SPOILER ALERT! So am I the only one excited about a new round of GoT?

[manic _miner]

 Just watched it again.The trailer for episode three looks interesting too.Found it on youtube.

 I am now thinking that it will be Brann who finds-out who John's parents are.What with him going into the past.

[throwsFireball]

Episode 2 was much better.

Still, the huge plothole at the end of episode 1 is still irritating...

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 AHOY

_{Melisandre takes her necklace off earlier in the series. If that's the only thing holding her together, then she should've been old woman form in a bathtub scene earlier on.}

[Charlie_]

Just watched episode 2.... yes, I rather enjoyed it, probably more so than episode 1, but still not entirely happy. Minor rant ahead!  

I think the biggest issues with the last few seasons of the show have been how the pacing is so all over the place. Certain story lines and plots get rushed and don't make much sense or aren't very effective, then others are dragged out for far too long and become boring and repetitive... and some do both.... Dragged out and then suddenly rushed.

Of course the reason some plots perhaps drag on a bit is because the TV show needs to give major characters lots of screen time, or else have them disappear for a season (it's probably best they had no Bran in season 5!). Note that certain characters only have a few chapters in certain books. The best example is Sansa. I really enjoyed her chapters in the Eyrie, lots of interesting things got covered, mostly to do with Littlefinger's character (who interestingly had been more of a background character until Book 4, whereas the show has given him lots of screentime), his plots, and general Westeros politics. But it's just a few chapters over 2 books (I think). Obviously the show wants to keep her a big character, and if they had tried to keep her where she in the books we would have had 2 seasons of her just moping around with Littlefinger, which would quickly become one of the most disliked story arcs! I feel that's kind of what's happening with Arya's story - it's the one I find least interesting on the TV show, as it seems to just be her sweeping and getting beaten up with a stick for 2 seasons.

Another interesting thing is that alot of the BIG events that have happened or will happen in this season, us book readers really don't know how to take them. Many of them will no doubt be made up for the show, and won't happen anything like that in the book (I'm looking at you, House Martel). Whereas others, for all we know, might well happen in later books. For example, what happened to Shireen last season - is that the show fucking up the story, or is that actually gonna happen in the Winds of Winter? So when certain shifts of power or such happen, as did in this episode, I don't really know whether to dismiss it or take it seriously....

EPISODE 2 SPOLIER AHEAD!

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_{I really think the whole Melisandre / Davos / Jon's resurrection thing makes no sense. Why the hell does Davos care so much about John, he barely knew the guy! And cares so much that he is willing to turn to the Red God and the woman he despises to try and bring him back from the dead! Which of them first said "Hey wouldn't it be cool if we could bring him back from the dead?" He basically goes to her and asks "So, do you know any magic spells that would re-animate him?" And that whole last scene was so.. obvious. As if any viewer was NOT expecting that predictable gasping-as-he-opens-his-eyes bit at the end.}

[Sir_Theo]

Episode 2 was much better than 1 (although I still enjoyed that one ) I'm just pleased Thrones is back!

I'll be happier when Ramsey Bolton gets his come uppance though...

[Silent Invader]

Davos is an honourable man. Jon is an honourable man. Seemed to me entirely right that Davos would do his best for Jon. I liked the way they dealt with 'it'. 

I am really rather looking forward to Jon Snow versus Ramsay Bolton 

[throwsFireball]

My biggest problem with the show is that they've constantly introduced plotholes and changes that just weren't necessary. The overwhelming majority of the books could've easily been worked in without changes but the show's writers seem to think they know better when they definitely do not.

About the only improvement is the change of Bran's journey. George RR Martin completely messed this up in the books and it seemed like Bran took a full two years to travel 600 miles (200 hours / 25 days worth of slow travel).

_{I really think the whole Melisandre / Davos / Jon's resurrection thing makes no sense. Why the hell does Davos care so much about John, he barely knew the guy! And cares so much that he is willing to turn to the Red God and the woman he despises to try and bring him back from the dead! Which of them first said "Hey wouldn't it be cool if we could bring him back from the dead?" He basically goes to her and asks "So, do you know any magic spells that would re-animate him?" And that whole last scene was so.. obvious. As if any viewer was NOT expecting that predictable gasping-as-he-opens-his-eyes bit at the end.}

I'm hoping for something a bit more flashy in the books. It's obvious it's coming, it's just it's been a huge disappointment in the show.

