Game Of Thrones Season 5 TV Only Discussion (Spoilers)

[Locutus of Bored]

I enjoyed season 5 greatly. Something was off in the first 7 episodes, not much seemed to be happening and the usual GoT oomph wasn't quite there. But the last 3 episodes were terrific.

Yeah, I agree. I didn't like the way some characters were handled, but they certainly turned the drama up to eleven in those last three episodes, which were never boring and made up for a lackluster front half of the season.

 

[Klaus]

Not that it'll matter much to Cersei, but Trystane's going to be just as eager to kill the Snakes as Jaime is after this...

 

[Skywalker]

Yep, and Doran will not be happy with them, either.

 

[Starkers]

I enjoyed season 5 greatly. Something was off in the first 7 episodes, not much seemed to be happening and the usual GoT oomph wasn't quite there. But the last 3 episodes were terrific.

Yeah, I agree. I didn't like the way some characters were handled, but they certainly turned the drama up to eleven in those last three episodes, which were never boring and made up for a lackluster front half of the season.

I’m glad I’m not alone in thinking the front end of the season was a trifle lacklustre (though lacklustre GoT is still better than 90% of telly out there!). It felt like there was just a lot of positioning characters into place for plot points that were coming later, but crikey a lot of it really paid off because those last 3 episodes were cracking.

Only the Dornish stuff felt limp to me, and the Daenerys bits in the last episode felt horribly contrived. Get two major characters together only to quickly separate them and again put the brakes on any possibility that Daenerys might actually make a move on Westeros! Truly what the honest trailer said about her quest was spot on. Minor quibbles though the rest was amazing.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

beyond stupid....

...doesn't it kinda fail...

...they just don't care...

...seemed beyond poor planning.

All very accurate descriptors for the entire Dorne arc this season, now that you mention it. Shame Alexander Siddig was wasted on such a shallow plotline where the only memorable things were his Persian Xavier and a pair of epic boobs.

Wasting Alexander Siddig is my biggest disappointment of the season. If the character and the plotline had been portrayed more closely to the books, he might been better utilized. Such a shame because Siddig is always terrific, but he had so very little to work with here.

 

[Beagleman]

I really hope he'll be back, so much potential for the character, a ruler in Westeros who is not petty and vindictive but reasonable, whhaaat?!?!

 

[InklingStar]

Only the Dornish stuff felt limp to me, and the Daenerys bits in the last episode felt horribly contrived. Get two major characters together only to quickly separate them and again put the brakes on any possibility that Daenerys might actually make a move on Westeros! Truly what the honest trailer said about her quest was spot on. Minor quibbles though the rest was amazing.

At least you got to see them interact... in the books, Tyrion arrives at Meereen but just barely misses meeting Dany before she flies away.

 

[Starkers]

Ok what we got in the show is definitely better!

 

[hux]

Binge watched it (which is the best way I think)

Bronn is fast becoming my favourite character (the sooner they get him back with Tyrion, the better) Two characters that aren't afraid to demonstrate a sense of humour. I especially liked it when the girls surrounded him and his response was...."oh for fuck sake"

Speaking of those ladies. The beautiful, short haired boob lady in prison was the highlight of season 5

I can live without Stannis

The Jon Snow death seems a bit empty since.....well, is he dead?

 

[hyzmarca]

There's no way a group solely dedicated to murder everybody in the world could possibly be described as 'Noble'. That's moral relativism stretched to it's absurdest extreme. At best they are an amoral force of nature.

We don't know what the White Walkers want. It's not like we've gotten any conversations with them. For all we know they might just want to give everyone candy and presents.

Is that why the White Walker in the very first Game of Throne scene cut off the head of a Night's Watch Ranger?

Maybe he wanted to make a candy pinata out of his body

I'm not saying that the Night King is Santa Claus. I'm just saying that he could be Santa Claus.

 

[theenglish]

We don't know what the White Walkers want. It's not like we've gotten any conversations with them. For all we know they might just want to give everyone candy and presents.

