Did anyone else laugh super hard whenever a random extra who didn't seem to be there before hand was killed by the wights or the zombie bear. instead of killing off the main characters they just brought extra people with them just to have them killed off haha.

It doesn't make sense for Arya to criticize Sansa for "going along" with the Lannisters to survive. Because Arya "went along" by being Twyin's cupbearer to survive.

This episode failed to communicate how large Jon's party was. I didn't realize that there were so many nameless Wildlings present. In my confusion, I thought that the undead polar bear had killed main characters, and not some Wildling red shirt.

What?!!! Tormund and the Hound scene was the best scene of the whole episode! "You do know her... I want to make babies with her... They'll conquer the world." 😄

If they dont wan't Jon to die fair enough, just stop making out as if he's about to die then bailing him out. It's just bad writing and makes me cringe. I really hope they stop. I dont mind these main characters not dying, i just hope they write it better so they dont always have to survive ridiculously unrealistic situations.

Everyone listen , the night king is a fucking OG Olympic spear thrower , all he wanted to do is show his skills

Here is a review on IMDB that I think sums this episode up perfectly - 7/10 | Henry Aldridge | 21 Aug 2017 I am not trying to be a hater of the show. I am a HUGE fan of Game of Thrones. I really am. I just feel let down by this latest season. The acting has been amazing and I have thoroughly been entertained, as usual, but the writing... it's just not the same. Season 7 Episode 6: 'Beyond the Wall' The Good: - Long episode! 68 minutes! - Very entertaining scenes beyond the Wall. The action and fighting scenes were very well done and were engaging. The quality of the sequences and visual effects was very good, as usual. - Amusing dialogue between the seven venturing beyond the Wall. I especially liked Tormund and the Hound's conversation. -Awesome game changer and cliffhanger at the end which gave me the chills. The Bad: - Way too cliché for Game of Thrones. This is what upsets me the most about this episode and season. Daenerys swoops in on her dragons at just the right moment to save Jon and his team. The same goes for Benjen rescuing Jon. If this was a normal movie, David and Dan could get away with it. But it's not. When has Game of Thrones ever been this cliché, or predictable? - There doesn't seem to be any actual threat towards the main characters anymore. There is too much plot armour. Things go too well for the main characters, and they manage to get out of every situation. That's not the Game of Thrones I remember. In season 1, Ned lost his head. In season 3 Catelyn and Robb were butchered. In season 4 Oberyn's skull was smashed. I'm not saying I think Jon - or any other characters in particular - should die, I am just saying they shouldn't be in so many potentially fatal situations and then get themselves out of it. It's way too anti-climatic. When Jon fell in the frozen lake, he should have drowned, or it shouldn't have been written that he fell in the lake in the first place! The same goes for Jaime and Bronn in episode 4; they should have been taken prisoner by Dany. It just makes the plot more interesting. - Arya and Sansa's dispute. I like the idea of Arya and Sansa having their own civil war however I think this has been written quite badly - it has turned Arya from a really cool character to a rather annoying, dumb little girl. There has to be a better way for Arya and Sansa to not get along. I want to be able to say 'it was an easy mistake' to Arya for going against Sansa, but with this plot line I can't because Arya is just being a little thoughtless. - Scale of time. This part of season 7 doesn't really bother me too much, and I guess it could be considered 'nitpicking'. However, in this episode, I was a bit sceptical. Gendry ran around 50 miles in 6-8 hours? That's 6mph for 8 hours, in the subzero temperatures, over hills etc. A raven then from Eastwatch to Dragonstone would take a few days - it's literally over 1000 miles away! Followed by Daenerys flying which would take probably a day on her dragons. Sure, it may have been 3 and half days between Jon and co ending up on that island and Dany arriving. But it wasn't portrayed like that. Here is my response to some other criticism for this episode, trying to counter it: - The army of wights not attacking Jon and co until Dany arrived was not coincidence or stupidity on the Night King's behalf. The Night King knew Dany would come. He wanted her to come so he could add a dragon or two to his arsenal. But how did he know about Dany? Well, this episode as a result reveals that the Night King has powers similar to Bran. - I am going to guess that the Night King got that big chain of his from outside an abandoned castle on the Wall. As we saw in season 4 episode 9, a massive blade was attached by a chain to the top of the Wall and was used to take out wildlings scaling the Wall. - Dany probably chose not to accompany the Jon and co to the Wall in the first place because she likely underestimated the army of the dead. JUST THINK of, let's say, season 4 of Game of Thrones. Remember? Joffrey, Tyrion's trial, Tywin, Oberyn, Cersei scheming... all that. Now think of season 7 of Game of Thrones. Personally, I am surprised by how different it is. I know season 7 is near the end game and of course it is largely war, but it just feels different. I hope the finale and the final season will impress me like Game of Thrones always used to. Don't hate on me for thinking about the story a bit more than you are.

