SubJeff on 7/6/2013 at 13:28
Well I knew something big was going to happen because of all the "OMG, did you seeeee GoT!!!" stuff (including this thread) on the net. And of course Scots out and out spoiled it on twitter, which I thought was a joke but which still totally prepared me for it. But because of all this I thought it was going to be worse than it was so... I thought the Hound et al were going to be involved too.
I'm still getting used to the "Anything can happen bro. AAA. NE. THING" aspect of this show, which is something I like a lot. The tension when the music changed was real and I cannot praise the creators for this highly enough - sure, there are shocking deaths in other TV series but there are always a core group that will partially survive. I suppose that was the strength of The Walking Dead; after a few "major" characters died it felt as tense and fragile as it should do.
But then GoT came along and schooled Walking Dead on how to do it properly.
faetal on 7/6/2013 at 14:52
The whole scene was expertly done. I re-read the sequence from the books and my honest opinion is that the show did it better. The pacing and mood are completely perfect.
Ostriig on 7/6/2013 at 21:20
Quote Posted by faetal
but the stabbing of Talisa
Maybe they didn't have a coat hanger?
Sorry! Sorry, it was just... right there.Didn't really bat an eyelash at the whole thing. I was surprised, hadn't really seen it coming up until the Lannister song, and impressed at just how boldly and unexpectedly they nuked House Atreides out of the game, but I didn't feel the that the brutality and gruesomeness of the scene ranked that high compared to some of the other stuff we've seen. And I'm talking about this series alone, nevermind other stuff out there.
Not arguing with you, mind, we all get jumpy at different things. When they took the Kingslayer's hand I was like "Whoa! Shit!" even thought that was, objectively, a far lesser loss than this whole affair.
But yeah, there's definitely something off with the material here. I guess they got tired of catering to regular folks with nudity and now they wanna make it up to all the sadists out there. I mean, fuck, it's pretty much been an entire season of Greyjoy on the rack.
Quote Posted by Nicker
Nice touch having silent closing credits.
Spot on.
Quote Posted by Dia
Aside from the whole stabbing scene, the second hardest scene for me to watch was the killing of Robb's wolf while Arya crouched and watched in horror. I was rather hoping they wouldn't include that.
I gotta say, I'm always a little surprised by stuff like this, especially since it's quite common. I like dogs and cats and so on as much as the next person, but people - obnoxious as they are - still elicit a lot more sympathy from me. Again, not arguing, just putting it out there.
Ungoliant on 7/6/2013 at 22:37
A lot of people are disheartened by the turn of events near the end of the season. If you're not a book reader, fear not, next season will see some justice mete out in its own way. There will be new characters from new places, and the ones that are killed off are mostly satisfying. MOSTLY. Some familiar faces may pop back up. What is dead may sometimes not die :ebil:
Sulphur on 10/6/2013 at 16:18
Quote Posted by Ostriig
Not arguing with you, mind, we all get jumpy at different things. When they took the Kingslayer's hand I was like "Whoa! Shit!" even thought that was, objectively, a far lesser loss than this whole affair.
So was I, and that jaunty little number at the cut to the credits made it... well, worse. I adore this series for making me care about characters who, by all rights, I should want to see losing their heads and not feeling bad about it.
Still, Jaime aside, that bit with Talisa was brutal enough that I was far more shocked and uneasy about it. And then, the rest was expected, but... I was watching the little episode footnotes on HBO's website, where Beniof and Weiss said they wanted the rest of the scene to linger for an uncomfortably long time, not just get over with and finish up the thing with a quick cut to black. They succeeded.
I think the impact is, more or less, because these two were the ones who I felt the most sympathy for: the show spends enough time humanising them and giving them the qualities of main characters, so that even if some of their decisions were flawed, they were the most decent and straightforward characters in the show. You rooted for them because they were fighting to right all the wrongs done to them, and even seemed to have a chance of doing it, when the rest of the family was powerless or running or hiding. Michelle Fairley's wail of despair at seeing what (she surely thought, having been lied to or uninformed about everyone else) was left of her family taken from her was heartbreaking.
But that's not the only thing that lingers. It's the sociopathy even in the treatment of the dead - that scene with Robb's body and the wolf's head sewed on top of it being paraded on a horse actually stirred a bit of rage inside me. Not only are the honorable and respectable undone by the most underhanded twist of the knife, even in death they're mocked by the victors in a fashion so disturbing that it makes you wonder if any of these people are even human - all of them seem to deserve some sort of brutal comeuppance.
Dia on 10/6/2013 at 22:33
I had pretty much the same reaction to the scene with the wolf's head; I wanted so badly to look away. It was the worst kind of insult-to-injury atrocity I've seen yet, including making Jaime wear his amputated hand on a rope around his neck. However, the scene of Arya stabbing that moron elicited little more than an 'Oh well; guess he had that one coming' from me. Once I thought about the whole little-girl-commits-brutal-murder thing I found myself rationalizing, almost making excuses for a child who could commit such an horrendous act. Face it; if you think about it, Arya has seen so many atrocities committed that watching her turn into a murder herself was almost predictable. I did get a kick out of The Hound's reaction, though. He looked just a tad uneasy (for The Hound) just before he turned away from her. What is it with him playing reluctant hero to the Stark girls, anyhow?
I found myself holding my breath a little during the whole bit where Joffrey demands Robb's head be fetched for him in order that he may serve it to Sansa for dinner (his “Everyone is mine to torment" remark made me want to slap the little bastard across the face). I kept waiting for Tywin to do something overt, but his reaction to his psychotic grandson was priceless. I cringed a bit myself looking into that steely countenance. While he was sending Joffrey to bed (with no dinner) I kept thinking how easy it would be for him to just cut off his grandson's head, or just pull his knife, stab the little monster in the heart and be done with it. But you know he wouldn't, since Joffrey is of Lannister blood (wonder if Tywin knows the whole truth on that score?). Afterall, Tywin didn't give in to his desire to drown his own son Tyrion at birth now, did he? Such a compassionate man (not).
And now Tyrion has been commanded (more or less) to rape his new wife in order to beget an heir (though the look on her face when he enters her room at the end tells me she'd probably put up quite a memorable fight should he try), Jaime has returned to his beloved Cersei (sans one hand), Davos has set Gendry free (saw that one coming), Jon Snow was nearly shot to death by his girlfriend's arrows (ahhh, true love!) and made it back to Castle Black at the same time Sam & Gillie finally reached 'home', Daenerys becomes a mother figure to hordes of former slaves, and Theon Greyjoy becomes a soprano. Guess I'll take the next six months to reread the books and refresh my memory before next season's premiere.
I do keep hoping Martin will keep Gendry alive for the duration of the saga; Gendry's the only likeable character in the whole bunch, imo. (Awcrap! Did I just jinx Gendry?)
SubJeff on 10/6/2013 at 23:20
Yo I heard it was E9 spoilers up in here.
So what the frak is up with these E10 spoilers?
Phatose on 10/6/2013 at 23:50
E10 Spoilers/discussion below
The cast continues to do one hell of a job. The scene with Tyrion and Cersei - Lena Heady is doing an Emmy level job. She makes you hate Cersei to death, and still manages to humanize her doing it.
Best part though was definitely the end of the small council meeting. Right after Joffrey insults Tywin, and it does the pan around the chamber and everyone has the "Oh my fucking god the little bastard has finally done something that's gonna get him killed." looked. And then the Tywin/Tyrion discussion afterward...
I'm beginning to think GRRM kills off all the 'good' guys cause the bad guys are a hell of a lot more interesting.
Scots Taffer on 11/6/2013 at 00:13
It's a week later. Move on.
I thought the finale was sensational and anyone who thought it was lacking obviously only watches the show for action and tits. The dialogue and progression of story was excellent and I'm also a little amazed at how much they're dragging in from the others books and shifting pieces around in the adaptation process, mostly for the better I should add.
