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Game of Thrones (TV show)

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I'm trying to avoid finding out about the changes, so thank you for the spoiler warning!

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Just finished watching the latest Game of Thrones episode. Motherfucker. What a place to leave it. The series has diverged enough from the books now that I don't feel I have any real foreknowledge of the fates of any given characters, so when people I like are in trouble it's actually tense again.

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Just finished watching the latest Game of Thrones episode. Motherfucker. What a place to leave it. The series has diverged enough from the books now that I don't feel I have any real foreknowledge of the fates of any given characters, so when people I like are in trouble it's actually tense again.

 

Agreed. I'm really glad the show has taken this turn over the past couple seasons, far more interesting that way.

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I'm not sure how spoilery this is but all of the fight scenes in that episode struck me as too artificial.

 

Also it was weird to have Keisha Castle Hughs' character introduction to be a character defining monologue given to close family members who likely all know her and are familiar with the events from decades ago.

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I'm not sure how spoilery this is but all of the fight scenes in that episode struck me as too artificial.

 

Also it was weird to have Keisha Castle Hughs' character introduction to be a character defining monologue given to close family members who likely all know her and are familiar with the events from decades ago.

 

It was a little strange that you have two Named Plot-Relevant Characters just wrecking shit while around them everyone else dies in pretty human ways. GoT is usually a bit more egalitarian about that - season one spoilers for a moment:

 

It even refused to have the big Two Heroes fight between Jaime and Ned in the first season. Just as it was starting to get good, some randomer just comes in and stabs Ned in the leg with a spear. Even Jaime looks pissed off that we didn't get to see a proper dramatic showdown.

 

That said, the characters in question are defined in huge part by their fighting ability, so it's not as egregious as it could be.

 

What WAS a bummer was the artificiality of the other scene you mentioned. You could maybe get away with that monologue being previously unknown, as it's a relatively personal event, but what threw me was how they go out of their way to have weapon specific moments like they're enemies being introduced in a game cutscene.

 

I'm doing my best to write that off as just a particular style of Dornish melodramatic tendencies, though. We've seen one "sensible" member, but everyone else in this particular family has been overly theatrical from the get go, so I'm just sort of going along with it.

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I'm doing my best to write that off as just a particular style of Dornish melodramatic tendencies, though. We've seen one "sensible" member, but everyone else in this particular family has been overly theatrical from the get go, so I'm just sort of going along with it.

 

Even in the books, theatrics do seem to be one of the chief Dorn personality traits, in the same way that stoicism is a chief trait of the North.

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It was a little strange that you have two Named Plot-Relevant Characters just wrecking shit while around them everyone else dies in pretty human ways. GoT is usually a bit more egalitarian about that - season one spoilers for a moment:

 

It even refused to have the big Two Heroes fight between Jaime and Ned in the first season. Just as it was starting to get good, some randomer just comes in and stabs Ned in the leg with a spear. Even Jaime looks pissed off that we didn't get to see a proper dramatic showdown.

I'm doing my best to write that off as just a particular style of Dornish melodramatic tendencies, though. We've seen one "sensible" member, but everyone else in this particular family has been overly theatrical from the get go, so I'm just sort of going along with it.

Well with the fight you mention

it just felt weak that the red shirts died to guys armed with close range weapons who attacked sporadically. We did get a cool section where two warriors got room to fight properly but I feel like they could have at least tried to use their shields and spears in a long corridor. Once it was just the two VIPs it was slightly annoying that the enemy didn't attack them with the same confidence they displayed before.

 

As to that fight from first season I rather liked it. Although seeing them square off properly definitely would have been a great fight. I think youth might have prevailed in that case though.

 

More than an end to GoT I'd be keen to read about the mythical figures like the Sword of the Morning and the Smiling Knight. To go off tangent I can't explain why I like reading about larger than life prequel characters while feeling drawn to write stories with much more diminished 'present day' characters.

 

With the Dorne thing, yeah I'll try to see it like that more. It still feels like an odd, mostly for the audience way of going about it. I'm keen to see more of Dorne since the characters there were some of my favourites in ADwD.

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Well with the fight you mention

it just felt weak that the red shirts died to guys armed with close range weapons who attacked sporadically. We did get a cool section where two warriors got room to fight properly but I feel like they could have at least tried to use their shields and spears in a long corridor. Once it was just the two VIPs it was slightly annoying that the enemy didn't attack them with the same confidence they displayed before.

 

The whole time, I was just wondering why they didn't draw their swords.

Unsullied have swords, don't they? Are they Hellenistic phalanxes, that were supposed to stay in formation and not drop their spears if flanked, in hopes that the cavalry would rescue them?

I was actually disappointed with that finale. The choreography was good, but either the editor or the director didn't believe in it, so they kept cutting around it like they were trying to cheat it, even though they weren't really, as far as I could tell.

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I'd had a real revival on Game of Thrones with the fourth season, but I miss last week's episode of the fifth season just in time to be totally dissuaded from any desire to see it.

Seriously, another rape, this time by that odious Bolton boy who represents everything that I hate about the show and everything the writers/producers think is great? I knew the scene in question, even before the Mary Sue described it in their announcement that they were dropping coverage of Game of Thrones, and I had been certain they were going to cut it, considering the different configuration of characters in that plotline, but of course they wouldn't. It's Game of Thrones, some people tune into it exclusively for the rape! I know, I know... but that kind of scum has to exist, else why is a minor character from the books, like the Bastard of Bolton most definitely is, a starring cast member in the show?

I love A Song of Ice and Fire, despite its many failings, and I thought I loved Game of Thrones, but in fact I'm so goddamn sick of this gross show, which is too much in love with its own lack of accountability, being the face of medieval history, modern fantasy, and geek TV to the world. I'm ready for something to knock it over like it knocked over The Walking Dead.

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RIght, right, sorry, I got confused by this bit:

 

It's overcranked and then it goes into slow motion and then it's regular speed and then it's overcranked.

 

Also: can we PLEASE spoiler tag Game Of Thrones discussion? I'm behind and haven't got onto season 5 yet, but I'll be catching up this week and I don't think it's unreasonable to want tags while the season's still going.

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I was joking in reference to another thread, nevermind.

 

I don't watch the show, so from what I know I'm surprised Game of Thrones hasn't had a rape per episode actually.

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Re: GOT S05E06 -

 

It's definitely not a good scene. Lots of people have already said things that I agree with, but in short I just think it doesn't communicate anything we didn't know. If anything, it saps away any momentum that Sansa was building up. A lot of people have told me that in the teaser for next week's episode it shows Sansa possibly working towards some kind of revenge, but I honestly feel like she had so much reason for revenge without the rape. I also agree with the sentiment that the scene suggests Theon's development is just as important here than Sansa's, which is really ridiculous considering spectator =/= victim.

 

Frankly, this episode is probably the worst in terms of the show deviating from the books. Jamie/Bronn's scenario was pretty silly, with them seemingly making a long journey to Sunspear and then suddenly teleporting into the central garden of the palace with bloody stolen uniforms. Not to mention how bastardized the Sand Snakes are, relegated to incompetent antagonists who I guess may have poisoned Bronn.

 

Things I did like about the episode - Tyrion and Jorah banter. Cersei getting what she wants, which will only make what will happen later that much sweeter. The Sansa stuff before the final scene. Aside from that stuff though, I'm pretty disappointed with the show this week. I really hope this is the last time they use rape as a narrative blunt instrument. Good on The Mary Sue for taking that position, I think that platforms/writers with authority do have an obligation to say something of substance on the issue and it's clear that a lot of media coverage borders more on promotion than others.

 

Also, this GOT "recap" is pretty hilarious (spoilers I guess) - http://captainofalltheships.tumblr.com/post/119331006022/chrys-watches-got-season-5-episode-6

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I don't think it's unreasonable to want tags while the season's still going.

Twenty seconds is the cut-off, sorry.

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Game of Thrones finale -

 

I wonder if it's just because so many of the plotlines of the finale are unresolved in the books, but this finale felt like it had more loose ends and cliffhangers than almost any other previously. I guess that some arcs have been brought to some kind of conclusion (Sansa, Stannis, Jon) but fuck if I know what's happening next with practically everything.

That being said, so much of the stuff in this episode was done well. I particularly think that Cersei/King's Landing has been revived in terms of how much I care about it. Arya finally getting some kind of direct revenge is also pretty sweet, though she seems to be in some pretty serious trouble for being Arya instead of nobody. And FUCK if Tyrion/Varys isn't the best combination of characters in this show and thank god they're back in action.

