Jump to content

[Book Spoilers] Nitpick without repercussion!


teemo

Recommended Posts

The shows interpretation of the HOTU, and the Warlocks overall, was vastly underwhelming. I was hoping all of the Pyat-Pree clones would be other Warlocks using illusion to appear as one person, but nope, it appears that the Warlocks are just one ugly mother fucker. That, and the lack of visions over all was kind of underwhelming, though I get why they did it. Seeing and reading something are two very different things. I will say this though: I loved the scene with Dany walking into the ruined and snowed in throne room. A glimpse of the fate of the Red Keep once the Winds of Winter strike?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I normally try to suppress and keep quiet about my problems with this season since I don't want to seem like I dislike it or don't appreciate it (and it's true that a lot of it is nitpicking) but it'll feel good to get it out:

Talisa. I find her to be a completely unrealistic character and can't bring myself to like her at all. The idea that a woman can travel around alone like that during wartime - directly putting herself in situations with men who have possibly already participated in the rape of peasants or commoners - without getting raped or seriously harmed in some way is just ludicrous. It's even dangerous and not advised that men travel alone.

It seems odd that she felt it was important to marry Robb (unless it was all Robb who wanted to?) when it sounded like she rejected those sort of customs and that life, or she at least doesn't care or know them well.

Also, just walking in Robb's tent (after his meet with Alton) without even having his guard ask if he's available? And Robb's thoughts are apparently: "Hm, looks like Roose is here, probably to discuss Theon's betrayal, taking of Winterfell and my two little brothers - who may very well be harmed or even killed - but that can wait, my crush/the girl I wanna bang is here!!!" I know it's the Stark way to treat everyone with equal respect but that just seems inappropriate.

Arya's storyline. Especially her and Twyin being BFFs. Tywin's character seemed to take a complete 180. Not only offering her food and having a conversation with her, but confiding about difficulties Jaime had as a child is showing weakness among the Lannisters, despite that Tywin cares more about his house's image and reputation than probably anyone else in Westeros. His lack of suspicion of the fact that she seems to be a Northener, speaks like she is of higher birth, and knows how to read and write. And... he smiled! I think it was described once in the novels that he smirked.

Also, Arya not killing the guard. I understand the producers want to prolong her storyline, cause apparently not enough happens to her in Storm of Swords that could fit into two season and they need to slow down her character development Yup, her storyline apparently moves at a snail's pace in SoS.

Shae. I'm not even sure why. The part when she threatened another handmaiden into not telling the queen about her first period was just stupid. The handmaiden can say one word about that to Cersei and Shae would be disposed of without hesitation. Showing Sansa the knife and "No one will be raping me!". Admirable, but that's just not how it works. Being a strong woman in Westeros that survives takes smarts, it's not much to do with physical prowess. I know there are characters that survive for both those reasons, though, so it's a bit contradicting of me, but I feel like D&D play that up so much and kind of fail when it comes to strong, intelligent female character.

Catelyn is a perfect example of this, but there's no need to explain since she her character hasn't improved since last season.

Dany. It's been said already. Her storyline... just awful.

Brienne. The reasons why she is such an interesting and complex character in the novels are pretty much non-existent. The actress is great so it's not her fault, she was just poorly written.

Another big issue with season 2 is Robb and Catelyn etc not learning of the "death" of Bran and Rickon. It made the impulsive decision of releasing Jaime much more understandable and sympathetic, since she was absolutely desperate to get two of her three remaining children back and there was the risk of Jaime being killed or becoming useless as a hostage, though for whatever reason in the show she doesn't bother to explain in detail why to Robb.

Robb getting with Jeyne would also make a lot more sense since he was seeking comfort for his grief so it's hard not to have some sympathy for him but all of that is completely absent in the show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Now that I have finished ASOIAF I can honestly say that season 2 was a bit underwhelming for me as well......

