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Game of Thrones *NO BOOK SPOILERS* |OT| Season 5 - Sundays on HBO [Read the OP]

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I don't know what it is, but even with burning his own daughter, I would still rather see Stannis crush Ramsay than the other way around. He is a cunt, but I hate the Boltons.

Meh, I'd rather have Ramsay killed by someone else. Sansa or Theon or someone like that.

Ramsay needs die screaming, so hey maybe Stannis can burn him next since he has royal blood too.

There's a much more egregious example of that. Keep an eye on the lighting throughout this scene.

Augh, they made Jamie such a worthless character. And yet he still lives. All these other important, awesome characters are getting tortured or killed or given boring ass seasons. Yet there Jamie is. Doing nothing.

The story for his season 5 was actually, " go to Dorne, get captured, get sent back to KL with whom you were going to Dorne for anyway ". That could have been done in 2 episodes.

Brienne storyline? " follow Sansa, then sit outside Winterfell "

Arya storyline? " learn to lie, see Trent when should be assassinating, follow trent "

Sansa storyline? " Go to winterfell, get married to Ramsay for some BS reason, get tortured "

THIS SEASON SUCKS.

Besides Hardhome. God this is horrible.
 
The show has really gone from being an adaptation of the books to its own thing with this season. I'm not a book purist by any means and prior seasons' changes worked well. But man, this season is just a mess.
 

iNvid02

Member
I have a feeling episode 9 of this season is actually going to be episode 10. There is no rule that episode 9 MUST be the most shocking one.

they did this last season - the battle for the wall was intense but then tyrion goes and kills tywin on the shitter.

i think olly is going to kill jon and whisper in his ear "and now your watch has ended". he then breaks the fourth wall and nods to the camera like he did when he killed ygritte. *FADE TO BLACK* *CREDITS*
 

Moaradin

Member
That kid is probably going to do something real stupid with all the foreshadowing up to this point. Or it's a giant red herring.
 

Molemitts

Member
Because he's the king Westeros deserves, but not the king we need right now. So we'll hate him, because he can take it, because he's not a hero. He's a R'hllor guardian, a watchful protector, a dark knight.

What can Stannis even do about the undead? Literally nothing. Daenarys is the one with dragons, and dragons are the only thing that could stop that.
 

RDreamer

Member
So I'm watching A Dance of Dragons, and I just got to the part where Stannis burns his daughter alive. Ummmmm... Where is the angry online mob? They were here for the rape, but not the child burning?

You being serious? There's been quite a shitstorm about that...
 

Kinyou

Member
Brienne of Tarth, don't forget her. She's a wild card.

I expect her to go full on a Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail murder spree at some point.
Yeah, don't fuck with Brienne

gameofthronesbriennec8brsk.gif


You being serious? There's been quite a shitstorm about that...
Is there? Google news only spit out this vogue article where they at the end seem to complain that no one else was really bothered

JH: You know what I was struck by? I was expecting to encounter an incensed Internet post Shireen’s gruesome death—and while there were a few people who were, like, “THAT IS SO MESSED UP”—mostly, they were just talking about the dragons. Was that just me, or did you feel that way too?

MK: Yes! Right after the episode ended, I went straight to Twitter to find some rage solidarity, but all I saw were a bunch of excited tweets with dragon emoji.
http://www.vogue.com/13267959/game-of-thrones-too-far/
 
they did this last season - the battle for the wall was intense but then tyrion goes and kills tywin on the shitter.

i think olly is going to kill jon and whisper in his ear "and now your watch has ended". he then breaks the fourth wall and nods to the camera like he did when he killed ygritte. *FADE TO BLACK* *CREDITS*
That kid is up to no good, they keep showing his angry face making it very clear that someone important is going to die in the most pointless and rage inducing way, and then silence and credit rolls and a message "see you next year suckers!"
 
What can Stannis even do about the undead? Literally nothing. Daenarys is the one with dragons, and dragons are the only thing that could stop that.

The whole Stannis vs Boltons arc really lost its muster...it all seems like pointless bickering now that WW and dragons are emerging as the clear endgame players.

