I just imagine if Tyrion and Oberyn had met in Season 1 or they'd been together in some city, whoever runs the brothels would be richer than the Lannisters.

http://gyazo.com/e9a75e963e566f7d2db991fc43f183c4

When you know shit's about to go down.

 

Well that trial was pretty fucking underwhelming. Where is Tyrion's rage when he sees Shae betray him? Nowhere. Complacent. Completely meek. And this whole betrayal... it's not even a proper one. Because here, in the show you can somehow try to justify her betrayal with how Tyrion rejected her and sent her away. Because they play on the 'scorned woman' card and think it good enough.

Fuck that. It's nothing like that at all. She is an opportunistic whore who betrayed him because it suited her. There is no shade of grey involved here, no ambiguity.

For the love of everything, I hope they don't fuck up the last episode.

 

From what I read, he fully raged at the end in an emmy-award winning fashion?

Something like 'I wish I was the Monster you all think I am'. Just reading that gives me chills.

 

I'm talking more about his reaction to Shae. Here, I'll post that excerpt from the books, but I'll spoiler it, just in case:

Spoiler

“Unspeakable things.” As the tears rolled slowly down that pretty face, no doubt every man in the hall wanted to take Shae in his arms and comfort her. “With my mouth and… other parts, m’lord. All my parts. He used me every way there was, and… he used to make me tell him how big he was. My giant, I had to call him, my giant of Lannister.”

Oswald Kettleblack was the first to laugh. Boros and Meryn joined in, then Cersei, Ser Loras, and more lords and ladies than he could count. The sudden gale of mirth made the rafters ring and shook the Iron Throne. “It’s true,” Shae protested. “My giant of Lannister.” The laughter swelled twice as loud. Their mouths were twisted in merriment, their bellies shook. Some laughed so hard that snot flew from their nostrils.

I saved you all, Tyrion thought. I saved this vile city and all your worthless lives. There were hundreds in the throne room, every one of them laughing but his father. Or so it seemed. Even the Red Viper chortled, and Mace Tyrell looked like to bust a gut, but Lord Tywin Lannister sat between them as if made of stone, his fingers steepled beneath his chin.

Tyrion pushed forward. “MY LORDS!” he shouted. He had to shout, to have any hope of being heard.

His father raised a hand. Bit by bit, the hall grew silent.

“Get this lying whore out of my sight,” said Tyrion, “and I will give you your confession.”

Lord Tywin nodded, gestured. Shae looked half in terror as the gold cloaks formed up around her. Her eyes met Tyrion’s as they marched her from the wall. Was it shame he saw there, or fear? He wondered what Cersei had promised her. You will get the gold or jewels, whatever it was you asked for, he thought as he watched her back recede, but before the moon has turned she’ll have you entertaining the gold cloaks in their barracks.

 

Ah, understood. I read the look on his face was extremely telling, but not on the level of the books.

Different medium and all that. Obviously, i haven't seen it, but if he could pull off apoplectic rage, resignation and betrayal in one look...

As i say though, haven't seen it.

 

Oh, you haven't watched the latest episode yet? My bad.

And yeah, Dinklage did well enough with the facial expressions. Honestly looked like some miniature demon, an Imp if you will, when his face contorted with rage.

My problem is that none of that rage and hatred was aimed at Shae. When you do watch the episode eventually, come back to this thread and read again what I posted in the spoiler above your post.

Also, just saw the promo for the next episode. Gotta say the new guy who plays Gregor Clegane has a far too friendly looking face. Shame that Conan Stevens left the show for Hobbit, where his looks didn't even matter in the end as they CGI'd the shit out of him.

 

I mostly follow the changes the show makes from the books out of curiosity.

I'm not the biggest fan of latter ASOIAF

 

I can understand that, seeing as there is quite a lot of those.

This whole thing they did with Ramsay and Asha (or Yara as she is called in the show) in this episode was particularly... unexpected. The fact that Ramsay survives without taking a single wound, while he fought bare-chested, is contrary, IMO, to what ASOIAF is about, and that's usually that stupid shit like that gets you killed quickly.

What are your thoughts on how they 'adapted' the Thenn for the show, in comparison to how they are in the books?

 

They feel cheapened from what I remember of them.

They probably didn't feel them important enough to distinguish them from the other wildlings. Annoying though.

 

They are, quite a bit. A few pages back I talked about this, with Taure I think, so I won't bore you with repeating myself. Suffice to say that they got demoted from being one of the most organized, well-equipped, and even civilized I'd dare to say, free folk to degenerate cannibals who go up to kids and say "IMMA EAT YER MUM AND YER PAH".

Is there one change that you like the best and one that you hate the most?

For me, the best change is Tywin being at Harrenhal, rather than Bolton, since they used that to decently expand his character.

 

Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get to hear that giant of Lannister line tbh. The "I am yours" line is just cringe in comparison, and not in the good way.

As for there being no grey involved in Shae's confession, not really (edit: you could say that there was grey). As for this Shae on the telly: she bounces between "scared because the Queen will kill me if I don't participate" to "lol, I'm a whore right?"

 

I'm kind of wondering though what's going on with Bronn. He said he put Shae on the boat himself, so how did she end up here then? It wasn't like that in the books from what I recall, so I'm wondering if Bronn might have sold out Tyrion or if the boat was simply intercepted somewhere and she was brought back.

 

Undecided tbh. I don't think Cersei comes off as enough of a cunt though.

 

Oh that's definitely one of the sorer points of the show for me. I wonder if they're gonna do the Taena Merryweather scene where Cersei fingers her and pinches her nipples while contemplating on how she devoured Robert's princes by the thousands from her hands when he spilled across them.

I mean, so far they haven't shown a trace of the insanity that is Cersei Lannister.

 

Her father, a reassuring, if domineering, figure of strength, is still about. Tyrion is yet to escape and is yet to kill Tywin - and that's the main thing that triggered the tsunami of paranoia within Cersei. Jaime is still about as well.

Cersei has always been ruthless and selfish, with the tendency to think herself smarter and more competent than she really is, but her later paranoia and emotional breakdown is a product of circumstances, not a result of anything intrinsic to her.

She wasn't born batshit insane - her narcissism coupled with emotionally devastating events along with being intoxicated with absolute power did her in mentally.

 

I just worry, that when the time comes to show off how fucking insane she is, it will be downplayed to the greatest extent. Look at the Lannisters, generally speaking now. All of a sudden, Tywin says their mines have run dry 3 years ago. 3 years. How has he kept that a secret? In the books, there's nothing of the sort mentioned because it hasn't happened.

But in telling us that in the show, they're going to give Cersei a plausible reason for refusing to pay the debt they owe to the Iron Bank. I mean, some of these events are running ahead of their time. The IB backs Stannis in the books because the then-current occupant of the Iron Throne refuses to honor the debt, or rather it's Cersei telling them to fuck off, thinking herself clever. But in the show, that won't be a point to emphasize how stupid she is, rather, she will be seen as trying to delay or stave off the payment of the debt, seeing as she lacks the funds to do so.

Also, what emotionally devastating event prompted her into killing her friend, Melara, with whom she'd gone to that witch for a telling of their futures? Nothing really, except that Melara wanted to be Jaime's wife.

Cersei was always batshit insane, IMO, it's just that certain events tend to exacerbate her already unhinged personality. Her flaws get magnified, they don't suddenly appear out of nowhere just because her father is dead, or Joffrey is dead. Before, she was restrained, somewhat, but with those restraints gone? Pure madness.

 

At least some of her stupidity came across in the council meeting.

 

In addition to what I've mentioned before about book Shae, I'd like to add that show Shae seems to be a complete moron. Being a whore should divest her of life's little delusions, yet in the show there are a few occasions where she basically is of the opinion that she and Tyrion could fight Tywin/Cersei, as though it were some kind of contest. That they could somehow survive a direct confrontation and emerge unscathed. It's just plain hilarious.

 

It's also the sort of stupidity that makes Tyrion's cliche patronizing "I'm going to make the decision for you in the most insulting and final way possible because you're too stupid to have a part in this" justifiable. I hate that sort of plot (Martin deployed it in Wild Cards himself) but Shae seems so dumb that it kinda makes sense, which makes me hate it (and her) even more.

 

Law and Order: GOT

Also, told you there'd be idiots like this: