Metal Reviews

Last week was great...but this week's episode ruined the series for me. Butchering a character like that is unacceptable.

Who's watching the NBA finals?

I haven't seen it yet but that just made me think I'd be better off not bothering.

Just saw latest Game of Thrones. Best episode of the season so far, I think, didn't read this far so have no unrealistic expectations re certain characters' actions!

Unsure of who got butchered, but I enjoyed it.

And yeah, as to the NBA finals, Lebron is fucking absurd.

Don't read if you haven't seen ep 9 yet

The Game of Thrones creators are hellbent on showing Dany+Jon in the most positive light as possible and part of that was character assassinating Stannis like they did this week through a series of silly contrivances which were not in the books to force him into a situation where he would do that.

In the books when book 5 ends his daughter is at the wall, his army is close to Winterfell, and the situation is dire thanks to the snowstorms. When the followers of the Red God suggest a sacrifice he says: "Half my army is made up of unbelievers. I will have no burnings. Pray harder.”
In a George Martin posted sample chapter for book 6 (Mel and his family are at the wall mind you, the battle of Winterfell has still not happened) Stannis has this conversation:
“It may be that we shall lose this battle,” the king said grimly. “In Braavos you may hear that I am dead. It may even be true. You shall find my sellswords nonetheless.”
The knight hesitated. “Your Grace, if you are dead — ”
“ — you will avenge my death, and seat my daughter on the Iron Throne. Or die in the attempt.”
Ser Justin put one hand on his sword hilt. “On my honor as a knight, you have my word.”

This looks like character assassination plain and simple, perhaps for simple shock value, and I'm hopeful that Martin either speaks to it or highlights how radically the show is departing from the books when Book 6 finally comes out.

There have been some truly revolting events in this season that are surely pure shock value. Nonetheless I'm starting to lose interest in the show as it moves further and further from its source material.

I understand why book fans are irritated with this, but I understand that it was George M's idea, and to be honest I'm comfortable with the books and the show diverting as it means two totally different experiences rather than one marred by discrepancies. I don't really think you can call the show deliberately shocking when both show and book essentially started with a child being thrown out of a window by an incestuous couple... but maybe I'm desensitised at this point. The strength of reactions online shows they're doing something right, anyway. And let's face it, when the sixth book comes out and (probably!) ends on Stannis doing the exact same thing there will be even more of a fuss!

The most offensive part of the show is still the sand snakes' acting, anyway...

I suppose but at the same time a father doing that to his own daughter especially after all the time we're shown how much he cared about her is perhaps more confronting then anything we've seen thus far. I imagine there will be worse as that's the nature of this series but I can't imagine how they'll top that either on screen or in the books.

Religious fanaticism is a hell of a drug.

Yeah. I mean, people have been making references to Agamemnon and Abraham sacrificing Isaac and that, but the implication was clearly to show that Stannis' need for power outweighs even his love of his daughter. Scene set for Ser Davos to finally turn on him, surely?

Pretty standard trope. The guy who was ready to wage war against his brother, even if his claim was stronger than his brother's, and tortured/discarded his nephew can't really vie for most honorable. Logic seemed to go out the window for him when he decided to march into the winter against Ser Davos' advice. Hopefully, Ser Davos and Jon Snow tag team on things. This also enables them to leverage the Red God's presence more, especially given how they cut the cult of no banners guys out of the TV series for the most part.

Aye true, and yes, a Davos/Snow duo would be terrific.

Edit. Lol (spoiler if you've not seen ep 9 and you've somehow missed this conversation)

Anyone else remotely excited about new X-Files? I'm only on season 6 but can't wait.

The creators of the show deflected criticism by claiming that, but in fact George said this week on his blog when asked that he has not even written that part yet, and thus can't comment on the matter one way or another. The larger point, something that becomes more apparent to readers of all 5 books (and hopefully will become more apparent after this coming episode) is that Shireen being burned for another reason and by another party is much more logical.

And you guys are simply discussing show Stannis as excuses for the logic of the decision, which within that world I understand. Book Stannis is a very different character, but the showrunners have had it out for him from the beginning (such as whitewashing his brother Renly).

Game of Thrones wrote a white feminism scene:

Anyway, for those interested, below is an article on the growing gulf between Martin and the showrunners.

http://uproxx.com/tv/2015/06/george-rr-martin-showrunner-war/3/

Whatever you think about Stannis the character, Stephen Dillane puts in some of the best work I've ever seen from him. Remarkable actor. Watching Mother's Mercy right now.

Well that was a fucking good episode. Knew that little Tintin-faced bitch was a wrong 'un.

Episode 8 actually felt more like the end of the season then Mother's Mercy. Overall I'd say season 5 was a disappointment but perhaps that's just in comparison to what came before.

Dillane is tremendous in everything he is in, which makes me all the sadder that D&D decided to butcher Stannis and (probably) kill him off, when the most likely course for him in book 6 is to win the battle of Winterfell and die heroically late in the book against the White Walker invasion after sacrificing his daughter (and not fulfilling the Azor Azhai prophecy) to stop them from destroying the North. That is how Stannis would sacrifice his heir, to stop the Others from destroying the world, not to make the snows melt a little.

It is either that, or the Boltons win the battle and he dies hundreds of miles away from his family, thus not sacrificing his daughter. Mel thus burns Shireen to raise Jon at the Wall. It can't be both.

Back to his performance, I loved Stephen's menacing movements towards Mel after the bad news starts rolling in (you knew if she didn't hightail it out of camp then she was a dead woman), his 'fuck it' reaction to the massive army coming his way, just his general acceptance of the worst day possible. One thing the show has gotten right has been some excellent casting decisions, and Dillane might be my favorite of all.

It was a good thing that Ned Stark, Tywin Lannister, and Stannis Baratheon all never met on screen, because the sheer combined gravitas of the actors might have generated a black hole.