HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones - will this be just for nerds? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

I thought that was meant to be the future, after winter has fallen and shit has really hit the fan.

I had no idea what was happening at Winterfell, that bit felt really rushed. I assume the Iron Island dudes burned the city and then escaped with Theon in tow but I've no idea what was supposed to have happened to the army waiting outside.

I've watched most of this in one three-week binge and have only just caught up and some if it is ridiculous and some of it feels rushed but wow that siege episode was amazing.

wonder if grandpa lannister didnt marginalize half man cause he was worried abt him getting too powerful

Absolutely. He's knows Tyrion is very smart, and he knows he has many reasons to hate him.

and nearly everyone else hates him, so why not steal his glory aswell.

OTOH he knows Tyrion is the only one of his children who isn't an idiot and probably needs him around, but needs him cowed as well. That one will probably backfire.

yeah I dunno that Tywin is the kind of dude who wants to be surrounded by people as smart as him.

are the white walkers the guys on the horses and then theyve got a zombie army is that it

― lag∞n, Monday, June 4, 2012 2:15 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Basically.

Meanwhile, Laurie Penny is stupid, pt. 2354

she blathered on for all that just to say that the Game of Thrones is sort of like The Queen?

u_u

nobody should be paid for that sort of worthless shit

isn't it funny you guys how we're all watching this show about Queens and irl they're talking about the Queen lol how weird is that you guys

Also, was the zombie/white walker on the horse Dothraki? His hair and clothing made it look like he might be, but it is hard to tell because: zombie.

No, they're all wildlings or Night's Watch men, people beyond the wall.

undead first men.

the white walkers aren't just reanimated humans, they're something more ancient/powerful that have the ability to reanimate the dead

man so assassin dude was magical!! in all ur faces

guys on the horses with ice swords = white walkers
zombie horde on foot = wights, created by white walkers

changing them from 'others' to 'white walkers' for tv made the term 'wight' quite a bit more confusing it seems

as they same others as on lost tho idgi

this ep was pretty anticlimactic after the siege tbh, felt more like the slow first episode of a new season

maester luwin nooo ;_;

i disagree, i felt like it was a great comedown after the siege and set things up for next season nicely.

the penultimate episode is the climactic one on pretty much every HBO show

yeah that's true actually

I miss maester luwin

This was a lot like last season's in that it was all comedown/setting up for next season but with an awesome Dany/Dragon moment.

changing them from 'others' to 'white walkers' for tv made the term 'wight' quite a bit more confusing it seems
they are called white walkers in the series, but less often than 'Others' and usually by more peripheral characters.

Soooo what happened to Hound?

Ahe said fuck all this bullshit, it doesn't really matter, and he peaced out.

In retrospect, I think that the way they did the Houses of the Holy is better than trying to adapt it direct from the books, if only as a mood piece. PARTICULARLY the Drogo scene, which is better than anything GRRM has written in the books.

I disagree, I felt like it lost all of its creepiness on screen. They truncated the hell out of it, to the point where it just seemed like a lame funhouse. Except the keep and the iron throne, that was p rad

my problem with the house was that dany's triumph over it seemed completely unearned. perhaps it would have been too programmatic and obvious, but i felt there should have been some real challenge overcome (and attendant "lesson learned") before unlocking dragon powerz.

also, leee otm: dany's reunion w/ drogo was one of the most moving moments of the season. i'm only repeating what others have said, but clarke handled it beautifully, and it went a long way towards making up for her deficiencies as an actor and the dullness of her character arc over the past few episodes.

funny how people here really don't like Clarke as an actress. she gets praised a lot elsewhere.

I thought she did have to overcome the temptation to be with Drogo and live a happy existence in a dreamland.

yeah, there was that suggestion, but no sense of real risk or accomplishment in it

I don't think there was risk, but I do think there was accomplishment. Dany had a bad arc this season though, and from what I've heard, that's largely the book's fault. I think she gained a better understanding of something though, and the dragons frying the warlock was pretty cool. And I loved seeing her being motherly and in control again.

I really think that Drogo scene was great though, and I'm really impressed they managed to pull that out of the bag when there was no indication, even from her relationship with him last season, that they could do that.

dany's arc in season two is WAY superior to her arc in book two, fwiw. but it was still pretty dumb.

Also what kind of shit magician is this warlock dude. like "hey girl i caught you and i'm gonna harness you&your dragons' power to become king of the world" and then one lousy baby dragon flame later he's rolling on the floor burning ? i thought dude actually had some powers, whereas all he can do is some david copperfield i appear & disappear shit?

Magic almost solely seems to deal with illusion and perception in the world of ASOFAI. Maybe he thought Dani would be cowed and overawed enough not to use the dragonfire against him?

tbh i'm just very disappointed in him being taken down quicker than i can say drakaris. anyways it just looked like very poor planning on his part.

Magic almost solely seems to deal with illusion and perception in the world of ASOFAI

what about ghost stannis?

Loved the close up shot of Tywin’s horse’s poop plopping on the floor before he entered the throne room.

Maybe he thought Dani would be cowed and overawed enough not to use the dragonfire against him?

Maybe he thought tiny muppet dragons couldn't produce that kind of fire power.

The dragons were so 80s and adorable.

what about ghost stannis?

― ooooiiiioooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaoooooh un - bi - leevable! (LocalGarda)

All the exceptions seem to be when servants of the Red God are involved.

Or the Undying dude's teleportation.

Everything supernatural in this that doesn't involve either dragons or white walkers is a bit rubbish really.

I mean one of the reasons I like it is that it keeps all that stuff firmly in the background in favour of backstabbing and political intrigue but really having a smokey ghost Stannis that inexplicably doesn't do anything in an actual siege feels both wasteful and a cop-out.

But that's everything. I'm even thinking now that the Lannisters exist solely to provide a family of capitalists with no supernatural powers

At first (reading) I was frustrated that there wasn't a global magic system, like every other fantasy series, so there was logic and thus suspense. Then I realized that all these different systems draw so heavily on established archetypes that a global set of cheques and balances isn't necessary.

So you expected smokey ghost Stannis just to hang out on the boats til the siege happened? It was clearly created for one task, which it achieved

you get more of a sense from the books that whatever magic there is to be manipulated in this world comes at significant cost, often personal to the wielder. i suppose you see the cost somewhat with the whole business of trying to resurrect drogo, a life for a life. but basically the few people that can legit do magical stuff are very limited with it - melisandre can't just pop out shadow spy kids every other day. the warlocks may have had power once but they are clearly charlatans by the point we meet them. i don't recall if the show mentions it, but the warlocks have some blue plant that they chew, some shamanistic hallucinogen thing, and they might not be any more magical than that, since they most they achieve is dany's altered perception in the House. obviously when you film it the images are more concrete so it seems a bit more substantial. so the reason they end up being quite so shit is that they were shit all along, and the show hints that they probably got carried away with themselves on the back of the surge of magical power the dragons create.