Watching Westworld - 201 – Journey Into Night

The opening salvo fired in HBO’s Westworld season two premiere wasn’t what we were expecting. We were expecting literal salvos fired by lots of angry hosts into lots of frightened guests, which, you know, that’s certainly there.  But there is so much more.  What to make of Bernard’s time bending descent into near death madness, Dolores oddly performative attempted takeover of the park, Maeve’s increasing attachment to various fellow hosts, to say nothing of what Delos is up to trafficking in the rich and famous DNA and memory trade. What are creators Nolan and Joy up to?  If it’s anything like last season, it will take until the finale to tease all the secrets of Westworld out!

Watching Westworld - Season Two Preview

The long awaited sophomore season of HBO’s Westworld returns this weekend, and we’ve been champing at the bit.  We discuss the open questions from last season, the tantalizing glimpses of the future we’ve seen from the trailers so far, and discuss upcoming format changes and our policy on spoilers and speculation. Why is William’s past still relevant to the story? What is the door, and how are we supposed to find it? Are Dolores and Maeve running diametrically opposed armies? What is Delos up to with their secret project? Is a robot searching for it’s artificial daughter any more sad and pointless than anything we do in our day to day lives?  Why or why not?  These and many more questions are entertained as we await answers!

HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - 210 – Valar Morghulis

Jim and A.Ron finish our retrospective re-watch of season two of HBO’s Game of Thrones with the finale, “Valar Morghulis”.  It’s a typical GoT finale, in that it does a great job of setting up the next season as something you can barely wait to arrive.  Arya could start super assassin training!  The White Walkers are marching on the Night’s Watch!  Dany’s dragons can spit fire!  We talk about these topics and a ton of last minute feedback before signing off with some spoilers for season 2 as well as debating a few lingering season 7 stuff in the secluded SpoiLore section.  See you next year!

HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - 209 – Blackwater

Jim and A.Ron are nearing the finish line of their retro-re-watch of Game of Thrones season two.  This week is one of the all time great episodes, “Blackwater”.  There aren’t many heroes or villains in this one, just brave men fighting each other in desperate and bloody fashion.  Great action, but even greater character moments for Sansa, Cersei, Tyrion, and the Hound.  We have a lot of fun gushing over this episode,  then we bat clean up with feedback and our SpoiLore section at the very end of the podcast. 

HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - 208 – The Prince of Winterfell

Jim and A.Ron’s rewatch of HBO’s Game of Thrones continues with “The Prince of Winterfell”.  We’re really feeling the tension as the countdown to the invasion of Stannis approaches zero.  Also, Robb commits political suicide, the Halfhand recruits Jon for a dangerous mission, and Arya tries to escape Harrenhal before it’s too late.  All this plus feedback, and at the end of the podcast our SpoiLore section where we delve deeper into the history and lore of Westeros.  Need to catch up?  Here’s a Tinfoil SpoiLore archive of previous podcasts by topic. Each link has a time code listed so you can jump right to the tinfoil topic of the week for your convenience and listening pleasure.

HOTD: A House of the Dragon Podcast - 207 – A Man Without Honor

Jim and A.Ron consider “A Man Without Honor”, the latest season two episode on our re-watch of HBO’s Game of Thrones.  This episode is about revealing the true characters of people like Jamie, Cersei, Tyrion, Tywin, Shae, Sansa, and Robb, and the thing you take away is that these are all people, multifaceted, conflicting, contradictory, but in a way that feels human and real.  And Dany, is you know… looking for her dragons.