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

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Iksenpets

Banned
Possible spoiler pic from promo,
Barriston's last stand?

I'm feeling like Barristan is going to be this year's Yara and the dogs for me. An invented story that could have worked fine if they gave it the time it needed to actually develop, but that they've just decided to do as quickly and briefly as possible for time or budget reasons or something. I know that based on the cuts they're making, he probably has to go early, but they seem to just want to get it over with as quickly as possible instead of developing to something satisfying.
 
Salon's Review: http://www.salon.com/2015/04/09/“ga..._george_r_r_martins_books_and_saves_the_show/

"HBO throws out Martin's books- and saves the show. The show has never been more spectacular"

Time's Review: http://time.com/3767866/game-of-thrones-season-5-review/

"Benioff’s and Weiss’ strategy seems to be: don’t reach for a new tool when you can use one you have in hand. Where Martin introduced plot after plot, face after face, Game of Thrones uses already established characters.... All these tweaks make for a story that’s expanding–the new setting in Dorne is particularly breathtaking–but not quite metastasizing."

Guys, this season sounds amazing! Can't wait!
 

Nodnol

Member
A thought I had after seeing a recent trailer.

Littlefinger says to Sansa something regarding making people pay for what has happened to her family...is there any chance they could incorporate LSH into where Sansa is heading as a character? If they have cut LSH entirely, then I wonder if Sansa can take some of that onboard (killing Frey's etc)? Would make for interesting development for show Sansa in my opinion, seeing her empowered by emotions and steered by the puppet-master Baelish. Whilst it lacks the impact and intrigue of LSH, we would get a vengful and pissed of Stark stringing up Frey's, which let's face it, a lot of us want to see. She could also, in theory, threaten to hang Brienne for failing her mother, and Pod for his connections to the Lannisters. I'm not saying Sansa turns into a banshee and strikes fear into people, but rather her darker side is explored a bit with LSH-esqe material.

There's probably stuff out there completely destroying that idea, but I thought it could be an interesting spin on things.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
‘Game’ On: The Most Entertaining Show on Television Returns — Different But Better Than Ever

http://grantland.com/hollywood-pros...ision-returns-different-but-better-than-ever/

No spoilers.

This really isn't a review for the new season so much as it's a "Game of Thrones GET HYPE! It's a big show and this season is the biggest yet GET HYPE! The show has dropped the books and is so much better for it GET HYPE! (btw never read the books before but my friends tell me they're totes meh) GRRM is a big old brat and thank god he has nothing to do with the show anymore GET HYPE! Praise Benioff and Weiss! GET HYPE!" piece.

Just bizarre and embarrassing all around.


This is far better, as it's an actual review of the first four episodes - he does a good job of explaining how certain aspects of the season differ from those of previous seasons and just why, exactly, these changes excite him so much. And that, in turn, made me excited for the show's return - more than I had been in a long time.
 

Brakke

Banned
Yeah Grantland has two dudes on the Thrones beat. This guy is a goofball clown, the other guy goes *deep*, like learning Dothraki deep.
 
Okay, I have absolutely zero memory of any epic battle at "Hardhome" that everyone keeps talking about. What and where was this? I even checked the wiki and didn't see anything about a battle there.
 

Iksenpets

Banned
Okay, I have absolutely zero memory of any epic battle at "Hardhome" that everyone keeps talking about. What and where was this? I even checked the wiki and didn't see anything about a battle there.

In the books, Jon gets word that a wildling woman has been herding Wildlings into the cursed village of Hardhome because she's had a prophecy that it will lead them to salvation. It turns out that their salvation is just slavers looking for new supply now that Dany has cut off the supply from Slavers Bay, who are now bringing in ships to capture wildlings out of the village. Meanwhile, Jon decides he has to get them out, because that many in one place will be an easy target for the Others, who will turn the village into an army of thousands of wights. Jon sends Cotter Pyke to take all the Watch's ships and conduct a rescue by sea, but a while later Jon gets a letter from Cotter describing the whole thing as a disaster, saying they've lost ships and there are dead things in the water. Jon plans to take Tormund and a wildling force to do the rescue by land this time, but that's when the Pink Letter arrives and everything goes to shit.

The show is rewriting things so Jon and Tormund lead the sea rescue themselves, instead of sending an underling.

