howland_reed

Don't really understand the complaints with Jon and Ygritte. The books forced the relationship on us as well. I actually find the show more believable in how Ygritte starts "warming" up to Jon. In the books, he let her go and that one act of kindness has her smitten with him (probably not the right word, since she doesn't act head over heels for him like a teenage girl, but her interest in Jon seems way more forced in the books than it does on the show). Here, we can actually see the kindling of that spark. I agree with you in regards to Robb and Talisa though. I was hoping that since we never saw this romance, HBO could give it a breath of life. Instead, it's just completely unoriginal, and I feel Robb should act a little more like the child that he is, considering this is the first woman/girl he's trying to win over.

My only disappointment in this otherwise amazing episode was the constant logic holes regarding the direwolves. Where is Ghost when Jon chases Ygritte or when they attack the wildling camp? Where are Summer and Shaggydog when Theon attacks? Why did the show not stress how difficult it was keeping the wolves contained, or how the Ironborn accomplished this? They portray the direwolves as the Starks' protectors, but other than Bran's attempted assassination last season or quick shots of Greywind by Robb's side, they've been nothing but domesticated pets. I would've liked even a simple scene of Summer sitting by Bran's bed when Theon first arrives, growling at him until Bran mollifies his pet.

The problem I have with the show-version of Shae is that the way she acts (more entitled and demanding) completely changes her relationship with Tyrion. Watching it, it makes me wonder why he's even putting up with her. In the books, Shae was portrayed more as this overly submissive minx who would placate Tyrion. This might seem demeaning to women in general, or Tyrion's taste in women, but it really wasn't. Tyrion was a man who was jaded by his past experience with Tysha. He was a dwarf who believed that he would never find true love and could only find comfort in the bed of whores. But he was absolutely taken with Shae because she was such a good actress for a whore. Even if he suspected (or deep down he knew) that she was putting on a farce, she could still make him believe that she was head over heels in love with him, even if only in the moment. Which is what made her betrayal (as well as Bronn's) more hurtful to him. He so wanted to believe that she was with him for more reasons than money or power, but as soon as she found someone with more money and more power, she left him. I just don't see any of those strands of their relationship on the show.

Regarding Sansa/Shae... I know others would have preferred more screentime for Sansa/Hound or even establish Sansa's relationship to Dontos before people even forget who this guy was from the pilot... But let's not forget that Sansa doesn't exactly escape King's Landing until late in Book 3, after Joffrey's wedding. And we may not even see that in season 3. So there's still a lot of time to develop Sansa and tell her character arc over the next two seasons before she ultimately escapes. And also having Shae as her handmaiden will make the juxtaposition even more interesting when Sansa becomes betrothed to Tyrion.

Regarding Yara/Asha, I know the previous thread from Ep. 202, devolved into talks of her looks. I'm still not a fan of how unattractive she is, but in my attempt to look past that... The actress playing Yara/Asha is all sorts of wrong. Her facial expression is more grim and dour, rather than bold and fiery, yet playful. Her posture is hunched, rather than standing straight with confidence. Put simply, she looks and acts like Yara is some cruel bully. I think she's the biggest casting mistake the show has made. Would've been second only to Shae, but Shae's a pretty minor character compared to Asha/Yara, so I'm not as upset if I find Shae to be extremely annoying on the show.

I think the Wall scenes with Jon in future books will be fine. I actually thought his story-line was a total bore in GoT and tough to get to, but once they start ranging North, his chapters were my favorite reads. The problem will be adapting Dany's chapters over the next few seasons. Not only will it be difficult to show certain scenes (prophetic dreams), but after all the build-up of an invasion in GoT, her story kind of languishes to the rest of Westeros.