~Yup. That was certainly the sound of boots being laced.

sounds like a great game , i'm tempted .

Something that occurred to me during episode 5 (something that never occurred to me while reading the books), why is nobody talking about killing Viserys, although he would be the Targaryen heir? They don't know he's not a pathetic and wimpy maniac, and his sister is unlikely to lay claim to the throne or being accepted by the Westerosi nobility (excluding Dorne) if she did - and it seems unreasonable from their perspective that the Dothraki would care to invade at her word without Viserys being around. And if she bears a son, that's still plenty of years before he would become a threat.

Obviously, Robert isn't exactly a man of reason, but why is none of the smart people of the council pointing these things out?

Saturnine said:

I'm pretty sure they are not affraid of Viserys as he doesn't control an army of anykind, the problem to Robert comes in as the baby inside Danny who could claim the iron throne as a Targaryen and also control his fathers army so Danny was a bigger problem. Atleast how I'm seeing it.

Ire said:

Well, Daenerys doesn't control the army either. They have to assume that if Drogo invades, he would do so to honor the "trade" he did with Viserys. They would think the Dothraki to be an unsentimental people, so I'm not sure the baby Targaryen would make much difference (in the short term at least, and even in the long run if it's a girl). Besides, the Dothraki are notorious for their internal quarrels, there's no telling that Drogo and his Khalasar would still be there in a few years. So I don't think it's a natural and rational decision to have to resort to killing the Targaryen children.

Jorah is reporting back to the Seven Kingdoms and has already witnessed first-hand the lack of respect the Dothraki show Viserys. Jorah's no fool and can see that Daenerys is going to be the real threat, if there is one.

Laban Shrewsbury said:

Be that as it may, we never see Varys reporting this to king or council (not even in the books). Sure, he may have, but that doesn't seem to be a compelling enough reason for them to exclude Viserys in all their calculations. They don't know (and we don't know) how trustworthy and informant Jorah is and what information he has been passing on.

Hmmmmm....thtat's odd.

Ratings were actually down for Episode Six. suprising since I thought things really staretd to pick up woth teh ned of five and Jaime confronting ned in the streets of King's Landing. Ratings will be down this week as well - what with the holiday. Thsi kind of sucks becuase now is when teh plot gets rolling and i thought momentum would start to carry the show.

well - hopefully eight, nne and ten clear 2.5 million and enar three million intial ratings and over five million for the night. i think that's right about where HBO wnats to be - a notch or tow below True Blood but certainly in the better than respectable numbers for a premium cable channel.

Epsiode six rocked by the way. Its really ahr watching ned stick his head in the noose though. Ep 7 shoudl eb great - "You win or You Die" is the titel I think - so Cersei shoudl deliver her great line. Poor little Starks.

Stag Lord said:

It is. For me much better than 6th.

Episode 6 was awesome and my favorite by far, I cheered quite loudly when Viserys got his crown. Very happy that HBO showed it.

Note to self: never order the turtle stew at Casterly Rock.

Solid Episode 7 - nearly spoiled by the gratuitous ***** hosue scene with Littlefinger giving exposition as Roz and soem other chick...well you probably saw it already. Just awful and inecessary and hard to defend to non readers who are watching.

But Martin's plot momentum redeemed the episode and the narrative rushes to its crux. Teh ned-Cersei scene was played perfectly by a first rate actor/actress tandem and i loved the scenes in the East. So much pain and tragedy in sotre for the main characters,,,and so little time with only three episodes left.

Agreed, sex scene was way over done. Course it wouldn't be HBO without it I guess.

I hope they take some time with the next 3 episodes cuz with so much death about to happen wouldn't want any of it glossed over.

But point of the scene isnt sex - its opposite. Both girls are only pretending, all the way, and its connected to Littlefinger´s speech - if you listen to his talking about Cat and need to "play"... The scene is great, not because of sex, but because of its meaning.

Disagree - I think it makes LF's motivations rather obvious and pedestrian as opposed to his protrayal in the book. If you wanted to go with teh "atrifice" theme it could have been suggested a la the Dany-handmaid scene without going to the lengths the director went. I was veyr disappointed that we ahd gone back to such prurience this far into the series.

Well, LIttlefinger has to be more blunt. He doesnt have book and non-readers cant hang only on one pun about Brandon Stark. I wont tell that classic HBO series wont give a solid share of sex in, but this scene was EXACT opposite of it. It was loathing it in real. Just pretty boring theatre... Littlefinger playing friend to Ned Stark...to Cersei...to Robert... and very calmly fakin with all of them. Which he is even in books. All of them. And pretty succesfuly.

And for sex... I like way some people are scared of it... "We know about it, but do not show..." ... but its another fairytale...

Some people find it uncomfortable and distasteful to watch such depictions in mixed company. an argument can be made if ti serves a purpose - but even granting your argument that the lesbian scene symbolized the greater pretense of diplomacy, it could easily have been done in other ways, without being gratuitous.

Well and I can say - why it should be done in other way? I have no problem with logical use of sex in art. But there we are really going to second fairytale. We dont mind beheading horse, we dont mind tearing someone´s belly... but we are distasteful when sex is shown? I can uderstand it...

I could, when remebering when I was ten, twelve and some horribly erotic scene (like one nipple:)) emerged on TV... it was horrible. But ten years old should not watch GoT. And if adults are uncomfotable because of sex... (despite having it in regular base and I believe not only one, still same, position)... its simply strange.

And this discussion is slipping into brutal OT, my apologies.

And we disagree whether or not it plays a role in the art - the srt of teh story. IMO, it served only to detract from it. The whole "exposition via sex scene" bit has been doen to death by this point in the series.

Yup, we disagree on it - for me it was brilliantly (and cleverly) done. But I said so, earlier and repeating is useless

Stag Lord said:

Maybe it wasn't just your taste. I think this scene was good. Littlefinger owns brothel, we watch Rossie (she finally travelled to King's Landing) all logical, suitable. Rossie is good with pulling out secrets from man (despite "that's what you learn in North?"), so Littlefinger told all his plan more or less. Also we see Littlefinger's twisted morality, teaching and understanding passion and lust. Totally different thing than stupid scene when Dany woodenly get into bathtub, when we see understudy's ass.

The scene was just way over done and for those of us with wives, girlfriends, fiances, mothers, more than a bit uncomfortable. Could have been a bit shorter for sure. Didn't need a scene that long to know Littlefinger is a ****.

Also awful Rogue - i agree with you. I just think the director has taken way too many opporunities to reveal plot through sex scenes. nobody talks about this stuff AFTER the act is done? while they are under the covers or getting dressed? thsi last one was just so ridiculously over the top it actually was marginally offensive. Hopefully that was the last of it.

AND (again0 i didn't liek teh way it crystallized LF's motivations - a very murky and complex character in teh novels.

I kind of agree, although the scene didn't bother me it was quite long an I just really didn't see the point. I still had to explain to my wife what and who Littlefinger was talking about.

Really? Hmmm... I'd thought that they were making it pretty obvious who Littlefinger was referencing with info on it in previous episodes, and then references when he was speaking this time to Ned as "such a good man" (or something close to that), but as always, my perceptions might be skewed from having read the books before.