[BOOK SPOILERS] Episode 6 Preview

[iheartseverus]

Spoiler for episode 6:

Occam's Razor it is. He just ... wakes up.

Maybe they'll have some reference to it later, I do not know. But it's not in episode 6, in any case.

Drat. Double drat. Thanks, Ran.

[ExLibris]

Three episodes? There's FIVE episodes left. (well there will be four after "A Golden Crown")

The season has 10 episodes.

Woah really? I was just going by the number of sub-forums (it only lists as far as episode 8), so this is good news to me! :rofl:

[End of Disc One]

Regarding the ToJ scene being the best in the book...honestly most casual fans probably don't even remember it. Granted they're giving plenty of fan service to the hardcore fans, but I doubt D&D are too worried about pissing a lot of people off by not including ToJ.

[wandarah]

The episode is called A Golden Crown, I would be surprised if they didn't show it the way it was in the books.

This is one of the best posts I've read all morning. Hehe.

[Daenerys]

Regarding the ToJ scene being the best in the book...honestly most casual fans probably don't even remember it. Granted they're giving plenty of fan service to the hardcore fans, but I doubt D&D are too worried about pissing a lot of people off by not including ToJ.

That's what I'm saying, it's an important scene for people who have read the books a half dozen times, for people whole dress up in costume and travel to have their photo taken on the Iron Throne (I did! Well, not the costume part.), for people who post on forums like this, for people who dream up theories for Jon's parentage. But it is NOT an important scene for the mass audience that HBO hopes to attract to the show, an audience vital to its continued existence. Even if you ascribe a significance to the scene, it doesn't have significance in the storyline for many books later (or years/seasons in tv terms), if ever. Considering they're already struggling to give enough depth (screen time) to all the characters in 10 hours, adding obscure scenes like this (and adding even more characters) is hard to justify. If there were a more immediate payoff (say at the end of this season, or in season 2), then sure, you could make a good case for it. But there isn't.

[herkles]

according to winter-is-coming, there is no tower of joy this week. but there is a lot going on as well.

• wildling fight
  
• joffery being nice to sansa
  
• tyrion confessing and maybe his trial
  
• the assanation attempt on dany
  
• dany eating the horses heart
  
• the crowning of vieserys
  
• the fight between the lanister guards and syrio(not sure but the preview indicates this)
  

Though speaking of flashbacks, is it not true there is a scene with the mad king?

[Hyper]

No, I think the assassination attempt on Dany is in episode 7. If the episode summaries are to be believed. The Syrio/guards fight is also most likely not until episode 7 or later.

I think you watched the combined episode 6 & 7 preview.

[Civfan]

What if they skip ToJ now... and in a season or two have it as a random flashback? When it's more important to the storyline, and people are following who's who better. That way, we get a little Sean Bean cameo! How's that sound? It could work well since Dany will no doubt be going on about her brother, details of the war will be touched on, and with Dany's warlock house scene we even have an easy in-univserse flashback window.

Mite b cool.

[MikeNH]

according to winter-is-coming, there is no tower of joy this week

Yes, in case anyone isn't familiar WIC was one of the lucky ones to screen the first six episodes, and he did confirm there is no ToJ in this episode.

http://winter-is-coming.net/2011/05/episode-6-preview-and-clips/#comment-105280

[Perrianne Lurie]

This is not necessarily true, as I'm having an issue with it right now. It's true that if you have an Xfinity package + HBO, you can use HBO Go. However, I have Comcast digital cable (HD) + HBO, yet I cannot sign into HBO Go because it says something about I'm not authorized by my provider (Comcast) to use HBO Go content. Even when trying to watch on the Xfinity site, it tells me something similar and I cannot watch. But when you click on a video in HBO Go, it says something like "If you have an HBO subscription, you can use HBO Go". So there's some fishy things going and at the least, they aren't being accurate in their wording. It seems ridiculous, as I'm paying the same for HBO as everyone else, and HBO Go is an HBO portal, not a Comcast portal.

Bottom line is currently you MUST have one of the Xfinity packages through Comcast, simply having HBO is not enough.

I had the same problem. I ended up calling Comcast customer service and they had me delete the HBO Go app, sign up for an Xfinity ID (my first and last name all one word), and then download the app and sign in again and it worked. Comcast is not my ISP, either. My advice would be to call the Comcast support number (I think it's in the Xfinity app) and have them walk you through it, too.

