SciFi Weekend: Game of Thrones Finale; Flashpoint And The Berlantiverse; 12 Monkeys; Tom Baker Interview

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While in many past years it often seemed that we were waiting forever despite warnings that “winter is coming,” this season ended with some clear advances in the story–with only two seasons and around thirteen to fifteen episodes to go.  The most dramatic change was to see Cercei get revenge over pretty much everyone who has been opposing her in Westeros. She lost her last remaining child in the process, but got to sit upon the Iron Throne in then end. I’m not certain if this is because of clear lines of succession or if it is because, after seeing what she did to her opponents, everyone is afraid to stand up to her.

I did think that Margaery deserved a better ending, but Natalie Dormer sounds satisfied. Via E!

Natalie Dormer, who played Margaery, sounded off to Harper’s Bazaar about her death.

“It seemed an exciting, fitting way to depart,” she told the magazine. “Margaery’s been battling Cersei for the last however many years and she ends up dying on the show not because she didn’t beat Cersei, but because she trusted that someone else—the Sparrow—was handling her. She had the reins taken away from her, from being in control of the situation; the High Sparrow took the reins and it proves that he underestimated Cersei in a way that Margaery never would have. There’s a moment before Margaery and the High Sparrow die when they look at each other and Margaery realizes that Cersei has outplayed him and she’s gonna die because of that. There’s this moment that Jonathan Pryce gives as well; this look on his face when he realizes he’s been outplayed by Cersei. Margaery is a fatality of the High Sparrow underestimating Cersei.”

Game of Thrones Finale

While Cercei has consolidated power in the capital, she faces many other threats.

Jon Snow is now King of the North, and hopefully will have a better fate than Robb Stark. At least he ended this season in a far better condition than last season.

I found the structure of the episode of interest in how first John received his title based upon his own actions, and only afterwards it was revealed that he has dragon’s blood with a Targaryen grandmother. If this becomes known, it should greatly increase his claim to the throne. How soon will Bran join Jon and Sansa and tell what he has seen?

How will it affect matters that there is some potential conflict between Jon and Sansa, and Littlefinger is in the background?

Arya has become quite an assassin. Will she continue this, or join up with Jon and Sansa? Plus there is Bran. After so many tragedies, the Starks are looking stronger.

If the reunited Starks aren’t enough for Cersei to worry about, she has Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons also heading towards Westoros. Dani is being advised by Tyrion, who has spoken with her about keeping open the possibility of a strategic marriage. Will that be to Jon Snow, even if it turns out she is actually his aunt, or one of many other possibilities?

If the prophesies comes true, Cersei also will be killed by a little brother. That seems to fit Tyrion, but we also don’t know how Jaime will react to Cersei’s actions, including unleashing the wildfire to kill her enemies.

More on the finale in the Inside the Episode video above.

Screenrant has a useful relationship infographic from HBO showing how the characters are all interrelated, followed by a guide to all the factions.

 

Grant Gusten has confirmed that the next season of The Flash will be based upon Flashpoint, in which the Flash finds his future dramatically altered after he went back in time to save his mother. Barry has impacted Arrow in major ways, once helped Supergirl, and events on The Flash set up some of the characters on Legends of Tomorrow. If The Flash does Flashpoint, will this be a limited story line which is then reset, or will it affect the other shows, either temporarily or permanently? Stephen Amell seems to have confirmed that Flashpoint will impact Arrow. He also had some additional comments on next season:

Addressing Season 5 as a whole, Amell said this weekend that “the villain that we are introducing is a direct result of things that Oliver has done in Star City [and] calls back to a lot of things that happened in the first season of the show.” In doing so, “It really grounds the show and really focuses on its core value, which is the battle to save Star City” — an appreciably quaint notion, Amell acknowledged, given the multiple Earths and time travel taking place on Arrow‘s sister series. “The first two episodes [of Season 5] refocuses us on what the core mission of the show should be, and that to me is very exciting,” he effused. “Plus? Russia,” as in the setting of the next cycle of flashbacks.

Supergirl has made a point of using actors who have been involved in related shows in the past in the new series, such as haven Helen Slater and Dean Kane play her parents. Now they are bringing back Wonder Woman, this time with Lynda Carter playing the president.

12 Monkeys Renewal

12 Monkeys still has the backstory regarding the plague, but this season has concentrated more on saving time itself. In general I haven’t liked this season as much as the first season but the most recent episode, Resurrection, was excellent, hopefully providing the set up for similar quality in the final two episodes. They are skipping a week due to the holiday, and then will return on July 11 and 18. They will also return next year, with Syfy having renewed the show for a ten episode season.

Blastr has an interview with showrunner Terry Matalas:

The show’s mythology has grown tremendously since Season 1, from a fairly straightforward mission to stop a plague to a battle for the fate of time, itself. Can you talk about the challenges of building that mythology, while also staying true to what attracted viewers to the show in the first place?

Matalas: I had always known this had to be more than a plague show. Running around from lab to lab killing scientists would get old real quick. So, when fleshing out an antagonist for our time travelers, the answer was clear: They had to be travelers as well in some way.  But why would they want to create a plague? Why destroy the world? Why destroy the nature of time?  So, the mythology was built organically around those questions. And we hope to go deeper into all that in later seasons.

What can you tell us about the season finale, itself? Death? Destruction? Cliffhangers? Tell us as much as you can without spoiling it!

Matalas: I’m really proud of the last three episodes. So much pay-off for the characters, relationships, mythology. I think audiences will be surprised where we take everyone. The ending is huge! And maybe – just maybe – it might be a little controversial for some of our hardcore fans. It’s a cliffhanger for sure, with a time travel twist. But once you sit with it and think about it, for a moment…you go, “Oh, yeah. Of course. That makes sense.” Then that surprised grin will turn to horror and you’ll say, “But that means…Oh, no. No, no, no.” The finale takes us deeper into our the lives of our main characters for future seasons and sets up a major, major conflict that just can’t end well.

Doctor Who Magazine Tom Baker

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine features what Tom Baker calls his last interview. The Gallifrey Times has this excerpt:

“Life is too short to be dull. Be interesting. Because not very much else matters does it? In large areas of our lives, hardly anything matters at all. I mean, nothing can beat being with loving friends, and a few wines, and a few beers, and a few lies, and a few yarns. And to still be adored after 40-odd years… yeah that’s the life. Maybe I’m the longest-serving actor, in the whole history of actors, who’s actually still, 40-odd years later, adored for the same part and enjoying it in the same way. When I get sent messages from middle-aged men… or from the wives of middle-aged men, who say, ‘Tell Mr Baker he cannot imagine how important he was to my beloved husband when he was a boy’… it moves me deeply to think about it. I was just going to work. I didn’t know, to begin with, how far-reaching this role would be. I was aware of the excitement, and the generosity, and the affection of the fans, but how could I ever have dreamed of all this?”