[Spoilers] Rant and Rave without Reprecussions - Season 6 Edition

[TepidHands]

10 minutes ago, teej6 said:

OMG! Do D&D give them these weird interpretations of their characters or do they just make it up? John Bradley thinks he tricked Jon into letting him leave the NW so that he could be with Gilly, then Sophie Turner in her warped sense of reality thinks her character is the embodiment of women's liberation and empowerment, Emilia Clarke thinks Dany's killing of a lot of people makes her a pretty cool and badass hero, and now this BS from Rheon Iwan.  I mean at this point everyone seems to think their character is a victim that fought against all odds and rose above his/her station and circumstances and triumphed. I wonder how Aidan Gillen views Batfinger, probably as the unsung hero of the series.  

Tommy Carcetti ... Stuart Jones... this actor has no illusions... he's just working for a check, IMHO ...

 

Would love to hear his unvarnished opinion after this is over. Loved him in "The Wire."

[rosehustle1]

2 minutes ago, TepidHands said:

Tommy Carcetti ... Stuart Jones... this actor has no illusions... he's just w working for a check, IMHO ...

From what I gathered from his EW interview he didn't seem that pleased by his character's direction nor the working relationship on set with D and D.

[teej6]

2 hours ago, Cas Stark said:

Some of the stuff is so out there, like happy shitting, fuck the tits off her, and the previously mentioned scene it feels like they're doing it as their own inside joke, or as a further fuck you to critics of bad pussy..oh,you didn't like bad pussy...take happy shitting and a cock joke every episode.  Also,the Hound saying he likes chicken is self parody, it's a wink wink at the audience...

Yes, please I wish they would finish this show in 7 more episodes. Just end the madness.

HBO quite possibly won't let them end the madness. I won't be surprised if HBO announces after the S6 finale that they have renewed for 2 more seasons of 10 eps each. And all the crazy fans and critics will go hurray!

[TepidHands]

Just now, rosehustle1 said:

From what I gathered from his EW interview he didn't seem that pleased by his character's direction nor the working relationship on set with D and D.

That's a thing that has bugged me. So many actors have talked about how suffocating this culture seems to be. You have to schedule audiences  with the powers that be to talk about a change in a line, it's known that reading the books can irritate those same poobahs... good gods, that's a toxic environment for actors. 

[teej6]

36 minutes ago, TepidHands said:

Tommy Carcetti ... Stuart Jones... this actor has no illusions... he's just working for a check, IMHO ...

 

Would love to hear his unvarnished opinion after this is over. Loved him in "The Wire."

Yes he was good in The Wire but he's sometimes awful in this show with his constantly changing voice and accent. But you're probably right, for most of the character and seasoned actors being in this show is just a pay check. Stephen Dillane certainly seemed to feel that way.  

[rosehustle1]

3 minutes ago, TepidHands said:

That's a thing that has bugged me. So many actors have talked about how suffocating this culture seems to be. You have to schedule audiences  with the powers that be to talk about a change in a line, it's known that reading the books can irritate those same poobahs... good gods, that's a toxic environment for actors. 

D and D are complete control freaks. But then they whine about being burnt out. It's so irritating. They decided to write most of the episodes, never diversify their writing and directing staff, undermine other directors when an actor has to play a scene, and to discourage book reading.  They sabotage themselves and then try to act like put upon victims. No talent hacks. They are Mac and Dennis from the Ivy League

[OldGimletEye]

10 minutes ago, teej6 said:

HBO quite possibly won't let them end the madness. I won't be surprised if HBO announces after the S6 finale that they have renewed for 2 more seasons of 10 eps each. And all the crazy fans and critics will go hurray!

I remember the days when I was happy they might do two full seasons. Now, I hope that doesn't happen. Please, just let this be over.

[teej6]

11 hours ago, Ser Quork said:

Most Wasted Actor category?  So many contenders: Alexander Siddig; Max Von Sydow; Ian McShane; Natalie Tena; James Faulkner; Art Parkinson ... (and so on)

We could replace it with: Best Man-Approval Nod.  We've got a few of those to choose from.

For this season, I'd probably have to say Natalie Tena because she really fleshed out Osha's character in Season 1. The others, I really don't know how they would have developed their characters. I wasn't impressed at all with Ian McShane or Max Von Sydow on the show although I love them in everything else I've seen them in. Alexander Siddig might have been able to pull off the fire and blood speech had they given him a chance. In the entire show, I'd have to say that they really wasted the talents of Stephen Dillane. If D&D didn't hate the character of Stannis so much we would have had a perfect Stannis in Dillane. 

 

 

[Winter's Cold]

D&D are now a product of Miguel Sapochnik. 

[teej6]

6 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

I remember the days when I was happy they might do two full seasons. Now, I hope that doesn't happen. Please, just let this be over.

It's funny how reviews for Season 1 (when the show was pretty good and true to the books) from the likes of the NYT was not positive. IIRC, D&D also once mentioned that the NYT will never give them a positive review. Now that it has become a total shitfest with no narrative to speak of or character progression and with a zillion inconsistencies and plot holes, it's suddenly the best show on television and critics can't rave enough about it, including reviewers at the NYT. 

[Lockjaw of House Boltagon]

43 minutes ago, Winter's Cold said:

D&D are now a product of Miguel Sapochnik. 

He's the best thing to come out of this season.

[OldGimletEye]

43 minutes ago, teej6 said:

It's funny how reviews for Season 1 (when the show was pretty good and true to the books) from the likes of the NYT was not positive. IIRC, D&D also once mentioned that the NYT will never give them a positive review. Now that it has become a total shitfest with no narrative to speak of or character progression and with a zillion inconsistencies and plot holes, it's suddenly the best show on television and critics can't rave enough about it, including reviewers at the NYT. 

I think the situation has become something akin to a Keynesian beauty contest.

The point of the contest isn't really to figure out who is the most beautiful, but to figure out what average opinion expects the average opinion to be about who is the most beautiful.

I think a lot of this critics don't want to be "wrong" or perceived to be wrong, maybe because it's a risk to professional reputations or something, so it's perceived safe to give reviews based on the average opinion that expects the average opinion will be positive.

[The Fattest Leech]

3 hours ago, Le Cygne said:

It's true, I was being quite scornful there, they are just making excuses for their poor writing skills, but also for their poor and quite questionable narrative choices. It was super important to them that Jeyne's story be given prominence. But not Rickon's story. Seems like a rather odd choice. Jeyne is a minor background character, who was there solely to show Ramsay's and Littlefinger's cruelty. Rickon is, in Bran's absence, the lord of Winterfell, he's a Stark, they are central to this series.

(And of course, it goes without saying, they had no concerns about dropping Sansa's own story, and she's a main character... It's all quite disingenuous.)

These are excellent, excellent points. 

One a minor character, one the King in the North... And which one got the story? 

[teej6]

39 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

I think the situation has become something akin to a Keynesian beauty contest.

The point of the contest isn't really to figure out who is the most beautiful, but to figure out what average opinion expects the average opinion to be about who is the most beautiful.

I think a lot of this critics don't want to be "wrong" or perceived to be wrong, maybe because it's a risk to professional reputations or something, so it's perceived safe to give reviews based on the average opinion that expects the average opinion will be positive.

Yeah and the average opinion mainly consists of all the riff raff. It's the herd mentality and a race to the bottom. Once the show got so popular, even the proper critics were cowed by the pressure to appease the fans. It's like the recent Star Wars movie which was just a bad rehash of the first trilogy. However, the initial reaction of the critics was universal praise but when all the noise died down and the dust settled the blinders came off and these very same critics began to see the movie for what it really is, a real bad remake of the A New Hope with a ton of plot holes and inconsistencies. 

[SerMixalot]

2 hours ago, teej6 said:

OMG! Do D&D give them these weird interpretations of their characters or do they just make it up? John Bradley thinks he tricked Jon into letting him leave the NW so that he could be with Gilly, then Sophie Turner in her warped sense of reality thinks her character is the embodiment of women's liberation and empowerment, Emilia Clarke thinks Dany's killing of a lot of people makes her a pretty cool and badass hero, and now this BS from Rheon Iwan.  I mean at this point everyone seems to think their character is a victim that fought against all odds and rose above his/her station and circumstances and triumphed. I wonder how Aidan Gillen views Batfinger, probably as the unsung hero of the series.  

