Should ASOS (Book3) have been done in one season?

[YoungGriff89]

Yikes, sorry I don't agree.

For one, they could have done this;

* Cut some King's Landing scenes for sure

* Leave Theon's scenes from Episode 2, 3 and 4 intact, then cut back to his story in Episode 10.

Have Episode 2 be him getting tortured. 3 is the escape attempt, 4 is being trolled by Ramsay, and in 10 we get the Reek identity and a subtle hint that Theon lost his cock (no blatant castration scene is necessary). Keeps it short, simple, and to the point. No gratuity or filler there and in each episode something different would be happening.

* Devote more screen-time to Jon and Robb's storylines which were the two that mattered most.

Can't think of too much else as it's been a while since I've seen Season 3.

Battle of Yunkai is a terrible plot to devote a whole episode to. The Yunkai antagonists in Dany's storyline are not interesting. And then she takes Meereen after it anyway? A whole Yunkai episode right after Dany already took another city early in the season? Very repetitive and not a satisfying bottle episode. Battle of Meereen (which they probably won't do at all in the show) is also a boring battle since we know she will win and the antagonists aren't that interesting in it either, but at least it potentially ends her entire Essos arc while Yunkai does nothing but get her thousands of slaves.

The Red Wedding was the right choice for the climax. The show was youthful enough at the time for people not to notice the episode 9 pattern, and everybody expected Robb's storyline to end with a legitimate battle so the wedding massacre came out of nowhere and as a huge shock. The pacing was right for it, the storyline just needed more scenes.

Agree to disagree on the taking of Yunkai in a whole episode I suppose, but I think you're mixing Yunkai and Slaver's Bay up. The taking of Yunkai happened in episode 9 of season 3 anyway but we didn't see much of it. They also did show the taking of Meereen somewhat in season 4, the whole Grey Worm convincing the slaves to "kill the masters?" For season three including the Storm Crows and not just having Daario be a member of the Second Sons would have been an interesting conflict to see, especially keeping Mero around for at least one more episode and given them a scene for season four where Mero tries to exact his revenge on Dany like in the book, it would have prevented D&D having to draw from as much from ADWD in season four. Dany's arc in the book at the halway point provided a little bit more what with Jorah kissing her, revealing the story of why he was exiled, Stong Belwas, the fighting pits, the second sons, etc. They could have led up to the battle and made us care a little bit more about what happened to Jorah, Barristan, Belwas, Grey Worm, Daario, etc. I don't disagree with fleshing out Robb and Jon's stories. I guess I would have preferred them to take more liberties on the front end rather than take more liberties on the back end when more of the climactic stuff really took place (The Mountain and Viper, Purple Wedding, Only Cat, Tywin's demise, the battle at the wall, the trial, Tyrion's imprisonment, Jaime and the kingsguard, taking of Meereen/ Dany deciding to stay and rule, Stannis inquisition, etc).

And where on Earth is winter? It's been coming for four years in the show and we have Margaery outside at the wedding in short sleeves and stuff lol.

[Lars Penry]

From what I saw, Unsullied viewers generally thought the fourth was one of the best yet, so I don't think it could be considered "off-track". Jon's story was definitely plate-spinning until episode 9, and you could make the case for Arya's story in some ways also doing that, but the Arya/Hound dynamic was popular so it didn't draw many complaints.

Well, I don't have any statistics so I don't know the actual mean opinion of unsullied viewers, all I can say is that a good number of people I've spoken to have said that it feels like 'anime filler' and that I agree with them.

Though I did enjoy the Hound and Arya, I don't think they should add stories like that at the deficit of the overall story, it feels like fan pandering.

[Colonel Green]

Though I did enjoy the Hound and Arya, I don't think they should add stories like that at the deficit of the overall story, it feels like fan pandering.

Very little of the Arya/Hound stuff was added, per se. Five of the six episodes are adapted from or equivalent to material in the book; only the scene at the Bloody Gate in episode 7 really doesn't, and that's the slimmest of their appearances by a wide margin.

[Lars Penry]

Very little of the Arya/Hound stuff was added, per se. Five of the six episodes are adapted from or equivalent to material in the book; only the scene at the Bloody Gate in episode 7 really doesn't, and that's the slimmest of their appearances by a wide margin.

Yeah, I didn't mean add as in make up, I meant add to the show, my bad. They could have ended Arya/Hound after the fight with Polliver. I actually did like the scenes, but rather than completely cut out characters like Arianne, probably Victarion and Euron etc., they could have trimmed down on a lot of season 3 and 4 scenes that are cool in and of themselves, but don't really contribute to the overarching story.

[yomi]

I really liked the pacing of seasons 3 and 4, but I'm sceptical it's worth sqeezing AFfC and ADwD into one season. Well, we'll see.

[Annara Snow]

I really liked the pacing of seasons 3 and 4, but I'm sceptical it's worth sqeezing AFfC and ADwD into one season. Well, we'll see.

AFFC and ADWD were always going to be squeezed into one season, more or less.* Even if they were doing 8 or 9 seasons, I can't see AFFC/ADWD stretching into two seasons. The thing with those books is that there are lots of locations, storylines and characters spread over the two books, but none of them have enough material for more than one season (for instance, take Jon, who has a lot of material - but thematically, it would not work spread over two seasons). Heck, many of the characters don't even have enough material for one season (Sansa, Bran...).

