TV: Game of Thrones Season 9 Conversation (So full of spoilers)

I was talking to someone about movies/TV shows and they asked me to give the a recap of Game of Thrones season 9. She plans on watching it when the DVDs were released, but the anticipation and dodging was killing her. She wanted to hear the story and she wanted it from me. How flattering! The following is my recollection of the conversation and it is so full of spoilers and errors.

Her: What happened in the end?

Me: Jon Snow assassinated the Dragon Queen. They formed a council of sorts and put Bran in charge. The end.

Her: They killed the Dragon Queen?!

Me: Yes.

Her: JON killed the Dragon Queen?!!

Me: Yes.

Her: Wha?!!!

Me: He realized she was heading down the road to madness just like her father and rather than risk any more lives and property, he stabbed her. She died. Since he killed the queen he was banished back to the Night’s Watch.

Her: So he didn’t become king? Wasn’t he supposed to be king?

Me: Yes.

Her: They were related. Nasty! How, again? 

[This results in a longer than necessary discussion of Jon Snow’s family tree, then me Googling it.]

Me: She was his aunt.

Her: His aunt?!

Me: Yes.

[And then we sidetracked into a discussion of Targaryen madness.]

Her: I can’t believe it no wonder people are mad. Wait! What happened to those things?

Me: Uhhh....

Her: The zombie things.

Me: White Walkers?

Her: Yeah.

Me: There was a huge battle. It was fantastic television. Oh my goodness! I remember watching it and being so on edge!

Her: What happens to them?!

Me: Oh. Uh. I can’t remember. Hmm...
[At this point she takes a bathroom break to give me some time to recall. I couldn’t for the life of me, so I consulted a co-worker.]

[She comes back from the bathroom.]

Me: I got it. Arya killed the main guy and they all went down. 

Her: What main guy?

Me: You know the main White Walker guy? He rode the horse?

Her: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! Arya? That girl is something, isn’t she? Good. What happened to the red lady?

Me: Oh that was good. She sacrificed herself to help defeat the White Walkers. She started a massive bonfire.

Her: You know she foresaw that. Wow sacrifice. And what about that one guy, the one without a penis?

Me: Ha! Which one?!

Her: The eunuch? The big guy?

Me: Oh yeah, him. Pretty sure he died can’t remember how, though.

Her: She predicted his death, too. Okay, what about those other incestuous people?

Me: Jaime and the really mean one? The Lannisters. Pretty sure they were buried alive after dragon lady destroyed that whole town.

Her: Serves them. He was evil from the beginning when he pushed that boy and I though he was the devil himself because he had such a smooth voice and worked it for some sympathy. Uh hmm. What about that guy without a penis?

Me: Ha!

Her: The one who had it cut off. And do you remember that scene when it happened and they guy who did it was eating sausage? Do you think...

Me: Theon! Theon died! It was right before Arya killed the White Walker guy. He was protecting Bran who was standing out in the woods by the tree, then Arya came out of nowhere. Stab!

Her: Oh yeah, he liked them woods. That’s too bad. He was growing on me. The big guy?

Me: The book guy? Pretty sure he lived.

Her: Did he make an honest woman of that girl?

Me: I can’t remember, but I don’t think they got married.

Her: That poor baby. What happened to Greyworm?

Me: You mean the other guy without a penis?!

Her: Ha!

Me: He went in a rage after... wait, maybe you should sit for this: They killed Missandei.

Her:  That's Greyworm's girlfriend, right? What?!! She’s dead?!!!

Me: Yep. The Lannisters.

Her: But she didn’t do anything!

Me: I think that was the point. She was insignificant to everyone, but Dragon Queen and Greyworm and the audience. It was a good plot point.

I can’t believe it! Not Sandy!

Me: Missandei. So, Greyworm and Dragon Queen tore up Queen’s Landing after that. Who else?

Her: The other Stark girl?

Me: Lived. So Bran’s head of the council, Jon’s on the Night’s Watch. Arya's is still on her own and Sansa is on the council, I think.

Her: Al the Lannisters are dead?

Me: Yep. Wait! Except Tyrion.

Her: Who's that? 

Me: The short one.

Her: Yeah. And the penis guy’s sister?

Me: Theon’s sister lived, I think.

Her: Okay. I feel better.

Me: Glad to help.

