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

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Kain

Member
Jaquen was so bad... so, so, SO bad... oh my god, cringe overload.

The Lord Commander election was horrible, but it was expected. It's funny how they have to rush some plots to keep the pace with the others.
 
Brienne in the show has become an RPG protagonist who goes around asking for quests but everyone's all like, "Nah! We cool! Have all the bear skins I need"
 

NeoGiff

Member
This was a much better episode overall than the premiere.

- Looking forward to seeing how Project Mayhem evolves now that Arya has enrolled.
- Did anyone else think Castle Stokeworth was too big? Not only that, but Jaime mentioned Bronn getting a bigger one?!
- I agree that the LC election fell flat, but Sam's speech was nice, and him putting Slynt in his place was hilarious.
- Not a fan of Dorne so far, although I like Siddig. Areo Hotah felt ridiculously cheesy and forced when he threatened to kill Ellarianne.
- Also in relation to Dorne - if you listen closely, you can hear that Trystaegon is literally just repeating "My future queen, hehehe *creepy laugh*" over and over in the background.
- Dany is an idiot.
- The Jon/Stannis scene was very good. Well acted by both. And Davos makes nice background furniture, just like Cat in Season 3.
- Everything else was pretty unremarkable - Tyrion and Varys, Brienne/Pod and Sansa/Littlefinger.
 

duckroll

Member
Brienne in the show has become an RPG protagonist who goes around asking for quests but everyone's all like, "Nah! We cool! Have all the bear skins I need"

It's worse than that. The NPCs are actually turning her down for escort quests. No one likes escort quests, they're awful, and these NPCs won't even let a player who wants to do them take the quests on! RIP.
 
About a quarter of Brienne's AFFC quest was worthwhile, unfortunately GRRM bloated it up with a bunch of useless chapters
because that's what he does post-ASOS.

What the show does with Brienne isn't really all that compelling, but at least they get to the point.
 

Enosh

Member
Well if being on GAF has taught me anything it is that there is a defense force for everything, no matter how universally awful or reviled it might be, so hey, you got that going for you.
I kinda liked the parts where it had a look at how westeros is recovering from the war, Randyll Tarly bringing back order and law etc etc

the rest, pure shit yeah and i'm someone who quite enjoyed AFFC
 
Hands up, who said that
Jaquen H'gar
would return in Braavos? Seems obvious since that actor & character had received a very good response from the audience

- Dany really needs a Terminator now to help her keep the peace in Mereen
- I enjoyed the election scene and the Janos roast before that
- Arya seems on her way to learn the ways of hidden blades, eagle vision and leaps of faith, though I have a feeling they will soften the Faceless Men somehow
- Selyse seemed to be talking to us when she said, "All your books and you still don't know"
- Dorne didn't catch my eye though I dread the bowdlerization of the sand sisters, please don't have them flipping around like Daredevil

Jaquen was so bad... so, so, SO bad... oh my god, cringe overload.

The Lord Commander election was horrible, but it was expected. It's funny how they have to rush some plots to keep the pace with the others.

Jaquen should have said, "I'm back" or "Did you miss me?" or "Here's lookin at you kid" or some equally cheeseball one liner. And I would have enjoyed it
 

carlsojo

Member
Personally loving all the changes. Especially the
Jaime-Bronn road trip! Fuck it has so much promise.
I did think the
election fell flat mostly because it didn't really get any buildup. I'm hoping there's a reason the story is moving so quickly up norf.
 
Yeah, I could've taken less Brienne stuff and more for the election, even better they could've set up the election and Jon's nomination in the first episode and paid it off here instead of giving it one short scene. Don't mind Jaqen being used again, makes sense in the show to an extent. Glad they didn't avoid showing that Dany isn't infallible and finally knows her father actually earned his nickname. Obviously what happened to Lollys was changed since she wasn't shown until now but they seemed to make her less simple along changing her appearance, convenient that Cersei screwed him... Unless Jaime actually set it up. *shrug*

When Jamie is in Dorne and he'll burn the letter to fight for Cersies honor.

