HBO's Game of Thrones: Season 2 (1 Viewer)

[Greg.K]

Hah - don't mess with Tyrion.
And Natalie Dormer - :yum: Hey, if Renly doesn't want you, Margaery...

 

[Hanson]

Brienne stepped out of the pages so flawlessly that I actually giggled with delight when she said, "I am no lady". It was probably a rigged shot, but the way she absolutely towered over Cat in that scene was perfect. Makes up for the terrible casting of Yara (completely does not work for me).

I watched the first season prior to reading the books, but after a marathon reading session that consumed the better part of August, I read the entire series as well as the three Dunk and Egg novellas set before the current GOT timeline. Then I watched season one again, and I was amazed at all the stuff that flew over my head the first go 'round. There was a moment last night during the Loras/Brienne fight when Margaery stands up and yells, "For Highgarden!" Like, I don't think even 1% of viewers who haven't read the book would understand what she was talking about.

 

[joshEH]

Television has seen a severe lack of Natalie Dormer's rack in recent years -- thank you, Game of Thrones, for filling that void. That scene was brilliant. And I don't recall entirely, but Margaery was never given a POV-chapter, was she?
She, like Robb, was spoken about by or through other people. I like this removal of potential, "Is she/isn't she?"-subtext, something that needs to happen when translating a book to a filmed medium. Show, don't tell, and all of that. I never got a real sense of the Margaery character in the books, except for the (played up), "Woe is me, nobody's fucked me yet"-angle. I like this turn, and look forward to seeing her go through the wringer on the TV show.
("Always hated crossbows -- take too long to load!" is going to join the ranks of the greatest "fuck you" lines ever.)
This show is en fuego. This, last night's Mad Men, and the Eastbound & Down series finale was a nearly-exhausting embarrassment of riches for a single night of television.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Highgarden]http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Highgarden]Highgarden[/url]

 

[Jeff Cooper]

I have not read the books, so I don't know where this is going, but it seems now that the deliberately intercut scenes from season 1 when Ned was forced to kill Sansa's direwolf, and Bran coming out of his coma were NOT 2 different events, no?

 

[Charlie Campisi]

I have not read the books, so I don't know where this is going, but it seems now that the deliberately intercut scenes from season 1 when Ned was forced to kill Sansa's direwolf, and Bran coming out of his coma were NOT 2 different events, no?

Technically a spoiler since I'm referencing the book, but I'm not giving anything away:

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I'll have to check, but they were two different events. The books are written with each chapter told from a single character's POV. (Ned, Cat, Arya, Tyrion, John, et al.) Because Ned and Bran were not in the same place at the same time it's almost impossible for them to have been written together. Likewise, i don't remember any link between the two events, but it's been a year since I read it.

 

[Charlie Campisi]

I went back and checked the book re Lady and Bran, and

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

they do immediately follow each other from Eddard's chapter to Bran's, but there wasn't anything else to conclude that the two events are related. Bran is awoken by the three eyed crow stabbing him in the forehead with his beak in his dream.

 

[joshEH]

Goddamn. This show, man. Wow.
Joffrey is such a delightfully-evil little shit, I love it. And was Dinklage on fire tonight, or what? Completely owned both his scenes.
I'm curious to see the overall reaction to Melisandre's "birth." Apart from the Walkers and the dragons, it's the most overtly-fantastical thing we've seen so far. I dug it as a fan of the books, but I wonder how everyone else will take to it.
I'll go ahead and assume that unless Renly has another demon-baby-birthing sorceress on speed dial, he's pretty much fucked next episode.

 

[Jim_C]

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/image/id/852073/width/350/height/310
Goddamn. This show, man. Wow.
Joffrey is such a delightfully-evil little shit, I love it. And was Dinklage on fire tonight, or what? Completely owned both his scenes.
I'm curious to see the overall reaction to Melisandre's "birth." Apart from the Walkers and the dragons, it's the most overtly-fantastical thing we've seen so far. I dug it as a fan of the books, but I wonder how everyone else will take to it.
I'll go ahead and assume that unless Renly has another demon-baby-birthing sorceress on speed dial, he's pretty much fucked next episode.

On another forum I frequent the non-book readers are scratching their collective heads on the birth. Should be fun to see their reaction after next week.
The show is getting better each week. I agree completely that Joffrey and Tyrion were fantastic tonight.

 

[Josh Dial]

Great episode. Loved seeing Tywin moving through Harrenhal like "Daddy's home, children!" The look he shot the solider after learning they were torturing a smith was hilarious.

From the preview of next week, it looks like it's going to be one of my favourite sequences in the second book:


Arya and Jaqen working on Ayra's "list" in Harrenhal.


I thought the shadow scene was well done: it captured Davos' awed horror must better than the book, actually. I also liked Stannis' conversation with Davos on the deck of the ship, where Stannis commented that good deeds don't erase bad, nor bad erase good. This was an interesting counterpoint with Melisandre's comments about a person being *only* good or evil.

Roose Bolton's introduction was a bit unceremonious, but the "look" was right. Not sure why Jeyne's name was changed (though it's not as stupid as the change from Asha to Yara...).