Is that why the White Walker in the very first Game of Throne scene cut off the head of a Night's Watch Ranger?

Maybe he wanted to make a candy pinata out of his body

I'm not saying that the Night King is Santa Claus. I'm just saying that he could be Santa Claus.

And he knows who has been naughty and who has been nice in Westeros!

 

[John Clark]

And the latter is probably a very short list

 

[QCzar]

Not that naughty/nice matters since he's going to murder them all anyway and add them to his army of undead "helpers". Yay Santa!

 

[Captaindemotion]

I posted this on the ASOIAF spoiler thread earlier today:

Spoiler: If true, pretty big spoiler for S6

Kit Harington has apparently been seen in Belfast within the last fortnight, still with his long hair and beard. He was seen at The Barking Dog, a restaurant on the Malone Road, which is popular with the GOT cast and crew. While he's happily posed for photos in the past (which I can personally attest to), he refused to this time as 'I'm not supposed to be here.'

Make of that what you will. There are discussions and photos of it on Twitter and Reddit.

 

[FPAlpha]

Was anyone suspecting something different?

The interviews just smelled of misdirection but when you play a central character of a storyline the secret will be blown as soon as filming restarts.

Now it could be him just hanging around now because he made friends there (and god knows successful actors can afford to hang around for a few months) but it's awfully coincidental

In a few weeks when official filming resumes we will know for sure, i guess people have been rarely this interested if a certain actor will resume filming for more than a day or two

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Was anyone suspecting something different?

The interviews just smelled of misdirection but when you play a central character of a storyline the secret will be blown as soon as filming restarts.

Apparently so.

Spoiler: Someone was really insistent about it every time we talked about that character.

As far as the show is concerned, Jon Snow is dead. Period.

Kit Harrington is no longer under contract, by his own admission, and is moving on to other projects, regardless of what may or may not happen to his character in future novels.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/06/14/game-thrones-jon-dies-interview

If there were even a chance of him coming back, he wouldn't have answered the interviewer's question as candidly as he did.

I'll say it again: even if Jon comes back to life in the books, that won't be happening on the show.

In the words of Bones, "he's dead, Jim".

I hope he stays dead. Any resurrection would cheapen that final scene.

I'm the complete opposite. I'd feel that his death now would cheapen the whole experience and make it all feel pointless, while taking away one of the last few likeable and interesting characters left in Westeros. I think he's way too important to take out of rotation after five seasons of building him up. I know the books and the show are about challenging those kinds of storytelling preconceptions, but sometimes the audience deserves to have their loyalty to a character rewarded too.

BUT -- I'm sure I'm not the only one that remembers Ronald D. Moore and Katee Sackhoff giving "candid" interviews about another character's death a few years ago here.

Hell, just this season, the GoT showrunners might have pulled a minor rope-a-dope by listing Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark) in the casting notes for Episode 8, leading fans to believe he might show up among the Free Folk or as a White Walker, and then he never appeared. And then in this episode they played that Benjen clip in the "Previously On..." segment to give you the impression he might be coming back again, only to have it serve a completely different purpose. So while they're not playing JJ Abrams level obfuscation games, they're not above a little audience trickery to build excitement or preserve a storyline.

If there were any chance at all of keeping things a secret, the idea that Harington's Exit Interview is misdirection would hold some weight, but if Kit is in fact still under contract and does return for Season 6, we will know the second he shows up on set, making his and David and Dan's comments completely pointless, especially since there's only a couple of weeks to go before shooting on S6 begins.

There's absolutely nothing to be gained from this kind of misdirection at this stage of the game.

Preserving a secret like this for less than a month just isn't worth that kind of effort.

