Game of Thrones: Season Five: Episode Four (Spoilers for Books and Show!)

[douglascohen]

Welcome to what in all likelihood will be my final writeup on HBO's Game of Thrones. I'm about 90% sure we've reached the point where I'm going to need to stop watching due to fear of spoilers in the unpublished books.  As I've been doing since this season started, I didn't watch the episodes when it aired.  Instead, I recorded it on my trusty DVR

Comments

[ckastens]

I had joked years ago that when they made two seasons out of book 3, they would only need one season to make books 4 and 5. Now it looks like that's not far from the truth. While books 4 and 5 have a lot of interesting material, they don't have nearly the intensity of the first three books. HBO had to make some major changes or risk slowly losing audience. Of course, they have changed storylines in ways I couldn't have imagined (Sansa being the most surprising), chopping out huge numbers of characters. If they could go back and start over, I'm sure they would cut even more characters from seasons one and two. I'm not sure what's a spoiler anymore, since this is no longer the same story. I think the only true spoiler will be how the whole thing ends, as I'm pretty certain the series and books will converge on that point

[douglascohen]

I'm not sure what's a spoiler anymore either, and once we get to that point I have to stop watching.

--Brienne serving Mance's role at Winterfell certainly seems possible, but she could just as easily by intercepted by Stoneheart on company on the way, much as she was while looking for Sansa in AFFC.

--It may have been the plan all along to bring Stoneheart back later on. As I said, she's only been in two chapters since her death, and both of them involve a hanging. There really isn't too much finagling that needs to take place. And if they hold her reintroduction until later it spares them the nececessity of having to keep putting her on screen for the benefit of the viewers until her storyline heats up again, which it probably will in the last two books.

--Fair point about the Unsullied, but aren't the Sons of the Harpy supposed to be the sons of nobility? It's not like they have a lot of fighting experience to being with then. I think the action still favors the Unsullied in such a situation.

[douglascohen]

As I said to Chris above, once we reach the point where I don't know what is and isn't a spoiler for the books, I have to stop watching. Cutting myself off from future episodes (barring something unforeseen next week) wasn't easy, but I'm surprisingly secure in my decision. There hasn't been any second-guessing at all. I'll wait for the next book

[fixnwrtr]

From what I have heard, HBO is going in a different direction, moving away from George's original story arc because they cannot be sure he will finish the last book(s) in time and they cannot hold up production until he does so. It might not be an issue watching the show since the spoilers for future books will dwindle as the show -- and production -- continue. They're already filming season 6. Food for thought.

[douglascohen]

The key words are "might not be an issue," which also means it might be an issue. And if it might be an issue, I refuse to watch. I'm good with this decision. Unless GRRM, Benioff, or Weiss can offer me personal assurances that there are no spoilers in future books there is no way in Westeros I'll keep watching once I'm convinced we've hit what appears to be Spoiler Town, which appears to be the case. It's my favorite story ever. I refuse to experience how it unfolds secondhand, and for all the cool stuff HBO is doing with Martin's creation I consider them secondhand ...even if they happen to put the latter parts of George's story out first (in one form or another).