Night king be like "thanks god we brought these ice spears and big chains woot woot"

You may think Arya is acting out of character and thinking irrationally with regards to Sansa, but it could be that she is playing Sansa in order to draw out Littlefinger. Maybe Arya knows that Sansa will be seeking counsel from him... then when Littlefinger's ploy becomes apparent and he has shown his hand, she'll be able to kill him with reason.

I'm a book reader so I have come to terms that the books will always be superior. However, I am somewhat saddened by some fans being overly critical and, complaining about the dialogue and the time travel. Do y'all really wanna see a whole episode of Daenerys silently flying over half the continent? I will admit that the show has lost some of its magic from the first seasons, but it is still an amazing show, and I think we as a whole fandom need to be able to differentiate the tv show between the books, and try to enjoy what we have been given.

I guess nobody cares about Thoros, I am one of the few...?

My brother and I have been talking about this. The thing between Arya and Sansa actually started with Bran when he gave the dagger to Arya. Bran hinted it at Arya that she will use it on someone. So Arya started spying on Petyr, and as you said she is the smartest Stark. She's not antagonizing Sansa coz she believed the letter or that Petyr's plans are working. Arya 's acting that way, sort of scaring Sansa and playing her, coz she wants Sansa to figure it out. Exactly why she handed her the dagger in the end. It's like Arya's saying, there's a real danger here and it's not me take this dagger and take him out. Arya being creepy and threatening towards Sansa , she's also saying like, I'm an assassin and I can take you out without anyone noticing, wear your face, but I haven't done it.. Ask yoursrlf why, Sansa. Hope that makes sense.

Alright, Ghendry's gone, hopefully the Raven's out, and we now have to wait this out on this little island. Man, Thoros looks cold .... Fuck, can anyone start a fire ??? ::: all looking at Dondarrion:::

Maybe sansa and arya are fighting on purpose, to trick littlefinger whos always watching and shit. But who knows

They were using dragon glass.. that's why they killed em so quick compared to when Jon killed him it was his normal sword.

the dialogue is fine to real good. the problem is this use to be a fantasy show that didn't follow the typical fantasy troupes. if anything it thumbed it nose at them. now it has gone full Hollywood. if GRRM wrote that scene on the frozen lake at least half that group would of died if not more not one. I still like it though as I have accepted it isn't the books anymore. if this was another fantasy show this episode would be scene good to great but for GoT it is a little disappointing to go full hollywood

cmon guys... the Arya/Sansa conflict is fake.. they are setting up Littlefinger. It became obvious to me when Sansa sent Brienne away

I've been waiting for your video aaaall day.

I'd just like to point out that the wights were falling a lot faster than season 1 because all the weapons they were using at the battle at the lake were made with the Dragonglass that was mined from Dragonstone. Check the scenes again, even the Hound throws down Gendry's hammer for Dragonglass knives he had in his coat!

You wouldn't call this the worst penultimate episode of a season so far?? Lemme remind you what has happened in all the others. Ned lost his head, Battle of the Blackwater, the Red Wedding, the battle at the wall, Shireen's death and Daenerys's showdown in Mereen with her dragons, and The Battle of the Bastards. In other words, without a doubt some of the best episodes of the entire series. This was FAR AND AWAY the weakest penultimate episode and if I'm being honest, one of the worst episodes of the ENTIRE SERIES. This whole season has been like some weird fan fiction. Season 6 was amazing despite no longer going off the books, what the hell happened??

To everyone saying; "if you are compliaining about this season, stop watching" No.

Hey real quick: WHAT THE FUCK WAS JON DOING?! GET ON THE GOD DAMN DRAGON!

The contrived anger and forced tension between Sansa and Arya is bothersome to the degree that it's unnecessary. Sansa taking extra credit for the BotB was sort of bs. Jon wouldn't have been in the position to loose if the Knights of the Vale weren't hanging back waiting.

