[JCDNWarrior]

It doesn't matter we should be talking about the hilarity of the Red Wedding aftermath

https://twitter.com/RedWeddingTears

e: ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha someone finally nailed it

Just watched that episode. I personally don't see what's so funny about laughing about other people's emotions like that, honestly, as I find it in bad taste and shows a potential lack for compassion (or worse) - I understand it a little if you look at it from the book perspective, could've potentially seen every event coming due to it but not everyone likes books/likes spoilers. Even moreso, people tweet their responses within a minute after it happening, so everyone is rather emotional about the events.

Quick addendum: I understand one might be able to laugh at people not realizing it's based off a book, thus the events have already been set in stone for the most part, thus it isn't the fault of the creators of the TV show nor their desire to just mess with people's favorite characters for shock value. Still it doesn't make me laugh as I filter through that to see what a response people have to these events which I find rather impressive for a TV show. It gives food for thought as how to make people care for the characters in a real way and reminding them of the rules of the world they are inhabiting/viewing. As someone that likes to write, that's always interesting for me.

Spoiler:

I surely didn't see the events of episode 9 coming even with the hints of Walter Frey being someone not to trifle with, though I told my brother who brought me into GoT to begin with that I was foreseeing something bad was going to happen to Rob from strategic and overall storyline progression. The amount and the execution of it though, wow. Tops off the whole mess in King's Landing. Heh, to think I thought the Red Wedding was going to take place somewhere completely different involving completely different characters.. I'll miss those characters, honestly, I liked seeing their narrative and story evolve, wanted to see more battles.
I found the rest of the events, such as John Snow and the boys surviving to be a symbolic trade-off, some characters 'sacrifice'/are sacrificed.
All in all, Westeros is effed for sure now.

Personally I find GoT to be quite a good series thus far. To be fair, I haven't been watching many TV shows (nor many 'hollywood/AAA' movies) for many many years now. If anyone has suggestions for any series that manages to do even better than GoT, since I've only seen some pretty crappy shows being broadcasted on TV here, that would be appreciated.

[BloodEagle]

It's admittedly been a while since I read the novels (and I'm pretty sure I stopped before the last one), but I have to say, I like the television adaptation better.

It seems like every failing the author had in setting expectations up and maintaining character arcs is made up for by the director and the medium.

[General Battuta]

Personally I find GoT to be quite a good series thus far. To be fair, I haven't been watching many TV shows (nor many 'hollywood/AAA' movies) for many many years now. If anyone has suggestions for any series that manages to do even better than GoT, since I've only seen some pretty crappy shows being broadcasted on TV here, that would be appreciated.

Game of Thrones is a pretty decent TV show, but Mad Men is at least two cuts better and The Wire is (of course) the greatest TV show ever made.

[Suongadon]

Are you trying to say that 'I HATE YOU AND HOPES YOU DIE HBOS//FAT MARTIN//whoeverthedirectoris!!!1! **** YOU HBOS I'M CANCELS MY SUBSCRIBEING NAO' is not a ludicrous response?


*edit* I just checked the # again. Yesterday, at least, it was all sorts of 'i hates you' and no sorts of ''

Also: Deadwood.

[Sandwich]

Next week's season finale is sure to be... worth watching.

[Scourge of Ages]

As an observer, I think I can explain why it's so fun to laugh at the people who are freaking out about the MASSIVE TWIST!

If I understand the culture, then those who watch the show but don't read the books, are generally extremely adamant about avoiding spoilers. So if somebody who knew what was coming tried to warn their loved ones, they would get shut down immediately, leading those forewarned to a "I told you so" sort of smugness.

Those watching the show may feel trolled by the writer(s), but in reality, they trolled themselves.

Also, going by Sandwich's last post, I'd like to guess that either

Spoiler:

more beloved characters are brutally murdered, some MASSIVE REVENGE takes place, or the beloved characters somehow manage to recover from being brutally murdered.

[Sandwich]

As an observer, I think I can explain why it's so fun to laugh at the people who are freaking out about the MASSIVE TWIST!

If I understand the culture, then those who watch the show but don't read the books, are generally extremely adamant about avoiding spoilers. So if somebody who knew what was coming tried to warn their loved ones, they would get shut down immediately, leading those forewarned to a "I told you so" sort of smugness.

Those watching the show may feel trolled by the writer(s), but in reality, they trolled themselves.

Also, going by Sandwich's last post, I'd like to guess that either

Spoiler:

more beloved characters are brutally murdered, some MASSIVE REVENGE takes place, or the beloved characters somehow manage to recover from being brutally murdered.

I think the freakout was simply because traditional TV...

Spoiler:

...doesn't kill off main characters anywhere near this frequently or callously.

As for what I posted, I will neither confirm or deny your guesses. The only thing I will say is that things happen that definitely make it worth watching.

Of course, this is GoT... when is that not true?

[Nuke]

fantasy really isnt my thing, but the show has a dune-esque brutality to it that kinda gives me a woody. im also glad they have made it feel less like a soft porno in this season. probibly gonna read the books when the series ends (even if they are ****).

Come on, man. These books have been around since long before the TV show, and you know I'm an SF/F writer with pretty developed opinions about storytelling. Is it so hard to believe I have substantive reasons to think GoT is mediocre that totally predate the TV series and its popularity? They're not **** awful, there's actually a couple important things they do really well.

I guess I should probably just snap something back and roll my eyes in return but damn, that kind of stung.

Apparently, everybody's a critic nowadays

i find critics (and movie ratings as well) are a horribly unreliable way to figure out if im going to like something or not. its to the point where if i the critics berate something, that it immediately becomes a must see for me. because it seems i enjoy the movies and shows (and i guess games too) that get horrible ratings, and are shunned by critics. things with high ratings and positive reviews almost always disappoint. the only reason i watch got at all is because there isnt anything else on tv to watch. and these premium cable channel shows seem to be treading the sex and violence waters formally tread on by exploitation flicks. and dont get me wrong, i love me some exploitation flicks, but to label them as 'premium', an demand huge subscription fees, is just atrocious.

[Mongoose]

Seeing the widespread despair/outrage/depression over this kind of makes me feel okay about being actively indifferent towards this whole series.  (Seriously, I had A Game of Thrones sitting unread on my bookshelf for like three years, until my brother pilfered it once he got into the show.)  One of the first things I ever heard about it was basically, "Everyone you care about will die," and that kind of sent me the other way.  I've seen my fair share of fiction where really major characters get offed unexpectedly, and I know it's possible to tell a great story like that, but it always feels so...limiting.  If you go through all the effort of writing an awesome character, why not keep them around for a long time so they can continue to do awesome stuff?  (In some circles one might call that the Eiichiro Oda approach.)

Plus, the way I see it, real life is depressing enough, so I try not to actively seek out fiction that will just wind up depressing me too, with varying success.

[Sandwich]

One of the first things I ever heard about it was basically, "Everyone you care about will die," and that kind of sent me the other way.  I've seen my fair share of fiction where really major characters get offed unexpectedly, and I know it's possible to tell a great story like that, but it always feels so...limiting.  If you go through all the effort of writing an awesome character, why not keep them around for a long time so they can continue to do awesome stuff?

It's not quite as bad as that... GRRM's got an ensemble cast of characters, and he typically writes chapters from the points of view of the "major" ones. Offhand, I'd guesstimate that he's got around 15-20 of those, of whom he's killed off perhaps 3-5 in the... 4000+ pages he's written? It's really not as bad as it's made out to be, and IMO, greatly enriches the emotional investment in the story, since you go into chapters never knowing how they'll end.

[General Battuta]

Seeing the widespread despair/outrage/depression over this kind of makes me feel okay about being actively indifferent towards this whole series.  (Seriously, I had A Game of Thrones sitting unread on my bookshelf for like three years, until my brother pilfered it once he got into the show.)  One of the first things I ever heard about it was basically, "Everyone you care about will die," and that kind of sent me the other way.  I've seen my fair share of fiction where really major characters get offed unexpectedly, and I know it's possible to tell a great story like that, but it always feels so...limiting.  If you go through all the effort of writing an awesome character, why not keep them around for a long time so they can continue to do awesome stuff?  (In some circles one might call that the Eiichiro Oda approach.)

Plus, the way I see it, real life is depressing enough, so I try not to actively seek out fiction that will just wind up depressing me too, with varying success.

GRRM writes relatively few genuinely engaging characters, so it's easy just to see them as pawns on a chessboard.

[Turambar]

[Phantom Hoover]

Seeing the widespread despair/outrage/depression over this kind of makes me feel okay about being actively indifferent towards this whole series.  (Seriously, I had A Game of Thrones sitting unread on my bookshelf for like three years, until my brother pilfered it once he got into the show.)  One of the first things I ever heard about it was basically, "Everyone you care about will die," and that kind of sent me the other way.  I've seen my fair share of fiction where really major characters get offed unexpectedly, and I know it's possible to tell a great story like that, but it always feels so...limiting.  If you go through all the effort of writing an awesome character, why not keep them around for a long time so they can continue to do awesome stuff?  (In some circles one might call that the Eiichiro Oda approach.)

Plus, the way I see it, real life is depressing enough, so I try not to actively seek out fiction that will just wind up depressing me too, with varying success.

GRRM writes relatively few genuinely engaging characters, so it's easy just to see them as pawns on a chessboard.

That... is very true, now that I think about it. I don't think there are any characters in that book who I like simply for being well-written characters, I mostly just pick favourites based on narrative hipsterism.

[Sandwich]

Oh my gosh I'm laughing so hard right now... did you take that shot? Did the store workers arrange it like that or something?

[Turambar]

I can't take credit, I just found it on the internet and decided to pass it on.

Edit: Here's an extra! [SUPER SPOILERS IF YOU HAVENT SEEN THE DAMN EPISODE]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=U6AjgR7D3yg

[Sandwich]

I ran across this while watching some behind the scenes videos on the Gameofthrones YT channel, and it was simply too good to pass up... (there are no spoilers)

http://redd.it/1fygpl

[deathfun]

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/1001161_680990128597110_1096620436_n.jpg

That's just too funny