Rambling TV: Thoughts on Game of Thrones, Veep, and OITNB

It was the season finale of Game of Thrones and Veep on Sunday, so there goes the bulk of my TV watching. I probably won't write another rambling TV until I pick up a few new shows. But we'll see how it goes.

Game of Thrones

King's Landing - The star of the episode kicked things off in a big way. If you haven't listened to the track Light of the Seven you should. It's one of the best tracks Ramin Djawadi has ever done, and the show incorporated the entire thing. It starts off with Cersei, Margaery, Tommen, and the High Sparrow getting ready for their day. Everyone piles into the sept sans Cersei and Tommen. Loras admits to all his sins and gives himself to the Faith. They carve their symbol in his forehead. Margaery is furious because that wasn't part of her plan. She starts to point out something is wrong because Cersei isn't here, but the HS ignores her. He sends Lancel after Cersei who notices a child running from him beneath the sept. Then he encounters vats of wild fire with a lit candle. It blows up in his face and burns the entire sept, killing everyone inside. Cersei smiles from her balcony and sips wine.

For those keeping track at home, Cersei murdered Lancel, Loras, Margaery, Mace (RIP Tyrells) Kevan, The High Sparrow, and 100+ people.

Oh, and Qyburn's little birds stabbed Grand Maester Pycelle to death.

Then Cersei wine boarded Septon Unella and left her in a torture chamber with Gregor Clegane. 

The Tommen, horrified with all he witnessed from his window throws himself out of it. 

KL ends with Cersei sitting on the Iron Throne like she always wanted. Jaime, who just got back to the city looks on horrified. 

The Twins - Jaime tells Walder Frey that no one fears the Freys, they fear the Lannisters because they came and helped. Then he and his troops leave. Later, a serving girl brings Walder a slice of pie. When he asks where his sons are, she tells him they're in the pie. She removes her face, and it's Arya. She slits Walder's throat after letting him know the last thing he's going to see is a Stark smiling over him. 

I can't help but be extremely disappointed at the way the Red Wedding revenge went down. Lady Stoneheart would've been a better story. The North Remembers subplot from the books with the Manderlys would've been a better story. But no, they gave it all to Arya while asking the audience to suspend their disbelief once again. How is she able to use faces still? How did she managed to kill two men, CARVE them up, and bake them into a pie without anyone noticing? It's frustrating to see one of my favorite characters defy all logic because she's "badass. I hope they improve her next season.

Dorne - Ugh, I know. We had to see them again. Olenna Tyrell told the Sham Snakes to shut up, so that was nice. But then they actually had the nerve to give Doran's famous line to Ellaria. At least Varys finished it. But they're on Dany's side against the Lannisters now.

Winterfell - The direwolves are back in the opening credits! Jon and Sansa have a weak apology about her hiding the Vale army. I thought that would be a bigger deal, but hey, The North Remembers, right? No one is going to want Sansa to rule if she treats people like that. Though she and Jon did have some sweet moments together. Later, Littlefinger tells her he pictures himself on the Iron Throne with her by his side, and he tries to kiss her again, which she refuses. When Lyanna Mormont rallies the Northern lords to name Jon King in the North. LF makes eye contact with Sansa while trying to fuck with her head again. Can this guy die already? 

Earlier in the episode, Davos made Mel confess to Jon about burning Shireen. It was a brilliant moment, and it ended with Mel riding South off to parts unknown. 

Beyond the Wall - Benjen literally lives Bran and Meera without a horse by a weir tree as he goes off to continue fighting for the living. Bran finishes his Tower of Joy vision, which included confirmation of the long running R+L=J theory. Jon isn't really Ned's son. He's the son of his sister Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. We don't get to hear all she whispered to Ned. "Jon" obviously isn't his real name, and we still don't know the real circumstances of her leaving with Rhaegar. I imagine Bran will fill in the blanks next season.

Oldtown - Sam shows up at the Citadel. They have an attended that acts like he works at the DMV. They permit Sam in and he seems their massive library. It looks amazing, and it reminded me of the line Stannis had in season 5 where he said "Keep reading, Samwell Tarly."

Meereen - Dany breaks up with Daario, thank God. She also named Tyrion her Hand of the King which I loved. It was such a beautiful scene. The season ended with Dany and several ships FINALLY sailing to Westeros. Of course we saw the Dragons, but no Direwolves. Dragons ate their CGI budget again.



Veep

Did the new showrunner just shoot this in the foot? I think we all expected Selena to become Tom's Veep again, but instead, Tom lost the election to Montez and now Selena and co are out of jobs. This show works best with them all together in politics. I don't know how it's going to work otherwise. This decision isn't giving me the most confidence going into next season, but I'll watch no matter what. 

Memorable Quotes:
"What am I walking on? "

"... grass, ma'am"

"Your head is so far up Montez's ass, the next time it's Alejandro"s birthday, he's going to come all over your face."

"I need a wallet.  I need to get stamps."

"Nights rated PG squirt-teen"

"I pee sitting down sometimes if it's going to be a long one."

"Kent, can you give a girl a warning before you jam it in the back door?"

Orange is the New Black

I'm on episode 6 now. Nicki is back! I was happy to see her, but sad she's going to go back to using again. That's really depressing. As is Sophia's story, someone needs to let her out of the SHU.

I guess the showrunners don't care that everyone hates their lead because they made Piper even worse by having her accidentally start a white supremacist group and get 3-5 years added on to Maria's sentence. If you remember, she's got the little girl who's dad hates taking her to visit. 

Poussey and So So are my favorite couple on this show. Their relationship has been so sweet. 

Rambling TV is a weekly series where I ramble about the things I've watched on television. Click those gifs to be redirected to their makers.