Season 1 compared to Season 2.

[Blutrabe]

I agree, this may be problematic later on. But as long as they make it clear just how much Tywin resents Tyrion, I think it may even work to the shows advantage, as people may be more conflicted when a certain fate befalls him.

That might be, but I think they went a bit too far anyway.

That being sad, Tywin's change of character is peanuts compared to Robb, Jaime and Brienne IMO.

[Phaing]

I am glad HBO is splitting the third book into 2 seasons.

Oh, yeah, that makes MUCH more sense than adding a couple of episodes to the season.... :idea:

[Winter's Prince]

Season one had this mysterious vibe to it. There were scenes that sent chills through your bones like when Aemon was talking to Tyrion, and then Jon and Aemon's discussion, and Robb ordering Luwin to call the banners. Oh and let's not forget Varys and Lf's confess to each other on how they both admire the other, now I loved that scene. So in all Season one was more mysterious and mystic and dark.

Season two had none of what I talked about in the above paragraph. When Renly died and Cat returned they didn't even discuss what she saw or if Robb was worried, in the finale the Starks didn't even talk about the Lannister victory at KL. There was no feelong of mystery or mystic or dark, but I still loved it though. And as the old saying goes books are always better than adaptions.

[Nuncle Kraken]

I watched the first two seasons before reading any of the books. I LOVED both seasons. Up there with The Wire for my all-time favorite TV shows. I only decided to read the books in between seasons 3&4 because I started getting confused with the names. I really hope I love this season. I can't imagine not loving it.

[kevin1989]

Completely destroying her arc would be Yoren not dying, Arya staying in the presidential suite in Harrenhal, then being abducted by Aliens.

sound interesting. Is it part of: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz56lmcKva1qajaz9.jpg

I agree for the most part. But I don't like the way they portrayed Tywin. He shouldn't come across as forgiving and sympathetic...

As far as I see there isn't much change in his character. He hates Tyrion because of his wifes dead, he is a leader who is fierce and get what he wants. both are in the show, but as far as I read in the books, how he is with children, there is nothing wrong with, how he did with Arya in the show, he probably was with Tommen too, and probably for Cercei and jaime too when they were younger. But he is hand of the king so he needs to be harsh.

And don't forget, Tywin is in season 3.

@Varys

And destroy Tywin in season 2? Didn't you saw the scene where he was angry at a relative? They only thing they changed is that Tywin is besides a fierce leader, who doesn't argue (and hates Tyrion), he is human. Don't forget that in the books, Tywin was human before his wife died. So probably something in Arya remembers him of his wife, probably how Arya talks. I think it gave some dynamic to the character of Tywin. the only thing is that how much I liked that dynamic between Tywin and Arya, it was way too often. instead of 3 times, they should have left it with 2 times.

[kevin1989]

Oh, yeah, that makes MUCH more sense than adding a couple of episodes to the season.... :idea:

You never read interviews with David and Dan I guess??? They can't add some couple of episodes to the following reasons:

- There is only a budget for the amount of 10 episodes. So if they add some episodes, the quality per episode will drop fiercely.

- They can't schedule more episodes. They are working on set from July through November. Then they start editing the episodes till January/February then they promote the new show.

- You probably read SoS. Than you know that to put the book too screen, they need at least around 17/18 episodes. So there's no point of adding 7/8 episodes.

- They see the bookserie not as book per book serie. but as a whole.

- Having the same amount of episodes per season will make the show better. People know what they can accept before starting the season. Look at shows like dexter, every season has 12 episodes. viewers like that very much. sometimes the last season can be 1 or 2 episodes longer or shorter.

And don't forget:

- It makes a more natural flow of the show if they just let the show contain the amount of information that they needed instead of rushing through the books.

- And it gives GRRM more time too end his books the right way.

[Lord Varys]

I know that Tywin Lannister is a human being. But will Tywin-Tyrion, Tywin-Cersei, and Tywin-Jaime still work in seasons 3-4 now that we know that Tywin can also be a nice guy. Just not to his family. The guy fucks the whore/mistress of the very son he is going to execute. That is nothing a normal human being would be doing.

But I don't care that much about Tywin. My problem is that I really wanted to see how Arya is abused at Harrenhal.

[kevin1989]

I think that still will work in season 3 and 4, I mean that we see Tywin being a little nice to Arya doesn't mean he is a nice person.

I personally didn't miss the Arya abuse. She saw horrible things in Harrenhal. And don't forget that GOT is working with young people, they possibly reduce the violence to Arya because of Maissie Williams. I think we don't want to let Maissie have some problems later because of some scenes.