[Arya The Assassin]

What's dany doing with that egg?

I read one unintentionally funny theory from a non-book reader: He or she believed that Dany had eaten one of the dragon eggs :) (what actually happens is that Dany eats the heart of a horse, IIRC).

[Morrigan]

according to winter-is-coming, there is no tower of joy this week. but there is a lot going on as well.

• wildling fight
  
• joffery being nice to sansa
  
• tyrion confessing and maybe his trial
  
• the assanation attempt on dany
  
• dany eating the horses heart
  
• the crowning of vieserys
  
• the fight between the lanister guards and syrio(not sure but the preview indicates this)
  

Though speaking of flashbacks, is it not true there is a scene with the mad king?

I think you're confused, pretty sure the assassination attempt on Dany happens after Viserys dies... and Syrio fighting the Lannisters mean that Ned has been arrested and thrown in the black cells, so that's probably at least two episodes later. The 8th episode is called "The Pointy End"... make of that what you will. ;)

[Maginor]

I don't know if this has been discussed before, but if you look at the map in HBO's viewer guide, you see that certain places are marked in red. Almost without exception, these are places that we have viewpoints from in the book, including a mystery location in Dorne (it is only marked as Dorne). Bear Island is also marked red, and since there is no scene from there in the book, this indicates to me that the places marked red are the ones we will see scenes from in the TV series (though I have absolutely no idea what kind of significant event would happen on Bear Island. Maybe a flashback for Jorah - which would be weird, or maybe my theory here is wrong, and there is some obvious pattern to the red marks that I have missed.)

Anyway, the point is that if this is the case, then the Tower of Joy is the most likely scene to be shown from Dorne in the first season. So maybe we can hope for something in episode 8 or 9. Maybe.

Well, that was a lot of speculation. I hope it won't get anybody's hopes too high in case it is wrong. (Based on this, there would be no scenes from the Whispering Woods or Moat Cailin either, and there is a red mark in the Vale, but this could just be because we get a panorama shot of parts of it while viewing the Eyrie. Of course, the markings may be inaccurate for places that get little screen time or because they are close to other marked places such as the Whispering Woods to Riverrun. That would not explain away why they would put a red mark in Dorne.)

[Arrogant Bastard]

I don't know if this has been discussed before, but if you look at the map in HBO's viewer guide, you see that certain places are marked in red. Almost without exception, these are places that we have viewpoints from in the book, including a mystery location in Dorne (it is only marked as Dorne). Bear Island is also marked red, and since there is no scene from there in the book, this indicates to me that the places marked red are the ones we will see scenes from in the TV series (though I have absolutely no idea what kind of significant event would happen on Bear Island. Maybe a flashback for Jorah - which would be weird, or maybe my theory here is wrong, and there is some obvious pattern to the red marks that I have missed.)

Anyway, the point is that if this is the case, then the Tower of Joy is the most likely scene to be shown from Dorne in the first season. So maybe we can hope for something in episode 8 or 9. Maybe.

Well, that was a lot of speculation. I hope it won't get anybody's hopes too high in case it is wrong. (Based on this, there would be no scenes from the Whispering Woods or Moat Cailin either, and there is a red mark in the Vale, but this could just be because we get a panorama shot of parts of it while viewing the Eyrie. Of course, the markings may be inaccurate for places that get little screen time or because they are close to other marked places such as the Whispering Woods to Riverrun. That would not explain away why they would put a red mark in Dorne.)

Hmmmm I kind of doubt we'll see all the places marked in red. The show doesn't seem to be using flashbacks, and if/when they do, I can't see them doing one of Jorah in Bear Island. Riverrun is also in red, and I think I heard somewhere that it won't be a location in the show this season. Although every other red marker does seem to be a place in the show this season. The one in Dorne could mean the Tower of Joy scene, though I'm doubtful it will make the show. It's a great scene (I don't think its close to the best one in the book) but I think it would be hard to pull off in the show without being confusing to nonreaders. Also, the significance of the scene isn't really known for presumably a few more seasons so it's hardly necessary this season.

