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

i hope this means they're going to severely curtail dragon woman's arc

i mean not that i'm going to watch the show? just that i hope these professionals employed in this business of making narrative entertainment are at least as smart as i am

is there a new thread for the new season?

enjoyed it well enough, i guess they have to set the scene once again, solid ep imo.

Yeah. Will probably take me another episode to get back into the rhythm of "here's 3 minutes with this character". Dany's adventures look promising!

the tywin/tyrian scene was great. tywin so obviously the embittered one accusing tyrian of being that.

I couldn't figure out how much time had passed between last season and this one. Those dragons grew a lot while Jon was being walked to Mance.

Also I really liked Natalie Dormer in this.

yeah interesting stuff with her character winning people over. presumably it'll initially help joffrey but speeds up the phasing out of cersei.

I didn't see that dynamic coming at all, so this is exciting. I felt the Margery thing in the finale last season was kind of a throwaway thing.

Worst part of the episode was the lack of Arya. I guess she'll just be walking around Westeros though.

i thought this was a very boring premiere

I liked the comet at the beginning of season 2, and wish they could have done something like that here, but otherwise I think this is about what to expect from GoT early season episodes.

The Tywin vs Tyrion and Margaery vs Cersei scenes were great standouts. Also: a giant! But, yeah, no Arya or Brienne of Tarth, but otherwise it was a fine setting-up-the-pieces opener.

Those dragons grew a lot while Jon was being walked to Mance.

And while Davos was lying on that rock.

this premiere was at least less boring than the doctor who premiere, but still a bit boring. still, looking forward to things!

Game of Sassy Conversations

I didn't get what had gone down at Harrenhal. Last I remember, in season 2, Arya escaped and Tywin rode off for Kings Landing. And somewhere between then and this episode a huge battle/massacre occurred... ? idgi. I've clearly missed something.

"The Northern army prepares to seize Harrenhal, only to find that Ser Gregor Clegane has already abandoned the castle and put all the Northern and Riverlands prisoners to the sword."

interesting stuff with her character winning people over

And Joffrey being all "she's very good at this... charity thing", and not dismissing or admonishing her. I'm starting to get a kind of a Charles and Di vibe from these two.

Having black smoke wafting off a ruined Winterfell in the title sequence was another nice touch.

Gleeson's delivery of "charity" was pretty great, as if he was actually searching his head pretty hard to land on that word.

Having black smoke wafting off a ruined Winterfell in the title sequence was another nice touch.

And when you found out how Smokey gets to the Island from Lost... oops, spoiler.

the tywin/tyrian scene was great. tywin so obviously the embittered one accusing tyrian of being that.

OTM, best scene in the episode. I like where the Joffrey storyline appears to be going as well.

I can't work out whether the actor playing Stannis is poorly cast or whether the character is just boring, but the scenes with him really sag, even if he's laying siege to a city or something.

Also can anyone refresh my memory as to what happened at Winterfell at the end of last season? Like I know Theon went mental and then they knocked him out and got him out of there, but who was it who actually wrecked the place? There appears to be a conspicuous lack of victorious Lannister dudes wandering around.

I like the Stannis stuff actually, isn't he kind of meant to be sort of dead inside and excited only by power? That's the vibe I get from the way the actor is doing it.

Also can anyone refresh my memory as to what happened at Winterfell at the end of last season?"

The show hasn't said yet but based on some casting spoilers you'll be finding out in the next couple of episodes. Your instincts re: The Lannisters are correct, I think it's okay to say that much. Robb vs Tywin/Gregor is currently going on well farther south, in the riverlands. The L's don't have any significant parties in the North.

But yeah the show's lack of clarity about the sacking of winterfell late last year was a big storytelling sin imo.

i can't even remember how they fudged it but i am now recalling us discussing how weird/stupid it was here.

Also I'm struggling to remember if we've seen the shipwrecked guy and his pirate friend before, even in a minor capacity.

shipwrecked guy was Stannis' second in command and he lept off a ship at Blackwater. pirate guy was around too, as he supplied the ships.

Winterfell "cliffhanger" was clumsy as hell and totally unclear. Very poorly done.

Also I'm struggling to remember if we've seen the shipwrecked guy and his pirate friend before, even in a minor capacity.

Ah you must remember him, he was in it a lot. His (now dead) son was a big fan of the evil magic woman. The pirate guy basically backed Stannis with his boats.

There was also a long story about how the guy (Davos, I think?) smuggled in food and saved Stannis and his men's life back when they were under siege at Dragonstone.

Which is why they call him the Onion Knight.

I can't work out whether the actor playing Stannis is poorly cast or whether the character is just boring, but the scenes with him really sag, even if he's laying siege to a city or something.

He is supposed to be a fundamentally unlikable person.

It's more that he... sort of lacks presence? Maybe that's part of the point, but he's not even unlikeable in a particularly watchable way.

Yeah, he is supposed to lack presence, I think. Wasn't the point made, that Stannis is clearly the rightful king, but nobody cares about him because he is so much of a nonentity?

I loved him as Thomas Jefferson in John Adams but I do think he's a little ham-strung by the writing/character here.

I think I remember a line in Season 1 "we all know what Stannis is..."

I think the show seems to infer that Theon's peeps burnt Winterfell?

That might prove to be wrong, but not having read the second book, it didn't seem like a weird plothole to me.

Agreed, bit of a low-key start but excited to have the show back.

yeah, stannis is just supposed to be kind of a boring dude with his bloody-minded fixation on being king as his sole character trait

if i ever write an epic high fantasy series and i'm sketching out my character outlines, i'm going to try to remember:

don't make lack of presence and dullness the defining qualities of a character

Or like, use it as comic relief. Everyone going: Him?

If it's that bad to watch a 4-minute scene with him in it, imagine how all his friends and relatives feel...which is why Robert gave him a remote island to rule, iirc, that would keep him far away from court.

i'm hoping that after the level 47 red mage woman dies off (she DOES die off, right? everyone hates her, right?) that he has some sort of awakening and realizes that he, too, can say interesting things

The women in this are doing pretty well at outliving their husbands, and most of them can't make people burst into flames. I'd guess she'll be around a while longer. She is awful though.

does anyone in the show have enough MP to just blow up Dragonstone Island?

I like her Foreboding Synth Background Nusic, though

Or music, even

Yeah, I love that music.

I imagine Stannis hears that on loop in his head, blocking out all other thoughts.

It is interesting to see everyone sway to a collective anti-Stannis (actor) position but I don't find him very dull. The "dead inside" description was apt. As someone who hasn't read the books it will be fun to watch him come apart even more at the hands of the fire lady. I just wonder why their demon baby seemed to be a one-use disposable prince-killer...

And as far as Winterfell I agree that it was suggested that Theon's not so loyal goons destroyed it as they exited. What was clumsy was the fact that we knew they were surrounded by Winterfell soldiers before they left so I don't know how they would gotten away with any vandalism if they were going to escape alive. They certainly didn't know about secret tunnels the kids escaped through.

Wait, that's not what happened, is it? Is it spoilering to say that?

I can't remember if we, the readers/viewers are supposed to know this at this point, not that it's any kind of big deal.

I can only speculate based on the show, I didn't read any books.

From above: The show hasn't said yet but based on some casting spoilers you'll be finding out in the next couple of episodes.

In other news, closed-caption from the first episode:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/7fe8ca008b24dfdb6f22ea9ab614150d/tumblr_mj82j1QxLL1qmqh7go1_500.jpg