[Ceda Cicero]

Terez, on 07 April 2013 - 01:54 AM, said:

Ceda Cicero, on 07 April 2013 - 01:52 AM, said:

Karsa, on 05 April 2013 - 09:17 PM, said:

I won both North and South Carolina State Championships. I've got pics of my trophies and medals in our pic thread, and I'm a small guy.

Way OT, but are you literally the only other person on these boards from the American Deep South? I'm from SC.

Mississippi here. Y'all might as well be Yankees.

Shiiiiit. South Carolina seceded first. Also, I teach a kid whose parents named him (I shit you not) States Rights.

[Terez]

Ceda Cicero, on 07 April 2013 - 01:57 AM, said:

Terez, on 07 April 2013 - 01:54 AM, said:

Ceda Cicero, on 07 April 2013 - 01:52 AM, said:

Karsa, on 05 April 2013 - 09:17 PM, said:

I won both North and South Carolina State Championships. I've got pics of my trophies and medals in our pic thread, and I'm a small guy.

Way OT, but are you literally the only other person on these boards from the American Deep South? I'm from SC.

Mississippi here. Y'all might as well be Yankees.

Shiiiiit. South Carolina seceded first.

Only because y'all is high-faluting Southerners that consorts with Yankees. We are always the last to hear shit down here in Mississippi.

Ceda Cicero, on 07 April 2013 - 01:57 AM, said:

Also, I teach a kid whose parents named him (I shit you not) States Rights.

WTF. I don't have a comparison for that. But my high school cafeteria was self-segregated, as were sporting events, etc.

[Traveller]

Back on topic... !

I wonder if Dany will use the same trick as she uses in the book to gain the Unsullied.. even though they've kind of used that trick already?

I can't see them changing it too much, it is one of her biggest moments.

[Overactive Imagination]

amphibian, on 03 April 2013 - 05:08 AM, said:

I refuse to believe that a non-magical human being can win a legit tournament at 57 years of age. I would accept mid-40s as the latest someone like Caine from the Matthew Stover books could be effective in a pure melee situation.

The people voting for Barristan Selmy have likely never fought armed or unarmed. It's frickin' exhausting, people who are old don't deal well with exhausting activities and there's no way he'd slice through five prepared opponents of the general level of the Kingsguard - even Joffrey's watered down Kingsguard. They didn't say shit because that's frickin' Barristan Selmy and they know he's going to do the right thing and not fight them to the death.

Selmy's value is all wrapped up in his head - the skills, the experience and the knowledge of warfare all can be passed on and he can train people to be nearly as good as him at warfare and being a soldier.

Anyways, the series is actually absurdly good at creating characters/casting actors/writing lines in such a way that visceral responses are evoked from people. Viewers haaaaaaate Joffrey, they looooove Tyrion, they think Cersei's hot and manipulative, they think Stannis is an asshole, they like Robb and they do not trust Littlefinger. The list goes on a bit, but there's very little of the "Tara is an unlikable idiot" type thing going on as there is in True Blood.

There's subtlety in the characters for sure, but the visceral responses are so well delivered that the characters are easy to recognize and associate, despite the politicking and maneuvering.

Joffrey is my favourite character in the TV show. He's great! gotta love that guy.

[Ceda Cicero]

Traveller, on 07 April 2013 - 07:21 AM, said:

Back on topic... !

I wonder if Dany will use the same trick as she uses in the book to gain the Unsullied.. even though they've kind of used that trick already?

I can't see them changing it too much, it is one of her biggest moments.

The trailers would definitely seem to hint that she will. Drogon in chains belching fire, etc.

[Manwitheyes]

Dang this show is wicked, wish episodes were 2 hours!

Queen of thorns was perfect!

But it the boltons capture Brienne/jaime, are the mummers written out? I really wanted to see vargo 8D

I liked anguay and thoros, especially when sander and thoros met, but are Tom o sevens and Lem written out as well?

I'm glad they're keeping the Rickard karstark story, helps to show the fragmentation of the north and will help when they get to adwd.

