Escapist Podcast: Bonus: Game of Thrones Season 2

Recommended Videos

The Escapist Staff

New member
Jul 10, 2006
6,151
0
0
Bonus: Game of Thrones Season 2

On this bonus episode, we share our thoughts on Game of Thrones season 2 so far.

Watch Video
 

Raban

New member
Apr 28, 2012
9
0
0
In the books it is clearer, that there are two kinds of threads beyond the wall there are the dumb, blue eyed Zombies and the guys who create them, the evil, intelligent White Walkers with their piercing blue eyes and the extreme drop in temperature around them who command their zombie army.

And is it me, or could you all hear the big mental grin of Greg Tito when Janelle Bonanno mentioned, that Rob Stark is the only King she would follow?
 

Tanakh

New member
Jul 8, 2011
1,512
0
0
Abot Eddard Stark, I never could get myself to like him. I understand his character, but in my eyes he is the kind of lord that will get his people killed following good intentions and risk his family due wishful thinking.

Stark as a warrior, even a general, seems a fine man; as a lord he is incompetent.

FFS man, if you are going to go and beg the Queen to kill you, at least send your kids to the north or arrange an escape route... good God.
 

Raban

New member
Apr 28, 2012
9
0
0
Well he had already arranged for his daugthers to go back to the north but Sansa didn't want to go back she wanted to get married to Joffrey, so she talked to the queen and asked for help and unwillingly betrayed her family before Ned could seize the power.
 

SquidVicious

Senior Member
Apr 20, 2011
428
1
23
Country
United States
I was a little disappointed with the first episode of the second season, mostly because the first season did such a good job at following the book almost word for word. Episode one seemed to be rushing to do too many things too quickly and I was worried that it would result far too many new characters all introduced within the same small time frame and become overwhelming to people who had not read the book. Luckily though the writers for the show saw that and instead altered the events of the book in a way as to not have to introduce so many new characters and instead incorporate fringe characters into these rolls, like Bronn becoming captain of the gold cloaks. Four episodes in and I'm starting to like how the events of A Clash of Kings are unfolding more in the show than in the book. While they are skimming some sections or just flat out removing them (like Arya's tenure as cleaner in Harrenhal), they're shedding light onto other events like Theon's internal conflict and Renly's sexuality conflicting with his desire to rule.
 

JokerboyJordan

New member
Sep 6, 2009
1,034
0
0
Raban said:
In the books it is clearer, that there are two kinds of threads beyond the wall there are the dumb, blue eyed Zombies and the guys who create them, the evil, intelligent White Walkers with their piercing blue eyes and the extreme drop in temperature around them who command their zombie army.

And is it me, or could you all hear the big mental grin of Greg Tito when Janelle Bonanno mentioned, that Rob Stark is the only King she would follow?
Thanks for the spoilers man, especially on a spoiler free cast
 

Haukur Isleifsson

New member
Jun 2, 2010
234
0
0
Love it keep it up.

One thing that I am wondering though. !!Possible spoilers!! Wasn't the castle where Stannis and co. were under siege when Davos smuggled them the onions Storm's End? Amd wasn't it there that Melisandre gave birth to the shadow? Aren't the people making the show intentionally blending the to event's together?
 

VladG

New member
Aug 24, 2010
1,127
0
0
The white walkers aren't dead, or at least not zombies (it's not really revealed). The blue eyed humans are basically zombies revived by the white walkers, but they are completely different, they are just servants of the white walkers, mindless and slow, while the white walkers are completely alien, wearing shimmering liquid-like armour, graceful and intelligent.
 

Eric Morales

New member
Dec 6, 2011
116
0
0
At this point I kind of want to know how big a role magic is going to play in the series going forward. It makes me think of Wheel of Time, which started off fairly grounded in reality but over time as magic started to play a larger role in the world realism starts to get replaced by spellcasters devising new and exciting ways to reduce people to bloody mulch (not that it isn't still a great read).

Fortunately it looks like George RR Martin specifically tried to avoid something like that happening in Game of Thrones. I guess I'm not worried about the series losing touch with reality until they start trying to figure out how to give birth to those shadow-babies on an industrial scale.


I honestly tried to like Circe for a while, or at least respect her in spite of the creepy incestuous affair with her twin brother but I've been having trouble because of that one scene where she ordered Ned Stark to kill Sansa's wolf because Aria's had escaped and one dead dog was apparently as good as another. It just struck me as needlessly, gratuitously cruel. More like something Geoffrey would do.

Naturally the wolves steal every scene they're in. Even if she never comes back into the story, Aria's wolf still has a special place in my heart for taking a chunk out of Geoffrey's hand. I felt bad for enjoying that scene so much.
 

Raban

New member
Apr 28, 2012
9
0
0
JokerboyJordan said:
Raban said:
In the books it is clearer, that there are two kinds of threads beyond the wall there are the dumb, blue eyed Zombies and the guys who create them, the evil, intelligent White Walkers with their piercing blue eyes and the extreme drop in temperature around them who command their zombie army.

And is it me, or could you all hear the big mental grin of Greg Tito when Janelle Bonanno mentioned, that Rob Stark is the only King she would follow?
Thanks for the spoilers man, especially on a spoiler free cast
That is information you can get from the very first chapter in the book and tv show
 

Baldr

The Noble
Jan 6, 2010
1,739
0
0
Arya changes her name to Arry(Boy) when traveling north.

