Game of Thrones S6 E4: Book of the Stranger

I don’t know if there was any doubt among viewers that Daenerys would eventually claim the throne of Westeros but it seems a sure thing now. Game of Thrones wouldn’t have set all that up — the dragons, conquering Meereen, setting the Dothraki on fire and walking unburnt through the flames — if she were not the one.

All sorts of plans and schemes were afoot, particularly with the welcome return of Littlefinger, plotting a long game to take back the North and manipulating Lysa Arryn’s creepy son. I like this show the best when it’s all palace intrigue and plotting.

Another particularly welcome development was Sansa meeting up with Jon Snow, rather than the two of them passing like ships in the night. Jon had been with the Night’s Watch for so long that I had forgotten his history at Winterfell. I loved the reunion and Sansa increasingly getting her competence, refusing to flinch at Ramsay’s nasty letter. I can’t blame Jon for not wanting to be with the Night’s Watch anymore since they did murder him and end his vows. What more could he possibly owe them? I also loved Brienne copping well-deserved self-righteousness with Melisandre and Davos over the murder of Renly. Those two are powerful in their own right but I wouldn’t mess with the woman who fought a bear.

Other characters not to mess with include Missandei, who speaks 19 languages, and Grey Worm. Their anger at Tyrion’s plan to free the slaves after seven more years was well-earned. Tyrion may be charismatic and rich but he has been relatively sheltered for most of his life. He suffered under his father and endured the jeers of being a little person but as Missandei rightfully pointed out, he was a slave for about three days. He will never understand Meereen and slavery like two actual former slaves and would do well to listen to them.

For a moment, I thought I’d get a birthday gift with the death of Ramsay Bolton. Alas, Osha’s paring knife was so near and yet so far.

For the love of the sept, set Margaery and Loras free. They’ve suffered enough and their ultimate punishment will outweigh their sins.

I don’t have a lot of analysis today but this was just a good episode.

The Americans S4 E9: The Day After

I didn’t watch The Day After in 1983 but I do remember the discussion about whether parents should let their kids watch and I have a vague memory of adults talking about the movie a few days later at Thanksgiving dinner. My parents made the right move not having us watch it (we were 9 and 6) because I saw the movie a few years ago and it is horrifying, even decades removed from that kind of imminent nuclear threat. Those scenes of the mushroom cloud over the highway and the people reduced to X-rayed skeletons in the blast are rough. These were very real fears in the early ‘80s.

One hundred million people watched, including everybody in the cast of The Americans and it’s no wonder the scenes of nuclear destruction had an effect on all of them. The Day After seems to have changed everybody just a little. After seven months of keeping up the appearance of being a nuclear family, with Philip and Elizabeth rested and healthy, Paige taking driving lessons, and mundane travel agency crises, the movie was a wake-up call.

The world came perilously close to the mutually assured destruction in the movie. After enthusiastic sex, Oleg tells Tatiana some classified information: The Soviets almost dropped the bomb after mistaking the reflection of sunlight on clouds for inbound U.S. missiles. Only a skeptical Russian called off the nuclear bombs. (This really happened, a story that always fascinated me, and that the general public didn’t know for years.) Oleg wonders if he would have had the courage and clear thinking to defy orders and not start World War III.

William finds a bioweapon even worse than glanders: lassa, which liquefies your organs and makes your blood come through your skin. He contemplates not telling Gabriel, one of several instances of characters pondering disobeying authority, perhaps destabilized by the TV movie. Philip tells William he and Elizabeth were on a break. “A break?” William deadpans. “We get breaks?”

For Elizabeth, seeing the TV nuclear winter (nice callout to that with “Winter Kills” by Yaz) wakes her up and she has new urgency to support her country. “These are the people who dropped the atom bomb twice,” she tells Philip. “We can’t sit in our comfortable house and pretend. This is why we’re here.”

Pastor Tim ominously wants to talk to the Jennings family once he’s back recording “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in Ethiopia. This can’t be good. Paige’s driving lesson (nicely scored to “Major Tom (Coming Home)” by Peter Schilling) was funny, with Philip’s reminders for her to blink, and broke the tension of Elizabeth’s seduction of Don.

That whole seduction was sad and hard to watch, despite Patty’s fabulously pink apartment, because we had gotten to know Young-Hee and Don and this will damage their marriage. At first I didn’t understand why drugging Don would gain Elizabeth any information. She was so thorough searching the house so what would she find searching his person. Then I realized: This is a breakup scene. Elizabeth’s not going to get anything from this family so she makes a clean break by faking an affair. It takes a toll on her.

