• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

LttP: Game of Thrones (Up through Season 4). The Lannisters are what make this show

Status
Not open for further replies.
I'll admit. I'm a hipster. I did not watch this show because everyone was raving about it. I was curious about it when Sean Bean was announced as starring in it. But when I told my sister who his character was, she responded with "hur hur don't expect him to be on long hur dur". So that was that.

This year, my DND group held an intervention where they said they know I would like this show. Fantasy politics are my wheelhouse. Convinced, I decided to check it out with my dad. I only visit him (and my mom) once a week and for a while we watched only 1 episode a week. Eventually he broke our pact and watched it all. That said, I still watch it only with him. Apparently he's seen like every episode like 4 times or some stupid shit.

Anyway, this isn't a perfect show by any means, but it IS a very good show. I still have season 5 and 6 to go before I'm caught up, but I guess I'll start off with Season Rankings

Best:
3
4
1
2
Worst

Character Rankings
Tywin Lannister
The Hound
Jaime Lannister
Jorah Mormont
Olenna Tyrell

Season 3 and Season 4 are very close together for me, but I give slight edge to 3. I'll be honest, I didn't give a shit about Rob Stark or his mom. A lot of their problems they brought on themselves, particuraly Cat. Still, the Red Wedding was amazingly choreographed. The look on Cat Stark's face when The Rains of Castamere started to play and she realized she had been caught in a trap. The exchange between her and Roose Bolton. Amazingly shot. The actual massacre was pretty terrifying but the build up right before the slaughter was amazing.
Also in Season 3 you have the beginning of the amazing adventures of Arya and The Mother Fucking HOUND, Brienne and Jaime being ballars. Tywin sucking the souls out of all of his family members was pretty great too. Just some really great stuff.

Season 4 had great moments too though. Joffrey's wedding was fantastic too. The fallout was pretty well done. It fucking sucks that two of my favorite characters were killed though.

Season 1 was solid. It certainly ramped up at the end.

Season 2 kind of sucked though. I mean, there was still good stuff there like Blackwater Bay, Arya and Tywin was great (it was in season 2 that Tywin became my favorite), Tyrion smacking around Joffrey was good. But I didn't really give a shit about Rob and I still don't give a shit about Stanis and the Red Lady (though Davos is pretty cool).

The best part of this show are the Lannisters, clear and simple. If there is a Lannister on screen, the scene is automatically 10x better. Because of this, the game being played with the Tyrells is elevated. I actually didn't care for Margery at first. But in season 3 she became fantastic character. Her working of Joffrey was amazing to watch. Fucking Olenna Tyrell though. Feisty old lady. Her on screen presense is amazing. I was telling my dad about how her actress was on an old show called The Avengers. He said he loved that show. His first celebrity crush was Diana Rigg. Said he "got his first boner" watching that show. When I told him that was the same actress, he lost his shit and got pumped.

I'm glad the Stark side is dying down. The only Stark I really give a hsit about is Arya, though I do feel bad for Sansa. Sure she was prissy in season 1, but she doesn't deserve what has happened to her. I get the feeling she's about to come into her own. Sansa did have one of my favorite moments in Season 2 though, when after being between in Court, she walked out saying "I love my king" to Tyrion. The dignity and elegance displayed by the actress was fantastic. Regarding Bran... looks like his story is finally going somewhere cool. After he left the wildling girl who's name I can't remember, it kind of became.

The Wall Stuff... There is serious potential there, but so far it hasn't caught my attention. Jon Snow is a charisma blackhole. The Battle of the Wall was pretty cool, but I didn't buy that there was a 100,000 wildlings attacking. Maybe 1000...if that. The giants were pretty cool. Not too hopeful though, especially with Stannis there now.

