Virtually everything played out the way most expected it to. I was wrong about who would bring the cavalry to John's aid. I actually was hoping Gendry would appear, although I admit I had no idea where he would have quietly come up with a couple thousand mounted Knights.
I despise Littlefinger and everything he says so much that I refused to believe Sansa would turn to him for help. I stupidly underestimated her hatred of Ramsey.
I was sure HBO could supply Gendry an army out of nowhere, especially after Yara and Theon magically appeared in Dani's court. Tyrion must have thought, "Damn, I should have waited and come over with you guys."
I asked last week if their ships might supplement those of the Masters when Dani heads home, but I thought they might not get to Mereen until next season, or at least next week, for cryin' out loud.
My question this week: Will Dani and Yara play "Little Man in the Boat" in the bathtub together? That was a pretty hot handshake.
I wonder if HBO is seeing a dip in interest and viewership and has told the producers to hurry up and get it over with. It would be interesting to know how many of each week's 6-8 million viewers have read the books.
Readers, imho, prolly want the series to keep going while most non-readers don't want to know every detail about the life of every character and are at the point of just wanting to know how it ends.
I said before last season that I thought HBO was going to wrapup the whole thing in 10 more episodes after this year. Now, they say 13 more over two seasons and they do seem to be throwing everything together like drunken cobblers with a deadline to meet.
Where does this Gendry idea come from? My brother-in-law was talking about it yesterday before the episode. I don't get it. He doesn't know Jon, Sansa, Ramsay and has never been in the North. Why would he have any interest in Winterfell? As you already pointed out, where would his soldiers come from? Is the only thing behind the theory that the episode was named "Battle of the Bastards" and Gendry is a bastard?
With that said, you can certainly see that HBO is starting the process of wrapping things up. A lot of folks now seem to be converging on Winterfell and the Wall. Jon, Sansa, Davos, Littlefinger, Melisandre already there. Most likely Brienne and Pod are heading back there. I'm guessing Sam and Gilly are heading there since they are on the run from his father (and he has a Valyrian steel sword). Arya said she is going there. Dondarion and Thoros told the Hound that they are heading north.
Meanwhile, Dani is finally about to head back to Westeros and is now hanging with another group of important characters (Tyrion, Yara, Theon, Daario, Grey Worm, Missandei). I am wondering if maybe HBO is using the Iron Islands as a way to speed up Dani's arrival in the North. If they go directly from Mereen to the Iron Islands, they will be really close to the North. When the S hits the fan in the North, she could take her dragons/army there while Cersei and the High Sparrow are fighting for control of Kings Landing. I think she always thought that when she headed for Westeros, her goal would be KL and the Iron Throne. I think the Iron Islands is being used to detour Dani away from KL and toward Winterfell.
