Game of Thrones [2]

You can say that again! They were like chefs preparing a large fish dinner. But they were in such a hurry that they just plopped the whole thing through the meat grinder, scales and all, baked that in the oven for a bit, and then served up the resultant chaotic casserole in place of something that actually made sense.

I agree, season 1 was great, as were S2 & 3. 4 was a bit of a letdown and I'm not so enthused about watching 5 (though I nevertheless will). I don't like some of the diversions from the book.

on to S2. Cercei has had some botox.

Game of Thrones will go at least 8 seasons says HBO!

http://dondaario.tumblr.com/post/125706821512

The thing that jumped out at me when I clicked that link was in the sidebar:

Ian McShane cast in Game of Thrones season 6 - Watchers on the Wall

I've loved McShane in what I've seen him in, and ever since Malickfan raised the idea I've always thought of him as a great potential Thorin. Hopefully he'll get some worthwhile material to work with in S6 (yeah yeah...).

“he has a relatively small amount of screen-time during the season, yet his character is of key importance.”

Arthur Dayne?

I was thinking maybe Euron or another of the Greyjoys since there's a rumor the Iron Islands will be back. That's just a wild guess though.

I'd expect the Greyjoys to have more screen time though, but he doesn't really look like Arthur Dayne. So I don't know.

I'm expecting the Greyjoys to make a perfunctory appearance at best. It's never seemed like a subplot D&D cared about and with a nearly two season hiatus I doubt many show watchers are on the edge of their seats to find out what's up in the Iron Islands, so there isn't pressure to include it like there was with Dorne post-Oberyn.

maybe he is Sam's father?

Randall Tarley is what I've heard theorized. Although Euron would be a good shout too.

Although.. I struggle to care.. Like, are anyone expecting their writing to improve when they're even more on their own feet. (Just following a basic outline by George. (Which I'm sure they'll diverge from at will anyway.))

No not really. I'm just so flippin' tired of having Ramsay Girl-hunting-Sausage-munching Bolton a part of the show that I can't bring myself to look forward to any of it.

I don't like Danaerys as she is a moron, Sansa is still an idiot, Arya is a stupid weirdo, Tyrion's popularity has turned around and bitten him somewhere painful as he has become merely a nice (boring) copy of his former self, Bran used to be cool before he did absolutely nothing for three seasons and let Thomas Brodie-Sangster die pointlessly, Jon Snow is an emo who should have kept to his vows or just run away with stupid Ygritte already, Theon isn't even Theon anymore, and...

Oh wait. Yeah my list stops there because EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS INTERESTING has either been KILLED OFF or simply DROPPED like so much EXCESS BAGGAGE!!

Man screw this show.

The only reason I care about any of it is that Winds of Winter will hopefully come out before the next season irrevocably ruins everything.

Debbie Downers the pair of yous.

I still haven't decided for sure if I'll watch season 6 as it airs or not, but I will definitely catch up with it once its complete if nothing else. Like most people on here I had a lot of issues with season 5, but I'm still curious to see where it's going. Though I don't expect it to necessarily share anything in common with the books' conclusion other than in the most general ways. For instance, who's sitting on the Iron Throne at the end, but not necessarily anything more specific than that.

Watched 3 episodes of S5 and I'm not too sure I like what I see yet. Guess I'll have to watch and see. I don't like some of the changes to the book, as I've said before. I know they're generally meant to tighten up the story and quicken the pace, but some of them don't seem to be doing that at all. And some just don't seem to make much sense.

At least one questionable thing about S5 I've noticed so far (*SPOILER WARNING*): exactly how and why does Littlefinger trust Roose fucking Bolton with the identity of Sansa Stark? Does this strike anyone else as odd? When he presented her to Roose and his son (obviously, this is a departure from the book), he didn't hide her identity from anyone else that was there. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

Damn, how I wish GRRM wrote faster...

The whole Bolton thing is utter tripe in my opinion. If they had simply skipped them over entirely I'd be a far happier fan for it.

the Boltons are boring.

I'm beginning to feel the same way. At least I could have done without the whole Yara (or whatever her name is) trying and failing to rescue Theon, which added almost nothing to the story—and whatever happened to her, anyway? I could also give less than half a shit about Myranda and her jealousy.

I'm also starting to get annoyed with Brienne and her stupid oath—FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING OATH ALREADY. I also hate how people rub the death of Catelyn in her face—she wasn't there to protect her. DUH.

Finally, the Sansa thing bothers me the more I think about it. I mean, really, isn't she wanted by Cersei for the murder of Joffrey? And doesn't Roose know this? I'm going to say that, yes, he does. So why would Littlefinger hand him such an obvious hostage/bartering chip? He was already in bed with Tywin, why wouldn't he use Sansa to his advantage to curry Cersei's favor? And how would Cersei not find out? Bolton wants to marry Ramsay to Sansa because of her title, so how could such a thing be kept a secret? Does LF have an angle that I'm just not seeing or are the writers really this clueless? I suppose I should give it a chance and watch and find out how this pans out but it doesn't look promising. Sansa's survival was based on her identity being hidden. Now that's down the toilet. So WTF?

