Really thought that Gilly's character in episode 2 was way off. She seemed way too confident, demanding and 'normal' from what I found the books to portray her as.

To be honest, I came out of Season 1 desperate for the next season. Then I read the books. And I think given the nature of the series, knowing what's to come really kills a large amount of the enjoyment.

Either way, I do see mainstream audiences waning after another season or two. A lot of the upcoming events, and the general "Good things never happen in Westeros" may alienate a lot of people. The story also slows down considerably (especially as more and more characters, locations and subplots are added), and I can see a lot of people losing patience over it.

Spoiler

For example, we're 5 books in and Dany still hasn't returned to Westeros, and her storyline has only just started to converge with what's happening there. I know a lot of the more mainstream watchers are expecting her to come in with her dragons and fuck things up for the Lannisters within a season or two.

Series like this really do become the type of thing that turns into a more cult-base of watchers after a while. People stop watching, and newcomers can't be bothered going back and watching earlier seasons. It's not the type of thing you can just start watching halfway through like many other sci fi/fantasy series (like say, Stargate).

They have done a very good job so far, so let's hope they finish it in its entirety, with no major changes. =)

 

Here's hoping they speed up Dany's arrival.

 

Which is the main problem with the show. Dany hasn't shown up in a while now because they have to fit so much other shit yet people will be expecting her. I'm gonna say something crazy but I think that the producers that wanted to make a movie out of it were right, they should have just cut her completely. There's no way a modern TV audience can look at a girl with the only dragons in the world and not assume that she's going to come back and take over, and when she doesn't... Jon's arc has the same problem but not as bad. But Dany doesn't contribute anything except take up more space in an already crowded show.

 

Dany's storyline is so underachieving. Khal Drogo dies, her brother dies, and nothing gets off the ground. It takes the entire first season for her to get infant dragons.

It's less noticeable because it's interspersed by the Westeros scenes, but looking at it as a whole, it surprises me with how dull and uneventful it is.

 

I like that about it, I like the idea that dragons don't fast track her to success. Not to mention that most of her problems are tied to her character. And well, it would go against the majority of the books for her to just get a pass.

On TV obviously, it fails.

 

Yeah. When I first watched the season 1 my take on the entire plot was that there were two events that would become the underlying premise of the story:

1. The Others/whitewalkers coming to fuck everyone over, becoming the ultimate villains of the story.
2. Dany with her dragons being the saviour for 1. The end of the first season felt like it was marking a pivotal moment, where she'd make the transformation from little girl into a Queen. And a moment that would see the rest of the story fast moving for her. It felt like that sort of build up.

I thought by the book 5 it'd be some epic battle of the entire of Westeros joining forces under Dany's banner to take on the undead.

Of course, that is a very stereotypical fantasy story. And as I started to understand reading more of George Martin's story telling style, it's NOT a stereotypical fantasy story. The Others play a significant role in Jon's storyline, but no one else's. The dragons play a pivotal part in Dany's storyline, but no one else's.

As opposed to one cohesive plot with some main characters, it feels like a collection of seperate stories running cocurrently in the same universe with some rudimentary interaction between them. He could have potentially even have released seperate books, each focusing on only one subplot and it'd still work.

To some extent, I think that's what makes it very unique as a fantasy story. But it also makes it hard to approach at times. There's many TV shows out there that almost intentionally try to stretch it out over seasons to rake in as much money as possible (Lost, Prison Break, Battlestar Galactica, etc etc) and it's very obvious. In the case of Game of Thrones, its not being stretched out for that purpose, but for someone who is expecting a focus on Dany and the "Whitewalkers" it will certainly feel like that.

I read the books one after another over 2-3 weeks. So I never really felt that bored or impatient. But for someone who will have to watch the series over 7 years? Probably will feel very tedious.

 

Joffrey takes bastardism to a whole new level...

...and you don't realize how truly fucked up Game of Thrones is until you see it on HBO...

Either way, looks like it is finally picking up (should have picked up awhile ago) and I cannot wait for the next episode.

 

Shadow Babies! Hooray!

 

I'm really getting sick of Ros.

 

The HBO tits-per-episode quota must be reached.

 

I paused a couple of times during the episode. The Sansa humiliation scene, the prostitutes scene, Melisandre's birth...

Jesus.

 

Definitely one of the more fucked-up episodes so far. You know it's bad when the incest doesn't even make the top 3 most uncomfortable moments.

Spoiler

Also, they seem to be combining the two shadowbaby attacks into one. We don't see the birthing scene for the one that kills Renly in the books, but the whole bit in the episode is straight from the siege of Storm's End. I actually don't mind that much - they obviously had to cut some stuff, and it looks like they're taking the most evocative moments from the two scenes. Not quite sure how it's supposed to work though, because Renly isn't in a castle.

 

Well, now we know how Dementors are born anyway.

EDIT: Dany was hilarious this episode. "Qwarth". That Xarowhateverthefuckhisnameisanyway guy looks good. The other guy was such a cunt, it was fantastic.

Tyrion vs Lancel was awesome. Especially the way he trapped him at the beginning.

 

Is there any info on how close they (plan to) follow the books?

Because while I like the look of this series I really don´t like the books 3+ and I have a hard time imagining that I would like to see them on TV without some edits. And i can´t believe that they plan to end the TV series without an end... and the chances that they have to end the series before the books end is high.

(Because if you want my honest opinion on that... The book series will never end..with the current pace of the writing the author will die before he manages to end even half of the plotlines)

 

I don't think they'll ever get past the third book, the series just has too wide a scope to be told fully on tv. But I don't think they've ever announced how far they plan to go.

Aren't there only two more books before the series is finished, at the current rate of a book every 2 years or so I'd expect it to finish.


I've got to say, the shadow birth was one of the most messed up pieces of television I've ever watched.

 

Yep, only two books left, though the 1 book/2 years is a tad optimistic - there was (iirc) a 6 year gap between AFFC and ADWD, and about the same before that. Granted, that was mostly because he got stuck, entirely scrapped a book, then started over and got stuck again, but I wouldn't assume anything about GRRM's writing schedule at this point.

 

I definitely feel like he got over a large hump with ADWD, and the next book will be here a lot sooner. Not to mention the fact that he has a lot of chapters written already, as he didn't use them for Dance. So yeah, I think 2 years is a very reasonable time frame for TWOW. And every time someone says he'll be dead before he finishes the series, I kill a puppy.

 

Thx.. I will wait with watching it.

And Ash.. I think he said the same thing about the last book... and the last two ones were also intended to be one book so I hope you understand why I can´t really believe in two years.

 

The first three books were released every two years. He just hit a hump with the Meereenese knot and having to literally scrap most of his material and that's done with.

 

Not a single pair of breasts (excluding Gendry's man-tits) in 'Ghost of Harrenhal'.

That has to be some sort of record.

Kudos to the GoT production team for sticking it to their HBO overlords by replacing pointless nudity with story.