Game of Thrones

[TinCow]

I'm not too opposed to the changes they've made from the books. The fact is that there are way, way too many characters in the books to put them all into the television show. The show is already jam packed with so many major characters that it would be hard for people to keep track of them if they hadn't read the books. Could you imagine trying to develop three times as many as we've already seen? It just wouldn't work. So, they've got to strip out some characters for expediency, which also means stripping out some storylines. The important thing, to me, is that they keep the overall developmental purpose of the characters intact. In this sense, I think they've succeeded with almost every change they have made. Despite the changes they have made, the story still feels correct and the characters all seem to act the way they should. That indicates to me that the alterations have been handled wisely. The only exception is the theft of the dragons, which I don't quite see the point of and which could have character development implications for Dany that don't mesh well with the book. However, we haven't seen how it's resolved yet, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until next week.

[rajpoot]

I'm just waiting to see if they cut off Rhaegar and Ellia's cameo in House of the Undying.
That bit is one of the two times 'song of ice and fire' is actually mentioned in the books. Very important IMO.

[rajpoot]

Tywin and Arya, Jon and Ygritte. Going to be the most memorable pairs this season I'll wager. And it's almost sad to Robb and Jeyne, knowing how their story ends.
Also they've changed the Quarth storyline quite a bit, can't wait to see where Barristan Selmy makes his entry.
Also they seem to be going out of their way to make Cersei look like a tragic figure (or atleast less evil then she's portrayed in the books), and I cannot fathom why. If they keep doing this it'll get confusing very soon, as to which side is really the 'evil' side.

[Arjos]

Oh come on, she's not evil...
The love of her life whispered the name of a corpse on the night of their wedding: pretty messed up :P

She's just overprotecting and quite spoiled...

[Greyblades]

Tywin and Arya, Jon and Ygritte. Going to be the most memorable pairs this season I'll wager. And it's almost sad to Robb and Jeyne, knowing how their story ends.
Also they've changed the Quarth storyline quite a bit, can't wait to see where Barristan Selmy makes his entry.
Also they seem to be going out of their way to make Cersei look like a tragic figure (or atleast less evil then she's portrayed in the books), and I cannot fathom why. If they keep doing this it'll get confusing very soon, as to which side is really the 'evil' side.

...Wasn't that the point? That the only truely evil Lannister is Joffrey and the rest are deeper than that.

[rajpoot]

Generally speaking, protecting the bad guy makes you bad, even if you're good. Makes one fall under this trope.
And OK, maybe evil is a strong word. Joffery is evil, but even the other Lannisters are bad to some degree, Cersei being the worst. She gets people bumped off, allows people to be horribly tortured and what not, just to advance herself. Sometimes it's not even for a specific reason. I seem to recall the books mention some woman she just gave to Qyburn because she happened to come to her after some tragedy. Can't remember exactly.

[Greyblades]

Generally speaking, protecting the bad guy makes you bad, even if you're good. Makes one fall under this trope.
And OK, maybe evil is a strong word. Joffery is evil, but even the other Lannisters are bad to some degree, Cersei being the worst. She gets people bumped off, allows people to be horribly tortured and what not, just to advance herself. Sometimes it's not even for a specific reason. I seem to recall the books mention some woman she just gave to Qyburn because she happened to come to her after some tragedy. Can't remember exactly.

Meh, a villian without some contrast to them are boring, only the psychos dont need some measure of redeeming features to seem interesting, and cercie's not exactly the raving mad sort.

[Hooahguy]

The Tywin and Arya scenes are so far my favorite of the season.

And Ygritte finally said the words!

[econ21]

Tywin and Arya, Jon and Ygritte. Going to be the most memorable pairs this season I'll wager.

I agree - they are fantastic; largely due to the skill of the actors/actresses but moving Tywin to be with Arya was a rather inspired directorial decision.

Also they seem to be going out of their way to make Cersei look like a tragic figure (or atleast less evil then she's portrayed in the books), and I cannot fathom why. If they keep doing this it'll get confusing very soon, as to which side is really the 'evil' side.

I much prefer TV Cersei to book Cersei. In the book, she just seems a rather stupid and utterly villanous Cruella de Ville kind of figure. But the TV actress presents a more emotionally deep and thoughtful character, even if still shown [repeatedly by Tyrion inter alia] to be wrong headed and bad.

By contrast, Jamie's escape seemed to paint him blacker than in the books - I don't recall his rather ruthless use of his fan club.

[rickinator9]

I am looking forward to the moment Tywin realizes he has a Stark as his cupbearer. He must be becoming suspicious, now that Arya's lying is speaking against itself.

[Secura]

Also they've changed the Qarth storyline quite a bit, can't wait to see where Barristan Selmy makes his entry.

I'm kinda glad they changed it, found most of the Daenarys portions of A Clash of Kings to be boring and couldn't wait to read through them. Unfortunately, this dislike has carried into the TV show, as I find her constant "I WANT MY DRAGONS!" and "I WILL CLAIM WHAT IS MINE THROUGH FIRE AND BLOOD" to be rather tiresome. I'm hoping the House of the Undying scenes are markedly more interesting.

I am looking forward to the moment Tywin realizes he has a Stark as his cupbearer. He must be becoming suspicious, now that Arya's lying is speaking against itself.

Tywin and Arya's scenes are fantastic, really fleshing out both characters in a manner not entirely shown in the books, at least as early as this; Tywin is shown to be incredibly astute and intuitive (detecting that Arya was a girl straight away, figuring that she's a Northerner and that she's only pretending to be a peasant), while Arya appears to be more intelligent and resourceful than her novel counterpart (just look at the Jaqen kills, The Tickler and Ser Amory make far more sense than Chiswyck and Weese, choices she laments as wasteful in the novel).

What else was there? Theon's scenes were good, though I think they made the wrong choice in omitting Ramsay, who I think needs to be established as soon as possible for us to see how Theon's treachery and tyranny pale in comparison to the ruthless bastard of Bolton. Jaime's attempted escape was good, another alternative perspective of his character; he's broken so many vows, what's killing a distant relative going to do? The Jon/Ygritte dynamic was excellent, though the outcome wasn't so, hope we don't miss out on a fight with Halfhand. I recall some dialogue between Cersei and Tyrion about Joff and the Targaryen heritage, but I'll have to watch again to get a better idea of what was discussed.

Overall, I like the direction they're taking things and can't wait to catch next week's episode.

[The Stranger]

Ygritte so preettttyyyy

and cercei was actually likable for a while :P but whyyyy so open about her and jaime :S

[Hooahguy]

as I find her constant "I WANT MY DRAGONS!" and "I WILL CLAIM WHAT IS MINE THROUGH FIRE AND BLOOD" to be rather tiresome.

Can you blame her? Her only source of power is those dragons. Without them, she is nothing.

[rajpoot]

Can you blame her? Her only source of power is those dragons. Without them, she is nothing.

That is a point but in the books she has an almost motherly affection for them. Emilia Clarke though has still to get out of her angry-little-princess act. IMO her portrayal of Daenerys needs a little more.....maturity....

Maybe if she stuck out her neck a little less while shouting.....

[Chaotix]

That is a point but in the books she has an almost motherly affection for them. Emilia Clarke though has still to get out of her angry-little-princess act. IMO her portrayal of Daenerys needs a little more.....maturity....

Maybe if she stuck out her neck a little less while shouting.....

I agree, I liked her a lot in the first season but now she's just downright irritating.

I keep thinking she needs to tone it down a bit, because otherwise there's no reason why anyone she talks to in Qarth wouldn't just stab her in the face to shut her up. The leader of the 13 sums it up nicely in the show - she's got three cat-sized dragons, less than a hundred starving Dothraki, most of which are women, and Ser Jorah, who isn't with her half the time. If Xaro didn't want to marry her, literally nothing would stop her from getting killed with that attitude.

I liked the rest of the episode - also agree that they need to bring in Ramsey and the Qhorin fight otherwise there's a real departure. IMO no reason to bring in Qhorin at all if Jon isn't going to fight him.

[Secura]

Can you blame her? Her only source of power is those dragons. Without them, she is nothing.

I recognise this fact, but the novels portray Daenarys to be a strong female protagonist, wise and mature beyond her fourteen years, yet Clarke's portrayal seems petulent and out-of-touch; I wouldn't say she's quite as volatile as Viserys, but there's certainly an inkling of the Targaryen heritage there.

That is a point but in the books she has an almost motherly affection for them.

I agree; the TV series portrays a child who has lost her toys rather than a mother who has lost her children.

I liked the rest of the episode - also agree that they need to bring in Ramsey and the Qhorin fight otherwise there's a real departure. IMO no reason to bring in Qhorin at all if Jon isn't going to fight him.

I think there's scope to continue the story without Ramsay Bolton, but it would be a wasted opportunity if that's the path they took; there's so much potential in comparing Theon's brief reign over Winterfell to Ramsay's tyranny in the North, particularly since we've already seen similar contrasts before in Jon/Theon preparing to execute someone (a noble man trying to uphold his oath to protect the realm contrasted against one trying to enforce his rule upon it, both continuing the lesson they learn from Ned in the pilot, both uncomfortable with the task ahead of them) and Brienne/Margaery reacting to Renly's death (an unattractive, physically strong woman who genuinely loved the deceased but could never have him, compared to a beautiful, strong-willed woman who married him for political reasons but could not truly 'have him' either).

As for Qhorin, I can't see them skipping the fight. After all the advice he's imparted on Jon and everything that he stands for, the fight would be a culmination of events that would finally provide the audience with real perspective on the lengths that the Night's Watch will go to in order to uphold their oath, something we've only seen touched on in the Craster scenes.

[atheotes]

Like some have mentioned, i too am finding Clarke's portrayal a little immature and not the calmer version portrayed in the book.
And i did not like the actor portraying Roose Bolton. Way too loud and not creepy enough.

The way the stories and characters are developing, i think i need to stop comparing and just enjoy it as something different from the books.

[rajpoot]

I really need to make a habit of typing long posts in the Notepad and then copy-pasting them. Hate it when page does not load and lose everything I wrote.
Anyhow, things are finally gearing up for the end of the season finale. It was a return to form for Tyrion. Finally some more full-of-win scenes. The threat he delivered was perhaps his best line all season.
And Rob and Jeyene. Their scenes seem so out of place amidst the death and misery, and yet somehow they work, a simple budding romance untouched by the events around them. Tragic how it ends, I know I'll feel sad, despite knowing what's coming.
Qarth story is progressing too slowly. I wonder if they even plan to re-introduce Barristan Selmy this season. Also they need to give Jorah Mormont more screen time.

Edit:
Bronn's line wins the irony award. "I like to keep my hands clean"

[Arjos]

I miss the Greatjon: Karstark invoking the Father was the most un-Northman thing ever and Roose is completely out of character and doesn't scare anyone...

Qarth's changes I think were done just to dilute the arc throughout the whole season (it will just get back to normal), but everything else was pretty good: Cersei and Tyrion, Varys, Brienne & Jaime etc, all very close to the books :)

[Hooahguy]

Good episode, really enjoyed Tyrion's scenes, as said before.

[The Stranger]

i want more ygritte

[Chaotix]

I miss the Greatjon: Karstark invoking the Father was the most un-Northman thing ever and Roose is completely out of character and doesn't scare anyone...

Qarth's changes I think were done just to dilute the arc throughout the whole season (it will just get back to normal), but everything else was pretty good: Cersei and Tyrion, Varys, Brienne & Jaime etc, all very close to the books :)

Odd that they did the Brienne and Jaime bit early (also odd that they killed off Cleos Frey, too). That actually doesn't happen until the beginning of Storm of Swords.

Once again, I started reading the beginning of the next book before the TV season was over, and somehow miraculously avoided spoilers in the show that way, without meaning to. Though there's no way to avoid spoiling Jeyne Westerling, unfortunately..

[Dimeola]

Read the first four, so far ignoring the last book. It was interesting at first that he was killing off my favorite characters, but he killed all of em so meh. The world is rather engrossing and the added intrigue was cool, and the dragongirl and the creatures from beyond the wall were cool and suspensefull. But for me it just all became a matter of too many main characters dead, too much slaughter and the fourth book was just kind of dull. While its tempting to see how he resolves things I dont care :( .

[Greyblades]

Battle of the blackwater.

"COME WITH ME AND TAKE THIS CITY!"

All I have to say about it really.

Awesome.

Edit: I just finished watching it, I think I just saw Tywin smile.

[Chaotix]

Battle of the blackwater.

"COME WITH ME AND TAKE THIS CITY!"

All I have to say about it really.

Awesome.

Edit: I just finished watching it, I think I just saw Tywin smile.

Not enough horses, in my opinion, but such are the woes of HBO's budget.

Otherwise, mostly faithful to the book but no mention of the giant chain, either. I feel like that's kind of important to emphasize Tyrion's flair for strategy, beyond just "let's engulf them in an explosion of green fire".

The Rains of Castamere in the brothel and the credits was a nice touch, though.

[Kagemusha]

This episode was magical.Loved every bit of it, while it was somehow different from the books. The few last minutes with Cersei telling his boy a story while preparing for suicide,until interrupted by first Loras Tyrrell and then by Tywin marching in, followed by the end song, was just captivating.

[Beskar]

Stannis the one-man army.

[Arjos]

And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that Lord of Castamere...

Epic episode!

[Greyblades]

A small complaint; where were the knights? I dunno but I dont think I saw any stormland troops who were wearing full plate or any identifyable livery beyond stannis.

[Arjos]

A small complaint; where were the knights?

The big green boom, was literally cash exploding, not wildfire ^^