I expected Rhaegal to be Jon's ticket out of there too. That Uncle Benjen ex-machina moment was totally out of nowhere and only served for him to be killed(?) off again. But hey, whatever polishes Jon's plot armor best I guess. And I hate the tension between Arya and Sansa right now; Arya's character in this entire episode felt exceedingly off. All that aside though I really liked this episode

I just found it stupid how Jon kept fighting even when the coast was clear. He had an opportunity to get on the dragon and possibly get out with all three dragons. Instead he continued to "hold them back" or whatever unnecessarily. I suppose they had to figure out how to give the white walkers a dragon, but it could have been done better.

I've rewatched the episode and it's not that bad honestly. A couple things like Benjen and Arya piss me off a little but we'll see how things turn out. Overall, this season has been enjoyable

It's funny watching these old reviews and listening to your theories and insights..... knowing what we all know now.

I think Arya is acting that way purposely, she is playing the game. I see them working together to kill Littlefinger and use his face to make people think he is bending the knee to the north and the army would be theirs'

this season felt like a fan fiction more than the classic GRRM style writing..... oh well

As to the Wights dying so easily...The team had dragon glass and a Valyrian sword, both which disspell the magic animating Wights. That's why they had so much trouble with the bear before it was spiked with some dragon glass. If you watch it again, you'll see the difference from when a normal weapon hits a Wight, doing physical (or fire) damage, but not really taking them down and then when they are struck with Jon's Valyrian blade or dragon glass, they go down in one hit or blow apart in the case of Wights that are mostly just a skeleton.

I think Arya is just playing the game I think shes making a scene as bait for Littlefinger XD

"house glubber will stand behind house stark" - yeah, around 100 miles behind.

This season is the first half of the Third Act in this story. The Third Act is always faster and focused more on results and action. This season is dispensing with some of the more detailed political and philosophical commentary and themes in favour of spectacle and action. Personally there were expositional and slow parts in every season I could've done without and honestly the stuff that people have called fan service or cheesy has just been fun for me and I've been enjoying every single episode. Also I'm kind of tired of hearing people (not directing this at Nerd Soup) act as though every success the writers have had has been an extension of GRRM's masterful ability and that GRRM is incapable of writing some stupid stuff. Plenty of changes from the books have improved the story hugely.

They traded a fucking dragon, A FUCKING DRAGON, they risked the life of the king in the north, of Dany, of the only heir to the Baratheons, just to get a FUCKING WIGHT.... and for what? To show it to Cersei who wont give a shit about it anyway and use the time they gave her to set a trap for all of them? Dumbest plan ever

I agree with the Nerd. I don't need to see the time travel. I'm liking the faster pace

The Night King is a Yu-Gi-Oh buff: just got himself a Blue Eyes Wight Dragon

The problem I've only just realised with this season, and especially this episode, is that everything is very predictable now. The ice dragon and John resurfacing are prime examples of this, it's similar now to problems with Bond films where it's hard to enjoy when you virtually know the outcome.

If you think D&D is capable of writing at the level of a GRR Martin, maybe you're overestimating their capabilities or underestimating GRR. I think they are doing a great job for the most part of keeping this train on the rails while not having the source material to pull from.

My big problem is that Drogon is the only dragon we really know and care about. I wish the other two were more developed so the loss would've hurt more. Obviously we feel it through Dani but it's not the same as losing a dire wolf, it could have been.

Wait what if airy is conning little finger. It adds up she is the smartest stark. She is an assassin trained to be sneaky she may have let little finger see her but he did not know that he was the one trapped and soon she will take out little finger

I think Arya knows what Littlefinger is doing and that she's just playing along, and that when the time comes she'll expose him. Hopefully, if not i have no idea what Arya is thinking, it feels way out of character for her to act like this.

Blue eyes silver dragon

I love that you two guys have different opinions and you're not trying to influence each other's opinion, I like hearing mixed interpretations of these episodes.

Jon snow be like: Incest is coming

*Night King:* [after Jon summons three Dragons] Wait, did you just summon a bunch of monsters in one turn? *Jon:* Yeah, so? *Beric Dondarrion:* That's against the rules isn't it? *Night King:* Screw the rules, I have spears!

Been waiting since Wednesday 😩😩😩 LOVE NERDSOUP!!! NOTIFICATIONS GANG

I never understood why Jon didn't think of calling the Vale himself. After all he, too, was raised on stories of Ned's experiences with Jon Aryn.

Jon Snow, The Hound, Tormond and ensign Ricky. "oh crap."

people are hating this episode, I FUCKING LOVED IT!