A couple of points:

  • Ramsay will easily be introduced in the third series (he will most likely revive Theon, only to enslave and torture him later.....Reek it rhymes with oblique)
  • Arya was not Tywin's cupbearer (obviously) but they are essentially setting Tywin up as a somewhat likeable character
  • I didn't care as much for Catelyn in the books, I mean.....She was a complete and utter bitch to Jon.....Unmerciful.....So much more than in the show. Aside from the occasional 'urgh that's Jon Snow' she never degraded him the way she did in the books. It will make the Red Wedding that much more brutal.
  • Hey guys......Do we all remember (those who read ASOIAF) that Robb named Jon as Lord Of Winterfell in the event of his death? Yup......Lets hope the series does a better job of bringing that to light than GRRM did. (though that might be still to come I guess)

I can't think of anything else right now and I'm tired and depressed because I just finished the series this morning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ramsay Bolton should of been the cliffhanger?! Not piss dumb Talisa (I wouldn't look twice at horse face.. sorry but it says no repercussions:D )

During a heated end of COK we discover the Bolton Bastard has betrayed Rob, so why leave it from the show?? What a great cliff hanger that would of been !! It would of been the cherry on the cake for viewers, considering Robb also betrayed the Freys. Listen: the book ended with Ramsay's betrayal, so hypothetically if you read the books you would know what's in store, why not give the same courtesy to SHOW VIEWERS? Was the third book any worse cause of this extra reveal? no… it made us more anxious to know how it would all pan out.

(It would of made up for that awful anti climactic ending of the Half-hand and Dany's half-baked story.)

No one I know really cares about Robb's new relationship, in other words- did not feel the weight of the situation at hand. Even people that feel the tension were left wondering why so much time was spent on a conventional plot, when that time should of gone to Dany or Jon's stories (which were confusing and had no tension).

They hammer you over the head with the fact he's engaged, losing the suspense !

The Tension the show tried to establish fell flat on it's face, because while the viewers might think he will disgruntle the Freys, they don't know Robb has possibly lost his strong alliance in Bolton.

The best cliff hanger was that very tension- having lost his strongest alliances.

I think leaving that huge plot point till next year is just fitting way too many things into the next ten episodes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

GOT season two reminded me an awful lot of this show I watched as a kid- the Bold and the Beautiful.

It had phenomenal ratings, and because of this the producers tried to squeeze out as much money as they could by stretching the plot lines as far as possible, due to advertising.

Each scene infamously ends with drawn out stares, dramatic pauses and unfinished sentences. Following a scene cut, the characters seemingly improvise the exact same scene as before as though the confrontation never happened, just to draw out the climax.

You may also be interested to know- George RR Martin was a Soap Opera writer in Hollywood before he started Game of thrones. Anyone who has read the last two books may get some closure from this information! hah.

The tag for this season's attempts at tension can be summed up like this:

Does that make you feel better or worse?

It doesn' t make me feel anything.

-me right now :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I know its late but I hope I can still nitpick a bit. This is very minor but why is there no jewelry? Merchandise opportunity lost! No Tyrion hand necklace and (most importantly) no awesome 3-headed dragon crown for Dany. I would buy that...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am nowhere close to a book purist, and I think this is honestly one of the all time greatest book to screen adaptations out there, but the following five things...I kinda wish they were included in Season 1/2.

SER DONTOS.....They introduced his character, but then we never saw him again. Come on, if you're going to leave out a character why even show him to us in the first place? Ser Dontos was one of the best parts of Sansa's ACOK storyline.

BLACKFISH AND EDMURE.....I really don't see why they left these guys out until Season 3. Blackfish has a relatively big part in the first book, and Edmure has a decent part in the second. Maybe I'd understand just keeping the Blackfish out...but...

RAMSAY BOLTON/REEK.....this could've really made the already great Theon storyline even better. Why leave out Reek, he's a major part of the story?

THE HOUSE OF THE UNDYING....they really screwed this up. This was by far the best Daenerys chapter, and could've redeemed her lacking storyline in the show. But...they screwed it up.

JON'S STORY.....Not terrible, but one of my least favorite parts of Season 2. Left a lot out and messed up Qhorin's death.

EDIT: Spelling error

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I normally try to suppress and keep quiet about my problems with this season since I don't want to seem like I dislike it or don't appreciate it (and it's true that a lot of it is nitpicking) but it'll feel good to get it out:

Talisa. I find her to be a completely unrealistic character and can't bring myself to like her at all. The idea that a woman can travel around alone like that during wartime - directly putting herself in situations with men who have possibly already participated in the rape of peasants or commoners - without getting raped or seriously harmed in some way is just ludicrous. It's even dangerous and not advised that men travel alone.

It seems odd that she felt it was important to marry Robb (unless it was all Robb who wanted to?) when it sounded like she rejected those sort of customs and that life, or she at least doesn't care or know them well.

Also, just walking in Robb's tent (after his meet with Alton) without even having his guard ask if he's available? And Robb's thoughts are apparently: "Hm, looks like Roose is here, probably to discuss Theon's betrayal, taking of Winterfell and my two little brothers - who may very well be harmed or even killed - but that can wait, my crush/the girl I wanna bang is here!!!" I know it's the Stark way to treat everyone with equal respect but that just seems inappropriate.

Arya's storyline. Especially her and Twyin being BFFs. Tywin's character seemed to take a complete 180. Not only offering her food and having a conversation with her, but confiding about difficulties Jaime had as a child is showing weakness among the Lannisters, despite that Tywin cares more about his house's image and reputation than probably anyone else in Westeros. His lack of suspicion of the fact that she seems to be a Northener, speaks like she is of higher birth, and knows how to read and write. And... he smiled! I think it was described once in the novels that he smirked.

Also, Arya not killing the guard. I understand the producers want to prolong her storyline, cause apparently not enough happens to her in Storm of Swords that could fit into two season and they need to slow down her character development Yup, her storyline apparently moves at a snail's pace in SoS.

Shae. I'm not even sure why. The part when she threatened another handmaiden into not telling the queen about her first period was just stupid. The handmaiden can say one word about that to Cersei and Shae would be disposed of without hesitation. Showing Sansa the knife and "No one will be raping me!". Admirable, but that's just not how it works. Being a strong woman in Westeros that survives takes smarts, it's not much to do with physical prowess. I know there are characters that survive for both those reasons, though, so it's a bit contradicting of me, but I feel like D&D play that up so much and kind of fail when it comes to strong, intelligent female character.

Catelyn is a perfect example of this, but there's no need to explain since she her character hasn't improved since last season.

Dany. It's been said already. Her storyline... just awful.

Brienne. The reasons why she is such an interesting and complex character in the novels are pretty much non-existent. The actress is great so it's not her fault, she was just poorly written.

Another big issue with season 2 is Robb and Catelyn etc not learning of the "death" of Bran and Rickon. It made the impulsive decision of releasing Jaime much more understandable and sympathetic, since she was absolutely desperate to get two of her three remaining children back and there was the risk of Jaime being killed or becoming useless as a hostage, though for whatever reason in the show she doesn't bother to explain in detail why to Robb.

Robb getting with Jeyne would also make a lot more sense since he was seeking comfort for his grief so it's hard not to have some sympathy for him but all of that is completely absent in the show.

True, season 2 just wasnt that great, with the exception of Episode 9, which was one of the best Episodes of any show.

I liked that Arya and Tywin story though. It made Tywin look more human. Just shows that even Tywin has his weak moments.

I dont know about the books, but Im glad they put that story in the show.

You are right about Brienne though. I havent read the books and dont like her at all, based on the show.

Also Talisa/Jeyne isnt very believable, you are right about that.

Season 2 was much weaker than the first. But David and Dan promissed they just wanted to get to SoS, thats when the real stuff happens. And I really believe them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

GOT season two reminded me an awful lot of this show I watched as a kid- the Bold and the Beautiful.

It had phenomenal ratings, and because of this the producers tried to squeeze out as much money as they could by stretching the plot lines as far as possible, due to advertising.

Each scene infamously ends with drawn out stares, dramatic pauses and unfinished sentences. Following a scene cut, the characters seemingly improvise the exact same scene as before as though the confrontation never happened, just to draw out the climax.

You may also be interested to know- George RR Martin was a Soap Opera writer in Hollywood before he started Game of thrones. Anyone who has read the last two books may get some closure from this information! hah.

The tag for this season's attempts at tension can be summed up like this:

Does that make you feel better or worse?

It doesn' t make me feel anything.

-me right now :)

I thought they spent more money on s2 than s1? Probably all for Episode 9.

Dont see it as bad as you, but it wasnt close to s1. I enjoyed Aryas and Tywins discussions and ep9.

Hopefuly they will deliver in s3. Listening to David and Dan, I feel they will.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first season has a few deviations and they were understandable for the most part. The second season was a mess. To keep it brief, I hate what they have done to Dany. I love book Dany and other than the actress playing her very prettily, she is very much a wuss and a crybaby and not at all the Dany I love.

Also, Tywin and Arya's interactions are absurd. I think both actors are a good fit, but the writing of the interplay between the two is beyond ridiculous.

I also detested the handling of Jon going over and I do not much like Ygritt. Those are the big ones. I have HBO still and will torture myself and watch the rest until I can take no more. The History Channel's "Vikings" is very good, so that can be my medieval TV fix as GoT descends into True Blood style nonsense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...