[Book Spoilers] EP301 Discussion

[BlackTalon]

at least there seems to be an improvement in the quality of the whores.

Indeed :laugh: Bronn has got taste ... was that the actress announced as Pixie le Knot?

And Misssandei, wow ...

[Golden Lion]

I don't know, I feel like they've already given Littlefinger more than enough to do, especially last season. He was practically in every episode; out of all the non-POV characters, I think he's the one who should actually have less screen time than he's given. Still, aside from that, my main problem is that it ruins the big reveal that Littlefinger was behind gettign Sansa out of King's Landing all along (a plot thread developed all the way back in mid to early ACOK). Since they've excluded Ser Dontos I guess this makes sense and I only have a problem with it since I've read the books, but to me it's still disappointing.

Regarding Tywin, I hope they don't go that route, though it's possible. Tyrion finding the truth out about Tysha is more than enough motivation, unless they also change this part; either way, we probably won't find out until 2014.

I know but they have actors who need things to do, and you can't follow the books properly because the books mismanage characters like crazy. The show can't do that, if they follow the books and just have characters vanish for a season or two (especially actors who are very capable of getting other work) then they'll lose the actor and end up having to recast.

I think they should have replaced the scene with LF & Sansa to Ros and Sansa though, because at the end of last season we know Ros is working for Varys, so the audience would be guessing if it's LF or Varys trying to get Sansa from KL. Would still have some slight mystery to it as opposed to just flat out making it LF. But he needs scenes to be in so :shrug:

[PhoenixFlame]

What language was the slaver speaking? Don't have my book on hand so I can't remember. I love it when writers/producers make up an entire language.

[Horus Ex Machina]

What language was the slaver speaking? Don't have my book on hand so I can't remember. I love it when writers/producers make up an entire language.

Also: was that VALYRIAN that Grazdan was speaking??? Awesome!!!

According to DP, that was the Astapori dialect of Valyrian being spoken. I liked it alot. Geeking much! Sounded a bit French-like at times to me. I was happy when I found out that it was included back in November. Daenarys will speak Free Cities dialect when she reveals that she knows the language.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=lHfyW1Efiiw

Kevan, Tywin's brother.

And eventually Lancel after him.

[danm_999]

I blame HBO. If they had fully committed to the vision - contractually - with MONEY - 15 episodes a season and many, many millions of dollars more an episode. The writers/producers would've had the luxury of being able to more closely follow the book. HBO grosses half a billion a month - it's gross that they won't commit a hundred million+ a year to true art like GOT.

It's not really an issue of resources, it's an issue of medium. In the case of Littlefinger, he just isn't physically present in the books very much; he's talked about far more than he is seen to act by our POVs. People think about Littlefinger in the books and he causes trouble behind the scenes through intense manipulation.

This doesn't really work for TV. Without voiceovers, which I think would be terrible, we have to be shown why Littlefinger is dangerous and manipulative, which means you have to show him doing things. Because while I agree that as a book reader, it's dissapointing that there's not going to be a Ser Dontos reveal, having Littlefinger info dump that he's behind absolutely everything in the past three books in one scene like he does in ASoS just ain't gonna work on TV.

[Ser Farbod]

i dunno, it just really bothers me that they have basically taken the character most singularly responsible for the chaos and turmoil of Westeros throughout the books, prominently featured him, made his motivations much easier to understand and in many ways seem nonsensical. this is a dangerous man... and he just doesn't come off that way in the show.

i mean just seeing the scheming tyrion and cersei battle each other to see who can better bribe the Kettleblacks only for it to be later revealed that they are in littlefinger's employ.. it just makes him all the more cunning and dangerous and i just think the show has failed in a major way to capture that...and continues to do so.

Would be almost impossible to do without giving him an obscene amount of screen time. A lot of story lines have been cut because of the sheer amount of time they would need to be done correctly on screen.

[Khal Porno]

strongly agree, finding out he was behind Dontos and was orchestrating a huge plan was very very rewarding... and now trashed by the show

Yes, the show has trashed it. You will never again be able to read and enjoy that storyline in the novel, because it is not in the show.

[TheEvilKing]

I liked how they subtly hinted at a couple of things we suspected from last season (Joff knows about his father, LF knows about Arya).

That little girl assassin was totally a merling.

[winterstood]

It's not really an issue of resources, it's an issue of medium. In the case of Littlefinger, he just isn't physically present in the books very much; he's talked about far more than he is seen to act by our POVs. People think about Littlefinger in the books and he causes trouble behind the scenes through intense manipulation.

