Game of Thrones [SPOILERS]

[Fordel]

You assume he has a plan and it isn't all just desperation 

[angry.bob]

Lastly, wondering why Jon lied about 1000 men at Castle Black.  Not sure how that helps him, the Wildings don't seem the sort to call off an attack because of 1000 Crows.[/spoiler]

I'd guess it was an attempt to get the wildlings to change where they climb the wall at. They know there's over a dozen forts unmanned, it would make sense to climb into one that was empty if they could instead of one defended by 1000 men. Not sure it really matters though, just that one giant they showed for five minutes looked like he could wreck all defender's shit regardless.

[Arthur_Parker]

[Setanta]

Just watched the last episode - holy shit that was good. I found myself wanting Clegane to win, Arya and Robb are really taking a hold on the season and the Jamie and Brienne scene was fantastic.

Dead babies is a bit 

[murdoc]

Weakest episode of this season I thought. The change to bring Melisandre to the Brotherhood and grab Gendry is necessary since Edric Storm has been written out, but it all seemed so convenient. I feel like the show is getting caught up in it's popularity and playing to the lowest common denomintor by overexplaining everything and removing some of the morally grey areas the characters walk in. Tyrion isn't anywhere near as kind in the books, while Littlefinger is being reduced to little more than a moustache twirling villian who can't wait to tell Varys all the clever things he's done. Joffrey is a monster and they are beating it over your head with every little thing he does.

The only scene I felt was any good was Brienne and Jamie with Lord Bolton, the rest of the episode was basically just setting up how the next few are going to go in order to wrap up this season.

[Cheddar]

I thoroughly enjoyed the episode.  Is it less subtle then the books?  Of course- they don't have time to produce 10 hours hinting aTyrrell plots and whatnot.  Tywin scene with whatshername was well done and the drunk priests story made me ggri

I could go for another.  T.  Episodes per season, though.5 i
e  ll

edit.  Stupid phone.  Leaving post is; I stand by my gibberish!

[HaemishM]

I don't know what the fuck you just said. But you touched a brother's heart!

[El Gallo]

Episode felt like it was just treading water to me. 

[MahrinSkel]

Looked like they were banking budget (notice how few actors were in any one scene, how little of it required any real stunts or fight choreography).  A cheap to produce episode filled with exposition and character development to make up for big budgets in others.

--Dave

[El Gallo]

My book-reading wife told my illiterate ass that almost everything in the episode was either not in the book at all or very heavily modified. 

[Khaldun]

So fill me in on where Joffrey is not a monster in the books. And Tyrion is quite specifically kind *to Sansa*. Not so much to Cersei, I agree, but that's an interesting change that has to do with the degree to which Cersei is more "grey" and complicated in the TV series than in the books, where she is pretty much a horrible person even when we have her own viewpoint to contend with.

[Merusk]

Cersi killed her best friend to keep her quiet as a young girl.  That's pretty much all you need to know about her.

[angry.bob]

[Phred]

[Speedy Cerviche]

I don't see why people object to Littlefinger's portrayal, it's a little less subtle but that's what he is like in the books.

[eldaec]

I like how littlefinger is scripted and directed, but the casting isn't working.

He was great in the wire, and I can see why they went with him, but his interpretation just lacks menace. I get the feeling some of the moustache twirling is the writers trying to help him out.

[HaemishM]

You guys are crazy. I don't see what's not menacing about him. Sure, he's a bit treacly with his delivery at times but I thought it was entirely in keeping with the character they've established in the show as well as the book - only with slightly less subtlety than the book because... well, because it's not a book.

[Khaldun]

I thought he was pretty great in his scene with Varys this last week. Again, please to tell me where Littlefinger in the books comes off as a warm, sympathetic, lightly understood guy who just wants the best for everyone. The most "grey" that Littlefinger gets in the books is that there's a certain pathos in his memories of being scorned and excluded from his desires (Catelyn and otherwise) because he wasn't a member of the nobility--he is in that sense very much an archetype of narratives about early modern Europe, where various kinds of "nouveau riche" schemers managed to worm their way into power and influence as the aristocracy declined, often viciously so. But beyond that general pathos, he's pretty much an oily, vaguely charming schemer who has absolutely no scruples of any kind, nor any oaths to keep save the one he's made to himself to aggrandize his own power and if he can, have what was denied him when he was younger. I don't seem much divergence in books and series in that regard, save some compression.

[Samwise]

I really need to go back and reread the books; a lot of stuff is taking me by surprise here and I'm not sure how much of that is that I've just forgotten some of the relatively minor plot lines and how much of it is TV doing things differently.

[Phred]

I really need to go back and reread the books; a lot of stuff is taking me by surprise here and I'm not sure how much of that is that I've just forgotten some of the relatively minor plot lines and how much of it is TV doing things differently.

[Samwise]

Littlefinger actually matches up fine with how I remember him; the events with the Brotherhood are more what have me going "wait... is that how that happened?"  I think I don't remember it very well because it ultimately doesn't have that much impact on much that happens later.  At least that I can remember.

[Phred]

the events with the Brotherhood are more what have me going "wait... is that how that happened?"  I think I don't remember it very well because it ultimately doesn't have that much impact on much that happens later.  At least that I can remember.