But why would he? IMO they did no where close to enough to build up that decision.

Its funny how the names get added on and off though.

Like at one point Beric and the red woman were on there, and now they are off along with illyn payne.

Either don't put them on or don't take them off. Arya in the books did not play around with that list it was til death do us part

Yeah, it's annoying how suddenly her list on the show has gotten smaller, gonna guess it means we won't see Ilyn Payne (even though his actor has recovered), Beric Dondarrion or Thoros again.

What I find interesting about it is that Ellaria doesn't seem to be adopting Arianne's plot from AFFC to put Myrcella on the throne - instead, she seems to straight-up want Myrcella dead.

Given that we don't seem to be getting a Quentyn as far as anyone can tell, it makes me wonder if Doran's big plan is going to be that original idea of putting Myrcella forward as the legitimate heir under Dornish law. After Quentyn's fate at the end of ADWD, I strongly suspect that the Dornish will end up falling back on some variation of that plan in the books as well.

They haven't even set up Dorne's laws regarding succession, hell they even cut his actual heir... I still find it funny that they aged up Tommen with a new actor but didn't do the same with Myrcella and even cast someone younger than her original actress.
 

Lothar

Banned
Can't believe it took less than 15 minutes of episode 2 for Brienne's story to already be better than the thousands of words GURM wrote for her.

Brienne's chapters were boring but at least they didn't take me out of the story of the books due to the ridiculousness and stupidity of the writing. First, there's yet another coincidence of Brienne running into a Stark girl. Then there's Littlefinger not hiding Sansa and taking her out to a public tavern. There's Brienne calling out Sansa's name in the public tavern. She does know that Sansa is wanted for regicide, right? It's hard to believe she'd be that much of an idiot. There's Brienne saying the same stuff she said to Arya that didn't work. Why would she expect this to go any differently? Brienne is a complete stranger to them. Why would she think they would go with her? There's Brienne causing a scene instead of doing the smarter thing and laying back and following Sansa. Finally, we have a pointless and dull chase scene that had no suspense and added nothing.

I liked last week's episode. I thought this was mostly a bad one with the only really good scenes being the ones on the Wall and Kevan dressing down Cersei. There are so many characters they give time to that it seems like nothing ever gets accomplished in an episode.
 

Moff

Member
Brienne's chapters were boring but at least they didn't take me out of the story of the books due to the ridiculousness and stupidity of the writing. First, there's yet another coincidence of Brienne running into a Stark girl. Then there's Littlefinger not hiding Sansa and taking her out to a public tavern. There's Brienne calling out Sansa's name in the public tavern. She does know that Sansa is wanted for regicide, right? It's hard to believe she'd be that much of an idiot. There's Brienne saying the same stuff she said to Arya that didn't work. Why would she expect this to go any differently? Brienne is a complete stranger to them. Why would she think they would go with her? There's Brienne causing a scene instead of doing the smarter thing and laying back and following Sansa. Finally, we have a pointless and dull chase scene that had no suspense and added nothing.

most of this is the same in the books, though, isnt it? briennes quest is foolish, everyone knows that.
I agree though that brienne calling out her name was especially stupid, I couldnt believe it when she did that, but hoenstly, it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I was dying to know what would happen now. and that is infinitely better than what we got in AFFC, I put the book away for YEARS during a brienne chapter.

and that kind of thrill (well it worked for me) is new for me watching the show, it was a completely new experience and I can't wait to see more stuff like this in this season and the next.
 

Jigorath

Banned
Brienne's chapters were boring but at least they didn't take me out of the story of the books due to the ridiculousness and stupidity of the writing. First, there's yet another coincidence of Brienne running into a Stark girl. Then there's Littlefinger not hiding Sansa and taking her out to a public tavern. There's Brienne calling out Sansa's name in the public tavern. She does know that Sansa is wanted for regicide, right? It's hard to believe she'd be that much of an idiot. There's Brienne saying the same stuff she said to Arya that didn't work. Why would she expect this to go any differently? Brienne is a complete stranger to them. Why would she think they would go with her? There's Brienne causing a scene instead of doing the smarter thing and laying back and following Sansa. Finally, we have a pointless and dull chase scene that had no suspense and added nothing.

I liked last week's episode. I thought this was mostly a bad one with the only really good scenes being the ones on the Wall and Kevan dressing down Cersei. There are so many characters they give time to that it seems like nothing ever gets accomplished in an episode.

Sansa: "What happened to Renly?"

Brienne: "He got killed by an evil shadow."

I can't believe Sansa didn't want to go with her. I thought Brienne made a pretty strong case.
 
Sansa: "What happened to Renly?"

Brienne: "He got killed by an evil shadow."

I can't believe Sansa didn't want to go with her. I thought Brienne made a pretty strong case.

She should have said it was as assassin and he had Stannis's dagger or something
Even in Harry Potter where it's magical all the time they don't go, "Oh it was a shadow!"
 
So The House of Black and White is The House of Jaqen White? Kind of kills the scope of their organisation if it is that. Jaqen is just a face, Then again the kind man knows the identities that the assassins get so it makes sense that he could do that but why? Takes away from the intrigue

The blind thing won't seem like as big a deal if she has a friend there
 
Brienne's purpose in the books seemed like it was basically world building which they don't really need so much in the show, I guess in the show she's going to be taking Mance's place but instead of saving fake Arya it'll be real Sansa?
 

NeoGiff

Member
The Viewer's Guide for this episode has the following image in its gallery.

q2Ysvre.jpg


Typically, only images that come directly from episode-specific scenes are included. So, any thoughts on this and why it may have been cut/moved from this episode? Melisandre outside in the daytime, surrounded by Baratheon soldiers. Is that a wildling wearing the hood?

Here's another, wider shot.

4tqpcX5.jpg
 

Sayad

Member
Most of the changes kinda made sense for a TV show, I just wish they have better writers. Oh well, can't wait for this season's attack dogs scene, Sansa/Brienne scene shows a lot of promise.
 

Monocle

Member
I hope this won't turn into Diet Game of Thrones again like the end of Season 4, where all sorts of interesting events are rushed and dumbed down for a general audience. It's kind of looking that way with the accelerated and altered plotlines for nearly every major character. Why can't this show have Breaking Bad caliber writers? HBO must be pinching pennies instead of hiring the best talent. They know people will eat it up regardless.

So far this season is great visually and not so great in the other areas.
 

NeoGiff

Member
Sansa: "What happened to Renly?"

Brienne: "He got killed by an evil shadow."

I can't believe Sansa didn't want to go with her. I thought Brienne made a pretty strong case.

She should have looked Littlefinger in the eye and said:

"Other forces. Daaaaahhhhk forces."
 
I hope this won't turn into Diet Game of Thrones again like the end of Season 4, where all sorts of interesting events are rushed and dumbed down for a general audience. It's kind of looking that way with the accelerated and altered plotlines for nearly every major character. Why can't this show have Breaking Bad caliber writers? HBO must be pinching pennies instead of hiring the best talent. They know people will eat it up regardless.

So far this season is great visually and not so great in the other areas.

The quality of TV writers probably has little correlation to how much you pay them.
 

Forkball

Member
I don't think Areo was holding an Axe there, Ellaria.

It was a pollaxe. Though it looked pretty speary.

Like the first episode, the second had a lot of setup and reintroductions. That's the nature of these early episodes though, and overall it was enjoyable and had some important moments.