* In a way, they have been spread over two seasons since a lot of AFFC/ADWD for some of the characters (Dany, Bran, Theon, Brienne, Sansa [sort of]) was used in season 4 in combination with the ASOS stuff.

[VictariousReturneth]

bump

[Caesar Targaryen]

No. ASOS is by far the densest of the first three books; SO many significant events and a ton of subplots. So I think that the decision to split it in two is justified. Remember, D&D are adapting ASOIAF as a WHOLE, not on a book-by-book basis.

[alcasinoroyale]

I think that the way they paced A Storm of Swords was fine, except for Daenerys's and Jon's storylines. In Season 4, Jon's arc was reasonably slow since they made The Battle of Castle Black in Episode 9. While it was a great episode, I feel like Watchers on the Wall could have been Episode 7. Stannis would have arrived at the Wall in Episode 8 and he would have gotten more screen time by completing all of Jon's chapters in ASOS. Also with Daenerys, they could have extended the scenes with her taking Meereen because it seemed anti-climatic. The second half of Season 4 for Daenerys was a snooze fest and while chaining up her dragons was a good way to end her arc, they could have at least extended a bit more into her ADWD material.

[ADanceWithCats]

I think that Seasons 3 and 4 were the best so far, so no. Clear arcs -- yeah, sure, with some filler, but that's the problem when the original work ceases to be chronologically arranged. (A lot of people just plain stop having arcs in the second part of ASOS.) Annara is also right, Season 4 also included bits and pieces from AFFC/ADWD - it wasn't just ASOS.

[alcasinoroyale]

I think that Seasons 3 and 4 were the best so far, so no. Clear arcs -- yeah, sure, with some filler, but that's the problem when the original work ceases to be chronologically arranged. (A lot of people just plain stop having arcs in the second part of ASOS.) Annara is also right, Season 4 also included bits and pieces from AFFC/ADWD - it wasn't just ASOS.

Well yeah...And Now His Watch is Ended and The Rains of Castamere of Season 3 as well as The Lion and the Rose, The Laws of Gods and Men, The Mountain and the Viper, The Watchers on the Wall, and The Children of the Season 4 are some of the best episodes of the show.

[thehandwipes]

What bothers me is all the sub-par filler in 3 and 4. They should have been able to focus on nuance and character development a little more with 2 seasons on one book.

Failing that, they should have stuck to their original pace, about 700 pages a season. They should ended season 3 with Joffreys's death and used material from AFFC and ADWD in season 4.

The Kingsmoot could have been moved to the beginning of season 4, along with the Dornish story. It would need to be tweaked but Dorne would have felt less like a subplot if Oberyn were still alive at the time and people were still wondering who killed Joffrey.

Tyrion could have finished season 4 in Pentos with Illyrio, Arya in Bravos (just arriving), Jon deciding to send Sam to Oldtown then chopping Janos, Theon taking Moat Cailin. (Off topic, but I recently rewatched that episode and since when is Moat Cailin hundreds of miles from the sea, and near the stony shore; have these guys read the books.)

[alcasinoroyale]

That's all they completed for AFFC and ADWD in Season 4. They still have a lot left to adapt.

A Feast for Crows

Chapter 4: Brienne I - Season 4: Episode 5

Chapter 7: Cersei II - Season 4: Episode 10 (Scene with Qyburn and Pycelle)

Chapter 9: Brienne II - Season 4: Episode 5

Chapter 10: Sansa I - Season 4: Episode 8

Chapter 14: Brienne III - Season 4: Episode 7

Chapter 20: Brienne IV - Season 4: Episode 7

Chapter 23: Sansa II - Season 4: Episode 8

Chapter 27: Jaime III - Season 4: Episode 2, 4

Chapter 31: Brienne VI - Season 4: Episode 10

A Dance with Dragons

Chapter 2: Daenerys I - Season 4: Episode 6, 7, 10

Chapter 4: Bran I - Season 4: Episode 4, 5

Chapter 9: Davos I - Season 4: Episode 6

Chapter 11: Daenerys II - Season 4: Episode 10

Chapter 12: Theon I - Season 4: Episode 6

Chapter 13: Bran II - Season 4: Episode 10

Chapter 20: Theon II - Season 4: Episode 8

Chapter 32: Theon III - Season 4: Episode 8

A Storm of Swords (Still Left to Adapt)

Chapter 75: Samwell IV

Chapter 76: Jon XI - (Stannis offering Jon legitimacy as Lord of Winterfell)

Chapter 78: Samwell V

Chapter 79: Jon XII

Epilogue

[Beric175]

Short answer: no.

Long answer: still no.

[The One And Only]

Season 4 took some material beyond ASOS. They really didn't take a full 2 seasons on one book. And AFFC and ADWD would have been bad tv as 2 seasons. What we end up getting is 5 seasons for the first 5 books. Book 3 had more time and books 4 and 5 are being redone which was needed.

[It's Not That Littlefinger]

no. season 3 might of been a little dragged out (though I didn't really think so) but season 4 was fantastically paced and had too many big moments to be crammed into the end of a season. plus, I think s3 and s4 are the 2 best seasons by far.