[Terez]

Interesting...no Cersei this episode. Not too surprising, but that gives more time for everyone else.

[Terez]

I am really, really shocked that Stannis went through with it. And now I'm wondering what could possibly cause Melisandre to return to the Wall. Regrets?

[HoosierDaddy]

That has been exceedingly telegraphed. No one should be shocked by it.

As soon as she got the gift.

[LinearPhilosopher]

that didnt turn out the way it did in the books, not that im complaining.

[flea]

This episode out Martined Martin -- making us sympathetic to Stannis, only to make us want to seem him burn.

The fighting pit scene was so well done.

This post has been edited by flea: 08 June 2015 - 03:04 AM

[LinearPhilosopher]

A thought that occured to me. The first fighter, the big guy, was that the same actor as the guy who played the mountain in s4?

[Terez]

BalrogLord, on 08 June 2015 - 02:32 AM, said:

that didnt turn out the way it did in the books, not that im complaining.

I just watched the interviews with Benoiff and Weiss and apparently Shireen came directly from GRRM. Not that that surprises me, really. It was much more believable for book Stannis than show Stannis.

[worry]

I didn't expect it before this episode (would have said 60/40 against), but the moment he sent Davos away instead of Melisandre, it was clear he'd sold his soul. And giving Selyse the change of heart was a nice way to underscore it. What that ultimately means for his "reign": I'm betting it's short-lived.

Also good to see Hizdahr, for all his faults, wasn't a secret bad guy. He always seemed genuine, even if Meereen aristocracy-style conservative. Same goes for Thorne, as written on the show. I kinda hope he's not one of the conspirators...and it's clear Bowen Marsh has the hate-face (and Olly of course).

I guess the only thing I didn't like was piling on one more awful detail about Meryn. I don't care that much, but he didn't need it. Suppose it'll probably be Arya's "in" to getting up close and personal, so whatever.

This post has been edited by worry: 08 June 2015 - 04:22 AM

[worry]

And yah, riding Drogon did look a little bit like riding Falkor, but even "big" TV budgets are shackled by the still-huge cost of CGI. There's a reason Tangled is in the top 5 most expensive movies ever made.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

I think Shireen is actually foreshadowed in the books. I'll put this all under spoilers as I don't know who has read what on here, and it's mostly just theory anyway:

Spoiler

1. Melisandre makes mention several times of waking dragons from stone. She also believes only king's blood can accomplish this.

2. "Only death may pay for life" is a phrase thrown in by plenty of characters, although I think it's Miri Maz Dur who first says it to Dany.

3. There's a point where Melisandre tells Selyse that Shireen must be at the Wall to play a role of prominence. Granted in the books, nothing prominent has happened yet.

4. Shireen has greyscale - Val repeatedly says to Jon that she's dead and calls her a monster. Albeit she has the non-lethal childhood affliction, I'm going to leap and say it's a reference to the affliction of the Stone Men in Old Valyria.

4. It's a fairly solid idea that Jon's not properly dead following the Ides of Marsh, and that Melisandre will play a part in his not-dead-ness.

5. Ergo, Shireen's role of prominence is to pay with her death for the life of Jon - thus "waking a dragon" (R+L=J) "from stone".

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 08 June 2015 - 06:42 AM

[Terez]

Good stuff. I have only just started book 3 in my reread. I meant to do one before this season started but didn't quite manage it. I think the last time I did a reread was when I read ADWD, which was a little while after it came out, and I skipped the plotlines I didn't care about in books 4 and 5. I think I didn't have time to be a trufan of this series until WoT was done. I didn't watch the show the first season because I was so scared it would suck. In some ways, it kind of does, but they make up for it in (mostly) amazing casting and just the simple visualization of a great story.

Apparently, Kit Harington is telling people that if he is going to be filming this summer, he won't be able to tell anyone about it. I can't imagine how they will manage to keep that entirely under wraps, despite the fact that they're filming in Iceland. Huffington Post also mentions that he was one of a number of cast members who renegotiated big raises for the potential season 7.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Terez, on 08 June 2015 - 08:39 AM, said:

Good stuff. I have only just started book 3 in my reread. I meant to do one before this season started but didn't quite manage it. I think the last time I did a reread was when I read ADWD, which was a little while after it came out, and I skipped the plotlines I didn't care about in books 4 and 5. I think I didn't have time to be a trufan of this series until WoT was done. I didn't watch the show the first season because I was so scared it would suck. In some ways, it kind of does, but they make up for it in (mostly) amazing casting and just the simple visualization of a great story.

Apparently, Kit Harington is telling people that if he is going to be filming this summer, he won't be able to tell anyone about it. I can't imagine how they will manage to keep that entirely under wraps, despite the fact that they're filming in Iceland. Huffington Post also mentions that he was one of a number of cast members who renegotiated big raises for the potential season 7.

