Game of Thrones Season 3 (Spoilers)

[travis-dane]

No, the other will be left for next season. I'm highly anticipating that one, though! "This will be a day long remembered..."

That's what I figured too. Would love it if they started the season right there.

A very Red day.
Aside from a few hickups, another great season will be over soon.

[Pacino86845]

I beg to differ, sir(s).

While I will agree that everyone involved in making the show is bringing their A-game, this season has been *too* slowly paced when compared to the first two. I haven't read the books, so it's possible I have yet to appreciate why the producers have opted to split book 3 into two seasons, but so far I would say it has been to the show's detriment.

[so sorry]

I beg to differ, sir(s).

While I will agree that everyone involved in making the show is bringing their A-game, this season has been *too* slowly paced when compared to the first two. I haven't read the books, so it's possible I have yet to appreciate why the producers have opted to split book 3 into two seasons, but so far I would say it has been to the show's detriment.

It HAS been slowly paced this season. And like I said a few weeks ago, I'd be more OK with that IF I knew it was a typical 20 something episode season. But knowing its only ten episodes makes the pacing frustrating (book reader or not). Personally from the middle of book 3 til the end of book 3 was one dick punch after another, so maybe season 4 will bring the pain!

[Pacino86845]

I don't know what's coming up, obviously, but I'm already thinking this could've been a 15-16 episode season covering the entirety of book 3.

In season 3 they could've condensed the first 4 episodes down to perhaps 3... and episodes 5-8 especially could've been done in 2 episodes instead of 4.

And since I haven't read the books, I have the luxury of making predictions as to future developments, yippee:
I bet this marriage that Rob Stark's uncle is supposed to go through is all a setup! I don't buy that it will genuinely happen after Rob insulted Lord Frey by not following through on the marriage to his daughter. The show often defuses large events that build up, and pulls last-minute surprises in what you think will be the least significant situations. No the marriage is a trap to get the Stark forces leaders together in one location with a Lannister surprise ready to pounce.

Methinks this season will be remembered for putting the WIN back in Tywin! That guy has been owning everything right out of the gate, second only to Daenerys in concentrated bad-assness.

[John-Locke]

I put spoiler tags on that for you Pacino, I'm not saying you are right but yeah, um, spoilers.

[Pacino86845]

Hehehe, no worries. I reckon I forgot my spoiler etiquette, it's been a while!

[RogueScribner]

So much goes down in the second half of book 3 that it makes sense to split the book into 2 seasons. That being said, this season has been a little slower paced but what we've been getting has been laying the foundations for everything to come. So while it's not a lot of spectacle, it is necessary. I mean, they can throw in some gratuitous fight scene or something, but it wouldn't really add anything to the story.

[travis-dane]

So much goes down in the second half of book 3 that it makes sense to split the book into 2 seasons. That being said, this season has been a little slower paced but what we've been getting has been laying the foundations for everything to come. So while it's not a lot of spectacle, it is necessary. I mean, they can throw in some gratuitous fight scene or something, but it wouldn't really add anything to the story.

Yep, Season four will blow our minds. It would have been way to much stuff for one season. Aside from the Theon and Bran storylines, everything was build up very well. All the Theon torture stuff has no impact the overall story and the Bran story suffers from the Lost syndrome, "hey I know so much, but I wont tell you". Fuck you Reed.

I hope they do the Red wedding in this season finale, there is no better cliffhanger.

[Ribbons]

Hehehe, no worries. I reckon I forgot my spoiler etiquette, it's been a while!

You bastard! I'll kill you!

[so sorry]

It's wedding time!

[Ribbons]

The Lannisters send their regards

[RogueScribner]

I totally thought they'd end the season right there and leave everyone in shock, but I guess we'll end with Dany being boring or something...

[Fievel]

iHoly FUCK!!!!!!!!!

You fuckers (here, Talkbacks, Facebook, people in the [gasp!] real world) have hyped up this moment and I kept spoiler-free for once (non-book reader)..... and there is no way I could have guessed (Pacino's guess aside) exactly what would happen.... meaning specifically the body count... meaning specifically the three (point five) significant cast members that would be killed in that scene.

The fact that they specifically stabbed the womb..... repeatedly.... FUCK!!!!


