Game of Thrones Season 2

[someone2040]

While i think i would have liked this series had i not read the books, i have. And the massive and in many cases needles changes they have done in many cases for no other reason then to make sure everyone gets how eviiiiiiiiiiil a certain character is, or changing names because people will get confused~? Ruins it for me.

I don't mind for the most part, but renaming Asha to well... I can't even recall at the moment gripes with me a bit.

I'm enjoying the second season, but reading through all the books somewhat recently does spoil it a bit. I feel I'd enjoy it a bit more if I had read all the books say 2 years ago rather than 6 months ago.

[Thanatos_elNyx]

It's Yara. A simple name change doesn't bother me.
Though I remember when I watched the 1st episode with my sister (who hadn't read the books) she came away knowing hardly any of the characters names.
The show has been pretty poor when it comes to introducing new characters.

[Skopey]

Yeah i can see what and why they are doing what they are doing with Oosha and bran but...Book Spoiler-Astorm of swords-A Dance with dragons.

If oosha is gonna be taking the role of the reeds (which is a shame imo) How will they handle the events of oosha taking rickon and the reeds and bran passing through the wall and meeting the children of the forest. I mean in Dance, isnt Davos sent to go find rickon?

[Skopey]

Apologies the immediate post (at work, keep timing out when trying to edit) Im just starting to think that by the time they get this far into the story they might be writing themselves into a corner. Maybe they wil introduce some of the later characters a bit later. i guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the next few seasons.

[dax]

Bit of a slow burner of an episode they went straight in for the kill at the start and then started developing and setting up a few other stories a bit more just moving things on nicely for several big episodes at the end.

So they've introduced the pyromancers and wildfire which is good now we need ....

Book spoiler - A Clash of Kings

... for Tyrion to start work on the chain which should be coming soon

They have set up the house of the undying and that could make for some quite surreal scenes when they get to it.

Bran has had visions of the sea coming to Winterfell. And the scene of him ruling Winterfell in Robb's absence makes a nice contrast to how Joffrey rules the south.

Book spoiler - A Clash of Kings

Will they show the sacking of Winterfell by Theon or will they skip around it as they have done with a lot of battles

Bronn continues to get some great lines and scenes.

The story north of the wall is moving on a bit and they have reached the fist of the first men

which is quite a significant place later on

. The Halfhand seems well cast though slightly older than I thought.

Book spoiler - A Clash of Kings/ A Storm of Swords

I don't think he'll be around too long they'll probably shorten a lot of that story. At least they won't be cutting out Ygritte. Mance Rayder won't appear in season 2 but Rattleshirt will so I assume John's story well end with his capture and starting the journey to Mance's camp so no Giants or Mammoths this season or only seen from far off at least.

Other than showing off Drogon a bit the scene with Dany's handmaids seemed like a waste of time given how much other stuff has been sacrificed.

Littlefinger's constantly changing accent was very evident this week.

Another significant change from the books is having Jaqen kill the Tickler

in A Storm of Swords

Arya kills him herself

but given some of the characters that the ghost of Harrenhal is supposed to kill aren't in the TV series I guess a compromise had to reached.

But killing the Tickler is one of those milestones that Arya needs to go through on her journey

. 1 down 2 to go. Having Tywin at Harrenhal earlier than the books actually seems to have worked out quite well.

[dax]

Episode 6 - The old Gods and the new.

Another Solid episode. They could have shown a bit more of the taking of Winterfell it wouldn't have taken much just the tail end of a battle and then cut to Maester Luwin in the Rookery. Having Theon kill Rodrik Cassel was another change but serves the same purpose he died soon enough anyway.

The riot in Kings landing was well done and the Hound had a field day coming to Sansa's aid again. You can see the snide looks he gives Joffrey, he'll protect him to the bitter end but he's not happy about it. Tryion yet again getting the best scenes "We've had vicious kings and we've had idiot kings, but I don't know that we've ever been cursed with a vicious idiot." Slaps Joffrey priceless.

It looks like Lady Talisa will take the place of Jayne Westerling this makes no difference to the story as not much was ever revealed about Jayne's background.

