Salon member comments of the week: Debating Murdoch, Cersei and more

Big media moments, with and without dragons

By Mary Elizabeth Williams

Senior Writer

Published April 12, 2019 6:00PM (EDT)

Kit Harington as Jon Snow in "Game of Thrones" (Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO)
Kit Harington as Jon Snow in "Game of Thrones" (Helen Sloan/courtesy of HBO)

Major "Game of Thrones" prediction: The Cleganebowl is coming — finally 

Another option would be a trial of seven, which is explored in some of the books.  Basically, instead of a one-on-one duel, you'd have a seven-on-seven fight, with a Clegane on each side.  That makes more sense.  Although Cersei's side might well think Gregor their very best fighter, Sandor probably wouldn't be regarded the same way by the Targareyan/Stark side.  He's not even better than Brienne, judging by their fight.  There are several others, as well, who could arguably be stronger fighters than Sandor -- Jon, Arya, Bronn (if he's on that side at the time), some of the Dothraki, Grey Worm, Tormund Giantsbane, Daario Naharis, and conceivably Jorah Mormont.  Without a Sword of the Morning, or Jaimie at his prime, it's hard to picture that side wagering everything on a single fighter.  But, Sandor would possibly be seen as being in the top seven.

Not much story there?  It would make a lot more sense to argue there's too much story there.  They're packing something like ten thousand pages of story into it.  Honestly, try to summarize the story of Game of Thrones while touching on the major plot points:  the fall of the Targaryans, the infidelity of Cersei, the discovery of it by Ned, Cersei engineering his downfall, Joffrey stepping in with his execution, Jon joining the Night's Watch and encountering the White Walkers, Arya training in swordsmanship and then fleeing the Lannisters in disguise, Samwell befriending Jon, the discovery and adoption of the dire wolves, the maiming of Brann, the exiled Targaryans working to bring the Dothraki onto their side, the killing of Viserys, the killing of Kal Drogo, the return of dragons into the world.  And that's just season one.  Cut out all the nudity and on-screen violence and you still have a plot overpacked with twists, well-developed characters, backstory, and intrigue.  Arkadia

Emilio Estevez on making "The Public," a film about dignity, homelessness and libraries

My wife has been a librarian for 25 years for the Mid Continent branch in gladstone Mo, A suburb in k.c. I've learned books are not dead and if you ask, you can get free books to suite your taste. They get more donated books than they can handle. And they provide internet access to people who have have limited options. Libraries rock! — guest

Rupert Murdoch's media empire continues Islamophobic attacks on Ilhan Omar with 9/11 NY Post cover

Hey, everyone remember when Trump said he had the tallest building now right after 9-11? Or when he called it 7-11? Or when he said, in response to criticism of Putin that "We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think, our country’s so innocent?”

Yeah, the right can pretend outrage over this cherry picking of one phrase from a very valid point all they want. The only people buying it are the same people who ignored all that. — Grant Bailie


By Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a senior writer for Salon and author of "A Series of Catastrophes & Miracles."

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