Game of Thrones begins....

[jimmy olsen]

By the way, I have a question to Team Stannish here - now, I always thought him to be repugnant in the books, but he seems somehow even more despicable in his show portrayal - essentially a psychopath. Do you agree or do you still support the show version and find the character likeable?

I'm not a fan of the changes.  He's not nearly as supportable in the series beyond his claim to the throne.  In the books, he had the best claim and a sense of honor and dedication to justice.

We always see Stannis from the point of view of Davos, his most loyal follower. Everyone else seems to hate him.

[Viking]

By the way, I have a question to Team Stannish here - now, I always thought him to be repugnant in the books, but he seems somehow even more despicable in his show portrayal - essentially a psychopath. Do you agree or do you still support the show version and find the character likeable?

I'm not a fan of the changes.  He's not nearly as supportable in the series beyond his claim to the throne.  In the books, he had the best claim and a sense of honor and dedication to justice.

We always see Stannis from the point of view of Davos, his most loyal follower. Everyone else seems to hate him.

In the Jon and Asha chapters where Stannis is in the north we get the same impression as the one Davos gives us. They too describe him in the same way and seem to blame Melisandre and the Queens men for the wickedness. 

[Josephus]

they were both pretty creepy. And the sister with the foot in her locker. Hell, that whole family was wacko

Speaking of that, watching the last what, 6 minutes or so of that show, gets me crying every time without fail.

I can't think of a show that had a better series finale than that.

[Josquius]

By the way, I have a question to Team Stannish here - now, I always thought him to be repugnant in the books, but he seems somehow even more despicable in his show portrayal - essentially a psychopath. Do you agree or do you still support the show version and find the character likeable?

I'm not a fan of the changes.  He's not nearly as supportable in the series beyond his claim to the throne.  In the books, he had the best claim and a sense of honor and dedication to justice.

We always see Stannis from the point of view of Davos, his most loyal follower. Everyone else seems to hate him.

Somewhat true, though there is a fair bit of talk about him from others which mentions him being a bit of a dull stickler of a man. The only other true POV we get is Jon where...yeah, he does come across as a bit of a dick.
TV series Stannis however certainly comes across as somewhat psychotic and not merely misled as the book man.

In the TV series have we ever seen or heard much of Stannis' wife? IIRC she shows up in the first Stannis scene but not much beyond. Nothing at all on his daughter....

[Camerus]

In the books though, it was fairly clear that the Bastard was out of control, something that his own father chastened him for.  Who knows where that storyline is going - the Bastard's actions making people turn against the Boltons may well be an important future development.  In transitions from book to the screen, often certain character traits are highlighted through actions to make future related developments more explicable to the audience.

Besides, I don't really think a psycho lordling in the Seven Kingdoms out with a gang of lowborn psychos murdering a few of them for fun is terribly improbable.

[Martinus]

they were both pretty creepy. And the sister with the foot in her locker. Hell, that whole family was wacko

Speaking of that, watching the last what, 6 minutes or so of that show, gets me crying every time without fail.

Yeah. Six Feet Under was to me the first "new style" HBO/Showtime show that I watched. And I loved the fact that it had a definite end (although it could have probably ended a season earlier).

[Martinus]

It really does seem weird however, some odd head fucking going on there, I hope they're not changing things too radically just to have more Theon time,

People seem to forget that in the books Ramsey would release Theon only to hunt him down again and keeps playing with him that way. We do not know the details and we learn of it through Theon's memories, once he is already broken and half-mad. So I will repeat again - nothing in what happened in this episode contradicts anything we know from the books.

It seems like Ramsey wants to build this so Theon becomes fully dependent and reliant on him - only then to break Theon in fully by turning on him.

[Berkut]

The books said nothing about Ramsey killing his own men. It is in fact a departure. They said he had been allowed to escape, but of course Ramsey murdering his own men would likely have been mentioned had it happened. Theon certainly never mentioned it, and of course he would have since the entire point of Ramsey killing his men is presumably so Theon can see him do it.

[Martinus]

The books said nothing about Ramsey killing his own men. It is in fact a departure. They said he had been allowed to escape, but of course Ramsey murdering his own men would likely have been mentioned had it happened. Theon certainly never mentioned it, and of course he would have since the entire point of Ramsey killing his men is presumably so Theon can see him do it.

What part of "memories of broken and half-mad Theon" did you not understand? Theon doesn't know his true identity any more, and we only see the past through his disjointed recollections.

Jesus, you are so tedious to talk to sometimes.

[Martinus]

Best reviewer comment: Glad to see HBO found a use for all the horses they killed during the filming of Luck. 

[The Larch]

In the TV series have we ever seen or heard much of Stannis' wife? IIRC she shows up in the first Stannis scene but not much beyond. Nothing at all on his daughter....

I think his wife doesn't appear even then, but IIRC the casted a young actress for the daughter's role for this season.

[Liep]

Best reviewer comment: Glad to see HBO found a use for all the horses they killed during the filming of Luck. 

[Martinus]

In the TV series have we ever seen or heard much of Stannis' wife? IIRC she shows up in the first Stannis scene but not much beyond. Nothing at all on his daughter....

I think his wife doesn't appear even then, but IIRC the casted a young actress for the daughter's role for this season.

So far, I have no problem with any characters that were written out of the tv series. Unlike the books, the pace of the show is such, introducing too many secondary characters who play no important role would be too confusing for the viewers.

Although, I'm slightly bummed that there will be no Strong Belwas.

[The Larch]

Strong Belwas is an excellent candidate for removal. Everything he does can easily be transfered to an already existing character without the plot being affected in the slightest.

[jimmy olsen]

Excellent ratings

http://winteriscoming.net/2013/04/game-of-thrones-breaks-rating-record-once-more/

It is Tuesday, and TV by the Numbers has the numbers again. They went up, and broke the previous record by a considerable margin (by 350,000 to be exact)!

    Game of Thrones was Sunday's top cable original with a 2.4 up from last week's 2.3 adults 18-49 rating.

In absolute numbers, the show was seen by 4.72 million people during its original airing, while another 1.04 million were added to the tally during the 11 PM repeat.