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*UNMARKED SPOILERS ALL BOOKS* Game of Thrones |OT| - Season 5 - Sundays on HBO

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With all these likable characters being butchered (literally or figuratively), the show is primed for its one true hero.

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Nodnol

Member
Ah man this is so hard to watch.

I get the 20 men burning the supplies.

They've set the sacrifice up.

But the girl playing Shireen is excellent.

Hardest thing to watch on the show so far. You always felt there was a line with show Stannis, but fuck him. No redemption. No forgiveness. I think the foundations of his motives and why he does it is sound. Some of these things feel rushed at times in the show, but the lead into it all is there, no matter how flimsy.
 

Snake

Member
And I didn't know this thread was only for positive reactions. :O

There is a difference between being critical of the show and being a self-righteous blowhard about it, as well as trying to act as if GRRM and the showrunners are at war with each other. I myself didn't like what happened with Shireen and I don't believe Stannis is going to be responsible for it in the books. It comes off as wrong and unnecessarily cruel in the show. It weighs down the episode, several characters' arcs, and the season as a whole in some respects.

But the people who seethe with irrational anger and in their Linda-esque tirades go off on how they're "finished with this fanfic bullshit! I'll wait for the books! *posts meme with description of show events in comic sans*" are constantly exaggerating the show's faults. It's nothing more than tribalism which turns the thread into an echo chamber where a small minority of people try and create the impression that we should think the show is irredeemable trash, while most book readers and show watchers continue to enjoy it for what it is.
 

LordCanti

Member
King of the North. Roose Bolton.

You have to actually make an official declaration of the fact that you're King and have other lords accept the declaration before your blood makes the magical switch to "Kings Blood" from "Dirty pleb blood"

So far Roose has done no such thing.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
You have to actually make an official declaration of the fact that you're King and have other lords accept the declaration before your blood makes the magical switch to "Kings Blood" from "Dirty pleb blood"

So far Roose has done no such thing.

I know. I was just saying the only likely King's blood Ramsay could have, but Roose first needs to openly declare it.
 

Kallor

Member
If the Dorne stuff was excellent, I wouldn't have second thoughts. However, seeing as how Dorne has played out so far this season in a rather lackluster fashion, I think that I would have liked to see how they could have done the Riverlands instead, or perhaps the Iron Islands stuff instead.

Boats and sea shots might be too expensive, though.

Dorne Stuff was weak in the books too other than a few moments. Iron Island stuff was at least exciting. But yeah, they probably wouldn't have done it justice.
 

gutshot

Member
There is a difference between being critical of the show and being a self-righteous blowhard about it, as well as trying to act as if GRRM and the showrunners are at war with each other. I myself didn't like what happened with Shireen and I don't believe Stannis is going to be responsible for it in the books. It comes off as wrong and unnecessarily cruel in the show. It weighs down the episode, several characters' arcs, and the season as a whole in some respects.

But the people who seethe with irrational anger and in their Linda-esque tirades go off on how they're "finished with this fanfic bullshit! I'll wait for the books! *posts meme with description of show events in comic sans*" are constantly exaggerating the show's faults. It's nothing more than tribalism which turns the thread into an echo chamber where a small minority of people try and create the impression that we should think the show is irredeemable trash, while most book readers and show watchers continue to enjoy it for what it is.

This x1000. This thread has been really tiring and frustrating to read this season.
 
You know how there are plenty of people still carrying The Row Boy's torch, with nary a whisper about him in the show ever since.

What about the True Hero we deserve?


He's been swimming for a long time.

Waaaait, what the hell happened to Blackfish? Did they ever mention him again in the show? Seems strange to make him survive but then not mention him.
 
It's hard to remember how happy we all were last episode.

It is quite funny looking back at how people were raving over the giant battle scene. I guess it's sour grapes, now that the show has moved ahead of the book and they no longer have their sense of superiority with regards to knowing what's going to happen.
 

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion

Chopper

Member
Having just watched the episode, I literally laughed my fucking ass off at the amazing overreactions.

