Game of Thrones (Book Spoilers, Srsly, Monkey)

I agree, I remember being impressed with book Margaery even early on. It's just that the show gives us MORE Margaery than the books did (for which I am very grateful).

I guess it's more of a function of the tv show being omnipresent as oppossed to the book's POV. For example "oh yeah, Balon Greyjoy fell off a bridge." Won't cut it for the series.

I just felt after she humored Joff about the crossbow and out maneuvered Cersie, she wasn't in jeopardy.

There was no way Ser Barristan in disguise would have worked on tv so I'm glad they didn't even try it.

Did Varys ever find the guy who castrated him in the books? I don't think he did but I'm not sure.

That Dany scene was everything I wanted and more!!

I loved Ser Friendzoned's reaction basically boiling down to this.

Like the Tyrell's brunch, the show did the emancipation scene justice. So I wonder if they are going to use the march up Slavers Bay for Dany's arc this year and her ruling Mereen next year.

Also with not having to spend everything on Blackwater this year they aren't shell gaming with the SFX this year and we get to see more of the dragons. In particular I was struck by the backgrounds at the sept, where there would have been an I Claudius style tight two shot of Margery and Joffrey waving to an implied crowd.

I don't *think* Varys ever found his castrator. I loved that scene. Like, five minutes of him prying at that crate and then..... trussed-up sorceror. I think I just love TV Varys. His facial expressions during his conversation with the Queen of Thorns were gold.

In particular I was struck by the backgrounds at the sept, where there would have been an I Claudius style tight two shot of Margery and Joffrey waving to an implied crowd.

My husband said exactly the same thing! "They're going to pull an I, Claudius - oh, wait, there IS a crowd there!"

I shouldn't be feeling sorry for Theon, should I? Because I really really am. The Boy is a total sadist.

You should totally feel sorry for Theon. Boy is a little shit, but hes well acted and is still very human, whereas the Bastard is NOT, and what he does to him is so beyond.

Dany is such a badass. This was really an episode about the kickass ladies of Westeros, wasn't it? And Varys, damn. Tyrion's face when he saw what was in the box was amazing.

GoT/Friends theme mashup.

So last night's episode didn't have as much of a *boom* *mic drop* ending as the last few, but the episode as a whole was much stronger and reminded me of how great this show can be.

It's obvious the writers are struggling with incorporating all the many many characters and locations - and considering the source material, I can't blame them for their struggle - and sometimes the scenes seem to take place in completely different worlds. In many episodes, I couldn't make heads or tails of how all these people are connected if I hadn't read the books first.

Last night's ep, though, was much stronger with its use of transitions: a scene with the Brotherhood followed by Selyse praying to the Lord of Light in a different way. Jaime talking about killing the Mad King, followed by Barristan Selmy talking about his own role in the Mad King's Kingsguard. The episode did a much better job of showing the connections between the characters.

The individual scenes, too, were more dramatically interesting than "here's some exposition, and here's some more exposition."

Also, Peter Dinklage may have been MVP of the first two seasons and deserved all the accolades coming his way, but if there's only room for one GoT actor in the Supporting Actor category in the Emmys this year, that spot should go to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. That bathtub scene was a revelation.

It's obvious the writers are struggling with incorporating all the many many characters and locations - and considering the source material, I can't blame them for their struggle - and sometimes the scenes seem to take place in completely different worlds. In many episodes, I couldn't make heads or tails of how all these people are connected if I hadn't read the books first.

Sometimes I think it would have been better if they had waited until GoT was closed canon. That way they could decide what could be cut and what had to stay.

Also, Peter Dinklage may have been MVP of the first two seasons and deserved all the accolades coming his way, but if there's only room for one GoT actor in the Supporting Actor category in the Emmys this year, that spot should go to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. That bathtub scene was a revelation.

Jamie/Brienne are my favorite thing about the show right now, and I liked them in the books, but they weren't my FAVORITE.