TV: Unforgotten Series 1 - 3****

Not another crime show with a brooding detective or wreckless-lucky one, Unforgotten is a three season series (I just heard another season is in production) about a special unit that works on unsolved over-10-year-old murder cases and features the unit’s two two lead detectives, Cassie Stuart and Sunny Khan. Each season we get to see the beginning to end of one investigation. Writing is tight on short-season British shows, but especially on this one that intricately manages to peel away the onion layers to a whodunnit within the short series while managing to be jam packed with plot twists and very complicated persons-of-interest eliminations. Lots of twists and turns in the crime solving game are padded with the interesting and not distracting personal lives of Detectives Stuart and Khan, which overlap at times. The acting is superb, Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaksarv give the roles such depth and bring an emotional range that I’m not sure has been matched on any American show, in my humble opinion. This show was strong for three seasons and ended on a good note, so I'm apprehensive, but hopeful about the future.

If you can't tell, I really like Unforgotten, the stories, acting and overall atmosphere is thoroughly engaging. The music is notably good, too. I'm giving Unforgotten Series 1 - 3 four stars****. I will have no problem watching this again or recommending it to others. It could eventually find itself on my favorites list. 

I first watched Unforgotten on live PBS, but eventually caught up on Amazon. 

Theme song

Soundtrack from Series 2 (Beautiful and haunting!)

Movie: Knives Out (2019)***

Knives Out is a classic whodunit story (A mansion house, a gaggle of devious characters/suspects, an unsolved murder, plot twists and a detective who puts it all together). What makes this this film stand out is:

a) It is set in modern day. Go ahead and throw out your period costumes. We have on-screen texting, cell phones and laptops. 

b) There is a main character in this ensemble cast and it is not the detective.

Overall, I love a whodunit. It brought back all those Mystery! episodes (Before it became Masterpiece Mystery) with Poirot and Ms. Marple that I used to watch on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. The soundtrack really hit the mark with mystery and twisting plots and sounds great on its own as well. 

The overacting that is specific to whodunit mysteries is well done with an excellent cast, except for one bit: Benoit LeBlanc was miscast. I don’t think Daniel Craig properly carried the character of the detective. As written, LeBlanc seemed to be a cross between the Southern-charming, but perceptive Matlock and the confidence and tenacity of  Poirot. Unfortunately, Craig couldn’t smooth out the icing that brought the layers of the LeBlanc cake together. In certain scenes, I feel like he pulls you out of the moment, but thank goodness the rest of the production is so good, you get pulled right back in. Even if the writers hadn’t even consciously thought of it, LeBlanc was written for Kevin Spacey.

I give this movie three stars***. I hope to watch it again, it was fun and a great movie to look at, but I am disappointed with the detective. 

Movie: Ford v Ferrari (2019)***

This was a movie movie. I don't have a term for it right now, but its the kind of movie that reminds me the movies in the 80s and 90s. They were all-around good, with good acting, production and writing. You're drawn into the movie and lose the actors in their characters. Ford vs Ferrari was one of those.

Apparently in the 60s Ford cars were doing terrible, so they decided to try to include race cars in their image. They employed Damon's character to help usher in the vroom vroom. He hires Bale's character as a race driver to compete in the Le Mans 24-hour race. Ford's new second-in-charge throws money wrenches in along the way.

Damon and Bale were fantastic. The action sequences were enthralling. The story left me with a good feeling.

This gets three stars***. Its a good and quality film, but its not a favorite and I'm not sure how often I'll have the urge to watch it, again.

I watched this movie in theater.

Movie: Ad Astra (2019)***

Totally illogical story: If this is the future and humans have been in space for a while, why were so many things fraught with human technical error?

• Why would you try to pass through a war zone in an unarmored vehicle?
• Why was the captain of the Mars ship so panicky? Was that his first official flight?
• Why did they continue to go deeper into the distress-call ship if no one was responding?
• Can anyone explain the baboons?
• Why did they send Brad Pitt's character all the way to Mars to essentially send out voicemails to his father?
• Why did they send a son to contact the father he hadn't seen for over 30 years and expect the son not to have an emotional reaction?
• Why did the nuclear warhead crew freak out and try to fight Brad Pitt's character and essentially kill themselves?
• Why did Brad Pitt's character not predict his dad was going to try to get away?
• Why were the tablets and personal devices made of clear glass? So easy to lose!

Once you get past the illogical errors in story and set-up, you can see a beautifully shot movie that was well acted. Brad Pitt carried the story so much that those illogicalities were bits of dust on an otherwise clean floor. His character is known for being able to control his reactions so that he remains calm, and able to make clear decisions even in the many high-stress situations that come up during the film. Tommy Lee Jones plays the mentally-fraught-and-obsessive-to the-point-of-murder father, and is impressive even in the few on-screen minutes we get to see him. I would argue that the soundtrack was also amazing in getting across the emotions and emotional control of Brad Pitt's character as well as setting up those high-stress and anxiety situations. Well done.

I give this movie three stars*** on the masterpiece end of the scale. Its good in many ways, but I was lost and all-too focused on the illogicalities. It was fun, but I don't have to watch it again.

I streamed this movie from Amazon.