Game of Thrones

[nate]

My wife was saying that there is a major character that they didn't introduce.  I didn't push her for more info cause I enjoy the show.

 

I definitely thought it was a lot more than meh.

 

I agree that the Bran stuff is meh, same with the dragon chick.

 

The rest was awesome though.

[Brandon]

To each their own, I think I just expected more for a finale.

[St1ck]

HBO Go.

Their app lets you watch it with the east coast time instead of waiting or in my case where I can watch it on HBOE, but it's not in hi-def.

I always record the east coast feed, but I usually have my son on Sundays, and it's not exactly family viewing.

[Brandon]

Nothing wrong with gratuitous violence/blood, tits, and the casual use of c u next tuesday.

[St1ck]

I liked the episode, but agree with Brandon that I was hoping for a bit more in a season finale. Some big things happened though, and left me wishing there was an 11th episode the same season. Sucks they killed off two more interesting characters, but glad Tyrion is still alive.

[Chimi]

All of the Game of Thrones finales have been like this.  It wasn't incredibly exciting and it's just a last chance effort for them to go through each story line.  Maybe one of the reasons they don't do anything big is because of the gap between this episode and when it starts again next year which is a whopping 9 1/2 months away.

 

With that said...

 

What a huge disappointment is was that they didn't introduce Lady Stoneheart this season.  I figured that's how the season would have ended and would have had people talking and wanting more.  I think they screwed up big time here.  I was almost certain it would have happened in this episode.

[Chimi]

Questions for the bookies, with the end of this seaso has the show caught up to the books or is it close?

 

For the most part, yes.  They did leave some things out which I think were pretty big.  However, a lot of stuff is happening on the show that was never in the books.

[UndertheHalo]

So, books 4 and 5 do not suck.  As evidenced by this episode (and the rest of the friggen show !), the war of 5 kings has left the world in shambles.  Book 4 starts putting the pieces back together, book 5 starts the roll toward the final conflicts being resolved. I liked the finale a lot, however they left out a pretty massive exchange between Jamie and Tyrion which nicely connects some dots.  Also, yes a significant character has not yet been introduced.  I imagine this character comes into play next season.  There is at least another solid full season perhaps 2 (depending how much time they spend with certain parts) of source material before they are in trouble.  GRRM needs to get going.

Edited June 16, 2014 by UndertheHalo

[UndertheHalo]

i'm glad you see no difference in the quality.  i'm actually a little jealous.  

 

books 1-3 move rapidly as far as plot and character development go, in my opinion.  no wonder they make for compelling viewing when the written material is wonderful, there's excellent production value going on.  

 

 

in my opinion (and i know i'm not alone), books 4-5 are largely tedious.  i'm genuinely curious as to whether they'll try to make either of them into 2 seasons.  if they do, there's just no way that the show's quality can remain high.  it will be hard to keep it high even making 1 season out of each, i think.  

 

the good news is that it feels to me like he got back on track by the end of book 5.  

 

we'll see how this works out on tv soon enough, i guess. 

yea man,

I can see where your position comes from.  I just see it as certain arcs closing and others opening.  Ultimately I think by the end of book 5 the story as a whole is kind of back on the main track with the main themes in terms of like I said, the final conflicts being resolved.  Personally, I saw it as reasonable in terms of the story telling for the story to slow down a bit in order to refocus where everything is.  This is particularly true in book 4.  I do get how one may describe it as tedious.  I guess I just did not see it that way.  Still I think the content is still very good.  You may be right about the 2 seasons thing.... although I can see them investing a lot in certain story lines in order to draw it out.  We shall see how it works out.  I think there is probably enough content.

[UndertheHalo]

anyhoo, here's the publishing history for the novels:

 

Game of Thrones (1996)

Clash of Kings (1998)

Storm of Swords (2000)

4 years for 3 novels

----------------------------------------

Feast for Crows (2005)

Dance with Dragons (2011)

11 years for 2 novels

 

I'm not trying to slam the show at all because I've enjoyed what I've seen.  Could never have asked for anything better from a movie/tv version of the story.  

 

but those who have read a lot of epic fantasy know there's a trend with this stuff.  writers who start taking forever to publish works after prolific writing and publishing early on (first 3 novels and 1 novella in a 4-year period) are usually lost, and sometimes never recover. 

 

i'm genuinely curious to see what happens with the show, and of course, the novels.  

