In the early '80's the US Army was still referred to as "the all-volunteer Army" - which of course it has been ever since, but immediately after 'Nam that was quite a change.   And Time magazine was running stories like this:

Because of the sour national aftertaste of Nam in general, the prevailing opinion at the time was that only the most desperate or stupid would actually voluntarily enlist.  Murray basically says exactly that in Stripes. 

So Stripes is very much of its time - the Army as depicted pretty much is the way the Army was perceived.   And I think the ending was what made the film so popular - even though it's a bit on the wacky side and features a pair of slacker goofballs, the movie says that even the most unlikely of soldiers can still step up and get the job done.   'merica, fuck yeah!  We're ten and one!   In the end, it's a surprisingly pro-Army movie.

Fun fact - in 1980 the govt. didn't bring back the draft, but they reinstated draft registration (Jimmy Carter thought we might continue to have troubles with the Middle East, how crazy is that?) and yours truly was required to fill out a registration card.   But I wasn't particularly worried - I figured if somehow I got drafted, it would be mostly like Stripes.  At least for the three days or so before the Army would almost certainly kick me out.

Nor am I.  I was just going for the easy joke. 

A tick is a small arachnid.  An involuntary reaction is a "tic". 

Carry on carrying on.

Well, for GoT to NOT get renewed at this point would have been pretty shocking, it was pretty much a given even before the actual announcement.   GoT could kill a hundred horses and stay on the air now.

I think the entire season being a mostly downward spiral for the "good guys" pretty much required an "up" ending.  The last couple of episodes had a lot of people complaining fuck this show, the most terrible thing is what always happens, etc.   Knowing they'd get a lot of that, seems like a smart move to build toward an upturn for a change.

Actually, they have. But only once, I think.  The first episode of this season began with Tywin ordering the smith to reforge Ice into two swords, and then came the titles.   Again, I really appreciate the way they built the entire season to make Tywin seem so unstoppable that tonight's sudden implosion of the Lannister dynasty came as a complete surprise to all the non-book-folk.

Well, to be clear I'm not speaking from a fan viewpoint most of the time.  I mean I AM a fan of both the books and the show, but when comparing the two I come at it from a forensic perspective.  As in - I'm looking at how the showrunners navigate the minefield of adapting Martin's gigantic sack of storylines into a workable tv series. 

So I'm not bothered when minor things like character motivations differ from the books, as long as they're still workable character motivations within the context of the show.  I am impressed when events take a major departure from the books - and even more impressed that when they've done it, it's usually an improvement.

Inventing that Arya/Hound/Brienne/Pod encounter was such a neat trick that Martin himself may have said "Hell, why didn't I think of that?"

The only thing that happened differently in any significant way was actually an improvement on the events in the books.

The issue of contention is that there's another major twist that book readers have been waiting for since the end of last season that still hasn't happened, but could have come tonight.  Mostly because we all want to savor the reaction to it. 

But otherwise, thumbs up from this book reader.

As a GoT reader (and thus someone who has always known where this plotline is going), I have to say the showrunners have done a great job of structuring the entire season to get to tonight's episode... and I look forward to checking back in a few hours.

And I don't, but that's life.  I didn't have any expectations of a grand victory, since the books don't have one happening here either.  I got what I expected - a desperate battle that everyone pretty much knows is just the beginning of a war they'll ultimately lose.  And from a dramatic standpoint I like that the victory, temporary as it is, was all due to Jon and the boyz and not thanks to Stannis and the cavalry.

I hadn't heard the theory about Arya/Hound meets Brienne/Pod until now, but it makes perfect sense given the hints they've planted.   And it's a solid reason to have been showing us Brienne's trip.  With that as the possible payoff to all the Brienne setup, now I'm even more doubtful that we'll see Stoneheart this season.

Comparing a (presumably) less-successful female director's track record with the track records of successful male directors is an "apples and oranges" argument, even without raising the topic of gender.  There are directors who have success, there are those that don't.   It's a rough business and if talent were the only factor it might make some kind of sense.  But there's also dumb luck and timing and favoritism and backstabbing and everything else that can affect the success of a particular film, and thus the careers of the people who made it.   

