Brynden Bloodraven

Just finished my second viewing. I still can't gather my thoughts and form a coherent post. The battle scenes were fantastic... the hound cutting a man in half... Stannis taking off the top of a Gold Cloak's skull... Tyrion taking off a leg at the knee, oh my! "If any of you comes back without blood on your sword, I'll rape your corpse!"

This was my favorite episode of the season thus far. I had been quite distracted by the seemingly pointless changes from the source text... just little things irritating me. I have no beef when the source text is changed, but is also interesting and better for the medium, as, in my opinion, we saw in episode 6. For example, I understand killing Ser Rodrik... he's someone that's been endeared to the audience over the course of season 1, so we feel the loss and realize just how low Theon has sunk--it had to be someone we already met to have this effect. My biggest complaint about the season so far is, as has been mentioned earlier, the lack of subtlety in the writing. There's just so much going on that we miss out on little moments that wink to the readers and may pass over the heads of those viewers who haven't delved into the books yet. I think that moments like that are necessary and very rewarding to those of us who are constantly looking at the series through the lens of the books.

Over all I was disappointed with the episode. I felt that the Renly's death sequence was clunky... Westeros' analysis hit the nail on the head--it seemed rushed. I liked the two-dimensionality of the shadow in the books, it almost made me think of Peter Pan's shadow gone horribly wrong. I am also very disappointed with Qarth--we got a glimpse of the grandeur of the city as the doors open at the end of 204, but I expected so much more than a garden party. The warlock did look great, however. Overall, my main complaint with the season is the lack of intrigue and originality. Many of the new characters seem to be occupying archetypes (for example, Margery = scheming, ambitious, sex as a weapon/tool female). Petyr is running around doing Tyrion's bidding and baring his soul to Cat? Robb's getting lectured by a battlefield nurse? One thing GRRM's characters never do is fit nicely into some fantasy (or other) troupe. He likes to turn such conventions on their ears. I thought the first season did a good job of this, but it seems that the character's complexities are suffering due to the complexity of the story and each is becoming a means to an end.

What are you talking about!?

Well met. I'm Adam (currently going by Brynden Bloodraven for the purposes of these boards), and I'm relatively new to ASOIAF forums. My purpose here is mostly to fill the gaping void left by finishing aDwD and the Dunk and Egg tales shortly afterward. But, I figure that I might as well do it right and try to advance through the ranks, drop some knowledge, improve my own, and make some friends while I'm at it.

I just started reading the wheel of time series (to fill the massive void left by completing all of the SOIAF novels/novellas) and I already notice several parallels. Good and Evil are definitely more well-defined in WOT.