part II for those who have not seen. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OLXmhA0jVOI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Again, I'm a fan of the show.. and nitpicking. And I haven't read the book. But the slowness of the episodes have caused me to wait multiple weeks, then watch a few episodes at once, just to feel like there's some more progression going on. Watched 5,6 and 7 last night. well my point is there hasn't been very much great stuff so far this season. There's been some story progression, with Jamie and Danerys in particular, but even in that, it's been a fairly slow go of it, with perhaps the highlight thus far Jamie having his hand cut off. Perhaps the best thing about season 3 thus far is the dragons.... which they are doing a great job with the cgi. I get it, on the whole there will be a lot of great stuff happening during book 3... but does that mean season 4 will be chock full of fast paced episodes? (somehow I doubt it) I figured this is the deal. And I get it. Just wish somehow they'd pace the episodes better. I don't think its necessarily all the extra characters, etc. It is definitely something about the pace, though. And I actually like the Tyrion/Bronn bantering as well. But you're starting to highlight the slowness. If you don't like Tyrion and Shae... well, Robb and Talisa is basically the same. Joffrey has been pretty useless character all season. The Sansa storyline is a snoozefest at this point. The Bran story line is a snoozefest at this point. The Arya storyline is pretty boring at this point, even with the interesting Brotherhood angle. And I don't think their storylines are actually bad, it's just the pacing. Take Sansa. A somewhat interesting character, actually. But all we get is week after week of scenes that are way too long with her walking/talking with Margery/Shae about the same thing... every episode. Or Arya... again the Brotherhood angle is interesting... but I get it, these guys hand around a fire at night a lot! And then they finally decide to go do something, and Arya starts b****ing. Which is fine... but why wasn't she b****ing that they had basically spent the last week+ just sitting around a fire doing nothing? Or... Theon. A once interesting character we get to watch be tortured every week in pretty much the exact same way... torturor - "I love torturing you... do you know who I am?? hahaahah"... torture him some more. It's interesting for one or two episodes, and naked girls are nice... but either tell us who he is or don't focus on the story for the time being. Even the storylines that have been more interesting. Danerys. I think they spent an entire minute last night just showing the slow procession of the noble from the new city she was at making her way through Danerys slave army. It just kept going. Nice drum beats, but why'd they waste 45 seconds on that? Now, I haven't read the books, but do know about the universe some. So I DO actually know who is torturing Theon, and that they're trying to show just how sadistic an individual this guy is... but it is just playing out as dragging on to me. ----- Anyways, I fully suspect that those who are super fans of the story are really digging all the characters and probably fine with the pacing. I still love the show. But as an alternative, for example, I though the Vikings show on the History channel was better this season. Maybe it is because it was that show's first season.. and even it had a couple of slow episodes... but it just moved much faster, and had a lot of similar elements otherwise.
I'm haven't gotten to the 3rd book but I haven't felt this season has been slow at all. I've found it slowly simmering to a boil which is coming soon from what I can tell.
Remember this is a fantasy story. Think of it like an RPG. The best RPGs are ones where you spend a lot of time leveling and developing a story. If you are hoping for a faster paced war and p*rn series it doesn't seem like this one is going to be for you. I'm not bored by the series at all. All the character development is awesome because it is this kind of stuff that will make the characters have meaning to me. The throwaway scenes are not throwaways in my mind, they are developing relationships and characters. Even the scene with the Black Fish and Talisa where they laughed about her not having an issue with the words he used. I've come to really like him a lot and scenes like that which aren't really contributing to developing the main story make me care about him.
Looking at forums I post at, I think there are plenty of non book readers who are also generally fine with the pacing. Some things are going to move slowly here, but that's kind of the nature of this type of storyline with a huge cast. In addition, even book readers don't like every character in a large fantasy novel. Also par for the course. This is really not the type of show to look for more frequent/instant gratification. IMO when it does pay off, it's the build up that makes it worth it. I've always felt the best shows follow this model.