However... Alexander wasn't talking about track records when she named those specific names.  Plenty of male directors have gotten their shot, but had career-killing flops and have never been heard from again.  And there are female directors who have had quite nice careers.  But Alexander was talking about how often men get a turn at bat vs. how often women do.    Men are more successful than women as directors overall because men get more chances to direct than women do.  (Ditto for white vs non-white directors, while we're at it.)

This isn't some specific illness in the movie biz, of course - most of human endeavor in the Western world is dominated by white men.   That is not to say it isn't a problem in showbiz, or that it can't be fixed, or shouldn't be pointed out.  It may seem more odd in showbiz where we're supposed to be all enlightened and stuff... but that's us down here in the trenches creating stuff.  Business decisions at the top are made by the same kind of people who make decisions at Chrysler and Bank of America - mostly white guys.

Agreed.  That's a wrist-cutter of a double feature right there.

Brian and I got to talking yesterday about what's left to happen this season, so- as we did this time last year - how about some predictions as to what surprises are left for the final two episodes?

Obviously if you're not a GoT reader and care about spoilers - you're in the wrong thread.  Turn back now.

Last year my guesses were pretty far off - almost nothing I expected actually happened, a few of my predicted twists were scattered throughout the current season, and several still haven't happened.

So let's see...

Next week's episode is called The Watchers on the Wall, most everyone expects it'll be the Wildling/Night's Watch battle royale, and so do I.  This season's equivalent of the Battle of the Blackwater.  Which means we're saying bye-bye to Ygritte.   How much of the aftermath we'll get... beats me.  Doubt they'll take us all the way to Jon being voted the new commander of the Watch, tho.

Tywin and Tyrion - the very first image of the season was Tywin savoring his victory, and the entire season has shown Tywin being unstoppable at getting what he wants.  Even Joffrey's death wasn't much more than a minor setback for him.  At the same time we've seen repeatedly how Tywin abuses and/or orders his three children around, and especially his contempt for Tyrion.   We even had that random Littlefinger quote about chamberpots last week... if this isn't all heading directly toward that final Tywin/Tyrion double-surprise showdown, then hell, I don't know nothin'.

Ditto for Arya ditching the Hound and setting off for Braavos - all the pieces are in place for that now.  We even had that little encounter with the dying guy a few episodes back as our foreshadowing.

Coldhands missed his cue to appear last season when Sam and Gilly fled Craster's... however, the series has just set up the same scenario all over again - Gilly's in trouble in Moletown and Sam wants to go find her.  Could be the writers shuffled events a bit to postpone Coldhands until now.   If Sam goes to find Gilly  and misses the Battle of the Wall, then is brought back by Coldhands who then hooks up with Bran and co, the show will fall back into sync with the books again.     Unless Coldhands isn't actually that important and will never show up at all?

They've done an admirable job at not telegraphing the existence of Lady Stoneheart at all this season.   That would be a hell of a gobsmack to throw in at the very end of the season, but I dunno... the Tyrion/Tywin/Shae throwdown could be enough of a mindfuck to end the season on, and maybe Lady S. will stay in hiding until next year. 

On the other hand, the Brienne/Pod Comedy Roadshow doesn't really have anything else to do until they meet her, so... heck with it, I say Stoneheart makes her appearance by the end of the season.  Possibly the very last moment OF the season.

Danaerys - meh, who cares?  Maybe we'll get the revelation that her dragons have escalated from just killing sheep, since they gave us the setup for that one a while back.    Otherwise, it's just a lot of intrigue and governing coming up for her - the show could pause that just about anywhere and trump up a cliffhanger-y season ender.

Bran and company - again, whatevs.  The final episode is called The Children after all - that works as both a setup for Tywin/Tyrion and whatever they feel like doing with Bran and Children of the Forest.   So they'll get to the tree or Bran will have a vision of the tree or who knows.   Something about the tree and the Children.   All that stuff in the books made my eyes glaze over more than anything else.   Hopefully the show will find a way to make me care about that.