HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones - Thread 2. There are a lot of nerds.

What was the relevance of those face trees, anyway? I know they're sacred sites for the old religion of the North, but were they also somehow related to the dryads who created the Night King, I can't remember?

Also, I wonder if we're gonna find out this season who the heck the Lord of Light is, and why he seems to be the only god of this world who actually exists, or at least interacts with the world? Melissandre is destined to return to Westeros and die there, so I guess there's still a chance they might explain it in a satisfactory manner... But so far the whole LoL feels like the most disjointed part of the story's mythology, considering that all other forms of "magic" we've seen are related to nature spirits and/or ESP abilities such as warging.

Though I guess Dany's incombustibility could be relates to the Lord of Light?

It was in the actual episode - there was an aerial view of Winterfell.

Even stuff like Theon and Jara felt a waste of space at this point, and Euron will only ever be a peripheral character no matter how hard they try.

Euron will be dead in about five minutes time, I wouldn't worry. Pretty sure the only reason he's still around is that everyone else is at Winterfell and they need to give Cersei someone to interact with. TBH we've been watching Borgen lately and I totally failed to connect the guy who's really good at playing an emotionally-cripped Danish spin doctor with the guy who is absolutely terrible as Euron. Then again he's just an awful character.

Actually it's kind of amazing the margin by which Lena Headley is the best actor in the whole thing at this stage. Obviously Peter Dinklage is great and some of the second-tier characters have their moments but you could replace any of the other leads (except perhaps Maisie Williams) with other actors and lose nothing of the character. But you'd lose a lot of Cersei without Headley playing her, she's the only one who really conveys some kind of internal conflict or self-delusion that isn't right there in the text.

Literally no moment in TV history as been ever as predictable as the moment when they did the 'AWWWWW YOU GUYS' cut away to the dragons. I did enjoy the episode though but I'm just accepting it for what it is at this point.

Tuomas you may be the only viewer out of literally millions who is interested in the Lord of Light at this stage. I'm sure the whole religious aspect is handled OK in the books but it's so clunky on TV and probably the main reason why the last season or so has dispensed with it.

Agree about Lena Headey. They've really managed to winnow it down to focus on all the worst actors in the show

There's just something very Monkey Island about all those scenes where you see a load of disparate characters standing together and only a couple of them have any dramatic function in the scene.

Literally no moment in TV history as been ever as predictable as the moment when they did the 'AWWWWW YOU GUYS' cut away to the dragons.

Tuomas you may be the only viewer out of literally millions who is interested in the Lord of Light at this stage. I'm sure the whole religious aspect is handled OK in the books but it's so clunky on TV and probably the main reason why the last season or so has dispensed with it.

pretty sure Martin intended the story to end with the Lord of Light as the dominant religious power in Westeros - in the same way the Abrahamic religions supplanted older polytheistic faiths

but I doubt they're going to address that in the show at this point, possibly not even in the books

I've a feeling the Lord of Light stuff will have *some* relevance to the endgame but I've no idea what - they could have quietly dropped that theme altogether but a couple of bits from s7 (Melisandre's conversation with Varys about dying in Westeros; the Hound's vision of the arrowhead mountain in the fire) make me think there's a reason they haven't. I don't particularly want them to explain everything though.

given what has happened it wld be a surprise if it turns out jon snow is not azor ahai and the lord of light prophecies are irrelevant

pretty sure Martin intended the story to end with the Lord of Light as the dominant religious power in Westeros - in the same way the Abrahamic religions supplanted older polytheistic faiths

but I doubt they're going to address that in the show at this point, possibly not even in the books

XP’s I am assuming every ep from here on in will have a totally different opening theme sequence which, IMO, they should’ve been doing for years

Someone correct me if I am wrong but haven’t they continually changed the intro sequences when new places have been introduced, or something happens to places. e.g. I can remember Winterfell smoking when it was sacked.

that's correct

any other shadow of the colossus players get nervous about Jon's stamina running out?

Someone correct me if I am wrong but haven’t they continually changed the intro sequences when new places have been introduced, or something happens to places. e.g. I can remember Winterfell smoking when it was sacked.

They also changed the banners in various places according to who ruled them, so Winterfell's banners were changed to Bolton, and then back to Stark after the Battle of the Bastards.

given what has happened it wld be a surprise if it turns out jon snow is not azor ahai and the lord of light prophecies are irrelevant

Has the Azor Ahai prophecy even been mentioned in the series, or only in the books? I haven't read them, so I'm only familiar with the prophecy through some Youtube videos.

Anyway, even without the prophecies etc., it would seem pretty obvious that the god of fertility and fire, whose followers can set swords ablaze, is likely to play some role in defeating an supernatural entity associated with death and ice, whose minions can be killed with fire. Especially since said god resurrected the guy who's most likely to fight against said ice entity.

yeah I think the only allusion to the prophecy in the show was in all those cave scrawlings under dragonstone but as you say, the pieces are all set up whether they make explicit reference to it or not

Big time Curb moment for Jaime Lannister pic.twitter.com/7zSxp5dV9C

— Tommy Smokes (@TomScibelli) April 15, 2019

Someone correct me if I am wrong but haven’t they continually changed the intro sequences when new places have been introduced, or something happens to places. e.g. I can remember Winterfell smoking when it was sacked.

