Queen of Thorns is perfect. Best part of the episode by far. I dislike what they’re doing with Catelyn, though. And the fight with Jamie was super lame.

To be fair, if Catelyn had done that in the book, I might actually like her.

Meh. I guess so. I am so apathetic toward her character that I really didn’t focus on it, though.

I should qualify my dislike/apathy for Catelyn—I pity her, and I don’t blame her for really any of her actions. She’s trying to keep her family, the kingdom, everything together, but it basically all slips away from her. So I do pity her. It’s just that I am such an enormous fan of Jon Snow, I can’t help but dislike her, or at least not like her.

Why does everyone like Jon Snow? He’s okay, I guess, but never particularly interested me. On a similar note, I don’t understand the Catelyn hate.

She’s trying to keep her family, the kingdom, everything together, but it basically all slips away from her.

This is how I always viewed her. She is very flawed and does a lot of frustrating things, but so does everyone else. Saying that everything is her fault (which I’ve heard a lot) is pushing it.

Anyway, I didn’t see the episode in question as of yet, so I can’t comment authoritatively on this. But it seems to me that having Catelyn experience some doubt about her behavior to Jon doesn’t really negate the other stupid things she’s done, which have not been obscured or diluted in any way. It just makes her more three-dimensional.

The showrunners have been doing the same thing to Cersei. She’s not any less bitchy, but certainly more interesting than she was before, just because there’s more to her than being so hateable. (It also distinguishes her a bit more from Joffrey, who’s a pure sociopath.)

Why does everyone like Jon Snow? He’s okay, I guess, but never particularly interested me.

I liked him during the first book, I think (or maybe only part of it), but then he was just kind of… dull. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but he and Robb’s “we are so noble” stuff doesn’t work the way that Ned’s did. They just kind of annoy me. I never liked Show!Jon anyway, though.

The showrunners have been doing the same thing to Cersei.

One thing that bugged me about this is, IIRC, in the show, Cersei talked about how she and Robert had a baby but it died, and in the book, I believe that she says that any Robert-caused pregnancies were “taken care of” by Cercei and Jaime. It made her more sympathetic in a way that I don’t think she deserved, whereas the other development they’ve given her seems like a reasonable extension of her character. She does love her children and she does realize that Joffrey is not a good person in the book, so they are more just expanding on those parts of her character. As far as distinguishing her from Joffrey, aside from full-blown psychopathy and just awfulness while still caring about some people, I always saw Cercei as being terrible but reasonably intelligent, whereas Joffrey is terrible and an idiot.

It made her more sympathetic in a way that I don’t think she deserved

I actually thought the whole angle that Cersei loved Robert once, and hates him even more because of that love, was really interesting. Cersei was not a good girl in her youth either, but it’s interesting to think that her marriage might have turned out differently, had circumstances allowed it.

Welp, that would be a buzzkill moment :/

Jon Snow is awesome. What’s not to like? Probably the only interesting member of the Stark clan left. I mean, Robb’s a square, Bran’s lame as hell, Sansa is a boring bitch, Rickon’s a nonentity and Catelyn’s a cunt. Arya’s pretty cool though I suppose.

Bran’s lame as hell

Oh you.

Oh you.

Come on… Bran’s a lame-o. Search your feelings, you know it to be true

Ahaha, nope. I am oblivious.

she’s basically the best thing ever.

Well, for one thing she’s suddenly gained a personality that seems worthy of a loony tune. It amazing how far she’s gone.

What the bleeding ever-loving avatar of mercy, Marquis. What.

...And this is…ok? Is this one of those Rape is Okay if it’s Female on Male things?

I didn’t even watch the whole thing and I’m going to have to wash my brain out by thinking about that adorable Ms. Frizzle/personified school bus picture with the yuri undertones.

Yeah, I watched through first season of OUaT (wish the rest would get on Netflix already). It’s… better than it has any right to be. lol Though just what I know about Fables, it does sound like the closest thing to adaption anyone will ever see.

Haven’t seen an analog for the “jack” character yet. It does have a good acting pedigree (hey, Durza from the Eragon movie plays one of the main bad guys). I’d recommend for people to give the first season a try, though it might not be for everyone.

I’ve been catching bits of season 2, and that looks more interesting than the first. Season 1 didn’t really grab me. Most of the characters seemed a bit flat, at least in the “real” world – “Snow White” is the perfect goodie-goodie, the “Evil Queen” is EVIL (TM), etc. And there was that one episode with “Sneaky” the dwarf, who could be out-stealthed by someone who’s played Thief.

The flashbacks to Fantasy-land were good though (at least it gave the writers something to work with), and Rumpelstiltskin was my favorite character. The Evil Queen should have taken notes from him – if you’re going to be EVIL (TM), at least try to have a good time. Otherwise, what’s the point?

And there was that one episode with “Sneaky” the dwarf, who could be out-stealthed by someone who’s played Thief.

THIEF IS THE GREATEST GAME EVAR! (sorry, I am a big fan)

When I watched the first few episodes, I really wasn’t impressed with it, mostly because I hated the characters, especially the villain and that whole setup. Does it get better?

I can attest that it does (I also wasn’t thrilled with it first few.) By the end of season 1 it’s almost game of thrones for broadcast TV.

Maybe I should start with season 2, because the characters struck me that way too. I never got as far as Rumpelstiltskin, though I’ve heard good things about the character. I just can’t get over the first view.

It’s actually kind of funny because you can pinpoint where a flashback takes place in Rumple’s life purely by his acting. It’s really subdued waaaay back in the past, but the closer to the “present” it gets, the more scenery Rumple chews. The guy puts in a really fascinating study in acting.

But the joker CAN do magic!

Well in the books he’s like 14. And I thought he was dumb in the books too. But you don’t even really see him much. He never has any POV chapters. You only see him in Catelyn’s chapters which are always the worst cause she’s awful

Shae’s actress does porn. You should check it out, it’s good. She’s better at that than acting

Shae was a colossal nonentity in the book. Even if TV Shae is irritating, she’s still an improvement over nothing.

I agree. I never got why people were upset about how different she is in the show than she was in the book. In the book, she’s just kind of there. I don’t like her really, but at least she does stuff.

I have some complaints about the show, too (I still enjoy it overall), but I don’t feel like getting into it right now. I’d be interested in your specifics, though, Puppet.

On a related note, I’ve only read the first three books, and the more I read about book four, the less motivated I am to read it.

I agree.

Robb doesn’t care who is on the Iron Throne as long as it isn’t Joffrey. He wants justice for his father and doesn’t really want to be a king. They made him one. Really I think Robb’s alright. He makes some bad decisions but he is trying to live up to his father’s noble legacy and he is surrounded by imbeciles (his mother, Brutus, Karstark, etc).

Catelyn has made just as many stupid mistakes as Robb, even more and with farther reaching consequences actually. And she doesn’t have the excuse of being a kid who had all the responsibility of being a KING thrust upon her. She’s just stupid.

Sometimes Catelyn is right about things, but nobody ever listens to her when she is.

This is true. I happen to think that Catelyn is one of the more balanced and realistic characters in ASOIAF. Not that she’s my favorite, or that she’s perfect, or even that she’s awesome, but I think she gets more hate than she really deserves. (I think it’s because she isn’t transparently awesome like some other characters that she isn’t forgiven for her flaws, the way characters like Jaime tend to be.)

I’ve gotten quite jaded, honestly. I barely care about anybody anymore, and I’m too interested in seeing what trainwreck will happen next to waste time hating anybody. But I do dislike Cersei the most, because I feel she could have power, if she was clever about it, but she doesn’t want to work for her power.

A Dance With Dragons:

@Puppet:

@Apep

On a completely different note, I saw a trailer for the NBC show Blacklist on Youtube today. I think it’s the first time I’ve been interested enough in an ad to watch it all the way through, which is already a good sign, but the show looks kind of interesting. I want to find out more about it.

Yeah, they showed way more of what I assume is the first episode than I expected.

It’s particularly strange that I was interested because ordinarily I don’t watch much TV at all. But if it’s any good, it looks like exactly the sort of thing I’d like—government thriller spy stuff plus mystery plus bad-guys-who-are-actually-pretty-awesome.

Watching the first episode of New Arrested. I’m cautiously optimistic.

I’ve gotten around to watching one of the shows on my backlog: Kitchen Nightmares (three guesses why I wanted to watch it). The first season was cool, but it does get a little repetitive. If only every episode had Gordon throwing up or people as delusional, stupid, and angry as Sebastian’s or Amy’s Baking Company…or both. The show also really tends to misrepresent what happens in the episodes in the “coming up next” parts, most egregiously with one episode where a commercial showed a restaurant boarded up with “closed” signs on the boards, only to reveal immediately afterwards that the whole thing was a trick by Gordon.

I’m glad that they got it together for that episode. I’m still on episode 5 or 6 but so far this season is way better than S2.

It was a decent episode.

Mehh, maybe it was spoiled because I’ve read the books, but that felt really anticlimactic.

^^I pretty much agree with that as well. I feel like part of it was that they built it up within the episode itself and kept cutting away from it and going back with little ominous things happening and then going to another story. Plus, every time they cut away from it, I wanted them to go back, so I hyped it in my mind as well.

EDIT:
And someone spoiled it for me before I read the book, but actually reading that part was not anticlimactic, so I’m not sure that’s it.

Also this:

Apparently George R.R. Martin needs a refresher on his books.

“humans can die BUT NOT THE DOG, ANYTHING BUT THAT”

That really rubs me the wrong way

That really rubs me the wrong way

Yeah, well, it’s a pretty common human reaction. A messed up one, to be sure, but in all fairness, I would’ve been concerned about the people involved if it was pretty much anybody but them.

Naw, man, the Others are the true villains. Unknowable motives, nigh unstoppable, crazy magic powers… the Boltons just think they’re cool because they’re good at torture.

And re: the dog: remember, I was talking about the books, not the show. I have no idea what Grey Wind looked like in the show.

Naw, man, the Others are the true villains. Unknowable motives, nigh unstoppable, crazy magic powers…

The unknowable motives part, combined with some content from ADWD, causes me to disqualify them as ‘villains.’

Who knows what the hell they’re doing.

I forget if we have an anime thread, but I’ve been watching Attack on Titan and man oh man is it good.

It’s pretty cliche as far as animes are concerned; You’ve got your headstrong, cocky, self-righteous, stubborn, revenge-seeking main character, your super smart, shy, cowardly, bullied-as-a-kid friend and even your silent, badass, best-at-everything female support, too! Not to mention the minor character cast, which includes the dumb guy, the bully-ish guy, the strong guy, the other mysterious badass female, and more. Really the only character they’re missing is the fat kid who screws up everything.

Despite the cast being incredibly cliched and their character arcs being incredibly predictable, they somehow still do an excellent job developing them, like when the douche-y, bully guy changed in the heat of battle and I found myself inadvertently cheering for him.

The story is what really makes the show awesome, though. Going in I knew it was going to be dark and gruesome, but I was still surprised by how emotionally powerful some of the scenes are. I think Attack on Titan does a pretty good job of striking that balance between heavy and overly dramatic, something a lot of animes spoil or ruin with gags and stupid animations (giant, cartoony teary eyes).

The setting is especially cool, too. Initially I got a kind of Avatar Ba Sing Se vibe from the city, but it’s actually pretty unique and interesting, and I haven’t quite watched anything like it (although I doubt fighting titans is a totally original concept). One of the coolest aspects of the show has to be the 3 dimensional grappling hook machines the soldiers fly around on, though. They’re realistic enough for the seriousness of the show, but they’re just ridiculous enough to allow for some gorgeous animations and fight scenes. For those of you who haven’t seen the show, just imagine Spiderman flying around urban environments fighting giant humanoids with two swords. Yeah.

Anyway, I’m only 7 episodes in (have to find subs for the 8th), but Attack on Titan has got me hooked. It’s gripping the edge of my seat, biting my nails, “holy shit,” goodness, and if you like anime you should definitely check it out.

Oh, one more thing, the soundtrack is also very, very, very good.

edit: