Agreed. In fact I think I joked about it in this thread.

And the fact that Brienne standing waiting day and night for the Sansa candle light and then turns away seconds before its finally lit is all too contrived.

Stannis has been hard done by on the show. Likewise Mance and Jaime IMO.

Dan and Dave used to work better within the confines of GRRM's story where sometimes they could actually improve on things. I think they've been given too much freedom at this stage - though that's also George's fault.

I could still respect it for what it was if it sticks. A shocking death is still shocking. But it still felt weirdly out of place.

More thoughts:

-The Cersei walk of shame was OK. Lena Headey acted the heck out of it, though knowing she used a body double takes away a little bit from the emotion of it from her. It went on a little too long. I think at the very least, we could've cut the amount of poor person penis in half.

-I'm intrigued by Arya's story. It felt a little abrupt for a finale, but I liked the cliffhanger.

-Speaking of abrupt, Sansa's escape with Theon was really quick. I didn't think Ramsay would bite it in the finale, but I was hoping for a little more.

-I hope that was the last of the Sand Snakes for a while. Great characters in theory, but the execution left something to be desired. Those scenes with Bronn felt too light and comedic.

Aside from a few deaths that may or may not have happened, it wasn't a terrible finale, but certainly underwhelming. Completely in line with the season.

Also, kind of interesting that this was the first official sad ending for a season of GoT (I'm only talking about the final scene). Seasons 1 and 3 ended with exciting/uplifting Dany scenes while last season ended with Arya on the ship. The only close "down" ending was Season 2.

Definately the Brienne teleports anywhere shit has got to stop. Brienne showing up to kill Hitler, shows up to take out Osama, locates Bigfoot and Jimmy Hoffa.

I finally finished watching this episode getting chunks in here and there and I liked it and didn't like it.

1. You could see the Myrcella thing coming as soon as she got kissed.
2. I was happy to see Arya do something inventive here only to end up blinded. What the hell? I'm getting sick of the Faceless guy.
3. Brienne is in limbo again. She maybe kills Stannis but other than that she did nothing after her amazing work in #4
4. Why did Danerys leave the other two dragons behind? I'm beginning to think this is less about her coming to Westeros to save the day because she really can't do shit. If not for these dragons and "advisors" she'd be long dead AND she's still stuck on the other side of the sea. How long is this gonna drag out?
5. It was surprising to see Cersei cave and I liked the walk of shame but it did go on to long. However, they have now let her go back to the castle. Um, Cersei is going to have one thing on her mind and that's revenge.
6. Tommen is still MIA, Margery stuck in prison, Ser Loras. What is happening here?
7. I was aghast at Snow's supposed death. I've heard some theories that I like about next season, but I want to focus on how trashy and just non-forward thinking the Night Watch is. The dude saves their ass and this is how he is repaid. Where the fuck is his dire wolf too? It can save the fat dude but is hunting rabbits while it's master is killed.
8. Finally, I think things have progressed slowly this season. It took a whole season for Jaime to go to Dorne and finally leave Dorne. A whole freaking season and pretty much nothing really happened with his storyline. We got Whitewalkers heading to the wall. No king in Kings Landing. Dany with the horsemen again. Arya blind, Stansa on the run, Brienne sitting at fires. I just hate how slow things go even though I like the series. I hate the 10 episode limit. I just want things to speed the fuck up. How long is the freaking wait till next season?

I suspect we wont see Dany leaving for Westeros (or landing there) until the end of next season and likewise the end of the book.

I hope im wrong though.

In regards to the Direwolves - the show has really reduced their significance substantially. The Ghost saves Sam scene was only in the TV show btw.

LOL,Cersei is going full on cunt mode on the High Sparrow, but can the show make people like Cerseiafter all that she's done?

She's going after fanatics who have run amok with power and then she's gonna get her revenge on Dorne. I'm all for her getting her justice. Now if she would make nice with Margery then she might even bring me to her side.

That was another problem with the show is that they made Cersi too sympathetic. I'm not going to go anti-feminism but both Daves as I said have an agenda. Cersi and Shae both were very unlikable in the books. I did not like how they changed it so that it was Joffrey who ordered the murders of the bastards of Kings Landing and not Cersi. Also Cersi did a lot of shit in the book that made her deserve the walk of shame like ordering a few assassins to kill Jon Snow in Castle Black, killing all drawves in Kings Landing, attempting to assassinate Bronn and his kid because he was named after Tyrion, etc.

It wasn't about that it was done to other people but the walk of shame is done to people who have done to true deviants. Margerette was accused of sleeping with number of men including her own brothers and "aborting" her kids through 'moon tea". Her position was unique because she was the queen and married. They made the whole thing about homosexuality and attacking religion in general. Cersi had to do the walk because she tried to plant evidence against Margerette by having her henchmen confess to bedding her but it backfired when he was tortured. Tv viewers will never truely see why she deserved it.

They dug themselves in a hole with changes like this kind of like with Theon who is much harder to bring redemption to compared with the books. Who is going to forgive a character who killed two stable boys and offed Rodrick like in the tv show?It was easier in the books because Ramsey as Reek was responsible for the deaths of all 3

Am I the only one who thinks TV Cersei is still a cunt? Lena Headey plays her to smug perfection. I was less-than-impressed with her early on, but she's holding her own with so many other noteworthy performances.

Lena.Heady.was.the.best.this.season. I mean, we kinda agree, this was cersei's season and she stepped the hell up, especially during the walk of shame.

I thought this was a interesting read recapping the season, and prospecting what's next:

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospect ... -r-martin/

Can you elaborate on this part? It so long since I read Clash of Kings I thought Theon killed the 2 stable boys.

Reek's suggestion, plan and he did the killing before consulting Theon.

Just finished the season as I've powered through the last four episodes in the past day. When I rewatch the episodes I might feel differently, but the middle episodes were quite a slog to get through, more so than the last seasons. I think I went a month between watching episodes six and seven. I just don't think I was as invested this season for some reason. But the last three episodes...they are right up there with the shows best. I'll need to rewatch all of them, but I'd say this was the weakest season yet. Still good though.

One thing I don't like that the show has done is make me do a 180 on Arya's storyline. I could care less where that goes now.

The GOT panel seemed pretty reviewed. Didn't really reveal much, except that it seems like Stannis is dead. They avoided talking about Jon Snow, outside Maisse making a joke she won't miss him. The fact they hardly talked about him is another sign he will be back.

Can they define gratuitous in relation to Oberyn getting his head popped open like a pumpkin?

Yeah its pretty much Weiss & Benoiff fan fiction at this point. Its too bad that GRRM didn't have enough balls to veto their choice of nixing Stannis since it now opens a lot of plot holes to the story. Stannis is still alive in the books from the preview chapters that GRRM released

well he still might die in the battle of Winterfell.

ah ok - I completely forgot!!

HBO announced some new filming locations for Season 6.......





or maybe not

Ian McShane has been cast as an undisclosed role. I am guessing he will be Randall Tarly. I could see him playing Sam's dad.

Ian Fucking McShane. Dang. I could see him playing Euron or Victorian Greyjoy. Thats probably their most known actor since Sean Bean

I think he is a little too old for Euron. If he isn't Sam's father, I would guess Howland Reed.