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[Book Spoilers] EP 205 Discussion


Ran
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Loved this episode minus them changing who Arya chooses as her first kill. The scene with her and the tickler in the books gave me chills, it was just so good. I guess I can understand they don't want to make her seem "psycho" on the show, but a girl is sad.

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That's from the book.

I think #3 is still the best episode of the season (after having decided in the days after declaring #4 the best that it had some significant problems). The opening to this was very deflating, and it colored everything else a bit. Missed opportunities...

Luis,

No, that's not from the book. Wildfire never brought anyone anything but trouble. It certainly didn't do anything for the Targaryens.

How so? B/C Brienne was the badass instead of Loras? Or b/c it didn't look like Stannis?

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No jojen and meera!?!? wtf..

Yeah, I think that ship has sailed, sadly. I had high hopes we'd see the Reeds next season, but now I'm doubting it. Jojen, at least, is now totally superfluous, since they've given his greendreams to Bran. Maybe we'll still get Meera, but probably not. Her only real purpose now would be to tell the story of the Knight of the Laughing Tree, which they can have Luwin do at some point over the next few weeks.

I'm now drifting toward the idea Luwin survives and takes Rickon, so Osha can go north with Bran and Hodor.

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my thought exactly...

Because it was never his idea originally but Cersei's. Tyrion's idea was the great chain.

With that said this was a fantastic episode, especially for being a transitional one. It helped to build up a lot of tension for what is coming and really has me excited for next week. Jacqen was great this week, even if his first kill was the Tickler. Add in great scenes with Arya and Davos and I really enjoyed it. I do have to admit that I still dislike the fact that the Reeds hadn't been cast for this season but it something to live with.

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Some specific comments:

- Arya's scenes were very well done. Her conversations with Tywin and Jaqen flowed real nicely. Tywin's cunning kept being shown.

- It is a shame that apparently we will have no sign of Ramsay this season, and apparently no Jojen or Meera for a long time if at all. Still, time constraints, I guess it couldn't be helped.

- Nice to see that they are allowing no ambiguity about Stannis' knowledge and moral flaws.

- Renly and Catelyn seemed to have a better understanding than in the books. Again, I like it. It sort of emphasizes the depth of loss that Renly's death caused.

- Dargen's relationship to Theon and Loras recognizing that Brienne did not kill Renly were significant changes, but maybe not so much so in the long run. Same with Qhorin learning of Jon Snow on the fly, but maybe it was for the better as well.

- Theon had some killer scenes. His fight for acceptance and respect really showed through, as did his actual competence. No one ever gives him nearly enough credit, which only shows how stern the guy actually is.

All in all, a very good episode, albeit one that dares to make significant changes in order to improve on clarity. In some respects it is even better than the books.

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One thing I don't get though is why they changed the way in which someone gets stabbed from the books.

In the first season Jaime killed the mad king by stabbing him in the back instead of cutting his throat.

Here, Renly dies by being stabbed in the back instead of the shadow cutting his throat.

Hmmm....

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One thing I don't get though is why they changed the way in which someone gets stabbed from the books.

In the first season Jaime killed the mad king by stabbing him in the back instead of cutting his throat.

Here, Renly dies by being stabbed in the back instead of the shadow cutting his throat.

Hmmm....

thats quite a nitpick, lol.

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Cannot believe the season is halfway over.

Was really curious how the Renly's death scene would look...CGI people did a great job with making the shadow look like Stannis. Nice little action sequence with Brienne, too. Gwen coped well. She played the scene with Catelyn a little awkward, though...I'm trying to decide if it fits or if she's overacting a bit.

The scene with Maisie and Charles Dance made this episode for me. They didn't even have to speak to one another. Just seeing those 2 in the same room was too much awesome to filter. And, then, Tywin spoke to Arya, and I was all "Excuse me, I feel like angels are speaking to me now in some language that I'm too lowly to comprehend." Not worthy. Glad the show made this change if only to see these two characters play off one another.

Jaqen is perfect. He combines creepy and charismatic much in the same way he can make red/white hair look cool.

Not that it makes it impossible for Jojen and Meera to ever appear, but Branjen's dreams really clarifies months of speculation. I really enjoyed Bran's rag tag group, though. I'll be really sad if we don't see them all together. Small, but great, detail was Rickon smashing the walnuts. Every bit the pint-sized badass.

Seeing the Dany scenes in Qarth was cool. I don't necessarily think we ever got to see her try to acculturate her Khalasar as we did here...unless I'm not remembering some details. I think it's here where it'll be worthwhile to show she does have some Queenly qualities in so much as how she's forming this completely new culture with a Khalasar who blends as opposed to remain insular. Great seeing another dragon appearance!

Speaking of Queens, "I don't want to be a Queen, I want to be THE Queen." Meow, Marge. Can't wait for you to meet Cersei.

Pyat Pree was every bit as demented as he should be. Should be really interesting to see how they handle the House of the Undying...it was such a trippy sequence. And, Quaithe! I LOLed. The way she popped up and made you instantly disconcerted with that creepy mask is exactly how it reads in the book. "Stop doing that, woman!"

As someone who has spent hours with the audio book, it was cool seeing Roy Dotrice as Hallyne.

Edited by Bastard of Boston
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Oh, and what about the Quaithe? Finally we saw her. Not as I imagined reading the books, but very nice. Pyat Pree too, very freaky.

About the speed of the series, my father (yes, I watch with him) has lots os problems to memorize characters names. He has no time to do it, since even Stannis appears not much in the episodes, which are once a week. So maybe that's why they cut Jojen, Meera and the Walders, 4 more characters. For the audience it was a nice move.

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One thing I don't get though is why they changed the way in which someone gets stabbed from the books.

In the first season Jaime killed the mad king by stabbing him in the back instead of cutting his throat.

Here, Renly dies by being stabbed in the back instead of the shadow cutting his throat.

Hmmm....

Good point. Perhaps stabbing in the back just comes across better on the show visually. Otherwise, I'm not sure why that was changed.

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Does Jaquen reference the Red God in the books?

Faceless Men are supposed to revere the "Many Faced God"

He does. This is the second reference, too, so it looks like they're dumbing the show down on that point as well. Not so terrible, but I feel like it was a needless cut.

ETA -- he references the red god in the books too, perhaps? /noob

Edited by Bran the Bummer
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