185 replies to this topic

[nothatso]

I really didn't have that much of a problem with it. They extended the episode to 70 minutes as it was.

I'm just stuck in a cycle of overanalyzing everything I saw in that scene. Wondering if there was any hidden significance where there probably isn't.

[kimo333]

i was and still am pissed

[Gertrude]

The visions, notwithstanding, I was underwhelmed with this storyline. I wish they had her do the HotU in ep 8 and then deal with the aftermath and the Barristan reveal as the finale. I felt that would have a lot more punch as Dany getting her dragons back was a foregone conclusion.

I did like that they referenced her dragons as the source of magic. And who didn't know that vault would be empty? I just figured it would have been part of Daxos's trick to get her to marry him. 'You can pick what you want from my vault as a wedding present' type thing. That is, when I thought that would still be part of the storyline.

[BlueHighwind]

I'm not one who complains about every minor change they've made in the series so far.  They're allowed to take their liberties, change the story up a bit, it makes watching the show more exciting for me.

What is not making the show more exciting for me is cutting out THIS SCENE!!  WHERE WERE THEY THINKING??  What is the point of a televised adaptation if hugely important stuff like this is getting cut out?  Why the heck did they waste their CG budget on the Others scene at the end when there's more important things to be done?   Are they that lazy that they couldn't cast a guy to play Reagar for one scene, for barely one line of dialog?  No Wolf King.  Where is the mention of the Song of Ice and Fire?  Where is it?

This is crap.  Don't try to defend it, because its crap.

[Ghost Cat]

At first I was disappointed too in the visions, but then after some thought (and rereading the scene in the book), Dany doesn't know what the wedding scene means, as she doesn't know these people. The viewers would recognize them immediately and then we would have the Mother of All Spoilers ruining next season. They simply couldn't ruin the next season like that.

[victim]

To be honest, it kind of exceeded my expectations to the point where I liked what I saw. I wasn't expecting visions or anything of that sort, let alone the Throne room, the Wall and Drogo with Rhaego. I would have preferred if the latter was replaced by Viserys because for some reason I feel like that may have served the overall plot better, reminding Dany of her lineage and her need to ascend to the Throne could have been done well -- but I'm not a massive Drogo fan. I kind of figured it would just be Dany walking though some dark rooms, hearing dragons and voices before being attacked by the Warlocks. Admittedly, it could have exceeded expectations more, though in the end it was much better than it could have been.

I'm far more peeved about Jon being underhanded this season. They've done far worse things to him than they have to Dany.

Edited by victim, 04 June 2012 - 01:54 AM.

[tsunad]

The way it was adapted, the entire dragon theft/House of the Undying story could have been cut with no damage to the plot or character development.

Putting it in the season finale just made it worse.  It wasn't interesting enough to end Dany's storyline with.  Removing the prophecies made it even worse - even the three treasons would have given non-book readers something to guess at, and a reason to continue watching next season (who will betray Dany?).

Instead, Dany's story arc this season ended on a flat note.

[The Last Reyne]

The three betrayals does seem like a bad omission. And I know they had budget constraints but as someone mentioned in another thread couldn't they have you used disembodied voices to say some of the prophecies. I think with little effort something could have been worked out. Though I did enjoy the dragons laying waste to Pryat Pree. Never liked the blue lipped freak.

[K.C.]

It did indeed fall flat. I'm not sure it was budgetary though. It felt like some things just couldn't be adapted -- having a certain man's body with a wolf's head on it, for example, would be a spoiler for half the viewers and just confuse the rest -- and they threw in the towel on at least giving the faithful a valentine. Instead, by their own admission they found an excuse to bring Jason Momoa back. Hence the other thread on this topic.

[Rangers]

Ok everyone breathe for a second and stop getting your panties up in a bunch. Considering budget and time constraints, the show did a fine job of making something out of Dany's trip to the HotU. I read the second book after the first season was completed and I never expected them to be able to fully adapt it, so this wasn't a big letdown. If everyone could take a step back and actually look at this scene for what it was, it actually showed a lot of stuff.

First off, notice the throne room's condition. The floor level is covered in snow and ICE while the roof looks to be burnt, as if by FIRE. Um hello? ICE and FIRE anyone?

Second, the Iron Throne is covered in snow. Dany observes it, hears her dragons, then follows their cries to the next area which is... The Wall?! Hmmm the throne covered in snow and the scene immediately following that is at the wall. Jon Snow come to anyone's mind? Could be nothing, or could be something much more.

As for the whole thing with the prophecies and betrayals. Someone mentioned this earlier but all of these can be easily explained or presented by someone else at a later time. Look at how the dragonglass was found. In the book Jon found it whereas in the show Sam discovered it. Different characters at different times, same results. No harm no foul. The betrayals not being included now doesn't mean it's written out of the show, it'll just come at a different time.

[Brienne0fTarth]

It's been a while since I've read the book. Can someone remind me what the significance of the blue rose is?

[EmmaG]

dtones520, on 03 June 2012 - 11:09 PM, said:

And who would understand that other than book redaers?

Probably no one, but since the show has already included a number of things that only book readers would fully understand (Stormborn, dracarys, blood of my blood,  to name a few), why not toss another in there?

[Rangers]

Lyanna's favorite flower was the blue winter rose. The vision Dany has in the book is a blue rose growing in a wall of ice (assumed to be The Wall.) This adds speculation to the whole R + L = J theory.

[Tumnas the Torpid]

Of course we weren't going to get anything near the experience in the book.  That's a given.  It would not be possible.

The thing that kills me is the opportunities squandered within the show's treatment of the event.  Daenerys approaches the Iron Throne.  I can't imagine it would have cost them that much to hire someone to sit in it and deliver one line.  One line that will corroborate a certain someone's heretefore-unheard version of previous events in that throne room.

In that same vein, would it not have been possible to quite easily stage some of the images found in the text during Dany's brief walk through the throne room?  Especially if they had not spent CGI money on snow and burn damage?

[Reznak mo Reznak]

I find the show a lot more emjoyab;e because I've stopped looking for whats missing from the book and instead just watching it for what it is.

[Ice Turtle]

I like the burned Red Keep way much better than than absolutely lame Others. If they wanted to save money why not sound three blasts in the dark and show blue aye here and there and then next season just show a lot of red snow?

Anyway, did the visions actually mean something? My only interpretation is that she will find only cold ruins once she come to Westeros (some hope she will make even more ruins) and taking the Throne will bring her no joy and that the thing she is really searching for (family) is in the cold north.

[Tumnas the Torpid]

@Ice Turtle: My interpretation was basically, "Winter is coming.  Bring the dragons to save us, before it is too late."

Admittedly, this may have been influenced by episode's final scene.

[Javi Marcos]

I wasn't expecting predictions (THIS IS TV, GUYS, NOT A BOOK, REALIZE IT) and I wasn't expecting Khal Drogo.

So I liked a lot the Throne scene (Snow and Fire)and Khal and Rakharo.

[Not A Lannister]

I would have loved to at least have Dany see her father sitting on the Iron Throne saying his final words "let them burn" or whatever they were. Or maybe even have the Iron Throne with Aerys, another throne with Robb's body/Grey Winds head and possibly a third a blue rose...I dunno...that scene just didn't sit well with me.

[drigoly]

i am a little bit underwhelmed by the HOTU but khal drogo was in, so it was realy bad except the scene with khal drogo...