Having read the books I have to agree they are doing a good job. The books are written as point-of-view chapters, each chapter switching to a different major character. This means that a lot of internal thought processes and backstory, which are difficult to translate to a densely-packed HBO television production. I'm sure the dialogue-only scenes are off-putting to some who want fast-paced action, but reducing this story down to an action fantasy piece would be a great injustice. The book-to-video translation is not perfect for most of us fans, but it's certainly good, and better than I ever could have hoped for when I was first reading the books.

shame, a season with no Dany-tits

I actually don't hate this.

I started reading the first book to stave off withdrawal, and remembered this query a few pages in. Here's your answer:

Helluva episode...arguably, one of the finest in either season, IMO...the Tyrion scenes were riveting, and the Hound scenes were a close second...thought they did a fantastic job hammering home Tyrion's responsibility in holding down the fort until Tywin swooped in to take the glory...and the scene when Mandon Moore tried to assassinate Tyrion was pure gold even if Moore's demise was (deservedly) more brutal...Podrick Payne for the win...did notice the omission of Tyrion's giant chain trap, which was likely too much of a hassle to deal with...the fire water explosion certainly covered the bases.

Yep, no arguement here. Probably the best hour the series has had. No duff plot/storylines. Cersei losing her mind was a bit beaten into the ground, but a minor quibble there.

Oh and the battle scenes seemed kind of smallish in scope, but you've gotta overlook that with the HBO budget constraints. At least they're trying.

^ Agree re: the Cersei scenes, but they got better the more she drank...ha!...given the budget constraints, I thought they did a good job squeezing as many decapitations as possible into the battle sequences...the Hound's count was getting up there before he threw in the towel.

Agree about this being the best episode. That scene with Bronn and the Hound was fun and the wildfire explosion was pretty fucking cool.

List of characters that we'll see in season 3. Looks like they haven't cut the Reeds after all. Super excited to see the Blackfish. And I've had a secret wish for Peter Capaldi to play Mance Rayder.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/29/game-of-thrones-new-season-3-characters-revealed

whoa, shireen is going to show up after all...I was wondering what they were going to do with the whole davos/stannis morality play...looks like they will keep it more or less by the book, although I don't see the boy on the list (they did mention it was not a complete list though).

strong belwas and mr. whitebeard better show up as well...that is a fairly significant thread intertwined with Dany's narrative. (not to mention that it will provide Mr. Red with some fairly significant badass-ness from the Danaerys storyline)

Finally caught up with last week's episode. I thought they did a fantastic job with it and didn't disappoint on the delivery. I've heard they actually had to go to HBO to get more money for the episode, so it's not surprising that the scenes didn't have the scope of a LOTR battle. Actually, I was a bit disappointed that we didn't see the chain across Blackwater Rush. I was hoping to see what they did with that, but the giant explosion more than made up for it.

Surprised Shireen is going to show up after all. That's a bit of a retcon to this season.

I hear you about the chain, but all things considered I think it's accomplished the same goal. If it were LOTR...This was worth HBO's investment, in any case.

The Reeds are going to be WAY more retconned: "Oh, hi. We were just rummaging among the woods and...."

It does make me wonder if we're going to see Vargo Hoat. Not saying I'll miss him all that much, but seems like such a fun character for television.

Actually, all they really have to do is change the vision Jojen had from a chained wolf to a lost wolf (or wolves) and Howland sends them find the Starks and follow Jojen's visions from there. In the books one of Jojen's vision makes Howland send him and Meera to Winterfell.

Yeah, my buddy proposed the same thing. I dunno. Still, seems like Jojens visions would be pretty specific to find them wondering in the woods and he never seemed to think/claim that they were. I guess that's what Meera is for, tracking things and whathaveyou. /nitpicking.

Wow that season finale was the best tv I've seen in a long time. Well done

Well thought I wasn't going to be able to re read the books, but fuck me, here I go again.


Stannis Baratheon is the fucking man!

Nice ending. Wonder where they're going?

So did Dagmar betray Theon or.....?

It's a bit more complicated than that...don't want to say more than that to avoid spoilers, plus never sure how closely they will follow the books on some of the sub-sub-plot angles.

(But essentially, yes)

I haven't been keeping up with the series very well (missed the last two episodes of the first season and the first seven of the 2nd season). I take it there is no Reek/Ramsey Bolton nor have the Reeds been incorporated into the story line at all?

My opinion from seeing the last episodes: not impressed. Daenary's visit to the warlock's den (or whatever it was called) was weak. Besides, weren't the dragons way bigger than that by that point. The battle on the Blackwater was pretty lame, imo, but that was due to budget constraints, so I understand, but it was still weak.

In general, I'm not not a fan AT ALL of the deviations they've made from the book. I understand why, but I don't like it.

I guess I was expecting most of the deviations, so that mitigated any disappointment. I thought Blackwater was pretty good for what they likely had to work with...it got the point across at least...and I think the dragons weren't much bigger yet (I seem to recall them starting to grow substantially in the freeing-the-slaves period?)...but the fire effects were a little lame, I thought, but I'm in a very forgiving mood about this series just because I am happy to have it happening.

I also thought the shortcut on Jon and Halfhand's duel was a bit drastic, but again, I expected some sort of downsizing so I can't complain too much.

Overall, though, I thought the blackwater episode was much stronger than the finale.

Meh. Some deviations I completely understand, and even relish in (Tywin and Arya, for example). Others have me scratching my head (Robb Stark and what's-her-fuck. Also, Reek.)

All in all, I think it's still compelling drama and pretty fucking good television. The book cannot be translated properly (as most books because it's a different medium) and there's a lot of stuff that isn't necessary for the plot but necessary for the atmosphere in the books. I think they're doing a completely fair job of adapting something that is pretty impossible to adapt in a visual medium. As a TV show it works pretty fucking well. It has a good balance of entertainment for those who have not read the books and those who have not. The deviations are a product of some of that.

Not to start shit but considering you've missed so much of the show, do you think your opinion on the show is a fair one or just fan-boy nitpicking? The reason why I ask is I think a lot of the power of the episode "Blackwater" is the set-up from the previous seven episodes. Like the books.

I mean, is the dragon's size really all that pertinent considering they don't become really formidable until book 5?

And we'll see the Reeds in the next season. And Ramsay, probably. They didn't have them in this season, imo, they didn't know if they were going to be picked up for a third season. So why introduce ANOTHER character when you've already overloaded what a normal television audience is used to as far as an ensemble to follow.

This is a pretty good panel. Martin even says that he enjoyed some of the deviations. One in particular was the fight scene in Season 1 where Drogo rips out the guy's throat.

No, that's completely fair to point that out as I have missed the lion's share of the entire show (I've missed half). So anything that comes from me is more nitpicking than anything else. And, no, the dragon's size isn't relevant either (more nitpicking).

^ Best throat rip since Swayze...and that is a damn good video...thanks for sharing.

I remember during the press junket for Conan the Barbarian Jason Mamoa was asked who would win in a fight: Conan or Khal Drogo.


Naturally he said Drogo would whoop Conan's ass.