Game of Thrones (Current episode spoilers)

[deanb]

I really should maybe get round to watching beyond episode 1 of GOT.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Yeah, you should! Season 2's latest few episodes were fantastic.

[Mal]

As a guy I can't believe I am saying this but does anyone else think Ygritte is a tad bit too pretty? The way she looks makes me think she's some sort of high born lady of Highgarden or something, not a Wildling. Its sort of like finding a skinny Pocahontas in a world where even a chief's daughter works.

 

There's a lot more serious things I can yak about, like "Where are my damn trees!?" but I think I will settle with something minor like this.

 

And yes Dean, you should. Despite its problems, its has been a great watch.

[TCP]

Yeah, if I was Jon, I'd be banging that broad for sure. But she's a little suspicious, she seemed to know who Jon was already, so perhaps she's more than just a wildling? No book spoilers, please.

[deanb]

I've now seen Episode 2.

 

I hope Tyrion slaps Joffry about some more. Shame about the doggies though. Get their staring role then *drags finger across throat with appropriate sound effect*. Though I'm to understand this is how the show goes. What was the gag I heard a while back..something like "It's lucky George R.R Martin isn't on Twitter. He'd have killed all 140 characters by now". Woot for the kiddy though.

 

Hoping it get's a bit less gloomy. It could be good n all, but I like my gloom balanced out. With slapping of annoying kids.

[Hot Heart]

You get gloom balanced with boobs and gore and "holy shit!" moments (sometimes all three)

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Minor slap spoiler:

 

 

I think we're up to five slaps now.

 

Here (but I'm missing the Tyrion one from S2E6):

 

[Waldorf and Statler]

Dem Lannisters are slap-happy.

 

I can't wait for them to eventually get their asses kicked.

[Mal]

Hey, the Lannisters are pretty cool. Well, maybe not Cersei and Joffery however the rest are cool.Tywin is a mean asshole but I feel he is fair if you show your worth and not be a dwarf. Jamie was young and stupid. Tyrion is Tyrion.

 

Tyrion should of kicked Joffery...

and I love how Joffery doesn't threaten Tyrion as he did to Cersei after he was struck by them.

With that said, while points A to Z remains the same, with the recent derivation from the book... it will be an interesting ride.

[Waldorf and Statler]

Jaime and Tyrion are great and I heard from friends I eventually get to understand Cersei but still. The only family I hate more as a whole are the Greyjoy

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Major spoilers through ADWD ahoy

 

 

Tywin can be "fair" but he loves his family and its legacy above all. He will do anything and everything, ruthless as it may be, to preserve his family and expand its power over the realm--the "RW" is frightening evidence of this. In his mind, Robb was a threat to the Lannister heritage and their young king on the throne.

 

Jaime has always had his reasons for his controversial acts, such as slaying the Mad King and of course porking his sister, but he's still portrayed as an unsympathetic antagonist until partway through ASOS when he becomes less "handy" with a blade. Clearly that's the catalyst for his changing character--losing the externals that made him valuable to his family makes him see just how disposable he is to them.

 

Cersei is an interesting one. You don't necessarily come to sympathize with her, but you do come to see the more subtle nuances of her character and her motivations--namely, she's paranoid, power-hungry, and very protective of her kids. Now, I believe GRRM may actually use the trial and her public shaming as her own version of Jaime's arm-shortening exercise: the turning point for her character. She is even starting to realize that she's not the beautiful young woman she once was. But hey she might also descend into madness, or else have been shamed just enough to become smarter and more cunning (shudder).

 

Tyrion on the other hand almost becomes less sympathetic after his "fall from grace" throughout ASOS (say "where do whores go" one more time, I dare you...). But I think GRRM is taking his character back up into glory through Dany's cause.

 

[Thursday Next]

Major spoilers through ADWD ahoy

 

 

Tywin can be "fair" but he loves his family and its legacy above all. He will do anything and everything, ruthless as it may be, to preserve his family and expand its power over the realm--the "RW" is frightening evidence of this. In his mind, Robb was a threat to the Lannister heritage and their young king on the throne.

 

Jaime has always had his reasons for his controversial acts, such as slaying the Mad King and of course porking his sister, but he's still portrayed as an unsympathetic antagonist until partway through ASOS when he becomes less "handy" with a blade. Clearly that's the catalyst for his changing character--losing the externals that made him valuable to his family makes him see just how disposable he is to them.

 

Cersei is an interesting one. You don't necessarily come to sympathize with her, but you do come to see the more subtle nuances of her character and her motivations--namely, she's paranoid, power-hungry, and very protective of her kids. Now, I believe GRRM may actually use the trial and her public shaming as her own version of Jaime's arm-shortening exercise: the turning point for her character. She is even starting to realize that she's not the beautiful young woman she once was. But hey she might also descend into madness, or else have been shamed just enough to become smarter and more cunning (shudder).

 

Tyrion on the other hand almost becomes less sympathetic after his "fall from grace" throughout ASOS (say "where do whores go" one more time, I dare you...). But I think GRRM is taking his character back up into glory through Dany's cause.

 

 

Spoiler tagged so expect none of the subtlety of P4's post.

 

 

All three of them lost the source of their power. Cersei lost her beauty, she didn't suddenly become ugly, but she was revealed as a normal human. Kind of like when celebs have their pics of them going to the shops in their pyjamas takes the shine off of their manufactured beauty. Jaime lost his sword arm and with it his prowess in battle. Tyrion lost the power of the Lannister name and became quite literally a fool.