Sundays are awesome again (along with bobs burgers lol)

[amphibian]

I really like the kids being older than they are in the books. It just provides for better all around story-telling.

How does an eight year old Bran turn into a fuckin' sentient plant-warg after dealing with all that insane shit over the last two years as a six and seven year old?

[Abyss]

Slower ep tonight but Brienne v Jaime was great!
The scene with Joffrey showing Margerine his crossbow was suitably foreboding.

[Terez]

Abyss, on 08 April 2013 - 05:51 AM, said:

Slower ep tonight

I had the opposite impression. Last week was kind of set-up stuff; this week had more meat. There were a few good emotional moments; Shae with Sansa was good, and her jealousy seems like good foreshadowing; Sansa with the Tyrells was good (I liked the differences there; they really enhanced the scene), the Catelyn story was an interesting addition, foreshadowing of Margaery plotting to kill Joff was good, warg eyes were weird, love Mormont Sr., and Theon....is he really going to escape that quickly? He's not nearly mad enough yet. Also, the news of Bran and Rickon was watered down, wasn't it? I also like Jojen and Meera, and can't wait for a proper Rhaegar-Lyanna hint which will presumably come from the story of the tourney at Harrenhall.

[worry]

<3 Brienne <3

The Olenna scene was excellent, but I do miss Butterbumps though. The creepiest of all the creepy fools IMO (Patchface always struck me as kind of a "good" guy for some reason, don't ask me why). I'm not sure I can even describe the feeling I got the first time I read that scene, with Butterbumps singing The Bear and the Maiden Fair while Sansa is getting her mind blown over and over again, scared out of her mind. It was almost delirium, like in those older movies when a kid goes into a freaky funhouse and the creepy carnival organ music plays and the scene goes all psychedelic. It was pretty singular, as far as reading experiences go.

Re: Catelyn, I agree it was a neat addition. I've never been a everything-is-Cat's-fault person anyway, so a bit of self-flagellation and complicated empathy with her goes a long way. And not for nothing, this scene kind of reminded me that zombie-Cat has the potential to be a real wicked issuer of pain in her upcoming righteous vengeance (in the future books I mean).

Also, if Greatjon is gone for casting reasons, is Karstark gonna replace him?

It's good to see what's his face again, the bully who hates Sam. Wonder if we're gonna see Alliser Thorne/hand in jar stuff this season, that's another S1 loose end.

[Abyss]

Bran and Rickon was totally watered down. In the books iirc they tell Cat they're dead.

I bet Theon's not going anywhere and Bastard Bolton is just messing with him. Iirc he didn't even appear in the third book after he's taken prisoner, so this is getting into things that were implied but not written.

Jojen and Mira werent quite as swampy as i always imagined, but the actors worked nicely.

Is it just me or is Osha getting weirder?

Agreed Karstack seems to be replacing the Greatjon, but minus a few moments of violence, the role is pretty interchangeable among large hairy northman. The key moment of awesome was always really an aside to what else happens at the time (and that might have been his son, iirc).

[Terez]

worrywort, on 08 April 2013 - 10:13 AM, said:

Re: Catelyn, I agree it was a neat addition. I've never been a everything-is-Cat's-fault person anyway, so a bit of self-flagellation and complicated empathy with her goes a long way. And not for nothing, this scene kind of reminded me that zombie-Cat has the potential to be a real wicked issuer of pain in her upcoming righteous vengeance (in the future books I mean).

A friend of mine bitched about that scene on Facebook, said it destroyed Catelyn's character. I argued that it didn't, even though I definitely got that impression at the beginning of her story; by the time it was done, it was a net zero kind of situation. It could have happened, and Catelyn is still Catelyn; she reneged on her promise to the gods. I think the point of the scene was mostly to remind viewers about the bastard Jon story as a prelude to a R+L hint, to make sure they hadn't forgotten about it.

[amphibian]

Yeah, I agree with Terez, while adding that all of this is leading up to what I believe will be the final scene this year - zombie Catelyn rising up after Beric gives up his life.

Bolton is the person who took the hood off Theon and let the device go loose a bit. He is totally playing games with Theon right now.

One of the future episodes is titled The Bear and the Maiden Fair, so the jester scene could come out then.

[Terez]

amphibian, on 08 April 2013 - 04:31 PM, said:

Bolton is the person who took the hood off Theon and let the device go loose a bit. He is totally playing games with Theon right now.

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm not hip enough on casting or indeed even the characters involved to make deductions like that. I can never tell the difference between all the minor lords; it makes no difference to me whether it's Karstark or Greatjon. Though I might feel differently after another reread. My last one filled in a few holes of confusion.

Briar King, on 08 April 2013 - 04:37 PM, said:

I think me and Terez would be tied for Rebelness!

I always think of LA as being slightly less southern than the rest of the Deep South. It's all the Frenchiness. Northern LA is different and might as well be part of Arkansas.

[Abyss]

This ep was all setup... not a bad thing, but Jaime and Brienne being taken was the only serious plot advancement that happened. Arguably Arya falling in with the Brotherhood too but that's just setup for her plotline with the hand and sticking Benji in placeholderville. Sam, Jon, Bran and co all walked from point a to point b and talked. Cat, Tyrion and Shae, Sansa and the Tyrells, Joffrey and Margarine, Robb and misc, Bolton and Theon... more or less just talked, and very little new information was conveyed. Even the worg thing was putting a name on something we had already seen.

I'm not being critical, but i preferred the revelation of where people were at in the first ep (Davos lives, Sam's running for his life, Dany purchasing troops, Selmy...) to minute steps fwd in the second. None of the various chats had the sheer impact of tyrion's exchanges with Cersei or Tywin.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Manwitheyes, on 08 April 2013 - 04:12 AM, said:

But it the boltons capture Brienne/jaime, are the mummers written out? I really wanted to see vargo 8D

If you have a look at the Game of Thrones wiki (the TV series one, not the books) there's an article about Locke, the character on the white horse who talks to Brienne and Jaime, and it explains his role as the replacement to Vargo and the Bloody Mummers.

I enjoyed that episode - nice to have Arya back and I like Margaery the more I watch her. Diana Rigg was brilliant as Olenna and I'm enjoying the Theon scenes - I don't think it would have worked as well in the TV series to lose him for the length of time we do in the books (certainly not for show-only viewers at any rate.)

I agree with Abyss though - lots of setup, very little plot advancement. The next episode is called "Walk of Punishment" so it'll be interesting to see where they go.

On a point though - does anybody else find all this setup of Shae as being nice a little jarring?

[Abyss]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 08 April 2013 - 07:58 PM, said:

...On a point though - does anybody else find all this setup of Shae as being nice a little jarring?

Depends. If she ends up in the same place as the book goes with her

Spoiler

betraying Tyrion at his trial and shacking up with Tywin when Tyrion kills her

, it will be way more dramatic.

If they're going in another direction entirely, well, hey, they haven't dissappointed so far. The inclusion of Shae and Ros in the Littlefinger/Sansa plotline is reminder that they are far from stuck with whatever GRRM did.

[worry]

Setup IS plot advancement. The beginning part.

Also that scene with Olenna underlined once again just how great the casting has been for the kids. Sansa killed it.

Also, Hot Pie. The greatest literary creation of all time just might also be the greatest television character of all time.

[worry]

Yah...but as far as I recall, Thoros is considered kind of a fraud and a laughing stock in the early books, at least in terms of the flaming sword and the red god and all that. And for as long as he's been in Westeros -- and he predates Melisandre by at least a decade I think -- he may have genuinely been a fraud until the recent resurgence of magic.

[Abyss]

worrywort, on 08 April 2013 - 09:35 PM, said:

Setup IS plot advancement. The beginning part.
...

Yesbut when you have ten different plots you can afford to mix some payoff in with your setup.