A good contrast for sure.  The Dark Tower is close to my heart.  Now you've gone and made me consider picking it up from square one again.

You should give the comic books a shot. The first 4-5 volumes are very good. After that, the quality is somewhat mixed.

I'm surprised the show runners manged to pull off 50 minutes of television with not even a rape! Good work guys!

 

You should give the comic books a shot. The first 4-5 volumes are very good. After that, the quality is somewhat mixed.

 

I've heard that as well.  Fingers crossed this movie project finally gets rolling.

Massive spoiler in this post so don't read it, Mike!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really liked this episode but the writers are still telegraphing things pretty bad.  Did anyone not know the wildling woman was going to be killed by undead kids?  But the Night's King taunt to Jon Snow was probably the highlight of the show so far.

 

Brock, interesting that you mentioned King.  I haven't read his Dark Tower books but about 6 months ago I read Joyland and Mr. Murder while also reading ADWD.  I liked ADWD a lot but Martin in not nearly the writer King is.

 

Massive spoiler in this post so don't read it, Mike!

 

I really liked this episode but the writers are still telegraphing things pretty bad.  Did anyone not know the wildling woman was going to be killed by undead kids?  But the Night's King taunt to Jon Snow was probably the highlight of the show so far.

 

Brock, interesting that you mentioned King.  I haven't read his Dark Tower books but about 6 months ago I read Joyland and Mr. Murder while also reading ADWD.  I liked ADWD a lot but Martin in not nearly the writer King is.

 

Yeah, there were some obviously telegraphed deaths coming.  No doubt.  

 

Though, while watching, I thought they were telegraphing the giant's death as well and that didn't happen.  But, yeah, those last few minutes with the stare down were ridiculously tense and awesome.

 

Amazing how they took a chunk of the book that Martin made an after-thought (via Ravens) and the show turned it into a massive hit.

 

Massive spoiler in this post so don't read it, Mike!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really liked this episode but the writers are still telegraphing things pretty bad.  Did anyone not know the wildling woman was going to be killed by undead kids? 

Yeah, that was eye-roll worthy of the producers. It was the polar opposite of how Whedon baited-and-switched Hawkeye in Age of Ultron. That was a clever trick, using the audience's meta knowledge to lead them astray and then drop the hammer on them.

Ha, I skipped all three of those, thanks for the warning.

 

I may have to miss this thread for a few months.....have fun, I'll be back.

I'll buy HBO for three-four months and watch GoT and True Detective.  Looking forward if True Detective can pull off its prior excellence with a new cast.

Well, tonight's episode was kind of the opposite of last weeks - really, really bad.   Torturing and burning children is usually not good television.  Still isn't. 

 

Well, tonight's episode was kind of the opposite of last weeks - really, really bad.   Torturing and burning children is usually not good television.  Still isn't. 

 

The producers said it came straight from their conversations with Martin.

 

I'm not sure they should be shy about that sort of thing at this point.

Edited June 8, 201511 yr by TheLeviathan

Wow. If some people were upset about the Sansa / Ramsey / Theon scene they are going to be REALLY upset about last night's episode. That scene with Stannis and his daughter was pretty brutal. 

"See I'm not so bad!"- Adrian Peterson

Dave just won the internet.

 

Wow. If some people were upset about the Sansa / Ramsey / Theon scene they are going to be REALLY upset about last night's episode. That scene with Stannis and his daughter was pretty brutal. 

 

Indeed, but all along Stannis has been Martin's Agamemnon.  This was only a matter of time.

 

The best part is that all the book purists are freaking out about it, only to find out a few hours later that it was Martin's idea.

 

Indeed, but all along Stannis has been Martin's Agamemnon.  This was only a matter of time.

 

The best part is that all the book purists are freaking out about it, only to find out a few hours later that it was Martin's idea.

I haven't seen that - I did read Martin's quote that the show runners were more blood thirsty than he was and they were going to kill people that didn't die in the books but I didn't see anything about Martin killing Shireen (although it's certainly possible).

 

I didn't like it at all and not following the books was just a small part of it. 

 

I haven't seen that - I did read Martin's quote that the show runners were more blood thirsty than he was and they were going to kill people that didn't die in the books but I didn't see anything about Martin killing Shireen (although it's certainly possible).

 

I didn't like it at all and not following the books was just a small part of it. 

 

The show producers confirmed it in the "Inside the Episode" segment.  I understand not liking the choice, certainly it was a difficult thing to watch.

 

But it also follows a very old myth/story that Martin seems to be running Stannis parallel to.  For better or worse.  And given how critical a character Stannis is, I'm not sure the show had another choice.

Of interest, rapes were far more common in the books.  So far, we've had what 1?  2 in the shows along with a couple of thwarted attempts?  It was very very very common in the books.

 

Right now you are brushing up on items from book 6 as many characters are hitting the end of their development from a book standpoint.  I suspect some of that is nothing more than what you'll see in Winds of Winter when that comes out.  Sounds like I've missed a couple of good ones.

I don't mind the plot point of killing her, and I think they did a decent job with the Davo's scene and the last scene with Stannis talking to her, I thought the scene of the actual burning at the stake was a little over the top and too long, I don't think you need 2+ minutes of her screaming for her parents and such while she is getting burnt, clearly it was done for shock value as have other scenes (red wedding- is it really necessary to show them stabbing a fetus 20+ times?)

