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

figured it wasn't RDJ's fault

He's in it quite a lot but rarely says anything - hatchet-faced kingsguard who's always lurking around Cersei.

Haven't they been showing us Arya staring at that coin and reciting names for two seasons before this one? This is not a case of a show not setting up a character motivation

yes, they have. i know because i've been really bad jokes about arya spending it on a hot dog for a couple years now

You mean some brown stew in Hell's bottom

Shit, show merge. Uh, Bottom's Kitchen

What's thatp lace called. The place with the stews

In Flea Bottom we called them 'bowls of brown'.

Right. Hell's Fleas

Flea Bottom, Flea Bottom, talk about brown bowls, the Red Keep's got 'em.

Haven't they been showing us Arya staring at that coin and reciting names for two seasons before this one? This is not a case of a show not setting up a character motivation

― Is It Any Wonder I'm Not the (President Keyes), Wednesday, April 29, 2015 3:47 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It was more the fact she was supposed to be out for revenge but instead decided to go to a house in the remotest of nowhere, throwaway her possessions (including, ostensibly, her sword), so she could hang around and mop a floor while forgetting who she is. I don't remember a bit in S4 where she made up her mind to go to Braavos or the b/w house but maybe I'm forgetting it. It was a year ago.

as an aside, i like it when people call it 'games of thrones'. especially if they've been following it for years.

xpost approaching tuomas-level deliberate obtuse

i felt like Aria's drive for revenge was waning – because all these people on her list were getting killed constantly by other people. i know she was still reciting her names, but i feel like she is more willing to put all that on the backburner.

and just hang around.

she wants to become an assassin. she knows one dude in the world who is one. I wonder why she goes to find him?

yes that's clearer now, but it wasn't before.

and besides, all this mr miyagi nonsense 'you can't come in. now you can come in' / 'now sweep the floor for days on end', is a bit played out and feels like an excuse to draw a simple plotline out over a series where not enough happens.

^^^

i think it would be pretty interesting if they were willing to pare back the number of storylines per episode...like maybe just follow one or two, allow them to develop without so much interruption and stalling.

but they can't develop storylines without running into the brick wall (the end of the books).

really the best solution is for this show to take a breather until 2020 or so, i'm sure everyone would be fine with that

the amount of expository back-story-retelling in this show is ridiculous

really the best solution is for this show to take a breather until 2020 or so, i'm sure everyone would be fine with that

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, April 29, 2015 12:18 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

All of the actors will age normally except Bran, who at his current rate will be a decrepit old man by that point.

just think, first episode could be tyrion and dany until they (presumably) meet. episode two: arya and sansa's storylines so far. episode three maybe cersei and jon snow? or whatever. it's all so choppy and dissatisfying dramatically right now.

i remain confused by how frustrating this is to people, i mean to each his/her own obvs but the sprawl and the crosscutting has been embedded in the show's blueprint for most if not all of its run

but they can't develop storylines without running into the brick wall (the end of the books).

well, since they aren't going to be going entirely according to GRRM's plan out of necessity, i'm not sure this is a factor exactly

yeah book diversion is already a thing, they can do whatever they'd like at this point

True, but they're not doing it very well is the thing.

the only change i've really disagreed with is how that scene with cersei and jaime in the sept went and only bc it made an already unsettling occurrence that much worse

like what has really bothered ppl?

this is a slow-paced show, it is basically the wire with swords and magic and a lot more nudity, always has been, things unfold at a v measured pace until they explode and they always explode eventually

xpost
eh, i mean they have artistic license to explore different directions that aren't in the books, especially while they wait for the new ones, but does anyone really think they're going to introduce a new storyline that would have a major effect on the overall plot? one that kills off a main character, or results in one house destroying another or something? nah- any new non-book storyline is gonna have to be like a optional sidequest that the characters do for bonus XP

like MAYBE the character will travel to a different land and eventually, after a bunch of talking and 9 episodes pass, pick up upgraded armor

i def think they will kill off a main character this season who's still alive in the books & would tell you in the spoiler thread if yer curious

i don't want to know! but i will cross my fingers that they're killing off the entire daenerys storyline

This show has gotten farther and farther away from any fair comparisons with The Wire for a couple seasons at least. What drew me in during the first season was how the bureaucratic minutiae could ripple out into massive effects far away from the epicenter, but now, a lot of the cool consequential realpolitik has been replaced by generic high-level fantasy cliche. I did like Stannis and Jon's (and later Davos's) negotiations to legitimize Mopey McOpenMouth and offer him Wintefell, but even then it felt a little superficial and rote.

I guess Carcetti's wandering accent is to blame, really.

"...generic high-level fantasy cliche."

What are the main examples of this in your opinion?

Don't make me back up my internet assertions this early in the day!

all of the tywin stuff, which lasted for 3 seasons, counts as cool realpolitik, the meereen stuff that everyone hates (even i'm getting a little impatient and i'm a dany defender) is basically carcetti #struggles but with 3 dragons lol

ummm it is only early on the gomorrah that is the west coast leee you'll have to do better than that excuse-wise

Not enough sheeeeit

Which character storylines are near the end of Dance With Dragons and which still have a long way to go?

bran is already done hence his absence and sansa is done but now being repurposed. i think everyone else has enough book story for the rest of the season.

Dude I am on the West Coast, I wish the entire Eastern seaboard would get swallowed up into the Atlantic already!

I like the Meerene stuff, I wish it were expanded on!

I dunno, it all feels like boring cloak-and-dagger, betrayal for memeification's sake.

What makes Bran "done"?

That's like saying Brienne was "done" when she made it to King's Landing with Jaime, or similarly when Tyrion made it back there himself earlier in the show.

done as in, his plotline has not moved further in the published books than where it's at in the tv show

It's still spoiling things to talk about what is not going to happen fyi

OH, right

xpost

the question was asked and answered. As Spiralli pointed out, Sansa's story has been repurposed. Same could happen for Bran too, who knows?

i dunno man it's still a drag.