Oh, shit. The casting call was for an Asian woman. Hmm.

That's happened a few other times, hasn't it? Like, the original Daario casting call asked for no white dudes, and it sounded like their original one for Nym Sand saw her as more Indian or black than the Asian actress they ended up casting. What seems weirdest is one of the reviews described the waif as something like a warrior woman older sister to Arya, which is like what?
 

NeoGiff

Member
That's happened a few other times, hasn't it? Like, the original Daario casting call asked for no white dudes, and it sounded like their original one for Nym Sand saw her as more Indian or black than the Asian actress they ended up casting. What seems weirdest is one of the reviews described the waif as something like a warrior woman older sister to Arya, which is like what?

Yep. And thank you, I was convinced I had imagined the whole "warrior waif" thing, because I couldn't find where I had originally seen it. That struck me as extremely odd. Maybe they're doing it so as to have the direct comparison as to who Arya will become? If that's the case, it's not really necessary, but oh well.

EDIT: Or maybe the reviewer doesn't have a clue, which is pretty likely.
 
A thought I had after seeing a recent trailer.

Littlefinger says to Sansa something regarding making people pay for what has happened to her family...is there any chance they could incorporate LSH into where Sansa is heading as a character? If they have cut LSH entirely, then I wonder if Sansa can take some of that onboard (killing Frey's etc)? Would make for interesting development for show Sansa in my opinion, seeing her empowered by emotions and steered by the puppet-master Baelish. Whilst it lacks the impact and intrigue of LSH, we would get a vengful and pissed of Stark stringing up Frey's, which let's face it, a lot of us want to see. She could also, in theory, threaten to hang Brienne for failing her mother, and Pod for his connections to the Lannisters. I'm not saying Sansa turns into a banshee and strikes fear into people, but rather her darker side is explored a bit with LSH-esqe material.

There's probably stuff out there completely destroying that idea, but I thought it could be an interesting spin on things.

Makes me wonder if anything will happen whilst they're passing through the Riverlands on their way up North (assuming they're going that route)
 

Iksenpets

Banned
Yep. And thank you, I was convinced I had imagined the whole "warrior waif" thing, because I couldn't find where I had originally seen it. That struck me as extremely odd. Maybe they're doing it so as to have the direct comparison as to who Arya will become? If that's the case, it's not really necessary, but oh well.

EDIT: Or maybe the reviewer doesn't have a clue, which is pretty likely.

I could've sworn it was in one of the ones you guys linked in your roundup. Maybe they just needed to do something with her other than the silent girl from the books so that Arya would have someone other than Jaqen to interact with. She's going to be really starved for characters to work with since there's no sign of Sam and Mace and Meryn don't look like they'll get there til the very end of the season, so they may have just felt like they needed to make someone up by imposing some new personality on the waif. But her name is literally waif. A warrior waif. What.

Makes me wonder if anything will happen whilst they're passing through the Riverlands on their way up North (assuming they're going that route)

Everything so far is pointing to everyone moving out of the Riverlands very quickly. I just hope they have some way planned to pivot everyone back there so they can develop those characters in season six. My current hope, given that Brienne seems to be on a solidly northward projection in the show, is that they'll just have the Brotherhood capture Jaime directly as he makes his way back from Dorne, instead of making Brienne capture him for them. Then Jaime can plant the seeds of that story, and everyone else can find some plot reason or another to make their way back to the Riverlands in season six for the big Brotherhood-Frey-Tully showdown.
 
I had to look up that character...

Speaking of Arya, I wonder if they'll do the temporary blindness thing from Feast and how they'll do it if they do. I thought it was a pretty cheap cliffhanger from George in the books.
 

kirblar

Member
I had to look up that character...

Speaking of Arya, I wonder if they'll do the temporary blindness thing from Feast and how they'll do it if they do. I thought it was a pretty cheap cliffhanger from George in the books.
It's necessary for her warging, if it hasn't been cut.
 

Yonafunu

Member
It's necessary for her warging, if it hasn't been cut.

I doubt they're going to bring in her warging now.

I think they're just going to skip the blind period, or maybe just get it over with in an episode or 2. But probably just leave it altogether.
 

Iksenpets

Banned
I had to look up that character...

Speaking of Arya, I wonder if they'll do the temporary blindness thing from Feast and how they'll do it if they do. I thought it was a pretty cheap cliffhanger from George in the books.

