[GENERAL DISCUSSION] [SPOILERS] HBO's Game of Thrones Series

[kiwibloke]

i know at least 5 people like that... but fortunatelly i know a couple who did read the books and they recommended them to me

[mephistopholes]

They think us so stupid that they changed the name of Asha so as not to confuse her with Osha. Yes, that's how much they underestimate the viewers' intelligence. The gal is also miscast, horribly so.

.

i thought Asha was miscast at first (she looks nothing like i imagined) but then there's that moment where Balon (who looks exactly how i imagined) is standing right next to her and SHE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE HIM! i thought it was awesome.

i want Stannis's goatee back.

i wanted Roose Bolton to be. . . softer somehow. actually most of the time i imagined him looking like Alan Rickman.

[Skizbot]

Whoa. Harenhall looked beyond amazing in the opening sequence.

Also, flying over the sun, seeing the Shivering Sea and going all the way to Qarth...coolest version of the opening credits I've seen.

[Skizbot]

Strange episode. A lot of good but a lot of bad. I did like how the episode starts with 2 Lannister soldiers basically answering this thread. But- does EVERYONE know Renly and Loras are gay? I understand it would be known around certain nobles and people in Kings Landing, but how the hell do two random soldiers at Oxcross know?

[Dux]

Strange episode. A lot of good but a lot of bad. I did like how the episode starts with 2 Lannister soldiers basically answering this thread. But- does EVERYONE know Renly and Loras are gay? I understand it would be known around certain nobles and people in Kings Landing, but how the hell do two random soldiers at Oxcross know?

I agree with your opinion about the episode. There were some strange scenes that didn't make any sense. I'm not very positive about this episode.

[Aetius]

Episode 4 was okay, I am starting to think that the books don't really translate well into this video medium though.

The shadow baby scene was crazy though...

[Korpskog]

How hot was that last scene?

[Korpskog]

Also, flying over the sun, seeing the Shivering Sea and going all the way to Qarth...coolest version of the opening credits I've seen.

I was disappointed that they did not show anything from the Iron Islands but still showed it at the Intro and yet the opposite with Dragonstone/Stannis should it not have been a Storms End since thats were they were?

[Prophet1331]

Just saw the latest episode.

1. Just when I though that they couldn't make Joffrey more annoying and death worthy (after the scene with Sansa), the "gift" scene appeared. Gotta say it was effective. It took cruelty to another level. Aerys II was a blessing for the realm compared to him (at least he had a certain charisma in his insanity).

2. I didn't picture Harrenhal being that much a ruin. The first view of it (with the prisoners) was pretty cool. But I can't see how anyone could defend that castle, or if you could call it a castle. (Looked more like Moat Cailin in my view or a Weathertop from LOTR transfered to Westeros)

3. Tywin Lannister is definitely a cool character. Not as cruel looking as in the books, but still one of my favorite characters.

4. Was Xaro Xoan Daxos (or however you spell his name) actually from the Summer Islands in the books ? I might have missed it as I didn't find Dany's Pov chapters that intersting.

5. The last scene was pretty crazy. I think though that the Shadow is quite visible.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It looks quite easy to spot in the tent. That scene will definitely be different from the books.

Those are my opinions. It was a good episode.

[Inarus]

I have one single reaction to that episode, one single reaction to the end of that episode I should say:

I feel dirty, very dirty... That was just... wrong!

[HannibalExMachina]

stannis would agree

[Pinkie Pie]

I have one single reaction to that episode, one single reaction to the end of that episode I should say:

I feel dirty, very dirty... That was just... wrong!

Does that mean we share the opinion that the latest episode was not good or that you just found something in it disgusting?

[ggggtotalwarrior]

I thought season 2 was finally heading in the right direction after the somewhat decent episode three (not great but way better than the first 2), then 4 was a huge disappointment. The scene with Joffrey, where the hell did it come from? The problem with season two is that there are too many storylines to fit into 10 episodes, and every storyline suffers from it. They should've split ACoK into 2 seasons. The first season wokred because there were only two storylines for most of it, but season two is taking away so many important story lines, but also adding so much crap

-LF's whorehouse
-Taking out large chunks of the story (skipping Arya's time with Gendry, Hot Pie and Greenhands)
-Craster hitting Jon in face (WTF!!!!!!)
-Joffrey with whores WTF was that?
-No Tully family members??? No Riverrun???
-"Yara" Greyjoy. My uncle got me into watching season 1, and he hasnt read the books. He was so confused and thought scene on the horse was disgusting. "Why the hell is his sister letting him do that????"
-This