What was up with Jon's bitch move of hopping on a horse and leaving his woman behind? He was all like "Ahhhhh, birdie scratched my face! Fend for yourself, lady! I'm out of here!" Both Ygritte and Tormund Giantsbane (had to look that up, I admit it) looked at him like "WTF?!?"

And are these Stark girls going to make a sweetheart out of The Hound before it's all over? I mean really, he just ends up saving their asses over and over again. Before you know it, he'll be running Hound's Pastries of the Seven Kingdoms (open six days a week).

[travis-dane]

iHoly FUCK!!!!!!!!!

You fuckers (here, Talkbacks, Facebook, people in the [gasp!] real world) have hyped up this moment and I kept spoiler-free for once (non-book reader)..... and there is no way I could have guessed (Pacino's guess aside) exactly what would happen.... meaning specifically the body count... meaning specifically the three (point five) significant cast members that would be killed in that scene.

The fact that they specifically stabbed the womb..... repeatedly.... FUCK!!!!


What was up with Jon's bitch move of hopping on a horse and leaving his woman behind? He was all like "Ahhhhh, birdie scratched my face! Fend for yourself, lady! I'm out of here!" Both Ygritte and Tormund Giantsbane (had to look that up, I admit it) looked at him like "WTF?!?"

And are these Stark girls going to make a sweetheart out of The Hound before it's all over? I mean really, he just ends up saving their asses over and over again. Before you know it, he'll be running Hound's Pastries of the Seven Kingdoms (open six days a week).

Jon is still a Crow, he has no time for a wildling woman.

If they stay true to the book, the red wedding is not over yet.

[Fievel]

Stolen from the IGN comments section:

[TheBaxter]

robb stark was all like "hey, wha' happened?"

[Ribbons]

I totally thought they'd end the season right there and leave everyone in shock, but I guess we'll end with Dany being boring or something...

That would have been badass. "Welp, everyone's dead, see you next year!"

[so sorry]

So it finally happened. THE BIG MOMENT. This is what we've all been waiting for for sure, and it did not disappoint. I can't say it was handled exactly the way i had hoped. There were some moments that really bothered me, but the impact of killings vastly outweighed my gripes.

Missed opportunities/missteps:
The most imposing Stark man at the wedding is/was Brynden Tully AKA the Blackfish, and all he had to do was get up to take a piss to avoid getting slaughtered?

Greatjon Umbar, one of Robb's staunchest supporters/bannermen, who was present in a few episodes before this season (a big imposing fighter dude) was not present in this scene, although he was there in the book, and it took a few Frey's to take him down! That would have been great to see someone getting a few Frey kills in before being taken down.

When the Stark's and Frey's meet, they pass some bread (and onion dip ) around and all take a bite. This is of major importance: when you are invited to someone's home, and he offers you food (breaks bread with you), you are now under his protection and do not have cause to fear (especially for your life!). THIS IS BIG. Breaking this oath is considered a MAJOR curse upon your family and would present trust issues in the future. Catelyn is so dead set upon this custom in the book. She insists that Robb ask for a bite to eat when they get there so that the Freys cannot attack them because she's wary of the Freys. It would have been easy enough to have a short conversation between Catelyn and Robb to set this scene up.

Wasting precious time on this particular episode with the Yunkai/Daenerys story. Seriously I could have cared less about watching three guys walk in a back door to kill a few guards, then off camera start a slave rebellion. I wanted more wedding dammit!


What was great:
The repeated stabbing of Talia right in the breadbasket was brutal. The two neck openings were more brutal. The killing of the direwolf was brutal.

The look Walder Frey gives Robb when he sees the pretty bride that Edmure is marrying ("This is what you passed up asshole!").

The look on Catelyn's face when she realized what was about to happen. I think she's a polarizing character: you can directly point to her actions as being major factors in the downfall of the Stark household. I pretty much hate her, but man that was painful to watch her reaction as she saw her only remaining son (that she knows of) get cut down like that…ouch.

The Hound punching the pig farmer.

Jon Snow getting his face raked.

No music playing over the credits. They nailed it with this move.

The look on my friend's face when the shit hit the fan. He hasn't read the books, and I've done a great job of not spoiling anything as we watch the show together. But 10 seconds before the arrows started to fly he turns to me and says "why are they wasting all this time on a wedding reception when they've got so many other stories to get thru?". Priceless!

P.S. Roose Bolton is a fucking gentleman.

P.P.S. Bye bye Rickon and Osha! See you two years from now?

P.P.P.S. FOR BOOK READERS ONLY

So one of the first things that I saw that made me scratch my head was seeing Robb's wife (Talia/Jeyne) at the wedding. How the fuck were they going to get her out of there? I said to myself. Well, they didn't. Which now really confuses me, or maybe it really clears some things up, book wise. In the book Jeyne is left behind at Riverrun, NOT pregnant, and is promised by Tywin (and reaffirmed by Jaime) that she will remarry under the protection of the crown. But her story is a dead end book wise (so far). The fact that she's killed in the show, I guess that means she's not really ever going to be a factor in the books again?

[Fievel]

P.P.S. Bye bye Rickon and Osha! See you two years from now?

Shit....?
Kind of a hurried sendoff if so.

I went and looked some stuff up from the book last night to try and clarify some things from the scene and inadvertently went ahead to the end of the wedding bit, not realizing that there could possibly be more at the time..... oh my.

I can NOT wait until I have the time to get into these books. It's going to be almost brand new for me by the time I get around to it (I've already forgotten so many details from Season 1), but at least I'll have faces for most of the characters.

[so sorry]

P.P.S. Bye bye Rickon and Osha! See you two years from now?

Shit....?

Sorry, didn't mean to imply they were going to die or anything. What I meant was we probably aren't going to see them for a while.

I went and looked some stuff up from the book last night to try and clarify some things from the scene and inadvertently went ahead to the end of the wedding bit, not realizing that there could possibly be more at the time..... oh my.

In my head, that's how this episode was going to end. But now...maybe next weeks?

I can NOT wait until I have the time to get into these books. It's going to be almost brand new for me by the time I get around to it (I've already forgotten so many details from Season 1), but at least I'll have faces for most of the characters.

Dude start ASAP. These books are long, there are parts that are tedious. But I can not put them down. Side bar/tangent: yesterday morning, having just finished book 4 a few days ago, I go to Barnes and Noble to pick up Dance with Dragons, the 5th (and so far last book). I hunt all around for the paperback and can't find it, so I ask an associate to help me. She tells me that book five doesn't come out on paperback until October. Yeah, I'm not waiting until October, so I grab the hard back. Go to check out, and the lady says "that'll be 37 dollars please". I respond with "no, I only want this one book". She give me a look, and says "yeah, that's what this one book costs. But you could wait until October for the paperback" (they all must be asked this constantly). Now I haven't bought a hard bound book in years. Is this the normal price these days? WTF?????

And yes, I still bought the fucking thing.

[Lord Voldemoo]

I go to Barnes and Noble to pick up Dance with Dragons, the 5th (and so far last book). I hunt all around for the paperback and can't find it, so I ask an associate to help me. She tells me that book five doesn't come out on paperback until October. Yeah, I'm not waiting until October, so I grab the hard back. Go to check out, and the lady says "that'll be 37 dollars please". I respond with "no, I only want this one book". She give me a look, and says "yeah, that's what this one book costs. But you could wait until October for the paperback" (they all must be asked this constantly). Now I haven't bought a hard bound book in years. Is this the normal price these days? WTF?????

And yes, I still bought the fucking thing.

I hate to say it, but you can get it for $20 on Amazon ($15 if you go with the Kindle edition).

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Dragons-Song-Fire-Book/dp/0553801473/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1370278082&sr=8-1

Random aside- they have an UNABRIDGED audiobook for this?? It must be about a week long...

[Lord Voldemoo]

Oh yeah the show. Holy shit!!!

Actually I already knew it was going to happen even though I'm not up to the Red Wedding in the books yet. The other day I was trying to remember who was who while reading and went to the Song of Ice and Fire wiki and looked up Roose Bolton...and accidentally read a little too far down the page. Big mistake.

I think I'm just behind the show in the book, which continues to be annoying as hell. At this point I can't wait for the season to end so I can get ahead of the show.

Filch is a dick and I wanna watch him die. I really hope I get a chance to see him beheaded or something...

