[worry]

I think I forgot if Loras is already on the Kingsguard, but that happened at the end of Season 2 didn't it?

[Terez]

I thought it did; it was part of the bargain Littlefinger set up with the Tyrells.

[worry]

Yah...that does make the Tyrell women's offer to Sansa a bit more implicitly sinister, beyond the surface manipulation.

[Terez]

Yeah, at least in the book they burst her Loras bubble immediately.

[Ceda Cicero]

I gotta say, the show is massively exceeding my expectations regarding Ramsay and Theon's plot. After he was left out of the sack of Winterfell in season 2 I was worried that his introduction to the show would lack the sinister quality that it had in the books, with him befriending Theon as Reek then turning the game. The writers handled this brilliantly. They saved cash by moving Ramsay to season 3 and they managed to keep the "OH SHIT this guy is BAD" moment relatively intact. The expression on Ramsay's (and I'm 99.5% sure that is Ramsay) face when he raises the torch and illuminates the flaying rack was absolutely chilling. All in all I'd actually say that the show is doing a better job than the books at cultivating Theon's storyline (at least this season) because we're actually seeing the Theon-->Reek process take place, whereas in the books it happens offscreen.

That said, it's so gods-awful, by the end of it, I may well end up wishing it'd been kept offscreen in show as in books...

[worry]

Agree with you CC (here's an awesome gif: http://i.imgur.com/xtIsRRJ.gif ) and BK, it's a different actor for Beric.

[MTS]

The new guy also looks a fair bit older as well. For some reason I thought the guy with the bow was Beric due to his similar appearance with the actor from the first season.

[Ceda Cicero]

MTS, on 24 April 2013 - 04:27 AM, said:

The new guy also looks a fair bit older as well. For some reason I thought the guy with the bow was Beric due to his similar appearance with the actor from the first season.

Just for S&G's:

S1 Beric: Beric-Dondarrion-house-baratheon-29653683-937-719.jpg
S3 Beric: 319751_10151251494682734_560809609_n.jpg

The nice thing here is that they have arguably the best built-in explanation for an actor change that you can find, ever: "Motherfucker been killed and rezzed like 15 times, whatchoo expect?!"

[MTS]

Well I would expect most people who just watch the show wouldn't even remember who he is, cos he appears for about 10 seconds in the first season. I know I had to show my gf the scene in which he appears after the last episode.

[worry]

You're right about the book. In the show, he collapses, but after it cuts away to other action, it comes back to beardy villain (I suppose it's Rast, with bits of Chett thrown in) recovering from being choked by Jeor and stabbing his fallen body several more times. It's unknown whether he's technically dead and if the scene with Sam will happen, but it didn't happen this episode...they could do it somewhat like the Maester Luwin scene last year I suppose.

[Tsundoku]

Funny.

http://www.news.com....0-1226629324212

US ambassador Jeffrey Bleich pleads: Australia, stop pirating Game of Thrones
by: By Daniel Piotrowski
From: news.com.au April 25, 2013 12:19PM

Extraordinary plea: Aussie piracy out of control
We're the world's worst Game of Thrones pirates
No excuses for Aussies anymore: US official

GEORGE R R Martin's epic rant about his favourite NFL team might help explain what is taking him so long to finish the series which has so far taken 17 years to write, with no end in sight.
THE top US official in Australia has taken the extraordinary step of pleading with us to stop pirating Game of Thrones.
Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich - who confesses to being a fan of the 'great epic' - says he is troubled with news we're one of the world's biggest pirates of the HBO fantasy series.

"Unfortunately, nearly as epic and devious as the drama, is its unprecedented theft by online viewers around the world," Mr Bleich wrote in a Facebook post.

"As the Ambassador here in Australia, it was especially troubling to find out that Australian fans were some of the worst offenders with among the highest piracy rates of Game of Thrones in the world."

He added that Australians can no longer use the excuse of the time delay between the series broadcast in the US and Australia to steal episodes.

"While some people here used to claim that they used pirate sites only because of a delay in getting new episodes here, the show is now available from legitimate sources within hours of its broadcast in the United States," Mr Bleich wrote.

Parents of young fans who refuse to pay for a subscription, or issues with copyright law are not valid excuses either, he said. "None of those reasons is an excuse - stealing is stealing."

Downloading content illegally is not a victimless crime, he said, as artists like the Game of Thrones crew can only do their work if they can be paid for it.

If the four million people who watch Game of Thrones legally had been illegal downloaders, Mr Bleich writes, the latest hit season would never have been made.