Episode 2 was much better than 1 (although I still enjoyed that one ) I'm just pleased Thrones is back!

I'll be happier when Ramsey Bolton gets his come uppance though...

It really irritated me that Roose got killed by Ramsey. In the books and earlier in the show, Roose is always fully aware of what kind of monster Ramsey is and he's always ten steps ahead of him. Roose would've had Karstark ready to stab Ramsey in the back in the event that he had a son.

[Charlie_]

It really irritated me that Roose got killed by Ramsey. In the books and earlier in the show, Roose is always fully aware of what kind of monster Ramsey is and he's always ten steps ahead of him. Roose would've had Karstark ready to stab Ramsey in the back in the event that he had a son.

See that's one of the events which may still actually happen in the book, in fact its perfectly plausible. But the way they did it was just.... boring.
_{Wow, ANOTHER semi-major character being stabbed unexpectedly.... I think most viewers must be getting immune to the emotional impact of stabbings by now. If it happens in the books, I think it would be much more effective if it happened 'off-screen' as it were, so certain POV characters hear the news that Roose Bolton is dead, and there are rumours his bastard did it. Much more interesting!}

Also, in regards to Davos...
_{I'm gonna quote a youtube video I just watched about the episode, which put it better than I could - "Davos comes in, and asks Melisandre to resurrect Jon Snow. WHY? Why on earth would Davos want Jon Snow resurrected? What is his dog in this fight? Davos essentially had two motives - to make Stannis king, and help the wall in their fight against the white walkers. Davos barely knew Jon, and what he did know about Jon was that he was a pretty divisive leader - he got himself assassinated. Why would Davos, a man who blames Melisandre for the death of his son, go to her and ask her to resurrect Jon? The whole reason they went to the wall was that dead people were rising, and marching against it. The entire Davos character is someone who doesn't like black magic, but now randomly for no good reason he wants Melisandre to dabble in it and resurrect Jon. Davos speaks with all this urgency in the scene, but there's no urgency."}

[Hammers]

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 AHOY

I really don't think you should be posting spoilers here. Read this thread from the start and I think you'll see it it the nice thing to not do.

Strike that. Why shouldn't we be allowed to do that, they are after all out in the open. I have asked Chris to put a 'Spolier alert!' on the whole thread.

[throwsFireball]

See that's one of the events which may still actually happen in the book, in fact its perfectly plausible. But the way they did it was just.... boring.
_{Wow, ANOTHER semi-major character being stabbed unexpectedly.... I think most viewers must be getting immune to the emotional impact of stabbings by now. If it happens in the books, I think it would be much more effective if it happened 'off-screen' as it were, so certain POV characters hear the news that Roose Bolton is dead, and there are rumours his bastard did it. Much more interesting!}

I just think that Roose is much too coldly calculating and intelligent to allow for it to happen.

Also, in regards to Davos...
_{I'm gonna quote a youtube video I just watched about the episode, which put it better than I could - "Davos comes in, and asks Melisandre to resurrect Jon Snow. WHY? Why on earth would Davos want Jon Snow resurrected? What is his dog in this fight? Davos essentially had two motives - to make Stannis king, and help the wall in their fight against the white walkers. Davos barely knew Jon, and what he did know about Jon was that he was a pretty divisive leader - he got himself assassinated. Why would Davos, a man who blames Melisandre for the death of his son, go to her and ask her to resurrect Jon? The whole reason they went to the wall was that dead people were rising, and marching against it. The entire Davos character is someone who doesn't like black magic, but now randomly for no good reason he wants Melisandre to dabble in it and resurrect Jon. Davos speaks with all this urgency in the scene, but there's no urgency."}

Yeah, it's the butterfly effect. In the latest book, Davos is going to Skagos to get Rickon. He's not sitting around at Castle Black.

You can tell when the writers get away from GRRM's book-script since they start to act weird and the lines are awful. I mean, in the latest episode Tyrion says, "I drink and I think a lot, that's what I do." The flanderisation is unreal.

I really don't think you should be posting spoilers here. Read this thread from the start and I think you'll see it it the nice thing to not do.

