have Ember and Riley referring to their dragons as if they were separate entity. Again, these characters aren’t weredragons – they are dragons who shift to human form to hide, but their natural form, their real form, is that of a dragon. So Ember struggling with her inner dragon or being conflicted about what her dragon wants, or struggling between her human side and dragon side feels wrong – like a narrative has been cribbed from an entirely different story. What human side? Why does she even have a human side? Why is she even attracted to a human? Why does she even want to do things like kiss? Why is a dragon distracted and pole-axed by the presence of a naked human? Why is a male dragon not looking at a naked woman and not thinking “mammary glands, which my egg laying species has no real concept of. Also, no cloaca”.

Yes, I am making you imagine sexy cloacas. My mind went there, so you have to suffer as well.

It’s like the concept hasn’t been fully realised and we get a simplistic depiction that mirrors a lot with other were-animal narratives out there but doesn’t really fit with the world as it’s presented/

I feel this reflected again with the world building – this sense of not quite seeing things through. Like Talon has been designated as The Evil and so it is The Evil. This is the antagonist, so be it.

But, again, there’s so little examination of the reason behind Talon. It didn’t happen because Dragons decided they wanted to be The Most Evil – it happened because the Order of St George was literally driving dragonkind to extinction: and is still trying to achieve this. They’re just the bad guys who need to be stopped

And Talon comes up with a plot to wipe out the Order of St George and there’s so little actual examination of the fact this is an organisation that wants to make dragons extinct. An organisation that wants to kill every character here. But killing the Order is presented as a terrible difficult conflict without any acknowledgement that Talon has a point. I feel like because Talon has been designate as The Evil then no-one’s allowed to acknowledge the grey and the complexity that is built into the very world building of this world.