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I find that they don't quite have the edginess the show started with. Ramsay is clearly the evil, but it is an overt evil that doesn't cast a shadow. We were introduced to the show with incest and murder and offing major characters. It is inevitable that a show can't keep that up forever, so I hope the tone shifts, but I'm just not that surprised at things anymore.

 

Then again, it may be because I read the books before this season, so I'm looking at characters differently.

 

Anyone notice that Ghost never leaves Jon's side?

5 hours ago, John. said:
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Yes! Zombie Jon is here! I hope his first words are "Bring me Olly" :laugh:

 

haha...that would be funny.  Looking forward to next episode to see ...

 

Spoiler

what Jon Snow does..if he kicks butt.  I just hope he is not somehow different(?) by being back from the dead.

 

Last night had many funny moments as well.  Like with Wun Wun getting arrowed in the shoulder and ol' dude was like ... ooops ... before getting slammed into the wall.  Also the dude taking a pee break before getting his head slammed in the wall by Gregor.

 

 

5 hours ago, Zagadka said:

I find that they don't quite have the edginess the show started with. Ramsay is clearly the evil, but it is an overt evil that doesn't cast a shadow. We were introduced to the show with incest and murder and offing major characters. It is inevitable that a show can't keep that up forever, so I hope the tone shifts, but I'm just not that surprised at things anymore.

 

Then again, it may be because I read the books before this season, so I'm looking at characters differently.

 

 

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Anyone notice that Ghost never leaves Jon's side?

 

Yeah it's losing it for me too to be honest. It's more a bandwagoners show now in my opinion. I still enjoy it but not to the extent of the first few seasons

20 minutes ago, heslo said:

Yeah it's losing it for me too to be honest. It's more a bandwagoners show now in my opinion. I still enjoy it but not to the extent of the first few seasons

Yeah, mountain smashes a guy's head like a grape on a wall and a guy kills his own father, but it's not edgy.

  • Like 1
2 minutes ago, patseguin said:

Yeah, mountain smashes a guy's head like a grape on a wall and a guy kills his own father, but it's not edgy.

Just because there's gratuitous violence doesn't mean it's edgy. As I said, I still enjoy it but it just doesn't have the same appeal of the first few seasons. I think it's more we know what to expect (in terms of the shock and awe stuff) which is natural during the progression of a series anyway. It's no big deal, you don't need to get defensive about it :p

40 minutes ago, heslo said:

Just because there's gratuitous violence doesn't mean it's edgy. As I said, I still enjoy it but it just doesn't have the same appeal of the first few seasons. I think it's more we know what to expect (in terms of the shock and awe stuff) which is natural during the progression of a series anyway. It's no big deal, you don't need to get defensive about it :p

I was just being a smart ass. Something about the season seems just a little off to me as well. Not sure what it is. It almost feels like a new show now knowing that it has no books to go by. And they seem more interested in pleasing the fans than telling the story, which is maybe where the lack of edginess feeling is coming in. I almost wished that Jon Snow would have stayed dead and Ramsey re-captured Sansa.

3 hours ago, heslo said:

Just because there's gratuitous violence doesn't mean it's edgy. As I said, I still enjoy it but it just doesn't have the same appeal of the first few seasons. I think it's more we know what to expect (in terms of the shock and awe stuff) which is natural during the progression of a series anyway. It's no big deal, you don't need to get defensive about it :p

Well, as you said, you can't really rely on shocking deaths all of the time, and if they kept trying to up the ante in that regard, now that would have sucked. The big deaths so far (Ned, RW, Jon) weren't shocking in a cheap way, they mostly just came left-of-field, and you usually loved the characters. But if they went the cheap route, like imagine Tyrion betraying Daenerys or some crap like that, that would be cheap. The deaths in these two episodes weren't meant to be shocking, they're just clearing the playing field.

 

I think what happened at the end of this episode should finally mark a tone shift, where we might actually get rewarded with the remaining 'good' guys winning some battles, after losing so many. I mean, I have no doubts there will be more deaths to come, but I think it will be different. Like, if we see Jorah die from grayscale, that won't be shocking, but it'll still hurt because we know the character from day one. And I actually look forward to being surprised by something positive happening. The Jon thing was fairly predictable, but I'm interested in what else they have in store.

