SerBarristan

Eh. I thought the directing of the Tyrion + Pycelle/Varys/LF scene was great. As was how they shot Theon burning the letter and then his baptism.

I'm not of the "too much sex" camp, but to be fair, I believe the argument is that the sex scenes in the show are gratuitous and don't serve a purpose and the screen-time could be put to better use. That's a bit more nuanced (and reasonable) than saying "I don't like all the sex on HBO" (though there certainly are people saying that). With that said, I think most of the sex scenes do serve a purpose. For Theon, it's how we learn what he's thinking ala sexposition. I think he may actually have more lines mid-coitus than otherwise. For Mel/Stan & Loras/Renly, it's because a lot of viewers won't pick up on the hints and be totally oblivious to the relationships. In addition, TV is a visual medium, so I think whenever the showrunners get to show sex that is "necessary" they take it because its supposed to be visually stimulating... It may be playing to the "lowest common denominator," but to justify more seasons of a show this expensive, it needs to be more than just critically acclaimed. There is a tradeoff here between having a show that is identical to the books and having a show period. I got into this universe from the show-side (and later reading the books) so I appreciate how the adaptation differs, but also how remarkably well they've captured this world.... It's a balancing act, and if that means giving the smallfolk some T/A, violence, or what have you to keep their attention, let's do it!

Rains. It would just be neat if they were thinking that far ahead. I doubt it. But it'd still be a nice teaser. And they have to play it a couple times for the coup de grace otherwise folks won't appreciate the significance.

Agree. Why though? Trying to figure out what purpose it serves to depict Renly with less bravado. Or Stannis with less... well everything. Oomph, for lack of a better word. I don't think the showrunners make choices that depart from the source material willy-nilly. I may be wrong about that, but if not, I can't really grasp what storytelling purpose it serves.. Think it could be a few notes from a certain song? That would be outrageously cool.

Agree with last. She could have shown more spunk. Eh. I thought the scene was awkward as hell -- on purpose. But aren't you just quibbling with timing? Stannis is going to act like he's got a stick up his ass, don't worry. The hypocrisy will be quite apparent I think... Like he rides off never to return? Wouldn't book people complain "what happened to Rakharo?" And then you'd have all these conspiracy theories that he might return later, in an even greater departure from the books. His death served a purpose. I liked how they handled this. Are you serious? Considering that Sam is a 18ish-year-old straight male whose taken a vow of celibacy (a vow that kinda doesn't make sense) and may never know the love of a woman and hasn't even seen a woman for 6 months prior to epi 2, I think a certain amount of sexual frustration/curiosity is perfectly acceptable. So we now know he's an assman. Word. The fact that he takes Gilly to his friend Jon so they can help her is about as anti-creepy as you get. "She's a person, not a goat." Hello, that puts Sam about 1000 lightyears ahead of most men in Westeros. Props to Sam. And as a sidenote I thought the scene with Gilly/Jon/Sam was brilliant and great acting esp. from Kit. Well, what in this episode made him dumb? A bud of mine complained the same thing and I don't see it. Creepy? He's not watching his clients to get off. Dude deals in secrets. Remember last episode? "Knowledge is power." Cersei may not appreciate that fact. Doesn't make it any less true. He eavesdrops on his powerful clients to gain leverage. It's a lot easier to manipulate someone if you know all about their, ahem, proclivities. Not so mention people tend to say stuff they probably shouldn't in the throes of passion. Useful stuff. Varys rocks. Yoren ditto. Exactly as imagined. This just seems like wanting faithfulness to the books for the sake of faithfulness to the books. I get that this site is about the books, but appreciate the fact that it's an adaptation and choices will be made to -- in the showrunner's minds -- improve storytelling. So, I don't see the harm in Arya revealing her secret this soon. What difference does it make if she does it now, or later. Yes agree. It makes me think there will be a scene made up to justify the escalation between Tyrion/Cersei. Like Cersei kills Ros maybe. But for what reason I dunno. On this point, the books made sense... Will look forward to what they come up with. Also, it eliminates an opportunity to see Varys/Tyrion sneak around the tunnels beneath the city and Varys in disguise. Perhaps they will manufacture another, but I liked that stuff. Sympathetic to this point but I think Joff doing it is plausible. TV Joff is older than book Joff, and he's more likely to assert himself. Plus, just because he's confident he's the heir, doesn't mean he isn't worried that someone will pick-up one of these bastard sons and use him to challenge the throne... Given the proliferation of kings throughout the realm, it's clear one does not need an air-tight primogeniture-observing claim to get into the action. Y'know? Plus, I can see Joff doing it just because he doesn't like the idea Robert had other kids out of wedlock. Or just because he can. Joff doesn't particularly need a good reason to be cruel. King does as he likes. Now reasons why the showrunners opted for this? Maybe to build up the idea that Cersei is loosing control of the situation, which neccesitates Tyrion's badassery. Also makes Cersei more sympathetic, and frankly, she needs to be. Cause book Cersei is one-dimensional. Re-reading some of ADwD, I'm sold on that point. Yeah, I think in general though the writers have arguments as to why they depart from the source text. Whether those arguments are convincing is up for debate, but I think most, if not all, changes are based on improving the story-telling (in general and/or specific to the TV medium) and pragmatic issues (e.g. not confusing audience etc). Doesn't mean I agree with all their choices, but see why a good chunk of them make sense. A lot of the new scenes have worked really well imo.