Game of Thrones [SPOILERS]

[Ironwood]

I'm not sure how comparable Spartacus and Game of Thrones are.  Spartacus is low budget and not afraid to cut corners, with a heavy focus on the sex/violence thrill.  Game of Thrones will likely be a sumptuous period piece based on character and intrigue filmed on location (Westeros is basically reskinned British Isles) with a solid cast of actors.

Been rereading this thread and this one just leapt out at me as hilarious.

[Threash]

I think last night might have been the first episode of the whole series without sex/nudity.

[Slayerik]

That ranger dude was cast well. His face just looked of "I'm hard as nails and will pretty much survive anything." I haven't read the books, don't know if he will make it another episode, but I felt like he's a straight up badass.

[Threash]

Quorin the halfhand? yeah i thought they did a pretty good job of setting him up as a bad ass.

[angry.bob]

That ranger dude was cast well. His face just looked of "I'm hard as nails and will pretty much survive anything." I haven't read the books, don't know if he will make it another episode, but I felt like he's a straight up badass.

The ranger who was going to lead the small party that Jon Snow went with? Yeah, that guy really looked like he had spent most of his life with his face exposed to freezing cold wind. Good casting or makeup, whichever. I still haven't read any of the books, but the people that have been cast have done a great job making their characters believable.

[Merusk]

So does the Halfhand actually have half a hand in the series- and did they explain why?  I saw some early production stills and they weren't using a prosthetic to make it appear that way so I'm curious if they CGI'd it or are just ignoring it.

[Threash]

I had a hard time understanding any of the dialogue during the nightswatch scenes, but they were talking about Qhorin when he was approaching so i assume they did explain it.

[Teleku]

Note, this is a book spoiler I'm addressing (though he coded it so vaugly you wont understand wtf we're talking about anyways).  But yeah, I think series talk should openly be printed without spoilers.  I only spoil stuff that's in the books that hasn't happened yet.

Overall I love how they are handling Arya (and frankly, everybody) in the TV versions.  Do I want some more? Yes, but the short cut versions are still well done.  I am still a bit surprised they are going for such short seasons.  Even with just a few more episodes they could flesh out a lot of nice side stuff they've had to cut (let alone if they were actually going normal season length).  Still, I guess this keeps the story and pace moving fast, though I do see people here complaining about to much happening at once, which is direct fallout from that.

I also like how they made Loras not quite a dumb ass in this version, realizing that there was no way Brienne would have killed him.

That ranger dude was cast well. His face just looked of "I'm hard as nails and will pretty much survive anything." I haven't read the books, don't know if he will make it another episode, but I felt like he's a straight up badass.

Yeah, I was really happy with the casting.  They're doing a great job of translating my mental image of these characters to screen.  And yes, he's pretty much the last great bad ass left in the nights watch.

[Ironwood]

role.

[Phred]

Yeah, I was really happy with the casting.  They're doing a great job of translating my mental image of these characters to screen.  And yes, he's pretty much the last great bad ass left in the nights watch.

Ya the casting is definitely better than the location management though as the hill they are on bears not the slightest resemblance to the fist of the first men in the book though it certainly was more dramatic. I wonder if the guy with the goatee was supposed to be Dolorous Edd.

[luckton]

I walked away from watching the latest episode with a distinct amount of 'meh'. 


Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it, just not as much as I've enjoyed the previous episodes so far.  They at least kept certain bits going.

[Bunk]

I think the ending was supposed to be climatic, in that you now realize that this Jacqen (sp?) dude can actually deliver what he promissed, which opens up a whole ton of possibilities. Just how crazy a request might Arya get away with?

I have to say, I kind of like the fact that they are diverging from the book a little bit - at least it doesn't feel like I know every scene thats about to come. Plus, they can write around some of the more pointless decisions that Martin made, like killing off Dany's Lysian Handmaiden in the march through the Red Wastes (a very minor book spoiler, that would have happened three episodes ago if it was going to happen)

[Arthur_Parker]

I think the ending was supposed to be climatic, in that you now realize that this Jacqen (sp?) dude can actually deliver what he promissed, which opens up a whole ton of possibilities. Just how crazy a request might Arya get away with?

Yeah, Stanis has all this power, strong (if you believe Robert was the rightful king, the strongest) claim to the Iron throne, massive army, Fire Mage girlfriend with shadow assassin spawn.  Yet, Arya achieved the same result while being a virtual slave just because she helped a guy out of a cage.  I think it's a nice contrast as the "everyone dies" scene between Arya and Tywin is in the same episode, I don't think it's brilliant but it worked ok for me.  We've seen it in the earlier episode but it's worth pointing out that Arya goes to sleep every night chanting the names of all the people she intends to get even with.

[Ironwood]

I also thought it was quite a good cliffhanger due to her reaction to it.

She's not a little girl anymore.

[HaemishM]

Maisie Williams is really outstanding as Arya Stark.

Yes, she is. That scene with Tywin Lannister really gave me a lot of appreciation for that kid's acting chops. That was a perfect scene.

[luckton]

Nice little touch they do with updating the intro sequence with the new locales that we go to in the episode, though I felt like I was getting whiplash when the camera jumped from The Wall to Qarth 

[Threash]

I liked the nice touch of actually showing some repercussions to leaving a little kid parentless for long periods of time.  Almost forgot Rickon existed.

[Cheddar]

Besides my minor nerd rage I found it to be a great episode.  We have been spoiled with the OMGWTFBBQ and expect it at every turn.

This episode is setting the stage for the epic OMGWTFBBQ to come.  Can't.  Wait.

[Tale]

Maisie Williams is really outstanding as Arya Stark.

Yes, she is. That scene with Tywin Lannister really gave me a lot of appreciation for that kid's acting chops. That was a perfect scene.

I've also admired the awkward lumpiness of Brienne brought to life. And frustrated, crippled Bran lording over his people.

[Bunk]

The creative camera angles alone are really making Breanne work.

[Khaldun]

You know what I appreciate about the way the "Brienne flees after shadowbaby assassination" scene plays in the book AND the film? That we're spared the cliched plot of "innocent person protests that a magic thing happened that no one saw, is treated as a lunatic, must eventually break free and go on a quest to prove their innocence". Brienne isn't an idiot, and Caetlyn drives the point home: no one will ever believe that a magic shadowbaby did it and disappeared instantly, there is no point to trying to prove that a magic shadowbaby did it, just get the hell out of there and if you get a chance to kill the motherfucker who was responsible someday, do so. It shoves what might be a central plot engine in another story into the background, makes it just a part of Brienne's reputation from that point on. It's a more subtle example of how Martin takes conventional fantasy tropes and deflates them by putting real human beings with real human societies in the picture. "A wizard did it" even in a society where people concede magic isn't altogether impossible is roughly like saying that you didn't run over those folks on the highway, a UFO did.

[Ironwood]

Your argument falls down slightly there when the chap in the next scene doesn't believe she did it for a second.

[Draegan]

Maisie Williams is really outstanding as Arya Stark.

Yes, she is. That scene with Tywin Lannister really gave me a lot of appreciation for that kid's acting chops. That was a perfect scene.

Agreed.

[Threash]

Your argument falls down slightly there when the chap in the next scene doesn't believe she did it for a second.

I thought that was more of a "she might have stabbed him but she did it for Stannis" than anything else.  Specially since Littlefinger kept nudging him in that direction.

[Teleku]

In the books that chap fully believes it was her and vows to hunt her down and kill her.  I liked the change in the TV version personally.

[lamaros]

In the books that chap fully believes it was her and vows to hunt her down and kill her.  I liked the change in the TV version personally.

Eh?

[Phred]

In the books that chap fully believes it was her and vows to hunt her down and kill her.  I liked the change in the TV version personally.

Eh?

[lamaros]

I thought we were talking about the other guy.

[Teleku]

I thought he was talking about Loras.  Guess only Ironwood can clear this up!   

[Ironwood]

I don't really know names, but I'm going to go with 'Guy who regularly got bummed by the chap with the crown of twigs who's now dead.'

I think that's Loras.

I too welcome the change from the books, since I actually think the whole thing was a little retarded.  Why on Earth would she kill the chap and why now ?  I can tell that she wouldn't really have a problem with people saying she's FUCKING NUTSO LOYAL to the guy, so the whole 'let's run away' angle actually bothered me.

[Tale]

Nobody knew she was crazy loyal to him yet though, as she had only just become a member of his Kingsguard (at the tournament where she beat Loras and won it as her wish).

[Ironwood]

Yeah, because that kind of devotion, training, focus and beating the fuckery out of every other contender springs up overnight.

 

 

[Arthur_Parker]

Women shouldn't wear swords and fight, that's for men only, also where is the king who are all these dead people on the floor?

One of the women, probably both would have been executed.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, yeah.


 

[Ghambit]

Can't wait to see if the show reflects what Brienne looks like underneath all that platemail. 
My main gripe the last few epis. has been the lack of focus on the religion of the IronLands.  I thought that was a very cool part of the novel and it was barely glossed over in the show; unless they plan on drowning someone later.