I really wish they had gotten someone else as Jon besides Kit Harington, even though I like him okay, I just think they could have done so much better with that part, but Alan Sepinwall last night said that Jon has been a drag on the series for about a season and a half now, I went, aaaaaaw, no he's not, so I must be fond of Kit a little, heh.

if they had waited until GoT was closed canon

So never?

heh. Or maybe they should just make up their own ending after season 3/Storm of Swords. I wouldn't mind. I think trying to follow the books more or less is going to get very messy once the material is from book 4.

I just wish they had given it the grand miniseries treatment, like North/South, or Roots, but I get that TV just doesn't DO that anymore, not even HBO.

All I'll say about last nights show is I'm an extremely pleased Arya/Gendry shipper today.

I like the way they're handling it - essentially a miniseries per book. I feel like there's WAY too much going on for the whole thing to be encompassed in one season/miniseries of what, like, 20 hours? We're already at hour 25 and I still feel like some things have been given a short shrift, particularly the Night's Watch. I don't think I said it here, but my husband, a non-book reader, didn't get the importance of the Bear/Lord Commander getting killed and I think it's because Jon didn't get to spend enough time with him.

I also worry about what will happen when they get to books 4 and 5, which are obviously not as focused as the first three books and are apparently going to be stretched out to three seasons - I'm really NOT looking forward to

Spoiler:

But I was just thinking about this season and how I feel like they're racing through storyline, and what will the second part of Book 3 (season 4) look like? And then I remembered that

Spoiler:

To sum up, everything seems to be more scattered as the books go on, rather than getting more focused, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

No I mean each book should have been a 20+ hour series, they're already breaking SOS into two "seasons" I just think that should have started with a ACoK and SOS should probably have been three seasons. GOT was the only one that even approached being able to cover in 10 hours.

OH and yeah the flipside of that is that they should condense books 4/5 down since so much of it is useless filler crap. Sorry George but really no one needs to know that much about diarrhea.

I will die happy if I never have to hear fat pink mast or myrrish swamp uttered. Ugh. I'm getting dry heaves already.

I think the tv show is showing off how much of the characters don't actually do anything but run in circles.

Spoiler:

I mean not that it means the stuff in the books wasn't good necessarily. for example I liked the Jon chapters in Clash of Kings but when you translate it to tv it's just him running around in the snow a lot.

I also worry about what will happen when they get to books 4 and 5, which are obviously not as focused as the first three books and are apparently going to be stretched out to three seasons - I'm really NOT looking forward to

Three seasons? Bran is going to be 6 feet tall by then, lol.

More stuff happens in book 3 than in 4 and 5 combined, so yeah, I hope they do a lotttt of condensing.

As for Jon, *sigh*, I love his character so much in the books but I can't get as invested on the show, even though Kit Harington is easy on the eyes. I think the writing makes show Jon seem too dumb. It's not as bad as the writing for show Robb, where he looks dumb AND supremely douchey, but he just kind of stumbles along and makes me wonder why show Jeor Mormont would groom THIS guy for eventual command.

Speaking of Robb, I liked him more in this ep than I have for most of the season, mostly because I could never get behind Karstark and his quest for vengeance. (It's not like his sons were murdered in their sleep, for pete's sake - they were soldiers who Jaime killed in battle and they knew what they signed up for.) However he is still a massive idiot. He marries for love, screwing over Walder Frey after Frey already held up his end of the bargain, and he didn't decide to make nice until NOW?

[Is it stupid of me to ask why we're spoiler-tagging book events in a thread entitled Book Spoilers Seriously Monkey? I swear I'm not trying to be snarky here, I'm just confused.]

Oh lord, are we getting the Red Wedding this season??

According to Wikipedia, the title for episode 9 is "The Rains of Castamere," so I'm pretty sure it'll be that episode.

gannetguts wrote:Oh lord, are we getting the Red Wedding this season??

The internet will be fun that night!

[Is it stupid of me to ask why we're spoiler-tagging book events in a thread entitled Book Spoilers Seriously Monkey? I swear I'm not trying to be snarky here, I'm just confused.]

It isn't. I just forgot myself. :facepalm:

Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god. I both kind of can't wait and never want it to happen.