Very excited for the next season, eager to see completely new plotlines that I've had not a single book hint to draw from.

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Man almost nothing happened in the finale for so long.

 

a friend of mine who DOESN'T EVEN WATCH THE SHOW thought it would be a good idea to spoil the fact that

jon snow dies

out of nowhere, just a complete non sequitur

 

Normally, I don't really care all that much about spoilers, but like it was three days away at the time, it was a leak on some stupid shitty website she reads, and I was looking forward to the episode and SHE DOESN'T EVEN WATCH THE SHOW. WHYYYY.

 

glad to see stannis die after that shit he pulled last episode - he was my number one until that moment, I mean, I knew it was going to happen because foreshadowing, btu I kept hoping he'd stop it somehow or SOMETHING

 

I too am happy that Tyrion and Varys are back together. They're so good.

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That being said, so much of the stuff in this episode was done well. I particularly think that Cersei/King's Landing has been revived in terms of how much I care about it.

I'm really thrown off by the way people talk about the way Cersei was treated in this episode. "I almost feel bad for her," "she kind of deserved it but," etc. Like, no. What happened to her was horrific. It was literally public shaming -- there was an actual person following her with a bell saying "shame, shame." She deserves some comeuppance for some horrible things, but not like that, and not because people don't like who she fucked.

I get the feeling the magic and shit--stuff that typically has taken a backseat--is going to really be in the forefront next season with some of these plots. I don't know how I feel about that.

And if that's for real how Sansa's plot ends in the show, they shit all over someone who's a great character in the books for absolutely no reason.

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GoT spoilers.

The show is starting to fall kind of flat. With the misteps of this series I don't feel like the finale made up for it. Stannis, Jon and Sansa's conclusions just appeared out of nowhere. The tensions were set up, but they didn't have real build a. They didn't escalate to those conclusions.

Stannis really seemed too quick to sacrifice his daughter when things were going sort of bad. It didn't at all feel like he was being pushed to the brink at that point. It was only the aftermath that created a situation of real despair.

I guess this season just felt... Clumsy? I've kind of reached the stage where if all the show was out and done I'd probably read the rest of the episodes summary on Wikipedia just to see how it pans out but the investment is waning.

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Spoilers suck real bad but on the plus side the show is up to date with the books and even beyond on some arcs. It's I guess a tiny bit behind on some but nothing huge so now there's not really anything else that can be spoiled. As long as you watch the episodes as they come out of course, depending on when the next book comes out of course.

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More GoT spoilers

Jon Snow's was the biggest non-death. It's already been established that red priests can revive the dead and we know the red lady, who's shown great interest in Snow and his mysterious lineage, which had been brought up tangentially a bunch of times this season, is in Castle Black. It'll be a shocking twist if the guy stabbed a dozen times and shown to bleed out in the piss soaked snow stays dead.

They've been foreshadowing it for ages so it wasn't much of a surprise but what doesn't make sense to me is the timing. As far as Thorne knows, nothing has changed. Why wait until AFTER letting hundreds of wildlings and a giant through the wall to gut the only guy keeping those self same wildlings from killing you? It's almost as if they know Jon is one of the few protagonists anyone actually likes and the writers wanted his "death" for the cliffhanger but ran out of time.

Sansa will survive the fall, but it's a question as to how many further deprivations she'll suffer, especially in light of Miranda's revelation of Ramsey's big plans for her. Do the writers think we need to see her tortured further?

Mycella's death was a foregone conclusion. At least she wasn't raped first.

Cerci's shaming was gratuitously shot and I wonder if the intention was to make her sympathetic or intended to provide catharsis. Was it too implicate the viewer? If this sequence was absolutely necessary, personally, I would have smash cut from the beginning of her walk, dignified despite the situation to her staggering into the Red Keep bloody, filthy and sobbing.

 

And maybe it would have provided time to include why Thorne thought NOW was the time to shiv Jon Snow :P

One thing I liked about the books was that they would build up a great event and then skip the gory details and jump right to the aftermath. That's how they handled pretty much every battle, the Red Wedding, etc. They only skip the gory details in the show to save money.

All in all, Game of Thrones as just become me trying to read the show runners' minds instead of being invested in the story. I'll probably keep watching it but man is the artifice showing.

