GOT, Season 2

[Boz]

Anyone feel like discussing?

I think most of us here who watch the show have read the books, so I don't know if we need to worry about spoilers, but for now, I won't mention anything about upcoming chapters/episodes, in case people who haven't read want to join in.

I thought it was pretty good, given the fact that (as some reviewers have noted) like the first episode of Season 1, there is a lot of ground to cover to get everyone caught up.

- Love the wolves, and the fact that they're using real animals and not CGI (somewhere on westeros.org, it was explained how they used blue screens or something to exaggerate their size; I don't care. I thought it worked well).

- Really good performances with all the Lannisters (expected), but also I thought Cat was a lot better here than she was in Season 1. Robb is not working too well for me, but he's OK. I really like the scene they added out of the text between him and Jaime.

- I read some reviews today that were critical of the Melisandre scenes, but I thought they were very well done. Yes, some changes were made, but overall, I thought it was pretty good.

Anyway, just thought we could take a break from health care, the election, the media and hate crimes legislation and get our geek back on for a little while if anyone else wants to discuss.

[derhoya]

under the gaze of asian-jet lag (the worst kind) and not having read the books, the first episode showed promise but the follow-on preview looked awesome.

to those who have read the books - how many seasons do you think you can run out on this series given the first season and how much it covered?

[Boz]

Apr 2, 2012 12:49:46 GMT -5 derhoya said:

under the gaze of asian-jet lag (the worst kind) and not having read the books, the first episode showed promise but the follow-on preview looked awesome.

to those who have read the books - how many seasons do you think you can run out on this series given the first season and how much it covered?

Given that it's likely to take about 20 years for the next installment of the book series, and about a year to 18 months per season, I think they'll run through all 5 books, one book per season, and then say, "WTF, Martin!! Wrap this up in an F-ing bow already!! Happy endings all around!! None of that Sopranos, Lost crap!!"

[/only half joking]

[hoopsmccan]

I think the book a season formula will erode as the seasons go and with the show's new material, I think they can make 7-8 seasons out of the 5 books, easy. From what I've read, in this season story lines are already being pushed forward and enhanced to please nonfanatic viewers.

As for last night's episode, it set the scene well. Nothing major jumped out....I was just happy to have the show back on, liked the dire wolf, had no issue with Stannis and crew, wasn't a big fan of the Littlefinger/Cersei interaction but that was made up for by Joffrey getting bitch slapped and the Rob/Jamie interaction.

hm

[SFHoya99]

I thought the first episode was well done, solid, and unspecacular. Reintroduced the story, characters and new characters well without being forced and there were a couple of really good scenes.

I dont know if its because book scenes carry my mental expectations but I thought the original scenes were better - Tyrion and Cersei, Joff and Cersei and thought that some of the in book scenes were flatter - like Dontos Hollard and Cressen dying.

Thought they did well with the burning if the seven and the playing up of the slaughter of the bastards, which was mentioned but not shown in the book.

[SFHoya99]

As for the translation, some book 3 things will be in this season, but it will mostly follow the formula.

Theyve said Book 3 will likely take two seasons- longer seasons than 10 episodes seems to be a problem with workload.

Theyve also said that they are adapting the series and will begin to change more and move stuff around. Books 4 and 5 will obviously be combined, i think, and they occur mostly concurrently and are split by character.

I'd imagine the currently published works account for six seasons which gives Martin a few years for book six and hopefully an outline for seven.

But hbo has shown to be okay with years off as well.

[JB5]

Good start to the season. I liked the way they they (re)introduced the main plots and brought in the new characters. I'm not sure about Stephen Dillane as Stannis -- not at all as I imagine him. The kid playing Joffrey is awesome. I'm also liking the Night's Watch scenes and Tyrion asking Cersei "How does it feel to be the disappointing child?" I'm hoping we won't see much of Dany this season; she doesn't have much to do. From the Bran scenes and the previews, does it seem like they will leave out the Reeds?

[CTHoya08]

I actually like the guy they have cast as Stannis. He doesn't look like I imagined him, but he seems to exude the confidence, drive, and purpose that define Stannis to me.

[SFHoya99]

Apr 2, 2012 13:02:58 GMT -5 Boz said:

Apr 2, 2012 12:49:46 GMT -5 derhoya said:

under the gaze of asian-jet lag (the worst kind) and not having read the books, the first episode showed promise but the follow-on preview looked awesome.

to those who have read the books - how many seasons do you think you can run out on this series given the first season and how much it covered?

Given that it's likely to take about 20 years for the next installment of the book series, and about a year to 18 months per season, I think they'll run through all 5 books, one book per season, and then say, "WTF, Martin!! Wrap this up in an F-ing bow already!! Happy endings all around!! None of that Sopranos, Lost crap!!"

[/only half joking]

Martin has briefly commented on the ending of the books, saying that he (a) knows how it ends and (b) that the ending is bittersweet.

He's also joked that the ending is an entire book of snow blowing across a wasteland with no people.

That all said, he was extremely critical of the Lost finale and I think that while it won't be a super happy ending, it will be more or less clear in terms of resolving major issues. He specifically said he's trying hard not to pull a lost.

I loved a Dance with Dragons, but he's still creating more questions rather than answering right now -- there's a lot of resolution to be had in the last 2-3 books.

[SFHoya99]

Any opinions on Episode 2? I love Alan Taylor's directing and the level of production values going in. He's gotten promoted to movies so we're going to only get him for one Episode in Season 3, apparently, which is a bummer (he did eps 9/10 last year).

