ASOIAF series(spoilers inside do not enter)

[Everlong]

So I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get Stoneheart (must be saving it til first ep next season) but that finale was otherwise fucking amazing. The Brienne/Hound twist was interesting but it makes sense; it'll give Stoneheart more reason to hate Brienne. Also, glad they didn't explicitly kill off the Hound. Makes me still have hope he's alive in the books!

Interesting that in the last two episodes they've killed Grenn, Pyp and Jojen, none of whom is dead in the actual books. Unless Jojen died in Dance and I'm just forgetting?

[SlightlyJames]

This was an alright episode but I wouldn't say it was the greatest they've done so far like it was hyped to be, the pacing felt off at times and the execution was lacking in some places which was a little disappointing.

Man that fight between Sandor and Brienne was so fucking tense, a lot of the noises they were making were kinda unsettling at times. I liked Sandor's rambling as he sat there dying, maybe there really was a maester behind a rock, I wanna believe dammit! Arya was fucking stone cold when she wouldn't give him the mercy.

Tyrion and Jaime's parting was too nice, I know we weren't getting the classic line since Moon Boy isn't in the show but that revelation as well as the one about Tysha was really lacking though without being reminded about in Tyrion's POV all the time most people probably wouldn't have remembered about it anyway.

I guess Jojen was deemed surplus to requirements for next season along with Grenn and Pyp, rather underwhelming death though, kinda came out of nowhere. Unless they put the brakes on that story next season it'll be in uncharted territory.

Moving to the other story that's well into its Dance chapters, Rhaegal and Viserion are all chained up and the CGI team will be thinking they can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being (wait until they hear about the fighting pit scene next season)

Honestly the Stoneheart thing is a bummer but I can see how it might be better left until next season, and not in the first episode either. Brienne's story has been a little disjointed so we haven't had the insight into the Riverlands that we get from her POV, next season with her stuff and with Jaime breaking the siege at Riverrun we can get some more insight into the Frey hanging situation and then the reveal can happen where it would have most effect.

They can even build more directly to the story with Gendry joining up with the BWB again. This could still be done in a really impactful way, even though we wanted to see it tonight. They haven't burnt it down, this is very salvageable.

[prophet]

Haven't watched the episode yet but had to find out if...wait...what...so...so no Stoneheart?

[HFX]

Stoneheart not being in the episode is probably for the best. D&D have done a great job with the show so just trust them guys. Remember not everyone that watches has read the books and they were wrapping up this seasons storylines and this episode was just filled with stuff. Throwing something big, new and shocking at them like Stoneheart could confuse and slightly overwhelm the average viewer.

And of the finales so far I think this was the best of the lot. Though it was a show edit I did enjoy the scene with The Hound and Brienne. The Hound laid down some mad truth and Brienne was just to stupid to listen. Where the fuck did she think she was going to bring Arya that would be safer than at Sandor's side. There is literally nowhere in the Seven Kingdoms except maybe Castle Black that Arya could have been safe at. And as Tim said I'm excited that they didn't kill Sandor on screen which gives us hope for the book theory.

I liked how Tyrion and Jaime parted in the show better than the books. Jaime truly cared about Tyrion and I hated how Tyrion lashed out at the only family member who ever had his back. besides the Tysha stuff would have made no sense in the context of the TV show. I think she was mentioned like once in the first season. Best just to leave it out. Tyrion killing Tywin on Father's Day was a hell of a move by D&D . I'm gonna miss Tywin though because he would have been a great enemy for Aegon. And poor Varys helps our loveable imp and now has to flee to Essos with him.

Viseryon and Rhaegal getting locked up and abandoned crushed me. And it's all because of that fucker Drogon. I can't wait until Prince Dumbass releases them. I almost felt a tear as they screamed for Danaerys as she walked away. I had to give my dog up to my uncle back in December and she did like the exact same thing the night we dropped her off and the dragon scene made those feelings flood me again.

