June, South Dakota Swan Song

A memento of my walking trip

My son bought me a shirt that says Colony, WY on it, so now I have a souvenir of my walk across America. Jarrod suggested I could get shirts for various towns along the route, but I think Colony, Wyoming is particularly memorable due to its unmemorable nature, and as a "populated place" that appears to have a population of zero, it is representative of my trip across the western US.

I walked over 10,000 steps every day in June; my current streak is up to 87 days. I also averaged over 12,000 steps for the third straight month. My average steps per day for the whole exercise are over 10,900, and I am slowly creeping up toward 11,000. Should get there this month. The most steps I took in June were 16,233 on a day when I walked to the lodge and back. The least? Well, we try not to speak of such shameful things, but one day I only took 10,049 steps. My phone thinks I ran 298 of those steps. but I don't think I have actually run 298 steps in the past year.

I am currently on Swan Road in South Dakota, on an 8.3-mile stretch that ends at the Nebraska border, where the name of the road changes. Tomorrow I will cross into Nebraska. The next day I will pass 3,000,000 steps, or 1,500 miles. From there it's a long trek across Nebraska, so we'll be there for a couple of months.

 

Game of Thrones: Best and Worst Episodes

:

Last Game of Thrones post, unless I think of another.

A few things about the episodes:

Most of the worst episodes came in the last season. As I said in the beginning of these posts, the ending is problematic. A couple of the last-season episodes are also quite good though.

It is undeniable that many of the best episodes come at the end of seasons, especially later in the series. A lot of storylines get set up early in each season, and then everything comes together in the last few episodes.

That said, let's do it.

The Worst

4. Season 8, Episode 6 - The Iron Throne: This is the last episode, and it is redeemed somewhat by some good scenes - Drogon's reaction when he finds Daenerys dead; Greyworm heading for Naath, where Missandei was born; Brienne filling out Jaime's Kingsguard page; Jon reuniting with Ghost; and the series-ending scenes that follow Arya, Sansa, and Jon to their various adventures. However, Greyworm executing soldiers, Daenerys promising to take her sudden murderous madness all across the world, the oddly easy selection of Bran as King, sending Jon to the Night's Watch, even Jon killing Daenerys seems a bit hasty. There are enough weak scenes to bring the episode down.

3. Season 8, Episode 4 - The Last of the Starks: The best scene is when Jaime and Brienne finally have sex. The dumbest part is when Euron and his fleet manage to hit and kill Rhaegal in flight at a great distance, somehow remaining undetected until the bolt hits, then destroy Daenerys's fleet with giant crossbows they call scorpions, which are incredibly accurate and destructive, when in reality that weapon seems like it would be useless in a naval battle. Then, Missandei is beheaded at the end in an ugly scene.

2. Season 8, Episode 5 - The Bells: There are some decent parts to this episode, as Tyrion lets Jaime loose to try to save him, Arya and the Hound have a nice last moment together before he heads off to die and she runs off to try to live, and the Hound and Gregor finally have their showdown. Also Drogon really lets loose the pyrotechnics as he destroys Euron's fleet, all of King's Landing's defenses, and the Gold Company in an impressive scene. But when Greyworm starts slaughtering soldiers who have thrown down their weapons, and Daenerys and Drogon kill hundreds of helpless civilians and destroy one street full of buildings after another after another, their transformation into maniacal war criminals doesn't ring true to the story.

1. Season 5, Episode 6 - Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken: In the middle of season five is one episode that stands out as clearly the worst episode in the series, a real stinker. There are some time-wasting events in the House of Black and White, where Arya plays a game that calls for her to get hit if she lies, but she is supposed to try. There is an annoying scene in which Myranda, Ramsay's girlfriend, tries to frighten Sansa by telling her about the girls Ramsay has killed. Then there are three of the worst scenes in the series, as three weak elements of Game of Thrones - Ramsay, the High Sparrow, and Jaime's trip to Dorne - all land in one episode.

Sansa has sex on her wedding night, and she seems willing, at least until Ramsay tears her dress and starts treating her roughly, but then he makes Theon watch as they have sex, which seems designed to make it particularly unpleasant for us. Also, the High Sparrow conducts his nonsensical inquest, which I described in another post. Then, there is undoubtedly the dumbest scene in all of Game of Thrones: after presumably weeks of travel and days getting across Dorne, Jaime and Bronn sneak into the palace gardens, pretending to be merchants, and easily get to Myrcella and Tristane, the teenage prince of Dorne, without encountering any guards. They hit Tristane, start to grab Myrcella, and then in an amazing coincidence, three Sand Snakes, who presumably have spent at least days planning to find and kill Myrcella, show up about one minute after Jaime and Bronn, and the five of them get into a fight that looks highly choreographed. Then, finally, the palace guards show up in big numbers and arrest all five of the intruders. To top it off, the head of the palace guards does a silly little pirouette to threaten Jaime with his axe. It all adds up to a strikingly terrible episode.

The Best

10. Season 8, Episode 2 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: This episode takes place only at Winterfell and is about almost everyone left alive getting together and reminiscing the night before the dead army arrives. We see Jaime and Brienne; Tyrion and Jaime; Jorah and Daenerys; Daenerys and Sansa; Sansa and Theon; Tormund and the Night's Watch arriving; Greyworm and Missandei; The Night's Watch friends - Sam, Jon, and Edd; Arya, Sandor Clegane, and Beric Dondarrion; Arya and Gendry; Lady Mormont and Jorah Mormont. The centerpiece is a group gathered around a fire that eventually includes Davos, Jaime, Tyrion, Brienne, Podrick, and Tormund, and results in Brienne getting knighted and Pod singing a song about Jenny. It's a great episode that gives us a last look at each of the remaining characters fighting for the living.

9. Season 7 Episode 4 - The Spoils of War: I somehow chose not to include this episode in the best scenes, so I will slip it in here. The episode is unremarkable until the last bit, when the victorious Lannister army is travelling along the road from Highgarden back to King's Landing. They hear, and then see, an army of Dothraki coming over the hill and heading for them. Then they hear, then see Drogon flying over the top. We have seen the dragons attacks a fleet before, but this is the first time Drogon has taken on a whole army on land, and he slices through them, destroying their lines and lighting hundreds of men on fire before the Dothraki ride through the rest. By the end, Jaime is convinced he can never beat Daenerys, and we are too.