[Al Shut]

It's been a while since I saw the previous seasons (or parts of them because of an ALF airing shedule) and it sure will be a while till I see the third season and I'm wondering, any sign of the Manderlys (ridiculously studly northmen), especially at the wedding? I fear for some of my favorite parts of later books.

[BuckyO'harre]

I ran into the spoiler a couple weeks ago, but fortunately it was accompanied by another which balanced out the sting. I imagine it comes next week because otherwise the show risks losing a lot of viewers.

One question I have about the books- is there any character who says aloud something along the lines of "STOP MAKING OATHS YOU FUCKING MORONS! YOU'LL END UP BEING RAPED BY AN AXE!"?
Seems to be a recurring theme is all.

Filch is a dick and I wanna watch him die. I really hope I get a chance to see him beheaded or something...

Poor David Bradley... now he's going to get nasty looks from kids and their parents.

[Fievel]

Poor David Bradley... now he's going to get nasty looks from kids and their parents.

Perfect.

[RogueScribner]

I think the build up to the "main event" could have been handled a little better. The book does a really good job of setting up the sense of dread/something askew before it all goes down. In the show, you had mommy looking a little worried for some reason (the music the band was playing was a clue, but I don't think it was ever explained why?). The "knife in the breadbasket" was brutal. You just don't expect to that type of thing on TV, HBO or otherwise.

I can't wait until next season. Oh, I'll be doing the dance of joy and I hope there's a YouTube video I can watch over and over again! Hee hee!

[Ribbons]

It's been a while since I saw the previous seasons (or parts of them because of an ALF airing shedule) and it sure will be a while till I see the third season and I'm wondering, any sign of the Manderlys (ridiculously studly northmen), especially at the wedding? I fear for some of my favorite parts of later books.

Yeah, Wendell Manderly has appeared in two episodes this season (including the "Red Wedding" last night), and House Manderly has been mentioned by name a couple more times, I think.

[Pacino86845]

Oh sweet Jesus in heaven!!!

What the fuck was that!?

[Lord Voldemoo]

Adolf has weighed in. Frankly I'm shocked that he's not a Lannister bannerman.

[Fievel]

HA!....... Varys!

[Al Shut]

It's been a while since I saw the previous seasons (or parts of them because of an ALF airing shedule) and it sure will be a while till I see the third season and I'm wondering, any sign of the Manderlys (ridiculously studly northmen), especially at the wedding? I fear for some of my favorite parts of later books.

Yeah, Wendell Manderly has appeared in two episodes this season (including the "Red Wedding" last night), and House Manderly has been mentioned by name a couple more times, I think.

Excellent!

[so sorry]

Adolf has weighed in. Frankly I'm shocked that he's not a Lannister bannerman.

Nice.

[Pacino86845]

iHoly FUCK!!!!!!!!!

You fuckers (here, Talkbacks, Facebook, people in the [gasp!] real world) have hyped up this moment and I kept spoiler-free for once (non-book reader)..... and there is no way I could have guessed (Pacino's guess aside) exactly what would happen.... meaning specifically the body count... meaning specifically the three (point five) significant cast members that would be killed in that scene.

Same here... despite any sense of plot I had, in no way did I see those brutal murders coming. I was originally thinking the trap would've been offset by a Stark advantage elsewhere, whereby our beloved leading characters would be captured but ALIVE. I might have expected ONE leading character death, but holy crappa they all got wiped out!

Also, I assume Edmere got a visit from this guy after all that shit went down:


Finally, George RRRRR Martin is one sick fuck.

[Pacino86845]

Adolf has weighed in. Frankly I'm shocked that he's not a Lannister bannerman.

Nice.

Is that safe to watch for non-readers? The warning says not to watch unless you know what goes down in Storm of S-words

[TheBaxter]

http://static.fjcdn.com/gifs/Red+Weddin ... 620389.gif

[Pacino86845]

Broken pics, yo!

[so sorry]

Adolf has weighed in. Frankly I'm shocked that he's not a Lannister bannerman.

Nice.

Is that safe to watch for non-readers? The warning says not to watch unless you know what goes down in Storm of S-words

I'd leave it alone if I were you. Sorry!

[Lord Voldemoo]

Adolf has weighed in. Frankly I'm shocked that he's not a Lannister bannerman.

Nice.

Is that safe to watch for non-readers? The warning says not to watch unless you know what goes down in Storm of S-words

I'd leave it alone if I were you. Sorry!

Actually I did check it for spoilers and I didn't notice anything that we didn't already know from the show

[Pacino86845]

Dude no offense but you couldn't even protect YOURSELF from spoilers!

[Lord Voldemoo]

Dude no offense but you couldn't even protect YOURSELF from spoilers!

this is a legitimate point.

[Lord Voldemoo]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/steps-to-get-over-your-game-of-thrones-sadness

No spoilers, just goofiness.

[Fievel]

Arya Stark Reacts to the Death of her Mother and Brother

[so sorry]

My GoT viewing partner (otherwise known as my friend with HBO ) is out of town until Tuesday. I was tempted to find another place to watch tonight but I decided to wait for him. So I'll see you gents on Wednesday cause I need to avoid this thread like the plague until I see the finale.

[RogueScribner]

As someone who knows where things are headed next season, the finale was good at putting those pieces into place. It was almost subtle at times what they were doing. But if I didn't know where this was headed, I think I'd be a bit disappointed after last week's episode.

[BuckyO'harre]

As someone who knows where things are headed next season, the finale was good at putting those pieces into place. It was almost subtle at times what they were doing. But if I didn't know where this was headed, I think I'd be a bit disappointed after last week's episode.

I was. Just like last season, the finale wasn't nearly as good as the preceding episode.
I know I'm not aware of the timeline from the books, but I was really hoping for something with a little more...


purple.

[Ribbons]

I was. Just like last season, the finale wasn't nearly as good as the preceding episode.
I know I'm not aware of the timeline from the books, but I was really hoping for something with a little more...


purple.

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, that is probably going to be somewhere around the halfway point next season.

I liked last night's episode, especially the grace note that it ended on, but I don't really see why it couldn't have been the first episode of season 4. It seems to me like they've fallen into a pattern of dropping the hammer (or axe, as it were) in episode 9 and then cooling down. But what worked once doesn't necessarily work twice, and the Red Wedding would have been the ultimate cliffhanger. Also:

I totally thought they'd end the season right there and leave everyone in shock, but I guess we'll end with Dany being boring or something...

This (although like I said, I did like that scene).

[RogueScribner]

Ha ha. I was being funny and it totally came true. Ha ha.

I'm looking forward to next season. So many good things are going to happen. I can't wait!!!

[TheBaxter]

well, that was... anticlimactic. it felt like a wrap-up episode where they try to show us they haven't forgotten all these other characters who haven't been killed off yet (hey, look! theon greyjoy still has a sister! remember?)

and that last scene... i haven't seen crowdsurfing like that since a pearl jam concert in '93. that final scene felt so tacked on. could've easily been in last week's episode, but i guess they felt they needed one dany scene in the finale somewhere, no matter how shoehorned and out of place it felt. sadly the best scene of the show came early on, when joffrey threw a tantrum and got the high king's version of dosing a baby with benadryl before a flight.

[Fievel]

sadly the best scene of the show came early on, when joffrey threw a tantrum and got the high king's version of dosing a baby with benadryl before a flight.

That scene had me howling out loud with laughter.

So Arya killed her first person last night. And despite the verbal set up, the deed itself was done wordlessly (Edit - just read that she whispered "Valar Morghulis"..... I miss so much shit when I watch this?!?!?). I thought for sure she'd cry some sort of "For my mother and brother!" battle cry or something. Instead she just silently stabbed the shit out of that dude's neck. Awesome scene and I love the Dog/Stark Girl dynamics in this show.

Sam & Bran meeting was a really cool moment, and I loved the Game of Thrones main theme coming in and out in the background during that scene. It made me wonder if there was more to it (foreshadowing) that warranted the Main Theme's inclusion, or if it was just the introduction of some main characters that brought out the theme.

The dire wolf's head scene was not obvious. Had I not accidentally read what they did to him in trying to make sense of last week's episode, I would have had no idea what was sitting on top of that horse at the beginning of the episode.

[RogueScribner]

That wasn't the first time Arya killed someone...