I think the bonding was necessary/human and gave a lot of great moments. These men had a more than likely chance that they would die, even if they didn't say it aloud they were aware. With this bonding each man gave a sentence or two epilogue that summarized their character, this plays with a viewers psychology, questioning if that would be their final scene. Also about Arya she is playing everyone! She's playing Little finger and she's playing the viewers! The Bravos actors had a good influence on her, and how she plays the game! She will take little finger by surprise and is testing Sanaa's loyalties to see if she is still a Stark! Don't be surprised if there's some off screen things going on that are revealed later. Arya will kill Little finger with Sansas consent!

@nerdsoup Guys arya was playing the game of faces with sansa in the last scene. She was lying everytime she said something about herself. She wasnt bring aggressive she was seeing if sansa was onto her. Once she realized Sansa couldnt play the game she knew Sansa needed the knife.

There are now a lot of people that do this, reviewing GoT, and a lot that really suck but you all are top 5. But I don't think you all got the Sansa and Arya thing right. I think a lot of people are missing that and will be surprised when that arc concludes. Although Sansa has had a tough life, even if she's my sister, I wouldn't automatically trust her given the last time they saw each other and how she acted. Even with all that, I still think Arya is not fully against Sansa, I think she's playing the game. PS, I've never liked Sansa lol.

I think this is the best episode of the show. Not even the crazy stuff they did. Just the emotional scenes and the meaning behind everything that was happening. It was all just so strong. BTW Arya is and never was the smartest one. She is the most ruthless, arrogant and tempered one maybe.

So the romance has to happen so Jon has someone he loves to put a sword through to create lightbringer. Betrayal for love?

Nerd Soup When Berric talks to Jon, he tells him that he doesn't look anything like his father and that he takes after his mom. Which would suggest that Berric knows about Lyanna and Rhaegaer. The question is why Jon didn't pick on that "strange" referance to Ned.

I think that the knight king set that as a trap. The whole thing. Killing a dragon, getting one over the wall, placing the men. It was all a trap he planned.

The beginning was the best part! We needed all of those conversations! The plan was shit! Get a wight and bring to Cersei? Did we need that polar bear scene? No one in the group died? The point of keeping BenJen alive all these years?? The writers clearly don't know what to do with the story without George. Period.

"We are about to die ... quick, Gendry, run back to the wall, send a raven to Dany and get her to save us with her dragons ... even though we might all be dead in 5 minutes" Makes no sense.

Arya grabbing little fingers dagger was foreshadowing that arya wanted sansa to think about who gave her the dagger and "why"

The night king knew about the dragons because he has green sight, like bran. That's why he knows when bran is watching him.

GoT has become a medieval Walking Dead in every way, and that's not a good thing...

Plot armor is over 9000!!!!

This is what the writers did? " hey how do we get the nite king a dragon and have it make sense?" And then they worked backward. Fucking stupid

Not even gonna lie daenerys should not have burnt any of those she beat in battle because they didn't know her, it was the same point Jon made when he said "no offense but I don't know you your grace" and now that Jon has truly gotten to know her then he decidedthat she was worth bending the knee for. If she didn't make burning them alive an option and kept them all as prisoner then she would have been able to inspire hope in those she took prisoner that she could be the queen they genuinely wish to serve rather than be the queen out of fear induced by dragons.

I loved the episode a lot, it had both positive and negative moments... the final episode could save the season. One thing I will say is I really hope nothing sexual happens between Dany and Jon, everyone keeps going on about it but it just wouldn't sit right with me. Not just because they are related, but because it would be too cliche. And the cliche count is already too high this season!

Olympic Spear throwing- Gold Medal goes to *drumroll* The Night King! The Crowd cheers

I do believe the Stark siblings are working together. I also believe they will kill LF next week, use his face to control the Vale... but that's just me.

Euron could also be the third rider, if he obtains, or is already secretly in possession of the horn, Dragonbinder, and uses it to take the ice dragon from the Night King. I would say that this isn't likely so far in the series, except for the fact that it's a great call back to the drowned god prophecy that was just mentioned by the Maesters. Viserion going underwater is the biggest hint for that.

It's funny, everyone is pissed because the writers have no books to go on so they are working from bullet points thus giving us all the things we asked for (battles, Dragons,wolves, Dany and Jon ect..). Just be happy to have the good. Still a great show.

Don't you think it would be absolutely pathetic that the wall comes down due to Viserion? I mean it WILL probably happen that way but I mean... that means the greatest threat the world has ever seen in its history since the long night was depending on a damn thing that its supposed to be extinct that there are only 3 in the known world and that a lot of things had to coincide perfectly for a dragon to fall on his damn lap while he roams the True North endlessly and without a plan?