Yeah, there are so many characters. I'd hate if they went to developing less characters to make each episode have more oomph to it. I mean, who is the "main character" in this story? What is the "main story arch?" They are developing several "main" stories. Robb Stark, Mother of Dragons, Bran Stark and his group, Jon Snow, The Lannister story, Stannis is a semi main character... What's awesome is in each main story they don't only develop ONE important character. They are fleshing out the side characters as well. It's an epic. I would hate them to give up that model. The only thing I wish they'd do is expand the season.
The Bran story for me right now is dragging. They can honestly cut some of his parts out and I don't think we would miss much.
I agree on all points especially the last one, I wish they'd at least give us 12 which is pretty much the norm for all the other cable series. I assume it's all a result of the cost to produce.
It's the one with the least "happening" but I still think it is worthwhile. Bran is growing and changing before our eyes. He's obviously going to play an important role in the story and it's important to see him develop before he does. Not to mention the Reed kids. Seeing all these characters develop makes it mean something when one of them dies, betrays someone, etc. Edit: Like all those scenes with Theon that developed him early as an arrogant hyper sexual guy made last night's episode all the more powerful.
I have but the story arc for Talisa is different than in the book so I'm at a loss for what will eventually happen.
Ah, good. Something just bothered me about the whole letter thing. My feelings were reinforced after watching the following video (DO NOT WATCH IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOKS) Spoiler <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jsTVnZm9hFg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> What do you think?
Yeah, Bran is just on his journey to the wall. His scene, more than others, seemed only to serve the purpose to remind the audience that he's still out there and still traveling to the wall. Theon is somewhat similar because he's absent from Books 3 and 4. We know he's been captured and is being tortured and these scenes only serve to tell us stuff we already know and remind us that he's out there. Maybe to drive home the point that Mr. X is a sadistic b*stard. Oh, and boobs. Martin likes to write boobs into his episodes. Anyway, it's a while before Theon shows back up and does anything of significance in the books. I think seeing the transformation from what he was to what he becomes is kind of cool but honestly, you can't just have him only in torture scenes for the next 2 or 3 seasons. They're going to have to come up with something different. Arya's line progressed because she got pissed at the Brotherhood, left, and was subsequently captured by the Hound. I like Sansa's story line. This week, we saw how she dealt with the news of her having to marry Tyrion. I've mentioned previously, she's a naive little girl who believes in honorable kings and white knights in shining armor. She was in love with the idea of marrying the future king. But things aren't as they appear and Joffrey turned out to be a monster. This season, she fell in love with the idea of marrying a man who everybody seems to realize is gay except for her. #swordswallower She believes Margaery to be a sweet, innocent maid ("Did your mother teach you?"). She can't see that Margaery and the Tyrells are just as cunning as the Lannisters, and that even though she's marrying Joffrey, she's doing so as a means to an end. She knows the risks, but she and her family want the power that comes with being Queen and she, unlike Sansa, is prepared to handle the dangers of being married to the King. The Tyrell's are nicer, but they want her for the same reason the Lannister's do, to bind their families with the Starks. The Lannister's and Tyrell's are on the same side of the war. Should they defeat Robb and his army, they'll execute him and Sansa's son would become heir to Winterfell (because everybody believes Theon killed Bran and Rickon, the only other male heirs.) Sansa is a little wiser than she used to be, but she still lives largely in a fantasy world and still envisions marrying Prince Charming. We know Tyrion isn't a bad guy. The books really drove home how much he felt for her for having to deal with Joffrey's mistreatments and how he was able to protect her from even worse. But in her mind, he's a little troll. All Lanisters are evil. So being forced to marry him after fantasies of White Knights for so long, it's a huge letdown for her. It's more character development than action, but I felt like last night's scenes did add something. Her storyline does pick up pace-wise, but that probably won't happen until next season.
I think this season is just as good if not better than season 1 and much better than last season. Particularly since Dany is a badass now so all her scenes are golden. Non book reader here.
IDK? It's an interesting theory for sure. I had never considered it to be honest. There have been several possible spoilers in the show for readers and that could be one of them?
