#one commentator is saying literally right after they stand up again that dani had gained the respect of his fellow riders that day

[batsplat]

Sepang 2006: After an exhausting race, Valentino Rossi brings a chair to the podium and sits down. Loris Capirossi joins him to sit on his lap.

[kncrowder88]

Just finished a rewatch of S8E1 and kind of want to make a few comments. I haven’t really done post/comments for Game of Thrones before. Largely because I don’t have book knowledge and don’t really get as into the theorizing and stuff that can happen. However, I want to comment because fandom is fun. So .... here I go ... (long post should be under a read more)

First things first: I love the boy running. The moment I saw it I started smiling because it was so very first episode with the Stark kids and the arrival of the Lannister family coming and everything was FINE. It was GOOD. And since this is the final season, I’d like to think that the parallel of that is “happy/curious stark kids soon to be fucked up Stark kids” vs “happy/curious/soon terrified Winterfell kids soon to be saved/relieved/protected Winterfell kids”. By that I mean that, while in the first season we watched the Stark kids in their youth happy and innocent of what was to come, only for the world around them to fall apart and war to strike .... we are at wars end point. So these kids get the opposite of what the Stark kids got.

On top of this, the way they played Arya in it. She’s amongst the crowd. Not with her sister. Like she was as a kid she was out and about, not waiting dutifully. Yet, as you watching she is not that girl she was back then. She’s smiling at the kids. She’s blended in. She’s observing. She is doing what she was trained to do. And she is also waiting, she wants to see who is arriving. Wants to see them before they see her. You can see her reactions to seeing Jon, The Hound, and even Gendry as they ride by. But they are oblivious to her being RIGHT there. And so she can process and observe not just those around her but herself .... before dealing with them face to face. Arya went about this arrival in a way that gave her the upper hand when it came to reuniting with those she cares about. She didn’t want a public reuniting with Jon and that says so much.

Dany and Sansa .... I’ve read a lot of things on this already and they all seem to have strict pro one way or another opinions. I love both characters and I think that their introduction to each other was spot on. Dany and Jon are now a couple, no matter what the viewers may want, they are a thing. Prior to Jon, none of Dany’s previous (sexually intimate) relationships (except for arguably Drogo - and I say arguably for a reason) were one’s she truly held of close importance to her. So, here she is in a position she is not used to. She is used to being the Queen. Being Khaleesi. To not having to worry about someone else in regards to their feelings towards her (she’s acted to get respect, power, and control over areas yes but not intimate feelings like she has with Jon - there is a difference).

Meanwhile, Sansa’s position has not much changed. She is now the Lady of Winterfell, yes, and she has power she didn’t have in previous seasons (previous earlier seasons - she has been steadily gaining more and more power - rightfully her power at that). But, all in all, her side of things has not altered much beyond Jon handing over his crown. Handing over The power SHE fought for. The struggled for. She has been standing and holding for him while he has been away.

Dany, when meeting Sansa, wants to greet her in a way that is kind to her. That treats her differently than she has other rulers. That is not the diplomatic style she has in the past but an act of kindness she is unfamiliar with. We have seen previous arrivals of hers, she has marched up and fought before. We saw how she was with Cersi last season - she did not hold back on the fact that after the Night King is dealt with she will be headed straight for the Iron Throne. Dany does not hold back. Dany has always been straight forward when she arrives somewhere. But with Cersi, she gave a compliment. She was kind. She tried a form of diplomacy she was not familiar with. All because she wanted to be nice to Jon’s sister.

Problem is .... Sansa is very familiar with this form of diplomacy. She knows it from Littlefinger. She knows it from Cersi. She knows it from the various others who have tried to manipulate her and use her over the last few years. And the moment the utterance came out of Dany’s mouth, those words similar to Cersi about being beautiful ... Sansa immediately closed in and prepared planning for the inevitable betrayal. She is ready for Dany to turn on them now because that is what follows these sorts of words.

Both acted in a way that fit to them in the moment. Dany wanted to try to be nice to Jon’s sister, to try to not slight Jon and his family due to her growing bond with him. Yet, doing so actually caused the slight in the first place.

