OT: Game of Thrones 5/12

Submitted by M-Wolverine on
Because who has better mothers on tv than Game of Thrones? (I mean, if you're a dragon. Human, not so much.)

ijohnb

May 13th, 2013 at 9:18 AM ^

even think it was good.  I know it is like treason to say this but that was not a good hour of television.  Episode 4 of this season was spectacular, perhaps the best episode of the show period or neck and neck with Baelor at least, but save Littlefinger's sermon in The Climb, the last three episodes have been flat out dissapointing.  The same foreshadowing has been going on for 3 episodes now, and you can only listen to characters talk about what might happen and why it will be important so much before you start to lose interest.  Tywin Lannister has single handidly made GOT watchable for nearly a month now and with his limited screen time last night I actually found myself drifting off and day dreaming a little bit.  I still say this is the best television show I have ever seen but it needs to make a move here.  Last night was, OK I'll just say it, it was a pretty tough watch.

M-Wolverine

May 13th, 2013 at 3:49 PM ^

They can either advance a plotline quickly, and ignore all the other characters, or make multiple characters take small steps.

But as rusalle2012 already said below, a lot of stuff did happen tonight. I'm not sure what you want that's not there....big battle scenes? Conclusions of storylines? It's all kind of an ongoing saga set at the book's pace. They could do the cliffnotes, old style movie adaptation of condensing 900 pages into 2 hours, but I don't think that's what is attracting people to the show. If you're wanting dragons and armies every episode like #4, then maybe the show isn't what you're looking for.  Which is fine, not everyone has to love a show. But I'm not sure where you're going to find it. It still is a tv show, and every episode (or 3) isn't going to be The Hobbit 2. 

ijohnb

May 14th, 2013 at 9:50 AM ^

get the Hobbit reference as I have not even seen the trailor let alone the movie, and no I don't want armies and dragons every single episode, that is not what I am saying.  I know this book was made into two seasons and I think they are having to stretch quite a bit to fill time.  The characters may be making "steps" but they are infant steps, not even toddler ones, and the same information is being hashed out time after time after time after time after time after time.  The construct of the show has been everything leads up to episode 9, and it has worked for 2 seasons.  I think this season would have been better if it abandoned that construct at least for this season.  Perhaps more time could have spent on the fallout of what is to come in the final episodes by moving the large scale events of this season to earlier episodes.  To say that this show is not for me is to dismiss my opinion outright when I have been following this show faithfully from the beginning and when many people share the same opinion I have.  GOT has reached its first slump.  The stuff north of the Wall has been nearly incoherent and quite frankly, Jamie's time at Harrenhal has been a bit of a mess.  I am sure it will recover but this has been the least impressive string of episodes in this the existence of the show.  I am far from the only person that feels that way.

M-Wolverine

May 14th, 2013 at 4:05 PM ^

But I'm not getting a lot of what you DO want.  You want the finale to be somewhere in the middle of the season?  So I'd guess then we'd get a lot of complaints on how finishing the season was just filler and it didn't end on a bang. To have a lot of filler in splitting it up into two seasons they'd need to be adding a lot of stuff that wasn't in the book. Because if they put the whole book in one season, people would be complaining that they left out way too much. 

ijohnb

May 15th, 2013 at 9:03 AM ^

do large scale events always have to take place at the end of a season?  The "cliffhanger" version of television is wonderful for ER and Criminal Minds, but there is no reason that GOT has to be split up into ten episode arcs where the events of significance have to take place in the 9th episode.  The first season set up nicely for Baelor in the 9th but the story naturally lead up to the events in that episode without having to unnecessarily kill time to get there.  I understand what you are saying, but you have to admit that there has been an awful lot of repeat dialogue in this season that really leaves you in the same place where you started.  I am not one of the people who doesn't understand the nature of this show, it is a dialogue driven character drama, I get it.  I don't need wild fire every episode, but the show is too original to settle into a predictable formula season after season.  Mix it up a little bit, that is all I ask.

feanor

May 12th, 2013 at 10:08 PM ^

Kinda a let down of an episode.  Really think that it could have been better.  Still looking forward to the next couple episodes.

VBSoulPole

May 12th, 2013 at 10:16 PM ^

They've stayed fairly true to the books but there have also been many changes, which is understandable. Considering what's happened so far, they are aiming to end this season with a bang. A lot of dialogue in this episode is very foreboding.

An Angelo's Addict

May 12th, 2013 at 10:19 PM ^

I liked the very ending but the whole episode was very slow and essentially nothing really happened. Although the scene with Theon was amazing. Can't believe there are only 3 episodes left, I love this show too much to go another year until season 4.

Balrog_of_Morgoth

May 12th, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^

Yes, it was a slow episode. However, it was also a great episode. The writing, acting, directing, and cinematography were fantastic. The production value has been noticeably better this season.

There were also some great scenes: Tywin and Joffrey's discussion in the throne room, the continued torture of Theon except with a twist, the negotiations between Daenerys and the Yunkai'i, etc. In fact, I can't think of one bad scene in this episode (except for maybe Orell hitting on Ygritte).

Perkis-Size Me

May 13th, 2013 at 1:26 AM ^

You can't really say nothing happened. We're not going to be treated to fights and battles every week, as that's just not the show's style. But a lot happened:



-Jamie's further character development, saving Brienne.

-First signs of tension between Tywin and Joffrey.

-Who are the "powerful friends" Daenaerys spoke of?

-Are Tyrion and Shae done? What will appen between he and Sansa?

-Robb's impending child, while still losing his grasp on the war.



Some of this stuff is a little subtle, yeah, but I've got a feeling we're being set up for a pretty epic finale to the season.

MGoBender

May 12th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^

For those saying "Nothing Happened," I don't understand what you expect.

Brienne was saved from Bolton's Bullies (trademark pending)

We were introduced to a new city and saw Daenerys make a huge power play - but not without some suspense; who are the powerful friends that dude was speaking of?

The Hound now has Arya.

"King" (that's becoming lol-worthy) Robb is going to be a daddy and his grip on the war continues to escape him.

We finally got a Tywin and Joffrey confrontation.

Sure there was no huge battle, but that's never been Game of Thrones.  It has those huge climatic moments, but what makes them so impactful is that we have such a major investment in the characters.  There was a ton of character development in tonight's episode, which was cool to see.  Jaime's transformation alone seems to have hit a "complete" type moment.

stmccoy

May 13th, 2013 at 12:30 PM ^

I expect people to get clipped.  It is not so much that nothing happened, it is that this season has been very slow.  People need to start dying or I'm going to be upset.  Also, I really want to know who that guy is torturing Theon.  He is really creepy. 

RioThaN

May 13th, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^

Believe me, s#%t is going to hit the fan, but this are parts that are setting important things going forward, (except for Theon's torture, they have been overplaying that for far too long).

First of all, this is season 3, they're already around if not a little ahead the first half of book 3, wich they said it was going to be split in two seasons, so they kinda have to slow down a bit, I mean book 6 has been under development for over 2 years and who knows when book 7 is going to be released, so if they don't want to overtake the books and have to wait 2,3 years to resume the series they have to slow down.

Things are setting up and some mayor events are going to happen by the end of this season.

An Angelo's Addict

May 12th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^

Ok Mgobender you make a good point. I also really have liked Jamie's character development the best. I remember how much I used to hate him and I find myself rooting for him now

MGoBender

May 12th, 2013 at 10:54 PM ^

Here's a really subtle point that I thought proved just how awesome GoT can be:

When Jaime was first being led out of Harrenhal, there was a moment when someone said something to imply that Brienne would suffer a predictable fate.  At the time, Jaime was stoic and did not object.  To me, at that point there were two distinct paths: 1 - Jaime is almost home free, he doesn't need to have any compassion for Brienne and if he keeps his mouth shut, he'll be back to King's Landing shortly.  2 - He was still scheming a way to rescue Brienne, but knew that he first needed to gain some leverage.

Once he found that leverage in his messenger, he made the "right" or "moral" (which is a thing to say with great caution on GoT) decision to force them to go back.

Also, I love how we've really seen that Jaime is so much like Tyrion.  I always think back to that first season episode when the Lannisters are eating breakfast in Winterfell and you really can feel that Jaime and Tyrion are truly brothers.  Now I'm pulling for them to be reuinted even more and to see if they can disrupt or challenge Tywin's plans.

MGoBender

May 12th, 2013 at 11:43 PM ^

I know the Jaime and Tyrion idea is pretty ludacrious - so I think that's what you're referring to.  Still, it would be awesome to see them somehow scheming together.  (And if you are making that reaction because you know what will happen because you've read the books, I ask that you remain tactful, don't reveal anything, etc.)

It would be interesting to see Jaime's reaction if he had been the one to be arranged to marry Sansa.  Tyrion, in a ever-fruitless effort to bring pride upon his name, is not exactly putting up a fight with his father.  Of course, I don't know how he would do that, but he has pulled off some impressive intellectual feats thus far.

MikeCohodes

May 13th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^

is going to be both seasons 3 and 4 of the show. I don't think we'll see the Lannister bros reunion until next season, since there's only 3 episodes left this year and a whole lot to still happen in those 3 episodes. Yes they reunite in book 3, but I think it's gonna be another year in the show.

MGoBender

May 13th, 2013 at 1:08 PM ^

While it was a fair assumption they'd reunite at some point, now I know it for sure... can we please be careful about book spoilers? 

"They reunite in book 3"

Even if it is a fair assumption, that's a plot point I don't want revealed to me ahead of time.  (Yeah, I know my fault for reading the Internet and all).

MGoBender

May 13th, 2013 at 3:28 PM ^

No prob.  Obviously, it's not a crazy spoiler since it's pretty obviously expected, I'm just super paranoid.  There are not many places online to discuss the series without threat of having someone drop a huge plot development on you, and it seems we've built such a place here, so I'm just overly cautious/being a dick about it.

MGoBender

May 12th, 2013 at 11:47 PM ^

Practical question (though I think by writing it, I've answered my own question):

Didn't Snow and company climb the wall last week? 

Correct me if I'm wrong: They climb the wall, climb down the other side, and now are walking alongside the Wall towards Castle Black?

Isn't Castle Black on the wall?   Then where was the Wall in the scenes with Snow, Ygritte, and company. 

dmblue

May 13th, 2013 at 2:06 AM ^

Immediately north of the wall is a forest as well.  It does transition very quickly though.  The wall is also protected by magic spells against the others and probably the cold as well since the two are associated.