Game of Thrones Season 4 - The Thread

@development: I wonder if the mods would be okay with having a separate thread for people who want all sorts of spoilers up in it?

@hatking: That would be cool. It would be way more obvious if the thread had "SHOW ONLY" somewhere in the title. A little late now, though. Maybe next season...

@development: something like that, though its not clear if its him. Just hope he suffers like in the book. Not a fan of unkillable characters.

OK people, why do you all think the hound is dead? Sure he's in bad shape but who knows what could happen with him. Also with all the bitching about spoilers, I get it for book stuff but this is kind of a prime place to get stuff blown. I was worried too but then I just said screw it and read up on a lot of the book differences after Oberyn died.

So many spoilers ITT.

@masterbrief: Hah. So, because you're okay with spoilers we should be okay with spoilers? Sorry, man; we're all different.

Next season or for any other TV show discussion thread for that matter i support the idea of two threads. One for those who don't care about spoilers. Because at this point this is basically unreadable. Half the posts are complaining about spoilers, you get enormous post with more than half the stuff marked as spoilers and some of those so called spoilers are so vague that they often couldn't possibly mean anything to someone who hasn't read the books. But people are so pissy about it and those posting are so afraid to say anything that it's just like trying to navigate a huge fucking minefield to try and read or post anything in this thread.

Well done episode with some exciting moments even for a super-interesting and knowledgeable sage from the future (i.e. book reader) like myself. Though I didn't love how the Tyrion scene was handled..felt really rushed and needed more set-up as to why Tyrion wanted to kill his old man. Did he enter Tywin's chamber with the outright intent of killing him, or was it Shae's appearance that made him come to that decision. IN THE BOOKS -like i said, you've got a book reader in your midst folks, so bettah recognize- Tyrion's motivations are much more clear.

Regarding episode 10 (ASOS spoilers), where the hell was LSH?!

I was thinking of not making a thread next year, but if mods allow it, maybe two threads can be done. Finally, the book readers will be set free (along with those who don't care)! Hahaha.

@starfoxa:

There's speculation that LSH might be cut from the show entirely. Think about it... Where was Coldhands?

Brienne kicked Loras Tyrell's ass, and Loras was the guy that unhorsed Jaime in a joust a year before the show started, so he's no pushover. If there is someone as big and raw as the Hound aside from his brother, it's gonna be Brienne.

They've also seeded some hints that the Hound's wounds were slowing him down a bit (I think Aria even pointed out that he seemed to be "walking slower"), so I don't have a problem with him losing; as you mentioned, Brienne's kicked plenty of ass so far, and they had a real raw fight on top of that.

@development: Lol no not at all, I just mean people should just be careful. I think people should put tags on book stuff that hasn't happened yet in the show, not sure if people are upset about show spoilers or not that would be dumb seeing as well this is a thread for the show. I'd just be wary searching for anything on the show, seems everywhere is loaded with spoilers.

I saw Shae as just being a really good whore. Littlefinger gave a speech in an earlier season about being a good one: "Make them believe what they want to believe; make them believe they've won you over and etc..." Tyrion told Shae his story about his first love being a whore and proposing to her. No surprise she then exploited that and put herself into that role.

I take it we're to assume that The Hound & Arya just turned around and left after hearing that her aunt died? Otherwise, Littlefinger/Sansa would have paid for Arya. Seems a little sloppy, since they probably would've wanted to buy a good meal, bed and bath for the night, and stock up on supplies. Just hard to believe they'd turn around and go right back out into the wild.

Yeah, why didn't Daenerys just say "If he wants you to teach his children, he can pay you a wage"? Seemed like I was missing something there.

@colorbrandon: I'm only in AFFC right now so I'm not sure the greater significance of Coldhands, but LSH seems like she would be a more serious cut. Reading the epilogue of ASOS was insane. My jaw dropped. Seemed like a perfect moment for television.

That thing they cut sounds awful. Never cared much for the fantasy elements. Hopefully those Dragons are never seen again. Though yeah, skeletons and kid magic seem like they'll keep being a thing.

She basically did say that. It's a one year contract that can be renewed every year. He is effectively going to be paid a wage, just annually.

I have to say I really like where the series is going. I am a huge fan of the books, and remember joking around with my friend years ago that if it was ever to be made into a TV show, HBO should make it. They are doing a fantastic job. I never expected them to stick entirely to the books, as that would be impossible and probably boring at times. I find their diversions from the books to be quite clever, considering they are trying to fit each book into a ten episode series. Plus, it means there are some new things for people who already know the plot.

I am looking forward to seeing how they deal with the next season.