Several characters from A Clash of Kings are not known to have been cast for season two. These include:

Ser Jacelyn Bywater; Bronn takes his place as new city watch commander in the adaptation,
a pair of Crannogmen siblings, Meera and Jojen Reed,
two young Freys fostered at Winterfell, known as Big Walder and Little Walder,
Roose Bolton's bastard son, Ramsay Snow,
one of Theon's three uncles, Aeron "Damphair" Greyjoy,
Davos Seaworth's other sons (Dale, Allard, Maric and Devan),
the daughter of Stannis and his wife Selyse Florent, Shireen and their fool Patchface,
the mercenary leader Vargo Hoat and his sellsword company, the "Brave Companions."

-Talisa, a healer from Volantis. She is Robb Stark's romantic interest, a role played in the novels by the noblewoman Jeyne Westerling.

-Gregor Clegane recast (not their fault, but still sucks)
-Killing Dany's bloodrider!!!!!!!!
-LF meeting Cat at Storm's End (how will the role of Ned's bones change now??"
-Sallahdor Saan:

Finally, the part of the Lyseni pirate Salladhor Saan went to Lucian Msamati. Msamati's physical appearance, a British black actor of Tanzanian descent, contrasts with Sallahdor's portrayal in the books, were he is described with the typical fair-haired and skinned look of the free city of Lys

-Any scene without Peter Dinklage

Now the Good-
-Peter Dinklage

[ImeImeIme]

I think people have too high expectations for this whole show to be nothing but EXACTLY like the book.
It's obviously not going to be like that. There's going to be subtle changes, either additions or subtractions that makes this show unique but still faithful to books.

As for Episode 4, yes it did have some rather disturbing scenes haha, but I don't at all feel 'angry' or 'pissed off' because they changed some stuff. It's an adaptation, not an identical copy.

[Sardaukar One]

This is very, very simple. You said you did not believe that the ASOIAF characters of Renly and Loras in the books were deliberately gay. Thats incorrect. The only issue here is that you've drawn a connection between "being deliberately written as gay" and "being openly gay". Thats all.

You are the one who stated they were 'deliberately' gay. As you did not explain what the difference is between being 'deliberately' gay and gay, I presumed you meant that they were openly gay. Which they are not. You also have yet to explain what the difference is between being deliberately gay and gay.
Written or otherwise.

A poster thought that it was the TV show that made them gay, and that GRRM had not intended for them to be that way. I told the poster that, in fact, the author HAD deliberately made them gay, and the TV show had not invented that. You thought deliberate meant that they were openly, obviously, or clearly gay. It doesn't in any way. You are allowed to occasionally make a mistake with interpreting words. Its ok, chill and move on.

I thought that your use of deliberatelty gay meant that you were saying they were openly gay.
Until you explain yourself over what the difference between being deliberately gay and gay, we shall never really know. What is it now, three or four days for you to tell us what the difference is?

As you make mistakes with understanding what words mean; such as you thinking accidental was the opposite of deliberate.

Its ok, chill and move on.

Sounds like you should take your own advice.

As you say here,you misunderstood the meaning of the word deliberate, and though it meant something about being open. That was a mistake, which I think you've realized by now, so I don't know what you're arguing anymore. No one thinks you're dumb, we all occasionally misunderstand certain words. This is getting silly, sentence like this:

Thats not what I said. I said I misunderstood your use of the word 'delibartely' when you said they were "deliberately gay." I can't figure out why you are refusing to 'understand' this.
This misunderstanding is based because i'm not sure what the difference between being deliberately gay and day is. I know you don't; its why you don't answer this question and its why you keep on sticking to the same 'it doesn't make sense' line. I think I know what you meant, but I won't say as thats the reason we are here now.

I wrote this

If Renly and Loras not being open about their relationship, whats so deliberate about making them gay? I think this is way down on the deliberate rankings with GRRM for his characters in GOT.

to which you replied

do not make any sort of sense.

Renly and Loras are written as being 'deliberately gay'. Actually, they are just written as gay. And if GRRM deliberated on these characters, he spent a lot more deliberation on just about every single other character in the books.