8. Season 1 Episode 10 - Fire and Blood: A lot happens in this end-of-the-season episode. Arya, after her dad dies, becomes a boy, heads for the wall, and meets Hot Pie and Gendry. We begin to see that the Hound is actually more kind to Sansa than we would have imagined. Robb is crowned King of the North. Tyrion becomes acting Hand of the King. Daenerys loses her baby and then kills a brain-dead Khal Drogo. Jon learns that he will travel with Lord Commander Mormont north of the wall. But the highlight is when Daenerys walks into Drogo's funeral pyre with her three dragons eggs, presumably to die, and walks out the next morning with three live dragons, and suddenly she is a major force in Game of Thrones.

7. Season 5 Episode 10 - Mother's Mercy: Another action-packed last episode of the season, and I remember thinking the first time I saw it that they had jammed an awful lot into the last show, but it makes for a good episode. The most memorable scene is probably Cersei's long walk of shame, but also Stannis wakes up after burning his daughter to find out that the weather is getting better, but his wife hanged herself during the night, half his men deserted, and even the Red Woman is leaving. Then he goes to Winterfell, is attacked by Ramsay's superior forces, sees the remainder of his army routed, and then gets executed by Brienne. Sansa tries to signal Brienne, gets caught by Myranda, who gets thrown off a wall by Theon, who jumps off the walls of Winterfell with Sansa to escape Ramsay. Arya gets to Meryn Trant and brutally murders him, then goes blind as punishment, administered by Jaqen H'gar. Myrcella heads for King's Landing with Jaime, but Ellaria poisons her on her way our of Dorne, and she dies on the ship. And last, in another memorable scene, Olly lures Jon to a spot where members of the Night's Watch take turns stabbing him, until Olly puts the last dagger into his heart.

6. Season 8 Episode 3 - The Long Night: Melissandre shows up and lights the Dothraki swords on fire, they ride out to meet the dead army, and we're off. What is good about this episode is that it is constant action, with the dead pouring into Winterfell; the deaths of Dolorous Edd, Lady Mormont, Beric Dondarion, Jorah Mormont, Theon, and Melissandre; Arya sneaking around the dead in the Winterfell library; live dragons fighting the dead one; Ironborn trying to protect Bran; dead things rising from the crypts; the Night King raising his arms and raising hundreds of new recruits; Jon trying to distract a dragon; and Arya landing the final blow and saving all of Westeros. It's anticlimactic that the ultimate war for the future of men is decided in one battle, when the Night King's entire army is literally destroyed in an instant, but it's the last season, and we're running out of episodes.

5. Season 6, Episode 9 - Battle of the Bastards: This episode begins with the Sons of the Harpy backers from Volantis attacking Meereen with catapults launching projectiles from ships. When Daenerys shows up riding Drogon, the other two dragons break out of the dungeon and join the fight, and the Dothraki ride in and overwhelm the Sons, the nature of the battle changes in a hurry. The rest of the episode is devoted to the battle of the bastards at Winterfell, Jon and the wildlings versus Ramsay. The episode captures the chaos of a battle and the panic as Jon's army tries to escape over a huge pile of bodies. After Petyr Baelish and the Knights of the Vale show up and rout Ramsay's army, Jon chases Ramsay and doesn't quite kill him - that's left for Ramsay's hungry dogs to finish, while Sansa walks away smiling.

4. Season 4 Episode 10 - The Children: End of season, lots happens, especially Jaime releasing Tyrion, so that Tyrion won't be executed for supposedly killing Joffrey, and Tyrion killing both Shae and Tywin before heading to Pentos with Varys. But also, Stannis's army attacks and defeats Mance Rayder's army. Bran makes it to the weirwood tree beyond the wall, has to fight skeletons coming out of the ground to get into the three-eyed raven's cave, Jojen Reed dies in the fight, and Bran meets some of the Children and the three-eyed raven. Brienne beats the Hound in a fight, and Arya robs him and leaves him for dead. And in a nice final scene to the season, Arya gives a Braavosi captain a coin that Jaqen H'gar gave her, and it buys her passage on a ship to Braavos.

3. Season 6 Episode 10 - The Winds of Winter: I think more major characters die in this episode than in any other. The high point, and a really stunning development in the show, is when Cersei blows up the Sept of Baelor along with Lancel Lannister, Kevan Lannister, Margery Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, Mace Tyrell, the High Sparrow and all the little sparrows, as Cersei puts it. This is followed by Tommen jumping out the window and Cersei crowning herself queen, which I still don't understand, but we need a good villain. In other events, Sam makes it to the library at the Citadel, Qyburn has his little birds murder Grandmaester Pycelle, Daenerys names Tyrion Hand of the Queen, Arya kills two of Walder Frey's sons and bakes them in a pie before killing Walder himself, and Jon is declared the next King of the North. After Daenerys tells Dario he has to stay behind, the impressive final scene shows her crossing the Narrow Sea with her armada; the Dothraki and Unsullied armies; her new allies the Ironborn, Dorne, and Highgarden; and three massive dragons flying above.

2. Season 2 Episode 9 - Blackwater: This episode is one of a handful that focuses on only one event - Stannis's attack on King's Landing. The highlight is the first display of the power of wildfire, as Tyrion sends one boat full of the stuff out to meet Stannis's fleet and Bronn lights it on fire and sets off a huge explosion. The episode also features the Hound abandoning Joffrey and striking out on his own, Tyrion rousing the Lannister men and leading an attack on Stannis's soldiers, Podrick killing a Kingsguard who was trying to kill Tyrion, and Tywin's army showing up to save the day as Cersei prepares to poison herself and Tommen in the event of a defeat.