I miss when King's Landing used to be an interesting place with Tywin, Tyrion, Littlefinger, Varys, etc. Now it's just Cersei, her wuss boy, and a wrinkly religious nut with a bunch of knifey priests.
 

NetMapel

Guilty White Male Mods Gave Me This Tag
Bet you the kid will try to kill Jon but failed and Sam dies instead in order to protect Jon. I think Sam may have a feeling about this kid.
 

Future

Member
The show has really gone from being an adaptation of the books to its own thing with this season. I'm not a book purist by any means and prior seasons' changes worked well. But man, this season is just a mess.

As a non book reader, everything seems good so far to me. Every event has had good foreshadowing, and nothing really came out of the blue. The only thing that was weak this season to me was the sand snake fight.... And that was more about execution

Even pedo dude has a reason for being what he is. We saw how he looked at Aria.

I'm just curious what story lines will conclude. Nights watch had their big moment already. So did dragon girl. We NEED to see some purpose behind what stannis did, and some resolution for Sansa and brienne. And we need to see the kings landing storyline progress as well. So I'm guessing focus will be on those story's m
 

RDreamer

Member
I think critics are a little bit exhausted with writing about how brutal a show Game of Thrones is. Sansa's thing winded the community in my eyes.

Its kind of old news now.

There's that and there's the fact that fucking nothing happened in the season up to the Sansa point. To me that's why I was complaining when Sansa's rape scene happened. Character arcs in the first ~6 or so episodes did nothing. They either went backwards or sidestepped for 6 goddamned episodes. Sansa's rape was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, because it was her character arc going backwards. Yay, Sansa gets brutalized by someone else again... because that didn't already happen...


So, yes, less complaints now, but that's because some character arcs are actually moving now. While there's still been a shitstorm about the brutality, and some comments on "would Stannis really?" or not, it's not really the same sort of thing as what happened with Sansa. Stannis deciding to burn Shireen is something new for his character arc. It represents something else. It's moved in another direction.

That's all ignoring the fact that rape is a sensitive real world issue, and there are a lot of advocates focusing on changing culture to help alleviate that problem. While child abuse is obviously also a problem, I think burning a child alive is something so far removed from reality that it's not really popping up on radars in the same way. It's a fantastical story, compared to what Sansa was going through, which is all to real for a lot of people.
 
You being serious? There's been quite a shitstorm about that...

Hardly compared to the outrage after the rape scene. There have been a handful of people angry with the writers, the rest have been upset with Stannis and what happened.

The rape scene had it's own thread, it had lots of media coverage, people claiming they were done with the show, headlines etc etc.

It's weird really and I see this with other movies and shows, even when watching with other people, rape and animal abuse sets people off, but mass slaughter and killing children and they hardly care.
 

RDreamer

Member
Hardly compared to the outrage after the rape scene. There have been a handful of people angry with the writers, the rest have been upset with Stannis and what happened.

The rape scene had it's own thread, it had lots of media coverage, people claiming they were done with the show, headlines etc etc.

It's weird really and I see this with other movies and shows, even when watching with other people, rape and animal abuse sets people off, but mass slaughter and killing children and they hardly care.

You ever think about the fact that rape might set people off because they were raped? Mass slaughter and burning of children while horrible is something still very far removed from every day life. Rape is real for a lot of people. You live through rape, and continue to be tormented by it every day of your life. And there are a lot of rapes happening. It's a sensitive issue because these people are still here with us, consuming the same media as us. They're actually triggered by it. They're also fighting to change the culture around rape.

By comparison there are far less advocates needed to educate people on the fact that burning your child alive is bad...
 

Future

Member
There's that and there's the fact that fucking nothing happened in the season up to the Sansa point. To me that's why I was complaining when Sansa's rape scene happened. Character arcs in the first ~6 or so episodes did nothing. They either went backwards or sidestepped for 6 goddamned episodes. Sansa's rape was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, because it was her character arc going backwards. Yay, Sansa gets brutalized by someone else again... because that didn't already happen...


So, yes, less complaints now, but that's because some character arcs are actually moving now. While there's still been a shitstorm about the brutality, and some comments on "would Stannis really?" or not, it's not really the same sort of thing as what happened with Sansa. Stannis deciding to burn Shireen is something new for his character arc. It represents something else. It's moved in another direction.

That's all ignoring the fact that rape is a sensitive real world issue, and there are a lot of advocates focusing on changing culture to help alleviate that problem. While child abuse is obviously also a problem, I think burning a child alive is something so far removed from reality that it's not really popping up on radars in the same way. It's a fantastical story, compared to what Sansa was going through, which is all to real for a lot of people.

I disagree with the character arc thing. Literally everything that happened earlier in the season set up the events happening now. You had to see Jon snow slowly become commander and deal with the consequences. You needed introduction to the church dudes so they could logically turn on the lannisters. We needed events to get tyrion to dragon girl, and give her reason to trust her old advisor. We needed to see things turn to shit for stannis to show what he was capable of. Sansa is in winterfell to bring brienne there (which we haven't seen the purpose of yet)

The only storylines that have been dragging to me is aria, although the previous scenes set up her ability to willfully change to fit whatever guild she's at. Her scenes resemble the Ramsey torture scenes last year to me. Some long game that has no real purpose just yet

And the sand snake characters didn't really need to exist at all, and there was no real consequence besides making the woman in charge seemingly break her desire to kill the lannisters. For awhile anyway

To me every episode has been slow, but interesting setup
 
rewatched the episode last night and there's totally a burning heart of the Lord of Light in the House of Black and White. It's incredibly obvious in the scene where Arya returns to the house as Jaqen is giving the death water to the old man.

so there's gotta be something to that. I dont remember there being any other religious totems or statues in the temple but i could also be misremembering because i've got the memory of a goldfish


edit: i guess it doesn't mean much. Probably just one of the many faces of the many faced god. Seems the other religions were discussed in episode 3 of this season
 

RDreamer

Member
I disagree with the character arc thing. Literally everything that happened earlier in the season set up the events happening now. You had to see Jon snow slowly become commander and deal with the consequences. You needed introduction to the church dudes so they could logically turn on the lannisters. We needed events to get tyrion to dragon girl, and give her reason to trust her old advisor. We needed to see things turn to shit for stannis to show what he was capable of. Sansa is in winterfell to bring brienne there (which we haven't seen the purpose of yet)

The only storylines that have been dragging to me is aria, although the previous scenes set up her ability to willfully change to fit whatever guild she's at. And the sand snake characters didn't really need to exist at all, and there was no real consequence besides making the woman in charge seemingly break her desire to kill the lannisters. For awhile anyway

To me every episode has been slow, but interesting setup


Sure, you need some setup, but I think if you compare this season to any other season you'll see where the problem is. The pacing is crazy slow and bad. Previous seasons had some big crazy events happening around episode 3 or maybe 4, then they had episode 9 for something crazy, too. That's how you keep people interested. This season they had fucking Dorne and Tyrion's stupid ass journey to Mereen. Sansa's still being brutalized. Ramsey's still Ramsey. Cersei still a bitch. Arya spent many episodes cleaning bodies or some other boring shit. Dany can't rule worth a shit. Yes Jon Snow moved and actually became Lord Commander, but that was a plot point both underwhelming in execution and telegraphed from almost the first time Snow set foot in castle black. But if you look back to find my complaint post near when Sansa was raped you'll find Snow was one of the characters I admitted was going somewhere.
 
You ever think about the fact that rape might set people off because they were raped? Mass slaughter and burning of children while horrible is something still very far removed from every day life. Rape is real for a lot of people. You live through rape, and continue to be tormented by it every day of your life. And there are a lot of rapes happening. It's a sensitive issue because these people are still here with us, consuming the same media as us. They're actually triggered by it. They're also fighting to change the culture around rape.

By comparison there are far less advocates needed to educate people on the fact that burning your child alive is bad...

