Game of Thrones 5-10 "Mother's Mercy"

   This episode left us with a few cliffhangers that "A Dance With Dragons" also left us with, so any predictions I make here, especially concerning Jon Snow, are really about what I think or hope we will see in "Winds of Winter" when it comes out.

OK, then, lets just get on with it and talk about Jon Snow and why I think he's only mostly dead. The next time we see Jon, I think, it will be through Ghost's POV, but, will he warg in to Ghost permanently, or come back? I'm betting on coming back; and this is why:

   When I finished the chapter in "A Dance With Dragons" dealing with the mutiny at the wall I put down the book and refused to read it for another week or two. I was pissed at GRRM and had it with "A Song of Ice and Fire" and wasn't going to read it anymore. I finally DID finish it. So, I had a good long time to think of Jon's situation and how he could possibly survive it before this episode aired.
   Firstly, Jon is even more than a central character, the whole series pretty much hinges on both him and Daenerys. He is the ice to her fire.
   My friend, Rommy introduced me to what is probably the most reasonable theory as to Jon's parentage, and it involves him having both Stark and Targaryan blood. GRRM, will need to reveal Jon's parentage sooner or later.
Rommy's blog: http://kestrilsrhythmsandgroove.blogspot.com/

   In the book, Jon gets word via raven that Stannis has failed and died at Winterfell. Jon then starts talking about marching an army of Wildlings down to take the castle himself. Why would the Lord Commander announce that he would be literally abandoning his post? It sounded like he was tryng to get killed. Jon is too smart for that.

Yes, yes, he IS too smart for that.

   Jon learned from Sam how to look at his Night's Watch vows legalistically, and even Stannis once compared Jon's negotiating skills to "an old woman haggling with a fish".  Jon is one of the more clever characters, right there behind Tyrion and Littlefinger. Jon would know that if he technically dies at the wall, then his watch is technically is over. So, a dead-and-back-again Jon could actually claim the name Stark and march his Freefolk army south. But, how?
   This brings us to Lady Soneheart. Lady Stoneheart is a character in the books, but, not the show. She is Catelyn Stark after being resurrected by Beric Dondarrion (another follower of R'ollor), and she now commands a band of anti-Lannister partisans in the Riverlands called The Brotherhood Without Banners. The last time we saw Lady Stonheart, she was killing Brienne of Tarth for the crime of carrying a sword hilted with Lannister gold. (The Sansa-Ramsey-Brienne storyline is not a thing in the books). We have not seen Melesandre use resurrection, but we can safely assume that it's not outside her skill set.
   Melesandre (in the show) returns to Castle black dejected. She had pinned all her hopes on Stannis. She did things a person with a conscience would never consider in the hope of turning him into the savior to beat back the darkness to come. Stannis failed. It wasn't in him to be what she wanted him to be. She will be looking for another Azor Ahai, and, if we are right about Jon being a Targaryan prince, then...kings's blood!

Speaking of resurrecting the dead, what do you think of Franken-mountain?

Meanwhile, in Bravvos, a girl has a lesson to learn. Instead of wanting to be nobody, a girl still wants to be Arya Stark. Now a girl must learn to see without seeing.

What will happen with Daenerys now? Will the injured Drogon regain his strength in time to swoop down and save her from the horselords?

Will the death of Myrcella cause a Lannister-Martell war?

And, finally, regarding Cersei. Even for those of us wanting to see her get her just reward for the wretched things she has done, this was a hard thing to watch or read. What she went through was an atrocity and truly made us reel back in horror. But, the public sexual shaming of Cersei Lannister is a lesson in what happens when we give power to religious fanatics. If it made you angry, that's a good thing.
This one scene is enough to turn Lena Heady into one of my most admired actors. Her portrayal of a very proud woman bearing a stoic face to the world as her soul is being broken was unforgettable.

Game of Thrones 5-9 "The Dance of Dragons"

   So, Stannis officially gives away his Father of the Year award to Ser Jamie. Why Stannis, why? It's not fair that princess Shireen, the only truly innocent character, should go in such a way.
It's not fair.
No, no it's not.
Yet...
Don't be surprised by what people do in the name of religion in this series.
   Stannis, unlike his wife, is no true believer in R'hollor (even she appears to be having second thoughts now). But, he is is the Macbeth of the series. He is vain, stubborn, has an exceedingly overdeveloped sense of destiny, and he is under the sway of a highly manipulative priestess. She takes full advantage of his many faults. Melesandre, of course, is convinced that any horrors she inflicts on the world are for the greater good because they are in the service of her god.
   In Braavos, Arya is caught up in a feared cult spoken only of in whispers, which, (valar dohaeris) serves the god of death. Arya is no true servant, either, but seems to have made a personal deal with the many-faced god to accomplish her own agenda. What will a girl do now that Meryn Trant (who is on Arya Stark's personal list) is in town? A girl plays a dangerous game.
   Meanwhile, back in Kings Landing, we find something akin to a grand inquisition run by the fundamentalist sect known as the Faith Militant and their deceptively soft-spoken evangelist leader, the "High Sparrow". "The Sparrows", as they are called, are popular with the common folk through their works of charity, but don't dare be caught doing anything that might be construed as offending The Seven, or you may find yourself in a dungeon and being visited regularly by Sister Hardass.
   If the writers allow us to see Victorion Greyjoy next season, we will, perhaps, get a better view of the followers of the Drowned God.