1. Season 5 Episode 8 - Hardhome: This is a perfectly decent episode before the events at Hardhome, but perhaps the biggest event is that Theon tells Sansa he didn't really kill Rickon and Bran. The real fun, though, is when Hardhome starts to get crazy, after Jon has convinced most of the wildlings to go with him and started ferrying them to ships. From the time the dogs figure out that the dead army is coming until the last scene, it's non-stop insanity. We get our first real look at what the full army of the dead can do, with White Walkers and the Night King leading, and it's awesome.

Week 38: Martin, South Dakota

I was trying to smile

Martin is an actual town in a less-populated part of southern South Dakota, and a county seat, with a population of about 1,000 people (Wikipedia gives the population as both 938 and 1,170, so, uh...) What is more important about Martin is that it is less than 40 miles from the Nebraska border, and I walk 40 miles a week, so next week I will be in Nebraska. Also, I am less than 75.000 steps from 3,000,000 steps, so I will hit that mark next week as well, somewhere past the Nebraska border.

A measure of just how far it is across the United States is this: 3,000,000 steps represents 6/14 of my total journey. It will take me 45 days to to get from there to 3,500,000 steps, 7/14 of the way to Miami, or halfway. 1/14 equals 45 days. The US is a big place.

One new development - I am beginning to think the heat may affect my walking as much as the cold did during the winter. Today the temperature got up to 90, and I do not believe that I will walk as much in this kind of weather. I will. however, move my morning walks to earlier, and we'll see if that makes it bearable. I did a little walking this afternoon in the heat of the of the day, and that's just nuts. July and August could be a challenge.

 

Game of Thrones: The Deaths

Game of Thrones keeps reminding us that Westeros is  brutal place, and a number of major characters had interesting deaths. But first:

The Mundane Ones

6. Varys: Burned by Drogon. We've seen this already.

5. Melissandre: Turns to dust. Okay

4. The Blackfish: Dies offscreen.

3. Stannis: OK, first, how did he manage to elude all of Ramsay's men long enough to be sitting next to a tree with no one around? Then, Brienne kills him, but we only see her swing her sword, while he is out of the frame.

2. Qyburn: Qyburn is quietly one of the most evil people in Westeros, the wizard behind many of Cersei's most terrible deeds. But his death is quick and unimpressive - he tries to get dead Gregor to behave himself, and Gregor grabs him and smashes his head against a wall, then tosses him aside.

1. Jaime and Cersei: We have been waiting for these two to die - especially Cersei - since they tossed Bran out of a window in episode one. Finally they die together, buried under rubble. It's a pretty tame death for two of the most consequential people in the show..

The Best

14. Petyr Baelish: His actual death is just having his throat cut by Arya, but his panic as he realizes his lies have caught up with him makes it memorable.

13. Ramsay Bolton: Ramsay dies screaming as he is fed to his own dogs. It's a fitting end for Ramsay, and Sansa's smile as she walks away adds a nice touch.

12. Margery Tyrell, Loras Tyrell, Mace Tyrell, Kevan Lannister, the High Sparrow, and Lancel Lannister: A pivotal moment in the show, as Cersei goes from finally cornered to back in command in one booming instant. One little quibble with the plot though: Margery wants to leave , but the sparrows force everyone to stay in the sept. Why would they do that? Is attendance mandatory?

11. Sandor and Gregor Clegane: The Hound finally comes for his not-completely-dead brother, and they have an epic fight. When the Hound stabs Gregor through the body, Gregor just pulls out the sword and keeps going. But it's when he stabs Gregor through the head, and Gregor still doesn't die, that the Hound pushes the Mountain through a crumbling wall, where they fall about ten stories into a fire. It's a bit theatrical, but it's fun.

10. Ned Stark: Eddard Stark's death is a shock because a) Joffrey promised mercy, b) It had already been decided that he would go to the Night's Watch, but most of all c) He was the star of the show! This was our first warning that in this story, even our favorite characters are vulnerable.

9. The Freys: In her first killing since graduating from Faceless Man academy. Arya avenges Robb and Catelyn's deaths by cutting up two of Walder Frey's sons and putting some of the pieces in a pie, then slicing Walder's throat. But the best part comes when Walder Frey returns the next season, and we know it's Arya posing as Walder. As the Freys all drink a toast, Walder/Arya stops Frey's wife from drinking - "Not you woman!" As she congratulates them for murdering a pregnant woman and killing guests in their home, they all begin to realize that something isn't right, but by then they are all keeling over, except the wife. Stupid Freys - Arya wipes out the whole house.

8. Shireen Baratheon: Stannis and Selyse decide the best move is to have their daughter burned at the stake as a sacrifice to the Lord of Light, as Melissandre tells them, in order to improve the conditions for Stannis's army. Selyse changes her mind at the last moment, but it's too late, and Shireen's desperate screaming really sells the scene. Sure enough though, the weather gets better, but Selyse hangs herself, Stannis's men start to desert him, and even Melissandre makes her getaway, finally realizing that all her visions were wrong.

7. Lysa Arryn/Baelish: Lysa goes a little crazy with jealousy and attacks Sansa, but Petyr comes to the rescue. Right before he shoves her through the moon door, he tells Lysa that the only woman he ever loved is her sister, so she has just a moment to register her shock before she goes flying.

6. Viserys Targaryen: Viserys is a pathetic fool from episode one on, so it's no surprise that things don't work out for him. Still, his is the first violent death of a major character, helping us realize how violent the Game of Thrones world will be. When Viserys pushes Khal Drogo too far by threatening Daenerys, Drogo prepares him a crown of molten gold and pours it over him, melting Visery's head. To that point, it's the most memorable scene in the show.

5. The Red Wedding: I am still not sold on the motivation for this scene. Walder Frey breaks a taboo that we are told is absolute in Westeros - you don't invite someone into your home and then kill them - and why? Because his daughter is marrying a Tully instead of a self-proclaimed king. But okay. It's a brutal scene, and another really strong reminder that the good guys don't always win, and main characters may not survive.

4. Hodor: Hodor holds the door against the dead as Bran escapes, and we learn that Hodor is short for "Hold the door," and that Hodor used to be Wylis and could talk before Bran took control of his younger self in order to get his older self to hold the door...Anyway, Hodor is a sweet character, and it's a poignant moment.