Of course I did and it's horrible. They're all horrible. I'm just using it as a comparison, and why I included killing animals because that's something that's not a part of every day life, not to us, but it always bring in a far worse reaction from people than taking a human life does.
 

Gonzalez

Banned
Does anyone else wonder what Hizdahr was making preparations for(instead of Dany's assassination attempt that we assumed he was apart of)? It would suck if it turned out he was planning a nice romantic dinner for his bride to be.
 

Gonzalez

Banned
You ever think about the fact that rape might set people off because they were raped? Mass slaughter and burning of children while horrible is something still very far removed from every day life. Rape is real for a lot of people. You live through rape, and continue to be tormented by it every day of your life. And there are a lot of rapes happening. It's a sensitive issue because these people are still here with us, consuming the same media as us. They're actually triggered by it. They're also fighting to change the culture around rape.

By comparison there are far less advocates needed to educate people on the fact that burning your child alive is bad...
Was Sansa's rape portrayed as a positive, and not a negative?
 

Future

Member
Sure, you need some setup, but I think if you compare this season to any other season you'll see where the problem is. The pacing is crazy slow and bad. Previous seasons had some big crazy events happening around episode 3 or maybe 4, then they had episode 9 for something crazy, too. That's how you keep people interested. This season they had fucking Dorne and Tyrion's stupid ass journey to Mereen. Sansa's still being brutalized. Ramsey's still Ramsey. Cersei still a bitch. Arya spent many episodes cleaning bodies or some other boring shit. Dany can't rule worth a shit. Yes Jon Snow moved and actually became Lord Commander, but that was a plot point both underwhelming in execution and telegraphed from almost the first time Snow set foot in castle black. But if you look back to find my complaint post near when Sansa was raped you'll find Snow was one of the characters I admitted was going somewhere.

The difference with this season though is they removed one of the central evil forces last season. Jofferys and tywins death started the downfall of the lannisters. Every episode this season has showed this downfall slowly take shape with some last ditch efforts from cersei to remove the queen (which backfired on herself). And they've had to introduce new conflicts. In all honesty this reminds me of season one a bit where it took me awhile to get into the show because of all the setup

We learned that little finger doesn't care about Sansa as much as he does his long game, which has been hinted at but not revealed.

Dorne and tyrion a journey not only got Tyrion to dragon girl, but gave the dude a stone sickness which has to have some relevance. Dragon girl changed to try to appease the will of her city a bit, which is a change from her utopian rule from before. We also see her forces weaken for the first time due to continuous uprising from some reveled within the city. All leading to her relying on her dragon to save her... Whom she dismissed last season as being not needed

And the central conflict is between the boltons and stannis. Which admittedly is a bit boring due to the winter stalemate. But they needed to show his predicament to sell why he'd sacrifice his daughter. The boltons themselves aren't really doing much but waiting, and showing Sansa Stark get hardened a bit. I expect next ep that Sansa will be reunited with brienne and actually embrace her help this time, rather than dismiss it as she did earlier in another setup scene this season

I've heard many people agree with you, so I understand there were some issues this season. But for me, I actually liked all these events and seeing them unfold, minus aria
 

Blader

Member
So I'm watching A Dance of Dragons, and I just got to the part where Stannis burns his daughter alive. Ummmmm... Where is the angry online mob? They were here for the rape, but not the child burning?

There were plenty of typically outraged bloggers throwing up their arms up over that "Game of Thrones has crossed the line... again! But this time too far! Maybe."
 

RDreamer

Member
Of course I did and it's horrible. They're all horrible. I'm just using it as a comparison, and why I included killing animals because that's something that's not a part of every day life, not to us, but it always bring in a far worse reaction from people than taking a human life does.

Because there exist a lot of actual people who take animals lives very lightly. They think of them practically as objects to do with what they please, which includes killing or abusing. There are far less actual people who take human lives so lightly that burning a child wouldn't garner a reaction. So, one is a real situation that hits closer to home whereas the other is a fantastical (and still horrible) portrayal of events.

This whole line of arguments to me comes across as "Why aren't there more people yelling that the sky is blue?" Killing children is wrong and brutal and I don't think you need many people convincing others of that, whereas the definition of rape is a broad current cultural argument, and how animals are treated is almost as contentious.
 

ASIS

Member
No, but they should be able to put up more of a fight against dudes with knives. But whatever, I don't need to rehash that argument again.

No need because I actually agree with you. I think it's bad directing but the fact that some of them died is only natural.
 

Future

Member
No need because I actually agree with you. I think it's bad directing but the fact that some of them died is only natural.

I think the point of these scenes is just that previously she was ruling with the fear of force only. Her forces are people like anyone else, and have weaknesses, can be blindsided, and can be overwhelmed. They aren't the impenetrable force she might have imagined a little while ago, which will evolve her method of ruling. I'd agree selling these things might have seemed weak since most of the fight scenes were weak this season.

Tyrions appearance will be to teach her that it isn't pure force that will rule, and what is required to actually get people to follow her
 

RDreamer

Member
I think the point of these scenes is just that previously she was ruling with the fear of force only. Her forces are people like anyone else, and have weaknesses, can be blindsided, and can be overwhelmed. They aren't the impenetrable force she might have imagined a little while ago, which will evolve her method of ruling. I'd agree selling these things might have seemed weak since most of the fight scenes were weak this season.

Tyrions appearance will be to teach her that it isn't pure force that will rule, and what is required to actually get people to follow her

It's funny you say this, because up to now her arc has actually been that she can't rule without pure force (dragons).

I mean I realize Tyrion will help with her council and get her to be a decent ruler, but up until now her lesson is: The only reason she can rule is because of dragons. That's it. End of story.
 

ASIS

Member
I think the point of these scenes is just that previously she was ruling with the fear of force only. Her forces are people like anyone else, and have weaknesses, can be blindsided, and can be overwhelmed. They aren't the impenetrable force she might have imagined a little while ago, which will evolve her method of ruling. I'd agree selling these things might have seemed weak since most of the fight scenes were weak this season.

Tyrions appearance will be to teach her that it isn't pure force that will rule, and what is required to actually get people to follow her

Very true.

Also, how come no one talked about Dinklage's performance this season? He might not have had a "big" moment but he was probably the best actor this season alongside Alfie. You can read so many nuances from his face that you almost know exactly what he's thinking without the the need to say a word.
It's funny you say this, because up to now her arc has actually been that she can't rule without pure force (dragons).

I mean I realize Tyrion will help with her council and get her to be a decent ruler, but up until now her lesson is: The only reason she can rule is because of dragons. That's it. End of story.

Actually, I think the lesson is: She may have been able to gain all the wealth, love, and loyalty because of dragons. But it's not enough when it comes to ruling.
 

purg3

slept with Malkin
Very true.

Also, how come no one talked about Dinklage's performance this season? He might not have had a "big" moment but he was probably the best actor this season alongside Alfie. You can read so many nuances from his face that you almost know exactly what he's thinking without the the need to say a word.

Yeah, he's pretty much always awesome in every scene he's in. Kit really stepped it up too this season, especially compared to the first few seasons.
 

RDreamer

Member
Actually, I think the lesson is: She may have been able to gain all the wealth, love, and loyalty because of dragons. But it's not enough when it comes to ruling.

Go watch the interview with the show runners from last night's episode when they talk about that scene. They talk about that as being the turning point for Tyrion, seeing this great woman ride off on a dragon. They talk about that's what did it for Jorah. They're not adoring someone because they're a great ruler or great person, really. It's because dragons.

I honestly think the arc they were going for here is that when she abandoned her dragons, she fell into shambles. Now she's got Drogon back and things will look up.
 

Blader

Member
I'm worried about Jorah and that stupid disease. I fear we won't know his fate until next year.

I feel like they wouldn't have brought up Stannis being able to stop his daughter's disease from spreading further earlier this season if it weren't going to come into play with Jorah too.
 

Camwi

Member
Very true.

Also, how come no one talked about Dinklage's performance this season? He might not have had a "big" moment but he was probably the best actor this season alongside Alfie. You can read so many nuances from his face that you almost know exactly what he's thinking without the the need to say a word.

I was so happy when he became Dany's advisor, whether it felt rushed or not. Almost all of his lines are so friggin' good and much better than drunk, depressed Tyrion.
 

MikeyB

Member
I honestly think the arc they were going for here is that when she abandoned her dragons, she fell into shambles. Now she's got Drogon back and things will look up.
So the arc was a season long demonstration of how the creatures that give her power for the previous three seasons (discounting 1 simply because they hadn't hatched) actually do give her power. I hope it is something more than that.
 

Blader

Member
So the arc was a season long demonstration of how the creatures that give her power for the previous three seasons (discounting 1 simply because they hadn't hatched) actually do give her power. I hope it is something more than that.

Her arc this season is about learning to govern. It's not enough to raise armies and conquer/liberate cities; she has to know how to actually rule subjects and deal with dissent.
 

ASIS

Member
Go watch the interview with the show runners from last night's episode when they talk about that scene. They talk about that as being the turning point for Tyrion, seeing this great woman ride off on a dragon. They talk about that's what did it for Jorah. They're not adoring someone because they're a great ruler or great person, really. It's because dragons.

I honestly think the arc they were going for here is that when she abandoned her dragons, she fell into shambles. Now she's got Drogon back and things will look up.
The fact that dragons are significant doesn't mean it's the only significant part of her story. And tyrian was impressed by dany before that scene. He may not have been a believer, but he wouldn't have supported Dany if she had a jeffery-like personality.
 
I'm worried about Jorah and that stupid disease. I fear we won't know his fate until next year.

He fought his way out of the friendzone, Daenerys taking his hand was the peak of his life, but once a M'lady always a M'lady. Poor guy is destined to lose in life, I hope at least he goes out with a bang.
 

RDreamer

Member
Her arc this season is about learning to govern. It's not enough to raise armies and conquer/liberate cities; she has to know how to actually rule subjects and deal with dissent.

But... she hasn't learned to govern. That's the problem with the arc of this season. She hasn't done well at governing at all.

I'm not saying she won't get there. I'm saying the arc of this season is literally "Dany fucking sucks at governing, but she has dragons again."
 

mantidor

Member
Hardly compared to the outrage after the rape scene. There have been a handful of people angry with the writers, the rest have been upset with Stannis and what happened.

The rape scene had it's own thread, it had lots of media coverage, people claiming they were done with the show, headlines etc etc.

It's weird really and I see this with other movies and shows, even when watching with other people, rape and animal abuse sets people off, but mass slaughter and killing children and they hardly care.

This word, "hardly"? you are using it wrong.
 
Because Ramsay is a favoured plot device...He is no more realistic than say John becoming leader of the night watch at 16.
Jon becoming the leader is completely believable. He's been training all the scrubs since he joined the Nights Watch, defeated the Then leader, and was the major leader in keeping them all alive while being a leader. Other than Allister there, I have no idea why I would pick anyone else. He loses points for banging a Wildling woman, but he's displayed every trait needed to become the leader. EDIT: Ned Stark's son.

Ramsay on the other hand, that plotpoint is total bullshit.
JadedWriter said:
Yeah I know, I actually like the Bolton's. The Bolton's just get a lot of flak because they're a bit psychotic and have a thing for skinning the shit out of people (Red Wedding probably didn't help either). Ramsay may be a monster that Roose raised, but he at least legit raised Ramsay and for the most part Ramsay is actually a pretty smart guy. Gets the job done, can be trusted with missions, didn't do stupid shit out of honor like Robb did, he just gets a little bit out of hand though.
giphy.gif
 
Dany doesn't suck at governing. She's taken over a vile city, occupied by vile men. When she compromised with the original traditions of the city by re-opening the fighting pits, the same vile men responded by orchestrating an assassination attempt. They will not accept any form of government or rule that precludes the full-blown restoration of slavery, so if she's to be criticized for anything, it should be for failing to weed out the pro-slavery insurgents.
 
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