The scenes with Tywin and Arya are playing out very well given there largely made for the TV series although they do reference other parts of the books as Tywin does talk about his father being a weak man and almost ruining the Lannisters at some point in the books. It was interesting to see the scene with Littlefinger play out as well. The ghost strikes again 2 down one to go that part was very rushed though.

The story up North is crawling along, so Jon has captured Ygritte and that's about it for this week.

Big change to Dany's story in Quarth the dragons weren't stolen in the book and it really isn't a necessary change she would have ended up at the house of the undying either way and the outcome will be the same. To much whining from Dany and makes her look very weak although in fairness I get the feeling this should have happened in the books and it's just given Martin a chance to rewrite things a bit with hind sight - in the same way that he said that Robb would be a POV character if he wrote A Clash of Kings now.

Ticking along nicely now

[Thanatos_elNyx]

Another Solid episode. They could have shown a bit more of the taking of Winterfell it wouldn't have taken much just the tail end of a battle and then cut to Maester Luwin in the Rookery. Having Theon kill Rodrik Cassel was another change but serves the same purpose he died soon enough anyway.

Yeah, I don't think the end of the last episode made it clear what was about to happen, so the start of this episode would have been a shocker for non-readers.
But yeah, killing Rodrick that way was fine. It really shows how weak Theon is, and it is obvious he is just winging it.

The riot in Kings landing was well done and the Hound had a field day coming to Sansa's aid again. You can see the snide looks he gives Joffrey, he'll protect him to the bitter end but he's not happy about it. Tryion yet again getting the best scenes "We've had vicious kings and we've had idiot kings, but I don't know that we've ever been cursed with a vicious idiot." Slaps Joffrey priceless.

Agreed, the gut slashing scene was awesome. It think it is the first time we have seen him call her "little bird".
When the season is finished we have at least 2 more JoffSlaps to add to the triple slap of last season.

It looks like Lady Talisa will take the place of Jayne Westerling this makes no difference to the story as not much was ever revealed about Jayne's background.

Book - Storm of Swords

Yes, she is more of a plot device in this book, to affect a later book imo; so a little change here makes no difference.

The scenes with Tywin and Arya are playing out very well given there largely made for the TV series although they do reference other parts of the books as Tywin does talk about his father being a weak man and almost ruining the Lannisters at some point in the books. It was interesting to see the scene with Littlefinger play out as well. The ghost strikes again 2 down one to go that part was very rushed though.

I am loving their scenes. If they weren't enemies, I think they would get along really well.
I am not sure if Littlefinger recognised her; I think he did but he is the type to not say anything until it was worth cashing in on that knowledge.

The story up North is crawling along, so Jon has captured Ygritte and that's about it for this week.

Yes, but we get to see her personality a little as well, which was nice. Glad to finally meet her, the actress is very attractive.
TIL that I've been pronouncing her name wrong all this time.

Big change to Dany's story in Quarth the dragons weren't stolen in the book and it really isn't a necessary change she would have ended up at the house of the undying either way and the outcome will be the same. To much whining from Dany and makes her look very weak although in fairness I get the feeling this should have happened in the books and it's just given Martin a chance to rewrite things a bit with hind sight - in the same way that he said that Robb would be a POV character if he wrote A Clash of Kings now.

I am interested to see where this goes. Of course it will probably end up in the same destination but nice to see it without book knowledge.
As for Dany whining, I agree, but in fairness she is far too haughty for her boots imo.
She has never had power before, but it has gone to her head; so it is nice for her to learn some humility.

[Odin]

I could watch Natalie Dormer all day she's a little to old for the part of Margaery Tyrell but aren't they all.

Book Spoiler - Storm of Swords

She may look a little mismatched beside Jack Gleeson when she latter marries Joffrey as Margaery should be younger than Joffrey

Are you sure?

I thought she was 16 and Joffrey was 13?

[dax]

Sorry yes your right Odin funny how you start to mix things up between the books and the TV series.

[Thanatos_elNyx]

Awesome episode last night.

I am loving the Arya/Tywin dynamic.

The Qarth storyline is interesting; it has been a long time since I read the books but I don't recall the 13 being all killed.
I know the Dany arc is diverging from the books a lot, so I assume that is new as well.

Cersei is being humanised a lot, but I still feel no sympathy for her. The awkward almost hug scene with Tyrion was awesome!

Loving Ygritte.