8 hours ago, Syanide said:

Well, as you said, you can't really rely on shocking deaths all of the time, and if they kept trying to up the ante in that regard, now that would have sucked. The big deaths so far (Ned, RW, Jon) weren't shocking in a cheap way, they mostly just came left-of-field, and you usually loved the characters. But if they went the cheap route, like imagine Tyrion betraying Daenerys or some crap like that, that would be cheap. The deaths in these two episodes weren't meant to be shocking, they're just clearing the playing field.

 

I think what happened at the end of this episode should finally mark a tone shift, where we might actually get rewarded with the remaining 'good' guys winning some battles, after losing so many. I mean, I have no doubts there will be more deaths to come, but I think it will be different. Like, if we see Jorah die from grayscale, that won't be shocking, but it'll still hurt because we know the character from day one. And I actually look forward to being surprised by something positive happening. The Jon thing was fairly predictable, but I'm interested in what else they have in store.

I predict, before the season ends, there will be wightwalkers :p 

On 5/2/2016 at 2:42 AM, Zagadka said:

I find that they don't quite have the edginess the show started with. Ramsay is clearly the evil, but it is an overt evil that doesn't cast a shadow. We were introduced to the show with incest and murder and offing major characters. It is inevitable that a show can't keep that up forever, so I hope the tone shifts, but I'm just not that surprised at things anymore.

 

Then again, it may be because I read the books before this season, so I'm looking at characters differently.

 

 

  Hide contents

Anyone notice that Ghost never leaves Jon's side?

 

Yeah, I noticed that.  The fan theory that 

Spoiler

Jon warged into ghost when he died

may end up being true because of that.

Do they feel compelled to add at least one filler scene per episode (boasting drunk in 2, awkward Tyrion in this one)?

 

Also Tower of Joy was very poor because there's no sign of Dayne's signature greatsword Dawn, there are fewer Kingsguard defending Lyanna Stark (which makes her less valuable in the show) and the less said about this Ned, the better. There's also a potential plot hole with the lack of Wierwoods in the south so no Bloodraven/Bran vision, although this can be hand waved.

 

8 hours ago, Luc2k said:

Also Tower of Joy was very poor

Get outta here. Like seriously, how can anyone say that? Who gives a crap about his greatsword, that fight was mental, and that guy completely sold the character in the few minutes of screentime he had.

 

And you could have easily taken out Tyrion's scene, Varys' scene, small council scene, and replace them with some killings or whatever, but then you'd moan about how the show skims over stuff just to advance the plot and feels rushed. This was perfectly executed slow burn episode with character building and scheming as the focus.

 

The only thing I didn't like was Rickon and Osha being handed to Ramsay. If his purpose is just to serve the torture porn quota for this season, or some shocking death, I'd prefer they killed him off screen and written him out. Enough is enough, when it comes to Starks getting served crap, I really thought Jon coming back would finally be the moment the tables start turning.

10 hours ago, Syanide said:

 

Get outta here. Like seriously, how can anyone say that? Who gives a crap about his greatsword, that fight was mental, and that guy completely sold the character in the few minutes of screentime he had.

 

And you could have easily taken out Tyrion's scene, Varys' scene, small council scene, and replace them with some killings or whatever, but then you'd moan about how the show skims over stuff just to advance the plot and feels rushed. This was perfectly executed slow burn episode with character building and scheming as the focus.

 

The only thing I didn't like was Rickon and Osha being handed to Ramsay. If his purpose is just to serve the torture porn quota for this season, or some shocking death, I'd prefer they killed him off screen and written him out. Enough is enough, when it comes to Starks getting served crap, I really thought Jon coming back would finally be the moment the tables start turning.

Fight was nice and the actor portraing Dayne was good, but the scene wasn't faithful among other things.

 

Actually, of the three scenes you only Tyrion's was pointless. Varys' one wasn't great and we've seen him do similar ones before but at least showed his approach to getting information. The small council showed the tension between them and the brother and sister. I don't mind slow burners and I rarely get bored, however filler annoys me a great deal. You can say I'm moaning about the show, however you're very defensive and rarely criticise it, but do remember that read the books because I love the show (first 3 seasons at any rate) and I'm "moaning" because I feel they could have done a much better job in this format.

 

I also believe you've read the Umber scene wrong, although I'm obviously speculating:

Spoiler

House Umber is actually fiercely loyal to the Starks and it could all be a plot against Ramsey. Rickon is put into a very dangerous position, however he is worth a lot more alive than dead, and I'm sure Ramsey knows it. That is something that Umber can use to deal a blow to him and get Rickon back. The small wolf head and the refusal of oaths leads me to believe this, however Dumb & Dumber have the final say so it may indeed end up as torture porn.

 

Edited by Luc2k
14 hours ago, Luc2k said:

...

 

 

They used Tyrion to also give Grey Worm and Missandei a bit to do. I found the scene funny, and I greatly prefer it to having two seasons worth of depressing travelogue. I guess until the plotlines realign to their TWOW counterparts, it's filler one way or another, but again, I don't mind him having less to do now, because at least he got to Daenerys last year, instead of holding that off for god knows how long into this season. And I don't find the show perfect or anything, but I simply think "it's not the same as the book" is a crap argument.

 

As for the Umber scene:

 

I don't remember the Umbers being involved in the conspiracy to remove the Boltons. And to me, the wolf head seemed fairly large. I've gone and compared it with the head of Grey Wind attached to Robb's body, a bit hard without a clear point of reference, and the show does redesign stuff from time to time (Eyrie and children of the forest come to mind), but it could be properly smaller in fact. One can hope.

21 minutes ago, Haggis said:

So who thinks Tyrion is a Targaryen then?

That would be the cheapest twist ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. It undermines his whole messed up relationship with Tywin, which is at the base of his character. He is his father's son, otherwise, his character makes no sense.

 

I am 1000000% percent certain it's not true.

7 hours ago, Syanide said:

They used Tyrion to also give Grey Worm and Missandei a bit to do. I found the scene funny, and I greatly prefer it to having two seasons worth of depressing travelogue. I guess until the plotlines realign to their TWOW counterparts, it's filler one way or another, but again, I don't mind him having less to do now, because at least he got to Daenerys last year, instead of holding that off for god knows how long into this season. And I don't find the show perfect or anything, but I simply think "it's not the same as the book" is a crap argument.

Surely they could have done something more compelling with the characters in that scene. Personally, I've enjoyed Tyrion's journey a great deal in the books, but I wouldn't expect that in the show since they dropped a large part and changed Tyrion's character radically in my view. The show is a very compressed version of some fairly thick books, there shouldn't be any need of padding to fill an episodes time like that conversation, or Tyrion talking about bugs for several minutes during an otherwise exciting episode.

 

"It's not the same as the book" is indeed a crap argument but I never made it if that's what insinuating. They can change all they want barring mind bending stupidity (eg. reaching Castle Black after Hardhome) and useless filler almost every episode, with the exception of key characters if they can't make it compelling. Tyrion killed Tywin because of what he did to his innocent first wife, the only woman he ever truly loved, not for some prostitute. And the sad part is that they had it all in the show, but decided to change it when the reveal was about to happen. Like in the show, the books only mention her a few times, but I guess regular watchers have the attention span of the dog from Up. Had they only used the Shae angle, I wouldn't have had an episode that I could point out and say "this is where Game of Thrones went to ######".

 

Yeah, still bitter after all these years.

@patseguin I dunno, feels the same to me. If anything, it's a bit less of a slideshow it was turning into in seasons 4/5, with all the concurrent storylines they had to make room for. I really can't wait till we get some more overlaps in storylines/characters, so that they can let the scenes breathe some more.

 

@Luc2k I'll be honest, that's one change I didn't like either, but again, we're going back to square one and comparing books and the show. The fact that they made Shae's love for him honest, as opposed to books where he was played, sort of replaced the situation with his first wife. I don't think it changed that much overall for his motives to kill Tywin, but it did weaken the reason for Tyrion to seek him out in the first place. That's the type of shortcut the show takes from time to time that I don't like either, when characters go somewhere (literally or figuratively) because the endpoint demands them to, rather than naturally progressing there.

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