Game of Thrones (spoilers)

Started by diggler, June 06, 2011, 02:39:04 PM

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polkablues

My house, my rules, my coffee

Mel

Spoilers 4x09

Just wanted to share this reaction to the ending of "The Mountain and the Viper" episode. Some context: guy on the left is familiar with the books, guy in the red shirt is the one that hypes GoT the most.

Simple mind - simple pleasures...

Jeremy Blackman

Well that certainly lived up to the hype. Easily one of the best episodes. Maybe the best episode in which no major protagonists shockingly die. (I count Tywin as an antagonist.)

Speaking of which. I once accidentally read this spoiler: "Tywin dies on the throne." Lawl. I was expecting him to become king eventually, but this... yes, I prefer this.

The episode was 65 minutes long, and I wanted at least another hour. When Arya's seafaring theme swelled, I was like noooo don't end! Just a marvelous experience.

------

I rewatched last week's episode, because it seemed eminently rewatchable, but for whatever reason it didn't age well. The action scenes held up, but not much else did. The dialogue was either badly written or badly acted or both, which on the first watch must have been completely obscured by generalized "new GoT" excitement. Jon Snow was still fine, but anything not understated — including Sam, Gilly, and Maester Aemon — seemed delivered in a shrill stage-like style. Very strange, but it's there.

I imagine certain other characters would suffer similarly upon rewatch, especially those with non-British accents, because those barely hold up sometimes on the initial watch. Thinking of Oberon's girlfriend (and maybe even Oberon himself?), and most of the supporting characters around Daenerys.

I wonder how much this is happening, really. The show's weakness, as I've always said (and which is kind of obvious), is how heavily it depends on shocking plot turns for its power. Last week's episode upon rewatch felt almost inert without that "anything can happen" feeling that we're all so addicted to now.

Jeremy Blackman

I forgot to congratulate myself on the Varys prediction. It was kind of a slam dunk though. You could almost see him winking at Tyrion during his testimony.

Also, it felt like he had to compete with Littlefinger yet again, who seemed to specialize in helping people escape.

diggler

I quite liked the 9th episode, mostly because it finally delivered some much needed movement on the Wall. I think it might be partially because I like Neil Marshall and think he should be doing more movies. The show is not used to feeling that kinetic and it felt cartoonish in parts, but it needed some catharsis to deliver on all that buildup and tension, which it delivered.

As for the finale, "Safety? Where the fuck's that?" should be the show's new tagline.
I'm not racist, I'm just slutty

Fernando

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on June 16, 2014, 01:09:36 AM
I forgot to congratulate myself on the Varys prediction. It was kind of a slam dunk though. You could almost see him winking at Tyrion during his testimony.

Also, it felt like he had to compete with Littlefinger yet again, who seemed to specialize in helping people escape.

Quote from: Fernando on June 07, 2014, 12:52:49 PM
maybe Jaime and Varys team up...

ahem...anyway, I'm glad Tyrion lives but too bad Tywin had to go, he was a great character, not necessarily evil, he was just practical and did what had to be done.

Can't wait to see Tyrion's adventures with Varys, that should be sweet, it wasn't mentioned where they are going, was it?

so there's a vacuum of power at Kingslanding, I guess Cersei will rule but now she will have to worry about the debt to the Iron Bank...


the best part for me was Jon Snow with Mance and the arrival of Stannis.
I love when ppl recognize Ned's honor, again next season should be great seeing Melisandre, Stannis, Mance and Jon together.

this season the one that didn't do much was Khaleesi, she just took another city but we have seen that before...

I thought that coin Arya had was meant for the appearance of Jaqen, anyway she at Braavos will be great.

this episode only missed Sansa...


oh, Bran finally arrived at the tree, what the hell is he going to do now, at some point he has to deliver otherwise his story will be kind of useless, the same can be applied to Arya and Sansa and Dany's like JB mentioned awhile ago.

Mel

Quote from: Fernando on June 17, 2014, 12:58:06 AM
ahem...anyway, I'm glad Tyrion lives but too bad Tywin had to go, he was a great character, not necessarily evil, he was just practical and did what had to be done.

