Game of Thrones [2]

For the love of all that is canon.

I know they don't have electric guitars in Westeros but c'mon man.

I.. might.. have seen it in the context of the show as a whole.

Also it was a third unappreciated pun in a row.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only Tolkien fan who doesn't wanna visit Middle-earth. I like not having cholera...

I don't remember Tolkien ever mentioning plagues or anything worse than a cold. Pretty disease-free place as far as I can tell. You can't even seem to get an unwanted pregnancy. Come'on man, it's a paradise!

(GOT: "nah man, I'm good. )

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Great_Plague

 

Also, the Númenóreans were noted as not being subject to disease for much of the history but that started to affect them after their rebellion against the Valar began (the moral rebellion, preceding the actual invasion of Aman).

Okay, there were some third-age plagues in Gondor. Ancient history.

Simulpost with Halfy.

Mrs Figg wrote:  

it was the side order of Targaryan glanular nuts aaaaaaaaaarghh.

Just signed in to HBO GO to make sure I remembered the password. They changed their layout a bit but I think it's for the better. Rewatched the last few minutes of S5E10 too. The broader context of the Wall storyline might have been bad, but I still maintain that the stabbing scene itself was really well done.

Only two and a half hours to go now. Might end up being a little longer though, if the servers are overloaded again, as they sometimes are right when a new episode drops.

We had family over today as we often do on Sundays, and my one aunt (on my dad's side) is super excited about GOT coming back. Was watching the marathon all day. My mom, on the other hand, didn't even know it was coming back until I texted her five minutes ago. But she'll be watching now. Neither of them remember a whole bunch of what happened last season, though.

It was okay. Some nice moments. Hard to get too excited cause I know a good deal of where this is going from the set reports and the book plots they've brought back (despite some subplots being past the books completely). Also cause of D&D's track record. But there were no horrendously stupid moments in this episode, just a general pattern of poor continuity and shallow storytelling carried over from last season.

Spoiler:

Perhaps the most disappointing thing was the lack of passion I felt, either positive or negative. I'm sure people who are still digging the show will find plenty to love in this episode, but I've clearly fallen out of love, and distance did not make the heart grow fonder, even if it made me less irritable.

Verdict:

Don't worry. All that hype lost will only be brought back next week because your expectations are low right now. It happened for me with S2. The 2 episodes after the first were less expository, and the plots only got juicier.

That depends in part on if their definition of "juicy" is more like S2 or more like S5.

It's not really a hype thing, though. I can get hyped for stuff that I'm not passionate about when it's just fun to roll with the general energy and excitement. But GOT doesn't mean anything special to me personally anymore. To be fair, it didn't when it started either (and I was there for the very first episode when it premiered) and I drifted away for two or three years before really getting into it.

I haven't watched, nor will I, but..

http://gotgifsandmusings.tumblr.com/post/143353431067/i-meanthat-was-just-utter-garbage-right-im-not

Do you guys think it's possible D&D are reviving old subplots as part of a compromise with GRRM? I'm sure the fact that that Winds of Winter has been (more or less) sitting around for the past 5 years has impacted their writing choices in terms of foreshadowing, structure, etc.

GRRM's desire was for the show to be at least 12 seasons long, or take a couple years off and do prequels. D&D have been pushing for seven seasons for a long time, and while they recently came out and said eight, that appears to be mainly because HBO is begging them to draw it out for their own reasons. I get the sense that D&D are genuine about wanting to wrap things up in relatively short order and I don't see how that could be part of a deal with GRRM.

That said, I can offer no explanation for why they are dredging up old plotlines from AFFC/ADWD now, as it's utterly baffling to me. So your guess is as good as mine. Maybe GRRM did indeed have something to do with it. Maybe they changed their minds about something at the 11th hour and needed an easy fallback? I don't get it.

Also, the more I think about this episode, the less I like it. Kinda like The Hobbit movies.