Game of Thrones [SPOILERS]

[Lucas]

Enjoy this official 22 minutes long recap of season 1/preview of season 2 (so, spoilers ahead!), just released by HBO. "You win or You die" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dku_Uya8Ygc

[Samwise]

Now that this is out on DVD I'm finally watching it all the way through.  They really changed the early part of Dany and Drogo's relationship.  On the commentary it sounded like this was because the actors involved didn't think that they could portray the book's version believably.

[Threash]

It made more sense to me than Drogo being tender and loving on their wedding night then plowing her like a cheap hooker every night after that.

[Samwise]

So it's been a while since I read the first book, but my recollection was that it wasn't just the wedding night; he waited night after night until she got comfortable enough with him to be ready.

[Threash]

No, not at all.  Every night after the first Dany rode all day without even seeing Drogo until late at night when he came over a plowed her from behind like on the show. It wasn't until Dany had the slave girl teach her sexing and took charge that things got better.

[HaemishM]

So second season premiered.

Boy did they ever compress the 2nd book, but in this case I think it was a really good thing. I felt the second book meandered a bit through the first 400-500 pages, especially the bits involving Jon Snow and Dany. The show just jumped halfway into the book with the Jon Snow/Night's Watch storyline. It was a good premiere and I really look forward to lots of Tyrion.

[Rasix]

My wife had issues with the baby murder.  There was a lot of baby murder.  I think if they ever visualize the death of the Targaryen children during Robert's rebellion, she'll never watch the show again.

[Merusk]

Now I'm forgetting book 2. Baby murder?

[Rasix]

They have a scene where they (city watch on behalf of the Lannisters) are culling Robert's bastards.  I don't remember it from the book.  It's a little disturbing, but my wife just tends to freak out about seeing children or animals being killed.

[JWIV]

It's not quite as prolific as it was in the show, but a whore and her bastard child are killed by the City Watch.

[Merusk]

Ah.. yeah that's happening too late in the series.  I thought Eddard or someone else mentioned Cersi killing the bastards which is why they send Gendry off as fast as possible.

[Lucas]

Good start. What I liked:

- Environments in general and camera work. Fantastic.
- Cersei humiliating Littlefinger on the meaning of power: now I recognize you, book Cersei :)

So and so:

- Dragonstone scenes: a tad rushed, IMO, dialogues and all. It resembled the moment when, last year, we met the King's Landing Small Council for the first time: everyone blurting out some lines in rapid succession and you could barely follow what was going on. I'm sure they'll flesh out everything in the following episodes, anyway.

Disliked:

- The relationship between Cersei and Joffrey: I don't recall it being so "extreme", with the latter abusing his mother like he did in the throne room scene.

But anyhow, I also "grabbed" the second episode and IMO it's *vastly* superior to the premiere. Just wait and see :)

By the way, ratings: 3.9 millions:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-season-2-premiere-ratings-307303

Season 3 announcement is a matter of a few days, if not hours 

[kaid]

Now I'm forgetting book 2. Baby murder?

Yup when Ceresi was freaking out due to all the accusations of her son being a bastard born of incest she had the yellow cloaks go around and murder all of the old kings bastard kids of which there were many. Mainly because every one of his bastards have dark hair and yet none of Ceresi's children do which makes it pretty obvious who the father was.

[Threash]

Actually Cersei had always been doing it whenever she could, there is mention of some bastards dying under mysterious circumstances back in Lannisport.  She was always personally insulted and bitter about Roberts cheating.

[HaemishM]

Ah.. yeah that's happening too late in the series.  I thought Eddard or someone else mentioned Cersi killing the bastards which is why they send Gendry off as fast as possible.

It all happened "off stage" in the books. They showed this particular bit of baby murder so when Tyrion comes back to fuck Janos Slynt in the ass, everyone watching will know why and will sympathize.

[Arthur_Parker]

I'm liking how fast series 2 is moving.

Tyrion Slaps Joffrey For 10 Minutes To Achilles Last Stand

[Ironwood]

Great Start.  Really, really great.

[Special J]

- Cersei humiliating Littlefinger on the meaning of power: now I recognize you, book Cersei :)

I don't recall that scene from the book, but yeah I really liked that bit.

First episode was pretty compressed.  If I remember right, things get moving pretty quickly in King's Landing but the rest starts a little slow.  North of the Wall they jumped in a little more than a third of the way, which is fine since not a whole lot happens outside of introducing some characters I think.

Anyways, great start.

[Ironwood]

She's still wrong tho.  I really hope Carcetti fucks up her day.

[shiznitz]

Very compressed but good.  Melisandre is right on.  Craster was portrayed a bit less rough than I had imagined, but it worked.

[murdoc]

The only thing I had real issues with was the interaction between Cersei and Joffrey - that went a different direction from how I read the books and conflict between them will make future stuff involving them and Tyrion have a bit less impact.

 The scene between Cersei and Littlefinger was great though, nice addition.

[Threash]

I thought Littlefinger throwing the incest thing in Cerseis face was way out of character because it is such a dumb move. 

[Ironwood]

In fairness, he was provoked.  She started with the Ned wife thing first.  If she hadn't, I wouldn't have liked the scene so much.

[Mosesandstick]

I'm glad it's been such a long time since I've read the books and I don't have an eidetic memory because I can't remember at all what's changed and what hasn't.

[Ironwood]

I've never read the books and I'm glad I haven't.  I found that reading The Walking Dead kinda skewed it for me.

[Lucas]

From time to time, yep, I think I would feel more engaged in the TV series if I hadn't read the books, but just like the writers hinted beforehand, it looks like they're (and will) mix 'n matching (and adding) a lot more as the series goes on, so it's still perfectly enjoyable for readers.

[shiznitz]

As long as the major "oh shit!" moments from the book aren't cut and people that don't die in the books don't die uselessly in the show, HBO can do whatever they think is best for series as far as I am concerned.

[Threash]

It helps that everything they've added has been top notch and an improvement over the book.

[kaid]

It helps that everything they've added has been top notch and an improvement over the book.

I am hoping when/if they get to the book 4/book 5 timeline that maybe do two seasons of it but don't do all one in the south and one in the north. I think it would flow better if they did it how he originally was planning a more integrated thing.

[murdoc]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that book 3 is going to be broken into two seasons, but I have no links to back up my admittedly foggy memory.

[Special J]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that book 3 is going to be broken into two seasons, but I have no links to back up my admittedly foggy memory.

Yeah, I read somewhere where Benioff and Weiss said that they didn't think they could do Storm of Swords in a single season.  If you're keeping the same number of episodes, I agree.

[Ghambit]

The suck was strong in this last one.

[Bunk]

I should resist the urge to respond, but I will anyways. I disagree.

Several more new characters were introduced, yet several plots progressed as well - the Greyjoys, Craster's sons, the fallout on Slynt. You can only have so much ongoing plot in an episode that introduced, what, four or five more important characters?

A couple scenes were slow, such as the talk in the brothel - but it served to firmly establish Littlefinger's base motivations. I thought it was more than made up for with the sequence on the road with Arya/Gendry.

After having watched a season worth of people getting sliced open and magically healing five seconds later on Spartacus, I kind of liked the little talk about the Femoral artery and such.

[Threash]

Yeah, i don't get that at all.  That was one of my favorite episodes.

[Lucas]

Yeah, if you want last night was a setup episode, but a strong one; same story as last year anyway: things started to *really* move after the fourth episode.

And Pyke is fuckin' gorgeous. That octopus fireplace...