Introduced Blackfish and Edmure and their relationship. Showed Blackfish could be an ass but was a badass with a bow. It only took 45 seconds or so, so not that big a deal.
I haven't read the books even though I own them. I think part of the reason that she was asking abut how loyal the men are and wanting even the boys and trying to help the dying slave is because she is going to turn around and kill the slaver and all the city that has enslaved them, then not only will her soldiers be tough but they will also love her, filling in for where her right hand men were talking about fighting for someone you love. They better learn quick not to second guess her.
What the hell was up with the ending music? It was so incredibly inappropriate for what literally just happened before it
Those were the words Jaqen H'ghar gave her when he gave here the coin in last years finale. "If the time comes when you must find me again, give that coin to any man from Braavos and say these words: Valar Morghulis." I doubt she knows what they words mean at this point.
The song is prominent in the books, but that version sucked. The Brotherhood Without Banners was seen singing it a capella earlier in the episode. The song parallels the relationships of several characters. It tells the the story of a bear attending a fair and rescuing a maiden who was hoping for a knight instead. Sansa's story is similar in that she initially believes life is like a fairy tale and believes Joffrey to be her prince charming. Then reality hits her and its the Hound (who loves her) who ends up protecting her, eventually offering to help her escape during the Battle of the Blackwater, though she refuses. Then there's Dany and Ser Jorah Mormont. Dany has no interest in Jorah romantically, but he's in love with her. She hasn't realized this yet. He's the bear. She wants one thing and he's something else. And the sigil of House Mormont is a bear. Remember that his father is Jeor Mormont, Commander of the Knight's Watch, also known as the "Old Bear". You could also say that Brienne and Renly had a bear/maiden relationship, with Briene being the bear. She was Renly's protector and was in love with him while he fancied Ser Loras.
Really enjoyed this week's episode. Man, the Kingslayer losing his hand...didn't see that coming. Have not read the books (did read A Game of Thrones) but I like this season so far. Don't care about Theon, though. Looks like they were silent on his character in the middle novels (from reading this thread) and kind of wish they would do the same in this season. Too many other interesting characters/subplots to waste time on him.
I was certainly thinking, Ain't no way her pet dragon will allow itself to be taken away. Next episode is gonna rock, btw. Exactly. I could give a **** about Theon. "Storm of Swords" has enough highlights without wasting precious screen time in the translation to the screen. Theon doesn't even appear in the third book. Give the actor (Alfie somebody?) a booklet of McDonald's gift certificates, tell him to go home and come back in a year. Ow, my head hurts. But thanks for that. I hadn't reflected on the song other than, well, an upcoming scene between Brienne and Jaime (and hence the title of an upcoming episode). I read Book 3 and now I'm tearing through the first two books to catch up, so I probably wasn't reflecting on much of anything. "The Rains of Castamere" will have great significance, as it is the name of Episode 9.
I'm surprised by the ambivalence towards Theon's story. I'm the polar opposite. I never really gave a crap about him in the books, for the most part (and was thoroughly confused during most of the Reek stuff) but I've really enjoyed what the actor has done with the character in the show and I'm glad they are "showing not telling" all his stuff during this timeline, because in the book it really sucked to learn about the stuff we are seeing now by being told after the fact.
that one hour evaporates so quickly. this should should be a 2 hour production per episode. just can't get enough of it.
Absolutely love this show. I wish they could do 24 episodes a season, or at least 15. This 10 episode thing KILLS me.
I would love it if they would do 10 episodes then release a 3 hour motion picture once a year with a high budget to finish the season . Could you imagine the battle of Blackwater shot with a huge budget.
i would refrain from saying where and when characters appear in the books because you might be spoiling things.
Spoiled per K mf G's suggestion because it pertains somewhat to when a character does and doesn't appear in the books. No explicit spoilers though. Spoiler The thing is it wouldn't be 1 year. It'd be 2 (maybe 3) since Storm of Swords will take 2 season and Theon doesn't appear until Book 5, though some of that runs concurrently with Book 4. And if you don't show him in season 3, 4, and 5 then 1) the audience may completely forget about him and 2) the actor might move on to other things and be unavailable when you do want him back. Theon is an important character. Having read the book and knowing how his character changes, it's interesting to me to see what happens to Theon during this period which can only be summarized in the novels. And I think it's something the audience needs to see to really understand his transformation. It's something that can work in the books, but would be harder on TV. FWIW, Theon's chapters in Dance With Dragons are some of my favorites. George R.R. Martin is so good at inhabiting the minds of his characters and explaining events from their point of view. When Theon reappears, he's dramatically different and the way Martin writes his chapters is really fantastic. But that's the kind of thing that gets lost in TV which is probably why they need to show it as it's happening.
In response to the part I bolded: Spoiler I'm actually opposite you on that bolded point. I thought delivering it that way was a little more effective, just for the shock effect of coming back to him after a long time and you're like "OMG WTF HAPPENED TO YOU!? I didn't even know you were alive, let alone reduced to some half-mad creature!" In general when there have been departures of how the same story is told, I prefer the books (LittleFinger gets the Hound's story? Why?). However, when they add new scenes, I actually find a lot of the added scenes to be some of the best (Robert/Cersei convo from season 1, first scene of LittleFinger in the brothel in season 1, the crossbow scene from this season).
Add: the chair scene from last episode. Tywin/Arya scenes. The "slurp slurp" Renly scene from Season 1? Er, not so much. But my wife was dismayed at the character's fate, thinking he was good-looking. Come to think of it, most of the sexposition scenes are pure HBO ratings grabs, although I admire Ros' goodies.
Yeah, I mean, it's not like their haven't been mis-steps. LittleFinger's face-off with Cersei was atrociously stupid, and I thought Joff making the whores abuse themselves was a completely pointless scene. So yeah, I guess maybe I can revise my assertion to "most scene adds that don't involve nudity just for nudity's sake are good."
The only character I really enjoy is Joffrey. He has so many good zingers. Like in the 2nd episode, when he's talking to Cersei. "That's what intelligent women do: what they're told." Pwned his mom.
