Game of Thrones Thread (No Book Spoilers Allowed)

I just realized bitch queen is Sarah Connor from the Terminator Chronicles

I don't like when people pose blank statements like
"Arya was awesome this episode."

Give us/me a reason or evidence to back up that statement. I wanna know why you personally think that. You are starting to sound like that Naruto reviewer

Yeah, the stories in this book are anything but predictable, but you guys will only find that out with time. And it's going to rock.

True, but the subtle foreshadowing points present in the books become a lot more noticeable if retained in a stripped out form of the story. So I guess some events will become much more predictable. Hopefully the writers will be sensible enough to leave some out so that we retain the bitch-slap-I-did-NOT-see-that-coming moments in the show.

True, I didn't think of that. One of the best things about the books is their ability to leave you dumbfounded at what just happened. A certain major event in the first book for example, "The Red ______" in a later book being another one. I really hope they manage to pull these (and the countless other shocks) off, as you said, without foreshadowing it too obviously.

Was a cool episode.

I like that they didn't go overly too dramatic with the separation of Nymeria and death of Lady.
I do feel they could have built up the wolf/kid relationship a bit more, though.

Also, would have liked to have seen some black crow one eye pecking action.

Still think another episode at Winterfell would've been nice, but this episode was much better paced all in all. I'm excited.

yeah, need more wolf action

It's taking forfuckingever to download, jesus.

Anyone seeing this without reading the books first should kill himself

I had low expectations for the second episode, as most of the critics who got to see the first six episodes said this one was the weakest, because of everyone travelling from point A to point B and not much happening plot-wise. While that is true in some respects, I enjoyed this one much more than the first (which I thought was clunky at times and seemed to be searching for its identity in a way). The pacing was great and we got to see the actors really coming into their characters and offering a great performance. Maybe it's because I was a bit drunk, but I got EMOTIONS in many scenes (I'm thinking Cersei/Catelyn, Jon's farewells, Arya and Sansa at the end of the episode, when Lady has to be killed).

So if the critics are right and that this is a weak episode, I can't wait to see the others!

they were probably disappointed that there weren't as many sex scenes or random cursing in this episode

Noted.

Last night's episode was pretty awesome.

I think they did a good a job of showing how important/bad ass the direwolves are.

For an episode where so "little" happens, I feel like they did a really good job of making it interesting. Joffrey and Cersei were really solidified as being villains/huge twats.

I'm sure that came off 100x more dickish than I meant it. I don't blame you guys, and I'm sure it's equally annoying listening to us newbies blather on and make premature judgments about things you have a much more complete, detailed understanding of. It's still frustrating though. It's seriously tempting to start a non-book thread for the discussion, not in a malicious way, but just to have a place to discuss it as its own entity separate from the books.

Well, technically speaking... there is already a thread about the series of novels: http://www.fiveeightforums.com/threads/a-song-of-ice-and-fire-george-r-r-martin.63903/unread

Since this thread is titled Game of Thrones, I would take it that this thread is the one devoted to the TV series.

But I don't just mean that it's a thread for the show and a thread for the books, I'm basically talking about a thread for the show that doesn't get into comparing it to the books at all.

I agree, but I'm just adding that I don't think you should have to leave, and if anyone is gonna have to go make a separate thread, it should be the book fags.

Not just the music, the visuals. It's a bitchin credit sequence.

*Bran casts Summon Nature's Ally III
*A dire wolf appears!
*Dire wolf attacks
*Critical hit!
*Assassin takes 42 damage
*Assassin dies

Is this going to be 1 seasons per book?

Just saw the second episode. This is so nicely done. I may be wrong but they didn't tell or show that Sansa and Arya had to go to Kingdom's Landing aswell , right? Maybe they implied it with Sansa due to the marriage with Joffrey but I can't recall anything about Arya. The butcher's boy incident seemed SO random and out of place!

Anyway I can't wait to see Ser Loras, the Flower's Knight or whatever he's called in english: El Caballero de las Flores

Arya was packing, and complaining to Jon about it.

So what did those of you who haven't read the books think of episode 2?

Can't get enough of Daenerys taking it from behind

Can't wait to see her perfoming her first blowjob to Drogo

Why, is she 12? Tell her you'll demonstrate stuff from the show after mom and dad go to bed.

Whoa, 2nd episode was fucking awesome. Much better than the first episode, IMO. It didn't feel like they were throwing in sex scenes just because they are allowed to. Also, the tension in the latter part of this episode was nuts.

Having not read the books, I predict Bran doesn't remember what happened to him.

I'm assuming (hoping?) that somewhere down the line this godawful Lannister trio get a bit of karma. Although I'm not altogether happy that the story has decided to vilify incest.

Tyrion (I think that's his name) is such a great character.

Finally got to see the first two episodes. Wow.

I think that by the end of the second episode, I became a believer in this adaption. Before that, I was just feeling like "well this is pretty gnarly." But after that amazing ending, I'm buying into the setting, the script, and, most of all, the acting. Holy fuck, dem kid actors. Christ, everything about the second episode was incredible.

I do think it would've been better to split up the first episode (and maybe the beginning of the second) into two separate episodes. I can't really tell if the characters are well set up or not because I'm familiar with the books, so I can't really judge the first episode except to say "welp, that sure was a lot of stuff."

One thing I noticed about the title sequence in the 2nd episode is that the destinations it focused on changed slightly. (Instead of showing Pentos it showed the Dothraki camps). Just a minor detail but I hope this carries across into later episodes with them showing other places that crop up.

Yeah the title sequence will keep changing depending on the locations that are used in the episode.