I can't imagine them being able to keep it a secret, although it would suggest they'll leave season 5 on a cliffhanger in terms of Jon doesn't it?

I badly need to do a re-read actually - I only remember that stuff because it's been a pet theory of mine for a while. I read ADWD when it came out having not done a re-read for a couple of years, and I'm now at the point where my other half (a non-book reader) and I watch the show, and sometimes when he asks if something is show-only or not I'm genuinely unsure!

Every time I think about re-reading though, I remember how turgid I found ADWD and end up reading something else!

[Gorefest]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 08 June 2015 - 09:00 AM, said:

Every time I think about re-reading though, I remember how turgid I found ADWD and end up reading something else!

For what it's worth, I hear a lot of people saying that on a re-read both aFfC and aDwD are a lot more palpatable.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Gorefest, on 08 June 2015 - 09:43 AM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 08 June 2015 - 09:00 AM, said:

Every time I think about re-reading though, I remember how turgid I found ADWD and end up reading something else!

For what it's worth, I hear a lot of people saying that on a re-read both aFfC and aDwD are a lot more palpatable.

Hmm, I'll bear it in mind. In fairness I did like AFfC more the second time around.

[Terez]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 08 June 2015 - 09:00 AM, said:

I read ADWD when it came out having not done a re-read for a couple of years, and I'm now at the point where my other half (a non-book reader) and I watch the show, and sometimes when he asks if something is show-only or not I'm genuinely unsure!

I just reread books 1 and 2 and I'm already forgetting whether some bits happened in the books or not. I get really confused with the whole Polliver-Raff-Meryn mashup that became Mercy in TWOW and is divided between the sequence we're getting now with Ser Meryn in Braavos and the earlier scene where she got back Needle from...Polliver? It was Polliver wasn't it? I'm reading in the books and she hasn't gotten Needle back yet, but I remember that the person who stole Needle was not the same person who killed Lommy in the books. I just don't remember which, but apparently Raff is the one who killed him because Westeros just reminded me (in their book-to-screen analysis) that Raff was the name of the guy in the Mercy scene. And she repeated the Lommy words to him just like she did in the show with...Polliver? I think it was Polliver. And I don't remember if Polliver is still alive in the books. Maybe he's the one with Needle, since Raff is the one who killed Lommy.

[QuickTidal]

Dany had more exciting things happen in the last ten minutes of that episode than in two whole books.

[Primateus]

Terez, on 08 June 2015 - 01:54 AM, said:

I am really, really shocked that Stannis went through with it. And now I'm wondering what could possibly cause Melisandre to return to the Wall. Regrets?

He did it, he fucking did it! I was absolutely sure he wouldn't do it. But the moment that gift came out, I just knew it was going to happen. I've absolutely loved Stannis' story arch, but this just lowers him to Joffrey levels, even if he didn't want to but felt he had. No, he fucking did it when he shouldn't have.

But also brilliant television, to be sure. And the queens change of heart was also brilliantly done.

I loved the fighting pit, it was really well done even though I knew it would happen. Damn my propensity for looking up spoilers. Sure, the CGI at the escape did seem a bit...off. but still, it was bloody awesome.

So, we've had two episodes with tremendously awesome events, though I believe that the white walkers attack wins out in sheer awesomeness, not just for the attack itself, but for the way the actors managed to portray complete and utter shellshock when rowing away in the very last scene.

This season didn't really start out very well, but holy fuck it's ending on a enormously high note for me.

Edit: Not to mention Bronn, that was actually very good too. He continues to deliver!

This post has been edited by Primateus: 08 June 2015 - 10:52 AM

[Gorefest]

I keep saying The Wolves of Winter instead of The Winds of Winter. Damn you Erikson with your subliminal takeover!

[Cause]

Spoiler

Will Jon Snow be betrayed and murdered? In the interest of brevity the show may tackle this issue in a slightly different manner. After all if its not happened in episodee 9 will it?

My own take is we won't need a sacrifice for his resurrection. We see dead people brought back to life all the time. My take is that by riding in Snow his spirit will be safe so when he comes back he won't be less than he was the first time. Otherwise we see that dying and being resurrected repeatedly has long term health/ mind consequences

Did the spoiler codes change?

[Ceda Cicero]

Though I'm overall far, far less attached to Shireen as a character than, say, Ned, Robb, Cat... Any of the many that have died... For some reason that scene was harder to watch than any of the others so far. I'm not particularly surprised, but I am at an absolute loss as to how to feel about Stannis now.

Also, apparently the Sons of the Harpy have a VERY strict "attack them one at a time, NEVER all at once" policy.