Nope you're right there. As was mentioned the red woman never came to visit them. Gendry stayed on as a smith and much else didnt happen the way it did on TV.

[Riggswolfe]

I really need to go back and reread the books; a lot of stuff is taking me by surprise here and I'm not sure how much of that is that I've just forgotten some of the relatively minor plot lines and how much of it is TV doing things differently.

IGN has ongoing articles that tell you what has been changed, added and removed per episode.

[Rasix]

The Brotherhood stuff suffers from them basically cutting out all of the shit that went on in the riverlands.  Plus, the Gendry hijack.

 

Not a huge fan of how Aidan Gillen is playing the role, but I'm not a fan of his in general.  I don't even think he was that good in The Wire.  Him and Nick from season 2 always annoyed me.  Aidan has a stock set of faces he uses for certain emotions and most of them just look off.  His "astonishment" (same as his "hello there hot lady") face looks like some sort of drooling imbecile.

[Teleku]

They're using Gendry to fulfill the part of Edric Storm, that's it.  I'm fine with it, since it keeps a character/actor we all know involved longer in the story instead of fading into obscurity, and cuts out another largely pointless character.

I also don't get the little finger hate.  I love this interpretation of him.  I think the actor is doing wonderfully, and he's way more subtly menacing on the screen here than he ever was in the books (where he was more just creepy and a dick).

[Cheddar]

Peter, both in the book and on the show, is by far my favorite character and the one I am rooting for the most.

I have updated my avatard accordingly.

[Samwise]

I was just saying the other day that in watching the show I've been surprised at how much a fan I am of Dany.  It took me a while to warm up to her in the books, but in the show I've been rooting for her more than any other character ever since she got her dragons.  I mean, I really want to love the Starks, but they're bumblers, all of them, and it's probably for the best none of them is in charge of a kingdom.  Dany continually comes across as both principled and competent, which is a mix you don't get often in this series.

[Cheddar]

I was just saying the other day that in watching the show I've been surprised at how much a fan I am of Dany.  It took me a while to warm up to her in the books, but in the show I've been rooting for her more than any other character ever since she got her dragons.  I mean, I really want to love the Starks, but they're bumblers, all of them, and it's probably for the best none of them is in charge of a kingdom.  Dany continually comes across as both principled and competent, which is a mix you don't get often in this series.

A real fan would update his Avatard accordingly and change his title to "Defender of the Bay."

I recommend this one! 

[Khaldun]

I agree on Dany. I find her a boring or frustrating character in the books, but even at her most stalled-out "I WANT MY DRAGONS" last season, I was rooting for the character. This season she's been the most satisfying character to follow.

[Setanta]

Littlefinger is great, matches the way I saw him in the books bar the subtlety. The scene with him and Varys, we have seen how vengeful they both can be and that keeps me liking them both more and more.

I wish they'd move Arya's arc on - she's nowhere near as badass as I saw her in the books where she was scrappy and tough from day one.

A good episode I thought, I didn't mind the change of pace.

[murdoc]

I really need to go back and reread the books; a lot of stuff is taking me by surprise here and I'm not sure how much of that is that I've just forgotten some of the relatively minor plot lines and how much of it is TV doing things differently.

IGN has ongoing articles that tell you what has been changed, added and removed per episode.

Westeros.org has better recaps and analysis imo. For example: http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Episodes/Entry/The_Climb/Book_Spoilers/#Book_to_Screen

[MediumHigh]

By the time Dance hits Little Finger and Varis become one of the few characters you still like. Especially once you realize the true extent of their rap sheets. And Danys star is set to wane very soon, just enjoy the waxing while it last.

[eldaec]

Problems I have with little finger:

The accent, I don't know what that is supposed to be. It is flat and forced.

The stance, this guy is a stage actor but can't emote for shit.

The just-a-game affectation, which is OK in some scenes but doesn't bring out the enormous chip on his shoulder about the major houses, and especially the starks. He's not really just about ladder, he is about fucking over the establishment. When he screws over Ned or discusses how any of the aristocracy have treated him, we see neither his true emotion showing through, nor a carefully composed mask of what little finger wishes to show in response to some dramatic event. We just get him tittering away like nothing is happening.

He lacks charm or guile. Unlike Varys, LF is never remotely convincing when telling one lord or another that he is on their side. So how he got to his position is a mystery. When we get to the big reveal of what he has been up to, rather than a shock it is going to feel like a cliche.

[Khaldun]

1. He's not supposed to emote expressively. In book or in series. That would totally miss the point of the character. He's supremely controlled. In the books he's only let the rage boiling deep down show once or twice--we mostly know what we know about him from other people and from what he begins to tell Sansa once they're away from King's Landing.
2. People don't trust him. They don't think he's on their side. He has a habit of coming to them with offers they can't afford to turn away because they're desperate--because he has money and resources. The only alternative in some cases is to trust Varys, which is for most characters even worse.

[eldaec]

In the TV show he doesn't come across as supremely controlled, he comes across as a giggling panto villain.

Understated and serious, with the mask slipping on occasion to show either anger or sadistic pleasure would be fine.