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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

6 Comments

  1. Aylwin
    August 1, 2016 @ 9:19 am

    [Lights solitary woodland pyre. John Williams optional]

    Reply

  2. Aylwin
    August 1, 2016 @ 9:49 am

    it’s the inherently destructive nature of dragons and “fire and blood” that makes her plausibly a villain

    Isn’t it the self-seeking warmongering ambition and propensity to murderous sadism that makes her plausibly a villain?

    From where I’m sitting (out of date, as usual), I’m not sure whether there can be a satisfying resolution where Daenerys is concerned. There has always been a jarring dissonance between the adoration lavished on her by the storytelling and large swathes of her attitude, aims and behaviour. That either has to end up with some kind of switcheroo or with some version of “but what Great Thing was ever achieved without torturing people to death en masse, or bathing a continent in blood for the greater Greatness of the Great Plans of the Great Leader?”. Neither of which would be all that welcome, though the latter would be worse. It does seem the more narratively and thematically coherent, though, and also the more likely, when even a habitually sceptical observer like Tyrion ends up wittering nonsense about “the right kind of terrible”. But like I say, I’m out of date.

    Reply

  3. Ozman Jones
    August 1, 2016 @ 2:46 pm

    Well, I for one will miss A Brief Treatise. They’ve been the posts I looked forward to the most since the end of the great Doctor Who odyssey, and found very them entertaining and opened up new ways of looking at many episodes, characters, and the series as a whole.

    And, yes, this episode was a turning point in my own personal appreciation of the show. From here on it seemed to meander through plots and characters, still enjoyable and something I looked forward to watching with the wife and our sons, but now as much for the shared experience with them as for the episodes themselves.

    We didn’t get into GoT until the fifth season was well under way and we finally gave way to the nagging of ‘concerned’ friends. The four of us (me, the wife, eighteen and fifteen year-old-sons) marathoned the full five seasons, one episode a night during the weeknights, over ten weeks. It remains a singularly memorable TV viewing experience as a family. The only other experience to come close to matching it was the New Who run of Series two through six and part of seven when the whole family was adhered to the TV for each new episode. But that was weekly. The compressed marathon was an intense family viewing experience.

    I assume you will still be doing the episode reviews for the next two seasons of Game of Thrones..? Well, I hope so. Thanks again.

    Reply

  4. Desdemona.GC
    August 2, 2016 @ 11:45 am

    This had one of those moments, for me, of a realization of how TV works and of characters being ‘protected’. The Hound and Brienne fight started out great and turned into a farce, for me, as I realized that there was no tension at all as the show/creators/writers would never let Brienne loose the battle at this point, or even get hurt badly, or they would forever face censure from the vocal ‘feminist’ fans of Brienne. As a female viewer I loved Brienne, but her sudden protected position reduced her, for me, to a token female role, an affirmative action role, more than many of the others. I haven’t warmed back to to her since. Now she just bugs me every time she’s on screen.

    This is nothing to do with the actor in the part, she does an amazing job, really does some great work. But a character who should appeal to, and did appeal, to me, is now nothing special to me.

    And I can buy into the Daenerys is a villain theory, based on some of her recent behavior, her sheen has well and truly worn off. And I now find Jon to be a bit thick as he progresses, especially after season six.

    Thank you Phil for these Game of Thrones review blogs. I’ve enjoyed them very much.

    Reply

    • -
      August 2, 2016 @ 2:54 pm

      ah yes, game of thrones, a tv series seriously afraid of getting into hot water with the feminists

      Reply

  5. Echo
    August 8, 2016 @ 3:23 am

    Full Web complete. Thanks for these reviews, Phil.

    Reply

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