Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & discuss

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

Disappear and return in the shit shape he was in the books. And it takes you a while to recognize him and when you do you are deeply shocked.

Oh and the medieval era, pfft.. this is fantasy. They can do what they like.

 

[Ayelbourne]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

Agreed- it's as boring as mud. They should have just had Theon completely disappear for a season- THAT would have been interesting.

He would've had to disappear for at least two seasons then. After that much time you don't even know whether you'll get the actor back. That's a risk I don't want them to take on someone who's as good as Alfie Allen (who's also a main cast member).

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

I thought that it was mean to bring in the girls with Theon, then I thought it was kind, and now I think it's practical because it's easier to cut it off when it's erect, but it isn't easier is it? It's more difficult and takes longer to cut through erect flesh, if he's actually going to cut all the way through, and not half way through so that it flaps about, which means that the inquisitor was being mean after all!

Oh no.

What if he wanted to cut up and down instead of side to side?

 

[137th Gebirg]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

Pretty sure that most people here would not know the proper procedure for a functional castration. And the ones who do will likely not admit to it.

 

[Forbin]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

It takes practice. That's all I'm sayin'.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

Pretty sure that most people here would not know the proper procedure for a functional castration. And the ones who do will likely not admit to it.

Apply a tight rubber band, stop the flow of blood and then wait a week.

It falls off.

('Works with sheep.)

 

[Klaus]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

And I bet this wasn't Ramsey's first go-round...

 

[Brendan Moody]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

Agreed- it's as boring as mud. They should have just had Theon completely disappear for a season- THAT would have been interesting.

He would've had to disappear for at least two seasons then. After that much time you don't even know whether you'll get the actor back. That's a risk I don't want them to take on someone who's as good as Alfie Allen (who's also a main cast member).

There's something called a holding contract to cover such situations. A show can release a performer for a given period but require him/her to return when needed. It's how Emilie de Ravin was excluded from the fifth season of Lost without any risk of her moving elsewhere.

I don't mind Theon's torture being shown onscreen, but as with several of this year's other expanded storylines there's no reason for it to take up so much time. The first four episodes worked because of the reveal of the boy's duplicity (and book readers should remember his identity still hasn't been revealed to, and constitutes a spoiler for, the TV-only audience), but the stuff in "The Climb" and this week's episode doesn't add anything except more over-elaborate TV-psychopath mindf***ing. If the show's writers were more talented, they could dramatize Theon's gradual psychological decay, but instead it's just "torture of the week."

 

[Kelthaz]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

And once again...

If Game of Thrones took place on Facebook - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair"

Jeez, dude, a little NSFW warning would have been nice.

 

[Destructor]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

If the show's writers were more talented, they could dramatize Theon's gradual psychological decay, but instead it's just "torture of the week."

Yes, this. It's not that I don't mind *some* Theon torture. It's just that it's the the same scene over and over. If you're going to have Theon on the cast, have him doing something interest- or only check in with him half as much so we're not subjected to the same thing over and over. It's like *we're* being tortured.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

I think there's an element of "look what we can show you" at work.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

I voted Excellent, probably somewhat generously. I gave that vote largely on the strength of Jamie going back to save Brienne, a scene I loved in the books and loved here and also on the basis of the hilarious Tywin/Joffrey face down. Tywin, you are such a bad-ass.

I was actually surprised to see that GRRM had written this episode, given several of its developments. Firstly, the pregnancy and secondly Theon's torture scene. I haven't found Theon's torturer all that convincing and this episode made me decide that it must be the actor, rather than the writing that doesn't work for me. Someone earlier referred to him as the Samwise lookalike. That's part of it - he's like a cross between Samwise and Frodo - but he just doesn't convince me as anything other than a modern-day sadist. Still can't quite sum it up.

In fairness, I didn't think that the scene with the two whores was one of Martin's more convincing pieces of writing and I was surprised that the emasculation happened so early on and was so blatant here. In the books, it was heavily hinted that he had been castrated or had his penis chopped off but never so graphically spelt out. It was only last week that the torturer began chopping off fingers and I would have left such a horrific, character-defining mutilation further into Theon's ordeal, as a sort of climax to it all. How much worse can it get for him, given how much he fancied himself as a stud muffin?

I see that Theon later turned up on Craggy Island:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klcyxSmBUOw

Seeing as we're talking castration and all that (well, Guy is) - how does one pee without a peepee?

The actor playing Quyburn has a nice line of 'banality of evil' going on with him.

Oonagh Chaplin's bum is a thing of beauty. That is all.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

Just like the other writers, GRRM gets an outline produced by Benioff and Weiss and writes according to it, and once the script is submitted they're free to alter it during filming however they like. (Some of this week's scenes, including the bear pit, were belatedly imported from other episodes and are by B & W.) I suppose if Martin really deeply objected to something he might ask for it to be changed, but since he's evidently made his peace with something as counter to his basic vision as the Talisa storyline, I doubt he'd bother.

That said, I am surprised they gave him such a nothing, talky episode to write. The only scene of much import was, as I said, not in the original outline.

he just doesn't convince me as anything other than a modern-day sadist. Still can't quite sum it up.

What gets to me is what I called "over-elaborate TV-psychopath mindf***ing." The particular sort of mental manipulation that the boy is doing is stuff that happens in bad serial-killer movies more than it does in actual instances of psychotic torture, which are much cruder and more consistently violent. There's a false sophistication to what's happening here, as if the boy were Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. But Hannibal Lecter only played the mental games he did because he was behind bars; once he got out it was back to tearing faces off.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

Down a notch to Above Average this time. The highlights were Jaime and Brienne - especially when she called him Ser Jaime and his reaction - Tywin towering over Joffrey, and Dany continuing to be a boss. Mel has been more interesting away from Stannis than she was with him.

 

[Obiwansolo18]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

I founs this the weakest episode of the season so far, not a big fan

 

[SG-17]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

For me, I don't understand the importance of showing the maiming of Theon Greyjoy. I feel it's gratuitous. And, from what I understand about the medieval era, this kind of behavior would be frowned up on. It's one thing to do this to a peasant - who cares about a peasant - and another thing to do it to a noble.

I am becoming less and less interested with watching Game of Thrones, and this is one of the biggest reasons why.

My girlfriend and I would normally make a date out of watching GoT, we'd generally skip over the unnecessary sex scenes (ie ones that aren't sexposition) but recently the show has taken a turn for the ridiculous with scenes like Tyrion's squire in the whorehouse, Joffrey killing the whore with his crossbow, and lately the torture scenes for Theon.

The gratuitous and exploitative sex scenes upset my girlfriend and the torture scenes upset us both to the point where we are done watching this show until I can find a censored version that removes both the sex and the torture.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Re: Game of Thrones 3.7 - "The Bear and the Maiden Fair" - Rate & disc

Just like the other writers, GRRM gets an outline produced by Benioff and Weiss and writes according to it, and once the script is submitted they're free to alter it during filming however they like. (Some of this week's scenes, including the bear pit, were belatedly imported from other episodes and are by B & W.) I suppose if Martin really deeply objected to something he might ask for it to be changed, but since he's evidently made his peace with something as counter to his basic vision as the Talisa storyline, I doubt he'd bother.

That said, I am surprised they gave him such a nothing, talky episode to write. The only scene of much import was, as I said, not in the original outline.

I believe that he was offered the chance to write the penultimate episode of this season but said that once was enough to have to write one particular scene - you can probably guess what.

he just doesn't convince me as anything other than a modern-day sadist. Still can't quite sum it up.

What gets to me is what I called "over-elaborate TV-psychopath mindf***ing." The particular sort of mental manipulation that the boy is doing is stuff that happens in bad serial-killer movies more than it does in actual instances of psychotic torture, which are much cruder and more consistently violent. There's a false sophistication to what's happening here, as if the boy were Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. But Hannibal Lecter only played the mental games he did because he was behind bars; once he got out it was back to tearing faces off.

Yes, that's a very good way of putting it.

I know that this is an adaptation and that this character doesn't have to be exactly like Ramsay in the books (any more than, say, Locke has to be like Vargo Hoat). But the Ramsay of the books was a psychotic sadist who would simply have walked in and chopped off Theon's cock. I don't see him going to all the trouble of getting whores and giving them a script to go in and follow.

Indeed, the Ramsay of the books would probably have found it impossible to resist setting his dogs on the whores and then raped and killed them himself, long before he could persuade them to go in and mock-seduce Theon.