A Song of Ice and Fire (Spoilers! Only enter if you have read all books)

[FOTY977]

Y'all hating on RoP have no taste

Eh, it's not completely terrible like some have said, but if I weren't a Tolkien fan I probably wouldn't be watching it beyond the first couple of episodes. The showrunners'/writers' inexperience is obvious. With 5 seasons I'm hoping they can put together a strong piece of work in total as they learn. This first season shows some flashes (Elrond/Durin, Adar/orcs, visuals), but just doesn't hold a candle to great shows that have come before it in terms of storytelling, dialogue, and making the audience really care about the characters from the onset.

 

[FOTY977]

My kingdom for a show or movie that expands upon (or faithfully builds upon) all the cool, dark, heavy-metal type of shit that Tolkien hinted at.

I haven't watched any RoP yet, so I'm not sure how much "bad guy" content there is, or if it dips into any of the cool bad guy stuff that is pre-Sauron as flashbacks or world-building or anything like that...

But I'd kill for a drama that focused almost entirely on Morgoth and how he accumulated power and created entire races of bad guys and other creatures, set in Utumno and/or Angband.

If you’re looking for Morgoth content, there’s not much—few scenes of exposition in the first episode.

Orcs/uruks/“bad guys” however are arguably the best part of this season imo.

 

[IrishLion]

Someone said it about episode 7… but I feel it about episode 8:

That may have been my favorite “Thrones” episode ever.

So many good moments of tension. The political maneuvering is the best thing GRRM creates. This episode was that x10000.

Viserys showing up during the farcical proceedings to save the day like a fucking boss. The slow walk through the throne room to the Iron Throne. Daemon handing him the crown. Viserys willingly forgoing the treatment so he is clear of mind, making everyone feel like fools.

The dinner scene, somehow both warm-and-fuzzy, and impossibly tense. The mothers willing to forgive, the children being too ignorant to see the olive branch.

Then the very end… the prophecy ruining all of his colossal efforts in his milk-of-the-poppy-induced stupor, and now shit’s gotta pop off.

At least he went out believing he had cemented his legacy, and his family.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Yeah, you sort of felt like the show finally hit its stride with ep. 8. That beheading was wicked. I thought we were going to see a real, screaming, blood & gore, tongue removal, but the beheading was still pretty savage.

 

[Henges24]

Favorite episode last night. I freaked out thinking it was a season finale.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

The last two episodes have been really good. Fantastic tension. Aegon and Aemond are pricks.

I become more of a fan of Daemon with each passing scene he's in.

 

[IrishLion]

Favorite episode last night. I freaked out thinking it was a season finale.

Two episodes left!

If they follow the proper 'Thrones' formula, episode 9 will somehow be even more intense, and 10 will be the setup/cliffhanger for the civil war.

 

[GATTACA!]

Two things I haven’t seen many people discuss.

That scene with Alicent and the poor maid that Aegon raped was brutal. Feels like they’re really going out of their way to make the Greens seem like monsters.

The music during Viserys walking to the throne and during the feast afterwards were both amazing.

 

[NorthDakota]

Two things I haven’t seen many people discuss.

That scene with Alicent and the poor maid that Aegon raped was brutal. Feels like they’re really going out of their way to make the Greens seem like monsters.

The music during Viserys walking to the throne and during the feast afterwards were both amazing.

If that was the goal they've succeeded. One son is a very casual about rape. Easy to see him in a negative light. The other is this menacing and imposing presence (relative to the illegitimate kids).

 

[IrishLion]

If that was the goal they've succeeded. One son is a very casual about rape. Easy to see him in a negative light. The other is this menacing and imposing presence (relative to the illegitimate kids).

Aemond is set up as an excellent villain. Claims the biggest dragon in the world as his mount, writes off his lost eye as part of the deal, consoles his mother over the eye with cold logic, and even pulls off the eye patch without it seeming corny, which is key.

 

[calvegas04]

Season 2 is expected to be fall 2024

 

[NorthDakota]

Season 2 is expected to be fall 2024

Two year break?! My goodness

 

[IrishLion]

 

[GATTACA!]

Nice detail I didn’t catch that!

 

[Bishop2b5]

Yeah, I missed that too.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

Finished ROP last night.

My quick recap. I absolutely love Tolkien's universe so much. So refreshing to have conflict, drama, and resolution while having a show with moral values.

With that said, so much happened last night (and this season) that was ultimately so rushed. For a book series that takes its time to develop, the show does the opposite. I've read that covid caused major production disruptions. I pray that season 2 will find it's stride.

 

[calvegas04]

Season finished strong, the last 3 episodes finally felt like GoT.

 

[NorthDakota]

Villain Targaryan....

 

[GATTACA!]

SO. DAMN. GOOD.

That final scene at Storms End felt like some Jurassic Park/ Jaws type monster horror.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Wasn't counting on a second horrific child birth scene.

I love a good war council scene, though.

 

[GrangerIrish24]

Wasn't counting on a second horrific child birth scene.

I love a good war council scene, though.

Yeah that got me

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Yeah that got me

They scaled back on the sexual violence and figured out child birth could be the torture for female characters this time around.

They've given Alicent Hightower a Cersai kind of vibe. Lord Strong is Littlefinger, only worse. Otto Hightower is your Tywin Lannister.

Really starting to like Rhaenys Valaryon.

 

[NorthDakota]

I'm confused what Villain Targaryan was hoping to accomplish with his dragon at the end and why he was so surprised at the outcome?

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

I'm confused what Villain Targaryan was hoping to accomplish with his dragon at the end and why he was so surprised at the outcome?

Spoiler

He was just tormenting Luc although I think he really wants his eye he wast planning on killing him. Lucs dragon torched His dragons face but he doesn’t have total control over the dragon who went ape shit. That’s all but this event was what will start the DotD.

 

[notredomer23]

I thought it was a perfect finale, but am bummed to have to wait until 2024 for the next one. It would have been cool to have an extra few minutes with Jace in Winterfell to contrast Luc's situation if I could have added anything to this episode.

 

[calvegas04]

HBO dropped the ball with the wait time between seasons. They could have had a 2nd GoT spin off ready for the year in between.

 

[tussin]

Wasn't counting on a second horrific child birth scene.

I love a good war council scene, though.

 

[NorthDakota]

I haven't watched with my parents but that's because GOT was so egregious with the nudity that I'm still convinced they'll do it again.

 

[tussin]

I haven't watched with my parents but that's because GOT was so egregious with the nudity that I'm still convinced they'll do it again.

No worries there!

The show is awesome but it is certainly less fun that GOT. My wife is 8 months pregnant and, after Season 1's birth-related tragedies, I am very anxious to enter the hospital come gameday.

 

[GATTACA!]

Spoiler

He was just tormenting Luc although I think he really wants his eye he wast planning on killing him. Lucs dragon torched His dragons face but he doesn’t have total control over the dragon who went ape shit. That’s all but this event was what will start the DotD.

I like how it will be a parallel to Daemon when Aemond doesn't admit that he wasn't trying to kill Jayce. Same way Daemon just tried to act like a bad ass and take it instead of explaining things like the heir for a day incident.