Game of Thrones: Season 4

+rep

One quick thought I don't think anyone has mentioned: Books 4 and 5 are kinda happening concurrently, but with different sets of characters. I think some readers complained that so many characters in book 4 hadn't been seen before, and the whole thing felt like a tangent.

I saw an interview with the producers of the TV show, and they said that they got permission from George R.R. Martin to kinda "meld" books 4 and 5 because they do happen at the same time. (A sort of "meanwhile, back at the ranch..." thing.) So, we'll see a lot more of the intertwining of those two sets of stories as things go on. And really, it seems essential to do this for a television series -- keeping things chronological -- more so than in a series of books.

I think they're doing a great job of keeping the storylines smooth and easily understood -- sometimes more easily understood than while reading the books!

__________________
Linda's Author Website
Linda's Amazon Author page

Speaking of spoilers, this guy seems to be the worst offender:

Man Ruins Game of Thrones

__________________

Good post Austruck. One point of contention. I think it was essential to keep the books chronological as well. That and adding so many characters is what made the world fall apart for me. Thats why I have hope that the television series will be better than the books moving forward.

__________________
Letterboxd

Damn... Can not wait to read the books.

With all the blood in this series I keep hoping they'll give me a few of those old samurai movie deaths, you know? The one's where the blood just goes shooting about 30 feet across the room? Yeah, I love that.

__________________
We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

Not even 10 minutes into the episode and I think I got it figured for sure!

Thought on tonight's episode. When Sansa was spirited away by Dontos and winds up

I loved that we got a total Holy Grail call out when Stannis' daughter griped at Ser Davos for pronouncing "knights" as "ka-nig-gits."

How sleazy was the scene between Cersei and Jaime besides Joffery's funeral bier? I've read on another site that the scene didn't exactly go that way in the book and that Cersei wasn't so, how shall I put this, resistant?

Loved Arya's insult to the Hound. Their scenes together just get better and better.

How hilarious was Olenna Tyrell's dialogue to Margery about death?

What about Sam

Meanwhile, Ygritte is just a bit ticked-off isn't she? Hell hath no fury like a red-haired woman angered. And I say that as someone who is married to a red-haired woman (I think she's standing behind me...no, the coast is clear) and I stand by my claim.

I thought two of the better sequences were saved for the end, first Tyrion...Peter, you could act your way through solid stone, man! Well, at least you're trying because you can make us feel for you by just sitting on a stool, reading your lines.

Anything with Daenerys is high on my list, so I was jazzed that her segment closed out this episode. It was cool when Daario did his thing against the city's champion. Then Dany's speech. She's so fine, and she can talk in any language and make it sound sexy.

Everybody see it? Thoughts?

__________________
"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Yea Emilia Clark gets better and better, her speech to the city made it sound as if she had spoken that language all her life.


They had better not kill Tyrion, looking forward to the trail and having him worm his way out of the charge.


I'm hoping that some of the characters will meet each other this season, like there are several out on their own storylines but it would be good if some were brought together.


I own the books but haven't read them, I will probably have to after season 4.


I think the Grandmother (Tyrell) killed Joffrey but I genuinely don't know, although it looks like Lord Farrish had a hand in it now.

__________________

Yeaaaaah. I'm a bit annoyed about that scene. In the books, it was a mutual romp. Changing it up in the show now makes Jaime look like a rapist. I guess it was supposed to highlight his frustration at being unable to go back to "the way things were," and obviously to remind everyone how morally bereft these two people are, but I think Jaime's burgeoning fan favorite status takes a hit from this one.

Mole's Town.

In the books, Dany's champion was a former pit fighter-turned-sellsword named Strong Belwas. Big and fat, and a phenomenal fighter, Strong Belwas isn't an important character, but he's a really awesome one. I was hoping we would see him yet (and should have already seen him by now), but alas, seems like they're moving ahead with Daario Naharis as a catch-all for some of the periphery characters in Dany's company.