Yeah, I actually think it's probably the cheapest cliffhanger he's done, since you basically had to wait til the next book to get a single chapter that was like "not really lol". I think blindness and warging are out for Arya.
 
Who the hell is the waif?

Jeez, as if I needed any more proof that the last two books were generally terrible and full of boring, unmemorable, and unnecessary characters and plots, I find myself constantly baffled in these threads as to what/who on earth you all are talking about. Something I never had to do for ANYTHING from the first three books, even though I read them a full decade earlier.
 
Who the hell is the waif?

Jeez, as if I needed any more proof that the last two books were generally terrible and full of boring, unmemorable, and unnecessary characters and plots, I find myself constantly baffled in these threads as to what/who on earth you all are talking about. Something I never had to do for ANYTHING from the first three books, even though I read them a full decade earlier.

The little girl at the House of Black and White that Arya hangs out with. She's weird and pale and I think she has a grim history.
 
Her chapters weren't terrible but I definitely didn't find them very memorable. And unless there's some major time jump at some point, I don't see how she could go through the whole training process in time to be any kind of a factor in the rest of the story.
 

NeoGiff

Member
I could've sworn it was in one of the ones you guys linked in your roundup. Maybe they just needed to do something with her other than the silent girl from the books so that Arya would have someone other than Jaqen to interact with. She's going to be really starved for characters to work with since there's no sign of Sam and Mace and Meryn don't look like they'll get there til the very end of the season, so they may have just felt like they needed to make someone up by imposing some new personality on the waif. But her name is literally waif. A warrior waif. What.

It could have been. Just goes to show that sifting through endless identical interviews and reviews is taking its toll!
 

Judderman

drawer by drawer
Who the hell is the waif?

Jeez, as if I needed any more proof that the last two books were generally terrible and full of boring, unmemorable, and unnecessary characters and plots, I find myself constantly baffled in these threads as to what/who on earth you all are talking about. Something I never had to do for ANYTHING from the first three books, even though I read them a full decade earlier.

Or...you could pay better attention to the words you're reading? The waif and the kindly man are priests in the House of Black and White, with the kindly man being in charge of the temple. They are the ones training Arya during her time there.
 

Real Hero

Member
Her chapters weren't terrible but I definitely didn't find them very memorable. And unless there's some major time jump at some point, I don't see how she could go through the whole training process in time to be any kind of a factor in the rest of the story.

For me, they were some of the most memorable of the entire series. Especially Cat of the Canals and the chapter where she undergoes the face changing 'operation'
 
- Fast Company: An Oral History of How Game of Thrones Went From Crazy Idea to HBOs Biggest Hit
On Sunday night the fifth season of HBO's epic fantasy series Game of Thrones premieres, and at this point, there is no questioning its epicness. With nearly 20 million viewers per episode across all platforms, the show is the most popular in the premium cable network's history. Its duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-duh-nuh-nuh-nuh theme song has been covered by everyone from cellists to the Queen's guards and is basically today's equivalent of the Star Wars score. And if you're unfamiliar with the line, "Winter is coming," just go hide under a rock.

The show, which is based on George R. R. Martin's books about warring families in medievalish times, didn't appear to be a sure thing when creators David Benioff and D.B. "Dan" Weiss first pitched it to HBO. It was viewed as a wildcard. HBO was The Sopranos and The Wire. How could this fanboy fantasy series feel worthy of the HBO pedigree? HBO took that chance, and it not only helped lead its creative renaissance but it also helped boost Richard Plepler into the CEO role he holds today.

Benioff, Weiss, Plepler, and Michael Lombardo, HBO's head of programming, recently spoke with Fast Company about the origins of the show and that maturation process—from crazy idea to world-class hit.
 
For me, they were some of the most memorable of the entire series. Especially Cat of the Canals and the chapter where she undergoes the face changing 'operation'

Same. The one-off chapters, short Arya/Bran chapters, and world building stuff in the previous two books are some of my favorite things in any of the books.
 
I liked the worldbuilding in Arya's AFFC chapters as well but narrative wise they weren't as good as I had hoped, coming from ASOS. It felt like half her story was being told, a half which happened to be heavily leaned towards world building. Whereas her chapters in ADWD+Mercy are great.

Looks like S5 will fix that by just adding everything together.
 
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