The bolded shows a disturbing interpretation of Sam that it is somehow cool or badass to find loopholes in your vows. Like honor means nothing.  I guess since Sam was forced into the Nights Watch there is some justification for the thought process, but Sam had found a home with true brothers that respected him for you know, not being toxically masculine. D&D couldn't have that.

[Ser Quork]

9 hours ago, SerMixalot said:

Most Suicidal Character Moment:

Jon Snow (trying to save Rickon)

Tommen Baratheon (actual suicide)

Gilly (talking back to Lord Tarly)

Slavers (dictating terms to a woman with a dragon)

Euron (drowning)

Doran (walking with Faullaria)

Blackfish (actual suicide)

 

Sandra (betraying the Houses and Wildings fighting for her home)

Roose and Walder and baby (trusting Ramsay)

Waif (hunting someone with plot armour)

9 hours ago, SerMixalot said:

One of those little butterflies the show will have to resolve: House Bolton, Karstark and Umber are now poof. That is a whole lot of the north left leaderless.

 

*handwave*

9 hours ago, Winter's Cold said:

Maybe Horn Hill will be important next season.

Strangely, I enjoyed that scene, basically for James Faulkner, but it was a total contrivance for Sam to steal Heartsbane.

8 hours ago, The Scabbard Of the Morning said:

The "people don't care about minor characters" is just more of their writing incompetence. What they're really saying is that we aren't good enough writers to make people care.

They just took a narrative shortcut, but they've taken so many shortcuts they're now heading in a different direction.

 

Just so.

8 hours ago, Le Cygne said:

It's true, I was being quite scornful there, they are just making excuses for their poor writing skills, but also for their poor and quite questionable narrative choices. It was super important to them that Jeyne's story be given prominence. But not Rickon's story. Seems like a rather odd choice. Jeyne is a minor background character, who was there solely to show Ramsay's and Littlefinger's cruelty. Rickon is, in Bran's absence, the lord of Winterfell, he's a Stark, they are central to this series.

(And of course, it goes without saying, they had no concerns about dropping Sansa's own story, and she's a main character... It's all quite disingenuous.)

Good points, all.

[kissdbyfire]

8 hours ago, teej6 said:

OMG! Do D&D give them these weird interpretations of their characters or do they just make it up? John Bradley thinks he tricked Jon into letting him leave the NW so that he could be with Gilly, then Sophie Turner in her warped sense of reality thinks her character is the embodiment of women's liberation and empowerment, Emilia Clarke thinks Dany's killing of a lot of people makes her a pretty cool and badass hero, and now this BS from Rheon Iwan.  I mean at this point everyone seems to think their character is a victim that fought against all odds and rose above his/her station and circumstances and triumphed. I wonder how Aidan Gillen views Batfinger, probably as the unsung hero of the series.  

Gillen has already said that humble beginnings and rejection are the things that motivate Batfinger. That's right, he's not an evil sociopath! /s

[kissdbyfire]

7 hours ago, teej6 said:

For this season, I'd probably have to say Natalie Tena because she really fleshed out Osha's character in Season 1. The others, I really don't know how they would have developed their characters. I wasn't impressed at all with Ian McShane or Max Von Sydow on the show although I love them in everything else I've seen them in. Alexander Siddig might have been able to pull off the fire and blood speech had they given him a chance. In the entire show, I'd have to say that they really wasted the talents of Stephen Dillane. If D&D didn't hate the character of Stannis so much we would have had a perfect Stannis in Dillane. 

 

 

So much talent wasted... I'll add another awesome actor who has been completely wasted since he first appeared back in s 3 or 4: Anton Lesser. 

[lostcause]

I've seen Pilou Asbæk in 5 or 6 different productions and liked him in every one of them, ranging from political drama, comedy to war movies.

 

How they managed to make him so not-Euron is beyond me.

[kissdbyfire]

1 hour ago, lostcause said:

I've seen Pilou Asbæk in 5 or 6 different productions and liked him in every one of them, ranging from political drama, comedy to war movies.

 

How they managed to make him so not-Euron is beyond me.

Why is it beyond you? I think it's exactly what's to be expected! Hire good/great actors, give them the most appallingly bad lines to work with, and tell them absolutely nothing about their character - that is, if you're lucky. If you're not, you'll have the show runners and the director telling you two diametrically opposed things. And there, presto!