3. Meryn Trant: Trant makes the mistake of getting on Arya's list by killing Syrio Forel, then getting close enough to her that she can get to him. Arya stabs him in both eyes, then several times in the chest, then finally slits his throat to finish him. It isn't Arya's first kill, but it's super violent.

2. Oberyn Martell: An eye-popping death, so to speak. Oberyn fights the Mountain on behalf of Tyrion. No one wants to fight the Mountain, but Oberyn shows that he is clearly the superior fighter. However, he gets a little too cocky and gets too close, and the Mountain grabs him and crushes his skull with his hands. The whole scene is one of the best in Game of Thrones.

1. Joffrey Baratheon: We hate Joffrey, so it's great when he dies. What makes it better is that he chokes, he throws up, his face turns purple and his eyes turn red, his nose bleeds, and finally, he dies a glorious death.

Only one more Game of Thrones post: best and worst episodes.

Game of Thrones: Memorable Scenes

The Worst

There are a few different categories here.

Worst storyline: Jaime and Bronn go to Dorne. Two guys, one with a golden hand and one of the most recognizable faces in Westeros, are going to sneak into the palace in Dorne, grab Myrcella. presumably while no one is watching, then sneak away, although Jaime admits they have no specific plan for getting out. It's dumb, it doesn't work, and the culmination of the plan is one of the dopiest scenes in the whole series.

Scenes that are bad because Euron or Ramsay are in them: Euron is so annoying that he brings down almost every scene he appears in. It doesn't help that he has superpowers that allow him to always be in the right place at the right time and then easily win his battles, until he doesn't. Even his death is unimpressive; at least Ramsay has a good death. Ramsay's scenes are some of the worst in the show, not because the portrayal is bad, but because of his actions. Ramsay tortures Theon. Ramsay feeds his stepmom and half-brother to the dogs. Ramsay hunts down a girl for fun and feeds her to the dogs. Ramsay forces Sansa to have sex while Theon watches. Ramsay flays an old woman who tries to help Sansa. Ramsay promises the Ironborn in Winterfell that they can leave if they just give him the castle, then kills them. He promises the Ironborn in Moat Cailin that they can go back to the Iron Islands if they surrender, then flays them all. He lets Rickon try to run back to Jon, then kills him. Ramsay is a bad guy. We get it.

Related to Ramsay, I count 8,002 castrated male characters in game of Thrones: Theon, Varys, and 8,000 Unsullied. The Unsullied don't even make any sense. If you're going to create an army, you don't start by castrating boys, because they won't have the testosterone they need to develop. The show even recognizes this issue with the way Varys is portrayed. It seems to me that somebody has an obsession.

Bad scenes that don't involve Jaime and Bronn in Dorne, or Euron or Ramsay. A surprising number of these happened in the last two seasons:

10. Bronn saves Jaime from Drogon. Get past the idea that Jaime would charge straight at a giant dragon to try to kill Daenerys. Also, let's accept that Bronn is in the right place to intercept Jaime and knock him out of the line of fire and into the river. When we see Jaime at the end of one episode, he is sinking deep into the water, with armor on. When he reappears in the next episode, he comes out of the river a good distance away, and no one even pursued him or Bronn. It feels like they were magically transported away to a safe spot.

9. Tyrion releases two dragons: The dragons are chained up because Drogon burned a child, but they aren't eating. Tyrion decides they need to be let loose, although they have to stay in the dungeon, so he walks up to them, convinces them he is a good guy, lets them loose, then somehow gets out alive. Just because it worked doesn't mean it wasn't stupid.

8. Cersei has Missandei beheaded: Why? What does this accomplish? This is just pointless cruelty, and it seems that we are meant to believe that this act pushes Daenerys and Greyworm into mass murder of civilians. It doesn't make sense.

7. Cersei leaves Ellaria and her daughter to die: Cersei's actions are understandable, but Ellaria and her daughters are supposed to be tough fighters. Why all the crying and wailing? You should have known you could end up here.

6. Jon goes to the Night's Watch at the end: They don't need a Night's Watch anymore. More than that, Jon is sent north to placate the Unsullied. Tell him to go north, then when the Unsullied leave, let him come back.

5. Theon gets kicked in the crotch, gets stronger: Theon challenges one of the other Ironborn, trying to get them all to go rescue Yara. The guy beats the crap out of Theon, knocking him down several times. Then the guy tries to finish him off by kneeing him in the crotch a few times, and when that doesn't work, because Theon has no balls, suddenly Theon is able to turn the tide and win the fight. The other guy is still bigger and stronger than him though. It's all very silly.

4. Drawings by the Children in the obsidian mine: Jon shows Daenerys some petroglyphs, in a cave on Dragonstone, that show plain as day and without any doubt that the Children encountered White Walkers, and that they fought the Walkers alongside men. The scene comes off as absurdly simplistic.

3. Bran's selection: Tyrion has been imprisoned and so had some time to think, and he decided that the answer is: stories. Stories are the important thing. And since Bran is a human encyclopedia now, he knows more stories than anyone, so he should be king. Everyone agrees that this makes good sense, even though - it doesn't. But Bran can't have any children, so no heirs. That's OK, Tyrion says that from now on, we will get together and choose our leaders. Everyone is curiously fine with that as well - no need for discussion even. Right.

2. The High Sparrow's "inquest": The High Sparrow takes a few minutes of testimony to lock up Loras Tyrell and Margery Tyrell, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. He asks Loras if he has ever had sex with men, then asks Margery if she knows. Then he has a surprise witness who has slept with Loras and knows about a birthmark, and has conveniently been there when Margery walked in. So Loras is caught, but for Margery's part, it's only her word against the male prostitute. Still, that's good enough for the High Sparrow to lock up both Loras and the queen for weeks before they even have a trial.

And why have Margery testify at all, when you already have a guy who slept with Loras, and you intend to take his word? The only plausible reason is to entrap her. The whole thing is idiotic.

1. Dany and Greyworm sack King's Landing: This scene isn't as dumb as some others, but it changes the whole story, and it doesn't seem right based on what we knew to this point. Daenerys and Greyworm have always fought people in power in order to help the downtrodden, but now Greyworm murders soldiers who have surrendered, and Daenerys destroys buildings and chases residents of the city through the streets, burning them with dragon fire, far away from Cersei and Qyburn in their castle. Not just a few buildings and a few people either, but lots and lots of them. It's way too much for us to be expected to believe that this behavior fits the characters we know.

The Best

I made a list like this way back in June of 2014, but there were only six seasons then, and my thinking may have changed, so it's time to do it again. I'm going to leave out the good deaths, because that will be a separate post.

10. Arya kills the Night King: At least one major storyline has a definitive ending and doesn't seem like it just drifted to a resolution. Yes, the Night King presumably waited 1,000 years at least for this, only to have himself and every single member of his army wiped out within the first few hours of the first significant battle, and yes, they used the trick where you take out the top guy, and everyone else goes too, sort of like Renly or Robb or the Sand Snakes, but hey, the living beat the dead guys, so that's good.

9. The Night King turns Rhaegal: The trick that had the entire Internet asking, "Where did they get those chains?" Still, it's an unexpected turn of events that changes the odds significantly.

8. Cersei is arrested by the High Sparrow: Wow, for once Cersei doesn't get her way, for a while. It's fun to see her realize she's trapped.

7. Jaime loses his hand: Game of Thrones shows us over and over that Westeros is a brutal place, but this time it doesn't involve anyone dying, and Jaime losing a hand is a shocking scene.

6. The Night King raises the dead at Winterfell: The immediate effects are to block Jon from getting to the Night King, as dead soldiers rise to get in his way, and to raise havoc as dead Starks rise in the crypts, which have been quiet until now. As nice music plays and we skip from one place to the next around Winterfell with new dead soldiers rising everywhere, we realize that there is no way the living can win this battle or this war if they don't kill the Night King.

5. Daenerys buys the Unsullied: Daenerys goes from no army to a big one in one stroke, as she buys all of the Unsullied for the price of a dragon, then has the Unsullied kill their former masters and has Drogon burn the guy holding him.

4. Drogon save Daenerys in the fighting pits. It looks bad for Daenerys, Missandei, Tyion, Dario, Greyworm, and Jorah as the Sons of the Harpy surround them, too many to fight off. Drogon has been gone for days, but he returns just at the right moment - we hear him first, then see a ball of fire, then he comes into the arena and starts setting people on fire. The Sons fight back, but it's enough for everyone to get away, including Daenerys, who rides Drogon for the first time as he flies away.

3. The Night King and Rhaegal burn down the wall: This one speaks for itself, but also we learn that re-animated dead dragons breathe a different kind of fire. It's an impressive scene, and once the wall goes down, we know the ultimate war is on.

2. Daenerys walks out of the fire with three dragons: Daenerys's story seems to be going nowhere, and although she has dragon's eggs, we have been told repeatedly that all of the dragons are long gone. When she walks into a huge fire with three eggs and walks out unscathed the next morning - despite her clothes being burnt off of her - with three live dragons, we know she is special.

1. Hardhome: Hardhome is perhaps more than just a scene; it takes up about half of an episode. It starts innocently enough, as wildlings are rowing out to ships that will take them south of the wall. Then the dead army shows up, and it's mayhem from there on. People get trapped outside the gates, the dead start to come through the gates and over the gates as wildling warriors and the Night's Watch try to hold the line. Jon finds out that Valerian steel can kill a white walker. In an amazing sequence, the dead hurl themselves over a cliff by the hundreds, then get up and attack. As the living fall back and grab the last boats to get away, the Night King walks to the shore and raises his arms, and the dead rise by the hundreds, as Jon and his companions look on stunned.

Quieter Good Scenes

10. The Hound comes back: The Hound is one of the most fun characters in the story, and in the books, he doesn't come back and seems to be truly dead. So it was a good decision for the show to bring him back from not quite dead.

9. Tywin and Arya banter: Two of the better minds in Westeros face off as Arya impresses Tywin, while he keeps probing, obviously curious about who she is, and she works to throw him off.

8. Brienne finishes Jaime's Kingsguard page. There are some moments where real affection between two characters shows through. After Jaime dies, Brienne fills out his page in the great book of the Kingsguard, writing a nice tribute to him.

7. Arya won't kill he Hound but robs him: After Brienne beats the Hound in a fight, he lays dying and wants Arya to kill him so he doesn't suffer. She refuses at first, but then walks over to him and - steals his money before she leaves him.

6. Brienne becomes a knight: Another nice Jaime-and-Brienne moment, as he knights her, and we see how much joy she gets from it.

5. Tyrion and Jorah see Drogon fly over: Tyrion and Jorah are travelling through Valeria when Drogon flies over, looking huge. Jorah has seen him before, but for Tyrion, it's an unbelievable sight that leaves him gaping.

4. Podrick sings: There is a reference to Jenny of Oldstones during season seven, by the Archmaester at the Citadel, and you have to wonder if that mention was in anticipation of this song. Podrick sings it as many of the principles are waiting for the war with the dead army to begin, knowing that this could be their last night alive. The camera takes us around to Sam and Gilly, Sansa and Theon, Arya and Gendry, Greyworm and Missandei. Very well done.

3. Arya and the Hound travel to King's Landing together. It took me several watchings to realize what  a close friendship these two have in the end. Although he was once on her list of enemies to be killed, and he once dragged her around hoping to ransom her, they eventually respect and appreciate each other. When they take off from Winterfell for King's Landing - he to kill his brother, she to kill Cersei - they choose to travel together, and the relationship carries them to a memorable last few moments together in the map room at the Red Keep. 

2. Jon's parentage revealed: One of the great things about Game of Thrones is the storylines that seem forgotten and then come back years later - Benjin disappears, then comes up five seasons later; Nymeria does the same; Hodor is Hodor from the beginning, but deep into the series, we find out why. In episode two of the series, Ned promises to tell Jon about his mother next time they talk, but it isn't until the end of season six that we find out that Jon Snow is actually Lyanna's and Rhaegar's son.

1. Jon and Ygritte find a cave: There is a lot of sex in Game of Thrones, but only a little romance - Sam and Gilly, Robb and Talisa, Missandei and Greyworm. But Jon and Ygritte are the most romantic couple, and the scene in the cave where they first have sex is the best romantic scene in the series.

