The Official Game of Thrones [A Song of Ice and Fire] Thread (includes spoilers)

[Rich]

I think you have to assume that, at some point around season four or five, the showrunners got burnt out and realized they didn’t want to take the series the distance it would need to go to be properly adapted and started cutting corners (or entire characters and subplots) to give them the opportunity to speed things up a bit.

The problem, of course, is that most of those characters and subplots they cut will likely play key roles in what happens toward the end of the series. Like, I highly doubt that fAegon’s plot will amount to absolutely nothing in the books to the point where it could be cut entirely. I expect him to not survive but I am sure he’ll do some important things that have significant repercussions, much like Quentyn’s death is obviously going to spur Dorne to side with Aegon instead of Dany and probably doom them in the process.

Quentyn on the whole wasn’t an amazingly important character, but his death is a stone dropped in a pond. The ripples will carry on after him.

I mean they didn't care for Dorne at all, which is too bad.

Because there's a very interesting plot developing there wherein they are being set up to side with Aegon. You can see this from Arianne's TWOW chapters where she starts wondering why Daenerys killed Viserys when she (Arianne) was promised to him. And obviously that's only going to get far worse when they learn of what happened to Quentyn.

So then it's highly likely that Dorne, in fact, stands against Daenerys so now you've got this whole "Never Been Conquered by the Targaryens" angle with Dorne.

And even w/o that, you see instead the scenario where Daenerys will look FAR, FAR more like a foreign invader in the books with no Westerosi allies because they'll all be with Aegon. And those who aren't, look like they're about to wiped out by the Ironborn before she even gets there.


But in the show, she comes to Westeros with the Tyrells on her side, the Dornish on her side, and a decent chunk of the Iron Islands on her side, and somehow we are then supposed to believe she's hated in Westeros and all alone and blah blah blah and the only way they can even get you to kinda believe that is to literally wipe those houses out in just a couple of 5 minute scenes here and there and then to pretend that's it. They're gone.


To me it feels fairly clear where the story is headed. Cersei has misplayed her hand entirely. She thinks the Tyrells have been trying to backstab her when in fact they've been her only allies and she's alienating them at every turn. Aegon will have the Dornish on his side when he lands, and I'd say, at minimum, the Tarly's will join him as well. And slowly but surely, he'll win the countryside to his banner and he'll largely be seen as a liberator and uniter before Daenerys ever gets there.



But instead of that, we got what we got, which made very little sense at any point.

 

[Hurl Bruce]

Man, how do you all remember all of this stuff?

 

[foucault87]

Man, how do you all remember all of this stuff?

Nerds

 

[Jack Brickman]

Man, how do you all remember all of this stuff?

I’ve read the books a few times so it’s all pretty easy to remember.

 

[Rich]

Read the books twice. Watched the show at least twice. Many episodes more than that.

And have done multiple deep dives into the asoiaf forum world.

Trust me, there's people out there who know far far more. An entire website dedicated to JUST Theons chapters in Winterfell with doctoral level posts, one after another, analyzing them (let's be real, over analyzing them).

 

[Stark]

What's everybody's favorite episode of the show?

Mine has got to be Watchers on the Wall with either Baelor, Rains of Castamere, or the Lion and the Rose in second place.

Kissed by Fire is really damn good too. So is Fire and Blood. And Blackwater. And The Laws of Gods and Men.

Pretty much everything in seasons 1-4 is amazing television.

My favorite non-season 1-4 episode is probably either The Queen's Justice, Winds of Winter, or Hardhome. Battle of the Bastards is cool, but I watched a critical deep dive into it that showed how completely illogical 98% of the things are that happen in that episode are and it ruined it a bit for me.

 

[Ohio]

Just rewatched the series, and for me it's definitely Hardhome. That episode was the peak of the series IMO.

 

[foucault87]

All I remember from battle of the bastards is to run in a straight line when getting shot by an arrow

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

What's everybody's favorite episode of the show?

Mine has got to be Watchers on the Wall with either Baelor, Rains of Castamere, or the Lion and the Rose in second place.

Kissed by Fire is really damn good too. So is Fire and Blood. And Blackwater. And The Laws of Gods and Men.

Pretty much everything in seasons 1-4 is amazing television.

My favorite non-season 1-4 episode is probably either The Queen's Justice, Winds of Winter, or Hardhome. Battle of the Bastards is cool, but I watched a critical deep dive into it that showed how completely illogical 98% of the things are that happen in that episode are and it ruined it a bit for me.

Yeah, the Battle of the Bastards looked pretty, but the holes were bigger than the plot. I had a similar issue with Blackwater. Just didn't make sense to me even though it looked good. I actually thought Battle of the Bastards, though not a bad episode because of everything that was resolved, was one of the most disappointing.

Hardhome was really good, as was Watcher on the Walls. Rains of Castamere was probably great, but like the book, the pain of what was happening just made it harder to actually enjoy, if you know what I mean. I can't rewatch it.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

All I remember from battle of the bastards is to run in a straight line when getting shot by an arrow

There were so many just awful things there. Sansa not telling Jon made less than no sense. It would have been impossible for her to have known that the Vale would arrive exactly when it did, and she literally could have lost the entire war simply because she wouldn't tell Jon to wait. Nobody is that stupid...except the writers who think Sansa can see the future, apparently.

 

[Stark]

Yeah, the Battle of the Bastards looked pretty, but the holes were bigger than the plot. I had a similar issue with Blackwater. Just didn't make sense to me even though it looked good. I actually thought Battle of the Bastards, though not a bad episode because of everything that was resolved, was one of the most disappointing.

Hardhome was really good, as was Watcher on the Walls. Rains of Castamere was probably great, but like the book, the pain of what was happening just made it harder to actually enjoy, if you know what I mean. I can't rewatch it.

Spoilers through season 5 below:

Spoiler

Talisa getting stabbed in the stomach and Shireen burning at the stake are two amazing scenes but they are so damn hard to watch.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Gotta go with The Mountain and the Viper as my favorite episode. It's my favorite chapter in the books as well.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Gotta go with The Mountain and the Viper as my favorite episode. It's my favorite chapter in the books as well.

Great chapter and episode...but another one that is just tough as hell to watch a second time.

 

[Ohio]

Great chapter and episode...but another one that is just tough as hell to watch a second time.

Agreed.

The Viper was one of my favorite characters in the show and yet he only appeared in like 8 episodes. Really wish he would have stuck around longer.

 

[Kbiz]

Hardhome is definitely my favorite but I'm still a sucker for the when wildlings attack Castle Black. I feel that was the first time the show achieved that grandiose epic scale we'd hoped to see in past battles.