Game of Thrones Season 4 Give the Starks a break.

I like how they actually sat down and gave us a focused episode instead of rushing around to Dany, Tyrion, Arya, etc every 5 minutes.

I like how they actually sat down and gave us a focused episode instead of rushing around to all the characters every 5 minutes.

@Motokid6: Amazing episode. I was a little disappointed with the limited Jon Snow screen time so far but now they totally made up for it.

I too enjoyed Sir Allister's honesty. Up until now he acted like a total dick but he showed how badass he really is. I was also surprised to see Sam so mature and brave, he is a craven no more.

lol.

agreed it was a great episode. it's crazy what they're pulling off for a tv series. this was just one episode and it was basically a whole movie.

What kept this episode from being perfect for me is a certain someone not showing up at the end. They're moving that part to the next episode, but I don't know why since there's enough things to do there as it is..

I'm suuure this was worded in such a way as to bring back memories of Olenna Tyrell's talk with Margery?

They're from different generations, in the novels at least. Aemon's old old.

As in Aemon was already 30-something and a member of the Night's Watch when Olenna was born.

Ah that didn't come across so well in the show. The way she talked about seducing a Targ's brother, I thought it was a dead hint!

There's speculation that was Aemons's nephew Prince Duncan (that she was going to marry) and that the prince spurned Olenna not the other way around. In which case the TV series Olenna's story to Margaery is a lie.

And Duncan was The Mad King's uncle if that gives you any idea of how old Aemon really is.

OK just saw the final episode of season 4, what a stunner! I thought it was nicely done the way it handled the various characters storylines. A few more people killed off as expected but please don't let The Hound die, especially like that.

Well, the finale sucked in so many ways..

They completely ruined the whole Tyrion thing. And Stannis.

I was also disappointed with Leaf's makeup and the way Bloodraven looked. Bloodraven's supposed to be missing a eye and have a root growing out of the socket and all kinds of creepy stuff. TV Bloodraven looks like Father Time or something. And Leaf looked way too human. I guess they didn't have the budget for makeup after doing all the skeletons. :/

They completely changed and ruined Tyrion's scene with Jaimie and Tyrion's scene with Shae. Do they really feel the need to whitewash him so much?

They gave Stannis the shaft again too.

And I was absurdly disappointed with Leaf and Bloodraven.

Book Bloodraven looks like.....

“His body was so skeletal and his clothes so rotted that first Bran took him for another corpse, a dead man propped up so long that the roots had grown over him, under him, and through him. What skin the corpse showed was white, save for a bloody blotch that crept up his neck onto his cheek. His white hair was fine and thin as root hair and long enough to brush against the earthen floor. Roots coiled around his legs, like wooden serpents. One burrowed though his breeches into the desiccated flesh of his thigh, to emerge again from his shoulder. A spray of dark red leaves sprouted from his skull, and grey mushrooms spotted on his brow. A little skin remained, stretched across his face, tight and hard as white leather, but even that was fraying, and here and there the brown and yellow bone beneath was poking though.” –A Dance With Dragons page 178

TV Bloodraven looks like Merlin or Father Time or the Holy Grail knight at the end of Indiana Jones. Did they spend all their budget on that silly Jason and the Argonauts skeleton battle or are they not even trying anymore? Leaf wasn't much better.

Don't forget No lady stoneheart.

Seriously people, if you haven't come to the conclusion yet that the show has and will always make changes to fit their own narrative then you really need to just stop watching. The finale was perfect, for the SERIES. It wasn't a finale for the book. If you want that...go read the books again.

No talk of Tysha because that part of Tyrion's past was explained once in the series in like season 1. Shae was a much bigger part of the series than she was in the books, so focusing what he did around her made more sense for the SERIES.

Not sure of the complaints of undead skeletons. In the books I am fairly certain at that point they were attacked by white walkers. So are walking skeletons any more unbelievable? Same with Leaf and the magic. Might not be something that happened in the books, but it works with the universe of the show.

How in the hell did Stannis look evil? He looked and acted exactly as he ALWAYS does. I say this as a fan of Team Dragonstone. Nothing we see from him is any different than the books.

No one really knows what Varys was up to after helping Tyrion escape, until he pops up again to kill Kevan Lannister. As the series has done before, if is probably going to give him more screen time, instead of just having the actor and character disappear, by having him travel a bit with Tyrion. There interactions in the show were always great anyway. Or, for all we know, he got on the ship and we won't see him again...so this is a complaint about an outcome you don't even know yet...

Not sure also what the complaints are about Jojen's death. The character really doesn't do much, especially at this point in the books. I am interested in where the series goes from here with Bran considering that they have reached the end of his storyline so far in the books. But my guess is that Bran stays where he is, so Jojen isn't really necessary any more.

Why would Lady Stoneheart be in this episode? She did not fit in it narratively, at all. Were they going to end the episode with a quick one minute scene of her and not explain anything? Leaving those who don't know who she is wondering how and why she is even back? It makes MUCH more sense to save that for next season, have her reveal when Brienne is captured. That way they can introduce her, and save any exposition as to her existence for the scene in which they explain everything to Brienne.

Many of these complaints, which I have seen elsewhere, are simply cases of book readers being upset that something they wanted from the books wasn't in the show, when it didn't have to be. Again that doesn't in anyway make the episode any worse. Other fans of the book REALLY need to stop judging these episodes based on how close they are to the book and actually judge them on how they fit with the TV series. Gets really annoying, and I say this as someone who loves both the books and the series.

Yeah that too.. :/

Look, I'm used to how adaptations work, and I'm certainly not against all the changes the series. In fact, some of them are better considering the tv medium, and what wouldn't translate well from the pages. But that does not mean I have to accept every single stupid thing they do. Does it work for the show? Some of it, yes. But most of the time they have some really good material and they change it for the sake of it. Especially in this finale.

I try to view as a separate thing and enjoy it despite the changes, and it works. But when they take things this far, it's a bit much for me.

Edit: People who are ok with the changes need to stop saying "then stop watching!!". If I hated the show I'd stop, I'm saying that stuff because I like it. We can still get disappointed, you know..

It was a nice conclusion to the season. Maybe I was expecting sth super epic after episode 9 but it was great nonetheless.

I was surprised to see some more deviations from the books like Jojen dying, Brienne being the one to actually kill the Hound, skeletons instead of wights when Bran encounters Leaf. I also felt that Stannis' arrival was not epic enough like in the books and that Tysha would be nice to have been mentioned when Tyrion conversed with his father and brother. I always liked how she was an important part of Tyrion's past.

But like SaintLeonidas said the TV and novel series are not 100% the same whether we like it or not. Now it's a very long year of waiting for the next season - I'm very sad it's over.

@harry_james_pot: I don't see why you have to get all upset. Treat the show and the book as their own entity.

I wasn't a big fan of the finale. I'll just leave it at that.

That's what I've been doing, and even with the changes during the past seasons they got the important scenes right. But the thing is, that final SOS Tyrion chapter is one of my favorites in the entire ASOIAF novels, and I've been waiting for years to see it come to life, I was really excited. But then what we ended up with was not merely a change, it was completely ruined. :(

Did Melissandre get Stannis to go North? And what is his objective up there?

GRRM said it best "Stannis has realized that he's going about this all wrong. He's been trying to become King to save the realm, when he should have been saving the realm to become King."

Although I think Tywin got what he deserved, I am really going to miss Charles Dance. One of the best actors on the show; and his portrayal of Tywin is one of my favorite portrayals of a character on the show.

@SaintLeonidas: I think most of the actors and actresses did an excellent job portraying the characters from the books. Charles Dance, Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Maisie Williams, Jack Gleeson, Emilia Clark being prime examples. This tv show is just amazing.

@harry_james_pot: The show could never capture what was portrayed in that chapter. The book delves in to Tyrions thoughts in to extreme detail. One thing i did like about that scene was how there were no exchange in words between Tyrion and Shae (I'm not sure if that how it went down in the book, i can't remember.) I also like how Tyrion doesn't hate Jaime. I always thought it was stupid for him to hate him for what his father made him do as a child.

No. Just....no.

I wonder who they're going to get to play Kevan Lannister?

Gonna have to disagree with you there dude, Daenerys is totally awesome.

They'll probably stick with Ian Gelder.

Yes.

Emilia's not even trying at this point. In some of the scenes it's like she got high before they started filming.

Those who already read the books ..... I hope you are not like PC master-race fanatic fanboys

Didn't think it was very good as a finale. Haven't read the books, so it's not that. The season had so many great moments, but I wouldn't include any from this episode in that list.

Great finale, for a change. I had no knowledge of what would happen prior, so I was surprised in a good way. It really feels like it wrapped up a chapter and will move on to the next.

We haven't seen him since season two. Is there confirmation that he's coming back?

No, in the book they exchanged a few words before Tyrion recited the "hands of gold" poem and killed her with her own necklace.

I think this entire season was a turning point for the major characters:

Jon becoming a warrior leader

Arya starting to become a badass warrior

Tyrion freeing himself from the shackles of his father

Daenarys taking responsibility for being a Queen

Jamie turning good

Hound to neutral

Baelish as the master manipulator

and now Sansa looks to go to the dark side

Also Stannis showing why he should be king

I'm bringing back this thread since I've been gone a month if you don't like it then oh well....

No, Davos did after he learned how to read he fumbled upon some letters from the Night's Watch asking for help and pitched it to Stannis and the Iron Bank for funding was also his.... however...Melissandre burned some folks that produced wind for their sailing.

That's no turning point. He has always been but we did get more insight to it.

Amen. Charles Dance straight up nailed that role, it was uncanny. I think Dinklage was more so just a good fit for his but not to take anything away from him either. Those 2 are the best together and separate.

I think Lady Stoneheart should have been somewhere in season 4... at least a cameo. She was in the Epilogue to Book 3 so she seems past due unless they are throwing out that scene for her introduction which I guess would make sense.

There were plenty of things I could argue about the differentiating of the book and show but I enjoyed this season so much that I won't even bother because for the most part the plot stays the same course for all the characters except a few. I would have to say the battle at the wall and Castle Black was my favorite episode. It got a whole one to itself which was well deserved and the scenes with the Giants, Thormund, the Thenns, Jon and Yigritte were so well done IMO .Pity they killed most of Jon's friends off though.

Now this is going to be really interesting because book 4 and 5 aren't in chronological order like 1-3. Book 4 you get certain characters and certain places and then book 5 you get the ones book 4 left out and then it finally all catches up so that seems to be a real challenge depicting it on TV. So I'm hoping they will make 3 seasons out books 4 and 5 since we already got a little taste of book 5 with Bran and It will give Martin plenty of time to finish book 6 without the threat of the show on his heels .

On another note they are already advertising the DVD/ Blu ray release of Season 4 which comes out in February 2015. That will surely help the most pirated show....

I want to buy them, but I feel it would be a mistake until it is finished. For some reason, companies never keep the presentation consistent.