It was great. Shireen's sacrifice was shocking, but isn't that the point? It's gonna be important. Meryn Trant's a pedo?! Oh noes! A cunt turns out to be a cunt!

Drogon's CGI was a bit iffy, but it was pretty epic stuff.

Loved it.

The next episode is gonna be epic.
 
Roose mentioned he escaped in the ensuing episode, but I don't think we've heard about him since.

Yeah, when Roose and Walder Frey talk post Red Wedding (love that scene btw, I always enjoyed those little scenes that gave more characterization to the characters. But that all ended after season 3...), Roose mentions it and Frey says something among the lines "Whatever, he's an old man on the run with nobody backing him, while I have Tywin Lannister."

Edit: Beaten.

Victarion is a bawss

Victarion is a whiny piece of garbage. He's the worst of the Greyjoys, and they're already really damn low.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Dorne Stuff was weak in the books too other than a few moments. Iron Island stuff was at least exciting. But yeah, they probably wouldn't have done it justice.

Yeah, and the Dorne stuff in the book is even more irrelevant to the show if Quentyn and Aegon are out.

Since there had already been backstory built up about the Iron Islanders, they probably could have done some Kingsmoot (or some other kind of plot device) to progress the plot last season, then save Yara's rescue attempt of Theon for the great Winterfell climax of this season.

This would have even more plotlines and characters converging into the Royal Rumble, and also conveniently do away with that awkward retreating from doggies scene, and the forgetting about Balon thing.
 

mantidor

Member
A terrorist attack that destroys a supply of something is completely believable, not in medieval times with an army guarding it though.

As someone said we should just pretend it was something else, a blizzard, an accident, anything, it doesn't change anything and it really felt like a sloppy excuse to get Shireen burned.
 

Madness

Member
I love the Dorne storyline.
It's so bad that I actually kind of like it. And when I think it can't get worse, it does.

Spent hours discussing it with show only watchers yesterday. Even they hate it. They even complained that we barely get any time for the main characters, yet they're doing this hand slapping scene between the Sand Snakes which is for no reason. They were nobodies who ended up being nobodies. They even didn't like Doran. I guess the showrunners really tried to capitalize on the Oberyn fan love, and yet it completely fell flat. All that money and time with that Spanish museum/park.
 

Enosh

Member
lol @ someone seeing 20 men completely neuter an army and thinking that's a believable scenario and not contrived to hell and back in order to have Stannis' heel turn
if 20 men could do that the world would be a much better place since waging war would be impossible
 

suzu

Member
There is a difference between being critical of the show and being a self-righteous blowhard about it, as well as trying to act as if GRRM and the showrunners are at war with each other. I myself didn't like what happened with Shireen and I don't believe Stannis is going to be responsible for it in the books. It comes off as wrong and unnecessarily cruel in the show. It weighs down the episode, several characters' arcs, and the season as a whole in some respects.

But the people who seethe with irrational anger and in their Linda-esque tirades go off on how they're "finished with this fanfic bullshit! I'll wait for the books! *posts meme with description of show events in comic sans*" are constantly exaggerating the show's faults. It's nothing more than tribalism which turns the thread into an echo chamber where a small minority of people try and create the impression that we should think the show is irredeemable trash, while most book readers and show watchers continue to enjoy it for what it is.

If you look at the unsullied thread, you have people saying similar things (minus the book talk obviously). Eh, whatever. People are just caught up in the moment when they say things like "fuck this show, I quit". It doesn't really help that this season in a lot of peoples' eyes has been the most "weak" so far. At least this thread stopped nitpicking small bullshit like wrong eye colors.. lol

Personally I think some of the memes are funny. But then again I also find amusement when people post tinfoil hat theories. \o/
 

Madness

Member
The one change I never liked was Shireen having blond/light brown hair. She's a Baratheon, the one catalyst to Ned discovering the truth was that all true Baratheons had black of hair. Stannis is whatever with his greying hair. But Gendry, all the bastards had black hair, in that book Ned read, all the Baratheons had jet black hair. Shireen has basically the same hair color as Tommen and Myrcella which was a big reason Ned found out the truth. That's the only appearance thing for me. I was a show only watcher early on so when I first saw Shireen, I wondered why her hair wasn't black like Renly, Gendry etc.
 

