ckongo

LOL I just couldn't buy that. It was like a torture porn fantasy. Ramsay hunts women and flays them. They don't become his accomplices in his torture.

I haven't heard anyone mention this, but one problem with these scenes is that Theon is always strapped to the ...flaying device? Considering how much time passes in the season, shouldn't they show him being thrown in a cell from time to time. I pictured Theon being in the dungeons of the dreadfort for most of it, yet we only see him in this room with Ramsay and his horn. I don't know. I pictured Theon's experience in the dreadfort very differently than this.

About Theon... I hope this puts an end to the "what does Theon have down there" debate in ADWD, though I'm sure some will continue to deny it.

I can barely recognize the show anymore. Jon climbs the wall and Jaime/Brienne eat with Roose. Ignoring deviating dialogue, these are the only things I recall that actually happened in ASOS. Showing Theon get tortured week after week is fucked up. Contract or no, they should have just paid him and skipped this.

This show is starting to have a tendency to start with crappy fabricated scenes and end with awesome ones. I don't like switching Willas for Loras, but otherwise the last scene was solid. Usually I don't lick the boots of actors like many do, but whoever plays Jaime really nailed the emotions in that bath scene. I don't have the energy for nitpicks. It's a tiring song.

All the scenes could be cut out up until the scene where Craster dies. After that it was all pretty good.

From a purist standpoint I wasn't happy as usual. I continue to wish Theon would just disappear for 2 seasons. The Podrick scenes were IMO a waste of time. Too much sex talk. And I can't picture Stannis behaving the way he did with anyone. Positives: The last scene was great. Even though I think they should stick to the books whenever they can, I feel they did indeed improve on the source material in that last scene.

That would make sense for one scene, but they had 3 scenes where their conversations were essentially the same. She couldn't have been trying to lead him into a trap for 3 scenes. Her character comes off as different from the book version to me. But that's probably because none of this dialogue ever happened in the books.

Couldn't disagree with you more. Those Jon/Ygritte scenes were awful. It felt like Ygritte was a hooker trying to land a customer. The writers like to emphasize the celibacy of the watch. They did it earlier with Craster (which was never in the books). You're "it's an adaption" logic could justify the changes made in season 1. But this season's changes have gone way beyond necessity but rather to soothe the writers' egos. And pretty much all the changes have made the story weaker.

This season sucks. The only scene this episode that somewhat stuck to the books was the Sandor-Sansa chat. Everything else that I can recall is a strong deviation if not an entirely new scene. What has happened to the show this year? This episode was unrecognizable from the books. 3 Jon/Ygritte scenes talking about balls and sex, a very long Jaime/Lionel(?) squire conversation, and... Wait. The problem is that I keep thinking they should be trying to stick to the excellent book material instead of crapping on it. That ship has sailed.

Glad to hear Ramsay will be in it. But as a purist, this season has been painful. The show only uses the books as a guideline now. Don't say it's because of "budget." Last season stayed very close to the books, and a lot of plots/scenes have been added. Most of the dialogue in the show now never happened in the books.

It seems like they make an effort to do the opposite of the book. Renly dies putting on armor in the book, he's taking it off in the show. Petyr laughs at the idea of swaying Catelyn to free Jaime in the book, he tries it in the show Stannis is hot-headed in the book, instead Renly is hot-headed in the show Renly likes Petyr in the book, he dislikes him in the show Davos is a religious man in the book, he's an agnostic in the show Anyway... I'm disappointed that the Reeds will certainly not be in it now with Bran having the green dreams instead of Jojen.

That Daenerys scene was the worst. The dialogue was awkward, it wasn't in the books, and the dragons were hidden in some baskets... The dragons were clearly not in the scene for budget reasons. I could picture the dialogue like this: Man with no name: May I see the dragons? Daenerys: Certainly. Jorah, let out the dragons from their tiny basket cage for- (HBO exec whispers something in Dany's ears) Daenerys: No. I'm the mother of dragons and I demand to be let in!

Not sure why they rushed the whole thing with Shae in the Red Keep, and a lot of screen time was wasted on it. Her character is so rude too for a whore. Even a married woman in that culture wouldn't behave like she did. I hear people have drinking games that they take a drink whenever a character dies. Instead they should take shots whenever the show diverges from the book. Everyone will be on the floor by episode's end.

Ch-ch-changes... There's really too many differences from the books to even keep track at this point. I just hope by next season they don't barely follow the book at all like True Blood. Changes off the top of my head: -Davos being an agnostic instead of Stannis -Sallador arguing about whether he will rape or just take Cersei -Arya being unable to keep a secret -Joffrey being even more of a dick than he was in the books while Cersei gets more sympathy -Killing off Daenerys' bloodrider (and she lost Silver last episode too) -Wasting good screen time with another useless Ros scene with Petyr just so we can remember that Petyr is evil (no shit) -Craster being stupid enough to give a sacrifice while he has 200 guests in his one room house We already knew that Stannis was doing Melisandre...