I think this is what is confusing people who read the books and it been awhile:

*warning minor spoilers*
In the book Melisandre and Davos are not together until the siege of Storm's End in which Davos smuggles Melisandre into the castle(via the sea tunnel) and she gives birth to the shadow child. This happens a much latter in the book than the TV show.
 

Lex Darko

New member
Aug 13, 2006
244
0
0
I wish they had kept Vaes Tolorro [http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Vaes_Tolorro] in the storyline, but I suppose it was cut to speed up Daenerys' arrival into Qarth along with her overall story. Different mediums do demand different pacing, but I'm curious if or how they will have Jorah talk about his past to Daenerys.

So far her story seems to be the most revised for the show compared to the others.
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
7,222
0
0
Baldr said:
Arya changes her name to Arry(Boy) when traveling north.

I think this is what is confusing people who read the books and it been awhile:

*warning minor spoilers*
In the book Melisandre and Davos are not together until the siege of Storm's End in which Davos smuggles Melisandre into the castle(via the sea tunnel) and she gives birth to the shadow child. This happens a much latter in the book than the TV show.
Ahhh....maybe that's why I was so confused. Something seemed off to me about that whole plot thread, but I assumed I just plain remembered it all wrong.
 

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
0
0
Haukur Isleifsson said:
Love it keep it up.

One thing that I am wondering though. !!Possible spoilers!! Wasn't the castle where Stannis and co. were under siege when Davos smuggled them the onions Storm's End? Amd wasn't it there that Melisandre gave birth to the shadow? Aren't the people making the show intentionally blending the to event's together?
You know what, you're right. It was Storm's End, the seat of the Baratheons. I had forgotten that detail, thanks for pointing it out.

Greg
 

Baldr

The Noble
Jan 6, 2010
1,739
0
0
Seem like they just may skip the Siege of Storm's End. Jaqen H'ghar rocks.
 

Mark Barraclough

New member
Apr 9, 2012
1
0
0
They mentioned that they thought that the show had already established that Joffrey was terrible, and that they didn't necessarily need to have that scene with the prostitutes. Despite how much of a monster Joffrey has been throughout the series, I feel that the scene was both necessary and tells us something about Joffrey that we haven't really seen yet.
Up until that point, every time Joffrey has done something horrible you could write it off as him being a brash, immature little child with way too much power. When Arya embarrassed him he pettily pulled strings to hurt the Starks (leading to Sansa's direwolf being killed). When Ned is arrested, Joffrey brashly has him executed with no thought of the consequences and he comes of as a petulant child. When he gets news that the Starks are beating his armies in every battle, he directs his anger towards the only Stark at hand, Sansa.
With the picture they painted so far, he's still a monster. He comes off as a spoiled, vindictive child with poor impulse control and the power to act on those impulses. In the scene with the prostitutes, however, he is cold and calculating. He hurts them simply to hurt them (and send a message to Tyrion). With this scene Joffrey goes from being a bully with a really big stick, to a full blown sociopath.
 

Ramith

New member
Nov 7, 2011
81
0
0
Some cannon clarification:

Stannis nailed the red woman, but we don?t know where.

Renly did not have that frank conversation with his new wife.

The comet is a sign of returning magic, magic and winter is coming.

Yorren never told that story, the prayer is all Arya.

Janelle, you are thinking of Tyrion?s first wife, who was indeed a whore.

Ya I've read the books a bit too many times. Used to be my favourite series.

Personally I think Robert was a way better ruler than anything Cersei can pull off. Cersei just has no taste for diplomacy. Robert was an idiot, but he makes alot friends, and he kept the peace.

Big fan of the books, the show is more of a gimmick for me, just kind of neat to see parts of the book come to life. Don?t like how they handled some of the characters like Sam and Petyr.

Not a fan of the last book though, but I suppose most people won?t see that for a couple years.
 

RyePunk

New member
Dec 5, 2008
54
0
0
I literally burst into laughter when Susan said Cersei was incredibly smart. Nope, nope, nope.
Cersei gives off the illusion that she's smart. She makes people think she knows what she's doing.
She actually doesn't. Tywin knows this. Its why he sends Tyrion to rule instead of letting her act as regent.

Littlefinger in the later books explains exactly where Cersei's power comes from. Its a wonderful scene.
 

Crimson_Dragoon

Biologist Supreme
Jul 29, 2009
795
0
0
Susan Arendt said:
Baldr said:
Arya changes her name to Arry(Boy) when traveling north.

I think this is what is confusing people who read the books and it been awhile:

*warning minor spoilers*
In the book Melisandre and Davos are not together until the siege of Storm's End in which Davos smuggles Melisandre into the castle(via the sea tunnel) and she gives birth to the shadow child. This happens a much latter in the book than the TV show.
Ahhh....maybe that's why I was so confused. Something seemed off to me about that whole plot thread, but I assumed I just plain remembered it all wrong.
Its not just you. They've been pronouncing her name weirdly since season 1. I keep hearing it as "Eye-ra" rather than the "Ar-ya" you'd expect it to be.

The name change that confuses me is Theon's sister. It should be "Asha," but they keep calling her "Yaara." I fully accept that changes have to be made when adapting a book to a new medium (even if I'm not thrilled about them skipping over some of Arya's chapters), but I don't quite get this one.