Hence why I've marked them as being spoilers. To be honest, if you're reading about Game of Thrones on the internet then you should just expect spoilers regardless.

[Hammers]

Episode 2 was much better.

Still, the huge plothole at the end of episode 1 is still irritating...

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 AHOY

_{Melisandre takes her necklace off earlier in the series. If that's the only thing holding her together, then she should've been old woman form in a bathtub scene earlier on.}

I liked that scene. I't is not really clear that it is the necklace which is the One Ring of Melissandre. Maybe she draws powers from it, maybe she just decided to let go for a night and 'act her age'.

Anyway, I am sure the people at Elizabeth Arden is very interested to know how she does that.

[throwsFireball]

I liked that scene. I't is not really clear that it is the necklace which is the One Ring of Melissandre. Maybe she draws powers from it, maybe she just decided to let go for a night and 'act her age'.

Anyway, I am sure the people at Elizabeth Arden is very interested to know how she does that.

It's also a big deal because the reason Melisandre can start doing her magics and all that is because the dragons are back in the world. Or at least it's very, very heavily implied that it is the case.

[Silent Invader]

It's also a big deal because the reason Melisandre can start doing her magics and all that is because the dragons are back in the world. Or at least it's very, very heavily implied that it is the case.

Heavily implied in the books or TV or both? It's entirely possible that I've not been watching closely enough but I haven't taken that connection from the TV.

Regarding last week's 'continuity blunder', I just don't see it that way. I also imagine that's she powerful enough to reveal herself as and when she wants to - she's actually more powerful than she herself thought, as she discovered this week.

You can tell when the writers get away from GRRM's book-script since they start to act weird and the lines are awful. I mean, in the latest episode Tyrion says, "I drink and I think a lot, that's what I do." The flanderisation is unreal.

That line by Tyrion was my favourite* of the episode. It seemed so apt and amused me.  

*closely followed by 'next time I get a good idea like that, punch me in the head' 

[throwsFireball]

Heavily implied in the books or TV or both? It's entirely possible that I've not been watching closely enough but I haven't taken that connection from the TV.

Regarding last week's 'continuity blunder', I just don't see it that way. I also imagine that's she powerful enough to reveal herself as and when she wants to - she's actually more powerful than she herself thought, as she discovered this week.

Another one of the problems on the TV show is that they've pretty much just skipped over the dragon-magic connection. As an example, Thoros of Myr (who did the first resurrection magic in the series) started to get powers after the dragons came back. There's also a prologue chapter in the books which describes the Citadel and one of the Maesters being a master of arcane arts. He's never been able to light a glass candle but suddenly it starts flaring up in his window at night etc.

There's also a couple've throwaway paragraphs in one of the books before Daenarys meets Barristan Selmy (RIP TV Selmy) where they're talking about firethrowers and fire eaters and someone saying that the last time they came through they could barely perform any tricks and now they're moving fire around like they have control over it.

A lot of people have said to me, "Yeah but like isn't the Red God the real one because Melisandre can do magic?" and the answer is very clearly a very firm NOPE.

That line by Tyrion was my favourite* of the episode. It seemed so apt and amused me.  

*closely followed by 'next time I get a good idea like that, punch me in the head' 

The problem is that Tyrion's characterisation in the show and the books is wildly divergent at this point.

Tyrion in the books is currently trying to escape into Meereen as he's been bought by a slavemaster who is sieging Meereen along with another dwarf. This part of the books is his character growth into being less of the drunken sot.

[Hammers]

It's also a big deal because the reason Melisandre can start doing her magics and all that is because the dragons are back in the world. Or at least it's very, very heavily implied that it is the case.

You are right. I forgot that bit. It's in the books, rather than the TV series, right?

[Hammers]

See that's one of the events which may still actually happen in the book, in fact its perfectly plausible. But the way they did it was just.... boring.
_{Wow, ANOTHER semi-major character being stabbed unexpectedly.... I think most viewers must be getting immune to the emotional impact of stabbings by now. If it happens in the books, I think it would be much more effective if it happened 'off-screen' as it were, so certain POV characters hear the news that Roose Bolton is dead, and there are rumours his bastard did it. Much more interesting!}

Quite expected, I think.