This leads further into the episode with Dany going to Sam. I’ve seen comments about Dany being cold her but the thing is .... what do we expect from her? She didn’t realize who he was. Just as Sam is stunned and shocked to be learning this Dany is now internally cursing herself because she came to thank him and now is accidentally telling him she killed his father and brother. She isn’t telling him “Oh I burned them because they refused to bend the knee hahaha look at me”. She is literally standing there offering him whatever he wants for saving someone she cares about and he mentions his family and she goes “shit, fuck, shit, fuck, now what”. You can see the silghtest shift in her posture as she prepares herself for the backlash. As she goes from the gentleness she was just in to the “I have to defend this action now”. And Sam doesn’t lash out at her, doesn’t attack her, because he is Sam and he won’t do that. Instead he asks permission to leave.

The thing is ... Sam, is only taking in now the second portion of what Dany’s presence was there now. He is now wrapped in the “she killed them, Jon you’ve always been a king” mode. I’m not blaming Sam, Dany could have figured out his name first than talked to Jon and had Jon talk to him or something. Dany made a fault in just going straight to him without proper info. But Sam isn’t realizing Dany just wanted to reward him, not taunt him about his family. She also probably could have just beheaded them rather than burn them but that’s a different thing (then again burning people has happened before without protests just seems to be a problem when dragons get involved so .....).

Anyways, Dany this episode seems to be in a tight spot. She starts off good “Sansa doesn’t have to be my friend, but if she doesn’t respect me” gets interrupted ..... THEN WHAT DANY?!?!?! .... I mean honestly? That was the beginning of a threat line and it’s a bit unnerving because she is uttering it to Jon. And Jon just rides off with her on the dragons like she wasn’t just potentially threatening Sansa before him. JON WHY ARE YOU NOT ASKING QUESTIONS ON THAT?!

There is so much in this episode I could talk about .... I mean Arya and that weapon. “Watch out he has blue eyes” (this needs to be a new meme), “You used to be taller” “How did you sneak up on me”, Tyrion and Sansa - Tyrion calling it out that there were those who thought Sansa would die and yet here she stands -, Cersi and her “earn it” then fucking the guy five seconds later, the dragons watching their mother get it on, so much .... so much .....

Jaime returning and the trailer for the next episode though is so much fun to look at. I mean, we get Jaime right at the end of all this and he is looking at Bran. You can see he isn’t smug. He isn’t his old self and all arrogant. You can see that he is trying to work out what he is supposed to do right now because HE DID THAT TO THAT PERSON. He was WRONG. And he knows this. And he wants to do right, in this moment, he wants to be honorable. Then episode over and trailer ..... and it looks like its Game of Thrones: The Trial of Jaime Lannister.

Which is so interesting because throughout this episode ... we were getting tiny little hints of the things Dany was not doing all that great. Burning Sam’s family. Not being prepared food wise (Sansa pointed this out and Dany just doesn’t seem to care - seriously why is Dany’s army arriving with no food, nothing, and why is Sansa being forced into the position of now providing for everyone when an army should be traveling with some sort of food as well?), potentially threatening Sansa, riding off on dragons during the middle of crisis time because .... why exactly? ...., etc..

Basically: I’m hoping the trailer and the hint of Jaime regret we got plus the little hints with Dany this episode wasn’t a message of Dany goes really bad while Jaime gets to act on his remorse but more a “The characters who have been striving to be good and better, to rise above their family name, etc all take this season to examine themselves and their flaws to truly become who they are and win this war as a team - the only way they can win” type thing.

That be the ultimate ending really and for this sort of series rather unexpected, we’ve been watching them all tear each other apart so watching them drop swords, shake hands, and raise up arms together as a united front (while Cersi apparently remains a bitch in the background) would send the message a previous season (can’t remember which one) hinted at “You can’t defeat the true enemy while fighting each other” type thing.

This is all probably jumbled up and makes no sense but .... lets just unite everyone one, fuck the Iron Throne, and just get the war over with. Vote for rule after.