 

[joshEH]

Once the end-credits rolled, I realized I hadn't taken a breath the entire hour.
The entire episode was astounding. Love Tyrion being awesome as always, and his reaction to Sansa. Love his berating of the knight. Love Renly and Stannis having a verbal cockfight. Love Tywin throwing his weight around. Love Littlefinger being a duplicitous asshole, and yet doing Catelyn a HUGE favor.
LOVE that Arya's started reciting the names of all the Lannisters she plans to kill. Love where this whole "cupcarrier" job with Tywin might go. Ros...well...she's having a rough season.
Anybody notice how sparsely-populated the throne room scenes have become? I wonder if they are having a shortage of extras, or it shows that people are trying to stay away from the king because he is batshit insane.
"Can't cure being a cunt" needs to be the new House Lannister motto. Good Christ, Joffrey needs to die screaming.

 

[Quentin]

Do we have an explanation from anyone why Asha became Yara? Just curious.
Man, there are so many wheels set in motion now. It's been a while since I read the books. I had forgotten how many balls go up in the air during this book.
I actually thought the bald, pale, skinny dude was Xaro...it's how I always pictured him. Seeing a HUGE dude as Xaro took adjusting...but, I loved how he towers over Dany.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Quentin /t/318405/hbos-game-of-thrones-season-2/30#post_3919271
Do we have an explanation from anyone why Asha became Yara? Just curious.
Man, there are so many wheels set in motion now. It's been a while since I read the books. I had forgotten how many balls go up in the air during this book.
I actually thought the bald, pale, skinny dude was Xaro...it's how I always pictured him. Seeing a HUGE dude as Xaro took adjusting...but, I loved how he towers over Dany.

The Powers That Be changed Asha to Yara because "Asha" sounds too much like "Osha," and they feared people would be confused. Yeah, people will really get confused between a major character from one of the major families, and a minor character who barely gets any screen time.

It makes even less sense considered Bran and Bronn were left unchanged.

The Jeyne-change makes no sense, either.

 

[joshEH]

I actually thought the bald, pale, skinny dude was Xaro...it's how I always pictured him. Seeing a HUGE dude as Xaro took adjusting...but, I loved how he towers over Dany.

Yeah, Xaro (Xhoan Daxos, he of the name one has to Google) at the gates of Qarth seems to have the right idea:
"Come on in, Dragon Lady! Together, we will charge people 500 dollars a head to see your dragons!" Or at least, that's what I'd do. I think we're gonna see a lot of people try to take advantage of Dany's dragon-situation.
And DAMN, Littlefinger is just no good at dealing with women who aren't whores.

 

[JonZ]

Harrenhal was wonderfully realized here.

The birthing scene was well done - I was curious to see how theyd do it without making it hokey, and wondered whether theyd skip it al together, show the "action" it takes and have us realize later how it came about.

 

[joshEH]

Lancel's reaction in this scene was awesome. He's also wearing Jaime's clothes.

Oh man, Renly is about to get his shit slapped so hard. Basically, once high magic is introduced into a low-magic setting, things get lopsided.
And Daxos seems to think so, too. "The dragon lady will probably die if we turn her away. But what if she doesn't, and she comes back? I like not being burned alive; better not risk it."
Also, Harrenhal is nothing how I pictured it, and it's 1000x better. Holy crap, what an unwelcoming hole. (And I loved how it wasn't animated at all on the map in the opening credits. It's just dead.)

 

[JonZ]

Yea I noticed that, Harrenhal wasnt animated. Also the angle was different, like the camera wanted to get away from the place as fast as possible, instead of circling around the location. Nice touch.

 

[Henry Gale]

Originally Posted by Hanson /t/318405/hbos-game-of-thrones-season-2/30#post_3917007
Brienne stepped out of the pages so flawlessly that I actually giggled with delight when she said, "I am no lady". It was probably a rigged shot, but the way she absolutely towered over Cat in that scene was perfect.

Gwendoline Christie is 6'3" according to IMDB.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

It's no surprise to me that I struggle with some things others consider good (great?) entertainment. Fight Club, Leaving Las Vegas, and even House initially turned me off. But in those cases, I eventually got past the challenges and grew to appreciate them.

GoT is undoubtedly one of my 2 favorite new shows (Homeland being the other), but that scene with Joffrey and Tyrion's gift whores? I'm still digesting it. There are things we see in entertainment that are supposed to make us uncomfortable. I can still vividly remember Kunte Kinte ("Roots") being whipped because he wouldn't say his newly given name Toby. But as uncomfortable as it made me, it's an accurate depiction of the type of thing the story covered. GoT isn't historical, but GRRM is creating a world and in the world he has created, these types of things occur. Still, it crossed some internal line for me where I can say, "Man, that was brual! [Thumbs up!]" to "I don't think my life is any better for having seen that."

This isn't a negative review of the show or the episode. What happened with Joffrey fit, but I could go my whole life never seeing anything like that again. After all, the audience already gets that he's scum. Is one of the running elements of the show going to be to show what new and "interesting" sadistic things he can come up with next? I'm hoping not. There are ways to show he's cruel without swimming in scenes of torture against women -- and especially a little girl (I don't think Sansa is even supposed to have bled yet).

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Roose Bolton's introduction was a bit unceremonious, but the "look" was right. Not sure why Jeyne's name was changed (though it's not as stupid as the change from Asha to Yara...).

OK, as a non-book reader, who follows the TV show pretty closely, I got confused here. Who (on the TV show) are Roose, Jeyne, Asha and Yara?