Arya, Sansa, and Bran are putting on a show for Littlefinger. They likely planned this at the weirwood tree. They know LF is paying off the servants, so all their disagreements are out in public or loudly in rooms with open doors. Arya does this showoff demonstration fight with Brienne and Sansa happens to stroll over with Littlefinger. Then Yohn Royce (who hates LF and wants him gone from the Vale) openly questions Sansa's authority, and Arya has a big argument with Sansa about it. Arya tails LF super obviously out in the open, hiding only from his direct gaze (but not the paid off servants). She goes to LF's room before checking to see if he's really gone. LF suggests getting Brienne involved and suddenly a raven arrives with an invitation from Cersei. Sansa has a loud argument with Brienne (again in a room with an open door), then *burns the invitation*. They can't attack LF directly just based on Bran's greenseer knowledge, as he's basically the Lord of the Vale. They are playing him to get a confession or open evidence of treason. Turning Littlefinger's tricks back on himself, and finally defeating the man whose scheming killed half their family and drove them from their home. I highly doubt Littlefinger survives to season 8, he's a character whose arc has nowhere to go. This story has stopped being a game of thrones and there's really just room for a song of ice and fire.

Arya annoyed me going on about how 'shed never betray her family/would rather die'. Did she just conveniently forget she was Tywins cupbearer for ages and didnt take the oppurtunity to kill him when she had it with the 3 kill wishes?

All these comments complaining about the season, I've enjoyed this season a lot. When people complain about the lack of politics II just think that this is the natural development of the show, the entire show has been building up to these moments. Also the plot armour point, game of thrones was known for killing main characters, but the series is ending soon, you can't kill the main every main character before the last season. It's not even criticism it's just 'the books are so much better this is shit', like reading a book makes you better than people that watch the show.

I understand the need to have characters alive for the end of the show, and I understand that there needs to be some danger in order to keep the audience engaged, but this entire storyline made no sense. My complaint is not that they didn't kill enough characters, but the entire mission seemed to come out of a fairy tale from the start. First of all the mission should have failed, and despite the fact that he "knows nothing" I'm sure Jon realizes this. If this was a last ditch attempt to save Westeros like Jon trying to kill Mance in season 4 I would understand, but there were so many ways for Jon to do this better (like just asking Dany, hey come North and see something, not a perfect plan but better than what we got). This is the fourth time in four seasons that Jon should have died at the end of a season. I liked the first two but this isn't even suspenseful any more. Why can't he just come up with a good plan? Jon did come up with a plan at Hardhome and that I think we can all agree was a better episode. Did the plan work perfectly? No. But it was a calculated risk while this was simply jumping in front of a gun hoping it will jam. I don't hate D&D, but I wish they would write more of a Hardhome style plot that actually MAKES SENSE

Maybe I'm overreaching a bit on this one, but if you take what the witch said to Daenerys ("It is not a matter of gold, this is blood magic. Only death pays for life.") I think that will be just the loophole that will allow Dany to conceive (seeing how she just lost a child)

Your Reviews are exactly what i'm waiting for after every episode, don't stop, you guys are great!!!

I love the guy who is the little teddy bear lolol

Guys, I recently rewatched season 1 and the tension between Arya and Sansa was evident from the start. Sansa Made it very clear that she wanted to be a Lady/Queen and Joffrey was her ticket. She sided with Him against Arya during the incident with the Wolves So it is perfectly logical for Arya to assume that Sansa made a deal or some how capitulated to the Lanesters' in order to get her dream of being a queen to Joffrey. Remember, WE as the audience know the Hell Sansa went through to get where she is now, Arya doesn't. Last time she saw Sansa she was standing there watching their Father being humiliated and killed while STILL betrothed to the kid who killed him. Now she's the Lady of Winterfel? I can't blame Arya for being a LITTLE suspicious of how this all happened.

The problem with Arya's behaviour is that it's somewhere between a regression and a Flanderisation; it's both playing on her being vicious and her not knowing how the world works, without factoring in what's she has been through. Unless this is Ayra's way of luring out Littlefinger's true intentions, it doesn't make sense for her to act like this towards Sansa despite the two of them never getting along. Hell in the middle of all this is Brann, a sibling she did get along with, who could probably just tell her some of what Sansa went through and who Ayra probably does want to talk to.

