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

it's nothing compared to the books, but the books have lists and charts and maps

from season 2:

Tyrion has had Grand Maester Pycelle arrested for breaking his confidence and feeding information to Queen Regent Cersei Lannister.[9] Cersei sends Lancel to Tyrion with a warrant for the release of Pycelle. He arrives late at night and Tyrion invites him for a drink and Lancel refuses. Tyrion wonders why Cersei did not come herself. Lancel says that he does not care and Tyrion continues to question him. Tyrion establishes that the order came directly from Cersei and then asks why Lancel waited to deliver it. Lancel says that he came immediately and Tyrion wonders what he was doing conferring with Cersei so late at night. Lancel improvises and says that Cersei often works through the night, and Tyrion retorts that she must be glad to have Lancel helping her at all hours. Tyrion notes the scent of lavender oil on his cousin and says that it is a favorite of Cersei. Lancel asserts his position as a knight, and Tyrion jokes that he is an anointed knight. Tyrion asks if Cersei had Lancel knighted before or after she took him into her bed. Lancel furiously calls that a lie, but when Tyrion threatens to tell Joffrey, he collapses into a chair, aghast. Lancel claims that it wasn't his fault, and Tyrion asks if she took him against his will. Lancel insists he was following Tywin’s orders to obey Cersei in all things, but Tyrion counters by asking him if Tywin ordered him to sleep with her as well. Tyrion points out the benefits Lancel has received and threatens to go straight to Joffrey at which Lancel falls to his knees and begs him for mercy and offers to leave the city. Tyrion says that Lancel must act as his spy to buy his silence. Tyrion asks Lancel to beg Cersei’s forgiveness and agrees to release Pycelle but refuses to reinstate him to the council.

tyrion is the best

jeez, i forgot that cersei punched lancel's arrow wound during the battle of the blackwater! that probably made him really mad at her

I easily remembered all the Lancel scenes because he was previously just there to be humiliated by the other characters.

yeah, having spent several seasons as a hapless pawn, it makes total sense dude got religion

His best scene is Tyrion telling Lancel to ask Bronn to kill him if certain circumstances occur and Bronn replying "it would be my pleasure".

https://youtube.com/?#/watch?v=3Yyw7Iyvy2E

I just listened to Grantland's GoT podcast and their "expert" guy claimed that Littlefinger was definitely talking about Lancel in that "handsome young man" line. If that's the case then that is some championship level shitty writing.

Long shot but it could be Gendry

nah, it's probably the witness against Loras.

Otm

Littlefinger had a chat with Lancel after he joined so I assumed it was him, though I don't think he was the one who pushed him to talk about the incest to Pryce.

Littlefinger seems to have two big bases covered right now but I'm not sure what his gameplan is for if Stannis takes Winterfell. Presumably Sansa is some level of insurance there but I don't know why Stannis would exactly give a shit, other than out of pragmatism.

Stan is kind of a stickler about rightful heirs.

Yeah you can bet the house on Stannis instating Sansa as the Stark in Winterfell if he wins this fight (unless her marriage to Ramsay has somehow invalidated this? idek, we're so far off the edge of the map now wrt the books that I'm finding it increasingly difficult to read these characters), but does that help Littlefinger particularly? Surely Sansa is gonna be pretty pissed at him for riding off into the night and leaving her with Ramsay the psycho

Sansa is sort of hot for Littlefinger and believes he's her protector of sorts, her mother's best friend, etc.

That might change after Brienne slices Ramsey in half and tells the real story though.

What does Brienne know since she last met Sansa?

i was not under the impression that sansa was in any way sort of hot for littlefinger

Guys, nothing in that story makes any sense at all.

I did not see that episode coming

and it was fucking great

tyrion/dany scenes were so so so so so good

and then whoaaaaa battle time

"arise my undead children" part was amazing

as they floated away at 0.000000001 knots/hr

that was red wedding level unanticipated terror

I feel they have made up for the last two episodes. Gonna be a dead sprint downhill from here.

yeah best episode in a bit. lots of dénouement on the horizon. still guessing stannis will be the major plot character to eat it this season since he's been so sympathetic lately

Goddamn that was insane.

love the final stare down that lasted 4 minutes and all the while the boat has not advanced a bit.

i thought he was going to freeze the entire bay at first.

took them long enough but yeah, that was an A+ budget-busting set piece of a sequence of a variety that's been sorely lacking.

Cersei's manipulation at King's Landing look even worse now. There is no time for petty politics you fools.

My name is Lana, I'm an orphan.

When I was 8 I begged enough money to buy my first bucket of oysters.

I sold that bucket, I made enough money to buy two more.

It took a while, but I finally saved enough to buy myself an oyster card.

Marijuana is a hell of a drug.

that town has awesome locally sourced food markets, totally gonna move out there
also: who the fuck puts vanilla on oysters

Think it was vinegar though now that you mention it I'm curious

Probably my favorite episode of the series

vinegar would make a lot more sense, people DO put mignonette on oysters
i swear i heard vanilla though

the last half of that episode was the most metal thing we will ever see on television

Well it did feature Mastadon.

great episode - each thread was interesting, not least maisie williams' fire oyster-merchant hairdo.

so what's the deal with rob's sword? is it the fact he was wielding it or is it just that he never knew it was dragonglass?

john's sword i mean

Valyrian steel, I think

was there some thing before about his real father being a targeryen?

xpost i thought valyrian steel had stopped sponsoring this show

there's a popular theory about who his parents are

did samwell inadvertantly convince that kid to kill j.s.

Yeah, great episode, one of the most satisfying for all the stuff they managed to fit in, but it was really dumb of Jon to admit to killing Mance without laying out the circumstances first.

I thought the ice king that Jon smashed came back but it must be a similar looking ice king.

Wondering what percentage of the wildlings survived. Perhaps Jon should have been more careful because maybe without him, none of the wildlings would be allowed back, but maybe the advance of the white walkers changes what crows would allow. Doesn't look like there's a big tribe of giants. That one giant must be hardy as fuck to swim through freezing water.
In season 2 I thought white walkers would simply advance until they killed everyone but obviously they've been doing other stuff, going back and forth. Otherwise they would have killed loads in season 3.

Keeping in mind that the cast of the show have repeatedly said episode 10 is going to have a major shocker that's supposed to be bigger than anything before. I'm going to guess it's not totally due to characters dying. Perhaps something with Arya coming into totally new territory.

I was hoping Cersei will die this season but now I want her to at least get revenge on the Sparrows.

There's a lot to fit into next two episodes. They're called "The Dance of Dragons" and "Mother's Mercy". I presume the mother is either Daenerys or Cersei.

Add to missing list: Brynden Tully. Maybe he'll come in and kill someone.

Also wondering how much of the wildlings were killed behind those doors. Looked like a lot.

it was really dumb of Jon to admit to killing Mance without laying out the circumstances first.

this was really bad writing. like it's a sensitive situation and he just decides to clown them by announcing he shot an arrow "through his heart", conveniently paving the way for pirate steve to show his trust for him.

also the "he may be prettier than my daughters" thing didn't work too well with that incredibly striking scandinavian-looking female wildling standing there.

how did i miss striking scandinavians?!

so how many seasons will it take for the whitewalkers to cross the river?