Or teach them for free? He's like a free man, right? He can do whatever he wants...

@freakin9 said:

Did you read about it on a wiki or something? Discovering plot points divorced entirely from their context is a pretty easy way to ruin them. Not that I think it's anything particularly special, but still.

@dudeglove: Hah! True dat!

I think you missed the part of my message that I don't like most of the fantasy elements in the show.

In the middle of watching the last episode and the Hound/Brienne fight is way more intense and better choreographed than the Mountain/Viper fight.

I found the Hound/Brienne fight to feel odd (besides not happening in the books lol). For a show that's normally fairly realistic with it's portrayal of combat with most people getting chopped down/killed with few blows, watching Brienne and the Hound just beat the shit out of each other for a few minutes with full force gauntlet blows to the face, and face smashing with rocks just felt a bit over the top.

Overall a good episode. As mentioned earlier, the Tyrion scene felt rushed. The books gave so much more insight and purpose to the whole scene that was lost by trying to shove it into the last few minutes of the show, but regardless you can't help but cheer for Tyrion finally skewering his father after years of torment and treating him like shit his whole life.

Kicking her in the hoo ha was way over the top.

I think the problem I was talking about would be twice as bad for fantastical elements.

@grelik: That whole fight was just way too "Mortal Kombaty" for me, and the literal cuntpunt just took it over the edge. It's not tense or intriguing, just ridiculous (as pretty much everything else that happened in the episode).

Stannis showing up out of nowhere for some strange reason, skeletons and sprite magic, Dany locking away her dragons, and then topping it off with Tyrion sneaking his way all the way from the dungeons to the Hand's tower (and back) without being spotted by anyone and then killing Tyrion on the shitter (which apparently is the only shitter that exists in the universe). It's all just ridiculous.

You bring up another point that I find a little silly. The Hound shows up at The Bloody Gate and is like, "hey guys, I have Arya Stark, this super important person that everybody thought was dead all these years," and then the guards there just let them leave without a question? They don't just let any idiot man that gate, so I found it a little implausible that they didn't take them captive or something. Surely they are away of the relationship between the Arryn and Stark families, both through blood and friendship.

@ares42: Yeah, these things are less confusing and jarring in the book because time is spent setting up and explaining the reasoning behind the characters and their actions. My girlfriend was confused as to how Tyrion seemed to teleport up to the chamber of the Hand. Just a 30 second scene in the show could have set it up much better where Varys is spiriting Tyrion away through the maze of secret tunnels built into the castle, they pass a ladder to which Varys mentions: "This ladder leads to the chamber of the Hand, the very pathway Shae took when she'd sneak in to see you." Show Tyrions face go dark and let him start ascending the ladder. Cut to the scene where he enters the room, and boom! Things are less "wtf?"

Either way, book makes everything clearer and makes the scenes more impactful when you know exactly whats going through the characters minds. I still love the show though lol.

@spoonman671 said:

Shit, has it actually been years? I mean, I guess it must have been after all the crazy crap that's gone on, but these asymmetrical seasons are really fucking with my perception of time.

Also, the show has done a good job of mentioning how the common people keep their heads down while the lords strangle each other, and the people of the Vale seem like the kings of not giving a fuck about other people. I can imagine the conversation went something like:

Guard 1: Wait, did that guy say that was Aria Stark?

Guard 2: Yeah, think so.

G1: Should we go and talk to him about that?

G2: What, talk to the dude with the melted face? After you.

G1: That guy did look fucked up.

G2: Yep.

G1: Looked more like a boy to me anyway.

In fact, if it wasn't for the Hound's predilection towards sudden violence (or the eventual bounty on his head), I doubt most people would even approach him, gate guard or not. Lady Arryn got tossed out the Moon Door, the creepy brothel dude is now in charge, some girl that looks like she raided Maleficent's wardrobe is with him, and now the Hound's here with a girl that laughs at her Aunt's death. Fuck. That.

@mirado: This post suddenly makes me like The Vale.

FYI, book reader here. I'm on record earlier in this thread as being down on the rest of the series. For a good spoiler-free explanation of my thoughts, check out the Hollywood Prospectus podcast on Grantland. Specifically, listen to the section from about 28:55 to 34:35. The conversation is between two guys who haven't read the books, so no need to fear listening if you haven't read them either. (Keep listening after 34:35 for a discussion of spoilers that seems relevant to this thread). Like they say at the end of that section, with the close of Season 4 I'm mostly out of events and characters that I care about. I'll probably read the books again here soon; I'll see if that changes a second time through.

Book spoilers!

@marcsman: You're forgetting about Renly.