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I'm not as down on the show as the rest of you, but I also binged all of seasons four and five last weekend, and then watched this last episode last night. I can see where you're all coming from, but I am still invested.

 

I have my complaints about the way the show handles a lot of things (most notably and unsurprisingly the sexual violence), but I still want to see where it goes. Although I'm beginning to wonder whether I shouldn't just go back to reading the books instead? Bah, I dunno. I dunno!

 

Good point about the red lady and Jon, I feel dumb for not thinking of that. My mind was going toward him somehow joining the white walkers, but I couldn't figure out how it would work out. Also I guess that'd be too clean, or not clean enough?, for Game of Thrones.

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More GoT spoilers

Jon Snow's was the biggest non-death. It's already been established that red priests can revive the dead and we know the red lady, who's shown great interest in Snow and his mysterious lineage, which had been brought up tangentially a bunch of times this season, is in Castle Black. It'll be a shocking twist if the guy stabbed a dozen times and shown to bleed out in the piss soaked snow stays dead.

They've been foreshadowing it for ages so it wasn't much of a surprise but what doesn't make sense to me is the timing. As far as Thorne knows, nothing has changed. Why wait until AFTER letting hundreds of wildlings and a giant through the wall to gut the only guy keeping those self same wildlings from killing you? It's almost as if they know Jon is one of the few protagonists anyone actually likes and the writers wanted his "death" for the cliffhanger but ran out of time.

.

 

I've read the books, but have not watched the most recent season.  Specifically with stuff about what's happening on the Wall and Snow:

 

In the books, if I remember right, it's clear that the reason Jon is killed is because he's lost the faith of too many of his brothers.  Many of them have begun to distrust him, and think if he's allowed to continue leading the Brotherhood, it will be worse than whatever the consequences of killing him will be.  That may not be as obvious in the show, as it cut out a bunch of the politics of the Wall.

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I've read the books, but have not watched the most recent season. Specifically with stuff about what's happening on the Wall and Snow:

In the books, if I remember right, it's clear that the reason Jon is killed is because he's lost the faith of too many of his brothers. Many of them have begun to distrust him, and think if he's allowed to continue leading the Brotherhood, it will be worse than whatever the consequences of killing him will be. That may not be as obvious in the show, as it cut out a bunch of the politics of the Wall.

In the show, the main setup was the arc with Olly gradually losing faith in Jon, leaving Sam as his only friend at Castle Black. When he sent Sam away, he noted that he'd be losing the only person he can trust. That set the stage for some retribution, but I could understand how the mutinous assassination could come out of nowhere as far as the extent of retribution he was facing. They only really went halfway in the setup in the show -- a recurring problem this season, now that I think about it.

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GoT:

 

I really think that the whole background to Jon being killed was sacrificed in favor of all of the dramatic scenes he was involved in and Stannis's story. In the scheme of things, I really don't think it matters much why Jon died when we all know he's going to come back. In hindsight, it seems that Thoros and Beric existed in the show almost exclusively to setup Jon being revived, considering Lady Stoneheart is almost impossible at this point and Jon's rebirth is all but a foregone conclusion.

 

Potential out of show, book/casting related spoilers:

 

I believe I've heard that casting is suggesting that somehow Victarion and the Kingsmoot is actually in our future. If that's the case, I can see Sansa and Theon somehow miraculously surviving and their story connecting with the Ironborn. Sansa, Theon, and Victarion all headed to Mereen to hook up with Dany would be probably the most interesting thing that could happen to all of those characters right now.

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The Jon cliffhanger is kind of a bummer since it was supposed to be a big surprise but as a book reader it wasn't an event I was looking forward to and his revival seems so blatantly obvious.  Kudos to the actor for that EW article though, keeping up the kayfabe until IMDB will inevitably spoil it.  I also really wonder if Shireen will suffer the same fate in the books as she did in the show.  Anyone have any thoughts on Stannis actually still being alive?  I have a hard time when a show doesn't show the death but I could see it going either way.

 

Lastly, I haven't read the books for a while but is that how Theon and fake Arya escaped?  I immediately started thinking about the beginning of Season 3 of Sherlock jumping off the building and landing on an airbag.  Presumably they'll just hit the moat I guess but seemed a weird "cliffhanger" to end that storyline on.

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