Sansa killed thousands of good loyal men by withholding information about the knights of the Vale. I don't understand why people praise her for her shortsighted and costly decision. @Nerd Soup you guys aren't stupid, why do you ignore this?

That moment when your side-dragon decides to join the fuckboy

can night king revive the dragons under king's landing

SANSA AND ARIA ARE TRICKING LITTLE FINGER LOOK AT THE SCENE WERE SHE IS HOLDING HIS KNIFE AND BRANN KNOWS EVERYTHING LITTLE FINGER DID

Arya goes on about Sansa betraying her family. For the past few years she denounced her family name and became "no one" - I think if her training was a little less traumatic and "easier" she would have quite happily abandoned her Stark roots.

That shit about the vindicators at the end hahaha

I think you guys might of missed them fighting with dragon glass, that's why the wights went down so much easier. At the start of the battle the hound smashed in the head of that wight with that huge Warhammer and it kept coming so he threw down the Warhammer and picked up a couple dragon glass knives instead.

what??!! no one was in danger @ the frozen lake? what about tormund? I was screaming "no! no! no! nooooo!" when he got sacked by wights and dragging him in the lake. I was thinking "he can't die yet! his beauty is waiting for him @ winterfell and he hasn't made his giant babies to take over the world yet!"

They wights were easier to kill here since they were all armed with Dragon Glass (except Jon with Valyrian Steel & Gendry/the Hound with the War Hammer) also they didn’t need to swim to Viserion, just drop down as dead weight with the chains. It’s not like they would feel bad about leaving some corpses down there if necessary.

YESSS! I've been waiting for you guys.😂

It was pretty dumb how extras kept popping up to die for jons crew

Ok two points to what you pointed out in this show. 1) Arya and Sansa. Arya looked like she was testing Sansa forcing a confrontation so she could see how deep she was in with Littlefinger. She doesn't trust Littlefinger and knows Sansa is working with him but wants to know where her loyalties lie. Its why she wanted to question her and then tell if she is lying and why she gave the dagger to Sansa even after she told her she could cut her face and replace for in the North. She wants to shake Sansa and force the real Sansa out. 2) The end battle where the 7 heroes were killing the wights. The reason why they died so easy is because most of them were using Dragonglass. You notice when The Hound uses the hammer and needs to hit the wight he threw the rock at 3 times to finally end him. He smashed him sideways and then on the head and broke the ice to sink it under the lake. Wights are very tough to kill. Even with the fire, the wights took time to die, they don't die easy even to fire. But Dragonglass kills them instantly. The Polar Bear, Jorah finally killed it by sinking a Dragonglass dagger in its skull even though it was burning up. It died instantly to the Dragonglass Dagger. And the Hound ended up dropping the Gendry's Hammer and pulled out Dragonglass daggers. A clear illustration that normal weapons do not kill Wights. Every time a wight gets stabbed or smashed by the Dragonglass hammer of Tormond, they died instantly.

also i think john bent the knee because when she went out and saved them and even risked her dragons to save them even against tyrion's counsel showing john that she has compassion for people even the ones that she isn't ruling

"Yea, lets kill danny with these ice spears and have the knightsking get destroyed by 3 unmanned dragons!" -said no game of thrones writer... ever.

Yeah, I'm not on board with Jon and Dany either. And I don't even care that they're related. I think my distaste comes more from how their relationship has been handled in the show. The lack of chemistry, campy dialogue and action, and wasting precious minutes staring into the depths of each other's eyes just isn't effective enough to convince me that they're relationship matters.

What I didn't like about Arya and Sansa was that Arya mentions she was there. She would have seen Sansa scream and plea not to behead Nedd. That "You promised." Only to be shunned away.

I personally read the Sansa - Arya scenes as Arya intentionally creating conflict between them in order to make littefinger show his hand, his intentions, showing sansa that Littlefinger will eventually try to divide them. If you have this thought in the back of your mind when watching all of arya's scenes make so much more sense. Even the stilted dialouge can be explained as Arya trying to stealthily convey this to Sansa, like when Sansa finds her bag of faces.

I like every moment of this episode, damn that dragon being slained was tragic

I'm sure one of you two or the many in the comments section would be better at script writing. But we ain't got that. So stop your whinging.

I am withholding judgment on Arya until we see how this arc plays out. Perhaps, Arya is playing Sansa to get her to talk to Littlefinger in an effort to get him to expose himself to them both, eventually leading to his death.

Totally agree about the show/book comment. You can really tell this season that they don't have the book material to fall back on. I'm not saying I don't like it, but it does feel like a bit of a different show.