Kyle, South Dakota

On the beaches of South Dakota

Actually, I am about a day away from Kyle, another of many small places I have visited along the route. The United States is full of empty spaces. Plenty of room to grow.

In the last couple of weeks I have started walking down to the beach near us on occasion, which is a long walk - more than 3.5 miles - but it gives Arlo a chance to run off leash. I actually have to check the tide tables, because at high tide you can barely step on the beach, whereas at low tide it's over 100 feet from the top of the beach to the water. The whole point is for Arlo to run, so I need a little beach to work with.

Yesterday I felt lousy and tired and almost did not get my 10,000 steps in, but the thought really bothers me, so I sucked it up and put in 8,500 steps after 4:30 PM and barely hit 10,000. Such a change in mindset versus when I started back in October with a declaration that I am not the type to be fanatical about keeping to something every day. My streak is up to 75 days.

I have walked over 1,420 miles to date, and the border of Nebraska is right at 1,500 miles, or 3,000,000 steps Since I walk about 40 miles each week, I should get to Nebraska within two weeks, before the 4th of July. After my never-ending trek through Montana, it feels like I just got to South Dakota and now I'm almost through, but this will be more the norm.

There is a number I am watching; it's close to 35,000 now. That's the number of steps I have to make up to get to 11,000 average per day since the start, and I am short because I started with a more modest goal. I believe that at one point, before I ever thought about averaging 11,000 steps, that number was over 100,000, so it is coming down. It's one reason I keep walking over 12,000 steps average month after month, even though I tell myself I should rest a bit. The other reason is that I like my long morning walks, and Arlo likes them, so we may just keep going.

Game of Thrones: The Characters

There are so many characters in this series who have significant screen time that it will be hard to list the best and worst without leaving out some good candidates. Nevertheless, we'll give it a try.

Not everything about all 73 episodes was great, so let's start with:

The Worst

6. Catelyn Stark. Maybe it's a surprise for Game of Thrones enthusiasts to see her on this list, but after I watched the first few seasons a few times, it was a relief when she died. She is sooo grim. Always talking about awful things that will happen, always deadly serious. She's right about the big things, but that makes me wonder if part of her function is to make us think that actions that don't seem quite right, like beheading Ned Stark, or the Red Wedding, are not quite as unlikely as they seem when they happen, because, hey, Catelyn Stark warned us.

5. Joffrey Baratheon. I did not mind Joffrey too much, but his character is predictable, and I did not like the portrayal of him as a head-cocking teenager. Game of Thrones features a bit too much cruelty as a form of psychotic personal entertainment for my taste, and that's Joffrey in a nutshell. His death is entertaining though.

4. The High Sparrow. I think people get one of two very different messages from religion. One message is that we should treat other people with kindness. The other is that we should seek out those who do not conform to our beliefs and punish them. The High Sparrow is that second type of zealot, and his messages of faith come off as transparently phony. His agenda is to hurt people.

3. Ramsay Bolton. Ramsay really is the worst, but the next two characters are so deserving of their rankings that somehow Ramsay only places third. Ramsay is involved in a large number of the worst scenes in the show, and we always know that he will show his big smile and then choose the most horrific option available to him. Also, he gets away with everything. Can we imagine Robb killing Ned Stark, and then all of the Stark men just going along? When Tyrion murders his father, he has to hide on the other side of the world. But when Ramsay murders Roose Bolton, none of the Bolton men raise a finger. Weird.

2. Cersei Lannister. Cersei is not as bad as Joffrey or Ramsay, but she is in as many episodes as anyone other than Tyrion, and she is always predictably horrible and has no redeeming features. But wait, she does love her children, we hear that a lot. Thing is, even that is not true. When Tommen gets real joy out of marrying Margery Tyrell, Cersei has Margery imprisoned an then murders her, causing Tommen to kill himself. She wants control, not happiness for her children. As Jaime puts it, some of the worst things she does are in the name of protecting her children.

Also, Cersei lives in a world where she can tear up the King's decree, sleep with her brother and her cousin, murder hundreds of the most important people in the country, and reduce her support to Jaime, Qyburn, and dead Gregor, and she just keeps rolling, even appointing herself Queen after Tommen dies - is that how the line of succession works? Like Ramsay, she eventually faces consequences, but she survives way longer than seems reasonable.

1. Euron Greyjoy. I read that the actor who played Euron came up with the idea to make the character like a rock star, and that seems about right. He fits into Westeros about as well as David Bowie or Mick Jagger would. I hate this portrayal; he just seems modern and out of place. And he keeps showing up in just the right place and the right time and having incredibly easy successes. And, when he attacks Yara's fleet, he fights one on one with a Sand Snake and kills her, then goes up against another one and kills her, then fights Yara and beats her, but then later when he fights Jaime "Lefty" Lannister (and why are they even fighting?), even though he mortally wounds Jaime, Jamie kills him. The lesson: even seasoned women warriors (other than Brienne, who is a physical freak) are easy marks for a man.

The Best

There are a lot of good characters in Game of Thrones - Tyrion, Jon, Sansa, Bran, Davos, Sam, and more - who have good storylines and keep the plots going, but these are a few of my favorites:

6. Theon Greyjoy. There are four characters that I think of as having long redemption stories, each a bit different in nature. Jorah Mormont did not make the cut for this list, but the others are here, starting with Theon. We have a very low opinion of Theon early in the show, after he attacks Winterfell and burns two kids to prove how tough he is, then an even lower opinion when he cowers from Ramsay rather than escape with his sister. But then he helps Sansa escape, rescues his sister, and defends Bran against the Night King's army. These stories all end in an emotional death scene, so Theon meets his end fighting for Bran, but we almost like him in the end.

5. Jaime Lannister. When we first get to know Jaime, he screws his sister, throws Bran out of a tower, is known for stabbing his own king in the back, and attacks Ned Stark in the street. Over time though, we see some decency in the man, especially in his treatment of Brienne. His story is different in that he turns to the dark side in the end, but by then we don't hate him nearly as much as we did earlier.

4. Ygritte. Of all the women in Game of Thrones, Ygritte is not necessarily the prettiest, but she's the one most men would want to spend some time with. She's feisty, tough, capable, smart, witty, and passionate, and her relationship with Jon is the best love story in the series.

3. Olenna Tyrell. Olenna is maybe the smartest person in Westeros, sharp-tongued and blunt, and she doesn't take any crap from anyone. She's the one I would go to for advice.

2. Sandor Clegane. The Hound seems like a fearsome villain when he chases down and kills the butcher's boy on Joffrey's orders in episode two, but really he turns out to be mostly a decent guy. He's very rough around the edges, and when he asks Sansa to leave King's Landing with him, it doesn't seem like a realistic offer. However, when you get to that scene on a second or third watching, you want to scream at Sansa to go with him, and he shows later with Arya that he is about as good of a protector as you could hope for. When he comes back after nearly dying, he is just one of the good guys from there on.

1. Arya Stark. Arya's time in The House of Black and White gets to be a bit tedious, but she is a fun character from beginning to end, eventually turning into a smaller, female version of the Hound - a killer who is unsentimental, practical, and impatient with conventional niceties. When the series ends, the last few minutes of the last episode switch back and forth between Arya on her ship going west of Westeros, Sansa getting crowned queen in Winterfell, and Jon going north of the wall with Tormund and a large group of wildlings. It's Arya we want to go with though; that has the potential to be a great story.

Game of Thrones: Miscellania

 

Miscellania

Note: I am going to write about six Game of Thrones posts total. Nothing about walking in these. Still to come: best/worst characters, scenes, deaths, episodes. I plan to write these pretty quickly and move on.

Actually, "miscellania" is not a word. The word is "miscellany." However, Miscellania is an island in a video game, so there are pictures on the Internet, so I used it.

The Intros

In Season 8, the introduction is different. It shows the same four places every episode: The Wall, The Last Hearth, and then Winterfell and King's Landing in great detail.

In seasons one through seven though, the introduction keeps changing, adding and deleting places to match, more or less, the locations of the story for each episode.

Only four locations - King's Landing, Winterfell, The Wall, and Pentos - show in the credits for episode one. By episode five, there are five locations. Starting with season two, episode two, we're up to six, and that becomes the standard all the way through season seven. Never more than six, never less than four, even when all of the action takes place at one location, as it does for some of the battles.

King's Landing is always first. Winterfell falls in different places, but it is in every introduction. The Wall is also in every one, and always right after Winterfell. Those things never change.

The places that show up in the credits, in order of appearance, are:

• King's Landing
• Winterfell
• The Wall
• Pentos
• Vaes Dothrak
• The Eyrie
• The Twins
• Dragonstone
• Pyke (The Iron Islands)
• Harrenhal
• Qarth
• Astapor
• Riverrun
• Yunkai
• The Dreadfort
• Meereen
• Braavos
• Moat Cailin
• Dorne
• Oldtown
• Eastwatch

Cold Opens

There are only five cold opens, where they show a scene before the credits. Here they are in order of least interesting to best:

• Season four, episode one: They melt down Ned's big sword and make two smaller Valyrian steel swords. One goes to Joffrey, the other to Jaime, which he gives to Brienne later.
• Season three, episode one: After the army of the dead attacks the Night's Watch on the Fist of the First Men at the end of season two, Sam runs back to join his comrades, encounters a brother with his head in his lap, then gets attacked by an undead guy and saved by Jon's wolf.
• Season six, episode seven: People are building a church, and the Hound is back! Arya left him for dead, but here he is, not dead yet.
• Season one, episode one: A really outstanding opening to the series, as three Night's Watch rangers beyond the wall encounter dead bodies arranged in a spiral, then a white walker. One of the three gets away, for a while.
• Season seven, episode one: The best of the cold opens, and one of the best scenes in the show. Arya killed Walder Frey at the end of season six, but here he is back again, and we realize it's Arya doing her faceless man thing. All the Freys drink a toast with poisoned wine, and winter comes to House Frey.

The Nude Scenes

Based on my exhaustive and careful research, I counted 74 nude scenes in Game of Thrones. A quick Google search finds that someone counted 79, so I got most of them.

• The most impressive nude scene is easily Cersei's walk of shame, which goes on and on and shows lots of full nudity, front and back.
• There are several characters who are in multiple nude scenes: Melisandre, who drops her robe for just about anyone; Roz and Myranda (Ramsay's girlfriend,) who are really only there to take their clothes off; Daenerys, especially in the first year. But there are also a number of characters who show up for a quick nude scene and then disappear,
• Nudity is much more common in the first years, then drops way off in the last two years (down to two scenes each year,)

Ok, enough goofing around, let's talk about the best and worst parts of the show.

Game of Thrones: Let's Start With the Ending

This never happened

It should have been Jon Snow.

Fire and Ice, Stark and Targaryen, The Prince Who Was Promised.

In fact, this is my recommendation to George RR Martin to help him finish the books. Make Jon the king in the end. That story line should be easy to write, because the whole story leads to that ending. No need to have Tyrion appoint the human encyclopedia and have everyone miraculously agree. Jon makes sense.

You know, the bastard, man of the Night's Watch, wildling, defender of Castle Black, and Lord Commander. The guy who rose from the dead, became King of the North, rode a dragon, led the battle against the Night King and the undead army, and killed the despot and mass murderer who wanted to wage war on the entire planet. Also, by birth the heir to the throne.

That is the kind of back story that we might expect for the person who eventually takes the throne. Daenerys's story works as well. Bran, on the other hand, seems pretty random. Sansa, Arya, Davos, Gendry, Brienne, Lord Royce, Sam, Edmure Tully...anyone would have made as much sense.

If I ever write a seven-book epic, I want the ending to follow from the rest of the story, not for it to seem like well, it had to end somehow.

It does not help much that Daenerys is eliminated from contention because, after seven and a half seasons watching her fight for the oppressed, we find out that she and Greyworm are both homicidal maniacs who will happily slaughter prisoners, civilians, women, and children by the thousands not for any military purpose, but out of a personal need for vengeance. Or that Jon is eliminated because the Unsullied, who are presumably leaving Westeros and never coming back and so really have no ability to enforce anything, do not want him to be king. 