Dany... well, sometimes she's cool, sometimes now. Season 1, she had one of the better arcs. Season 2 though. God damn was that painful to watch. Season 3 and 4 though were pretty awesome. She has some great characters to interact with. Jorah is emotional. Barriston is pretty cool. Translator girl and greyworm are pretty cool. Not sure how much I care about mercenary dude yet. Dragons are pretty cool, though I'm not sure how successful Dany will be with them. Dragons are made for conquering, not being a benevolent slave freer.

But yeah, some great stuff.

Oberyn vs the piece of shit Mountain is one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen. Last night I was watching a trailer for some shitty Great Wall movie and the dude is in it. All I could picture in my head was the dude's head exploding. It was even worse than the Walking Dead spoilers for this season
 
I feel the exact same about the Lannisters. Anytime they are there the show goes to an 11 and maybe a 14 when Cersi is having a 1 on 1 with someone( because she's my favorite). All of them are just so crucial to the plot and have have good plotlines. Can't wait for Season 7 now back to work for me
 
I love the scene when Joffrey brags about the expensive crossbow he had made for him, and it turns out what is special about it is that it doesn't require as much muscle to cock. He really has no self-awareness at all.
 
I love the scene when Joffrey brags about the expensive crossbow he had made for him, and it turns out what is special about it is that it doesn't require as much muscle to cock. He really has no self-awareness at all.

He was such an evil little prick. The fact it was Olenna who got the kill made me love her even more.
 

Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
I stopped watching the show around season 4. I hear it get better but there was I scene in season for where I just decided enough is enough and I checked out. My wife is still in but not me. Enjoy!
 
I stopped watching the show around season 4. I hear it get better but there was I scene in season for where I just decided enough is enough and I checked out. My wife is still in but not me. Enjoy!

Was it the scene where Jaime raped Cersei? Or the scene where a fucking dudes head expoded
 

Jumeira

Banned
Stark fan here, but I can see the charms of The Lannisters is hard to resist, Tywin is one of the best acted characters on TV.


Stark for life tho
 
Season 5 is not bad. GAF has a tendency to perceive things as being binary. Either it's "god-tier" or "shit-tier"; nothing in-between.

Season 5 is good, and better than season 2. I'll leave it at that.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
I hear season 5 is about as bad as season 2. Is that true

Season 5 is not bad. GAF has a tendency to perceive things as being binary. Either it's "god-tier" or "shit-tier"; nothing in-between.

Season 5 is good, and better than season 2. I'll leave it at that.

I disagree. I almost wanted to stop watching the show half way through 5, luckily a single episode reminded me why GoT was so good. Never wanted to stop during Season 2, but did feel it was a drag on the show.
 

Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
Was it the scene where Jaime raped Cersei? Or the scene where a fucking dudes head expoded


I didn't think he rapped her...and that makes it worse but yeah. That was it for me. Having sex with your sister on your murdered sons casket...yup that was it for me. I'm not trying to be that kinda dude either but I was already on the fence about staying with the show. I heard season six was solid tho.
 
I am worried that without Tywin around, the show will go down with regards to Lannisters awesome. Such a charismatic character.
 

this_guy

Member
Season 4 has the best character throughout the series - the Viper Oberyn Martell. I'm rooting for him sit on the iron throne at the end.

nevermind sounds like you already finished season 4 haha
 

Jarnet87

Member
I got to binge watch seasons 1-4, in a few more years people will be able to experience the glory of binging the entire series from start to Finish.
 
Are we allowed to mention if a scene you mentioned isn't in the books or is that too much of a spoiler?

What do you mean? I don't really care about book spoilers, so if happened in the books but not the show (by the point I'm at), by all means. If it's a scene that happens later in the books but not in the show, then please don't.

Season 4 has the best character throughout the series - the Viper Oberyn Martell. I'm rooting for him sit on the iron throne at the end.

nevermind sounds like you already finished season 4 haha

When they first introduced Oberyn, I didn't care for him. My first reaction was "This guy will be boring as fuck".

Ended up liking him well enough.