[SeanF]

I really enjoyed the Tywin/Arya scenes, but I worry as well that they've humanised Twyin too much. Although we do see his ruthless side in the series, he's still hard to reconcile with the iron-hearted patriarch

who exterminated the Reynes and Tarbecks, stripped his father's mistress naked and paraded her through Lannisport, and ordered his guards to gang-rape Tysha.

I imagine that book Tywin would be correct, in the way that he behaved to his cup-bearer, but he'd never start talking about his family in the way that Charles Dance did.

WRT Arya, her story is extremely complex in the book, with Harrenhall changing hands repeatedly. Viewers would be completely confused by this. I think they handled her story very well.

Overall, I've few complaints with Season 2, apart from the Qarth storyline, which often didn't make much sense to me. Dany doesn't actually do very much in ACOK, and it may have been better to bring forward part of the Astapor storyline.

[King Tommen]

Just wondering exactly what some people would have liked to have seen Arya in during S2 at Harenhal that would have satisfied them? The way some talk, it's like in the books she was dragged around behind a horse in the mud all day and raped every night at Harenhal.

On the show, she got to watch her new father figure Yoren brutally butchered, her companion Lommy stabbed through the neck with her newly stolen sword, hung out in an outdoor prison cell in the rain while fellow prisoners were tortured by the Tickler in front of her by having a rat burrow into their torso. Then she was appointed a servant girl to her sworn enemy while under constant fear of being discovered by both him and then LF. She was chased around Harenhal and almost outed by Amory Lorch. Where is the Club Med BS? It was fairly nasty by anyone's estimation.

She didn't kill the guard. Big deal. I'm sure she will so something equivalent in short order (based on Bryan Cogman's interview, they held off a little on pushing her to this but she will in following seasons). She's got her whole experience with the BwB, being kidnapped by the Hound, going to the RW, meeting up with Polliver and crew (with needle) at the Inn and leaving the Hound for dead to come before she's ready to take the Assassin step and go to Braavos. I fail to see how her character is not on track to organically come to that decision. She doesn't just "lose her identity" all at once in Harenhal in the books, there are a whole additional book's worth of events that she experiences before we get to that point.

[Joyful Union]

Just wondering exactly what some people would have liked to have seen Arya in during S2 at Harenhal that would have satisfied them? The way some talk, it's like in the books she was dragged around behind a horse in the mud all day and raped every night at Harenhal.

On the show, she got to watch her new father figure Yoren brutally butchered, her companion Lommy stabbed through the neck with her newly stolen sword, hung out in an outdoor prison cell in the rain while fellow prisoners were tortured by the Tickler in front of her by having a rat burrow into their torso. Then she was appointed a servant girl to her sworn enemy while under constant fear of being discovered by both him and then LF. She was chased around Harenhal and almost outed by Amory Lorch. Where is the Club Med BS? It was fairly nasty by anyone's estimation.

She didn't kill the guard. Big deal. I'm sure she will so something equivalent in short order (based on Bryan Cogman's interview, they held off a little on pushing her to this but she will in following seasons). She's got her whole experience with the BwB, being kidnapped by the Hound, going to the RW, meeting up with Polliver and crew (with needle) at the Inn and leaving the Hound for dead to come before she's ready to take the Assassin step and go to Braavos. I fail to see how her character is not on track to organically come to that decision. She doesn't just "lose her identity" all at once in Harenhal in the books, there are a whole additional book's worth of events that she experiences before we get to that point.

Thank you! Im fed up of these ridiculous hyperbolic statements about how they "ruined" Arya. Theres still tons of time to make her a killer

[Lord Varys]

Well, she still could become a killer, but if they stick to her story, she is not going to kill an innocent bystander until she reaches Braavos. Not sure how or why she should murder a member of the BWB. Killing Polliver cannot be compared to the murder of the Bolton guard.

But it's not only the whole murder Arya thing I miss, it's the destruction of Arya's personality. She is a very outspoken and strong tomboy, but Gregor and his men, and Harrenhal transform her into a mouse who is too terrified to reveal herself to the Northmen who take the castle later on. I'd have liked to see a version of that, not funny history lessons.

[Mr. E]

So I recently rewatched the Season after getting the blu-ray, and I'm astonished at how good it is. There are some headscratchers like basically all the Roz scenes, but otherwise it's a remarkable piece of television. I remember being disappointed like a lot of people watching the episodes week to week, but watching them all together with a decent amount of separation from the books - it's just astoundingly good television.

It's really hard to divorce yourself from the books, honestly. But if you watch the show it's paramount. You'll get a lot more enjoyment out of it if you go in with no expectations.

[Golden Lady]

I think seaosn 1 was better. You get introduced to the characters, the houses. Ned dies, Robert dies. People is starting to know that the baratheon children are in fact lannisters, the bad ones are winning. There's so much adrenaline. Season 2 is how the characters make alliances. There are so much characters, and if you haven't read the book you get mess with how many new characters and hpuses and places are named.

[Phaing]

You never read interviews with David and Dan I guess??? They can't add some couple of episodes to the following reasons:

- There is only a budget for the amount of 10 episodes.....

Look, I'm not here to start a fight with one of the faithful, and I'm very glad that HBO has this instead of one of the lame-stream networks... but a mere 10 hours per year is not my idea of the ideal viewing experience. As for the budget- this is the biggest thing on TV these days, and so hot that even the Simpsons got into the act, so why not splurge a little?

But on the other hand, what they have made has the best production value I have seen in many years, if ever for a series.

And at least it is 10 actual hours, without the 20-25 minutes of commercials you see on the more common networks.

So, okay, I'll take the good with the not-so-good, but I will still vent my opinion when it comes bubbling out.

[Pepi]

Well, for what it's worth, the episodes of S3 will be about 4-5 minutes longer on average (IIRC), which by the end means almost a whole new episode.

[kevin1989]

Look, I'm not here to start a fight with one of the faithful, and I'm very glad that HBO has this instead of one of the lame-stream networks... but a mere 10 hours per year is not my idea of the ideal viewing experience. As for the budget- this is the biggest thing on TV these days, and so hot that even the Simpsons got into the act, so why not splurge a little?

But on the other hand, what they have made has the best production value I have seen in many years, if ever for a series.

And at least it is 10 actual hours, without the 20-25 minutes of commercials you see on the more common networks.

So, okay, I'll take the good with the not-so-good, but I will still vent my opinion when it comes bubbling out.

Sorry, I just read a lot of interviews, and sometimes its annoying to read people complaining about things without even knowing why the producers made that choice.

Personally I liked show that has 10/13 episodes a season better than shows that has more than 18. Shows like GOT, Dexter, Rome etc has little episodes per season but it has no side tracks, most of the time when a serie has more than 18 episodes per season, 50% of the episodes are fillers, look at CSI, supernatural (shame because the main story is awesome except the fillers which are most of the time annoying the last 3 seasons).

The way that GOT tells the story you are fully in when 2 episodes have aired.

And personally I find it better to watch 3 or more 10/13 episodes per season shows a year. I watch dexter right now (fall last season summer), and GOT in spring. So when shows like supernatural stop I will probably watch a show with short amount of episodes a season.

[JoePescisBoss]

I read all five books between the airing of season 1 and season 2 and now I somewhat regret this. For some reason I feel as if Season 2 doesn't live up to the 'epic-ness' that season 1 had and I can't put my finger on it. I cannot figure out whether or not it's the cinematography, a different director or that I knew what was going to happen during the season.

Anyone else get the feeling that Season 2 wasn't as good as Season 1?

Dont worry, its not the books. I read the first two books AFTER I saw the two seasons and I had the same feeling.

That is because s2 just wasnt as good as s1.

[Cas Stark]

I think seaosn 1 was better. You get introduced to the characters, the houses. Ned dies, Robert dies. People is starting to know that the baratheon children are in fact lannisters, the bad ones are winning. There's so much adrenaline. Season 2 is how the characters make alliances. There are so much characters, and if you haven't read the book you get mess with how many new characters and hpuses and places are named.

Season 1 was better, but it was also much more straightforward. You've got Winterfell, King's Landing, the Wall and Daenerys. Three main storylines...Dany across the narrow sea and the intrigue surrounding Robert Baratheon and Jon Snow.

Season 2, all the Starks are different places with their own stories going on, you have added in Stannis and Renly and the war with Robb and Tywin Lannister as well as still having Jon Snow and Daenerys and KL. Many more characters have been added on top of all the new stories and locations. Much, much more complicated.

I would say they made some strategic errors in Season 2, namely, grossly underplaying Jon and the Halfhand and the wilding storyline; the hateful Talisa blasphemy and then I just thought adding an imaginary character not in the books--Ros--and giving her so much screen time was silly, considering how many real characters there are whose stories were condensed. If they had to have a whore/peasant/insider view why not use Chataya?

I do think the cricitisms were for the most part overblown.

[locke and key]

as an adaptation of the books season 1 was better

as a piece of tv season 2 was better