[BOOK/TV SPOILERS]Television Without Pity nOObs Thread

[Arkash]

Haha, I'm amused at one of the lattest comments there, a guy complaining about the violence and the perversions... hey, dude, this is GoT... that scene with Joffrey was amazingly written and directed, so creepy and visceral !

[The Anti-Targ]

Haha, I'm amused at one of the lattest comments there, a guy complaining about the violence and the perversions... hey, dude, this is GoT... that scene with Joffrey was amazingly written and directed, so creepy and visceral !

Well, sexual violence has not been quite so explicitly shown previously. It took rape to a whole new level, and of course introduced true sadism into the story for the first time. And AFAIK Joff was never portrayed as a sexual deviant in the books. So it's beyond what GRRM ever wrote as explicit sex scenes. They could have cut the scene with him picking up the rod and that would have been more than enough.

Despite that person's dislike of the sexual violence in this episode which I don't fully agree with (the Sansa punishment scene was great, and that person hated it), I think some of the critique mirror's my own, i.e. the ADDness of the season so far. It does feel very rushed to me. Though I'm less vitriolic in my opinion and more forgiving. I have mixed feelings about an Unsullied feeling the same way I do, because it means the season might be turning some noobs off rather than drawing them further in.

I really do think they've missed the marlk in some places this season. But they've also been well on target in other places. Tyrion never has a bad scene, and neither it seems does Arya. Stannis and Renly are not really working for me yet. Davos is great but he can't carry the the load on his own. Carrice Von Houten is doiong a great job with what she's been given but I haven't liked how they made a rather 2 dimensional character form the start. She's got a large role to play in the great game (rather than the little game) and so far we're really only seeing her Gollum and none of her Smeagol.

I always wondered if the shadow baby would be seen as a cheap device on screen. It seems at least one person's opinion is very negative. The scene suffered from being rushed, I wanted a lot more dialogue there. It was a very good and memorable chapter in the book and not only because of the shadow baby.

[Donnycarko]

I have mixed feelings about an Unsullied feeling the same way I do, because it means the season might be turning some noobs off rather than drawing them further in.

But that's just one person's opinion, hardly representative of non-readers as a whole. Indeed this season has been very well received and reviewed by readers and non-readers alike. Keep in mind that every season of every TV show has its naysayers and people who dislike the direction the show has gone in. I've yet to discover a 100% unanimously loved season of any show.

[Spidey]

Carrice Von Houten is doiong a great job with what she's been given but I haven't liked how they made a rather 2 dimensional character form the start. She's got a large role to play in the great game (rather than the little game) and so far we're really only seeing her Gollum and none of her Smeagol.

And that is perfectly in line with how she is written in ACoK. Her "Smeagol", as you put it, doesn't appear until Book 3.

[BlackTalon]

I loved one line from the Unsullied thread:

"Don't hit that, Davos. Seriously. Once you've seen a woman squeeze out a demonic entity from what appears to be her vaginal canal, it's probably best to to put her on the "No bone" list, stat."

[Donnycarko]

They cannot seem to agree on whether Shadow Baby was a "smoke monster" or "ink monster". Uh oh.

[iheartseverus]

They cannot seem to agree on whether Shadow Baby was a "smoke monster" or "ink monster". Uh oh.

I've loved the nicknames they come up with all thru the series last year and this year. Illyrio was 'the Wedding Planner.' Stannis was 'the lobster king.' I've also seen some other sites, mainly reviewers who've struggled with all GoT's unusual names and finally came up with their own. Sallador Saan became 'Salad or Sandwich,' Hee! And now Xaro is 'Zarozan Ducksauce.' hahahaha....

ETA: I forgot to add the newest, and my favorite so far: Joffrey Dahmer!

[Arkash]

Of course, Stannis didn't directly ask if this "son" would be a vaporous wraith...

"If you don't let us in, we will all die for sure!" - "No." - "I'm going to kill you all! With Dragonfire!" - "Oh, then you are welcome, of course."

OK, HBO, we know you have more license for sex and gore than network stations, but don't abuse the privilege, huh? Don't forget to tell the story.

=D

[The Anti-Targ]

And that is perfectly in line with how she is written in ACoK. Her "Smeagol", as you put it, doesn't appear until Book 3.

Not quite true. In the prologue her Smeagol gives Cressen the opportunity to not die. But in the show her Gollum looked on and watched the poor misguided fool kill himself. My view of Mel in CoK is that a braoder range of her character is on display.

Edit: A few snarks about the shadow baby. The cheapness of it as a device for ridding the world of Renly, and the kind of inherent laughability of the situation. More than one Noob having a problem with it from that perspective. And unlike linda and Elio I didn't particularly think the scene was done all that well. Though I was very happy for it to happen as it did in the book.

Possibly the snark from noobs is partly on the basis that the magic/fantasy elements have been, and are promoted as, fairly understated. Giving this fantasy series a gritty realism, and a sense of being serious adult (as in mature and sophistacted, not full explicit sex and violence - not that these are mutually exclusive by any means) fare. Shadow baby is a fairly abrupt yank of the show back into typical fantasy fare which is not how the show has been sold to the noobs.

