Thursday, July 20, 2017

Just finished "The Sopranos" and...

There is no scene in any TV show more masterfully crafted than the ending of "The Sopranos." The final scene features Tony Soprano waiting for other family members to come at a restaurant. Whenever the bell rings, he looks toward the door to see if they already arrived. Carmela and A.J. (his wife and son) came, and Meadow (his daughter) is trying to park her car outside the restaurant. While this is happening, a man is looking suspiciously towards Tony. The man then went to the bathroom. The bell rang, Tony looked toward the door, then the scene cut to black. The black screen lingered for ten seconds, and then the credits rolled.
At a previous episode, Tony and Bobby talked about what it feels to die. Bobby hypothesized that you may not even feel anything when it happens.
The man going to the bathroom is a clear homage to the restaurant assassination scene in "The Godfather."
For a show with lots of deaths, this death stands out since we witnessed the main character dying in his own perspective; the only TV death that made us really feel what it is to die.

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Things to remember before we go to the seventh season of Game of Thrones:

1. There are barrels of wildfire all over King's Landing. Cersei only ignited those under the Sept of Baelor.
2. Euron is buiding a thousand ships.
3. There is a prophecy introduced in season 5 about Cersei getting choked to death by a valonquar (little brother).
4. Dragons can be killed.
5. There are mines of dragonglass beneath Dragonstone.
6. Dragonstone was once the stronghold of Stannis Baratheon. Ser Davos Seaworth was his right hand.
7. As of now, the White Walkers still can't pass The Wall because of the magic conjured within it by the Children of the Forest.
8. Ice dragons exist in The World of Ice and Fire and they are generally larger than fire dragons.
9. Tyrion once managed the plumbing system of Casterly Rock.
10. Nymeria, Arya's direwolf, is still alive.
11. Gendry is still rowing.
12. Ned is already dead.
13. Cleganebowl hype will never die.
14. Winter has come.