Game of Thrones - TV Series (NO BOOK SPOILERS)

[zinfamous]

Googled it, Showtime, my bad. I like history, so I liked the show.

Yeah, I like history too and wanted to like it, but I thought the writing was pretty bad--or just the production seemed a little cheap--I guess it had that "Showtimey" feel to me--more skin than substance? :\

Same with The Borgias. I really wanted to like it because I'm particularly fascinated by that time period of papal and Italian ducal history, but the first season, at least, isn't that great. Irons is the only good thing about that cast, and even his role isn't very compelling.

Have you seen "Pillars of the Earth"? It was a pretty short (~6 or 7 episodes) mostly fictional account of the politics behind building a cathedral in some shitty English village. I enjoyed that more than these others, though it is no longer on Netflix streaming (It also has the brilliant Ian McShane). The ~sequel series...uh, "Heaven and Earth" or something like that, currently on Nfx streaming, is OK. interesting, but indeed heavily fictional (concerns the Edward 2nd-Edward 3rd succession, and leading up to the Hundred Year's War). The depiction of Edward 2nd and what happened to him--very fictional, but it was decent.

(for those unaware, Edward the 2nd is the girly fop of a son of "Edward Longshanks" in Braveheart, and even far more fictional depiction of, well, every single thing happening at that time.). Still, kind of interesting to watch if you are curious about a version of what may have happened to that sniveling twat after Braveheart's depiction.

 

[Anubis]

just read the book for Pillars, its sooo much better

 

[iRONic]

I make it a point never to read this thread until after I've watched the show. That said...

I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a TV character die.

Heh heh... my first time in here this season.

 

[momeNt]

I'll have to check those out. Thanks zinfamous.

 

[manimal]

Sansa also held the goblet when it rolled under the table if it does turn out to be by poison wine. Its possible she had it for herself. She just lost Shae as well so she might have been doubly suicidey.


Every time I write Sansa I think of a small early mp3 device...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

my current thoughts on the different stories:

99% of the north just sucks to watch. meister amon is the only night's watch i give a damn about.

bran(?) - might finally get interesting, but it's taking waaaay too long. best moment in his story - the wildling (helena bonham filthy?) chick is telling them of her bruni turned zombie and attacking her. good scene, very good performance. she's gone, anyway.

jon snow - "you know nothing, jon snow" should be "you and your story make no sense, jon snow"

sam - i'm told "you'll see why he's important later". bullshit! if he's on the screen, he should be important now. "you know all that from staring at some pieces of paper? you're like a wizard." what is that, kissing the reader's asses?

lord michael bolton and his bastard gordon ramsey - ok, these guys do not bore the shit out of me. i'm fully aware they are fictional characters, and i still want to steer clear of them. my favorite bolton moment - he looks over at mrs. stark and smiles, as if to say "oh yes, this is happening".

lord walder frey - peripheral character, despite facilitating the red wedding. i like him, but don't expect him to feature much again.

the greyjoys - lame

arya and the hound - main story no. 2, and the best that doesn't involve king's landing. i'd like to see more development and background on the hound. my guess since escaping harrenhall is that she ends up in bravos (influenced by the dancing master as well as the assassin). she'll certainly not stay in the eryie since little finger (awesome character, played very well!) will have that wrapped up.

the lannisters - main story no. 1. cersei's act is wearing a bit thin, everyone else is great. it's clear qyburn (had to look that up) performs an abortion, but that's immediately followed by her telling jamie "you took too long!" without any context. is she now barren? menopausal? upset she had to screw someone only indirectly related? heading into a rabbit hole?

shae - character had lots of potential, left to wither, please don't come back without bringing some serious entertainment.

lord varys - i like him as much as baelish, their interactions were some high points in the early seasons. please feature more of him.

the tyrells - pretty good, but lady olenna is just amazing. the show needs someone to operate at tywin's level, and she drops bombs everywhere she goes. well done, mrs. bond.

the martells - i like them so far

stannis - with your anger and your pretty cool onion knight and your mighty forces and your sexy red witch, how are you so fucking boring?

danerys and the timewasters - post-drogo, this story stinks. they peaked early with astapor and have returned to malaise. hey let's take a colorful, flamboyant character and cast him as a weird-looking boring guy! now let's replace him with someone that looks and sounds like 99% of everyone else on the show! let's cease any character development or history of ser jorah friendzone and ser embarrassing cellmate. 163 miles to the next city? i bet they don't get there until episode 9 or 10. wake me when they nuke king's landing.

 

[dennilfloss]

So Stannis's three named leeches were Robb Stark, Joffrey, Balon Greyjoy. Only one left for the so-called god of light to deal with.

 

[Pheran]

Hey, I am far from illiterate. In fact, I feel that not reading fantasy makes one more literate.

I assume you are mostly joking, but I never understood this attitude. Fantasy, like every other genre, has its share of great stories and shlock as well.