 

I haven't read the books, but this season has been pretty boring overall, also the fight scenes in this episode were terrible and the Dragon CGI was laughable. At some point SOMETHING needs to happen, they are juggling way too many balls at this point. heh, balls.

 

 

Of interest, rapes were far more common in the books.  So far, we've had what 1?  2 in the shows along with a couple of thwarted attempts?  It was very very very common in the books.

 

Right now you are brushing up on items from book 6 as many characters are hitting the end of their development from a book standpoint.  I suspect some of that is nothing more than what you'll see in Winds of Winter when that comes out.  Sounds like I've missed a couple of good ones.

There have been more then 2.

 

I don't mind the plot point of killing her, and I think they did a decent job with the Davo's scene and the last scene with Stannis talking to her, I thought the scene of the actual burning at the stake was a little over the top and too long, I don't think you need 2+ minutes of her screaming for her parents and such while she is getting burnt, clearly it was done for shock value as have other scenes (red wedding- is it really necessary to show them stabbing a fetus 20+ times?)

 

I haven't read the books, but this season has been pretty boring overall, also the fight scenes in this episode were terrible and the Dragon CGI was laughable. At some point SOMETHING needs to happen, they are juggling way too many balls at this point. heh, balls.

 

Blame Martin.  This season has been a bit more stale, but compared to the content they are making it from it's been a roller coaster ride.

 

Of interest, rapes were far more common in the books.  So far, we've had what 1?  2 in the shows along with a couple of thwarted attempts?  It was very very very common in the books.

 

Right now you are brushing up on items from book 6 as many characters are hitting the end of their development from a book standpoint.  I suspect some of that is nothing more than what you'll see in Winds of Winter when that comes out.  Sounds like I've missed a couple of good ones.

 

I don't think anything that has happened in the show even cracks the Mountain's Top 10 atrocities in the book, much less overall.

 

There have been more then 2.

 

I haven't seen all of those season (did see Sansa's wedding), but I'm really struggling with past seasons.

 

You have Jamie/Ceirci when he returned (which may or may not be depending on your interpretation)

You have Sansa's wedding night.

Edit:  suppose Dani's wedding could fly too.

 

You have two thwarted attempts in Brienne (her captors, which Jamie protects her) and Sansa (from the mob).  I'm missing the rest.  That's one thing I noticed that HBO has been leaving out (and I'm quite fine with that, just not a fan of watching rape scenes in general). 

 

I swear it was every other chapter in the books. 

 

Indeed, but all along Stannis has been Martin's Agamemnon.  This was only a matter of time.

 

The best part is that all the book purists are freaking out about it, only to find out a few hours later that it was Martin's idea.

 

I do like that this definitely spices things up a bit for Stannis. As far as those just invested in the show, it gives them a little deeper Stannis than what we have seen with him so far, which is frankly good for TV. 

I caught up to episode nine just a few minutes ago. I'm curious to know what I'll think after the season finale (heard some pretty bad things) but the show is ramping up more quickly than I ever could have hoped.

 

Tyrion + badass Dany = a return to greatness. The show is pivoting and returning back to its core story and unsurprisingly, became a *much* better show the moment it happened.

 

Unlike the books, the show is giving us characters to cheer on and in the case of Tyrion/Dany/Jorah, is combining them into a force that leads toward not only an endgame, but an endgame you want to see with victors you genuinely like.

 

In other words, it's finally turning back into a ****ing fantasy story that people can enjoy. We'll see if it holds up after the final episode...

 

I caught up to episode nine just a few minutes ago. I'm curious to know what I'll think after the season finale (heard some pretty bad things) but the show is ramping up more quickly than I ever could have hoped.

 

Tyrion + badass Dany = a return to greatness. The show is pivoting and returning back to its core story and unsurprisingly, became a *much* better show the moment it happened.

 

Unlike the books, the show is giving us characters to cheer on and in the case of Tyrion/Dany/Jorah, is combining them into a force that leads toward not only an endgame, but an endgame you want to see with victors you genuinely like.

 

In other words, it's finally turning back into a ****ing fantasy story that people can enjoy. We'll see if it holds up after the final episode...

 

The final episode is fine, if anything it stays too closely to the books.  But it sure as hell cleans up Jon's storyline beautifully.

 

The BS at the Wall in the book is the second most maddening thing for me in his plotting.  (After fake Aegon - one of the worst decisions I've ever read in any book)

It's been several years since I read the book. I forgot about Aegon. That was pretty bad.

 

It's been several years since I read the book. I forgot about Aegon. That was pretty bad.

 

GRRM: "Hmmmm....how can I minimize one of my book's greatest heroes a bit more than putting her through a series of stupid decisions.....oh, I got it!  I'll come up with a totally implausible story in which I swap babies (again) so that it can diminish her claim to the throne and make Varys behind it!"

 

Just ugh.....

 

The final episode is fine, if anything it stays too closely to the books.  But it sure as hell cleans up Jon's storyline beautifully.

 

The BS at the Wall in the book is the second most maddening thing for me in his plotting.  (After fake Aegon - one of the worst decisions I've ever read in any book)

 

Something tells me that this storyline isn't over quite yet...  Call me crazy.  I kind of assumed that with a title Winds of Winter that you'd see the North regaining quite a bit of control (and possibly a northern alliance with Dany)... that's my guess at least. 

 

But then again, I think Jon is Dany's brother from another mother.... so what do I know. 

 

But then again, I think Jon is Dany's brother from another mother.... so what do I know. 

 

I think you mean nephew.

Include me in the number of those who are skeptical that Jon is dead.