I wonder if his role in "Going Postal" as Lord Vetinari had something to do with securing role as Tywin:



Quote from: Fernando on June 17, 2014, 12:58:06 AM
so there's a vacuum of power at Kingslanding, I guess Cersei will rule but now she will have to worry about the debt to the Iron Bank...

I'm not sure if Tyrells will let her reign for long. Only good news for her: wedding with Loras if probably off. Guess we will see more of Olenna and she proven capable of matching Tywin in plotting. Littlefiger has picked right horse again by allying himself with Tyrells. I'm not sure what this means for North: Frey is in trouble, what about Boltons?
Simple mind - simple pleasures...

Jeremy Blackman

Mel, I totally agree. Lannisters are down, Tyrells are up. Cersei should be easily outsmarted by them. Olenna certainly outmaneuvered Tywin a few times. Can Cersei really prevent her son's marriage? You'd think the Tyrells would eventually get explicit about the money they would withhold, etc.

Olenna for hand of the king! Jaime seems too obvious, right? Who else might it be?

Anyway... If they can find an excuse for Jaime to go on some kind of mission or adventure, the Lannister siblings will be split up across Westeros after the death of their father, just like the Starks. How beautiful would that be?

Quote from: Fernando on June 17, 2014, 12:58:06 AM
Quote from: Fernando on June 07, 2014, 12:52:49 PM
maybe Jaime and Varys team up...

ahem...

Okay yeah, I may have been first on that but you were definitely more accurate. I really thought Jaime helping would have been too obvious. Shouldn't he have been elsewhere specifically establishing an alibi, since he's going to be suspect number one? Surely Varys could have done that alone. Just give him the key.

Quote from: Fernando on June 17, 2014, 12:58:06 AMCan't wait to see Tyrion's adventures with Varys, that should be sweet

Yeah. This show is amazing at creating great pairings. There have been so many. Apparently many of those are divergences from the books, too. They even did Tywin and Arya, which was completely new content.

Quote from: Fernando on June 17, 2014, 12:58:06 AMthis season the one that didn't do much was Khaleesi, she just took another city but we have seen that before...

Yeah, that's been problematic for me. She's kind of boring right now. Her story is now about how complicated it is to rule after you've conquered, and that's interesting, but only to an extent. Daenerys is just not that inspiring right now. Probably just one of those low points on her hero's journey, though.

Quote from: Fernando on June 17, 2014, 12:58:06 AMoh, Bran finally arrived at the tree, what the hell is he going to do now, at some point he has to deliver otherwise his story will be kind of useless

I really liked that, actually. Tree nymph wizard literally blew my mind. This is the power of withholding the supernatural. When it finally arrives, it's amazing. (Lost certainly had that figured out.)

Oh I found this. I guess it's old but it's something I never followed up on. Title of the video is all you need to know:



(Looks like embedding is disabled for that video.)


polkablues

My house, my rules, my coffee

Jeremy Blackman

People are making a pretty bold prediction about Bran "flying." It sounds accurate, so stop reading if you don't want to know. Bran has not yet flown in the books, so this is not a book spoiler. So anyway, people are predicting that Bran will eventually "warg" with a dragon, as he does with Hodor or his wolf, presumably in connection with fighting the white walkers. Seems to me like that's in fact what's being set up: Daenerys and one or more of the Starks coming together to defeat the white walkers. Whether they also take King's Landing is up for grabs, because 2 visions (Daenerys's and Bran's I think) have shown the throne room snow-covered and abandoned.

Drenk

The show eliminated what, I think, was amazing about the Tyrion breakdown...

It's not a spoiler - the show totally forgot this background - but if you don't want to know what is, let's say it's one.

SPOILERS

Tyrion had a wife before Sansa, called Tysha; he talks about it in season 1.