Watched the second episode just now. Loved it. The pacing was much better, and with it being such a long time since reading the books (and especially the first one), my HATE for the Lannisters (specifically Cersei and Joffrey) has resurfaced with a vengeance.

Thank the gods for Betty, and her tits!

"What was her name, the one with the great old tits? [...] Elina?"

GRRM is going to have to pick up the pace on his writing then, if they see this all the way to the end.

For those newbies that may be having a hard time processing all the information that is thrown around in these early episode the appendices on HBO are easy to understand and may help you out a lot:

http://viewers-guide.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/#!/guide/appendix/

oh yeah, can't wait to wake up tomorrow!

Third episode was pretty decent despite the lack of action. Arya and Syrio ftw.

Felt like the scene where Viserys got angry at Dany was a little mishandled. Not sure someone who hasn't read the novel would understand why exactly he's mad.

Good episode tonight. Not quite as good as ep2 was for me, and it felt a little disjointed with so much expository info happening between so many locations, but there were still a number of lovely scenes.

I'm hoping things start to tie together more in future episodes, as I can see some of the non-book readers dropping the show out of pure confusion or annoyance at its slow pace these first three episodes (though hopefully that isn't the case).

And, for the record, I liked the Viserys scene, but I didn't much like the big, long Robert scene or the way it was handled.

god damn demon maintenance!!!

It isn't that I didn't like the Viserys scene, I just don't feel like someone that hasn't read the books would really understand the reason behind the raging, the significance of Mormont not obeying him and he not being allowed to ride a horse with the Dothraki.

Anyway, just based off episode descriptions I've read, things should really start to pick up around episode 5 and 6 so I'm not that worried about people giving up on the show, especially considering the reactions to it seem overly positive at this point and it's completely normal for a show to develop characters and story lines in the early parts of the first season. This was actually the first of the three episodes where we didn't get any "action" or a cliffhanger ending and even though it was "slow", a lot was done to move the stories farther along.

Many people criticize the first book for being too slow in the beginning too but when you're being introduced to such an enormous world with so much going on I feel like it's completely normal and justified.

Anyway, favourite characters from the show so far? I really like Arya, Dany and Jaime.

Well, I watch with people who haven't read the books, and they didn't seem to be confused really, as the scene begins with Viserys yelling "You dare give commands to me?! I am your king!!" I think, though it does play out maybe a bit vaguely, it makes perfect sense, as she told the whole clan to stop, including him. It was a bit awkwardly filmed, with her going into the forest for no reason (I think this could have been eliminated really easily if they had made her go because her stomach hurt or something, foreshadowing pregnancy revelation next scene or something), but it made pretty logical sense I thought. It dumbed down the whole struggle a bit, but lots of Dany's stuff has been simplified (a decision that, for the show, I'm not altogether against, given the amount of stuff that occurs with her after these developments, and the lack of her own personal perspective).

And yeah, I don't think many viewers will be lost, but after this episode, if you poke around, there seem to be a lot more "I'm confused" reactions than before, and I think that can be chalked up to so much history being shoehorned into scenes this episode and that history's somewhat disjointed presentation (against so many character moments). I'm glad, in a selfish, I've-read-the-books kind of way, that the exposition was handled so heavy-handedly and quickly, but at the same time I can definitely see how it can be pretty overwhelming, and this episode didn't do nearly as good a job as it could have with some of the exposition, I thought (though none of it was bad per se, and all of the character moments contained within the exposition was good).

The beginning of the season was bound to be a bit slow, I know, just as the book took, what, ~350 pages to really get moving, but what's bothering me a bit more is the way lots of this information is handled and exposed for people who haven't read the books. It's a complicated world with lots of people, and while some of these complications are being handled gracefully (i.e. Jorah scenes, Jaime and Ned scene), others are not (i.e. Robert scene, which went on for nearly 7 minutes, introduced a nameless character that would only be recognizable to readers, and probably is assumed to be another Lannister by most, while offering very little relevant history beyond what was already offered in the Ned/Jaime scene...the character work was cool and relevant, but I still think that alone could have been handled better, instead of forcing viewers to believe that, after 17 years, Robert is just now having this first-kill discussion with his guards and trying to make that seem relevant).

But yeah, it should really start to pick up soon; in fact, even though next episode will probably be MORE exposition, it should be really good stuff i think, given the context of

the tourney...and fuck yeah Hound/Sansa stuff

.

My favorites so far: Dany, Tyrion, Bran, Arya, Joffrey, Ned, Cersei; this is as far as character portrayals I've been impressed with consistently thus far, even if they aren't my favorite characters per se.

And my apologies to Strangefist for such a book-y post :/

In addition to the tourney, I think we'll also get Tyrion designing the saddle for Bran and later getting blindsided by Catelyn at the inn. Ned should also start looking into Robert's bastards, we may finally be introduced to Sam and there will be more Viserys/Dany tension.

Also quick and simple guide to most of the characters that were introduced for those who haven't the book:

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/7640/episode3allies.jpg

And a similar guide to the families:

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/1425/gothousesalec.jpg

I'm giddy/geddy lee like a school girl when I watch this show.

For those that have read the books, this is heaven

As well as Arya roaming the castle, more than likely, and overhearing Ned stuff. I'm guessing Bran getting attacked/Osha won't be until episode 5 though. Maybe 6. But yeah, it should be cool stuff for sure.

I also feel like I should mention that I'm not totally sold on the look of the Red Keep stuff yet, but hopefully it grows on me. The interiors look good, but the exteriors not so much. I know, budgets are a bitch, but I'd really like to see some more sweeping shots of the place that show off its size a bit more and are less obviously restricted. Not sure if that will ever happen though. As of right now, it feels like a set, and I don't much like that.