Say what you will about GRRM, his writing was generally pretty tight, as far as plot holes go. Sure, there was no small amount of padding and other bullshit but there aren't a lot of, if any, logical miscues. It seems without the book to rely on and not knowing where Martin is intending to go with his story, the show writers have no idea where they're going either. As is usually, if not always, the case, the adaptation isn't as good as its source.

finished season 2. its brilliant. I noticed the death of Stannis's family was pre-figured quite heavily. Melisandre told him that he would betray his family one day and that it would be worth it to get to the throne. so that's way I wasn't shocked by the death of his daughter, it seemed like it had been a long time coming, at least from early in S2. and that's why I don't get the complaints about S5.

Radaghast wrote:I'm beginning to feel the same way. At least I could have done without the whole Yara (or whatever her name is) trying and failing to rescue Theon, which added almost nothing to the story—and whatever happened to her, anyway? I could also give less than half a shit about Myranda and her jealousy.

I'm also starting to get annoyed with Brienne and her stupid oath—FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING OATH ALREADY. I also hate how people rub the death of Catelyn in her face—she wasn't there to protect her. DUH.

Finally, the Sansa thing bothers me the more I think about it. I mean, really, isn't she wanted by Cersei for the murder of Joffrey? And doesn't Roose know this? I'm going to say that, yes, he does. So why would Littlefinger hand him such an obvious hostage/bartering chip? He was already in bed with Tywin, why wouldn't he use Sansa to his advantage to curry Cersei's favor? And how would Cersei not find out? Bolton wants to marry Ramsay to Sansa because of her title, so how could such a thing be kept a secret? Does LF have an angle that I'm just not seeing or are the writers really this clueless? I suppose I should give it a chance and watch and find out how this pans out but it doesn't look promising. Sansa's survival was based on her identity being hidden. Now that's down the toilet. So WTF?

Say what you will about GRRM, his writing was generally pretty tight, as far as plot holes go. Sure, there was no small amount of padding and other bullshit but there aren't a lot of, if any, logical miscues. It seems without the book to rely on and not knowing where Martin is intending to go with his story, the show writers have no idea where they're going either. As is usually, if not always, the case, the adaptation isn't as good as its source.

I think at this point the Boltons have pretty much nailed their intentions to become king of the north to the bloody mast. I don't think they fear the lannisters any more. Tywin is dead and theres only a soft kid on the throne.

annoying as Briennes oath is, I think she is the only one who keeps her word.

Mrs Figg wrote:finished season 2. its brilliant. I noticed the death of Stannis's family was pre-figured quite heavily. Melisandre told him that he would betray his family one day and that it would be worth it to get to the throne. so that's way I wasn't shocked by the death of his daughter, it seemed like it had been a long time coming, at least from early in S2. and that's why I don't get the complaints about S5.

I don't get how that justifies anything!
Just because one of my least-favourite characters, Meli-burnahoe-sandre said some stupid crap to Stannis several seasons ago does not make anything about the burning of Shireen less horrifyingly stupid and terrible. Shireen was a minor character, basically a bloody afterthought to the show, for most of its run anyway! She barely shows up, and even then only so Davos can have someone to talk to in his scenes. And we barely ever see Shireen and Stannis together until the calculated bullshit scene that preluded her burning by a few episodes.

Mrs Figg wrote:Annoying as Brienne is, I think she's the only one who keeps her word.

Fat lot of good it does anyone! The fact that she "keeps her word" is actually a large part of what makes her annoying.

Mrs Figg wrote:I think at this point the Boltons have pretty much nailed their intentions to become king of the north to the bloody mast. I don't think they fear the lannisters any more. Tywin is dead and theres only a soft kid on the throne.

It's not whether he fears them or not, it's that he's an untrustworthy dick. He laments no longer having Tywin's support, but he can easily curry favor Cersei's favor with Sansa in his custody. He can hardly be trusted with the safety of Sansa and there's no logical way she can now remain hidden from Cersei in any case. Whatever the deal is, Littlefinger's plan is beyond nutty, just leaving Sansa to the tender mercies of Roose Bolton, bane of her very brother. And it's also uncharacteristic for the meticulous LF to put her into the hands of what, to him, is an unknown quantity in Ramsay Snow.

I'd like to leave a little of the benefit of the doubt for the show's writers, but the series has already started to sag as of S4.

Forest Shepherd wrote:

Mrs Figg wrote:

Mrs Figg wrote:Annoying as Brienne is, I think she's the only one who keeps her word.

Fat lot of good it does anyone! The fact that she "keeps her word" is actually a large part of what makes her annoying.

Yeah, she's become kind of a running joke, except not funny.

And even as I watch E6 of S5 I can see we're already being treated to thrilling scenes of the wiping down of dead people...