Don't read the spoiler unless you have read a Feast for Crows Spoiler The only POV I really care about being included from Feast For Crows is Arya's mainly because of her being blind right now. That was very unexpected for me, and I'm anxious to see what happens with regards to that. If A Dance With Dragons was all the other characters and at least a little Arya I would be incredibly happy. Of course I'm anxious to see what happens with Cersei being arrested and all of that too, but not quite to the same level.
Kind of how I feel. If you're wanting it to be page for page like the book...well then read the book. To cover as much ground as they have in 4 episodes is solid. Sure, even I griped about how the Hound is being done, but it IS still a nitpick. Huge fan of the series, huge fan of the show.
Spoiler-tagged for mention of future plots... Spoiler Most action (and blood) packed-episode so far, obviously. Perhaps more significant, the one that deviated the most from the book. Interesting scene between Robert and Cersei, giving us a better look at both of them. The Renly and Loras scene, too. I don't think Renly is so inexperienced with fighting, though, in the book. Didn't he compete in the tournaments at least? Of course, there's more scenes with Theon, foreshadowing his eventual action where as in the books he never really showed his thoughts much until his return to the islands. Seems that some of the characters will get more weight in the series than they did in the book.
That duel between Ned and Jaimie at the end of the episode was kind of underwhelming. They need to work on the fight choreography or something.
I think you hit the nail on the head. While there are a TON of bones thrown to the book fans in this series, ultimately it HAS to be produced for people (the vast majority if this show is to survive) who have NOT read the books and quite possibly have never even heard of the series until now. Here are links to a thread on another BBS that is limited to non-book readers exclusively. They all seem to love it. http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showtopic=3204374 http://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/h2stj/people_who_watch_game_of_thrones_but_havent_read/
To be fair, Ned isn't the greatest of fighters. I think was just above average. Jaime on the other hand, is the best swordsman in the kingdom. So it's not a duel per say, but a onesided fight where Jaime was trying not to hurt ned, and Ned just attacking away.
Well the fact that it didn't even happen in the book made it a welcome addition for me. What were you expecting? Wesley vs Inigo Montoya?
Eh, some big deviations (other than the duel) in this episode. Not thrilled about it. Won't get in to it. The swordplay seems a little lumbering. I guess we're spoiled by cgi, wires and tons of choreography. Tyrion is awesome as always. 7 year old breast feeding- what's the over-under on conservative backlash? (I think they nailed Robin Arryn (Robert in the books).
Really? I thought it was pretty cool. If they were swinging the swords like paper weights I don't think it would have been very believable. I got the sense these were heavy weapons and were limited in their movement. Man it looked to me that Jamie was, I don't know, shocked at how good Ned was or worried he was going to lose. Did he hit the guard for wounding Ned or for stopping the fight because he was actually challenged for once? Don't know what they say in the book. Haven't read the books so I enjoy reading what liberties HBO has taken with TV series; very insightful stuff IMO. Best Episode thus far. I thought Ned was going to be the Hand for a long(er) time and over time would change Robert and Kings Landing; everything that went down today came out of left for me and was immensely enjoyable.
By the way, did they explicity detail the relationship between Loras and Renly in the books? To be honest, I didn't even know about Renly and Loras until I read something about them online. I tend to skim when I read, so I might have skipped over it.
Like you, I didnt really think Renly and Loras were a "couple' or for that matter gay, while reading the book. But apparently, in interviews and on his blog, Martin said he thought he had made it readily apparent w/o being literal and explicit about it. i enjoyed the episode and agree that the new scene with Cersie and Robert was excellent. But, I have to agree with Durvasa and others who felt that the swordplay looked lumbersome and kinda underwhelming in both ned/jaime and gregor/hound. So far, I'm not a fan of the fight choreagraphy.
All it takes is a 1-minute blurb on Fox news and out come the pitchforks. That's one of my gripes, and since it's on the table: 1. Renly is supposed to be an alpha-male, adonis type. Not an effeminate whiner who complains about his big brother's expectations. 2. It's pretty obvious in the books, but not -this- obvious, as you can see from people missing it. There's certainly no clue during the tourney arch. They are noted to 'pray together' at times. I don't mind the conversations that HBO is adding that didn't exist in the books. But they're hitting people over the head with clues about little details that are fun to figure out....like Renly and Loras being gay. I hope that once the series gets going they ratchet down the dumb and let folks figure out the mysteries on their own.
I never picked up on the homosexuality either, though I sort of assumed it with Renly. Also, something else. Did they state in the Game of Thrones book that Jorah Mormont was the guy feeding info to Varys from across the Narrow Sea? Spoiler I didn't thing that was revealed in the book until Daenerys found out herself and then made him crawl through the **** sewers. But maybe I missed it.
I really don't think they're trying to dumb the story down. It's more about giving non-point-of-view characters from the book some sort of identity. And to do that they have to invent some interesting (maybe even shocking) "behind-the-scenes" screen time for characters like Renly. Otherwise they would barely even appear in the series or would just be forgettable, which I think people would also complain about. IMO, Renly and Loras's characters suddenly became bigger and a bit more interesting than they were in the books. I'm fine sacrificing some mystery for that. There are enough mysteries going on anyway, especially for people new to the series. As for getting his character wrong so far, I can kind of agree with that.... Spoiler I don't know if he was ever an "alpha male," but he was always very confident. Then again, maybe that confidence is only shown in public. He does seem to have some "hey everyone look at me" issues, which suggests he could be overcompensating for something.
Spoiler For some reason, I just don't think she's dead. I'm not sure how it will work out, but I feel that she'll be rescued before she actually dies. I could well be wrong, but I just remember thinking that when I read it. But your right, I would love have some type of resolution to that current situation as well.
BTW, just wanted to add I also completely missed this in the books as well, and I'm not even a skimmer. But looking back it explains a few things.
