The Onion AV Club rather stupidly has one review of GoT for people who have read the books and another review for those who haven't. Here's the review for those who haven't.
They give it a B, which I think was too low, but they do get at something I agree with from reading the books.
While I appreciate how focused tonight’s episode was on those involved in the battle, I do wonder how this retroactively colors the time spent with other storylines this season. Their lack of direct applicability or involvement tonight speaks to the fractured nature of the show at this point. If we can leave out a) Robb Stark’s impending war against Theon’s forces at Winterfell, b) Jon Snow’s capture north of The Wall, and c) Daenerys’ attempts to reclaim her dragons this late in the game, what does that say about their overall importance this season as a whole? It’s a largely rhetorical question, because it would be foolish to assume time spent with them has been meaningless. But while it has seemed for a while as if many disparate forces might finally collide in tonight’s huge battle, instead only a third of the storylines seemed to matter in the series’ grandest episode to date. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that focus. But why set up so many pieces last week only to ignore them this time around? It’s an odd way to organize a season of television, even if it’s customary for Game of Thrones to ignore certain characters and/or storylines for weeks before reintroducing them to the fold.
After reading five books I came away with the impression that the central storyline, the war for the throne, was really interesting but all the side plots, not so much. I wonder how the show will handle things as it gets further along in the books and finds Arya, Bran, Tyrion, Jaime, all with their little side stories that basically go nowhere and don't impact the main plot.
Vidor wrote:The Onion AV Club rather stupidly has one review of GoT for people who have read the books and another review for those who haven't. Here's the review for those who haven't.
They give it a B, which I think was too low, but they do get at something I agree with from reading the books.
While I appreciate how focused tonight’s episode was on those involved in the battle, I do wonder how this retroactively colors the time spent with other storylines this season. Their lack of direct applicability or involvement tonight speaks to the fractured nature of the show at this point. If we can leave out a) Robb Stark’s impending war against Theon’s forces at Winterfell, b) Jon Snow’s capture north of The Wall, and c) Daenerys’ attempts to reclaim her dragons this late in the game, what does that say about their overall importance this season as a whole? It’s a largely rhetorical question, because it would be foolish to assume time spent with them has been meaningless. But while it has seemed for a while as if many disparate forces might finally collide in tonight’s huge battle, instead only a third of the storylines seemed to matter in the series’ grandest episode to date. Again, there’s nothing wrong with that focus. But why set up so many pieces last week only to ignore them this time around? It’s an odd way to organize a season of television, even if it’s customary for Game of Thrones to ignore certain characters and/or storylines for weeks before reintroducing them to the fold.
After reading five books I came away with the impression that the central storyline, the war for the throne, was really interesting but all the side plots, not so much. I wonder how the show will handle things as it gets further along in the books and finds Arya, Bran, Tyrion, Jaime, all with their little side stories that basically go nowhere and don't impact the main plot.
But, really, those side stories are going to become the plot. There's not enough living characters from the main plot for it to be the main plot in books 6 and 7.
Guys,
Don't talk about the books in the TV thread without using spoilers. Especially don't talk about specific characters and where their stories may be heading. It's really easy to use the spoiler tags and if you're unsure how spoilery something is, play it safe and spoiler it anyway.
Without saying anything specific about any characters, I have been of the opinion since book 5 came out, and the TV series was a sweet new baby, that it would never go past four seasons. They're splitting book 3 into the next two seasons, which is dandy, as tons and tons of stuff is going on all over the place at that point. Book 3 is awesome, and will make for good TV. After that, books 4 and 5 are so fractured and confusing - and, frankly, disappointing - that I would be very surprised if it continues, unless giant sweeping changes are made to the story's progress.
Then again, three or four years ago I heard news that the books were being officially optioned to HBO, and I was among the most strongly negative haters. Never thought they'd pull off even the first book as well as they did. So maybe HBO will prove me wrong, and it'll last.
Maclowery wrote:Without saying anything specific about any characters, I have been of the opinion since book 5 came out, and the TV series was a sweet new baby, that it would never go past four seasons. They're splitting book 3 into the next two seasons, which is dandy, as tons and tons of stuff is going on all over the place at that point. Book 3 is awesome, and will make for good TV. After that, books 4 and 5 are so fractured and confusing - and, frankly, disappointing - that I would be very surprised if it continues, unless giant sweeping changes are made to the story's progress.
Then again, three or four years ago I heard news that the books were being officially optioned to HBO, and I was among the most strongly negative haters. Never thought they'd pull off even the first book as well as they did. So maybe HBO will prove me wrong, and it'll last.
Huge book spoilers here... (edit: actually, no spoilers. I edited those out; so it's a pretty tame spoiler now.)
I don't know. If I was directing or producing the series, I would do book 3 in a couple seasons. Then, since books 4-5 all happen over the same time period, I would try to turn them into 2 seasons of chronological action and interweave the plots. I think they would be more interesting that way as TV episodes.
Yeah, hah, no spoilers there. Certainly, if the series makes it past A Storm of Swords (as far as I know, they already optioned seasons 3 and 4 to cover that book), they'll have to chop up books 4 and 5 to keep the chronology going. Heck, I wouldn't mind cutting my hardcovers apart and re-stitching them together, either.
Anyway, yeah, season 3 and 4 of the show will be super, super awesome.
bob thrill wrote:Guys,
Don't talk about the books in the TV thread without using spoilers. Especially don't talk about specific characters and where their stories may be heading. It's really easy to use the spoiler tags and if you're unsure how spoilery something is, play it safe and spoiler it anyway.
So are you the one who altered my post without asking me to put spoiler tags in it? If I'd wanted to use spoiler tags, I would have done so. The fact that I didn't was, I would have thought, a pretty clear indication that I did not want to use spoiler tags.
bob thrill wrote:Guys,
Don't talk about the books in the TV thread without using spoilers. Especially don't talk about specific characters and where their stories may be heading. It's really easy to use the spoiler tags and if you're unsure how spoilery something is, play it safe and spoiler it anyway.
So are you the one who altered my post without asking me to put spoiler tags in it? If I'd wanted to use spoiler tags, I would have done so. The fact that I didn't was, I would have thought, a pretty clear indication that I did not want to use spoiler tags.
The fact that I added them, I would have thought, is a pretty clear indication that we don't care if you want to use them or not. The majority of the people who watch the show and participate in this thread have not read the books. Common courtesy would dictate that you let them enjoy and discuss the show without having information about the future of characters on that show alluded to, however vaguely you may feel you did so. Considering it takes literally one click of the mouse to put spoiler tags around some text and then one more click of the mouse for someone interested in reading your opinions on the subject to read what you wrote, I don't think it's too much to ask that you respect other people's wishes and use the spoiler tags.
Yeah, in my first post I was speculating on how they might end seasons 5 and 6 by combining together books 4 and 5. I gave away all the big plot movements of the last few books. But then thought that some people might not have read that far so I edited them out.
There was one scene in particular that I was going to say would make an awesome finale to season 6. It involved a favorite GOT hot or not taking a long walk on a brisk autumn day in King's Landing...