Majmun

Member
The one change I never liked was Shireen having blond/light brown hair. She's a Baratheon, the one catalyst to Ned discovering the truth was that all true Baratheons had black of hair. Stannis is whatever with his greying hair. But Gendry, all the bastards had black hair, in that book Ned read, all the Baratheons had jet black hair. Shireen has basically the same hair color as Tommen and Myrcella which was a big reason Ned found out the truth. That's the only appearance thing for me. I was a show only watcher early on so when I first saw Shireen, I wondered why her hair wasn't black like Renly, Gendry etc.

Yeah, that's pretty weird because the show does never stray from the original material.
 
The Stannis part was a bit ridiculous.
"Welp, the A Team fucked my entire army. Time to burn my daughter. Fuck yeah, theocracy!"

I mean, Stannis is an asshole in the books but I've always seen him as vaguely ambiguous. Right there, he just looks like a crazy chump.
 

Madness

Member
Yeah, that's pretty weird because the show does never stray from the original material.

Haha, but in this sense, they strayed from something they themselves brought up in season 1 of the show. Every Baratheon had black of hair, and yet here Shireen is etc.
 
As someone said we should just pretend it was something else, a blizzard, an accident, anything, it doesn't change anything and it really felt like a sloppy excuse to get Shireen burned.

That's been their MO since day one though. Their plotting perspective is that ends dictate the means. Need a surprise attack on the Unsullied? Turn them into incompetent Storm Troopers and have them butchered in an enclosed area (where their fighting style would thrive). Need to bring Stannis to the brink? Have twenty fucking men sneak into his camp and burn the most important targets in his camp. It's the same type of mentality that not only has Ramsay fight against "elite" Iron Born soldiers while shirtless, but also have them run away from dogs (while wearing armor).

BTW it's the same thing that leads to putting Brienne in a holding pattern outside Winterfell, just waiting to kill Stannis. Maybe she'll shoot him with a bow from the inn she's in lol.
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
Haha, but in this sense, they strayed from something they themselves brought up in season 1 of the show. Every Baratheon had black of hair, and yet here Shireen is etc.
Don't you understand? Shireen was actually a bastard and Mel burned her for no reason because she didn't actually have king's blood.
 

Henkka

Banned
Why were the harpies there? Wasn't the whole point of marrying Hizdahr and opening the pits to make a truce with the Sons of the Harpy? And why were they stabbing random Meereen citizens?

The show is still good, but it really annoys me when all logic is thrown out the window just to make a scene "cooler". Having the harpies introduces the problem of Dany leaving all her friends for dead. The show solves this problem by having the harpies just ... disappear when Drogon takes off. No fucking clue why they wouldn't kill/capture her allies.


She isn't going to spoil anything and everyone should calm down. Her twitter's been posted on reddit, so she's probably being swarmed with criticism already. Pointless internet drama for days...
 

Ephidel

Member
Having now watched the episode I don't like Show Stannis so much anymore :(
And yet, I think I could have accepted it a little more if he'd actually taken Shireen out there himself.

... but, stupidly, it actually bothers me more that Show Selyse faltered. This is a woman who stood there and marveled in the glory of her own brother being burnt last season and it's not like she ever liked her daughter. She shouldn't have broken down.

Mace Tyrell didn't seem quite so stupid this episode, actually. I mean, he was over the top and not quite hitting target, sure, but he actually didn't seem physically incapable of thinking so the Bravosi climate obviously agrees with him.
Meryn Trant on the other hand just got too much time. Entirely too much time. Did we really need him to appear even less pleasant?