Actually, this could probably be said of quite a few people on the show. Margaery, Samwell, Renly (poor Renly). Brienne looked cheesey as fuck when they first introduced her. Now I think she's amazing. Her fight with The Hound was heartbreaking because I liked both of them a lot. She needs to be nicer to Poderick though :(
 

HotHamBoy

Member
Season 5 is not bad. GAF has a tendency to perceive things as being binary. Either it's "god-tier" or "shit-tier"; nothing in-between.

Season 5 is good, and better than season 2. I'll leave it at that.

Season 5 is easily the worst season of a show that I would already define as a "guilty pleasure."

If you think it's good (holy shit, better than Season 2??) then you lack the critical thinking skills to recognize what makes television writing good or bad. It's not even a matter of taste, there are serious fundamental issues in the writing and construction of individual episodes and the season arc.
 
Season 5 is easily the worst season of a show that I would already define as a "guilty pleasure."

If you think it's good (holy shit, better than Season 2??) then you lack the critical thinking skills to recognize what makes television writing good or bad. It's not even a matter of taste, there are serious fundamental issues in the writing and construction of individual episodes and the season arc.

Oof, I would agree though.
 
season 5 is just awful, feel free to use that fast forward button liberally.

I used to rewatch GOT every year before the beginning of a season but stopped at season 4, just too much to watch. The awesomeness of season 6 though may make me re-watch the whole thing again early next year.

I still love season 1, Ned Stark was the man. If you haven't seen it yet, Tracy Morgan and JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm) watch episode 1 and talk along it, MST3K style. I'm not sure how to get the thing anymore, it was for Night of Stars on Comedy Central and you got it for donating during the Conan segment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0_FncMnYRg
 
f you think it's good (holy shit, better than Season 2??) then you lack the critical thinking skills to recognize what makes television writing good or bad. It's not even a matter of taste, there are serious fundamental issues in the writing and construction of individual episodes and the season arc.

pff, hahahahaha. Alrighty.
 

Jay Sosa

Member
they should have never killed off
joffrey
. It all goes downhill from there.

Season 5 is not bad. GAF has a tendency to perceive things as being binary. Either it's "god-tier" or "shit-tier"; nothing in-between.

Season 5 is good, and better than season 2. I'll leave it at that.

I absolutely agree with that. Although that phenomenon is wide spread nowadays, just look at media coverage.

It's not like the show has become awful but it's so booooring.

And since the show was compared (at least in the beginning, I think people have finally realized it's nowhere near the greats) to the Wire or the Sopranos some of us simply like to point out that those comparison are utterly ridiculous.

It is a somewhat entertaining show with some great episodes...but nothing more than that.
 
People have negative things to say about Season 5 because of that one episode with the Sandsnakes that was genuinely bad. But that was one episode. The rest are on par with the rest of the show, really. Both Hardhome and Mother's Mercy are fantastic episodes that go above others, also.
 

xevis

Banned
This past season 6 was the best season. You are in for a treat :)

5 and 6 were, for the most part, awful. The show just treads water. It also goes all in on dumb CGI battles and dragons (and cartoonishly evil characters like Ramsay) aren't what makes this show great. It's the small moments. Humans facing human-scale problems.
 
Theon is hilarious. Especially when he gives that speech and then his men turn on him.

His sister is kinda cool. Him not so much. Hopefully he snaps out of his funk though.

He is sort of like Sansa. A bitch that deserved to be brough down a rung... but not like this. Christ. All of his antics in season 2 didn't really deserve what happened to him
 
The whole family of Lannisters are awesome.

I love Tywin. I love Jaime. I love Tyrion. Even book Kevan is very cool.

I used to hate Jofrey. Now I have came around and realized him and his mom are the best villains.

The House Lannisters lineup is GOAT from top to bottom.
 
The whole family of Lannisters are awesome.

I love Tywin. I love Jaime. I love Tyrion. Even book Kevan is very cool.

