'Game of Thrones' on HBO HD *** WARNING - Spoilers allowed *** - Page 30

I did think it was weird that they showed him at the very front of the battle in the episode and the first up the ladder. There is being a leader and then there is being stupid ! It would have been way to easy to kill him if he really was that close to the front.
On a side note do the books do a good job of tying all of these events and people together?

Yes, better than the show has (especially season 2, just too much going on for the show to fit in).

I don't think she was with him. Not nitpicking-it comes up later in the books that he has never won without the witch by his side. It might even have been said by his wife...

Even more strange when you consider Martin wrote the episode. All I can think of is that it made a sharper contrast with Joffrey's hasty exit. Plus showed why it was needed to have the imp lead the counterattack, although they had already given plenty of reasons why that was necesary I think.

That's right. In the book, Stanis' Hand, Ser Davos, convinced Stanis not to take Melisandre with him by arguing that if Melisandre came along she would get credit for Stanis' victory even if he won.

I stand corrected. For some reason I thought she was on the boat, but away from the action.

And I think that happened in the series too. My memory is that Stannis was in back with the troops that got attacked from behind by Tywin and Loras. I remember that another thing Tyrion did that he didn't get credit for was by having his Stonecrows and others out in the field picking off Stannis' scouts so that Stannis got taken completely by surprise.

Those obsessed with the changes the series has made to the story in the second season might be interested in this Rolling Stone slideshow: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/l...ction-19691231

I just finished book 2 for the 2nd time today. Perfect timing non-coincidentally!

Melisandre was left behind at storms end or dragonstone. Stannis was part of the host that marched while a florent (the current hand) led the assault by sea. Stannis was never on a boat during the battle...the rear guard at sea was Saladar San...the pirate and stannis would never be on his ship. The tv show didn't show the host that marched by land. This was why taking storms end first was so important and That was who the tyrells and tywin attacked when they arrived. This was also who tyrions tribesman from the vale were attacking as well in the kings wood becuz he knew they would be useless in battle but they were great In guerrilla warfare.

Anyone notice that Loras Tyrell was wearing Renly's armor at the end of the episode in the throne room?

Who's excited for the season finale?!?!?!?!

Can't wait!
But I'll feel like a friend is going away for a long time..

I know what you mean...that is what forced me to read the books last year. I have finished the books at this point tho so I'm going to read The Dunk and Egg Novellas during the years off-season. I'm also a True Blood fan so that helps fill the void left at 9pm on Sundays. After that we get Dexter and Boardwalk Empire. HBO really does offer the best shows on tv.

HBO had a tough stretch after Deadwood and Rome were cancelled, and I thought for awhile it was in danger of being eclipsed by Showtime, which was turning out shows like Dexter, Weeds, and Califorication. HBO has righted the ship in recent years, thanks in no small part to Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, and True Blood.

Ugh, what a mess that ep was.

No sign of Ramsey Snow/Reek. I though he might make an appearance in the finale. I guess we will meet the Bastard of Bolton next season, but it will make explaining why Theon becomes Reek a little difficult as we never met Ramsey as Reek. Unless the get rid of Reek completely, and just make Theon a captive. No Reek, no Reek, it rhymes with weak! The Others looked nothing like I imagined.

Reek rhymes with FREAK! Anyways I thought Sam position is a little ridiculous especially the fact that he lives through being surround by wights and white walkers. Also the house of the undying sucked.

Let me start off by saying I love the show and tore through all the books after about 3 episodes last season and finished before ADWD and picked it up opening week. Big fan and waiting for more, but have forgotten a lot and probably should read again. Were the books end and begin is blurry for me since was a marathon. Always lurking in both threads.

I realize they didn't have the time and don't know if they could have done it better. Some of the changes worked well but it was just too much material. Hope they go through with splitting up the books to give the excellent cast more time to develop the characters and fill in the gaps a bit more.

Reek? - kind of a weak ending there, hope they fix that somehow next year. I am guessing he was traded by his men for their free passage or something? Did like the scene when he broke down with Maester Luwin.

Daenary's- Too much changed/left out. Liked the look her and the dragons had before the burning and thought it was a nice touch. More story takes more time.

Jon Snow- Would have liked them to include some more substance in the dialogue between him and Qhorin making it more apparent that the Halfhand's death was part of the larger picture, and that Jon knew what must be done instead of over a "your momma" joke. It was okay but just felt could have been better. I must have missed something in the last episode between them or something.

Didn't seem to me that the white walker's looked like the one beginning the show in s1 ep1? I will have to watch that again to compare. Great shot to end the season with showing the army of the dead on the march! Although I don't think Sam has enough dragonglass to fend them off alone?

Anyways I still really enjoyed this season and while it wasn't perfect, its the best show on television period. I think I
need to marathon the first season blu ray and re-watch season 2. Looking forward to seeing your guys take on the finale!

I know I'm going to be alone on this but I'm finding the series much more focused than the books. I thought this episode was brilliant.

I agree that the whole Danaerys arc this season was poor, especially the house of the undying.

However, I thought the white walkers and wights were very cooly executed. I'm not sure yet about how they have short-cutted Jon Snow's adventure. I really like what they did with Theon and Asha (err Yara). The actor playing Theon has done great. They cut Tyrion down to size considerably this ep which follows his arc perfectly. The scar isn't half as bad as in the book but I didn't see how they were going to seriously mutilate their leading man. Robb is sort of silly. Worst. Decision. Ever. I guess I have to remember he's just a boy. They didn't show the immediate consequences (all the Freys leaving). The Red Wedding is next season. They are playing Roose Bolton perfectly. That actor is doing a great job. Quiet but really menacing and yet nondescript. I always have to remind myself who he is. Arya's adventures were done fine with the reparte with Tywin being some of the high points. The kid playing Joffrey is doing a great job. The set up to get him out of his vow was really poorly done in a very good way. I was actually happy for the Littlefinger reveal for Sansa which anticipates things next season. I'm not sure what Varys has in mind but I like the actor playing him. And really like the actress doing Brienne.

All in all, I thought the ep covered most of the bases needed to be covered and mostly good with the Theon Greyjoy story being the bestest. Second place goes to Jaime and Brienne.

When you think about the plot twists next season, it will be fun to read the non-spoiler thread:

1. The Red Wedding
2. Joffrey's "wedding" (I spoiled this one to the wife last night...she's already giddy with anticipation)
3. Jaime's issues
4. Jon's time with the Wilding Army.

Side note from an above post. The undead we saw last night were the Others, which are different from the recently dead White Walkers in Season 1.

We saw Others/White Walkers on the horses. The wights/zombies/recently dead were the bulk of the horde.

Tywin/Tyrion twist as well.

so looked up red wedding, but what about the tywin/tyrion twist?

major spoilers

More Spoilers...

Queue UnGregor discussion.

That fight is one of the highlights of the books. It has to be rendered.

Overall this is still a great adaptation but I feel like several things are being missed, things which hit me hard emotionally in the books.

1. Jon Snow vs. Qhorin Halfhand. This was rushed and didn't have nearly the sense of weight and desperation that it had in the book.

2. Tyrion/Bronn/Blackwater. Lack of the chain and discussion of the role the Mountain Clans played was crucial in the books in demonstrating Tyrion's mental greatness.

3. House of the Undying. So much depth there just glossed over. I suppose GRRM even regrets now those visions and how he needs to resolve them. Pesky hanging chads at this point.

4. Jaime/Catelyn. The discussion they had before he was set free was marvelous. Here, it was basically non-existent, real missed opportunity.

5. Reed kids. Where are they?