The Bard of Banefort

I don't know if the show will match the books in this sense, but I doubt Jon will rule Westeros in the books. GRRM has been very consistent about how the resurrected are basically inhuman, and are better off being laid to rest for good.

That might be because one of the showrunners is a woman. Most of the sex scenes on HBO are catered for a male audience, so I imagine that that will change should they start hiring more women. D&D love Tyrion, so I could see them making Sansa something of a "prize" for him (ugh) for being such a cool dude. That will definitely divide viewers, with casual fans probably being happy and critical fans viewing it as the final nail in the coffin. There were a bunch of rumors a few months ago that Tyrion was going to betray Dany, but those seem to have died down. For all the anti-Jonsa content there on the internet, people must really love the (familial) relationship between the two, since our first preview of season eight was the two of them hugging again.

Has he accurately leaked plot points in the past before? As for Dany, despite how inconsistent D&D can be, the line from Daario about her being "a conqueror, not a ruler" leads me to believe that we won't see her sit the throne at the end of the series.

Tywin, Tyrion, and Cersei all share an ambition and thirst for power that Jaime simply does not possess. He prefers knights and commoners to high lords and ladies, and gets more fulfillment out of helping the smallfolk than sitting on the high council. Right now, Jaime is trying to prove Genna wrong and act like Tywin's true heir, but I doubt he'll be able to keep that up for long, especially after he runs into Stoneheart. My personal headcanon is that Jaime is the Lannister sibling who takes the most after his mother, Joanna. We know very little about Joanna at this point, but there was always something poignant about her appearing to Jaime in a vision rather than to Cersei or Tyrion. On the surface, those two would have made more thematic sense: Cersei lost her female figure when her mother died, and Tyrion has had to live with being blamed for her death. I don't think there was ever really a point where Jaime and Joanna were tied together thematically, yet she appears to him all the same. It makes me wonder if he gets some of his less traditionally Lannister-esque traits from her.

Well, Lena is also a pretty big draw for the audience, as well. She's the most compelling villain they have these days, and Cersei has a fanbase. Cersei isn't my favorite character in the books, but she's my favorite part of the show. There's a reason she keeps getting nominated for all those awards.

One of the my problems with Jaime's characterization, despite how well-written he is overall, is that he cares so little for his children, which I don't think gels with his character. This is a guy that would clearly prefer a family of his own rather than a throne or title, so to have him have so little regard for his own kids--even if he wasn't allowed to get close to them--doesn't really sit with me. Jaime did indeed put his family at risk by having an ongoing affair with Cersei, but this is a product of his belief that he should be able to love his sister openly. It's flawed thinking, but is a key part of his character. I think we're going to be seeing more open regret from Jaime from TWOW. Most of his guilt is revealed indirectly: he begins talking about how he regrets hurting Bran in ASOS before Cersei cuts him off, he sees the shrouds of Rhaegar's children in the sunset, he reveals the truth about Tysha at probably the least convenient time possible (and thinks about her indirectly a number of times), and when he recounts how he nearly killed Arya, he trails off in silence, letting the audience surmise his own horror and shame rather than stating it plain. It's a very subtle kind of storytelling, but I suspect it'll become more concrete once he's forced to face his past via Stoneheart.

Cersei has undoubtedly survived this long because of how much D&D love her. She's the character they're the best at writing, and I'm guessing that they're hoping Lena will finally win an Emmy. The awards circuit seems to have moved on from GOT at this point (although they did just nominate Nikolaj for the first time, so it's still making some impression), but with this being the final season, she may still have a chance.

Accidental repost

I'm trying to keep an open mind, since a lot of women seem to really love this series, but I'm already rolling my eyes a bit at how every woman Geralt meets throws themselves at him, even if it would make more sense for them not to. One of the complaints for the series that I've heard a few times now is that there's a pattern of Geralt having sex with a woman, only to then kill her a few pages later, which is something I find bothersome. We shall see. Hopefully my concerns are unfounded, but right now I'm still skeptical.

Sophie is notorious for misdirection in her interviews at this point. She hinted that Sansa would betray Jon all last season, when in reality Sansa stood by him the whole time. The big rumor seems to be that Tyrion will betray Dany, which would be pretty ballsy on the showrunners' part, but I don't know if it's true. Melisandre said that both she and Varys would die in Westeros, so it seems to be a given that we'll see them both perish before the show's end.

Throughout the series, we're shown both Tyrion and Cersei's growing dependence on alcoholism. At the same time, Jaime is never indicated as having an alcohol dependency, despite his ongoing PTSD, and disapproves of Cersei's drinking. (The only time we see him drunk is when he's being interrogated by Cat, and presumably hasn't eaten or drank much for several weeks). I don't recall any of the older Lannisters being defined by their alcohol use, but I may be forgetting. Which leads me to my question: what is the thematic significance of this? Is it meant to illustrate Tyrion and Cersei's similarities? Is it meant to set Jaime apart from the rest of his family, much like his lack of political ambition does? Does it not really mean much of anything? I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on this.

The teaser trailer apparently dropped a week ago, yet I only just saw it on Youtube (and came here right afterwards), which I guess goes to show how small the audience for this show is. Season two definitely looks like it's high times, very glitzy and vibrant. I suspect this will be used to contrast season three, which the showrunners have said in the past is going to be much darker. It looks like Lori will have a much bigger role this season, which I'm glad to see. I'm also hoping we learn more about Eileen, and why she became a prostitute in the first place. She wasn't an addict, she didn't have a pimp, and even though she hated her father, she trusted her parents enough to look after her son. Hopefully season two will shed more light on her story. I have yet to watch The Wire or The Sopranos, so as of now, Alan Ball is my favorite HBO showrunner. I haven't watched Here and Now, but I loved True Blood and all of its campiness, and Six Feet Under is a masterpiece.

I might have to start thinking of Tyrion as James Bond the Imp next time I reread the books now. I decided to start reading The Last Wish to see what the series was about. So far it's pretty good--engaging prose and stories, although hard to follow at times (that may have to do with the language barrier; I have no idea how to pronounce most of the names). There are a lot of expository monologues, and the dialogue is kind of a modern/medieval hybrid, which is an. . . interesting choice, to say the least. I'm very interested in seeing the role of women in this story going forwards.

I know virtually nothing about The Witcher. All the internet has been able to tell me is that it's about a magical James Bond who spends most of his time having sex with random women. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that it's more than that though. . . right? I'm not really into love triangles, either.

Something I liked about season three was how it really solidified the Deadwood community. When we first met the characters in season one, everyone hated each other. Even the ones who were aligned with one other were constantly fighting and bickering. By season three, the main characters were still bickering, but they were also relying on one another both for survival and support. I think the scene that best exemplified this was right after Ellsworth's death, when his body was being pulled down the main street on a wagon, and we saw every main character react to it. This was a guy who, when we first met him in season one, was a loner whose closest companion was his dog. Now everyone was losing their mind at the sight of his corpse--even Cy knew that shit had hit the fan at that point. And then we see Al--the guy who had Alma's husband murdered in season one--jump from his balcony to rush her inside, followed by the main characters coming together to run Hearst out of town, protect Trixie after her assassination attempt fails, and reclaim Deadwood. At the end of the season, Hearst has purchased all the mines, but he's finally left Deadwood, Sol is the mayor, and the rest of them are around to live to fight another day. I think the season would have been remembered much more fondly had it been followed by a season four, which likely would have shown the characters getting some of their groove back.