This doesn't really work for TV. Without voiceovers, which I think would be terrible, we have to be shown why Littlefinger is dangerous and manipulative, which means you have to show him doing things. Because while I agree that as a book reader, it's dissapointing that there's not going to be a Ser Dontos reveal, having Littlefinger info dump that he's behind absolutely everything in the past three books in one scene like he does in ASoS just ain't gonna work on TV.

hmmm...you're right about a giant info dump not working. lol. i can see it now. aaron gillen talking to sansa over a series of vaseline fade-away flashbacks revealing that he was "behind it all!!!!" [Vincent Price Laugh: MWUUAHAHAHAHAHAAH!]

yeahhh....that wouldn't work.

but I still reaffirm my point about resources and time. look what we've missed. they had to cut out basically ALL of Robert's Rebellion from season 1 - a precursor that has, as you know, extremely significant ramifications throughout the series. Then they cut out details of the battle of The Fist - again, most likely due to budgetary and time constraints. What are they going to do with Daenerys going from Qarth to Astapor to Mereen - probably have to skip over 75% of it - smh! What about when Dorne comes more fully into the picture and all of those sub-plots? -There's just too much info in the books and you need time & money to do it justice. and to pay all these great actors so that they stay. You have people like Lena Headey who were already movie stars. You're asking them to give up 5-7 years of their life - you have to PAY them. Properly.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

We still don't know how the Sansa's storyline will be approached. Maybe - and I'm speculating just from the top of my head - they have Shae helping her out and then, she's killed because of that. That would be unexpected and shocking. Not everything should be like the book, even those of us who read them want to be surprised sometimes.

[Pinkie Baelish]

I did like how most of the characters were still talking about the Battle of the Blackwater. It really does highlight the scope and effect of the battle.

[TalalOfDorne]

I wanted to see them giving some important characters like Catelyn more screen-time, but they decide to give more time to characters like Bronn, or Ros. I know that’s how it was in the first two seasons, but I still cant get over how they are given just too much attention.

As for the episode I liked it. And how they revealed Ser Barristan was fine considering they needed to add more excitement to the first episode.

[Wun Drop]

Would you rather that have taken up 10-15 minutes of the hour, or would you rather they have the character development of the existing characters? That was easily an expendable scene.

No argument it was expendable.... it just caught my attention, because Season 1 began with the Book 1 Prologue, and Season 2 began with the Book 2 Prologue, so I was a little surprised Season 3 did NOT start with the Book 3 Prologue.

[Tourniquet]

No argument it was expendable.... it just caught my attention, because Season 1 began with the Book 1 Prologue, and Season 2 began with the Book 2 Prologue, so I was a little surprised Season 3 did NOT start with the Book 3 Prologue.

I think they covered the book 3 prologue at the end of last season (more or less, we heard the 3 blasts and saw the WW).

[Crown]

No argument it was expendable.... it just caught my attention, because Season 1 began with the Book 1 Prologue, and Season 2 began with the Book 2 Prologue, so I was a little surprised Season 3 did NOT start with the Book 3 Prologue.

Season 2 did not start with the prologue, it started with Joffrey's nameday and Tyrion arriving at King's Landing. The prologue scene appears later in the episode.

[Tourniquet]

Season 2 did not start with the prologue, it started with Joffrey's nameday and Tyrion arriving at King's Landing. The prologue scene appears later in the episode.

I think he meant that we saw the prologue in one of the first episodes...not that is necessarily opened with the Prologue...

[Crown]

I think he meant that we saw the prologue in one of the first episodes...not that is necessarily opened with the Prologue...

Yeah, but the season 3 prologue was basically shown at the end of season 2, and the murder plot isn't really necessary for tv it'll only overcomplicate the things.

[Dragon of Valyria]

According to DP, that was the Astapori dialect of Valyrian being spoken. I liked it alot. Geeking much! Sounded a bit French-like at times to me. I was happy when I found out that it was included back in November. Daenarys will speak Free Cities dialect when she reveals that she knows the language.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=lHfyW1Efiiw

Will have to watch that video later, but really? Daenerys will be using the Free Cities dialect? So that means we'll have at least three varieties of Valyrian, no? Because he mentioned in that CNN article that he used High Valyrian to create the Astapori dialect, and that we'd see it. Since the Free Cities also use a bastardized Valyrian, it's gotta be a third one. Fascinating -- I've always wanted to hear what the "liquid accents" of the Free Cities sound like.

Yeah -- this is by far my favorite thing about the season so far. I loved how scratchy and growly and almost angry the Astapori variant sounded, so I'm super excited to hear High Valyrian and Free Cities Valyrian and to hear how the accents and vocabulary/grammar differ.

Language nerds. :)

[Er Rn]

I loved the costumes. The shades of blue on Dany and Marg were beautiful. Much better than the Qartheen clothing Dany wore last season.

The scene between Tyrion and Cersei felt a little flat to me. But the scene between Tyrion and Tywin was great. Davos was perfect. And wow, they have really aged Stannis.

[Wun Drop]

What do you think would of happened between Ser Bronn and Ser Meryn and whoever the other kingsguard was? boros blunt?

Bronn might be a good sellsword but trying to kill 2 armored kinguards?

If Syrio Forel couldn't defeat Ser Meryn (wooden sword or no) then Bronn doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell.