Game of Thrones Season 3 Ep 8 (the clueless about the books POV)

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Just watched this and....

Spoilers behind cut



...eek! Pick up the magic knife, Sam! Don't leave it lying there.

Too late, sadly. We'll just have to hope that Sam and Gilly don't run into more baby-eating monsters any time soon, seeing as they now don't have any way to defend themselves.

Sam is so sweet. One of the only genuinely nice people in the whole of Westeros, I think. I hope nothing awful happens to him.

Speaking of awful, I wasn't keen on Melisandre before (religious fanatics are probably my least favourite people ever), but I really, really don't like her now. I suppose it's too much to hope she'll come to a bad end any time soon - like before she kills poor Gendry, who I like much better. What's more, her magic doesn't even work. Stannis throws a leech called Joffrey Baratheon into a fire, but does anything bad happen to the real Joffrey (beyond his scary grandfather giving him a nasty look)? No, it does not. Maybe the Lord of Light doesn't like Melisandre as much as he likes that Thoros bloke?

Can't say I blame him.

The Tyrion/Sansa wedding scene was painful. I felt very sorry for both of them. Clearly,no one cared if Tyrion looked a fool during the wedding ceremony, not even Tywin. The best you can say is that poor Sansa looked beautiful, and hopefully she understands that Tyrion is a kind person and means it when he says he won't hurt her.

The Margaery/Cersei convo was interesting, if only because it showed how much more intelligent that Cersei Margaery is. Unlike Cersei, I'm pretty sure Margaery knows better than to threaten someone who has, or potentially has, influence. I suppose Cersei's still bitter that she can't do a thing with Joffrey any more, but that's her own fault. I don't feel sorry for her at all. Serve her right if, once Margaery's queen, she persuades Joffrey to send his mother off to rule - oh, I dunno, Harrenhal, or another nice place a very long way from Kingslanding.

As for the Dany scenes, while I can't say I mind the other leaders of the Second Sons ending up as severed heads in a bag (they were horrible, especially the one with the scar), but I really, really don't like this bloke Wossisface (I can't of course remember his name), the third leader. For one thing, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. For another, he looks like an ex-member of Guns'n'Roses. Unfortunately, though, Dany seems to have a Thing for men with long hair, and is obviously smitten.

Jorah is not going to like this one bit (far worse than having to go halves on counselling Dany with Barristan Selmy) and I don't blame him. I suppose it's too much to hope Axl Rose (or whichever member of Guns'n'Roses Wossisface looks most like) isn't going to stick around?

No Jaime and Brienne, no Theon (for which I'm truly thankful). A lot happened in this episode, but parts of it felt kind of like a pause to draw breath before we rush headlong to the end.

Which is not far away, actually. How did that happen? The show only just came back.

Trivial stuff: Gilly's baby is the quietest baby ever in the history of babies, I think. Also, I was so pleased to see Jerome Flynn on the cast list, but he didn't get a single line of dialogue. :(

Comments

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

...eek! Pick up the magic knife, Sam! Don't leave it lying there.

I know! I yelled that at the tv! Remember the knife, Sam!!!

The Tyrion/Sansa wedding scene was painful.
Yeah, they both get a raw deal with that marriage. I always felt for both of them. Neither had a choice. They're both essentially decent people, it's the situation that's effed up.

As for the Dany scenes, while I can't say I mind the other leaders of the Second Sons ending up as severed heads in a bag (they were horrible, especially the one with the scar), but I really, really don't like this bloke Wossisface
He had better be pretty and naked a lot because Daario wore out my very last nerve in the books(and from what I can tell, that was a common reaction) for the simple cause of being a TOTAL WASTE OF SPACE AND TIME! His only discernible value that I could see was that Dany found him delightful eyecandy. As a reader, then, he had no discernible value at all. At least he doesn't have a winking gold tooth and blue hair, like in the books (those being his only recognizable character traits)

isn't going to stick around?
Not forever, but still too damn long. He annoyed the crap out of me in the books. He's not a Joffrey or a Bolton, so we're speaking unexceptional stuff here. But boring is entirely annoying is enough. And, yes, Dany is inexplicably twitterpated. I always thought he kind of appealed to the teenaged girl in her (she is still quite young. We tend to forget that). But, I thought him to be worthless (and Jorah and Selmy agree).

[shapinglight]

I yelled that at the tv! Remember the knife, Sam!!!

Oh dear! He's going to need it again, then?

He had better be pretty and naked a lot because Daario wore out my very last nerve in the books(and from what I can tell, that was a common reaction) for the simple cause of being a TOTAL WASTE OF SPACE AND TIME! His only discernible value that I could see was that Dany found him delightful eyecandy.

I've just realised who he reminded me of. It's that man in the Fabio shirt that Buffy rescues at the beginning of OMWF. The one say says, "Whatever," to. I think I'm going to call him Fabio. Sounds from what you say as if the character is about as charismatic or interesting.

I always thought he kind of appealed to the teenaged girl in her (she is still quite young. We tend to forget that)

Yes, I suppose I should cut her some slack. And she's entitled to have a boy-toy if she wants, I guess.

As long as she doesn't start behaving like he matters in some way.

[kikimay]

For another, he looks like an ex-member of Guns'n'Roses.

LOL. He's called Dario I don't remember his last name.
The wedding of Tyrion and Sansa is less painful than in the books, I think, but it was nice to watch. As always I'm really interested in the King's landing part much more than the others. And I totally agree with you: Margaery is smarter than Cersei.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Joffrey's really starting to worry me. Every scene this season has been about how he's a) a complete psychopath who's just getting the taste for it, and b) unhappy about not getting to do whatever he wants. All that's going to come out somewhere. I'm just not sure if I'm supposed to be worried for Margaery, Sansa, Tyrion or Tywin.

Still, threatening to castrate the king definitely counts as a slap, so that's two in a row. Plus The Hound got to say "fuck Joffrey" again. (I'm wondering where The Hound is going to end up in all of this.) Also, how did Joffrey not simply drop dead from that stare?

And whatshisface looks way too smarmy to be in GnR. That's a Mötley Crue member if I ever saw one.

I can understand that Sam freaked out. Still, leaving that dagger makes me wonder if he's spent too much time around Robb. Ghost, fetch!

And Granny Tyrell continues to be awesome. If she'd been allowed to continue, I'm pretty sure she would have discovered that Joffrey is his own father. Because he's a motherfucker, see.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Possibly not. Regarding the dagger. Hard to tell. That scene wasn't in the books or it was completely different. (ie. He kept the dagger.)

But I thought exactly the same thing..."pick up the daggar, pick up the daggar, yes I know it is embedded in a wight and you are scared out of your wits - but grab it anyways.."

Daario appears to exist for Dany to lust after endlessly, yet *manfully* resist the urge to well you know. Shipperx is right, he was annoying in the books too...and seems to last forever. Although not on stage very much, more referred to. (ie. Dany thinks about how very much she'd like to be swooning in Daario's arms about now, but this is exactly the reason she sent him away to begin with - she mustn't give in to such urges. For it would be wrong.)
He's basically her eye-candy. I kept worrying she'd marry him or something and we'd have Drago part II. Dany likes the eye-candy, but she is only 16, so there is that.

[shapinglight]

And Granny Tyrell continues to be awesome. If she'd been allowed to continue, I'm pretty sure she would have discovered that Joffrey is his own father.
Because he's a motherfucker, see.

:snorfly, snorfly snerk:

Motley Crue, huh? I think you're right. He's this bloke. What a poseur.

Also, how did Joffrey not simply drop dead from that stare?

My hopes were raised momentarily when Stannis threw Leech!Joffrey in the fire, but sadly, it had no effect whatsoever on Real!Joffrey. I think Stannis needs a better witch.

[shapinglight]

He's basically her eye-candy. I kept worrying she'd marry him or something and we'd have Drago part II. Dany likes the eye-candy, but she is only 16, so there is that.

I think Show Dany is supposed to be a bit older? I'm not sure, though. I was shocked when Sansa told Tyrion she was only 14. I thought they'd made all the child characters older and that she was probably 16 or 17.

Maybe next time we see Sam he'll still have the dagger and him not being seen to pick it up again is a sort of continuity gaffe?

[shapinglight]

LOL. He's called Dario I don't remember his last name.

Most people seem to agree he's pretty forgettable. I suppose he represents another temptation to Dany to stray off her path, like the vision of Drogo and their son that the magician gave her in season 2?

[kikimay]

I don't want to spoiler you but basically it still mentioned in the last book and I don't know what are going to happen between them.

[kikimay]

He had better be pretty and naked a lot because Daario wore out my very last nerve in the books(and from what I can tell, that was a common reaction) for the simple cause of being a TOTAL WASTE OF SPACE AND TIME!

I do agree. I'm so indifferent with him!

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

The magic knife is obsidian - AKA volcanic - AKA dragon-glass. Sam is the only person who knows that will kill wights, and I'm not even sure he knows it. Keeping in mind that sound will attract wights, it is a very good thing that Gilly's baby is a quiet one!

Let the leeches have a bit of time - if something happened to all three of them then they probably can't cram it all in the one episode.

Tyrion and Sansa, beautiful and bittersweet. Too bad Sansa is such a typical romantic still and doesn't realize that Tyrion is the best of the Lannisters.

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

Dani was 12 in the books - Arya was 9 - Bran was 7 - Jonn and Rob were both about 15 - Rickon was 3 - Sansa was 12 or 13 - Joffrey was younger than Robb and Jon but taller.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

No, in the book Sam had more than one dagger - he'd picked up several at the site. The dagger is dragon stone. They didn't explain that well in the tv series.

The kids are hard to figure out...in the books they appear to stay 10-15 forever. Here, the actors are actually growing up, so they aren't staying that age. Ayra in the books was 10. And Sansa 13.
Here, the actress playing Ayra (who is utterly amazing by the way) is most likely 14. And the actress playing Sansa - 16. While Emilia who plays Dany is definitely in her 20s. (Yet in the story she's no more than 16 if that...Margery is 22, to put this in perspective.)

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

Pick up the magic knife, Sam!
Oh yes! So frustrating to see him just leaving it there!
But I told myself that he either ran back to get it after screen went black, or that he got more of those. He grabbed a bunch at the Fist of the First Men.

And by the way - Davos is another nice man still left in Westeros. Him reading his first book was so precious. And him standing up for Gendry could have saved Gendry's life. I think that's why Melisandre had to resort to leeches.

I wasn't keen on Melisandre before (religious fanatics are probably my least favourite people ever), but I really, really don't like her now.
Ha! This episode even made me question - is this Lord of Light really an enemy of White Walkers, or is it just a giant red herring and a subversion of readers/viewers expectations?
Is there that much difference between Melisandre and Cruster? Wrote about it here.

Wedding was painful, but a bit less painful than in the books, for Tyrion and Sansa. More painful for Loras though. I'm resigned that the show dumbed him down but him trying to chat up Cersei was dumb even by the show!Loras standards. Ugh.
(Still wondering why they decided to do that to Loras - maybe the actor spit in producer's soup, or kicked his dog or something...)

Talking about dumb. Cersei finishing off her tale of Rains of Castamere with a threat reminded me of "The hammer is my penis". :D Yes Cersei, Margeory got it, no need to make her into outright enemy.

LOL, I called Dario "Fabio" too, and then read your comment. :) He's too smarmy and tacky to be sexy for me. Something about his face is just too much. Yep, boy-toy for a young lonely girl, can't see anything more in him. Poor Jorah, by the time they get to Westeros Dany will have a swarm of adoring men around her... At least Jorah doesn't have to be jealous of Grey Worm...

The ending with Tyrion and Shae telling all by glances was well done. Cudos for Tyrion leaving Sansa alone.
Ugh, two weeks till next episode.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

Arg, yeah, third leader is mostly boring. I always imagined him like Johnny Depp, he seems to appeal to Dany's inner sixteen year old and as that he makes sense. But it still makes him extremely annoying.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't discount the leech magic just yet. A good curse takes its time. (Though I'm not sure exactly why Gendry's blood should be magical - it's not like Robert descended from a long line of Kings By Blood, he took the throne by force - but magic is magic and it does whatever the writer says it does.) My big problem with that whole scene was that I kept flashing back to that Blackadder II episode where he gets treated with leeches.

Edmund: Never had anything you doctors didn't try to cure with leeches. A leech on my ear for ear ache, a leech on my bottom for constipation.
Doctor: They're marvellous, aren't they?
Edmund: Well, the bottom one wasn't. I just sat there and squashed it.
Doctor: You know the leech comes to us on the highest authority?
Edmund: Yes. I know that. Dr. Hoffmann of Stuttgart, isn't it?
Doctor: That's right, the great Hoffmann.
Edmund: Owner of the largest leech farm of Europe.
Doctor: Yes. Well, I cannot spend all day gossiping. I'm a busy man. As far as this case is concerned I have now had time to think it over and I can strongly recommend a [both, in chorus] course of leeches.
Edmund: Yes. Just pop a couple down my codpiece before I go to bed?

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That really doesn't work, does it?

GRRM seems to have got this completely erroneous idea that everyone in the middle ages married very early. They didn't.

[shapinglight]

They didn't explain that well in the tv series.

No, they didn't. Maybe, if he's in the next episode, he'll tell Gilly he has more of them.

Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, is 16, in fact, and Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa is a year older. I think they always pick children who look younger than they are, but I think Sophie Turner looks her age, actually, and was surprised tat the show stuck with her being only 14.

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Maybe they'll do something more interesting with him in the show than in the books, but I have to say, it'll have to be very interesting indeed to get me over my initial impression.

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:(

Boo!

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Oh dear! I'm never going to be able to watch that leech scene again now, without ROFL. :)

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Keeping in mind that sound will attract wights, it is a very good thing that Gilly's baby is a quiet one!

That's for sure. They actually did a very good job of making that magic knife. I knew when I looked at it that it was meant to be obsidian.

Let the leeches have a bit of time - if something happened to all three of them then they probably can't cram it all in the one episode.

Yeah, but if nothing bad happens to them for ages, now we still put it down to the leeches?

[shapinglight]

He is. I'm all grumpy that we appear to be stuck with him. I'd rather have Roz back.

I didn't realise there was no GoT this coming Sunday. That means the last ep will air while I'm away in France. I come back the next day (the 11th). It won't be a problem, will it?

[shapinglight]

But I told myself that he either ran back to get it after screen went black, or that he got more of those. He grabbed a bunch at the Fist of the First Men.

Did he? I've started a season 2 re-watch, so I must pay attention when I get to that bit.

And by the way - Davos is another nice man still left in Westeros. Him reading his first book was so precious. And him standing up for Gendry could have saved Gendry's life. I think that's why Melisandre had to resort to leeches.

You're right. Davos is a nice man. I wish we'd seen the conversation between Stannis and Melisandre when he told her she wasn't allowed to to kill Gendry. Did any of this happen in the book, btw?

Also, you could be right about the White Walkers and the Lord of Light. A Song of Ice and Fire is the overall title of the series, right?

Sorry you're still hating what they're doing with Loras. I doubt the actor did anything to annoy Benioff and Weiss. It's more likely they've decided he's just not a character they're going to pursue much now that Renly's dead. It's a shame.

He's too smarmy and tacky to be sexy for me. Something about his face is just too much.

I know. I wish the 'nice' Second Son had been the one with the scar, actually. I thought he was more interesting looking.

[spikesjojo.livejournal.com]

Well, he created the Lannisters from Edward IV and the Woodvilles. But after that it's fantasy. I think he just liked showing different facets of childhood. The idea of childhood was something that came along pretty late. He's got 8 kids and 4 of them are getting married - two of them to each other (Joffrey and Sansa - until they aren't), Dani married to create an alliance, and Robb (fool that he is) married for love.

But I do know what you mean. I have the hardest time with people who assume that average age of death means everyone cacked off at 35. It's an AVERAGE! The average is low because it includes childhood deaths, deaths in childbearing and deaths in wars. (Petting the peeve!)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Maisie is 16? Whoa. Admittedly I'm not around kids that much.

I think the fact that the actors are growing faster - is going to make the series more palatable then the books and far less creepy.
It's easier to watch an 17-18 year old Sophie Turner with Little Finger and Tyrion and Loras...than ahem, a 13 year old, even if they are telling us she's just 13. Same with Dany, far easier to watch if you see a 22 year old and not a 16 year old.

[shapinglight]

I dislike the character enough, I admit, that I went and spoilered myself slightly and am now very grumpy that I have to consider him as a serious love interest for Dany.

I wish they had given him blue hair and a gold tooth. I'd have preferred that to this bloke, who looks like he escaped from the cover of a trashy romance novel.

:(

[shapinglight]

I have the hardest time with people who assume that average age of death means everyone cacked off at 35. It's an AVERAGE! The average is low because it includes childhood deaths, deaths in childbearing and deaths in wars. (Petting the peeve!)

Not to mention girls probably started menstruating quite a lot later back then, due to poor diets etc. Royalty might have married their children young but that didn't mean bride and groom would live together as man and wife.

[shapinglight]

Maisie is 16? Whoa. Admittedly I'm not around kids that much.

They vary so much. She looks young for her age. Others the same age can look much older.

[kikimay]

Haha! I agree.

[shapinglight]

:((

I suppose I just have to accept that Dany was imprinted at an early age on unsuitable men with long hair.

[mrs-underhill.livejournal.com]

I wish we'd seen the conversation between Stannis and Melisandre when he told her she wasn't allowed to to kill Gendry. Did any of this happen in the book, btw?
Gendry and Melisandre didn't meet in the book, anything can happen with them.

But Davos was as noble in the book, and tried to protect people from being sacrificed by Melisandre.

Yes, Song of Ice and Fire is the overall title. Red God is about as scary as those ice monsters, if you think about it. Ice monsters just had a bigger headstart.

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

No problem, I'm sure there will be enough links around by then.

[shapinglight]

Boy, that's a relief! I told S I wasn't going if it meant missing the GoT finale for good.

I don't think he was very impressed. ;)

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Gendry and Melisandre didn't meet in the book, anything can happen with them.

:Whimper:

Is Gendry important to the story later on? I'm just trying to gauge whether he's likely to survive Melisandre or not.

[nmcil12.livejournal.com]

They really did need to up the age for Sansa because the actress No Way In The World looks 14 years old.

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She doesn't, which is why I was really taken aback when Tyrion asked Sansa how old she was and she said 14.