Game of Thrones Season 4 finale

[StriderShinryu]

My only real complaint was that it did seem pressed for time with the whole section with Jon, Mance and Stannis feeling like a better cap to last episode than part of this one. Give that time back and I think more time could have (and should have) been given to Dany and Tyrion's sections.

I quite enjoyed the stuff with Arya (though I'm an Arya fanboy so that's to be expected). I liked bringing Brienne in and having Arya purposefully reject her, and I felt the final scene with the Hound and Arya was extremely well executed. It really did a good job of both showing The Hound as weak and desperate while showing Arya as even more cold and calculating. This was something I found extremely lacking in the books.

 

[Silvanus]

Parts of it I loved, parts of it I disliked, but overall, I'm not as down on this episode as most here seem to be. I'm not an Unsullied, by the way.

The scenes at the Wall I rather liked, with the aerial shots of the columns of riders and banners and Mance getting all flustered. Tyrion has had his motivation severely changed-- and not for the better-- but that notwithstanding, the scene with Tywin was rather good.

Final notes: skeletons are silly, and the line "a thousand eyes, and one" doesn't make any damn sense when the guy has TWO EYES.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

-snip-

Not sure I want to read that. Going to start reading book 3 shortly.

Okay, yeah, don't do that. Have fun with the book, once you're done with it 4&5 are teeeedious.

Ugh tell me about it. Book 4 was more bearable though since I actually really liked Brienne's quest but right now I'm doing my best to power my way through book 5. The Daenerys and Dorne chapters are so boooooooooooring.


Anyway, I thought it was atrocious the way they handled certain things, as a book reader.

First of all, Stannis' entrance was nowhere near as cool. This wave of soldiers comes, and you just hear the chanting 'STANNIS! STANNIS! STANNIS!' and Stannis is just awesome the way he he shows up and basically tells them he's Batman and he's gonna save their asses.


And skipping Jaime's confession really baffled me since it's a major turning point for Tyrion. Instead they just made him leave Jaime on a happy note, and he just kind of randomly goes up to Tywin's room. I guess they are just trying to keep him a pure hero, purely for the audience??? Though Tyrion's chapters are almost as boring as Daenerys, so maybe the change will make it actually enjoyable to watch on screen, who knows.


Captcha: love is blind.

Ohhh fitting.

 

[Reiper]

The portrayal of Stannis is really starting to irk me. He is by far one of my favourite characters. He isn't perfect in the books, far from it, but he as a lot of great qualities that the show has massively downplayed.
-He is just
-He is the rightful king
-He has a strong sense of duty
-He never gives up
-He doesn't have time for court intrigue / political bullshit
-He leads by example

Perhaps the number one reason though is that he is hilarious. Not intentionally so, but his dry humour led to me bursting out laughing on several occasions, more so than any other character.

It disappoints me that the shows creators dislike him for some reason, I even saw an interview where they said "he would make a terrible king" which tells me our understanding of the source material is quite different. Stannis has always been an exceptional administrator. He would not be a loved king, but he would be a good king.

The big scene in the finale was supposed to be Stannis' big moment. His knights charging and breaking the wildling lines while outnumbered twenty to one, while his men scream "stannis, stannis, STANNIS!!!"

Instead the scene lasted like 30 seconds, and we get more "here comes evil stannis". My friends that only watch the show think I am crazy for liking him, and I even saw one review of the episode call stannis a "pretender" to the throne.

WTF?!?!?!? How can Stannis be a pretender? He has far and away the best claim to the throne...


Oh, and the "Jojen paste" theory in the books was all but confirmed by this episode...
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/56772-jojen-reeds-fate-adwd-spoilers/

 

[Best of the 3]

I liked the episode, felt like it wrapped up S4 in a nice bow. No it wasn't as shocking as Episode 7-8, but it didn't have to be. All the characters have been left in appropriate places to be carried on in the next season.

 

[Frozengale]

So is Bran going to become some kind of sage or something godlike? Jojen death was not suprising since we did get a foreshadow of it when they were captured althought I thougth he was going to be burned alived.

Pretty sure that he was predicting Meerah's death. Meerah was the one that asked when they would know the end, and that's when he saw the fire and said, "You'll know".

 

[Zhukov]

Ugh.

Might as well call it The Extraneous Action Scene Episode.

Yet another demonstration of why the show people really should stick to the script. Because whenever they go off it, everything goes to shit.

 

[Twinrehz]

-snip-

Not sure I want to read that. Going to start reading book 3 shortly.

Okay, yeah, don't do that. Have fun with the book, once you're done with it 4&5 are teeeedious.

Ugh tell me about it. Book 4 was more bearable though since I actually really liked Brienne's quest but right now I'm doing my best to power my way through book 5. The Daenerys and Dorne chapters are so boooooooooooring.

Are they worse than book 2? Because that was a bit of a drag to me, after the action pack that was book/season 1.

 

[pikka]

Hoo boy. This episode.

There are both episode- and possibly future season-spoilers below, so don't read if you don't wish to know. =)

Spoiler

I had been looking forward to the whole Tyrion/Tywin scene since the beginning of the season when I first saw Tywin forging the swords out of Ice. I imagined that the scene could not really live up to my expectations, but this was quite disappointing actually =/

I really felt that it would be fitting that Tyrion half-breaks after Jaime's confession as in the books, after all the build-up in the prison of how good friends they are.

I was also very disappointed for a lack of Lady Stoneheart. I had really imagined her being the very last reveal to create some hype for season 5. If it is true that she will not appear at all and dish out some northern vengeance then...

But I really like this series, yet I have been dreading this very point they have reached now. Book 4 and 5 are not that interesting sadly.

In my opinion, the series have fallen into a self-dug trap. There were so many shocking and drastic deaths that, while historic in modern literature, have left the series with a much weaker cast of characters. There are hardly anyone left to vouch for, and I have started to lose interest in the ones who yet live, because their existance are so fickle.

Point is, I think the series will be hard pressed during the coming seasons to be interesting.

 

[Silvanus]

Instead the scene lasted like 30 seconds, and we get more "here comes evil stannis". My friends that only watch the show think I am crazy for liking him

My family thought me rather crazy for it before, but they had very differing reactions to his appearance in this episode. They didn't see it as "here comes evil Stannis" at all, and my brother specifically mentioned that he saw where I was coming from now.

The music may have been broody, but broody music has always suited the Mannis.

Oh, and the "Jojen paste" theory in the books was all but confirmed by this episode...
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/56772-jojen-reeds-fate-adwd-spoilers/

Ooh, I'd dispute that, too;

Spoiler

His body exploded in the show, did it not? Blasted by Leaf's fireball. No paste leftover.

 

[Reiper]

Instead the scene lasted like 30 seconds, and we get more "here comes evil stannis". My friends that only watch the show think I am crazy for liking him

My family thought me rather crazy for it before, but they had very differing reactions to his appearance in this episode. They didn't see it as "here comes evil Stannis" at all, and my brother specifically mentioned that he saw where I was coming from now.

The music may have been broody, but broody music has always suited the Mannis.

TBH my biggest issue with the scene was that it didn't feel like Stannis was outnumbered 20:1, rather, it felt like he outnumbered the wildlings 20:1. In my mind, part of the point of that battle was that Stannis crushed a much larger force, in the show though, it looks like he is effortlessly genociding the poor wildings who are standing there going "muh...muh people have bled enough"

Oh, and the "Jojen paste" theory in the books was all but confirmed by this episode...
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/56772-jojen-reeds-fate-adwd-spoilers/

Ooh, I'd dispute that, too;

Spoiler

His body exploded in the show, did it not? Blasted by Leaf's fireball. No paste leftover.

Exactly! which is why it is confirmed in my mind, in the books anyway.

Spoiler

Of course, they likely won't add it in the show now, but they are changing lots between the show / book. It shows that his character is no longer relevant after he has reached the three eyed crow, and having him killed by wights / exploded was simply easier for the writers than inserting subtle hints that Bran was eating Jojen paste, especially since it likely isn't that important to the story. In the show, the three eyed crow said "he came coming knowing he would die". So we know Jojen almost certainly dies in the books as well, but the show writers simply had less of a palette for cannibalism.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Now full disclosure, I haven't read any of the books past the first but I am upto date on the show, however I've lost a lot of faith in the writers of the show now. They have flatout said they just don't know how to incorporate Lady Stoneheart into the story of the show, which is why she wasn't included in this season.

Fucking seriously? You have books to go off. Just follow that.

The writers have taken quite a few liberties in changing the nature of characters, excluding characters, creating characters and placing them in scenarios that vary in tone and content from the books. This has resulted in quite a few cases where certain instances where they are loyal to the books seem out of place, Arya leaving the Hound to die after their on-screen Bonny and Clyde adventures being the most recent example I can think of.

Perhaps they figure that with all of the changes they've already made, she would seem out of place or would confuse viewers who haven't read the books.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The whole Shea thing kind of pissed me off. Not so much that Tyrion murdered her, but that she turned out to be a traitor. Since when? Since always? Either she's been deceiving him al along, making all those touching moments between her and Tyrion completely null and void (as well as our time watching it), or she really did love him but turned traitor when he forced her away for her own protection, which is just fucking stupid soap opera antics; The scorned lover returns as a villain.

I actually liked where he killed his dad on the toilet. Such an unfitting end for such a cold and calculated ruler. I loved it.

And the whole thing with Bran was very un-Game of Thrones. First you have the Mad Max girl, and then the old dude who looks like he belongs in a Sam Raimi movie.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I think they're overestimating their audience in that regard as well. I work with a lot of people at work who watch the show, my own sisters watch it and no one knows who anyone is on that show as it is. Shoving in some new ones won't hurt it much since no one keeps track anyway.

If large sections of the audience are already struggling to keep track of characters, shoving more in isn't exactly going to help. Even if you didn't take that into account, including all of the characters from the books would probably just make the show really convoluted. Most characters already get a fairly short segment in each, or every second, episode as it is.

I'm not saying that I'm in favour of them potentially leaving Lady Stoneheart out but I'm sure it's not a decision that's been taken too lightly.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Let's see?

-I'm reading Book 5 at this moment and they mostly skipped Bran's story to exactly where I left off. Also, Jojen Reed's death was hilariously cartoony.
-Jon Snow's story with the whole season could've been better if it had less filler story. (The whole "betrayers" story line with the "EVIL RAPEY OVERLORD"). Although, I did like how it concluded and it's as good as in the books.
-Not sure why everyone is making a fuss about Lady Stoneheart not showing up now other than wishful thinking.
-Tyrion story line.. No Tysha mentioning, No "Where do whores go" and no Jaime confession. I thought that those were important since they always keep mentioning it in Book 4 & 5. Although, Tywin's death was perfect.
-Arya storyline was a good change. In the books, she turned a bit psychopathic. In the show, it showed that the traumatizing events created a cold persona in her.