It's weird because Robb is barely present in the book. As he isn't a POV character, his presence is only told through its effects on others (i.e. Catelyn Stark, Bran, Theon, the Lannisters). The reason is obvious: Richard Madden is the emerging co-star of the series and women lose their shit over him, so they want to keep him on screen. I'm kinda amazed how much their cramming into the last two episodes. Almost nothing has happened in Kinds Landing or the East, the two primary focuses of the narrative at the moment.
There's some reading here on how they went about doing this episode. No spoilers included. It seems they got a significant increase on the budget compared to what they get for the average episode.
I thought the episode was amazing. More Tyrion development, though his confession to Shea seemed a little played up and hammy. His talk with the Eunuch was one of the better of the season. Ayra playing the red haired dude perfectly, though I still hope he allows a final named death. Jon Snow's story developed a little more, could have been more I guess, but the weapons the fat kid found........ I haven't read the second book but I think Robs relationship with the nurse has played out well. There was a little part of my heart that was disappointed when the clever editing revealed they were using a body double with the girl, but damn what a body double!!! Chick was BANGING. Ill echo everyone else again. Dany's story couldn't get anymore boring. Shitty because I thought she was probably my favorite character in the first book and probably tied for best story in the first season with Neds.
Now that i think of it. The scene where Cersei brings in Tyrion's whore was one of the best scenes of book 2. When it comes to Tyrion, I guess I'm a little spoiled. I can't remember the whore's name from the book, but she was a great character with some witty dialogue. Getting to know her, then seeing her dragged in front of Tyrion in place of Shae adds to her character, but also reveals to the reader just how awesome Tyrion is at the game as well. He inspired such trust and love from this woman that she would place herself at this much danger for him. I still think the episode sucked.
It just felt like they were setting everything up for the next episode with the battle. I didn't hate the episode, but it was probably one of my least favourite ones to date.
It's to do justice to the buildup that ol' George glossed over leading up to big stuff later. I'm far more attached to TV Robb than I ever was to book Robb, regardless of what he represented.
I LOVED book Rob, much better than the one in the series. I think that is one of the few unfortunate things about the tv series, and I'm not criticizing, but in the books, Ned's kids were KIDS. I thought that changed the whole dynamic, and made it much more interesting. In the tv series, they added years to all the kids (I think except Bran and Rickon, but that doesn't really matter... ...yet.) because they had to, as a lot of the stuff in the book may well border on child pornography if depicted in the tv series. Still, they have done a masterful job of adapting the book. While the most recent episode was a bit slower than others, it was extremely well done and sets up not only next week, but events much later. For those of you that didn't read the book, the most recent episode is the one that you will look back to in a couple of more books and go 'oh, shit, that's where it started...'
1000x the bolded section. I agree that this episode was much slower than many of the others but there is so much set up that has to be done so that some of the things that happen later make sense. I think the reason I liked this episode is because I have read all of the books and like VI said there is a ton of foreshadowing that those who have read the books caught. Next week should be pretty amazing.
I just love this thread because I don't know many people in real life that watch the show and haven't read the books so I read this thread and all these complaints from those who haven't read the books I'm just sitting here rocking back and forth mummering "Just wait...just you fucking wait!". To invoke David Simon here, this show is based on a book, you wouldn't judge a book by one chapter, you'd have to look at it as an entire piece of work. Yeah, I have to agree with VI. TV Robb is cool and all, but he's supposed to be 16. He's not supposed to be as tall as the men he's leading, he's barely supposed to have a beard. I wish they somehow framed that line better where he said "I wasn't raised to be king, I was raised to be lord of Winterfell." Shit hits the fan next week. Also, let's give some props to Bronn, that little scene was awesome.
I can see how this episode is setting everything up for the next couple episodes. I thought it was much more interesting than last week. Think about it: -Jon Snow finds the obsidian items in the snow. -Cat has some secret plan to deal with Jaime that was slightly revealed. -Arya started making her escape with her friends. I can't be the only one who thought 'oh shit!' at all the bleeding corpses. Spoiler Although, El Husband told me how it actually happened in the books and it was more badass, since she cut the throat of a guard herself I think Rob Stark's interactions with his mom are strange since he is depicted as a man and as I understand it, he is supposed to be a teenager. He is way too confident. Well, all the Stark children are to an extent. "The little Lord" is exceedingly pensive and wise for his age of 10. Rob's scene where he bangs the nurse seemed pretty pointless, too.
Just keep in mind, they are condensing 1000+ pages into 10, 50 minute segments, while folding in more detail and characters than the books actually had to. Everything they show is a set-up or payoff. I haven't watched anything and thought "that was pointless." The House of the Undying with Dany should be fucking crazy. Oh and the war.
So, this wasn't completely clear to me when I first watched the scene, but it the female giant capturing Jaime and bringing him back to camp, or escorting him as a prisoner somewhere else? At first I thought "well shit, she found him fast", but then figured it makes more sense for Kat to be sending them away... somewhere... I thought Tyrion's convo with the eunich about the Dragon chick was pretty cool. One game at a time. Someone better fucking cap Geoffrey next week. And one thing I keep going back to on this show, as all these people compete for the throne - aren't "the people" going to get sick and fucking tired of this shit eventually, or are they all sufficiently brain washed to expect to be led by a monarch. Need to get James Madison in there and bust some heads.
It's a story. It wouldn't be nearly as fun of if they all sat around and discussed the merits of a representative republic now, would it. And I'm only half way through the first book so I don't know any spoilers, but something tells me another king is going to enter the war. They keep calling it the "War of 5 Kings" but now that Renley's dead, there's only Robb, Joffrey, Stannis, and Greyjoy.
What about a king north of the wall? I feel like most of the kings south of the wall have been mentioned.
The 'war' has been ongoing all season, between Robb (King of the North) and Lannisters (Iron Throne), Stannis (The 'Rightful Heir' to Robert Baratheon) and Renly (assumed people wanted him to be king) and Balon Greyjoy vs. Robb. There's your 'War of Five Kings' - but Renly lost, and his men absorbed by Stannis, Robb and Tywin still going at it. Stannis is coming for the Lannisters in King's Landing. One thing that this season has not touched on too much (that was covered more in the books: what happens if Robb and Stannis are both successful on their respective fronts? Meaning, Renly, Lannisters out and Greyjoy kind of hanging out there - but as Asha made clear in the last episode, Balon is not real interested in any of the lands that are not close to the seas.
Spoiler I believe last episode had Robb telling Roose to arrange for his son to take care of affairs at Winterfell