To be fair, books 4 and 5 are huge.  Although the waits are pretty rough.  I admit I have not been waiting on him as long as you have, so I can appreciate your frustration.  At the same time, try and have some faith ! He says he knows where the story is going, and has an end game.  Gotta hope thats the truth !

[Brandon]

season 4 gets through the end of book 3.

 

he has already published books 4 and 5, and both were terrible.

 

it will be interesting to see how the show fares given the source material is so shitty.

 

he wrote books 1-3 all in a 4-year span, and then started taking 6 years in between the others.  

 

it's weird to see that people don't like bran, but i haven't watched any of season 3 or 4.  there's a reason GRRM started the entire series from his POV, i think.  

 

Thanks.

 

I think with Bran, it's just tedious with him basically chasing some crow dream for 3 or 4 seasons. I'm sure t's pertinent, just really boring to follow on tv....especially with how epic all of the intertwining with the chase for the throne happening.

[Chimi]

The thing with Bran is they cut out a pretty big part of his story and at this point, I highly doubt it will ever be done.

[Chimi]

Honestly, how would it even work?

Easily. I'm thinking it's a budget thing though and the producers don't feel it's all that important. But because of it, I think it kind of takes away from how interesting Brans story can be.

[Chimi]

For the record, it's been confirmed that he won't be on the show so at this point, it's no longer a spoiler to mention his name.  I just haven't said anything in case people are going back and reading the books.

[nate]

The more I think about it the more this really benefits Cersei.

 

First, now she wont have to marry the gay guy.  She won't have to marry Tommen to Margerie and she immediately becomes super powerful as the Queen without Daddy meddling in her business.

 

The only thing that could throw a wrench in the plans would be that she told Tywin that Tommen was really the son of her and Jamie.  Could really put her claim to the throne in jeopardy.

 

Did anyone else think that Tyrian was going to die during the escape attempt?  They showed it right after the incest scene so I figured that Cersei used sex to get Jamie to kill Tyrian.

Edited June 16, 2014 by nate

[NJHalo]

I thought the finale was kind of meh. Good, but not as great as they promised.

 

I figured Stannis would show up eventually. Kind of anti-climatic.

 

Not a big fan of the super natural angle they are doing with Bran.

 

Sorry to lose more interesting characters. Are we sure the Hound is dead? 

[NJHalo]

I still am unsure about the imp's escape. I do not trust Varrus, and would guess this is part of a master plan set up by LittleFinger.

[sneaky_flute]

Coldhands is an interesting character, but Bran's storyline in the book is easily the worst of all and the show improved on it. My problem with the finale is that there was so much crammed into it that everything felt rushed and anticlimactic. 

[nate]

I still am unsure about the imp's escape. I do not trust Varrus, and would guess this is part of a master plan set up by LittleFinger.

 

Yeah.  I love have Veras was going to go back to Kings Landing but then heard the bells and said **** it and got on the ship haha.

[NJHalo]

I have been paying attention to the "previously on GOT" scenes before the opening theme. They are a definite clue to what is going to happen this week.

[red321]

I thought the finale was well done. I'm a little surprised they cut out one of the more iconic lines in the book..."Lord Tywin Lannister did not, in the end, shit gold.".

 

Though I guess that would have been tough to pull off.

 

Love the Mance Rayder character and that whole scene.

 

The Bran stuff is meh...in the books it's just as annoying. I think it's pretty clear they cut Coldhands out of the storyline and that's one of the benefits of the show...they can cut out crap that doesn't really impact the larger plot as a whole.

 

The Brienne/Hound scene was pretty barbaric as well. I like how they wove those two storylines together. I agree with cezero re: books 4 and 5, and I hope this (and the Bran storyline) is an example of how the show can help cut lots of fluff out of the story without losing the larger plot.

 

Great overall season.

[Chimi]

The Tyrion escape was just way too rushed. They cut out a lot of it and some pretty important things with it.

"Wherever whores go."

Edited June 16, 2014 by Chimi

[nate]

Who is Mance Rayder?

[Chimi]

Who is Mance Rayder?

The King of the wildlings.

[red321]

The Tyrion escape was just way too rushed. They cut out a lot of it and some pretty important things with it.

"Wherever whores go."

 

I'm not sure they really could have gone through all that

history of Tyrion and his first wife

(not really a spoiler, won't be in the show but just to be safe). That was a running thread through the books that was barely touched on.