[The Brandon Stark]

That's what I'm saying, it's an important scene for people who have read the books a half dozen times, for people whole dress up in costume and travel to have their photo taken on the Iron Throne (I did! Well, not the costume part.), for people who post on forums like this, for people who dream up theories for Jon's parentage. But it is NOT an important scene for the mass audience that HBO hopes to attract to the show, an audience vital to its continued existence. Even if you ascribe a significance to the scene, it doesn't have significance in the storyline for many books later (or years/seasons in tv terms), if ever. Considering they're already struggling to give enough depth (screen time) to all the characters in 10 hours, adding obscure scenes like this (and adding even more characters) is hard to justify. If there were a more immediate payoff (say at the end of this season, or in season 2), then sure, you could make a good case for it. But there isn't.

No it is important to the entire series, not just people that read the books half a dozen times. In fact it still may the two most important pages written by GRRM. I love the HBO series, but if the TOJ scene is cut, the series might as well be for naught. It doesn't have to be this week, but it does need to shown.

[Anomandaris86]

What if they skip ToJ now... and in a season or two have it as a random flashback? When it's more important to the storyline, and people are following who's who better. That way, we get a little Sean Bean cameo! How's that sound? It could work well since Dany will no doubt be going on about her brother, details of the war will be touched on, and with Dany's warlock house scene we even have an easy in-univserse flashback window.

Mite b cool.

No. Flashbacks don't work in movies as well as books unless they're from the point-of-view of a present character who is alive. How would they transition to it otherwise? No, if they don't have a Ned flashback for the Tower of Joy then it would have to be from the only other survivor, Howland Reed. And he's not introduced yet.

Yes, in case anyone isn't familiar WIC was one of the lucky ones to screen the first six episodes, and he did confirm there is no ToJ in this episode.

http://winter-is-coming.net/2011/05/episode-6-preview-and-clips/#comment-105280

Goddamnit. Well if that's not what he's dreaming about, then what is it? Because it's obvious from that clip that him waking up is a transition from something else. It's clear from the way it's filmed as well as the music. So some other dream? Perhaps something else from the war. The sack of King's Landing? His confrontation with Jaime in the throne room? Arguing with Robert about the Targaryen children? That would actually be pretty cool; it's past time for more info about the war.

No it is important to the entire series, not just people that read the books half a dozen times. In fact it still may the two most important pages written by GRRM. I love the HBO series, but if the TOJ scene is cut, the series might as well be for naught. It doesn't have to be this week, but it does need to shown.

This. They BETTER show that scene. I will kill somebody.

[Civfan]

No. Flashbacks don't work in movies as well as books unless they're from the point-of-view of a present character who is alive. How would they transition to it otherwise? No, if they don't have a Ned flashback for the Tower of Joy then it would have to be from the only other survivor, Howland Reed. And he's not introduced yet.

Well the example I gave was the Warlock House.

They could easily start an episode as a flashback. They do that on Supernatural a lot and it works well (tonight's episode for example.) It fades in like a normal episode but as soon as you see Ned you'd know- this isn't happening in the present show.

It'd have to work with the plot at the time, but I think that would work. Flash backs aren't always a character remembering something.

[Anomandaris86]

Oh, parallel timelines are what you are talking about? As in, one plot in the past and one in the present, and it jumps back and forth between the two? Or not? In any case those things work because they both keep getting continuously developed. If it's just a one-off flashback, it needs to be...well, a flashback. Otherwise it's just floating out there in the show with no connection to anything else.

[Hyper]

I love the HBO series, but if the TOJ scene is cut, the series might as well be for naught. It doesn't have to be this week, but it does need to shown.

Geez, for the love of... Get real!!! What is the deal with this bizarro fascination with a feverish dream/flashback passage from Ned in the book. IT IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT. And it CANNOT BE TRUSTED either due to Ned's state of mind. It is a dream, not even a proper flashback.

This has just gotten absurd. It is a poetic passage that may offer some clues, but it is certainly NOT the most important scene/passage in the book.

[Anomandaris86]

It gives a lot of hints about things in the past - in fact without it no one could infer R+L=J. And if that theory turns out to be true, then it is definitely a VERY important scene. And it's important for other reasons as well, as I laid out in another post. So no, it's not something inconsequential that can be lightly brushed aside by the producers. It's a very important scene for the book, Ned's character, and the series as a whole.