Elizabeth’s “I’m going to miss her” was very sad. She could use a friend like Young-Hee and they understood each other, being outsiders to the American experience. But Patty can’t reveal her real name and it’s implausible for Elizabeth to keep wearing that wig and be a friend without the espionage, so it’s over. Like Philip losing Martha, Elizabeth is losing what precious opportunities for confidantes she has.

Wednesday Night at the DMV

The trip to the DMV to renew my license meant adding more driving time onto my already-horrific hour-long commute home. I grumble as my car drifts through the gridlocked streets of Wilmington at rush hour.

The new license would be my fourth in less than three years. Two years ago, I had to replace it after somebody stole my wallet from Planet Fitness. Last year, I renewed it when we moved. Now I am renewing my license because it’s expiring. They really should restart the clock on license expiration if you renew it in between those periods.

Finally, I park and look for a spot in the drizzle, finding one at the back of the lot. The lot is a madhouse with people darting everywhere to find spots. It makes a weird kind of sense that the worst drivers are always at the DMV.

I walk up to the door and there’s a line to get into the building to take a number to get in line. Good thing I brought a book and was already resigned to losing most of my evening. But the New Castle County DMV only has evening hours on Wednesdays and isn't open on weekends so there was no way around it.

The woman at the desk tells me I can renew at the kiosk and skip the line. I tell her I’ll try but I had problems doing that last year when I got all the way through the process and the kiosk told me it couldn’t complete my renewal for some mysterious reason and I had to stand in line anyway. I’ll try again but I take a number from her anyway so I can get in line now.

They’re calling number 1399. I have number 1448.

At the kiosk, it doesn’t look promising. The woman in front of me is commenting how the people at the front of the line are having trouble just like I did. But I might as well try while they whittle down the numbers.

I get through the process OK initially, confirming my address and what not. The weight on my license is laughably outdated but I think it would be more trouble than it’s worth to add pounds in the interest of accuracy. The machine takes the picture, telling me to maintain a neutral expression (easy for me). It’s not flattering. I look like the type of person I will someday keep my child away from.

I wait for the machine to malfunction because I got this far last year and it didn’t go through. It charges my card and gives me a receipt. I’m sure something will go wrong when I pick up my license.

I follow the footprints on the floor to the window and hand in my paperwork. Thirty seconds later, they call my name and I get my license. I’m in and out in 15 minutes.

It’s a weird feeling, not having anything to complain about after all.

Game of Thrones S6 E3: Oathbreaker

And now his watch is ended. As his last act before quitting the Night’s Watch, Jon Snow executes the traitors who executed him. Olly, I had so much sympathy for you after the Wildlings murdered your family — basically for no reason — and I can still see your side of it, but you lost my sympathy after you stabbed Jon. Really, Jon had no choice but to hang these people, despite his distaste for it.

So I guess now Jon will leave for warmer climes and a greater destiny? Will he cross paths with Sansa on her way to Castle Black or will it be another case of her taking a pointless trip? Davos, one of the most levelheaded people in Game of Thrones, tells Jon it doesn’t matter why he’s alive again but what’s important is that he go out there and fail again. One of Jon’s loyalists is not as eloquent, making a crack about his anatomy under that loincloth (give him a break; it’s cold at that castle).

I know it would have been out of character but it would have been great to watch Jon cop a major ‘tude after his resurrection. Just strut through the streets and say “Bring it!” to any of the other watchmen who object. “What are you gonna do, stab me again?” I think he’s earned it after what he’s been through. He already died so I feel that releases him from his oath.

I’m glad to see the Lannisters ascendant again. Cersei is objectively not a good person but it’s a lot more fun when she’s plotting vengeance. I was very grateful to see her and Jamie take their places at the head of the small council, because that council without them is just a bunch of bumbling idiots. They should keep Olenna, though, because she knows her way around a good incest joke. Even King Tommen is not taking anything lying down, instead having a confrontation with the High Sparrow. Not much came of it but at least it’s a start for the king.

On the other side we have Ramsay, who seemed a little down this episode. It looked to me like he was buckling a little under that rant by Lord Umber (?). I just hope Walder Frey takes exquisite vengeance against the man who killed his daughter and grandson because we know from the Red Wedding that he doesn’t mess around. I also hope nothing too bad happens to Osha because I kind of like her.

It remains to be seen what Bran is learning from those visions of the past but I like the idea that the official version of history is different from what actually happened, as his father did not defeat that swordsman on his own. I liked when Ned turned back at hearing his son cry for him. Does anyone else think Max von Sydow looks ridiculous in that tree?

Would it kill Missandei and Grey Worm to lighten up a little and play Tyrion’s version of “I never”? I guess we should cut these two some slack, though. After all, they were slaves for most of their lives so their world view is a little different than someone who grew up drinking and screwing around.