Dorne is ... not great, but I like Alexander Siddig and I like Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, so I'll happily watch it. Not quite sure what they expect Trystane to do on the Small Council, but the Small Council is a joke anyway, so hey, why not.

And the Harpy Attack was laughably bad. I couldn't help laughing as they just sort of emerged from the crowd. Unfortunately the swift retreat to the least defensible part of the arena just made me groan, as did the fact they then fought a few at a time and saved the spears for the dragon they didn't know was coming instead of just chucking them past Dany's entourage and entire... six?... unsullied guards and turn Dany into a pincushion.

... I miss Shireen already :(
 

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
"They estimate twenty men, most likely twenty "good" men, and our scouts approximate they may have been led by an actor formerly on Misfits, and they set fire to the camp at 7:03 AM, Westerosi time"

I think it turned out fine. I think some of us were sarcastically "expecting" demi-god Ramsay Bolton to carve up the entire Stannis army with his 20 good men, but it played out how we expected. A few here have pointed out how on-the-nose Davos was with his "estimate" of the number of saboteurs, though.

Yeah, that was in there as an extra cue to ensure that the majority of viewers could connect the dots. (Just in case the "previously on..." segment wasn't enough)

'Ok audience, I'm going to use a magic number, "twenty". When you hear this number, "twenty", you will remember Ramsay and successfully make the mental connection so you don't wind up thinking somehow Melisandre was behind those tent fires that appeared while she was looking around so strangely.'
 

Brakke

Banned
No, because the Pink Letter was the culmination of the feelings built up by Jon over the course of ADWD and the previous novels. This is a guy who missed his opportunity to save his father and then decided to turn around from aiding his brother who later died. Now, to suddenly realize that a battle is being fought over his home and that one of his sole surviving siblings is in the middle of it makes him finally abandon his vows.

Plus, the mystery of the Pink Letter is fun to debate.

The Pink Letter doesn't actually change anything for Jon, facts-wise. He already knows everything in it. The only thing he really learns is that Ramsay's flipped Mance or a spearwife, and that Ramsay is *claiming* that he's defeated Stannis. He's known the stakes intellectually for a while by the time the letter shows up. The letter just spurs him to finally confront the situation.

The mystery isn't fun it's just another in a long line of precious mysteries to throw on the pile. It's an alley-oop to a SURPRISE MANCE DIDN'T FLIP AFTER ALL!! or whatever.
 

Brakke

Banned
Why were the harpies there? Wasn't the whole point of marrying Hizdahr and opening the pits to make a truce with the Sons of the Harpy? And why were they stabbing random Meereen citizens?

They stabbed Hizdahr. You *thought* they were his dudes or that marrying him would satisfy them, but you (like Dany) were wrong in this.
 

Moff

Member
I always thought that ramsay said he would attack the wall made jon attack him. I actually think he takes is vows seriously and believes he is doing the best for the watch in doing so. maybe defending castle black would be smarter, but a) can i see that with a few thousand wildlings at his disposal an open battle would be smarter and b) he simply cannot afford to wait and have an aggressive enemy at his backdoor when the white walkers are standing at his doorstep from the north
 

Speevy

Banned
Too much focus on the child burning, the scene at daznak's pit was amazing!

Drogon flying in was cool. The rest was pretty bad.

I'm one of the people who said the unsullied were outnumbered in the hallways of the pyramids, but now they're out in the open. Why not bring in hundreds of them to defend Dany?

Why do the common people not take up arms against these knifemen?
 
Fuck awful episode.

Sand snakes slapping hands

Stannis committing filicide because of OP Ramsay

We really need to understand how evil Trant is so let's make him a child rapist

All the sons of harpies magically disappearing after Dany flies away on her dragon, because lol can't afford the CGI to have Dany riding the dragon while having it burn everyone. Her friends are lucky all the harpies suffered from involuntary teleportation once Dany decided to leave all her friends to die.
 

Speevy

Banned
Remember when Melisandre said there were all sorts of tricks the followers of the LoL use to bring followers to see the truth.

What if it was Mel who set the fires?
 
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