lori_in_ca

Of course book readers are bound to be disappointed, GRRM gave the characters so much depth and invented such rich diaglogue and complex story lines, there was no way to capture it all. But even judged only on its own merits, the series suffered from many bad decisions by D & D. Why were some of the most important scenes rushed (Tyrion and Jaime in the black cells, Arya on the dock pleading for passage on the Titan's daughter, Shae artfully pretending not be surprised by Tyrion's appearance at Tywin's bed chamber, Tyrion's buiding rage prior to Tywin's death) while scenes that lent little to the story (smashing beetles anyone?) dragged on and on? Why another scene of Jaime and Cercei having sex on an uncomfortable surface? I mean we get it already, D & D while aiming for shock value is ending up boring us by turning this into cliche. Yet the books include a VERY passionate love affair between Dany and Daario, that relationship could have really quickened a few pulses but was alluded to and then forgotten. Would anyone object to seeing those two go at it? The pacing in these last few episodes (and the whole season actually) was really off. GRRM gave the characters such rich dialogue, which gave them complexity, and this made us care about them. Why turn Arya into a numb robot when the book offered us a feisty little loudmouth? If anything should have been changed why not cut out the Pod character, he adds nothing at all to the story at this point, the man who saved Tyrion is now just a hapless loser who can't do anything right. Give us less Pod, and more of the characters we care about. I know I am griping, but I think that if we book fans didn't love ASOFAI so much the disappointment wouldn't be so great, but there has been so much amazing potential, book readers know how great this series could have been just by sticking a little closer to the original work. LOVE the opening credits, LOVE the CGI, LOVE the acting, LOVE the photography, and LOVE those dragons!!! Still hoping for a great season 5.

Don't lower your expectations too much or you will get even more dumbed down content than ever. This series could have been much much better with all the great material GRRM has provided. I get it, we are becoming an illiterate nation, but do not surrender so casually to this inevitablity

Rated this a 7 but only because G of T is better than most of the garbage on TV these days, but this season really fell short in my opinion and this episode was weak. My complaints: The Arya character in this series is now an emotionless robot. In the books she was scared and desperate (and human). The writers of this episode blew an important scene. In the books, when Arya comes upon the Titan's Daughter she is literally begging the captain for passage, scraping together her coins as the crew watched in amusement. Then she remembered...the iron coin buried deep in her smallclothes and she fumbles to find it. That lovely moment of suspence was totally missed by the series writers who rushed thru the scene, Arya just thrusts the coin at the captain and that was that. I wish these writers understood that their audience can actually appreciate nuance and that pacing is so important to create dramatic moments. There are so many other missed opportunities too numerous to mention, but this dumbing down of material is ruining the show. GRRM has given us thousands of pages of great material, why not use it?