Game of Thrones [2]

Catching up with the series—I've just finished S4E7 and I've got a question for anybody if anybody knows: was Conan Stevens offered to play Bolg in The Hobbit movies or did he campaign for the part? I'm not too impressed with his eventual replacement in GoT and think it's a shame that Stevens ended up getting replaced by another (and mo-cap) actor anyway and relegated to a bit part

This feels like one of those "oh, what could have been" moments in casting.

I haven't been able to puzzle out the full drama of Stevens' GOT/TH fall from grace.  I think he must have run over someone's dog or something, the way it turned out.

There have actually been three Mountains on GOT, IIRC.  I agree about Stevens being the best.  I think the middle one was the worst; certainly the least memorable.

I wouldn't say the second one is the worst. He just never got to do anything, appearing in 2, maybe 3 scenes (oddly, he also remains in GoT to play a giant)? Overall, we never really get a feel of Gregor as a character. Before that scene in S4E7, most of his atrocities are related by word not shown on screen, which works well enough on the written page, but not so much in a TV series where the character is barely ever on screen and seems to looks different every time he does appear. Come season 4, we get a scene where Gregor is slaughtering some poor POW souls, in an attempt to make the audience fear/hate him, I guess, but I think this ends up making us hate Cersei more than Gregor (after she arrives to recruit him as her champion—or maybe that's just me). All I see is a growling, sword-wielding slab of beef hacking and slashing, and I can't say I really feel anything about the character at all.

In any case, the new Gregor is also 18 or 19 years younger than his onscreen younger brother–and looks it–so there's another reason it's not an ideal casting. If the TV show follows the book from here on, re: Clegane's fate (and no reason to think it wouldn't), I guess it doesn't really matter (no spoilers, please ) Still, can't help but be disappointed.

The "training" scene with the prisoners was kinda dumb.  Just way too entirely on the nose. But you're right that it helps make him stand out (even though the third Gregor is too young).

I agree that the second Gregor didn't get much to do, but he did show up several times in Harrenhal at a time when his actions and those of his men were pretty important to Arya's development.  But he left far less of an impression on me than some of his underlings did during those scenes.  But it would've been helpful if he'd had a standout scene like the first Gregor at the Tourney of the Hand or even the "training" scene.

Eldorion wrote:The "training" scene with the prisoners was kinda dumb.  Just way too entirely on the nose

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Exactly. It was a pretty obvious attempt to get across Gregor's monstrous nature in one scene.

I agree that the second Gregor didn't get much to do, but he did show up several times in Harrenhal at a time when his actions and those of his men were pretty important to Arya's development.  But he left far less of an impression on me than some of his underlings did during those scenes.  But it would've been helpful if he'd had a standout scene like the first Gregor at the Tourney of the Hand or even the "training" scene.

Yup, though the blame for that goes to the screen writers and/or scheduling problems. To be honest, though, the second Gregor didn't really look like he fit the part very well. But we'll never know.

True that. And the Harrenhal scenes did at least give us Tywin and Arya's conversations, which are one of my favorites changes from the book in the show. So I can't really complain about their use of time there.

Another (different) question occurred to me from Season 4: why did the mutineering Night's Watchmen keep Ghost prisoner and bother to feed him? How did Ghost even get there? Didn't he go with Jon into the north and range around, following Jon at a distance? Is this an important plot point or a glaring error in the script? And if he was following Jon back to the Wall, why take a route past Craster's and not the one Jon took? I find this rather bothersome.

If the answer involves a spoiler, I guess I'll watch and find out But I really can't figure out the angle and now the mutineers are all dead.

Also, in regards to Locke: was he sent to kill the Stark boys or just capture them?

I don't even remember.

Stupid Locke side-plot.

I don't either, sorry. I barely remember anything about Locke post-S3 in the Riverlands, tbh.

I was also impressed by how utterly idiotic it was when shiny-new-Gregor was man-chopping during his unveiling.


As far as Locke goes, he ended up trying to kill Starks when he was killed no matter what his earlier mission was.

Hey... was he sent to kill Jon Snow?

I am really confused now.

Stupid Locke sideplot...

It's like they used the Wall in the same manner as in-world. They wanted to get rid of someone so they sent them to the Wall.

If Locke was sent to kill the Stark boys, I'm not sure why he would carry Bran away from the hut instead of killing him, unless maybe he'd want to interrogate him about the whereabouts of Rickon, which seems reasonable enough, I guess. As for Jon, I could be wrong, but I don't think Locke was sent to kill him. Jon would not be seen by Roose Bolton as a serious heir to Winterfell, since he was a bastard and took his vows with the Night's Watch.

The Ghost encaged thing was a real head-scratcher, though. I don't remember that being in the book either. Was this contrived by the screenwriters just so Ghost could kill Rast? Not sure at this point, and it's disappointing if so, but it seems like that's the case.

The decision by Jon to kill the mutineers doesn't strike me as something that was in the book either, or maybe I'm just not remembering it. Certainly Bran and co. were never captured by the rogue Crows in the book.

Finished episode 8, "The Mountain and the Viper". I knew what was coming and it was still pretty awful. Worse than I expected actually

The character of Locke, Bran at Craster's, and Jon leading a ranging north of the wall are all show inventions.

I found "The Mountain and the Viper" to be the highlight of S4. A powerful scene, even knowing what was coming. Very well executed (pun not actually intended for once). What did you think of the beetle monologue? I actually thought it was pretty good, and I say this is as someone who didn't care much for the "chaos is a ladder" speech.

Yeah, Locke replaced Vargo Hoat, and not necessarily for the better. Bran being at Craster's seemed unnecessary too, imho—it's not like he and his group were lacking in conflict in the book. Jon killing the rogue Night's Watchmen seemed reasonable enough. I forget what (if anything yet) happened to those guys in the book.

I wasn't sure what Tyrion was talking about at first about the beetles but I think the meaning of it dawned on me later.

Re: the trial by combat scene, I was surprised Tyrion didn't ralph as he did in the book. I know I probably would have if I were amongst the spectators.

Two more eps to go in S4, then I have to figure out how to watch S5.

To ralph would be to vomit right?
And yes, I think there should have been much more vomiting in the crowd.

The Mountain and the Viper was a brilliant episode, the beetle conversation was great stuff.

Best episode of season 4 by far. Agreed on the beetle conversation.

Forest Shepherd wrote:To ralph would be to vomit right?

Yup

One other thought about the Locke character: I found it a bit ironic that Bran killed the man who crippled the man who crippled him. I wonder if that was intentional on the part of the screenwriters.

Anyway, done with season 4. I think I'm going to have to subscribe to SlingTV just to watch season 5.

ICYMI: Bran Stark actor officially confirms that he will be in #GameofThrones next season: http://ow.ly/PztQZ

season 1 is rerunning on Sky. I am now going to retract my previous comments about it being slow, its not, its flipping brilliant. I had forgotten just how great it is, I am enjoying it much more the second time round. maybe because I have got to like the characters and am seeing them before they got screwed. or maybe its the comparison to season 5 that's making it seem so good. I am far more impressed by the acting than I was first time round too. um I think Lena had had some serious botox by season 2.

Glad to hear you're enjoying S1, Mrs Figg! Although is that a subtle put-down of S5 I detect?

yeah probably.

continually more and more impressed by S1.

HBO says 'Game of Thrones' will be at least EIGHT seasons - EW.com

D&D have been saying seven seasons for a while, but they've also said that eight is a possibility and/or the final season might be longer than normal and air in two parts like Breaking Bad and Mad Men did. I've always thought eight seasons makes the most sense given what we know. I imagine we'll find out for sure before the final season airs due to the marketing but not necessarily much before that. I don't really think it'll go for nine or longer; D&D haven't seemed interested in dragging it out. Quite the opposite, actually.