Fortunately the full on fantasy tropes aren't all that common, so perhaps those who are in it for the story and personalities are not completely turned off by the show being fully true to the books in that they are a good blend of classic fantasy and "mature-gritty-realism". Noobs have been oversold on the latter and undersold on the former.

Makes one think how the noobs will react to Berric the undying and unCat. For all their enjoyment of the show some noobs seem to be rather too squeamish.

End of the day the only criticism I really agree with is that the season feels rushed with not enough focus and time on story and character. If the noobs are feeling it without having any clue about how much is really missing from the books then it is much more of an objective indication of a qualitative flaw for this season. Trying to do too much in not enough time. I hope we see a change of pace from here on.

[spork]

I've loved the nicknames they come up with all thru the series last year and this year.

"Treasonbeard" (Pycelle, because he kept going on and on about treason last season) is one of my favorites.

[iheartseverus]

"Treasonbeard" (Pycelle, because he kept going on and on about treason last season) is one of my favorites.

Yep, forgot Treasonbeard. Another one was when Ned first arrived in KL and that steward came outside all crisp and bossy and suggested Ned might want to change into something more appropriate for the council meeting. I loved that moment--Sean Bean stood there, just looking at the steward... who finally whirled around and flounced back inside. hahahahaha... He became 'Little Steward Prissy Pants.'

At the beginning of this season, they also came up with 'New Grim Guy' (Davos) and 'New Grimmer Guy' (Stannis). I'm so glad our mods here allow us to bring the jewels from TWoP over here, they SO add to the fun of it all. I just ask newer members here to take a glance at the first post in this thread and be clear on the rules of this thread. We've been shut down before, don't want to be shut down again.

[TheEvilKing]

One fellow made this very astute comment:

Well, if Littlefinger knew about the Ink Monster, I still don't think he would be insane enough to woo Renly's queen for himself. She wants to be queen and doesn't care too much about who plays the role of the king. That means Littlefinger needs to find her a king. The only king he "has" is Joffrey.

But sadly followed it up in the same post with this beauty:

About Ros: I'm really not sure what to make of her. She has been abused a lot as of late, but she also is private to many secrets. There are some comicbook-like characters, maybe she becomes the big bad of the series much later on, out-littlefingering Littlefinger, out-joffreying Joffrey, out-tyrioning Tyrion.

Oh well, can't win 'em all!

[Arkash]

Hahahaha, I agree, the comment about Ros gave me a hard laugh too...

That's the magic of TwoP: amazing reflections, really bluffing ones, immediatly followed by things hilarious... I love those guys! =D

I wonder if some of them know about us reading them...

[KingWolf]

Another nickname I liked was the one for Jaqen. Someone was calling him "A Man", that makes sense considering how he refers to himself. It was in the quote below

And adding another thing that just came back to me.... I wonder where the guys in the burning cart got to after Arya gave "A Man" the axe? They didn't seem to be with the rest of the Night's Watch recruits in the pre-torture pen. One would like to see "A Man" again - but not the other two.

I'm glad no one has forgotten about him. That same person also is curious about Harrenhal and hopes to find out more of it's history.

edit:Somone else called him Ser TalksInThirdPerson. Love it.

[iheartseverus]

edit:Somone else called him Ser TalksInThirdPerson. Love it.

Me, too! Its great! What's going to be great fun is when the Unsullied actually hear more of Ja'qen speaking next week. No question in my mind that they'll then begin talking in third person, too, just like we do here whenever Ja'qen is discussed.

A girl enjoys all this, so much! It is known.

[KingWolf]

Also seeing a lot of Tywin love for his quick rescure of Gendyr and Arya. Happy for that. I've always liked Tywin even if he has treated Tyrion like crap. Nice to see him get some love.

[iheartseverus]

I actually cheered out loud and fist-pumped when Tywin came riding in. Then, I was like... wait, what? I'm cheering Tywin Lannister? It was a perfectly timed moment by D&D, a sort of 'yay, here comes Power and Smarts and Common Sense to the rescue!'

ETA: Its amusing that they throw in as often as possible how much they LOVE the Greyjoys (because they've decided that everytime they fall in love with a character, that character dies a horrible death--and they want the Greyjoys dead!)

[Arkash]

Well, they shall be disapointed then... =D

Except, maybe, for Theon at the end. ^^

And when they were like "I hope Ros becomes a more important character.", I was like: "NOOOOO, YOU FOOLS !"

[KingWolf]

Someone said in their opnion Ros was the third strongest northern woman in the show. I have nothing against their opinion but since I hate Ros i just cringe when I read that lol. They also are saying that since she is clothed this season she will have an importrent role lol.

[iheartseverus]

Actually, my opinion of it is that she's clothed because she's preggers--with King Robert's baby. And if all that's true, I'm really annoyed because it means HBO will be giving this non-character even more screen time to deal with whatever the outcome of all that turns out to be. bleah... :angry: