Game of Thrones: Season 4

Theres a great number of ongoing stories in GoT large and small. Everyone has their favorites, but what isnt your favorite can be entertaining too if you allow it.

Like Brienne and Pod. Im starting to wonder, will they?! I mean Brienne hasnt said shes a lesbian or anything of which sex shes attracted to, and Pod is a sexual mozart unbeknowest to everyone. Im thinking a drunken night will be coming in their storyline Baw chicka mow wow! Shes so damn big! Could you imagine if they do a traditional GoT sex scene with those two?! It'd look like a squire mating with a polar bear!



Just sayen.

My wife just started watching this week; she's seen 3 episodes but doesn't even know from which season. She's already addicted and wants me to watch too. I saw about 10 minutes tonight and thought it looked great. Is this something I have to catch up on? Or is it the kind of show you can start up with at any point?

You really need to start from the beginning otherwise you won't understand the plot and the intricate relationships between the characters. The first season is fantastic anyway. You and your wife should have a day and watch the whole season. That would be a good day.

Yeah, start from the beginning. For sure.

The whole bit.

Don't see what's so fundamental about characters getting maybe 5 - 10 minutes of screen time in an entire season. They better be put to really good use in the upcoming seasons, otherwise why even bother keeping them on and depriving other, better-developed characters of much needed screen time. Naturally, the people who've read the books have a much better idea whether this'll happen or not, but I don't have that background info, so to me, it seems as if they aren't of much use and make the show even more plot-heavy.

Really? I don't see anything more than him disagreeing with you. I think it's a lot more sensitive to call that "crying" than it is for him to disagree with you in the first place.

What's fundamental is the scope of the world. It's meant to be huge and immersive, and that means shifts in emphasis.

And while characters like Theon (who feels a little cherry-picked here, but we'll go with it) may have 10 minutes of screen time this season, a) it's not just about time, but depth (Hannibal Lecter was on screen for less than 20 minutes in Silence of the Lambs, but I'll bet you feel you knew him pretty well), and b) Theon got a lot of screen time in previous seasons. It's not like character development has an expiration date. You know who he is, and that doesn't need to be constantly refreshed.

Yes, it's a very plot-heavy show. That's one of the things I mean about this being fundamental to it. If you don't like a plot-heavy, sprawling show, that's totally reasonable. They're not for everyone. But it's odd to want Game of Thrones to have less of the things that make it what it is in the first place. You might as well wish it were in space.

You might want to reread your original post Brodinski, then Sedais response, and then determine which one sounded like crying. Not that I can say anything because I usually am bitching about certain details, or lack of, in shows or talent. Though if I wanted to say "Bocephus sucks", post it in a Hank Williams Jr thread, then it shouldnt be unexpected its ill received.

That's a good point and one I forgot to make. Theon's character has been developed pretty darn well, I'd say. ( I'll continue on with Theon) At this point we know exactly how he got the way he did and who he was before. We really don't need to know about him at this point and therefore screen time would be better spent elsewhere.

I don't think anyone is disagreeing because they can't handle "their precious little show" being criticized, it's because the criticism doesn't seem valid. In fact, as I said before that's a critique I use on a lot of shows and I site GoT as a show that gets it right. I feel like I know all the characters pretty well. For as plot heavy as it is, I just can't see them doing a better job than they do. Also they have a guideline to follow as far as the book. They've streamlined it as much as they can.

Most people seem to love GoT firstly because of the characters, and the plot secondary. I think the creators know this and give the people want they want.

You guys can say whatever the hell you want about my criticism being unfair, but who in here thinks the show's at its best when it's all over the place and cuts from story arc to arc 4 or 5 times an episode?


The show's at its best when it focuses on LESS characters in an episode. They made episode 1 of this season end on a bang, because it was all over the place before the final cut to Arya and the Hound. Only other thing that was great about that episode was the Viper's introduction.


The purple wedding was one of the best episodes of the entire season, but would've been even better if it had just focused solely on that event, because it was big enough to carry the entire episode and had enough characters present to get development going. Last episode about the war on the wall was great again, not only because the battle scenes were ridiculously well-made, but because of the focus on solely that event.


I concur, Chris, that if they cut lots of characters, the show would be different for it, and perhaps that's not what most people want, nor is that the true intention of the makers (otherwise they'd of done it already). But I feel that it would turn it into a better show. It allows you to truly work out characters.

I think they're working out characters just fine, even in episodes where we see a bunch of places/characters in that one hour. I don't think it's an either-or situation here. This kind of show, with a huge ensemble cast, HAS to be a mix of both types of storytelling onscreen. Sometimes we need the monumental battle scenes (Blackwater, The Wall), but not every week. Sometimes we need a focus on a few people, to pace things a little bit, to introduce new characters solidly, etc. But we don't need both every single time.

You mentioned the Purple Wedding, but I'm not sure if you mentioned as an example of the focus on a few characters or not... You wrote:

"The purple wedding was one of the best episodes of the entire season, but would've been even better if it had just focused solely on that event, because it was big enough to carry the entire episode and had enough characters present to get development going."

That episode, and especially those wedding scenes, may not have hopped around from place to place, but it did hop around from character to character -- a LOT, in fact. We saw each of many characters' reactions to all the displays of lavish vulgarity going on at that wedding. In that sense, it hopped around a lot... and that scene/episode needed that. Part of what it was showing us was exactly that a lot was going on at once, and the confusion and wedding celebration chaos itself made things easier for those who were there to do harm.

I think if the show consistently did what you ask of it, it'd be a lot poorer for it. In fact, given the source material, I just don't think too much of any one type of episode would even work.

My two cents.

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Also, since I mentioned the source material (the books), it's ironic that the book most folks would say they didn't enjoy as much as the others is book 4 -- the one where Martin steps aside and thoroughly introduces us to a bunch of new characters. He completely stays away from lots of our favorite places and delves in a more focused way on these new people and places ... and he was soundly booed for it by a lot of readers (not all, but a lot).

So, I think by this point, the story itself is SO huge that neither the writer nor the show producers can do what you ask anymore.

I think it's also worth pointing out that the format of the show is very near to the format of the books. There are multiple POV characters, meaning that each chapter is told through a specific character's perspective, and it jumps back and forth. So for instance, you'll have a Jon Snow chapter, then Jaime Lannister, then Sansa, then Daenerys, then Tyrion, then Arya, then back to Jon again. It's an endless cycle of jumping around and seeing what's happening in different parts of the world.

Also, not every character is a POV character. Robb Stark, Stannis, Jorah Mormont, Varys, Littlefinger. To date, Martin has not written from the perspective of these folks and many others.

The point is, ASOIAF is not told through one singular character, nor is it told through an omniscient narrator. It jumps around just like the show; and other than the internal character stuff that really can't be expressed in the TV series, I feel like they've done a good job of retaining the development of most of the characters.

Happy Fathers Day from all the fathers on Game Of Thrones!

Indeed, some of the best episodes take place in one location. But that's because those are the payoff to the sprawling style in all the other episodes. The Battle the Blackwater is great in large part because it brings the disparate strands together--it'd be a lot less compelling if we'd spent less time with people like Stannis and had just been hanging out in King's Landing leading up to it. The buildup to these confrontations, where we know all the different sides and angles beforehand, is what makes them so compelling.

There's more, too: the slowness and unreliability of information is a huge part of the story, since they don't have cell phones or plane travel. So, unlike many other stories, people aren't all operating with the same facts. And there's no way to depict the conceptions (and misconceptions) people are operating under without bouncing around a lot.

It's not weird to say a show could be better if you changed something about it, but it seems pretty odd to say a should could be better if it were an entirely different show.

Anyway, I'm not interested in changing your mind. I only responded because of the bizarrely defensive namecalling.

I love that aspect of the show. It's fun having all this knowledge that the characters don't. Like when Cersei doesn't take the threat of dragons or the things behind the wall seriously. Most people don't even believe the dragons exist and we've seen them grow from babies and emerge as a real danger to those who oppose Dany.

I just finished the season finale. Sorry Hannibal, but this Thrones final was the strongest final I think Ive EVER seen. Each storyline had an impact, had brutal closure, and my jaw dropped many times. Strong stuff. Someone made comment that after Joffreys death things tended to fall off. I can say without a doubt this was the best season of Thrones by far.

Awesome.

Not bad. They hit the mark on some aspects of the episode, kinda fumbled on some others. My most anticipated scene (the Three-Eyed Raven) was a bit of both, but still very, very cool. It's way too early to be there in the show, but awesome stuff regardless.

Of course, there's one glaring omission in this episode that the book readers will certainly know. All in all, though, good finale. Big changes all around.

Ah Tyrion... Love that guy. Kinda sad to see The Hound go, but I suppose he had to. What the hell is the doctor gonna turn his brother into if he manages to heal The Mountain? Just always one death right after the other in this show eh?

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This episode was fantastic.I'm kinda sad we didn't see Sansa because it is last episode of the season and we will need to w8 for a long time.Stanis really saved the day there,I think wall will be very interesting next season,you have a guy who wants to be a king(who should be king),John we all know what is mysterious about him,we have a witch,icy guys are coming,king beyond the wall is also there...I'm sad The Hound is gone but yea,it worked for Arya.Arya is going to the wall?Well,at least now we know who is going to die next,because if Arya is coming for you,you are dead.
The Children of the forest scene was great,they showed us a bit but they still kept major part as a mystery.I'm very,very,very glad Lannister died but cmon,can someone butcher them or something ...Can a Stark kill Lannister,I know they are very far and that probably won't happen but it would be awesome to see.Still,that scene was fantastic! Great episode.

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She's going to Braavos.