And it should be "Does not make any sort of sense", not "Do not make any sort of sense". And I believe you can drop the 'sort of' before sense. So it should read "Does not make any sense."
Any English language majors in the house?
As you said, we all make mistakes. But someone who claims to know what words mean ought to be able to put words together properly. Innit!

Please read the first listing under "antonyms" (an antonym is a word with an opposite meaning).

They got that one wrong would be my guess and you know it.
Check out this site and Please read the listings under "antonyms" here. No accidental!

http://www.answers.com/topic/deliberate

No accidental here either. In the negative in fact!

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/deliberate

It is a 'near Antonym' here, but no 'Antonym'.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deliberate

I'll see you this weekend or next week spanky! Have to take the pc into the store to get fixed.

[Sardaukar One]

I think people have too high expectations for this whole show to be nothing but EXACTLY like the book.
It's obviously not going to be like that. There's going to be subtle changes, either additions or subtractions that makes this show unique but still faithful to books.

They do. The problem is that season one was so damn good and very true to the first book, it got people thinking that later seasons would be the same.

As for Episode 4, yes it did have some rather disturbing scenes haha, but I don't at all feel 'angry' or 'pissed off' because they changed some stuff. It's an adaptation, not an identical copy.

Joffrey and his 'present' was too much. We all know he is a psychopath. Its like adding gasoline to an already raging fire.

I did like Bronn's statement for Joffrey ; "There's no cure for being a c##t!"

Is Harrenhall supposed to be that dilapidated? I knew it needed repairs, but I didn't realize it was that bad.

I was disappointed that they did not show anything from the Iron Islands but still showed it at the Intro and yet the opposite with Dragonstone/Stannis should it not have been a Storms End since thats were they were?

I agree! Maybe they made a mistake? Perhaps we will see Storms End in the next episode.

[Skizbot]

I think people have too high expectations for this whole show to be nothing but EXACTLY like the book.
It's obviously not going to be like that. There's going to be subtle changes, either additions or subtractions that makes this show unique but still faithful to books.

As for Episode 4, yes it did have some rather disturbing scenes haha, but I don't at all feel 'angry' or 'pissed off' because they changed some stuff. It's an adaptation, not an identical copy.

That attitude can certainly be found among members of the fan base, to which my response has always been, if you want the books, go read the books. All I want is a well made television show. The first season pulled that off perfectly, and I didn't mind the deviations from the book.

As for the second season, I think even the most loyal fans of the show would agree it hasn't been as good as the first. That's a bit troubling, because I thought for the first three books, each one was better than the last. Instead of finding myself eager for next week's episode, I'm just eager for The Winds of Winter.

My biggest complaint with this season so far has been the length. The average episode for this season so far seems to come in at around 52 minutes, give or take. That's absurd, its hard enough to fit the entirety of ACOK (and, one can expect, some elements of ASOS for things like the Jaime storyline and the Robb romance) into ten hours. I see no reason why the episodes should not be an hour long, especially when you apparently have five minutes to spend with Joff torturing whores. He's a dick. We get it.

[Tek1D]

The Opening Scene & The End Scene best thing about Episode 4! lol

[Inarus]

Does that mean we share the opinion that the latest episode was not good or that you just found something in it disgusting?

On one hand the stuff that was skipped is beginning to annoy me, on the other hand this is the still the best thing on TV atm.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I like how they planted the seed for Catelyn's future actions (regarding Jaime).

[Aetius]

Because there are only 10 episodes I would like the writers of HBO need to realize that every minute has to count. They are wasting precious time in a complex story with whores and other made up scenes. Stop that, NOW.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I think Episode 4 would have been better if the time spent on Joffrey's whore was give to Robb Stark battle. It doesn't have to be expensive and fancy, just show some fighting, cavalry running through the camp throwing torches on tents, a few lannistermen getting hacked down, that sort of thing. The audience needs to realize that a war is indeed going on. The second problem was that Stannis' arrival was poorly explained. To us book readers we can fill in the gaps but imagine someone who hasn't. Why is Stannis suddenly on this grass hill with his brother? What is he doing? What is he trying to achieve? How did he get here? A quick scene of Stannis explaining to his council on board the fleet his plan to besiege Storms End and draw out his brother would have helped clarify that immensely (and it would have only taken a minute or so)

I am saying this because I watch GoT with a non book reading friend and he still can't name Stannis or Renly yet after four episodes and can't clearly elucidate their goals or motives.