SKS got live commentary from me while I watched and he can attest that I freaked out at Jojen dying. I know he was a secondary character but his story didn't really seem finished in the book so I am really confused. I know he didn't die in the books, at least that we've read, so I have no idea what's up. Also the CotF gave me a creepy Peter Pan vibe instead of the ancient Elf type vibe I got in the books. And Bran controlled Hodor is a very scary person.

THE MANNIS HAS ARRIVED BITCHES! BOW TO THE TRUE KING OF WESTEROS AND CONQUEROR OF THE WILDINGS! I loved that whole scene from Jon meeting with Mance to Mance getting taken prisoner. The knights tearing shit up and saving the Night's Watch was everything I imagined. Jon speaking with the Mannis was great. In that scene I really could see Ned in Jon. Stannis respected Ned and I can't wait for Jon and the Mannis to team up and conqueror the Seven Kingdoms(SHUT UP HE'S NOT DEAD LALALALALALALALA).

I want to enjoy the rest of the year because I'm having some of the best times of my life right now, despite my current jobless state, but I can't wait for next April. Hopefully by the start of 2015 then TWOW will be out because I'm going into withdrawals already.

[Everlong]

Yeah, George had better hurry up and get TWOW out, because some of these stories are about to venture past the point to which he's written.

[prophet]

Good episode, not as phenomenal as I was lead to believe beforehand and not my favourite of the season but a good episode that wrapped the season up nicely despite being...not underwhelming I suppose...just not overwhelming either. Season 5 is going to be completely different to any of the others and I'm super pumped for it - reaaaally skeptical and nervous for how they're going to handle Arya and Tyrion in particular.

Jon Snow is my favourite character on the show and I'm probably most excited to see his interactions with Stannis and Melisandre. As for Stoneheart I still maintain that her appearance to close the finale would've been fucking insane and I am bummed they didn't include it though I understand why they didn't - at this point though I'm not sure they're going to include the character at all - (but if they do it'll likely be in whatever episode GRRM writes next year)

I'm not even sure what Season 5 mainly consists of to be honest, will one of you chaps please refresh and enlighten me?

[Everlong]

Jon Snow is my favourite character on the show

YAAAAAAAAS ONE OF US ONE OF US

I'm not even sure what Season 5 mainly consists of to be honest,

Well it'll probably be a split of stuff from ADWD and AFFC. Cersei starting to go nuts, Jaime trying to bring peace to the Riverlands, Brienne and Pod bumbling around, hopefully they bring back the BWB, lots of stuff with the Greyjoys. They still need to kill off Balon btw, so my guess is that happens really early in the next season. Also, Jon will probably be elected Lord Commander very early on.

Plenty of material to work with.

[prophet]

What did everyone think of Bran finding the three-eyed raven and the children of the forest protecting him from the skeleton wight warriors? I think Bran's story has been the most poorly transitioned from book to screen due probably due to the fact that it isn't very interesting in the books at all.

I felt like Bran and his gang have been filler characters on the show this season used to add more intrigue and suspense to Jon's arc (captured by the Craster's Keep Mutineers really only a tease a Stark reunion). Then on the finale they'd all of a sudden bumped them up to main roles and the whole thing felt really weird and out of place. I'm not actually sure the last time I saw them (was it when Locke tried to kidnap Bran?) so for them to just suddenly show up at their destination kind of made me feel like "well...so what?" Jojen dying was a shock though as James pointed out even that felt really out of nowhere and underwhelming.

Did anyone enjoy that sequence more than me? Is it a good thing that the GoT on-screen world is starting to venture further into magic territory?

[Hanley!]

Jon Snow is my favourite character on the show

YAAAAAAAAS ONE OF US ONE OF US

I don't even understand. It's cool that you guys like him, but I literally can't think of a thing to like. He's not really very interesting or likable, he doesn't have much of a personality and the actor isn't very good. Also they keep bringing up his completely unbelievable romance plot, that always felt lame and forced to me (in the books too). I can't even wrap my head around how he could be somebody's favourite character. But at least you'll enjoy those sequences in the show more than me.