Wikipedia says:

QuoteTyrion met Tysha on a lonely road, where she was being accosted by some men. Tyrion's brother, Jaime Lannister, drove off the men while Tyrion took care of her. She was a crofter's daughter, orphaned when her father died of an illness. Tyrion fell in love with her and married her, even though he was only thirteen years old.
When Lord Tywin Lannister found out, he had Jaime tell Tyrion that Tysha was a whore who had been paid to make Tyrion a man. Tywin then had her passed around among his guards to have sex with her; for each guard, he gave her a silver. To drive the lesson home, Tywin forced his son to be the last man, for whom Tysha was paid a gold coin, because Lannisters were worth more.

When Jaime frees Tyrion, he says to him that Tysha wasn't a whore, that she truly loved Tyrion. Jaime lied. Tyrion is furious, he says to Jaime that Cersei, basically, is fucking everybody in King's Landing. It doesn't end with a hug...

QuoteDuring his escape, he came to his father's rooms. Tyrion demanded his father tell him what had happened to Tysha. Tywin did not remember, simply stating that she went "wherever whores go". Tyrion slew him with a crossbow and escaped.

GoT is often brutal, it loves its violence; here, they had emotional brutally and they avoided it with a hug and Jaime fucking Cersei. I often separate the books and the show, but I don't understand why they would avoid this important psychological development...
Ascension.

Jeremy Blackman

As a non book reader, I think I agree with that decision, actually. You summarized the story very well, and even that was emotionally affecting, but I still feel like it would have been such a break in the momentum, and such an obscure callback for this show that would require so much explanation. It sounds much better suited to the page.

Brando

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on June 17, 2014, 11:59:06 AM
Olenna for hand of the king! Jaime seems too obvious, right? Who else might it be?

A man with one hand serving as hand of the king is the kind of irony GoT loves. I don't think Jamie would want the position. The last three hands of the king have been murdered.

EDIT: The last 3 of the 4 hands of the king have been murdered while the fourth survived an assignation.

Cersei would never let a Tyrell in such an influential position. Cersei already mentioned her worry about the Tyrell's influence on her son. Olenna could easily outwit Cersei but Joffrey got his evilness from his mother. I wouldn't underestimate Cersei.

The king's council is in a sad state of affairs. A Tyrell fool, Cersei and that old fool are all that is left.

But the Lannister's are over. I see Stannis as a better challenge than the Tyrells. The Tyrells have no claim to the throne. Margaery still needs to wed the new king and give birth to an heir before the Tyrells could really challenge. Even if Margaery is able to marry and get pregnant we know the new king is not a Baratheon. Tywin's power and influence silenced any dissent to the legitimacy of the rightful heir but now that he's gone I'm sure people will be more willing to consider it.

The Tyrells are also really smart. They might see the writing on the wall and not want to align themselves with the falling Lannisters. The Lannister's mines are no longer producing. The Lannister's owe huge amounts of money to the iron bank. When talking about the iron bank, was the only time i saw Tywin intimidated.  But this is GoT and no one would give up a shot at the iron throne. Helping the Lannisters could put the Tyrells in a powerful position. Cersei on the other hand is type who would burn down her own house rather than give up any power.

Quote from: Mel on June 17, 2014, 06:43:46 AM
Littlefiger has picked right horse again by allying himself with Tyrells. I'm not sure what this means for North: Frey is in trouble, what about Boltons?

I said after last season that Little Finger will end up ruling Westeros. He set the entire war in motion and continues to be two moves ahead of everyone. With Sansa at his side and his power over Robin, he now has a grasp on two of the seven kingdoms. 

Quote from: Fernando on June 17, 2014, 12:58:06 AM
I thought that coin Arya had was meant for the appearance of Jaqen, anyway she at Braavos will be great.

He told her to show the coin to any man from Braavos and say these words and that man will take her to Braavos. Or take her to see him. Braavos is also my guess to where Tyrion is heading. But it might not be a good guess cause he would be hiding out in the same place his family owes money. 

If you think this is going to have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.

Jeremy Blackman

I like your train of thought there. Given the burden that the Lannisters are and will continue to be, wouldn't it be smartest for the Tyrells to simply welcome Stannis to King's Landing, and for Margaery to marry him?