So I am now officially traumatized.
I just watched the second to last episode of the season. And I am officially ready for it to end.
Way to take the wind out of Dany’s sails, GOT.
We spend weeks and weeks waiting for movement on the Dragon front and now…this?
Oh, and if you think I didn’t notice what you did with Ygritte and Jon, you better think again.
As for the Internet–thanks a lot. For nothing. For months the readers of the novels have been going around hinting at how everything changes at Edmure’s wedding.
Okay, as a writer, I’m an over-plotter. You say things like that, I will immediately cotton onto the worst that can happen. And I WILL guess what you’re hinting at. IMMEDIATELY.
Know what? Guessing it beforehand didn’t help. At. All.
I want to say I hate this show. I really do. But I can’t. It’s just a show that’s doing it’s job. It’s wonderful, amazing, heart-stopping, jaw-dropping job.
George RR Martin, on the other hand, has no excuse. You, sir, are a bastard. There. I said it. And yes, that was my glove hitting you in the face. I will see you in the fields at sundown.
And is it just me, or is all good television getting to be psychologically damaging these days? Between Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Justified etc. I’m starting to wonder if I have the strength to watch the shit I watch, far less write the shit I write.
But I guess we must all suffer for art, at some point.
And in the meantime, it keeps the evil of reality TV away.
But for the love of God, if you have started watching/reading Game of Thrones…TURN BACK NOW. There’s still time to save your souls. If you keep going. If you get on that road…
Well, like a netizen said a short while ago, you’ll just end up in a corner, rocking back and forth and making funny whimpering sounds until next week. When the last episode airs.
God, give me strength. Especially since Tru Blood comes back right after. And we already know what fuckery is afoot there.
*Headdesk*
R.S.A. Garcia 
While I like the show, I have to kind of agree. The season 1 ending – that was a huge game changer that kicked the story off into high gear. The red wedding, not so much. GRRM already established that people die in his stories, at random, tragically, and this was just more of it, and so not as unexpected as people who read the books seem to think. And since he’s done it before, it’s not a twist anymore, it’s just more punishment. There was some great conflict between Rob and Catelyn, both over Rob’s wife, over Jamie, and over John Snow, but suddenly rather than following those through to the end, poof, they’re over.
My feelings exactly! I mean, it was being mean for meanery’s sake. And suddenly ending everything going on on that front was like having north become south. World changing in a sickening sort of way. I tried to read the books years ago. Could not get much past the prologue–felt like the world was a weight around my neck, the writing was so heavy. That’s why I really appreciate the show. I think it’s actually doing a better job of dispensing with useless bits than Martin has, and managed to tighten up a lot of stuff that was loose everywhere. In the end, he’s done something really remarkable, and I plan to try reading the books again–but not now. And certainly not before the series ends. And if, as they promise, this does not have a happy ending, I’ll revisit that whole plan. ‘Cause, you know, life is painful enough without looking for more of it, book after book after book.
Yeah, I’ve read authors who write tragic things, and kill characters, and I love the stories, falling in love with a character, and having my heart broken when they die. But this didn’t feel like progression towards anything meaningful in the story. It felt more like a cop-out to end conflicts he didn’t know how to resolve. Or like, he realized the story was dragging and couldn’t think of anything more clever to spice it up.
I couldn’t read this at the time you posted cause I hadn’t watched the episode. I’ve finished the season now.
I’ve always thought the point of GoT is that the author thinks romanticised notions of the medieval era, which are all about honour and chivalry and righteousness prevailing, are a load of crap, and in the ‘real world’, the cunning and the brutal survive. Anyone who has the temerity to be romantic, idealistic, innocent, merciful, indecisive, peaceful, or hopeful gets punished for it. Robb Stark had foolishly indulged in romantic love, so the fact that he and those around him got punished for it did not surprise me. As far as the author’s concerned, I don’t think it’s supposed to be a tragedy that makes you feel teary, it’s supposed to be a warning. In GoT the characters all just feel like puppets to express the author’s cynical notion that scruples = weakness.
I think this is why I enjoyed Spartacus much more than GoT – cause that series grappled the dilemma head-on – asking if the world IS this brutal and violent, then what are we living for? What is life about? And the characters actually thought about it, and had hopes and dreams and interests beyond power, notwithstanding that power was important. Also, I thought Spartacus did a great job of smashing racial / gender / sexuality stereotypes whereas GoT is made up of little other than stereotypes. The overall quality of the acting’s better in GoT, though. Michelle Fairley’s performance (Catelyn Stark) in that second-last episode was amazing.
Yeah that’s pretty much how I feel. And I’m the kind of person who thinks right does win a lot of the time, and that scruples aren’t always punished. And even if they are, I’d rather go to my grave with that punishment and rest easy, knowing I did the right thing. So yeah, he punishes dumb people like me to reinforce that the world sucks. But I do think at heart, he’s a romantic, and he wants the right people to get their comeuppance. He’s just not going to do that without dirtying all the good people enough to make them capable of delivering it.
That’s exactly how I feel about Spartacus. It was so brilliant at telling that human story, and making you understand that life had to be about being better, or what was the point? But GOT is intriguing, and it’s an unflinching look at the darkest parts of the human experience–stereotypes and all–and they’ve turned it into something really amazing with the sets and the actors and tight storylines. So yeah, I’ll keep watching. Even if I do think a lot of the good stuff he did was unintentional and, and some of the other stuff was made icky by his old man biases. He captured the popular imagination. And that’s something I want to learn from.
Honestly, hate that Michelle’s gone. But thank goodness for Maisie and others. I know she’ll kick butt in the books to come.
Yes, very true about capturing the popular imagination. I think it’s the fur and the nudity, personally, but maybe I’m just being a smart arse 🙂
Did you see this? http://aamerrahman.tumblr.com/post/52770211665/game-of-tropes-racefail-spoilers I’d be interested to know what you think as a spec fic writer who is both a woman and non-white. My reaction was that this was misogyny masquerading as an attack on racism. Not that I don’t see issues with the exoticism of the Other in GoT. I think the positioning of Dany as conqueror of the curiously characterless ‘brown people’ is highly problematic to both women and non-whites, because in one move it suggests that no non-white person is smart enough to be a serious threat to her, and that a woman is only smart and savvy enough to play the Game around non-white men, who are less of a challenge / less dangerous than the white ones. What do you reckon?
By the way, silvertonguebook is Caroline still.