Did we see Strong Belwas before? When that scene came up I couldn't picture him and started wondering who would take his place in the narrative.

And yeah, the Jaime scene's a fairly big chance. However, I think the director said something about how--and I don't think this comes across in the scene very well--it's supposed to be consensual after his initial aggression. But yeah, it's a weird departure for Jaime's generally, apparently changed outlook on life. But I guess it really drives hom just how toxic their relationship is.

I was chuffed off at the changes to the Cersei and Jaime scene as well. Also - no Strong Belwas!! Boooooo.

Meanwhile, how good is Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell? Her character in the books, although important, isn't nearly as fleshed out and interesting. Natalie has brought an entirely new dimension to a character I didn't have much interest in while reading the books.

I may have to just reread all of these books. I read through them all in rapid succession -- using library e-book editions that I could borrow for only 2-3 weeks each -- over a year ago, but now I own all of them in trade paperback. I tend to get blurry on what happens when, especially later in the series as I read even faster and let some things hit just the back of my mind and not "stick" properly...

Perhaps they are assuming they need a tad more sympathy for Cersei than she currently has from the TV viewers... although watching her stoically stand by her dead son while her father schools her living son did make even me feel sorry for her.

Strong Belwas first appears in the books with Arstan Whitebeard, his squire, who is later revealed to be Barristan Selmy. The two of them are sent by Magister Ilyrio Mopatis to protect Dany. They save her from a Sorrowful Man on the docks of Qarth. That scene was depicted in the series, but without Strong Belwas. He hasn't appeared in the show and now it appears he's been cut.

Agreed, although I got the sense from reading the books that George R.R. Martin was still holding back Margaery's true nature and that she has some role to play yet in the final books. You get the sense that she's more clever and cunning than she lets on, but on the surface she's portrayed as a bit of a dainty, fun-loving court lady (everything Sansa wanted to be). The series seems to have tipped her hand much more.

To me, this is an example of the weird interplay that the books and the TV show will inevitably have moving forward. To what degree will the characterizations of the show influence the books yet to write? Or are these characterizations reflective of what Martin has shared with the show's creators?

The same can be said for Littlefinger, who divulges far more in the show than he ever does in the first couple books.

They've done a good job characterizing Cersei as a woman clawing her way desperately through in a man's world (particularly her father's world), so that she comes across as more misguided or wounded than evil. Really, none of the Lannisters are evil. We're forced to regard them as real people, not archetypes. I'm impressed that they've kept that perspective through four seasons now.

Joffreys brother is now the new king (dont know his name) but Is he another son of Cersei & Jaime? Looks like he has blondish hair.

Tommen. And yeah, same deal.

AUGH!

This is my favorite theory as well.

On another note, if anything happens to Tyrion I will be unimaginably pissed off.

__________________
It's like you're unraveling a big cable-knit sweater that someone keeps knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting and knitting...

Yeah that would be a huge fail on Martins part if that happened. Dont believe it will, though I dont know how Tyrion can get out of this jam. Thought for a second that Jaime might be an avenue for him, but now it seems he's too wrapped up in Cersei to probably do anything. Maybe Bronn can ...."Give me ten good men and some climbing spikes. I'll impregnate the bitch." You never know.

My friend stopped by and hadn't seen the episode, so we watched it again. The gaffing of the scene with Cersei and Jaime has me concerned at this point. Both character arcs have been trashed, perhaps irrevocably. Jaime's character arc is destroyed, and many events (like Brienne's rescue attempt) make no sense at all for the character when you consider his actions here.

I don't mind minor detail changes or even the clearly necessary combining of multiple character's actions into one amalgam of a person, but scuttling an entire character arc for what seems like no reason confounds me, especially when it runs directly counter to the book content. The guy is NOT a rapist, and has in fact been shown to rail against it just one season ago.

Cersei was clearly the aggressive one in the books - basically the opposite of how the scene played in the show.

I will dig up the scene from the books and post it when I get a chance.