So when I watched all of Game of Thrones again over the last couple of months, I blamed George RR Martin when it still felt like the ending did not hold up. Martin created a world and characters that allowed him to tell stories, even if those stories did not contribute to the main story, because Martin was not that concerned with the main story.

(Here I need to pause and note that there were actually two main stories, the other one being the attack by the army of the undead on Westeros, and that story actually did conclude more conventionally. It's only the story of who takes the throne that goes sideways.)

To illustrate in a different way, here are a few characters and places that could have been left out or their stories severely shortened, and both main stories could have still worked:

• Renly Baratheon
• Balon Greyjoy. In the War of the Five Kings, two kings barely showed up.
• Dorne
• The Iron Bank
• Qarth
• Yunkai
• Mance Rayder
• Ramsay Bolton
• The High Sparrow
• John Snow's parentage. It was one of the great revelations in the show. Then it didn't matter.

The end result is that the last three episodes in the last season do not live up to the rest of the series.

With the ending out of the way, I will write a few more posts about Game of Thrones.

The Creston Dinosaur, South Dakota

Creston Dinosaur

I have now walked about 1,380 miles, which puts me at the Creston Dinosaur, a roadside attraction 30 miles past Rapid City, South Dakota. Jackie says she thinks we visited this beast on our first date thirty years ago, and while I don't remember for sure, it seems like the sort of thing we did that weekend, and it's on the way to the Badlands, which we definitely visited.

I have already mentioned some of the major things we did that weekend. Here are few of the smaller details I remember:

• The check I wrote to Jackie to pay for my part of the trip bounced, because I was too slow to make a deposit. She just resubmitted it, and it went through. As I recall, she did not even mention that until I brought it up.
• We left work Friday evening and flew to Rapid City, so we got into the airport late, then we had to get a car and drive to Custer, SD, so Jackie called our motel from the airport to let them know we would get in late. They said they were all going to bed, but they would leave our rooms (still two rooms back then) unlocked with the keys inside. So when we got there, I walked into Jackie's room with her and checked around to make sure no one was inside, then went to my room and made the same search.
• The motel had a game called Crolf, a game they invented that was a cross between croquet and miniature golf. Balls and clubs (maybe mallets?) were free at the front desk. It was a silly, fun game, nothing too sophisticated, and we played more than once.
• We reserved a small car, but the rental place didn't have what we reserved, so they upgraded us to a Nissan Pathfinder. That turned out to be useful when we drove around Custer State Park and went on a rough dirt road looking for buffalo. We spotted one lone buffalo walking along, and we stuck with him for a while, until watching him felt a lot like watching a cow, and then we moved on and stumbled onto a big herd and a photographer with a long lens and a death wish. I have told that story enough times and will skip it here, but we have a buffalo picture on our wall to commemorate the lone buffalo and the photographer incident.
• We went to a local show, and part of it was having the audience sing a song in which we spelled out the word "vacation." Before the song, they asked us to spell it out, and we all spelled v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n, and them some of us (me included) added an "e," because it was shortly after Vice President Dan Quayle had helped preside over a school spelling bee, and he had tried to get a student to add an "e" to "potato."
• In Custer State Park, we drove up Mount Coolidge, which has an observation platform and is the highest point around at just over 6,000 feet, so the views were great. At some point we noticed that every time we said "Mount Coolidge," it started to rain, like it was a curse or a call to the rain gods.
• And yes, I tried to sing "Into the Mystic" as we drove to Mystic, South Dakota, which either isn't anything, or we went to the wrong place. I hope I knew more words to that song than I remember now - I'm sure it wasn't a great performance. At least it's a good song.

 Walking is going well - I have averaged over 12,000 steps per day since January. It occurs to me that I have not been sick or injured once since I started, though I had a couple of days when I forgot my pills and did not walk much. If this keeps up, I will be done in about a year.

Bucket List

A trail near Piedmont, SD

This week, maybe this morning even, it occurred to me that this is probably the best time of life. Being a kid was fun, with lots of things to do every day, people to hang out with, and stuff to learn, but it also means you are going to school five days a week most of the year, and as a kid you are never really in control, because adults make most important decisions for you.

Having a career was not that great because again, you have somewhere to go at a certain time five days a week, but the days are longer than school days, and it goes all year around.

In retirement, I have minimal responsibilities along with a great deal of control over my activities. I am concerned that there may be another phase in which physical limitations substantially restrict what I can do with my time, but we're not there yet.

It also occurs to me that it I die tomorrow, I have had a good life. That said, there are a few things I would like to do before I go. I may have written about a couple of these before:

• Visit all seven continents
• Visit all 50 states and DC
• Make it to 80 years old.

That's it. So let's start with living to 80. There is nothing magical about 80, but my dad died at 68, and it felt to me like he got cheated out of some years. Mom was 75, and that didn't seem quite the same, so maybe 75 would be enough. In any case. if you make it to 80, you can hardly complain that you got a bad roll of the dice in terms of longevity.

I have been to four continents. The remaining three are all in the Southern Hemisphere. Jackie has never been to South America, so I need to go there again as well. The world is a big place, and I would like to see as much of it as I can.

I have been to about 30 states, and I could see most of the remaining ones and DC by zigzagging a bit from Maine to South Carolina. Have to make a special trip to Hawaii. So there are some things I want to do before I get to the decrepit stage, or maybe the "it's over" stage.

I'm not sure why I had so many random thoughts this week, but here is one more: If I ever set another goal like I did for this walking thing, I will try to keep it to one year or less. It's cool to take on a big project, but it's also cool to finish one thing and move on to the next.

I am in Piedmont, South Dakota this week. I am going to say "Piedmont" means "foothill," almost for sure, without looking it up. I have walked 1,339 miles. If I had chosen to walk to Tijuana instead of Miami, I would be in between Los Angeles and San Diego, about two weeks from completing my journey (in less than a year, just saying.) Instead, I am four weeks from Northern Nebraska, with more than a year left.