[C. Langana]

I'm a few episodes behind but is it just me, or was that Gary from Mongrels being made to drink too much wine?

Edit: It is!

[dax]

It is indeed Gary from Mongrels. Ser Dantos has been largely undeveloped this season but should become more important later on next season.

Episode 8 was a bit slower than the previous episodes but they are just putting all the final pieces in place for the last 2 episodes. They revealed the Stark boys far to quickly should have dragged it out a few episodes.

It looks like next week is the big one! episode title is

Blackwater

I hope episode 10 doesn't feel like an after thought although i can think of at least 3 things that need to happen that episode and one would be a very fitting ending

Sacking of Winterfell end on Winterfell burning fade to black. The other 2 being the house of the undying and Arya getting the coin from Jaqen - Episode 10 is called Valar Morghulis after all

Book Spoiler Clash of Kings

I really hope they haven't left out the chain and that it will just appear when needed no set up to keep book readers guessing as well

[Thanatos_elNyx]

Yes, this episode was slow, but looking at the preview for next week has got me really pumped!

As for the Stark Boys, none of my non-book reader friends were fooled by this, so there probably wasn't much point to drag it out.

Book Spoiler Clash of Kings

I really hope they haven't left out the chain and that it will just appear when needed no set up to keep book readers guessing as well

Book Spoiler Clash of Kings

Yes, this is the biggest thing I am missing this season.
So much of Tyrions storyline at this stage of the story revolves around his brilliant tactic with the chain.
He can't really claim credit for "defending" Kings Landing successfully with just wildfire.

[ltsobel]

A good episode but looking forward to the siege etc, im worried that they will try to cram too much into the last two episodes but aren't they moving some book 2 stuff to the third series? I enjoyed the bit where Jaimie was boasting about only 3 people in the kingdom having a chance against him after Briennes pounding of Ser Loras previously :P

[Bloodknight]

As for the Stark Boys, none of my non-book reader friends were fooled by this, so there probably wasn't much point to drag it out.

As a non-book-reader I can claim the same.

[Balerion]

Damn, those wildfire effects looked good tonight. I think that's the closest any of us will ever get to seeing Skaven warpfire on video.

[dax]

Great episode and not just because of the battle there was some really great character pieces interwoven into the story and having Martin write this episode really helped it's his words not someones interpretation of them. Very interesting to have the entire episode stay in one place for the first time. Lena Headey really is great as Cersei there's a real bitterness to the character.

Book spoiler = Clash of Kings (and will affect rest of story if you haven't read it yet)

As I thought they scaled back on Tryion's injury he still has his nose and the scars across his face will be easy to do with make up. There's just something not quite right about how the sword cut him deep on the cheeks and forehead but barely scratched his nose. No chain after all which is pity as it's such a cool part of the book Stannis' fleet is trapped and can't retreat he had no choice but to attack or burn but here he chooses to attack. But the budget just wouldn't stretch to it.

Oh the irony of the followers of the Red God being destroyed by wildfire.

It's great to see the hound get more screen time and also develop his character a bit more. On some other forums I've read people (non book readers) still don't get just how big a fear of fire he has.

I almost didn't recognise Ser Loras right at the very end (just before Tywin enters the hall)

1 episode to go hope it doesn't feel like an anti climax.

[C. Langana]

Great episode last night. I can't help but compare this to the Walking Dead in that we've lots of awesome happening after some quiet, and here it's done right. I've looked forward to every episode, whereas with the Walking Dead I've loved hating it.

I am desperately seeking a .gif of Tyrion chopping that mans leg off.

[Nocculum]

I just watched it, an whilst a .gif would be cool, I'm desperately seeking to find where the rest of my burger went after I half jettisoned it in shock.

Such a good episode!

Character development, dialogue, tension, and above all, twists and turns...

Not read the books, but I hope Tyrion doesn't die yet...

[Balerion]

Great episode last night. I can't help but compare this to the Walking Dead in that we've lots of awesome happening after some quiet, and here it's done right. I've looked forward to every episode, whereas with the Walking Dead I've loved hating it.

I am desperately seeking a .gif of Tyrion chopping that mans leg off.

As far as I see it, the main difference between these shows is that GoT is full of compelling, complex characters and TWD is full of irrational ciphers who don't share any resemblance to real human beings.