HBO: Game of Thrones

[Juliajms]

I get what you're saying Carl. I had to do a lot of fanwanking to accept that Shae screwed Sansa over, especially given some of the stuff she said to Varys about how she would kill for Sansa. One of the things I told myself is that Shae knew that Sansa had escaped and maybe even knew it was due to Little Finger.

Overall, I think fans of any show who are interested enough to discuss it online are going to be much more critical than the average viewer. It's very similar to soaps, they will never please all of us all of the time. For me, Shae has been one of the more annoying aspects of the show. They wrote TV Shae as smart, world wise and loyal and then they changed it all on a dime. I don't have to like that and I don't. There are plenty of other things for me to like and watch for.

[EricMontreal22]

I apologize if I sounded like I was ganging up on you. As I've mentioned I did read the first couple of books before the show started--I was a fan. Obviously not on the level you are. I do think I've become much better than I once was at accepting that any good adaptation is gonna make changes--even changes I dislike (but then again I just posted a bitchy comment on a different format about how bland and uninspired the *trailer* alone of Constantine, the NBC adaptation of one of my favorite comics, looks so maybe I'm just a hypocrite. Or maybe I just won't watch if I dislike it as much as the trailer.) You also bring a lot of great comics to this thread, and I always read your posts. Where you utterly lose me though is comments like that Shae should not be so important on the show simply because she isn't in the books--I would think anyone still watching would move on from that point by this season, and due to the fact that the character HAS become important on the show for a long time now, it's now a moot point.

Similarly "The Small Council meeting is infuriating.....they don't know ANY of this information about Dany, Mormont, or even Selmy. Only until the epilogue of the FIFTH book. Jesus Christ" Except *in the show* they do. And they gave a perfectly plausible reason as to why and how. Your complaint comes off--to me--as just complaining for the sake of complaining because I don't see you giving any reason why it's infuriating except that they shouldn't have done so until they film the epilogue of the fifth book. Why?

[EricMontreal22]

I don't think you've given any spoilers at all--I've appreciated that.

But I do feel like we're watching a different show--I certainly don't see a show that consists only of random plots that go nowhere nor have rhyme or reason, quite the opposite.

[YRBB]

I don't have to post comments, because you said it all!

Can you say Emmy for Dinklage? I'll be surprised if that final outburst doesn't win him something.

Oh, and I would hardly say Sunspear is a lone book fan here.

Edited May 14, 2014 by YRBB

[Vee]

I'm still hesitant to believe this since I bumped into it on IMDB, but looking around it seems legit. Sean Bean, Indira Varma, Mackenzie Crook and Isaac Hempstead-Wright are starring in Caesar. Wright is the young Octavian, future Emperor Augustus, and Bean is, of course, Caesar who dies horribly. Also featuring Geoffrey from Fresh Prince, apparently.

It's an old, old tale but it's amusing that I last saw this story told on HBO's Rome, their thematic (and financial) precursor to GOT. There, Ciaran Hinds (Mance Rayder) played Caesar, while Lindsay Duncan was Servilia and Indira Varma (Ellaria on GOT) was the long-suffering wife of Kevin McKidd's Roman soldier. But hey, I'll see anything Bean and Wright - and Varma! - make.

Oh, and if you're not watching Michelle Fairley as a terrorist widow on 24, do.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Vee

[DRW50]

Lily Allen says she was asked to play Yara Greyjoy, but declined, as she didn't want to be groped. Given who was playing Theon, I can see why.

http://www.mtv.com/news/1824585/lily-allen-game-of-thrones/

I just love the woman who plays Yara (I don't know her name), so this worked out well.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah that woulda amounted to stunt casting, which the show has avoided (even if Robson and Jerome fans may disagree .) I really like the actress who plays her.

There's been talk about Rome having some sort of wrap up season--yet again. I doubt it will happen, but...

I love Fairley and she could ALMOST make me watch 24. Almost.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Lol at Lily Allen. That's too funny and so true. Show Asha is definitely less pretty than Book Asha and way too sentimental. Especially for Iron Born.

Rewatching the rescue attempt sequence and it's even more weird the second time around. So Asha fled because of ramsays rabid dogs? Is that what we're supposed to believe? The fighting itself was so chaotic and random. Just pointless all around and it's not like anyone really thought she'd succeed.

Looking forward to the Trial by Combat and other pivotal scenes but I'm hoping that by the end they'll have caught up to the books. At that point I'll know they're just pulling it out of their butts then and not be offended by it

[EricMontreal22]

REALLY? You won't be offended by it?

I do agree the scene was not handled as well as it could have. It felt thrown in to keep up momentum with the story--which makes sense, but still it wasn't that well executed (I did think Ramsey and Theon's bath scene was appropriately creepy and managed to suggest how much he was in control of Theon very well something which, granted, wouldn't have worked without the rescue scene. I suppose they onlyhave so many minutes to tell each story.)

One critic--prob AV club--pointed out that lately the show seems to be one half an "update" on what's going on outside of King's Landing and then the rest centered on the intrigue there. I' not always satisfied by that, but, overall, I think it's a capable way to structure the way they're re-fitting the two novels they're covering right now.

[DRW50]

I think the idea was supposed to be that she gave up on Theon, rather than lose more of her men, after he attacked her and refused to leave. That he is now dead in her eyes. I can't help wondering if they changed their mind on some parts of the story after last season and they were just looking for a reason to get her back out of the plot. I wish they'd just never had her go look for him and instead shown her in the Iron Islands (and surely something must be happening there, as Melisandre and Stannis name-checked Balon last season in their leech burn).

I think someone at the show said they had change the format this season and decided to have less characters per episode and more airtime for the characters in those episodes. So that's why you have lengthy set pieces like the trial, the wedding, etc. That makes sense, but then it makes the characters who are isolated, like Arya "have you heard my list today?" Stark, seem even more isolated.

[EricMontreal22]

Right--I agree, but compared to the books (and I have mostly made my way through the third and--I know, awful of me, into bits of the fourth) this is the smartest way they could approach that material. In the past few years I have never shown all that much respect to the showrunners, but I think it's *masterful* how they are approaching such unwieldy books. There's a reason so many "fans" hated a certain book which never even showed favorite characters--and, for good or bad, there's no way an adaptation can benefit by taking that same approach.

Edited May 15, 2014 by EricMontreal22

[DRW50]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvHK6blDJaQ

[DRW50]

Pedro Pascal interview.

http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-feed/2014/05/game-of-thrones-prince-oberyn-interview.html

Bryan Cogman interview, talking a lot about the writing and filming of Oathkeeper, including the difficulties of writing and filming the Craster's Keep scenes, and talk of the reason why Jon Arryn's murder reveal was written the way it was. This is a podcast so that means a lot of host blather. There's also some talk about this past week's episode.

http://winteriscoming.net/2014/05/14/game-owns-bryan-cogman-returns/

Edited May 15, 2014 by DRW50

[Antoyne]

I've been rewatching season 3 with my boyfriend, and holy [!@#$%^&*] I missed every single ounce of foreshadowing about the wedding massacre the first time through. I'm shocked that I ended up being so shocked when I first saw it but I guess that's hindsight. I really do suggest rewatching season 3 if you get a chance.

[Vee]

I loved that offhand reveal on Jon Arryn. It was the last thing I expected to come out of her mouth.