Sure, but not as complete or complex as what they’re doing now

I’m pretty happy with this series as a whole and happy with where it’s going and have few complaints

Bran’s story was a tedious slog and now he’s fascinating

Some of Samwell’s scenes (esp with Gilly) were some of the worst TV I’ve seen but now he’s also fascinating and I found his scene with Dany very moving

But if they do not do something effective with Melisandre to justify her vulturous and useless presence for season after season, as well as the Lord Of Light, I’m going to be disappointed enough to write a user review somewhere

I want a spinoff with Bran and Bronn as the leads in an offbeat odd couple scenario

I love Carice van Houten but I agree w/ fgti, Melisandre has been largely a waste so far

one of those cases where the writers forgot that "nudity" is not a character personality trait or plot point

I hope that they rectify the gender imbalance when it comes to nudity and give us a fully nude zombified Mountain. Or the Clegane vs Clegane battle that's inevitably coming is fully nude.

eh, my prediction is that the big battle with the dead will happen halfway through the season, leaving the final episodes open for half the characters to fight for the throne, and the other half to go on some mystical quest

if the mountain became a white walker at this point, would there even be a significant difference other than his loyalties?

I'm shipping Cersei and the Night King btw

But if they do not do something effective with Melisandre to justify her vulturous and useless presence for season after season, as well as the Lord Of Light, I’m going to be disappointed enough to write a user review somewhere

― flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 8:23 AM (forty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

melisandre existed to bring jon snow back from the dead

eh, my prediction is that the big battle with the dead will happen halfway through the season, leaving the final episodes open for half the characters to fight for the throne, and the other half to go on some mystical quest

― We were never Breeting Borting (President Keyes), Tuesday, April 16, 2019 9:02 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i kinda think so too--maybe around episode 4, they'll be vanquished somehow.

ughhhh I feel like they just killed Jon Snow to give Melisandre something to do

I just re-read a Melisandre synopsis and I had completely blanked on all her post-exile activities. Glad she's gone back to Volantis and I hope if she re-appears it's for only a very good reason

like after everything she's done, how is she not dead? easily as monstrous an individual as Cersei

The best aspects of Melisandre were her entire influence on the Stannis storyline, which gave it a twistedness I enjoyed, and also her somewhat shockingly reasonable take on the white walker threat. So many characters had been calling it bullshit and she immediately said “hold on this is bad we better get up there.”

think a reasonable - though perhaps obvious - endgame here would be for Cersei to join up with the night king ("the living have done nothing but torment me I SIDE WITH THE DEAD" *gets zombified, makes out with the mountain*) and then melisandre comes back for a one-on-one battle of light vs dark
then the dragons make out

Cersei to join up with the night king ("the living have done nothing but torment me I SIDE WITH THE DEAD"

this would rule

Also there was something annoyingly flat and anticlimactic about the scene when Arya and the Hound came face-to-face again. Way to go ruining your best double-act there.

There's just something very Monkey Island about all those scenes where you see a load of disparate characters standing together and only a couple of them have any dramatic function in the scene.

love any monkey island reference ever but not getting this one - what do you mean?

http://images.gog.com/8cfae96b35a9b5c0d4435c7f83eeb557e50b6f614e7a7424d2ed6bc9840ce050_product_card_v2_mobile_slider_639.jpg
*Talk to THE HOUND*

pop connection I had not expected

Need a cure for your #GameofThrones katzenjammer? How bout a look back at when Brienne of Tarth aka Gwendoline Christie donned rabbit ears for @goldfrapp's Strict Machine single release? pic.twitter.com/xCjzw1wOEU

— MuteUSA (@MuteUSA) April 15, 2019

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Hilariously bad dialogue.

I think they're allowed one 'the gang's all back together' episode without major developments, and it was a very enjoyable example of that genre. They better hit the ground running next ep though.

Hopfully the final major conflict of the series will be Dany vs Jon, as seeded in this episode - much more scope for genuine drama than everyone against the zombies.

you could replace any of the other leads (except perhaps Maisie Williams) with other actors and lose nothing of the character.

Costa-Waldau is good imo.

i don't hear enough praise for liam cunningham as davos. i tell people he's my favorite character and they think i'm crazy

Can't really imagine anyone else as The Hound. And don't want to.

Heady is tops (as was the actor who played Robert Baratheon in the first season) and most of the character actors are pretty great. But they whiffed big time on almost all the younger cast—aside from maybe Samwell.

whatever the intent w/Daenerys is at this point in the story, Emilia Clarke was playing her up as more arrogant and cold, and the dialogue demanding loyalty and recognition as queen seems to at the very least be laying the groundwork for a shift into crazy Targaryen territory. I do think some of the awkwardness between her and Jon in the romantic scenes was fairly intentional, though if anyone found the scenes awful nonetheless i'm not going to make an argument in their favor beyond this.

and the previews of next week's confrontation w/Jaime suggest we'll again be reminded of the apparently quite good reasons why he killed the Mad King...

come on man Rickon was outstanding, huge hole in the show now that he's peaced out

huge hole in his chest too

Cunningham, Headey, Coster-Waldau, Christie, McCann are all great imo. Iain Glen has his moments, he's a likable presence. I like the dudes who play Beric and Gendry a lot. Maisie Williams has had to carry a lot of the narrative load and i think she's done a great job. Carice van houten has a ridiculous character to play but i think she's generally done well with it.

out of the RIP characters: Bean, Fairley, Dance, Dormer, Dilanne, dude who played Roose, a couple others I'm forgetting...all really excellent.

most of the ones I'm not a huge fan of I don't even mind that much, the only time i had to grit my teeth was when the sand snakes were still a thing.

otm, don't forget diana rigg