I used to hate Jofrey. Now I have came around and realized him and his mom are the best villains.

The House Lannisters lineup is GOAT from top to bottom.

That one lannister cousin that jaime killed. He wasn't too bad either. He contributed to a great scene.


A few days ago I read up on the background of The Rains of Castamere. Christ Tywin is ruthless. He doesn't take shit from noone.
 
What do you mean? I don't really care about book spoilers, so if happened in the books but not the show (by the point I'm at), by all means. If it's a scene that happens later in the books but not in the show, then please don't.



When they first introduced Oberyn, I didn't care for him. My first reaction was "This guy will be boring as fuck".

Ended up liking him well enough.

Actually, this could probably be said of quite a few people on the show. Margaery, Samwell, Renly (poor Renly). Brienne looked cheesey as fuck when they first introduced her. Now I think she's amazing. Her fight with The Hound was heartbreaking because I liked both of them a lot. She needs to be nicer to Poderick though :(
Jaime never raped Cersei in the books, it was consensual, have no idea why the show did what they did amongst many things with Jaime.
His sister is kinda cool. Him not so much. Hopefully he snaps out of his funk though.

He is sort of like Sansa. A bitch that deserved to be brough down a rung... but not like this. Christ. All of his antics in season 2 didn't really deserve what happened to him
Theon>>>>>>>>Yara
That one lannister cousin that jaime killed. He wasn't too bad either. He contributed to a great scene.


A few days ago I read up on the background of The Rains of Castamere. Christ Tywin is ruthless. He doesn't take shit from noone.
Like this, Jaime never killed his cousin in book.
 
I actually think Jaime is probably the most stand up guy in the series, outside of fucking his sister and pushing kids out windows.

He's a good dude. Also, the dude who plays him is probably the best looking dude I've ever seen in my life. I say that as a straight dude. He's legit handsome.
 

ryseing

Member
5 and 6 were, for the most part, awful. The show just treads water. It also goes all in on dumb CGI battles and dragons (and cartoonishly evil characters like Ramsay) aren't what makes this show great. It's the small moments. Humans facing human-scale problems.

I agree mostly with this, except for the treading water part. They were setting up for the endgame, which by necessity requires some slower moments. Should they have found a more entertaining way to do so? Absolutely.

It doesn't help that the writing goes to complete crap at the start of S5. I'm not going to pretend like the earlier seasons were some masterpiece in that department, but the quality fell off a cliff.
 

Palocca

Member
I actually think Jaime is probably the most stand up guy in the series, outside of fucking his sister and pushing kids out windows.

He's a good dude. Also, the dude who plays him is probably the best looking dude I've ever seen in my life. I say that as a straight dude. He's legit handsome.

I met Jaime with my now fiancee at LAX waiting to board a flight to Copenhagen.

I almost lost her that day.
 
I actually think Jaime is probably the most stand up guy in the series, outside of fucking his sister and pushing kids out windows.

He's a good dude. Also, the dude who plays him is probably the best looking dude I've ever seen in my life. I say that as a straight dude. He's legit handsome.
Jaime's a piece of shit and he's an even worse piece of shit in the show (actually,I can think of one or two things that make that arguable, but I still edge out show Jaime being a bigger piece of shit).
People who pile on Theon being so willing to excuse Jaime are absurd.
 
Jaime's a piece of shit and he's an even worse piece of shit in the show (actually,I can think of one or two things that make that arguable, but I still edge out show Jaime being a bigger piece of shit).
People who pile on Theon being so willing to excuse Jaime are absurd.

He is a dude who just wants to fuck his sister in peace. He loves his family and wants to just hang out. He does fucked up shit sure... but other than pushing bran out the window, what makes him a piece of shit? By the morals of the show's world, he hasn't done anything really that bad

People like the mountain, or missandre, or Cats sister. Pete Baelish. Those are shit pisses. Jaime isn't bad.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom