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Game of Thrones 2.5 - "The Ghost of Harrenhal" - Rate and discuss

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Out Of My Vulcan Mind

Out Of My Vulcan Mind

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Rate and discuss (with spoilers for the episode, but not for forthcoming episodes) "The Ghost of Harrenhal", airing on the 29th April on HBO and on the 30th April on Sky Atlantic. To discuss this episode with spoilers for future events please use this thread.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zgkJwWOgqI&feature=player_detailpage[/yt]
 
Very nice followup to last week, and they got right to the *ahem* point with Renly... the faceoff between Tywin and Arya was great, and I liked Xaro more this time around. Sticking so closely to the book, as always, seems to make for stronger scenes.
 
Amaze-balls! :D

Best episode of the season so far, I think. The pacing felt better, and some of that intangible epic quality from the season premiere was back.

I dug the north of the wall & Qarth scenes the most, but everything was great.
 
Hyperspace05 said:
Amaze-balls! :D

Best episode of the season so far, I think. The pacing felt better, and some of that intangible epic quality from the season premiere was back.

I dug the north of the wall & Qarth scenes the most, but everything was great.
Click to expand...

Qarth looks like a really chill place to take a vacation.
 
Dany seems to be a little clueless. Why does she think Jorah is hanging about waiting for her stupidity to get him killed? Of course the man is in love with her. Also, why praytell does she think the people of the seven kingdoms are just waiting for her with open arms? The last of her line to sit on the throne was crazy pants, and everyone seemed to have screamed "good riddance to bad rubbish" when Jamie snuffed him.

Brienne seemed gutted by Renly's death. Was it because he treated her fairly and gave her purpose? Otherwise she must have been in love, because she totally lost it. Not even Little Flower Power (Loras?) grieved that much.

Renly's Queen still strikes me as the smartest female on the show, next to Arya.

Arya and Gendry's scenes always entertain. Throw Charles Dance in as Tywin and I am a happy camper.

Cersei is still an idiot.
 
Kosh Naranek said:
Dany seems to be a little clueless. Why does she think Jorah is hanging about waiting for her stupidity to get him killed? Of course the man is in love with her. Also, why praytell does she think the people of the seven kingdoms are just waiting for her with open arms? The last of her line to sit on the throne was crazy pants, and everyone seemed to have screamed "good riddance to bad rubbish" when Jamie snuffed him.

Brienne seemed gutted by Renly's death. Was it because he treated her fairly and gave her purpose? Otherwise she must have been in love, because she totally lost it. Not even Little Flower Power (Loras?) grieved that much.

Renly's Queen still strikes me as the smartest female on the show, next to Arya.

Arya and Gendry's scenes always entertain. Throw Charles Dance in as Tywin and I am a happy camper.

Cersei is still an idiot.
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In the book Loras kills like 6 guys in a blind rage. As for Briene I think it's both love and the fact that Renly treated her fairly.
 
Pretty good episode. I felt you lost the impact of Renly's death by not having it at the end of the last episode. It felt very tacked on.

But the best scene was with Arya and Tywin, That look conveyed more than words could say.
 
Kosh Naranek said:
Dany seems to be a little clueless. Why does she think Jorah is hanging about waiting for her stupidity to get him killed? Of course the man is in love with her
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The books delve into this a little deeper. She is aware that Jora is in love with her. She even tries to imagine what it would be like to be with him, but she is unable to reconcile her feelings with Drogo, her "Sun and Stars", that she constantly thinks about and pines over all the way into Qarth. Drogo's memory simply won't allow her to take the next full step with Jora. I'm about at the same point in the book as we are with the series, BTW, so I don't know if this changes later or not. We should also guard against projecting more adult viewpoints on her decision-making processes. In the book, she is around 15 and Jora is old enough to be her father. Granted, she's been through a hell of a lot in a short of amount of time since they left Pentos, but really, how mature can a 15 year old girl be when it comes to adult relationships and being a despot? Joffrey is only a little younger than her by a few years and we all can see what a bang-up job he's making of it so far. Child royalty is rarely ever a healthy thing in the normal development of a pre-teen or early teenager.

Aeolusdallas said:
Kosh Naranek said:
Brienne seemed gutted by Renly's death. Was it because he treated her fairly and gave her purpose? Otherwise she must have been in love, because she totally lost it. Not even Little Flower Power (Loras?) grieved that much.
Click to expand...
In the book Loras kills like 6 guys in a blind rage. As for Briene I think it's both love and the fact that Renly treated her fairly.
Click to expand...

I think it goes much deeper than that. It is clear that honor and chivalry mean quite a bit to her in everything she does. The fact that she froze at the sight of the Shadow out of understandable fear, she likely feels her honor has a permanent black mark and that she broke her vow to protect Renly, even at the cost of her own life. This is likely why she was so quick to bend knee and offer her sword as defender to Cat Stark. She has the driving need to redeem her honor, as she feels she acted dishonorably. This will either make her far more deadly and defensive than before, or it will get her killed a lot quicker (or both).
 
Great episode. How good an episode is directly correlates to how closely it follows the book, in my opinion.

Pyet Pree!
Quaithe!
Wildfire!
RIP Renly. Too pretty for this world.
No Roz!

I bet last week that this episode would end with Jaqen H'Ghar holding one finger to his nose and I was not disappointed.

I can't believe we are halfway through the season already.
 
Interesting deviations from the book again - the wildfire is Cersei's plan and not Tyrion's in the version? WTF? Still only a third of the way through the episode...
 
^^^ Pretty sure Tyrion implemented it. It is possible she may have mentioned its existence. Can't recall that one clearly. But he didn't want Joffrey finding out about some new and inventive way to set his enemies on fire at court, which is why he kept it quiet. He also mandated that the Red Keep's soldiers be trained in its use, first starting with green paint, then oil, then the real stuff. It was the logical conclusion after Bron's statement about people dropping it in a panic if the Keep was under siege.
 
Yeah, in the book he's got that started from very early on - well before Cersei thinks about defence, and well before he co-opts Lancel to spy on her.

Anyway, voted Excellent - good mix of all the main threads, and the location filming is ever more epic.

And, damn, but Charles Dance keeps on stealing this show!
 
Oh well, guess i misremembered then.

But you gotta admit, the whole Wildfire plan sounds crazy enough to have come from Cersei. :guffaw:
 
137th Gebirg said:
^^^ Pretty sure Tyrion implemented it. It is possible she may have mentioned its existence. Can't recall that one clearly. But he didn't want Joffrey finding out about some new and inventive way to set his enemies on fire at court, which is why he kept it quiet. He also mandated that the Red Keep's soldiers be trained in its use, first starting with green paint, then oil, then the real stuff. It was the logical conclusion after Bron's statement about people dropping it in a panic if the Keep was under siege.
Click to expand...

Nope - I'm pretty sure that Cersei was the one that told the pyromancers to restart production at a greater scale.

Here is a quote from the Tyrion V chapter of ACOK, when Tyrion first visits the pyromancer:
Hallyne bobbed his head. "Wisdom Malliard believes that we shall be able to provide a full ten thousand jars, as was promised the Queen. I concur."
Click to expand...

So the show is accurate in this regard.
 
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