+Braavos is visually impressive and the House of Black and White is almost identical to how I imagined it (well the outside at least). I don't know why people are cringing at the fact that Jaqen came back. First of all, we don't even know if it's truly him or just someone using that face. I also doubt he will be as aloof as he was in season two once Arya undergoes her training. I do miss the Kindly Man's skull face though.
+The guy who plays Doran did a great job in his brief scene. If he can nail his big moment later on, he will be one of the stand out new actors this season.
+Did you see that Vale knight's sword shatter? Dat Valyrian Steel.
+The show is doing a good job of revealing how Tywin was basically the only thing holding the Lannisters together and that Cersei lacks his pragmatism or will. The Kevan speech was very well done. I've read some criticism that he should have done it in private, but I think it further emphasizes the fact that people are more willing to speak out against Cersei now that Tywin is gone.
+I know people are criticizing Dany for being stupid, but she's supposed to be stupid at this point in the story. She does what she thinks shows that she treats everyone equally and violence against each other is not tolerated, but in turn weakens the support from the large majority of the city. I gotta wonder why Daario was the headtaker though.
+Qyburn is wonderfully creepy.

- I liked the discussions and pitches during the election, but this thing came way too fast. It is a major event and it was basically treated as any other scene in a random episode. Jon Snow goes from random bastard to Lord Commander. IT'S A BIG DEAL. Aemon laughing at Slynt was funny though.
- Tyrion's been in a box for two episodes. Can he get out of the box? His best moments are when he's not in a box.
- I don't buy Ellaria turning into some crazy madwoman who wants to horribly dismember a child. That's not something Oberyn would have wanted. I can understand her wanting to go to war with the Lannisters, but killing Myrcella seems out of character.

I gotta wonder though where is REEK? He has the best chapters in ADWD and yet we won't see him until the third episode of the season? I felt like he was really underutilized last season even though all of his scenes were very good.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
The Viewer's Guide for this episode has the following image in its gallery.

q2Ysvre.jpg


Typically, only images that come directly from episode-specific scenes are included. So, any thoughts on this and why it may have been cut/moved from this episode? Melisandre outside in the daytime, surrounded by Baratheon soldiers. Is that a wildling wearing the hood?

Here's another, wider shot.

4tqpcX5.jpg
I'm not sure why, but a feeling just came over me that I would like to play Game of Thrones Musou.

Yeah baby
 

Moff

Member
It's not English, it's the Westerosi common tongue. It's not really that farfetched that someone would write it in the language their ruler speaks.

but that writing on the wall was from season 3 or 4 when they killed the slavers, they don't speak common westerosi, and the slaves who wrote it didnt speak it either. It really didn't make sense at all.
 
The idea of Jon being Lord Commander is brought up and resolved in a single scene? Really?

Other than that, great episode. Still on board with almost all changes.
 

Arkeband

Banned
I get that Brienne's quest is "new content" but considering that shit's not going to happen in the books it's hard to bring myself to care.

Similarly with Jaime and Bronn going to Dorne, the removal of Arianne, Quentyn, and a handful of other (seemingly) important Dornish characters, I'm expecting a lot of filler, like Jaime and Bronn defeating the Sand Snakes like video game bosses. "They all have different abilities, how will a one handed knight and a lowborn sellsword outwit them?"

Jon's election as the Lord Commander was so rushed - they didn't even say what shape his token was, so when Aemon dropped a token in the middle, the viewers didn't even know what that meant until people started cheering "Snow!".

I'm getting apprehensive about this season. If they don't do justice to the big plot twists I'm going to be disappointed because this is the last chance they get to represent the books before it is in full-on "might be filler" territory:

* Cersei's Walk of Shame / Robert Strong
* Drogon in the Fighting Pits
* Jon Snow's "death"

Arya's scenes could be good but there's no giant plot twists left besides going blind which is then reversed one chapter later, so I can see them cutting it if they have other episode cliffhangers in mind.
 

SamVimes

Member
+Braavos is visually impressive and the House of Black and White is almost identical to how I imagined it (well the outside at least). I don't know why people are cringing at the fact that Jaqen came back. First of all, we don't even know if it's truly him or just someone using that face. I also doubt he will be as aloof as he was in season two once Arya undergoes her training. I do miss the Kindly Man's skull face though.

I didn't cringe at the fact that Jaqen was brought back. I don't care if it's him or another faceless man using his face. It's just that it was done in an incredibly clumsy way and Arya's scenes didn't make any sense in this episode after she got off the boat.
 
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