Things have been going downhill for Daenerys, breaker of chains, since she freed slaver's bay. Her attempts at nation-building in Meereen have gone just as well as anyone who keeps up with current events would expect...pretty much an utter failure. It all comes crashing down, finally, in the attack of the harpies in the stadium, and it really looked like the end of the line for Daenerys.
Just a quick commentary on the fight: Jorah was lucky. The spearman ran the Braavosi through the back thinking the beaten Jorah would be an easier opponent to deal with face to face. The waterdancer could have won the contest.
GRRM, isn't a big fan of having the hero gallop in at the last moment to rescue the maiden, but an exception was made. The hero of course was Drogon, who flew in just in time to to cook up a most excellent harpy barbecue.
Thus the title of the episode: Daenerys is the first dragon rider since the "Dance of the Dragons", the old civil war which Shireen was reading about early in the episode.

Game of Thrones 5-8, Hardhome.

We finally have Tyrion,  as advisor to Daenerys, getting the respect and position he always desired. This is good for the both of them. Tyrion finally gets a queen to advise worthy of his talents, and she gets a voice of reason to replace the one she lost with death of Ser Barriston. This also gives the viewers a different dynamic, for Danny has thus far surrounded herself with mostly lovers and warriors, The grizzled Ser Barriston, the lovelorn Ser Jorah, and her current foppish lover/champion, Daario. Tyrion's great strength is his mind.

And, poor Jorah, back to the fighting pits. What's he up to now?

Cersei still stews in prison and her options continue to get worse.  She can't count on a rescue from her weak-spirited son, Tommen, who is now under the sway of his uncle, Kevan Lannister. Tommen and Jofferey are two sides of a single character that were unfortunately separated. A character with Joffery's will and governed by Tommen's empathy could be an ideal king. We could name him King Toffery!

And, how awesome is it to have the High Sparrow played by Jonathan Pryce?

Things get interesting for the Stark sisters. Sansa learns the truth about the fate of her younger brothers and Arya embarks on her assassin career.

The most important development, however, occurs north of The Wall. Jon and Tormund Gianstbane go to the aptly named town of Hardhome to make an alliance between the Wildlings and the Crows (Yes, the Freefolk have towns) when an army of thousands of the dead attack. We even got to see Jon fighting alongside a Thenn. And a Giant!

If you didn't know the difference between a mere wight and a whitewalker before, you know now. Whitewalkers are the badass ones, and King whitewalker was the creepiest thing in the show yet. But, then, Jon discovers that "Longclaw" is a much needed +100 attack against whitewalkers. An obsidian point isn't the only thing that will take one out (eat Valyrian steel, motherfuckers!).

So, NOW, we have the true perspective. We see how petty realm politics really is. All the maneuvering by everyone else for the Iron Throne is completely besides the point. None of them even see what is coming for them. Jon Snow knows a lot more than nothing. By trying to bring the Night's Watch and the Freefolk together, he is literally fighting to save the world. It is the Long Winter and Stannis is not Azor Ahai, Jon Snow is,

Game of Thrones 5-6 "The Gift"

It was sad but expected to say goodbye to Maester Aemon ( and now his watch is ended), But, it also means that Sam's own career training as a maester is aproaching. With Aemon dead and no infsnt son of Mance Rayder, Jon needs a reason to send Sam and Gilly south via Braavos, I wonder how it is going to play out.

Disappointingly,  Sansa relied on Theon to light her signal candle in the old tower for her, so, of course, Reek went and narced to Ramsey. We are all waiting for Theon to finally snap, and kill Ramsey, of course, but to kill Ramsey, he must kill Reek first. If "What is dead shall never die", according to the Ironborn worldview, then Theon still exists inside that unkempt mind, and needs to rise again and slay Reek.  

"Kill the boy so the man may live". 

-Aemon Targarian 

The best part of the epidode was to see Ser Jorah slash and stab his way through the fighting pit like a boss to deliver Lord Tyrion to Her Grace and allow Peter Dinklage to deliver another perfest line, "I am the gift".

Tyrion's journey through Essos in the books is exeedingly long, and hasn't ended yet. Now, we get to finally see he and Daenarys meet. She's going to need his aptitudes. I hope she doesn't waste the opportunity. 

Game of Thrones Notes: 5-6

I'm dealing with a family medical crisis, which I will get into when it's over. I did get to see MOST of this episode. I missed the first 15 minutes. I only have one thing to say:

Damn it, Theon! You wuss! His back was to you, you could have finished him! By the drowned god, snap out of it!

Game of Thrones notes: Season 5 episode 5

I thought I'd start in on some Game of Thrones impressions. Are you addicted to George R.R. Martin's "song of Ice and Fire" epic-in-progress? What do you think of the television changes?

So, we finally get the deviations from the books we have been warned about. So far we have the young Rhagar storyline seemingly skipped over,  Ser Jorah Mormont getting Jon Connington's greyscale, and Sansa Stark getting Jeyne Poole's wedding. It seems like the writers are trying to hold on to some of the original story arcs while keeping the list of new characters down. That doesn't bother me much. You have to do what you have to do for TV, and I have my books. I just hope that we get to see Victorion "The Kracken" Greyjoy.

In episode five, Lord Commander Jon Snow's plan to bring the Freefolk south of the wall is revealed. His Grace, Stannis Baratheon, the first of his name and king of proper grammar, sallies forth to either victory or doom beneath the walls of Winterfell, this time with wife, daughter, and Melesandre in tow. I don't like this. My theory of how Jon could get out of the mess that he finds himself in at the end of "A Dance With Dragons" requires Melesandre's presence at Castle Black. I'll get to that when it comes to it, as well as what I think about what happens with Stannis.

Speaking of Winterfell; Sansa Stark, Lady of the Vale and Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish's pupil, seethes during the Bolton dysfunctional family dinner (the family that flays together...). If you want to know how Ramsay got so screwed up in the head, look at his family situation (oh, man). You know Sansa is planning something, and Lady Brienne may yet prove less hapless than she has been thus far. I wouldn't want to be a Bolton.

I guess that Brienne won't be meeting Zombie Katlyn on the show.

Arya is putzing around in Braavos learning how to be a faceless man, and I don't know if there will be anyone left on her hit list when she gets back to Westros, they seem to be killing themselves off quite nicely.

On Slaver's Bay, Ser Barriston Selmy dies in an alley fight rushing to the rescue of Greyworm and his Unsulied. Really? Even GRRM has been keeping Bariston the Bold alive in the books. He's GRRM's only perfect knight. GRRM has no romantic notions of knighthood. Most of his knights are oafs, corrupt, suffer from really bad luck with women, love their sisters a little too much, or are simply brave fighters but jerks. Ser Barriston was the best of them.

Speaking of knights; Lady Brienne keeps saying that she's not a knight. She has a horse, armor, a sword with a name, a squire, and a quest. She's a knight.

Finally I'm starting to worry about Daenerys. She really showed her her Targaryen pyromaniacal tendencies turning that Meereenese elder into char-broiled dragon barbecue.

The Mustang

A few month's ago I bought a 2012 Ford Mustang. you can see it in a previous post. It's not my first, I had a 1969 many years ago. The 2015 model year also marks the 50th year of continuous Mustang production. Not many American cars have been around longer than that. The Corvette (1953) has, and also the Jeep (1941), The three have all been around so long for good reasons, there is something quintessentially American about all them. This post is about the Mustang. There is a lot of history below, but not the kind you are expecting. it's not a run down of different years and models. I'm not going to re-tread all of that. There are better places than this little blog entry to read the definitive 50 year modern  history of the Mustang automobile. I'm going to play around the edges and maybe come up with something special instead.

Between 1955 and 1957 Ford had the Thunderbird, a hip two seat sports car made to compete with the Corvette and the various imported Marshall Plan sports cars coming over from from Europe after the war. The T-Bird looked sweet and (only available with a V-8), it was a real gas to drive. It was the aspirational car of the time.
 In the same way that Richard Dreyfus chased T-Bird driving Susanne Sommers all night without ever hooking up in "American Graffiti", the T-Bird represented something existential we we are reaching for. Americans want the romance and freedom that a beautiful, fast, two-seat automobile represents. But something holds us back, a four-seater seems so much more practical and makes us less guilty about owning it. Our Puritan superego creeps up on us. What are Bob and Jane Stationwagon next door going to think when we bring home that impractical roadster?
So, in 1958, the Thunderbird gained a back seat, more luxury, more pounds, and Ford lost it's only sports car. The result? Thunderbird sales doubled, of course.
There were some really beautiful Thunderbirds in the sixties, but Ford eventually lost the overall theme for the car. Ford never quite knew what to do with the T-Bird. By the mid-seventies, it had become just another poorly made, under-powered American behemoth. Ford finally had the right idea in the 80s with the svelte Turbo Coupe, but, Thunderbird was just too many things over the decades. There was no Thunderbird "idea" other than the somewhat vague concept of a "personal luxury coupe". The last Thunderbird model was a 1956 inspired two seater, another failed attempt to jump in on the retro design craze that began in the early 2000s. It was a decent enough car that lacked that certain "thing" the original had. It finally disappeared for good after 2005.

