Game of Thrones 5.2 "The House of Black and White" (spoiler alert)

[NewJeffCT]

OK, I'm back this week - I missed the season premiere due to traveling and finding the one hotel that didn't have HBO, I guess. (Didn't catch it till yesterday, believe it or not)

Arya (Maisie Williams) arrives in Braavos. Pod (Daniel Portman) and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie) run into trouble on the road. Cersei fears for her daughter's safety in Dorne as Ellaria Sand (Indira Varma) seeks revenge for Oberyn's death. Stannis (Stephen Dillane) tempts Jon. An advisor tempts Daenerys.

It will be interesting to see how they do the House of Black & White, and if they'll have The Kindly Man there, or if they'll substitute the guy who played Jaqen H'Gar in his place?

[NewJeffCT]

1. previews and interviews

http://winteriscoming.net/2015/04/18/maisie-williams-talks-her-return-to-game-of-thrones-sunday-night/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/modeledbehavior/2015/04/18/game-of-thrones-economics-why-doesnt-westeros-have-a-central-bank/

[MuseRider]

2. I have been wondering for a while

how they will handle Arya and the House of Black and White. It is so interesting and complex but will have to be consolidated so it will be interesting to see what they do. This should be a good season. *waiting for the next book with little patience* I am so glad I did not start reading these books until they were all done up to this point. It would have killed me to wait this long like you did!

[NewJeffCT]

3. yes

and, it's been almost 4 years now since the last book left us with cliffhangers...

[NewJeffCT]

4. coming up soon.

should be interesting

[Yavin4]

5. Did you see that the show will end before the books?

The show will end in 2017, and we may get book 6 in 2016. After this season, the show is on its own.

[NewJeffCT]

6. They're already deviating from the books quite a bit

with Brienne meeting both Arya and Sansa, but not meeting either in the books so far.

[Yavin4]

7. Yeah, they're way off book

Don't know how they will resolve this.

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Honestly, the book has veered off with so many secondary characters that the show is refreshing.

I found the last book kind of boring.

I still wonder if we will ever see Lady SH.

[Yavin4]

10. Won't see Lady SH on the show

That story line is dead and buried.

[NewJeffCT]

11. What some rumors have said

is that Sansa may take her place

[NewJeffCT]

12. with the last 2 books

I think Martin would have benefited from a strong editor - in book 1, it basically took a couple of chapters for Tyrion to leave the Wall and then get captured by Catelyn Stark and be taken to see Lyssa. Tyrion's journey across Essos takes most of book 5 when it probably could have also been told in 2 or 3 chapters as well. The same thing with all that happens with Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, etc in Book 4. Way too much. (Same thing with Brienne... too much of not much happening.)

Still, book 5 did give us "Edd, fetch me a block" and the Pink Letter, Khrazz vs Ser Barristan, the dragon ride, Tyrion's run-in with a certain knight, etc. It could definitely have been condensed, though, and we should have gotten the Battle of Winterfell and the Battle of Meereen to close the book.

[PassingFair]

18. I got bogged down and didn't finish it....

It's still sitting on the top of my husbands dresser....

[NewJeffCT]

9. I think the showrunners

have a general outline of where each character goes and where they end up. Not sure what will happen with non-existent characters in the show, though, as I heard Martin himself comment that Garlan Tyrell could play a major role in the final two books.

[NewJeffCT]

13. In the season premiere

they had the scene with young Cersei hearing that she will be queen and that Robert will have 20 children and she will have 3, but then she'd be cast down by somebody that is younger and more beautiful?

They then flashed to adult Cersei and her glaring at Margy Tyrell... however, couldn't younger & more beautiful also be applied to Daenerys as well as Sansa?

[CrawlingChaos]

14. Good point

Even though what they're showing us is that Cersei really, really hates and is threatened by Margery, the witches prediction could certainly have been about Dany or Sansa. Cersei isn't even particularly worried about either of those two, is she? But she's not a character known for good judgment (could be said about most of the GOT characters, I suppose).

[seveneyes]

15. The unspoiled version

[CrawlingChaos]

16. I have to say, the show hasn't exactly hit the ground running this season

What do you think?

It could easily turn around, of course, but it feels like some of the life has drained out of the show. Unfortunately most of the actors remaining don't really have the presence and the gravitas of many of those who've been killed off, and frankly, some of them need to cultivate more than two facial expressions.

Things feel a bit more disjointed to me this time around. I find myself thinking "hey, whatever happened to so and so??" in regard to storylines that never played out.

Still so bored with Dany and the tedious scenes of her city governance. I only want to see her if there's a dragon in the picture! (those final seconds were pretty awesome though) Maybe Tyrion can make her more interesting.

The Jaime/Bron storyline could be fun - kinda looking forward to that. Isn't it funny how the once despicable Jaime who pushed a little boy out a window in season one is now a likable character? I guess anyone can be redeemed on this show.

[NewJeffCT]

17. episode one

has traditionally been a recap episode that shows what happens after last season's finale and starts to set things up for the rest of the season. However, it seems like they did that over 2 episodes this time (Arya not being introduced till episode 2, for example)

[NewJeffCT]

19. If Game of Thrones took place on Facebook - episode 2

http://valarbloghulis.someecards.com/got-recap-season-5/if-game-of-thrones-took-place-entirely-on-facebook-season-5-episode-2/?page=1