 

As a result each will have to adapt. For now, Cersei looks to be broken. Maybe she will snap out of it, but maybe we will see that she is the weakest of the Lannisters and she will just fade away. Jaime has become a negotiator. Brokering peace and forging alliances (albeit ones held together by captive children). Tyrion has had to rely upon his wits, his skill at cyvasse being the most oft used example of this, winning him the respect of the young Targaryen and a pot of gold for his master during his time as a slave.

 

I'm looking forward to Tyrion's interactions with Dany. Hopefully we'll have something going with her and a male that does not involve unrequited love from one side or the other. Oh and Tyrion and Selmy reminiscing about Westeros. Gotta love Barristan the bOld.

 

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

My take on Cersei, ADWD spoilers:

 

 

I don't think she's broken as everyone is making her out to be. There's a few lines, a few small hints, where it seems like yes she has dropped very low but everything she's doing is for show. She is still an evil bitch that is planning her revenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is spoiler not even on the little formatting pop-up? I typed it in after searching for a minute and double checking to make sure I wasn't crazy. Seems pretty big to leave out... but that twitter button is really important innit?

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

It disappeared somewhere along the line.

[Hot Heart]

[Waldorf and Statler]

God damn! Twin Lannister sisters.

 

Me rikey. You have awoken the dwwwwwaaaaagon

[Thursday Next]

Is the video supposed to be hilariously cheesy? The look over your shoulder and smile thing is cracking me up.

[Waldorf and Statler]

Honestly I think it was. They're hot, but the way they keep looking and jumping around while playing a harp is kind of funny.

[Mal]

They sort of reminds me of that violin girl that cosplay the game theme she's playing and dance and shit while she does it. Its kind of annoying actually...

 

Edit: Lindsey Stirling is her name. The girl in this Skyrim video I'm sure everyone seen.

 

 

Edited May 16, 2012 by MaliciousH

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

So season 2 episode 7, some thoughts:

 

 

Jon & Ygritte's storyline is progressing well, albeit tweaked from the novels. They had some great chemistry in this episode. Now that Snow is captured by the Wildlings, they'll have to think of some way to get him alone with Halfhand in order to receive his orders to pretend to betray the Night's Watch. I'm assuming Quorin has already been captured.

 

Theon--wow. This one is fairly close to the book with the exception of the Reeds' absence. The internal torment of the turncloak's character is super-apparent, and Alfie Allen is doing a fantastic job.

 

Jaime/Catelyn/Brienne's story appears to be accelerated a bit from the novels, if Catelyn is about to free Jaime with that sword as I expect her to. It really only makes sense to get the ball rolling on a few ASOS storylines since there's so much to plow through in just 10 episodes next season. The little insults Jaime kept tossing at Brienne were some nice foreshadowing.

 

Robb's story may also be accelerated, or they're at least hinting at the Jeyne Westerling stuff to come. If they keep up this pace with the Riverlands storylines, the RW may end up in the next season.

 

Dany--the biggest change from the books. I am actually enjoying it as I don't know what's going to happen next in Qarth. So long as Dany leaves Qarth with her dragons and Jorah in tow, not much is lost. Wondering when they plan on introducing Whitebeard.

 

Tyrion didn't get much screen time this week, only hinted at the Battle of the Blackwater coming up in episode 9. His little awkward moment with Cersei was great to watch.

 

Can't help but feel bad for Sansa, even though she's an idiot. Her moments with Shae, Cersei, and the hound were gold.

 

[TCP]

Oh man, next season's only half of the third book? At this rate the kids are going to end up being adults by the time the final season rolls around.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Yeah it appears that the third season will be splitting A Storm of Swords into two. There is a LOT that happens in that book. I doubt it will be a clean cut in two though, and I imagine by the end of season 4 we will have gotten into several of A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons' storylines. Those two books will likely be abridged for the sake of the show.

[SomTervo]

What do people think of the casting/ adaptation of the characters from the books?

 

I'm not really a fan of the books or the show. The books are awfully written though have a fair bit of worth in their stories, and the show is just mimicking this but with a significantly better narrative.

 

What I'm hating on in the show is how there is an actual sympathetic component to Cersei. Joffrey is obviously a figure of pure hatred, like in the book; but I don't get that from Cersei in the show. In the book she is pure venom, but an absolute babe. In the show, she's not too bad, and is kiiind of a babe.

 

Really, she should just be pure, malicious evil. It annoyed me a little that Stannis wasn't as cold as he comes across in the book, either. I loves him in the book, I does, for his amazing envious callousness, but in the show he comes across a little more warm hearted. The only characters I feel have translated perfectly are Ned, Tywin (maybe he's a little off, meant to be more of a badass in the books), Jaime (though he's meant to look a little more like a perfect knight in shining armour) and Tyrion, who's incredible. Arya's great as well actually.

 

Jon Snow is really frustrating me. In the books he was great; a young guy learning the ropes and moving up in the world. In the show he's the most fucking earnest, sentimental fucker in the place. He's meant to be immature but trying hard, with good principles; in the show he's just kinda lame. My flatmate (who has only read part of the first book), an HBO connoisseur, literally hates Jon Snow, and can't stand the bits with him in.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

I love the way the books are written, personally. The sort of prose he writes isn't for everyone though.

 

There is a sympathetic side to Cersei in the books too, in A Feast for Crows and bits of A Dance with Dragons. They let it on much earlier in the show, but it is there in the novels.

 

I agree about Jon Snow with the caveat that we mainly see Jon Snow through his own eyes in the books--hence, the take is less critical by default. He was kind of a whiner in an existentialist crisis in the books as well, we just didn't see it from outside his own head very much.

[TCP]

Fuck Cersie is still a live in A Dance with Dragons? I want her and her inbred son DEAD at the end of A Clash of King.