YMMV / Game of Thrones S7E2: "Stormborn"

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• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Quite a few viewers point out that Theon fleeing the scene after Yara is captured is the best thing he could have done for her at that point, as he stood no chance of rescuing her with all the Ironborn between him and Euron, and if he hadn't run Euron might have slit her throat out of spite. It comes off as cowardly and was probably due to a PTSD attack, but charging in to try and help her would have only gotten them both killed and as a survivor, he can find his way back to Dragonstone and quickly inform Daenerys of the attack, allowing her to reformulate her plans instead of continuing on as if they were proceeding smoothly. His terror makes further sense from a book reader's perspective, where Theon is so terrified of Euron that the very sight of a man in an eyepatch (which Euron wears in the books) gives him a panic attack.
  • Nymeria's reasons for not going with Arya are incredibly unclear, with interpretations ranging from her still being angry that Arya abandoned her in Season 1, that Arya isn't really herself anymore, Nymeria is too wild so isn't bonded with Arya any longer, that her rejection symbolizes that Arya will never be able to settle, the opposite meaning that Nymeria's pack symbolizes that Arya is returning to her own human pack, or even that the wolf wasn't really Nymeria at all, thanks to Arya's very vague "that's not you" comment. The writers attempted to clear things by explaining the comment was a reference to Arya telling Ned "that's not me" in S1 when he told her she'd be a lady and marry a lord, but the connection was so vague it was lost on most viewers and even that line has different interpretations. (What isn't Arya? Having family? Living in a castle? Following others?) It also doesn't help that the books have Nymeria and Arya much more closely bonded, with Arya warging into Nymeria all the way from Braavos and the direwolves being much more explicitly linked to the Starks and symbolic of their identities, and it's highly unlikely Nymeria ever would have rejected Arya. A lot of fans speculate that given the writers downplaying of the direwolves (killing of Summer, Ghost rarely appearing) due to budgetary reasons, they just wanted to avoid having to show Nymeria regularly until she was needed later and made up a vague excuse to justify why she wouldn't stay with Arya until then.
• Catharsis Factor: After two seasons of being highly unlikable in both the Scrappy and the Hate Sink way, we're finally two Sand Snakes down, and it doesn't look good for the rest either. Now they hopefully get that long overdue, well-deserved round of bitch slaps from their father, uncle and cousin.
• Fridge Brilliance: Why is Jon willing to have faith in Dany's good will when no one else is? Everyone else in the room's most recent experience with her family is The Mad king and Rhegar, a man they believe abducted Lyanna. But for Jon it's Maester Aemon, a kind man who was a mentor and supporter to him and Sam, so beyond previously being willing to look past Sins of Our Fathers, he knows her family can have good people as well as bad.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • In light of Sam's Meatgrinder Surgery to Jorah, several jokes have been made regarding the Boltons being "excellent maesters if they only chose to" and all of the sort.
  • "Euron Greyjoy: so manly he could cockblock a lesbian sex scene." Euron surprise attacks Yara's flagship while she's getting it on with Ellaria. Bonus points for Euron making his Dynamic Entry first by ramming Yara's ship then entering the battlefield using a phallic shaped gangplank.
• Nausea Fuel: Sam sawing off Jorah's infected flesh, complete with oozing pus and Jorah's muffled noises of pain behind his gag. Uuugh.
• Rooting for the Empire: Euron is a complete psycho who kills his own kin and is firmly in villain territory. But with that said, it's not hard to root for him when he goes up against the Sand Snakes (also psychos who killed their own kin). Especially since he proves he's a competent and capable commander and warrior rather than the beneficiary of Diabolus ex Machina, whose attack makes military sense and whose victory against the Sand Snakes involves getting injured in the process, showing he's merely a very competent antagonist instead of an Invincible Villain. His over the top Dynamic Entry doesn't hurt either.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • We're meant to be relieved that Arya is returning to the North and her reaction to hearing Jon Snow is in Winterfell is played as sympathetic, but Arya's treatment of Hot Pie comes off as pretty dickish - he's one of her oldest friends who is thrilled to see her (even calling her pretty) and she reacts as if she barely knows him and displays very abrupt Jabba Table Manners she never had before. This may be attempted foreshadowing that Arya is Not Herself/That Man Is Dead, but it falls kind of flat when you recall that she was perfectly friendly to a group of random Lannister soldiers the episode before and reaffirmed her identity (if ever it was in doubt) last season, making her seem like she was just shunning the poor guy because it made her uncomfortable to see someone from her past.
  • Sansa continues to disagree with Jon in front of all the Northerners, despite them already having an argument over this exact same behavior in the previous episode. The only thing Sansa has going for her this time is that pretty much everyone feels that Jon's making a bad move by meeting with Daenerys.

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