Jumping ahead (or back) to the early 1960s. The VP and General Manager of the Ford Division of Ford-Lincoln-Mercury was this guy named Lee Iaccoca. You know him, Lee Iaccoca, the hero of 1980s American business, the guy who brought you the Chrysler K-Car and the Dodge Minivan; the guy who saved Chrysler Corp. by buying up AMC just to get his hands on the Jeep division and tossed out the rest; THAT lee Iaccoca.
One thing you can say about this Iaccoca fellow; as car guy, he had a feel for the zeitgeist, and so he did way back in '61. The baby boomers were going to start driving soon, so he got the Ford boys to work on a youth oriented car. It had to have style. It had to be affordable. it had to have certain smallish dimensions that he insisted on, It had to be sporty, it had to have four seats, It had to be based on an existing model so it could use parts already in inventory.
What came out of all this in April of 1964 was the Mustang, a car with absolutely gorgeous sheet metal, but based on the economy Ford Falcon chassis. It had a looong sexy hood and a short rear deck. It had seating for four (not two). It came in coupe, fastback, and convertible styles. Most importantly, this baby had options, option, options. It had several engines ranging from an unimpressive 6-cylinder to a high-performance 289 cubic inch 4-barrel V-8, a choice of transmissions, final gear ratios, rims, trim packages, and interior and exterior colors.
It could be a commuter car or a race car. Whatever you wanted the Mustang to do for you, you could special order it for your own desires and your own budget. It didn't matter if you were the secretary next door or Frank Fucking Sinatra, baby, you could have YOUR Mustang. The Mustang was the great democratic car. Murica! It was so popular that it became a technical feat for Ford just to keep up with the orders.
The car also had a name, a good name.

50 million years ago, the Eocene:
As great forests in North America began giving way to grasslands, the decedents of tiny, forest dwelling proto-horses adapted to life on the expanding plains. They developed flat teeth for grinding grasses, long legs with single-toed feet for speed to out-run predators. The first true members of the genus Equus arrived during the Pleistocene, about 4 million years ago. These earliest equines were the the ancestors of horses, donkeys, and zebras. They ranged over North and South America, and expanded northwest over the Bering Land Bridge to Eurasia. Ironically, these early equines died off in the Americas during last ice-age of 10,000 years ago while they thrived in the old world, where a species known as Tarpan (Equus ferus ferus) was domesticated by people.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the distant ancestors of these early horses (Equus ferus caballus) returned to the Americas with the conquistadors. As domestic animals tend to do, some escaped and became feral. They discovered the ecological niche long ago abandoned by their ancestors and became the North American wild horse, the Mustang. Mustangs were captured, tamed and bred by native Americans, who then created the beautiful, famous horse cultures of the Great Plains.

Back to the 20th century:
The United States Army Air Force had a problem. Bombers and men were being shot down, lost, killed in the frigid skies over Nazi Germany in horrific numbers. What was needed to protect the bombers was a fighter escort plane that could fly all the way from England to Berlin, mix it up with the best machines and pilots of the Luftwaffe, and then fly back. That plane came in the form of a beautiful and advanced airframe made by North American Aviation that was powered by England's mighty Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and carried an extra fuel tank under the fuselage. it was called the P-51 Mustang. Mustangs and their pilots sweep the Luftwaffe out of the European skies in preparation for D-Day.

The P-51 aircraft was so well loved that Ford's prototype sports car of the early sixties was named after it. It soon became apparent, though, that the word "Mustang" conjured up mental images of cowboys and Indians, of plains and deserts, of red sunsets and galloping steeds running free. America, baby! Thus, the production car developed it's equine theme, which it never lost.

 Over the decades there was the loud, fast, high octane muscle car era, competing cars from Chrysler and AMC, the rope-a-dope of fuel shortages and emissions standards that clobbered Detroit and created the Mustang II, a plan to create a front-wheel drive Mustang which became the Ford probe, and finally, stunning leaps in technology making all modern cars into the amazing machines they are today. Through all of this, the Mustang somehow managed to keep it's basic character: something to take to the drag strip, or to help you get lost with a friend on some back road on a Sunday drive, or to just zen out on your afternoon commute so you can arrive home feeling like a human again. Whether it's classic or modern, has a V8, a V6, or an Ecoboost 4, an independent rear suspension or a Fred Flintstone axle, it's still a real Mustang, so just drive it, have fun, and screw the critics who say it's not.