Daenerys is learning her own lesson in Vaes Dorthrak at the widows’ retreat. Sure, she is the Mother of Dragons, etc., but these women don’t care. To them, she’s a dime a dozen, one of so many who married a khal.

Thank God Arya got her sight back because that whole thing was getting old. I’d love to see the waif fall on her ass. Why does she get to be so brimming with emotion while Arya has to be stoic? Shouldn’t she set a better example?

I don’t know about you but I was thrilled to get that vital update on what’s going on with Sam and his slackjawed girlfriend! She dropped another kernel of wisdom about the homophone of sea/see! I’m interested to see Old Town because I’ve only heard about those locations. Honestly, Sam, if you didn’t want Slackjaw to come with you, you could have just thrown a shiny object into a field and watched her run for it. She’s so dimwitted, you could have gotten halfway to the Citadel before she realized you were gone.

The Americans S4 E8: The Magic Of David Copperfield V: The Statue Of Liberty Disappears

The Jennings family could definitely use a vacation after nearly catching glanders, sending an asset off to the USSR and burning the candle at several different ends, yet somehow finding time to scream at each other.

Martha makes it out of the series alive. Alison Wright played the scene with dignity and subtlety, contemplating a huge American jar of peanut butter, which she certainly won’t see in Russia. In a twisted version of Casablanca, she gets on the plane without her man, telling him “Don’t be alone, Clark,” her version of “We’ll always have Paris.”

Philip’s eyes brim with tears. There’s nobody to see him so this is not acting: He really is affected by Martha leaving. And he takes it out on everyone else in the rest of the episode, sulking around like a teenager and brushing off Elizabeth’s attempts to talk to him.

“She was a nice woman,” Elizabeth says of Martha. “Straight ahead, uncomplicated, simple.” Philip angrily notes that she wasn’t simple (which is absolutely true given the writing and Wright’s performance; who knew “poor Martha” from season one would turn out to be anything but laughable) and her departure was anything but clean.

Elizabeth gives EST a shot and seems to be affected, particularly by the speech that “You love your prison.” In the end, she realizes it’s a scam, with the organizers asking for more money from the attendees.

This spirals into the Jenningses’ most vicious fight ever. Philip brushes off Elizabeth’s suggestion that Martha was just an agent and Elizabeth hints that he got off easy, because at least he didn’t have to watch his lover walk into the line of police fire like she had to with Gregory. “Sorry you lost the man you love and you’re stuck with me,” Philip spits, while Elizabeth counters with her anger at him sleeping with, and fathering a child with, Irina. It’s a couple bringing long-suppressed tensions to the surface and it couldn’t have been any uglier.

Philip is lost in sadness and guilt, covertly visiting the grave of Gene, the IT guy he murdered. Elizabeth is lost in rage, rebelling in a small way by sneaking into The Outsiders with Young-hee, the two of them outsiders in American society. The last straw for Elizabeth is her brutal murder of Northrup Lisa, who has fallen off the wagon and threatens to go to the police. It's more disturbing that we don't see Elizabeth actually stab her and the bloody neck means Lisa probably fought back. Elizabeth goes to the safehouse, bloody and dazed, and Gabriel knows everybody needs a break.

There is a theme throughout this episode of children not doing what their parents tell them to. Gabriel and Claudia commiserate because the Jenningses are not listening (although Claudia kind of rolls her eyes at Gabriel because she got the rebellion much worse, with Elizabeth beating the hell out of her and waterboarding her in season one), bringing their real marital problems into the spy game and generally acting like jackasses. At home, Elizabeth gets the surly teen act from Paige and then … buckle your seatbelts.

Holy God, that rant to Paige was magnificent and terrifying, with Keri Russell’s eyes practically bulging out of her head in warning Paige that her working Pastor Tim is all that is keeping their family from being destroyed. She orders her daughter to keep tabs on the pastor and “find some other shit to volunteer for at that goddamn church,” a breathtakingly nasty thing to say to your child.

Can you imagine being this woman’s daughter? As a mom, she’s a natural authority figure who could stop you in your tracks by yelling your first and middle names, but add to that the fact that she’s a Soviet spy and it must be terrifying. I was afraid of her and I’m just watching a TV show.

In a neat trick, the Jennings parents disappear from the spy game, like the Statue of Liberty disappearing via the magic of David Copperfield. That speech on TV was probably rich with meaning but I’d have to watch it again and parse it. The family spends the spring, summer and early fall of 1983 going to EPCOT, playing hockey and going to miniature golf with the pregnant Alice. The time jump seemed really odd, almost like a sitcom happy ending. There was a little intrigue in a retired Gaad planting a seed about Oleg with Stan and Tatiana being shady with Oleg (I know there is more to her than there seems).

It was almost like a happy ending to a different series but then the other shoe drops: Elizabeth and Philip get a break from espionage but their daughter doesn’t. She still has to joylessly report back on Pastor Tim and Alice’s activities. This won’t end well.

The time jump was bravely timed in the middle of the season and I’m glad it was because I would have hated to wait months for a resolution. I’m glad I only have to wait a week until the Jennings family fires up some Jiffy Pop and sits down to watch The Day After together.

Adoption Is a Picnic

Well, not the process — that can be stressful and thorough. But last weekend adoption was kind of a picnic because Steve and I went to an adoption picnic. It was an adoption-themed picnic attended by many adoptive parents and their adopted children from all over Delaware. And we all had a picnic. (Yes, I was trying to mention “adoption” and “picnic” as many times as possible in one paragraph.)

We’re glad we went because we got to talk to all kinds of parents and caseworkers and ask them questions. It was encouraging that many of these people sought us out to talk (we were the only people without kids so I guess it was easy to spot us).

It was also good to go to an event and see happy families and one couple who was in our class who had adopted their child in the last few months, to see more examples of the process working out. Yes, we know happy adoptive families and have heard plenty of positives for adoption but the last official thing we attended showcased some videos of an older child with fetal alcohol syndrome and other adjustment problems spitting at his mother and punching holes in the drywall so it was good to have a positive balance. I still have concerns since this is the biggest thing we’ll ever do but I am feeling positive about the process in general (which is kind of a shock because I am a worrier).

One of the things people asked us that I wasn’t sure how to answer was the question of what kind of child we’re looking for. We know we want a young child, infant or toddler, since there would probably be less chance of the child having severe problems that come from being in foster care for years. We are clear-eyed about the fact that our child will probably have special needs but we are of no good to that child if we are in over our heads as far as special needs. Plus, we’re beginner parents with even the everyday stuff and we don’t feel ready to deal with a teenager (I think it’s good that the teen years happen later in life so parents can get a warm-up period to deal with those issues).

I just told people we’d want as happy and healthy a child as we could get. It felt odd to answer these questions because I felt like I would say the wrong thing. Our thought process has room to evolve and I feel like we’d need to sit down with the people from the agency to make a decision. I know this will work out how it works out and the goal here is not to find kids for us but to find parents for a kid and hopefully that will be us.

So that’s what’s been going on. We’ve worked our way through most of the stack of paperwork and have just a few more items to complete and then I guess we’ll be moving on to the next step. DFS cleared us as far as a background check, so we have that going for us. 

Game of Thrones S6 E2: Home

Melisandre, who seems to be in a bit of a funk since little she has seen in the fire has come true, recites her resurrection prayer repeatedly. Jon Snow’s body stays cold, with the dull red of his stab wounds breaking up the blue skin. Nothing happens. She repeats it. Nothing happens. Deflated, she and Davos and the rest leave without hope that the former leader of the Knight’s Watch will live again. It’s just Jon’s body and the direwolf …

… wait for it … wait for it …

Suddenly Jon lives again, his panicked eyes opening with a gasp. I really can’t say I’m shocked because even with a crowded cast, Jon is one of the main protagonists and Game of Thrones would lose something without him. I wonder what the cost of this resurrection will be for him or Melisandre. At least he got a haircut. I like his curly locks but they were getting a bit long.

For once, I agree with the Wildlings in attacking the people who stabbed Jon. That’s saying a lot because I can’t stand the Wildlings as a group. They’re just assholes who attacked and killed that family, who were minding their own business in the countryside, for no reason.

We also reunite with Bran and Max Von Sydow and Hodor and the gang. I was glad to have a break from the tedium last season because as one character said, “I sit there and watch him have these visions and nothing ever happens.” Hodor is not Hodor’s name so who or what is he referencing when he says “Hodor”?

Two lords of two kingdoms fall. Balon Greyjoy falls in the treachery of his mysterious brother while Roose Bolton falls before his son’s knife. I hope Yara wins control of the Iron Islands because disputing her inheritance of the kingdom is a bunch of nonsense. Maybe Theon will support her upon his return because she is certainly better suited to rule than he is. (Those people must always be cold, wet and miserable.)

Ramsay Bolton not only kills his father but feeds his stepmother and very newborn baby brother to the wolves. Every time you think this guy has done the worst thing that anybody ever did, he finds a new low. At least they didn’t show the whole thing on camera.

Over in King’s Landing, King Tommen is having a crisis of confidence, after everything that’s happened with his wife and sister. He’s learning that there are some things even a king can’t do, given the extreme separation of church and state between the royals and the High Sparrow. Doubting himself is the last thing the boy king needs.

And that’s about it for this week.