Since I've read them, it's tough to evaluate it holistically in terms of pace, etc. -- I know what happens for the most part and what's coming, but I admit that the few changes they are making are nice as I don't know exactly what happens in those scenes and subsequent. As long as it doesn't start to eliminate good stuff or completely diverge from the character.

For example, the final scene with Jon Snow following Craster and getting knocked out is not in the books in really any way -- we find out what Craster is doing but through word of mouth later. Jon's storyline was slow in aCoK until the back half -- this is a nice way to make it more interesting, as long as it isn't a diversion that completely changes the story.

Scenes I really loved:

• Most of the women I know who have read the books are hardcore Gendry-Arya 'shippers, and this show isn't going to change that much, even if the age difference is more uncomfortable when seen. How fantastic were those scenes? Joe Dempsie freaking knocked it out of the park.
  
  
• Speaking of great acting, Lena Headley has been really good this year. Her scenes with Tyrion were fantastic -- the scene where Tyrion figures out Joffrey ordered the murder of the bastards was fantastic on both sides and I really could watch them go at each other every episode.
  
  
• Funniest episode yet? One of my biggest issues with movie/televised fantasy is often the complete lack of humor. It's like writing the thee and thous precludes anyone from making a joke. And while I'm not a huge fart joke guy, this episode had sad, pathetic Sam, fart jokes, the usual Tyrion snark, the Monty Python-esque skit with Lommy and Hot Pie ("He had armor on") and the best line of the bunch -- "You shouldn't insult people bigger than you." "Then I wouldn't be able to insult anyone."
  
  
• Game of Thrones saves it's "yes, the hero kicked some ass there" moments for few and far between, but we got one this episode with the firing of Janos Slynt. I'm personally still waiting for "a girl to say a name..."
  
  
• Theon's scene with his father was fantastic. He's more or less an unlikeable person in most ways, but it's amazing our capacity for empathy for someone in a bad spot despite the fact that they've really done nothing to deserve to be in a good spot.
  
  

[Boz]

Apr 10, 2012 11:08:42 GMT -5 SFHoya99 said:

[/li][li] Speaking of great acting, Lena Headley has been really good this year. Her scenes with Tyrion were fantastic -- the scene where Tyrion figures out Joffrey ordered the murder of the bastards was fantastic on both sides and I really could watch them go at each other every episode.
[/quote]

Outstanding, outstanding, outstanding scene!

[rosslynhoya]

But why is Asha so homely?? and I know I'm going to be even angrier when we see the hopelessly miscast Brienne next week.

[SFHoya99]

Apr 10, 2012 12:42:36 GMT -5 rosslynhoya said:

But why is Asha so homely?? and I know I'm going to be even angrier when we see the hopelessly miscast Brienne next week.

Is Asha/Yara really that homely? Was she really supposed to be that attractive? Fantasy novels have the creepy aspect of having every woman in it being above-average in attractiveness. Sure, Martin has a few noticeably plain (Arya) or ugly (Brienne) characters, but he's also guilty of a fairly large amount of very attractive people.

And his fanbase is guilty of more. People project pretty heavy on what "pretty" means when written. Virtually every actress has been assaulted by the fanbase as not hot enough -- and that includes Emilia Clarke, which is borderline insane to me.

I have no problems with Asha being pretty normal. I don't really know if its that much of a departure from the books, really, and even if so, eh, it's not crucial to her identity.

As for Brienne, much like Tyrion, they weren't going to make her as ugly as the book. That said, they got someone tall and athletic and I've read that she's totally pulls off the combat -- she's believable as being able to fight, which is huge. They will "monster" her up a bit and while the actress is nice-looking but not actress hot, I expect her to be more plain than straight out ugly when they are done.

[Boz]

"I wanted Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island ugly, not Cornelius on Planet of the Apes ugly. TV-ugly, not ugly-ugly."

"I've been called ugly, pug-ugly, fugly, pug-fugly, but never ugly-ugly."

;D

[CTHoya08]

I actually had the same reaction to Asha/Yara as rosslyn, but really, what does it matter?

Also, is it just me, or did they have Arya reveal her true identity to Genrdy much earlier than in the book?

[SFHoya99]

Apr 10, 2012 18:47:53 GMT -5 CTHoya08 said:

I actually had the same reaction to Asha/Yara as rosslyn, but really, what does it matter?

Also, is it just me, or did they have Arya reveal her true identity to Genrdy much earlier than in the book?

They did. I imagine there will be much less scenes on the road than in the book.

[JB5]

Another strong episode this week and it seems HBO has greenlit season 3.

I loved the look on Tyrion's face when he discovered Varys having tea with Shea (and her "fish pie"). Dinklage was also great in the scene with Slynt. I like the change to putting Bronn in charge of the Gold Cloaks.

I also thought that the whore going for the full mouth action right after Littlefinger wiped her lip was the single most disgusting thing shown thus far.

Ending the episode with a cliffhanger not in the book was a brilliant idea. Anyone else think Ghost will intorduce himself to Craster early next week?

[SFHoya99]

Apr 11, 2012 11:03:04 GMT -5 JB5 said:

I also thought that the whore going for the full mouth action right after Littlefinger wiped her lip was the single most disgusting thing shown thus far.

I generally think the anti-sex brigade is way overblown, but that just felt like, "what can we get away with?"

[rosslynhoya]

Apr 11, 2012 11:03:04 GMT -5 JB5 said:

Ending the episode with a cliffhanger not in the book was a brilliant idea. Anyone else think Ghost will intorduce himself to Craster early next week?

Or maybe the HBO version will kill off Jon Snow? #mindblown

[SFHoya99]

This should allay some concerns about Brienne: link