"Buying a book in store costs more and takes longer than stealing it from your neighbour's house, but we all know it is the right thing to do and allows authors to make a living and write more books," Mr Bleich argued.

The series is understood to be one of the most expensive currently broadcast on television, with E! reporting the series costs around $6 million per episode.

One episode was illegally downloaded over four million times in 2012 according to BitTorrent trackers. That's the same number as the amount of people who watched it on TV.

Episodes are filmed on location in countries such as Malta, Iceland, Croatia and Morocco.

More than one million viewers illegally downloaded the debut episode of the third season, which went to air in the US on March 31 this year.

Ambassador Bleich was appointed US Ambassador to Australia by President Obama in November 2009.

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

1. Piracy isn't theft, it's illegal copying.
2. Get rid of the "Australia Tax" on downloaded software (and especially the physical goods we buy at ghastly inflated rates that can't be justified by "transport costs" ) as well as geolocking and maybe we'll talk.
3. It's OK to invade a country and kill it's people but please don't illegally copy our TV shows?????
4. Awesome comment: GaryQ of Winterfell Posted at 4:17 PM Today
We have to stock up in Australia - Winter is coming
5. Interesting: http://www.guardian....s-piracy-record
6. Hello! : http://www.unblock-us.com/

This post has been edited by Sombra: 25 April 2013 - 09:16 AM

[Morgoth]

Theft is what the legal code defines as theft, surely.

[Abyss]

Morgoth, on 25 April 2013 - 06:15 PM, said:

Theft is what the legal code defines as theft, surely.

No doubt.

Now figure out which legal code applies to downloading from the internet....

[Blend]

Has anyone else ever seen Misfits? The guy who plays Ramsay Bolton plays one of the characters in the first few seasons of that show, and everytime I see him, now, all I can think of is "I wanna piss on your tits!" which anyone who has seen the show will understand. I think that he's a very excellent choice for Ramsay Snow, I'm really excited to see where they go with the character in the show!

[Agraba]

So this latest episode seems to suggest that the whole plot line with Edric Storm is being removed, and Shireen is the one with "king's blood" that Melisandre will demand sacrificed. (Especially with "Edric" being one of the names of the failed children in those jars.) I'm thinking it's building up her relationship with Davos so that when he learns that she's up for sacrificing, he will save her by spiriting her away. But they're still doing that whole reading plot line, where he'll use his new found skill to warn Stannis of the call from the Wall.

I thought Jamie's tub scene with Brienne was absolutely brilliant, and the highlight of episode 5. It's just as powerful and memorable as it was in the book. It was one of those moments where my perspective of Jamie really started to turn around.

This post has been edited by Agraba: 29 April 2013 - 07:23 AM

[Brujah]

Man. I'm way behind everyone, but I finally saw episodes 1 and 2, and I think they're absolutely kick-ass so far. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I've been missing them due to not having movie channels currently and reading about how good this season has been in this thread, but I thought the first two seasons were great, and this season is above par so far.

If anyone wants to rewatch one of the older episodes, falcoepisodes.com has all episodes from seasons 1 and 2 and up through ep 5 of this season available to stream online for free.

Like I said, I've only seen the first two episodes but I love Bronn and Tyrion the most so far, and I also think they did a better than expected job with Jojen Reed and Margaery Tyrell, who I really think come out as far more interesting via show than even in the book. Dany is still oh-my-friggin-god hot, I love her. Seriously, I'm really not kidding here. I'm sick. I'm in love with this woman. I love her. It's some weird, bad complex.

Anyway, looking forward to the rest of season, greatly.

[amphibian]

Jaime and Brienne in the tub was an amazing scene. It also allowed me to ask the following to a lady friend in front of the group watching the show:

"Sara, on a scale from 1 to 10, how disappointed were you to not see Jaimie's wang there?"

"7.5, they could give us women something once in a while - and that spy with Loras doesn't fully help either."

[Abyss]

Great swordfight at the start. Nicely showed the Hound's fear of fire even tho he's still a superior swordsman. The bit with the blood lighting the sword was nicely understated.

[Terez]

I would have liked the tub scene more if they hadn't cut the bit about the Starks from it.

[Blend]

Briar King, on 25 April 2013 - 11:36 PM, said:

I want to piss on your tits...huh

The 14 yr old boy inside me is telling me to randomly say this to the next female I see, the 32 yr old me cringes knowing I'd get the fuck slapped out of my face. Ha

Heh, as a follow up, this is what I mean: