Game of Thrones [SPOILERS]

[Ironwood]

Almost, and we wouldn't have been expected to think of the rapist as the hero of the story afterwards.

Heh.  The hero.  What version did you read ?

And therin lies the other problem.  People need a protagonist to get behind, or at least that's what anyone in Hollywood willing to put the cash behind it will say.  And then the script editing process will make the film look like the Will Smith I, Robot movie look like a faithful translation of Asimov by comparison.

Ach, you're both probably right.  I just think that we have the tech and the writers and there are SOOoooo many good things being put on screens right now that it's doable, if not wise.  (Also, the heroes were Foamfollower and Mhoram.  I'm always surprised at people who don't get that.  The story wasn't about Covenant, after all.  Not really.)

[Tannhauser]

Covenant was the anti-hero in the first book.  He did do rape rape but also defeated Lord Foul.  Mhoram rocked, by far my favorite character of the series.

I'm surprised Joffrey didn't have the singers crucified.  It was a (intentional?) pretty horrible version of the song.

[Ironwood]

Accidental hero at best.  He didn't DO anything.


Oh and as for Game of Thrones, we've seen it in the UK now and, frankly, I found it all rather slow and plodding.  The wedding was slightly too ridiculous to get tense about, so when it all kicked off it was like 'oh, ok'.

Sophie Turner tho.  Damn.

[Tmon]

Oh. My Gosh.

Finally. 

And there was much rejoicing.  My wife actually cheered and she hasn't really watched since season 1.

[HaemishM]

Apparently the musicians Joffrey threw out were Sigur Ros.

I tried playing their one song on Rocksmith - those are some weird motherfuckers.

[Surlyboi]

They're from Iceland, what do you expect?

[apocrypha]

Oh and as for Game of Thrones, we've seen it in the UK now and, frankly, I found it all rather slow and plodding.  The wedding was slightly too ridiculous to get tense about, so when it all kicked off it was like 'oh, ok'.

Yeah this entirely. It was kind of disappointing that someone like Tyrion, Arya or Sansa didn't actually get to jam a pointy thing into him.

Still, looked kinda painful, which was a plus.

[jgsugden]

Oh and as for Game of Thrones, we've seen it in the UK now and, frankly, I found it all rather slow and plodding.  The wedding was slightly too ridiculous to get tense about, so when it all kicked off it was like 'oh, ok'.

Yeah this entirely. It was kind of disappointing that someone like Tyrion, Arya or Sansa didn't actually get to jam a pointy thing into him.

Still, looked kinda painful, which was a plus.

Props to Jack Gleeson.  He did a great job adding a nice mix of things to create a horrible human being on screen that was ridiculous in all the right ways. 

You don't need blood to die painfully...

[Lantyssa]

It was a pretty big let-down for the death of a horrible character, especially after the brutality of the Red Wedding.  More interesting consequences are going to result from it than had someone gotten mad and lopped his head off, but Joffrey was someone most wanted to die spectacularly.  Possibly because we wanted to imagine ourselves in the killer's place stabbing that little shit over and over...

I'm not sure any death will carry much weight after the Red Wedding though.  That whole scene was an OMGWTF moment.

[Rasix]

Well, it's kind of how it happened in the book.  So, I'm not surprised that's how they had it go down.

It allows for a lot more intrigue than the Hound riding up and lopping his head off.  A lot of pieces move due to this.  Plus, more death.. yay.

[Phildo]

I thought it was a perfect counterpoint to the Red Wedding.  The Starks died in a massacre while Joffrey died alone.

[Cyrrex]

Joffrey was acting like a little spoiled bitch, and he died like a little spoiled bitch.  It was exactly the anonymous, ignoble death he deserved.  No glory for him who never earned any.

Fucking well played by the actor though.  That kid has chops, though I'm afraid everyone is going to hate him for the rest of his career.

[Velorath]

Well, it's kind of how it happened in the book.  So, I'm not surprised that's how they had it go down.

It allows for a lot more intrigue than the Hound riding up and lopping his head off.  A lot of pieces move due to this.  Plus, more death.. yay.

Yeah, when you see a half dozen characters all just glaring at Joffrey through the last 10 minutes or so of the episode who clearly would enjoy seeing him dead and then he gets poisoned, it's a total Who Shot Mr. Burns (J.R. was slightly before my time) moment.

[Ceryse]

I just want to echo the thoughts regarding Joffrey; glad he's dead and the actor should be fairly proud of his work. He was the perfect psychotic, spoiled shit of a person. Not having read the books I was surprised at the death, albeit only in the how... I was half expecting someone to put a crossbow bolt into the bastard given how much he fondled the crossbow.

[Numtini]

That kid has chops, though I'm afraid everyone is going to hate him for the rest of his career.

If you take him at his word, we all just watched the end of his career.

[jgsugden]

That kid has chops, though I'm afraid everyone is going to hate him for the rest of his career.

If you take him at his word, we all just watched the end of his career.

Don't buy it.  He shows up every 40 years or so as some young character and then retires almost immediately so that we do not realize he is a vampire.

http://jackmblogs.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/whatever-happened-to-nellie-oleson-from-little-house-on-the-prairie-played-by-alison-arngrim/

[eldaec]

I enjoyed it a lot for the performances. Tyrion obviously, but Jamie, all the Tyrells, Joffery, pretty much everyone actually.

As a filthy book reader, I'm interested to know how obvious it is to TV-only people whodunnit? In the books this was a way to make the reader feel smart, and a shock to make you start thinking about the consequences, not an actual mystery. On TV I can't decide if it is only obvious if you know the answer.

Dontos's intervention was ridiculous once again. And nothing in the TV show explains why...

Elsewhere I was a big fan of the Bolton family reunion scene, that relationship never really made sense to me the books. OTOH  the Stannis stuff was dull and didn't seem to cover any new ground, also given they did the 'OMFG TO THE WALL!' plot point at the end of last season I don't really understand why they are still fucking around burning people on Dragonstone.

[HaemishM]

Dontos's intervention was ridiculous once again. And nothing in the TV show explains why...

She didn't. He was Joffrey's jester and he was even shown being pelted with fruit during the wedding.

[eldaec]

I wasn't referring to Dontos in the spoiler.

[Yegolev]

As a filthy book reader, I'm interested to know how obvious it is to TV-only people whodunnit? In the books this was a way to make the reader feel smart, and a shock to make you start thinking about the consequences, not an actual mystery. On TV I can't decide if it is only obvious if you know the answer.

I'll try to remember to let you know if I am right.  After a few minutes, it seems obvious, and I'm not one that reads things into TV shows.  Walking Dead rabbit snare?  Didn't see it.

[Bunk]

[eldaec]

[Samwise]

The exact mechanics of how the deed was done ultimately aren't that integral to the plot -- they might just leave that bit of exposition out.  Given the players involved it's not at all a stretch that they'd have come up with some clever way to accomplish their goal even if the particular cleverness isn't spelled out for the audience.  It's certainly cool to see and it's a nice bit of foreshadowing in the books but it's not critical to anything else.

Basically later on when so-and-so says "surprise, it was me," the audience isn't going to say "wait, I demand you stop everything and explain how you did it."  By that point it's irrelevant anyway.

[Ironwood]

That kid has chops, though I'm afraid everyone is going to hate him for the rest of his career.

If you take him at his word, we all just watched the end of his career.

Good for him.  I wish I'd known what I didn't want to do at his age.

[calapine]

Oh. My Gosh.

Finally. 

And there was much rejoicing.  My wife actually cheered and she hasn't really watched since season 1.

I thought it was a mood killer. And that's with knowing what's going to happen. (Spoilerd myself by chance beforehand)

[calapine]

My personal prediction for the Game of Throne story will be it's going to do a Battlestar Galactia Season 4.

aka, "What the fuck? I think I stop caring"

[Khaldun]

I remember when the book came out there was a certain amount of debate over what exactly had actually happened (whodunit and how). The TV show doesn't even really make it ambiguous, save for whatever happens next with
The showrunners have been honest about how they think after this season they'll have to leave the books as a strict guide--that there is just nothing to really hang most of the show on visually and narratively.

[Numtini]

I feel like I should just say that I enjoyed the shout-outs about the name of the sword. I recognized Moorecock and Wolf, not sure if there were others. Is that in the book?

[Threash]

I remember when the book came out there was a certain amount of debate over what exactly had actually happened (whodunit and how). The TV show doesn't even really make it ambiguous, save for whatever happens next with
The showrunners have been honest about how they think after this season they'll have to leave the books as a strict guide--that there is just nothing to really hang most of the show on visually and narratively.

[eldaec]

I didn't hate book 4 and 5 as much as most, but I don't think it would be impossible to go ahead and compress them into 10 hours combined, or to rework them over 2 seasons without much outright deviation.

Shit at the wall is filmable, the journey to the citadel is filmable, King's Landing and Winterfell are basically fine even if it could use a grown up editor in a few sections. Dorne needs better pacing but is a perfectly salvageable. You could film as much or as little Braavos as you liked and it would get lapped up.

The riverlands stories and the trip on the Essos river could stand to be substantially abridged without needing to seriously change the plot. But if season 3 and the opener for season 4  told me anything, it was  that these guys are pretty good at shooting character based 'walking about' scenes.

The only  real headaches I see are the iron islands and finding a decent set piece for season 5 episode 9.

[Bunk]

I'm just assuming that any reinforcement done by others to make sure it happened was done off screen. Putting an actual scene in the show would have been hitting non-book readers over the head with "HEY LOOK, THIS PLOT DEVICE IS SUPER IMPORTANT", which I'm glad they avoided doing.

[K9]

I remember when the book came out there was a certain amount of debate over what exactly had actually happened (whodunit and how). The TV show doesn't even really make it ambiguous, save for whatever happens next with
The showrunners have been honest about how they think after this season they'll have to leave the books as a strict guide--that there is just nothing to really hang most of the show on visually and narratively.

[eldaec]

I'm just assuming that any reinforcement done by others to make sure it happened was done off screen. Putting an actual scene in the show would have been hitting non-book readers over the head with "HEY LOOK, THIS PLOT DEVICE IS SUPER IMPORTANT", which I'm glad they avoided doing.

I'd agree with that but would have preferred it if Dontos was simply not involved if they can't fit the whole plotline in.

Would have been better if Sansa just disappeared until they want to explain properly where she has gone.

In general I'd like the TV show to be more willing to leave stuff up in the air if they can't do it justice on screen and it isn't completely necessary to spell it out.

[Cyrrex]

Another thing I thought of from the last episode.  Prince Oberyn or whatever, from Dorne.  That guy was awesome and hilarious.  I like the liberty they took. 

[Lantyssa]