>> Having him win the loyalty of the tribes of the North and
>take back Deepwood Motte would have been kind of cool

The first part doesn't need to be shown. It's never shown in the book either. A re-taking about Deepwood Motte could be shown and might even have made a decent battle episode that the have once a season. It would re-introduce Asha/Yara, who they've completely forgotten about. Shit, ALL of the Greyjoys besides Theon have been forgotten about, and they were a fairly important part of season 2. They haven't even bothered to kill of Balon, which is something that would have been REALLY easy to show or even just say.

Side note/possible spoilers/tin foil hat theory: There is this theory going around that Daario is really Euron Greyjoy in disguise, much of it informed by what's been said about Daario on the show. But considering they haven't even said the word "Euron" on the show, I doubt it.

>I agree that both would be awesome, and the Davos/Manderly
>scene is one of the best, most hopeful reveals in the entire
>series. But that would mean casting Manderly & co.,
>developing another location, working Davos' departure in the
>storyline, etc. It's a massive commitment to both the
>showrunners and the viewers to introduce new settings. I hear
>you, but it's just not feasible.

Eh, you could do it all indoors in castles, like they did with the Dreadfort last season. You wouldn't even have to show it that many times, just two or three episodes. One Davos arriving, second Davos in the Merman's court, and thrown into the dungeon, third is Davos and Manderly.

>Yup. Fucking brutal. There had to be a better way to handle
>Dorne than this Mr Bean chase shit. Casting is bad,
>choreography is bad, dialogue is bad. That's on the show
>through and through.

And if they're going to execute it this poorly, I'd rather they didn't even show it. Given the time to something else. They can think of other ways to get Jamie/Bronn out King's Landing. Shoot, have him interact with the Freys and the Tullys. Like the book.


>Agreed, it's a disappointing way to portray a great storyline
>in the books. But, to play devil's advocate, the way it's
>handled now makes it easier to understand for the (lowest
>common denominator) viewer, it keeps the storyline within
>characters we're already invested in and moves at a brisk
>pace. There was no way the Kettleblacks and some
>paranoia-driven adultery charge was gonna make any sense with
>a scene or two (if that) each episode. There are too many
>other arcs that need coverage too. But can we at least give
>them credit for giving Olenna more shine than in the books?

They get credit for the Queen of Thorns and that's it. I still think they could have pulled off the adultery thing. And I don't see why they couldn't have just sent Loras to Dragonstone. Again, it happens all off page/camera, and it works because it still isn't clear what, if anything, happened over there.


>> They've given Stannis' story the short shrift.
>
>I respectfully disagree; for me personally the scenes at the
>Wall have been some of the most interesting. Winning the
>tribes in the North would be great television, but ultimately
>unnecessary (since it's already established he has funding
>from the Iron Bank for Salladhor Saan's men). The lack of
>Yara is disappointing but understandable... looks like she'll
>be merged with Theon? Not even sure what her eventual role in
>the books will be, so she may be expendable.

I do like the stuff at the Wall, I will admit that. I meant more of the stuff once he leaves the Wall. And I don't understand having Mellisandre go with him, unless they really are playing the whole, "He has to sacrifice his daughter to win" thing. It also means that there's no one back at the Wall to bring Jon Snow back to life, which is something else all together.

>I think Davos will eventually play his same role, just not
>through Manderly. It's notable that Ramsay reiterated Theon's
>main "sin" to Sansa as a reminder to the viewer. It would be
>an incredible bit of redemption for Theon if he discloses her
>brothers aren't dead to Davos after the Battle of Ice. And it
>makes sense production-wise to combine several roles in Theon,
>who the viewer is already intimately familiar with.

This I can see happening. Especially with Martin's newfound love of Osha.


>And I can't defend Selmy's death. I get trying to shake
>things up for the book readers, but his death also means he
>plays no major role in the books either. Besides the fact the
>whole scene was really shittily done... the fight choreography
>has really fallen off a cliff this season.

See, and this is the problem with Martin taking so fucking long to write these things. We take it as indication that ____ character or _____ event can't really be important to the story, because, hey, if it was, it'd be in the show.

And honestly, I think they're putting the focus on the wrong things in Mereen. They've made it all about the Sons of the Harpy and the fighting pits, when the idea that the rest of the Slaver cities want her to fall is probably more interesting.

>Within the next episode or two, I think most people will come
>to understand that scene. People focus on Sansa, but it was
>just as much about Theon's development as it was hers (in the
>context of the show).

Which is fine, if they go anywhere with it. But, of course, now with Mance dead, I'm not really sure how that manifests itself. Unless it's that he helps Brienne. Or something.

>This has been the first I've heard about Sansa as LSH, and I
>like it, it makes sense. But although I hated them cutting
>LSH initially, I've come around to it. We know people can
>come back to life through R'hllor's priests, but as a viewer
>the effect is diluted if we see it too often... and we know
>there's a certain someone that will need to receive that
>resurrection magic sooner or later.

Which leads me to another issue with the series: it's overall fear of using the concept of magic. So far they acknowledge of it's: 1. Dragons, 2. White walkers, 3. Burn people to death. Otherwise, they seem to believe people won't take it seriously. Which is weird, because it's kind of an important part of the story.

>I don't blame you. This has been a questionable season, but
>I've been looking at the silver linings with the hope that
>when we look at the season as a whole most of it will make
>sense. And I honestly believe it will. But, with just how
>many threads there are in AFFC and ADoD I think it's fair to
>try and cut the showrunners some slack in trying to compress
>such a monster series.

I'm not asking for all of it or even most of it. Getting rid of Aegon/Jon Connington makes sense. Getting rid of Quentyn makes sense. Getting rid of Aeron, Victarion, and even Euron makes sense, even if I like the latter two as characters. It's the stuff they choose to focus instead of the stuff that's actual written about that's just bizarre and poorly done to me. I'd rather they didn't even bother at this point.