Evidence that says Jon WON'T be back:
1) It's pointless to waste time and energy lying to the media just to keep Jon's fate a secret for less than a month (Season 6 starts filming in July, there's no chance that they could keep Kit's presence on the set a secret once filming starts, and there's absolutely no reason for them to not immediately reveal Jon's future fate should he in fact be coming back)

2) Dan and David are aware of future storylines and have demonstrated that they have no qualms whatsoever about spoiling said storylines through the show

3) Kit offered some fairly candid answers in the Exit Interview he did with Entertainment Weekly

 

[Captaindemotion]

Another issue I thought might have some relevance was

Spoiler: Speculative spoiler stuff

If you watch the episode where Jon beheads Slynt, there's a big, dark long-haired and bearded guy who drags Slynt out. He looks not unlike Khal Drogo. The same extra/actor is standing near Thorne's right shoulder during Jon's assassination and when Olly appears, he's right between this extra and Thorne.

I'm reliably told that the big guy was originally filmed stabbing Jon and saying 'for the watch', like the other assassins. However, afterwards, Kit complained that he looked tiny compared to this guy and demanded that the shot be refilmed with a different actor. I've met Kit and he's indeed quite short. I've also met the extra and he's massive.

Now, I accept that it's hardly conclusive but I do wonder whether an actor whose contract is up and is leaving the show would have the clout to make that sort of request. Maybe they were giving Kit one last request, so to speak, but it did strike me as more the sort of request that would be granted to a returning cast member.

 

[FPAlpha]

Another issue I thought might have some relevance was

Spoiler: Speculative spoiler stuff

If you watch the episode where Jon beheads Slynt, there's a big, dark long-haired and bearded guy who drags Slynt out. He looks not unlike Khal Drogo. The same extra/actor is standing near Thorne's right shoulder during Jon's assassination and when Olly appears, he's right between this extra and Thorne.

I'm reliably told that the big guy was originally filmed stabbing Jon and saying 'for the watch', like the other assassins. However, afterwards, Kit complained that he looked tiny compared to this guy and demanded that the shot be refilmed with a different actor. I've met Kit and he's indeed quite short. I've also met the extra and he's massive.

Now, I accept that it's hardly conclusive but I do wonder whether an actor whose contract is up and is leaving the show would have the clout to make that sort of request. Maybe they were giving Kit one last request, so to speak, but it did strike me as more the sort of request that would be granted to a returning cast member.

Or it was a simple creative decision to let Olly do it given his feelings on the matter. Could be that Kit had some issues and maybe the producers humored him and came up with the Olly idea (which should have been their first idea if this report is true at all).

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ I think the intent was always to have Olly finish him off but I'm told Kit just didn't want such a big actor as one of his assailants, as he looked so small by comparison.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Another issue I thought might have some relevance was

Spoiler: Speculative spoiler stuff

If you watch the episode where Jon beheads Slynt, there's a big, dark long-haired and bearded guy who drags Slynt out. He looks not unlike Khal Drogo. The same extra/actor is standing near Thorne's right shoulder during Jon's assassination and when Olly appears, he's right between this extra and Thorne.

I'm reliably told that the big guy was originally filmed stabbing Jon and saying 'for the watch', like the other assassins. However, afterwards, Kit complained that he looked tiny compared to this guy and demanded that the shot be refilmed with a different actor. I've met Kit and he's indeed quite short. I've also met the extra and he's massive.

Now, I accept that it's hardly conclusive but I do wonder whether an actor whose contract is up and is leaving the show would have the clout to make that sort of request. Maybe they were giving Kit one last request, so to speak, but it did strike me as more the sort of request that would be granted to a returning cast member.

Or it was a simple creative decision to let Olly do it given his feelings on the matter. Could be that Kit had some issues and maybe the producers humored him and came up with the Olly idea (which should have been their first idea if this report is true at all).

What would have sucked is that if the "previously on..." segment re-showed the conversation Olly had with Sam about Jon's decision to help the Wildlings - the whole "a man's got to do the right thing even if others might think it's wrong" speech - and use THAT as the justification for being the final killing strike to Jon. When I first saw that scene a few episodes back, and knowing what was coming, I would have been willing to bet money that they were going to do that. I would have lost the bet, but I think it was still a major motivating factor for Olly in the end.