I didn't dislike this episode by any means, but I found it a little disappointing in places. It definitely wasn't my favourite Game of Thrones finale so far. It wasn't even my favourite episode of this season. Not by a long shot. There were a few moments that were done really well, but a lot of it didn't quite click for me.

Despite the stuff at the wall generally being some of the dullest stuff in the books and the show, over the last couple of episodes it has been done really well and the spectacle alone has made it exciting viewing. That being said though, while the stuff at the wall has been a highlight over the last couple of episodes, I thought Stannis attacking the wildlings was handled a bit poorly. Something about the sequence just looked very fake. I liked him interacting with Jon Snow, but the initial appearance and attack looked weird to me. They appeared out of nowhere and the apparently huge wildling army looked like 20 people. It didn't work for me.

The stuff with Bran is weird too. Leaving Coldhands out of the show might have seemed like an inconsequential thing to cut, but to me it makes his whole quest mean less, because it doesn't feel like it took that much effort to get to his destination. I also thought all the fantasy stuff was a bit much this week. Coldhands would have helped there too, because he's kinda creepy and supernatural and would have eased the audience into the crazier stuff. I thought the crazier stuff was handled kinda badly too. The skeleton fight looked kinda silly and Jojen's death lacked impact as a result. The children were brushed over and the three eyed raven didn't look nearly as cool or creepy as I imagined him based on descriptions from the book. I thought that was a very underwhelming reveal.

The fight between Brienne & the Hound was unnecessary (wasn't even in the books), and I would have preferred for them to spend that time improving the more important events in the episode. A lot of time was lost here that would have been better spent elsewhere. That being said, I can't deny that it was a great fight scene and I enjoyed it a lot. It was one of the highlights of the episode. I just would have preferred to see those 5 minutes being given to Varys or Stannis. Particularly given that the way Hound supposedly died in the books (infection from old wounds) was teased in earlier episodes. That's a Chekov's gun that never went off as a result.

The final scene with Tywin & Tyrion was awesome, but I thought the transition between Tyrion's escape and finding Shae was awkwardly done and I know that some fans of the show who hadn't read the books found it hard to understand what was happening. They were confused about whether or not Shae had been sleeping with Tywin or what. I also thought not having Tyrion talk to Varys before killing Tywin left out some really interesting foreshadowing for Varys also. In the books, I always read it that Varys deliberately goaded Tyrion into killing his father, while pretending to object to it. Having him talk to Tyrion before hand would have made it more clear what was happening, and it would have been a cool moment for Varys.

Still though, Peter Dinklage and Charles Dance killed it in that scene and I'm really going to miss Tywin in the show. He's been one of my favourites since he appeared in season 2. That was probably the highlight of the episode, and the bit I was most looking forward to.

I was kinda disappointed that we didn't see Stoneheart too. The end of the season seemed the perfect place to debut her. It almost felt like they were subverting audience expectations for the sake of it there. I never liked Stoneheart much as a character, but she's bound to work better on television where you see how creepy she is. The character was practically designed for a shocking end of season reveal. I don't really know why they held off there. That scene only needed to be 30 seconds long.

[UTK]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I've finished the books and can finally participate in it. And I'm goddamn obsessed, and need discussion to fill the void in my soul caused by the lack of TWOW.

We're in agreement that R+L=J though right? That's gotta be true hasn't it?

I think anyone who has read the series should agree that R+L=J is 100% fact and not a theory. It just makes so much sense.

But Jon would still be a bastard. Rhaegar's bastard, yes, but still a bastard. The best evidence against this is that Targs practiced polygamy centuries earlier. That's rather weak evidence, IMO, compared to the other bits of evidence in the R+L=J theory.