More on topic, I was surprised that Shireen (Stannis' daughter) got as much screen time as she did this week, since she's a pretty minor character.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Yeah I miss Little Finger. Him and Varys are two of my favourites.

KT

yes, indeed. i suspect he's still influencing king's landing while he's off conquering the eryie, but i still enjoy seeing the character.

maybe i'm wrong. perhaps arya will find him rotting in a cell for his lannister connections / personal reasons. or sitting on the throne. we'll just have to tune in to find out!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

So Stannis's three named leeches were Robb Stark, Joffrey, Balon Greyjoy. Only one left for the so-called god of light to deal with.

given enough time, the god of light has a 100% success rate

"the god of light has commanded the sun to rise in the east, and there it is! how can you not believe?"

 

[blankslate]

Every time I write Sansa I think of a small early mp3 device...

I still use the one I have. Not a pod person.


....

 

[zinfamous]

I assume you are mostly joking, but I never understood this attitude. Fantasy, like every other genre, has its share of great stories and shlock as well.

More on topic, I was surprised that Shireen (Stannis' daughter) got as much screen time as she did this week, since she's a pretty minor character.

stories may be good and even great, but the writing is always terrible and boring. it's like Stephen King. Why waste your time?


--I agree with Boston Dangler: why is Stannis so effing boring? Also glad someone else recognizes Ms Bond!

 

[brainhulk]

I think Cersei did it.

And where is littlefinger?

 

[Pheran]

stories may be good and even great, but the writing is always terrible and boring. it's like Stephen King. Why waste your time?

If you think all fantasy writing is terrible, you are reading the wrong writers. But if you are going to completely dismiss all of Stephen King as well, there might not be much hope for you anyway.

 

[ioni]

Am I the only one who wishes Joffrey wasn't killed off? He's the character you love to hate. He adds a lot to the show.

 

[zinfamous]

If you think all fantasy writing is terrible, you are reading the wrong writers. But if you are going to completely dismiss all of Stephen King as well, there might not be much hope for you anyway.

well, it's another discussion, but it's easy to dismiss all of stephen king.

And no, I haven't read fantasy since I was 12 or so, so perhaps I missed something. Either way, I don't care about it at all. Even the excerpts from these books that I have read--it is always plot first and plot only. the writing is not compelling. That is fine, these plots are too involved to be distracted by clever writing.

Too much truly good writing out there to spend time on this stuff. I don't read simply for plot--I read for the command and use of language.

 

[BergeLSU]

Am I the only one who wishes Joffrey wasn't killed off? He's the character you love to hate. He adds a lot to the show.

The actor really did well with the character. I think everyone hates him so much that is fell through how GREAT he is at being Joffrey.

 

[dennilfloss]

Evil abhors a vacuum. Some other sadistic prick is bound to take his place.

 

[zinfamous]

Am I the only one who wishes Joffrey wasn't killed off? He's the character you love to hate. He adds a lot to the show.

Tywin is still the better villain. I mentioned it earlier that maybe it was too soon for Joffrey, but he was quickly becoming a bit of a joke.

Tywin is someone that one truly fears--consider how totally he has bitch-slapped Joffrey at every turn

 

[techs]

I don't think anyone said "winter is coming" through the whole episode.

 

[momeNt]

I think Cersei did it.

And where is littlefinger?

He left season 3 setting sail for the Vale of Arryn to try and wed Lyssa Arryn nee Tully.

 

[KeithTalent]

I think Joffrey had to go, I mean what the heck else are you going to do with him at this point? We know who he is and there is nothing else in the way of depth that was about to come out of him anytime soon. He was just a ridiculous caricature and not really any fun, at least not for me, anymore.

Tywin is indeed the man and a far more compelling villain.

KT

 

[Newbian]

One thing I didn't understand about the episode was while the dwarfs were doing a mockery of the war, Tyrion says to his helper "Pay each of them 20 gold when this is done, we'll have to find another way to thank the King."

I assume he meant to the dwarfs 20 would get gold each, but I can't figure out why he would feel obligated to.

He has a heart for people like him and knows how rough it is to be a halfman.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

This is not a spoiler but just an observation about differences between the books.

If I remember correctly joffrey was an even bigger prick to tyrion at the wedding and tyrion was far more mouthy because he was completely wasted. I wish they would have put that in the show. Also, oberyn was not as mega gay as he is in the show. I find it super annoying that he is because it just seems like a play at being controversial and appealing to gay viewers. It comes off as over the top and offensive to gay viewers if you ask me. Maybe a gay person would disagree with me, but that's my opinion. He's like this stereotype of a gay rapist and it just doesn't gel with his character in the book. He's also older than I imagined from the book.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Tywin is still the better villain. I mentioned it earlier that maybe it was too soon for Joffrey, but he was quickly becoming a bit of a joke.

Tywin is someone that one truly fears--consider how totally he has bitch-slapped Joffrey at every turn

dinklage in an interview:

"i wasn't hitting joffrey, i was hitting jack gleason."