Episode 5x03 - High Sparrow - HAVE read the books [** Spoilers **]

Mr.Prodston

It's very off putting that there's been no thread set up, it's the biggest show in the world and many of us are rabid fans. 2 weeks in a row now :pac: I must be one of the very few watching this weekly!

I'm really liking this season so far. The slower pace and introductions and moving pieces has been done rather well so far. Thoroughly enjoyed that episode and it flew by.

At the same time why in 7 hells didn't they have Jon say" Edd, fetch me a block"! When I realised what scene it was I perked right up in anticipation and oh how I enjoyed it but still why change?

Sansa's story has escalated. I guess I knew it was going this way and I'm interested to see how it plays out.

Brienne's Stannis talk makes me nervous though.

Tommen is a lucky boy, sorry man. Loved the scene between Margaery and Cersei

Jorah and Tyrion's team up will be fun. And Tatsu from Arrow made a welcome appearance too

Mickeroo

Brienne is definitely going to be the ghost of winterfell it seems. I'm enjoying her and Sansa's storyline quite a bit now as i have no idea whats going to happen.

joe123

Its been an age since I read the books so just looking to have my memory refreshed.

In the tv show he chops off Janos slynts head for defying the order. Did this happen in the book I can't even remember. Is it part of the Watches code that if you defy orders you are executed or was Jon Snow following the advice of Stannis

Also is Mance still alive in the TV show do you think? He had a pretty major role in the whole rose Bolton infiltrating thing in the books!

DaisyD2

Apart from High Sparrow & Faceless Men storylines I seem to have completely forgotten the books! I vaguely remember jorah kidnapping tyrion but honestly struggling to remember brienne in books at all! I really don't want to have to go back to book 1 & 500pgs of snow above Wall to figure it out either so just going to sit back n enjoy the ride

FunLover18

Mr.Prodston wrote: »

Tommen is a lucky boy, sorry man.

I don't think I've ever been more jealous of a TV character.

FOUR TIMES!!!

tadcan

The slow build up really works for me, even better by watching week to week, and having a chance to reflect on the show.

I'm also looking forward to Brienne's new story line. When she dies in the book, I didn't care, not because of the character, but because, the shock value had worn off. So I shrugged and thought, another character dead.

I thought Sansa would met the brotherhood without banners, become lady stoneheart (although I wouldn't be surprised if she earned that nickname) and lead a rebellion. I haven't checked the cast list to see if they would be in the series.

Bringing forward Stanis's battle in north should bring lots of action to end of the season. I hope they don't get bogged down in a huge snowstorm like the books. It was thematic sure, but really slowed the books down even more.

Sleepy

Eh, Brienne hasn't died yet in the books...

It pissed me off so much that they didn't give Jon the line "Ed, fetch me a block"... how hard would it have been to include one of Jon's few great lines?

tommy2bad

I suspect the resurrection have been moved to kings landing in which case lady Stoneheart is gone. Fake Aria is gone, and most of the cast in Tyrian story line. Basically the books are now only a loose inspiration.
Not for the better, it seems to have lost something, the action seems hurried and characters have less room to develope.
Then again the tv show is limited in how long they can run for so compromises must be made.
The sets look fabulous, the overhead shot of Volarais was super. Winterfell looked suitably empty but familiar, all in all the production has kept it high standard. I'm just sorry the plot has been tightened too much, too few characters to give the scope the books have. GoT the tv show has gone from epic to soap with high value cig.

Still if we finish the tv show before the next book at least the book will still have surprises.

Mr.Prodston

Oh I knew there was something that I forgot, or most likely repressed :mad:

The woman in Winterfell tells Sansa that "The North Remembers" and it felt like this:



THAT'S WYMAN MANDERLY'S LINE!!!!

*scurries off fighting back the tears*

Son0vagun

Have they not thought of the implications of Sansa marrying Ramsey? Sansa is the most wanted woman in all of Westeros, wanted for having a hand in King Jofferys death. Surely Cersi will march on Winterfell when she hears of the marriage.

Mr Freeze

I like Brienne, I like Stannis.

This show better not make me choose between the 2 of them!!!

They appear to be setting Brienne up to take revenge and kill Stannis. I would hate if that happened, and would much rather see Brienne fail if she attempts to kill Stannis in Winterfell.

"Olly, bring me my sword", Even "Olly, fetch the block" would have been ok, there was no need to change the line at all.

Giving The North Remembers line to a nobody is not good, Manderly is most definitely cut, and I don't think Davos will be going on his road trip either.

When Sansa arrived in Winterfell and met the Boltons, the camera pans to a group of women, was that the Spearwives or Ramsays dogs???

Mickeroo

Mr Freeze wrote: »

I like Brienne, I like Stannis.

This show better not make me choose between the 2 of them!!!

They appear to be setting Brienne up to take revenge and kill Stannis. I would hate if that happened, and would much rather see Brienne fail if she attempts to kill Stannis in Winterfell.

"Olly, bring me my sword", Even "Olly, fetch the block" would have been ok, there was no need to change the line at all.

Giving The North Remembers line to a nobody is not good, Manderly is most definitely cut, and I don't think Davos will be going on his road trip either.

When Sansa arrived in Winterfell and met the Boltons, the camera pans to a group of women, was that the Spearwives or Ramsays dogs???

Ramsey's dogs, the nearest one had a few scenes last season, the shot was to show her seething with jealousy I think. She'll be out to get Sansa.

theteal

I probably shouldn't be in here as I've about 250 pages of the latest book remaining. Some of the changes are annoying but are probably needed to speed things along for telly. Tyrion meeting Jorah has happened too quickly, I wanted to see some stonemen. I expected Sam would be on his travels by now too. I also really wanted to see a scene where Arya tried to bite the worm from the kindly man's skeletal eye socket when she first arrived at the house of black and white. Janos loosing his head is one of the most satisfying parts of the book, I did enjoy it on screen also.

Mr Freeze

Mickeroo wrote: »

Ramsey's dogs, the nearest one had a few scenes last season, the shot was to show her seething with jealousy I think. She'll be out to get Sansa.

Was thinking they were going to give Sansa a hard time alrite.

Ramsey seemed to be on his best behaviour.

Mickeroo

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Was thinking they were going to give Sansa a hard time alrite.

Ramsey seemed to be on his best behaviour.

I'd love if Sansa ends up killing him, she seems to have resolved herself to take no **** from anyone now.

Daith

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Was thinking they were going to give Sansa a hard time alrite.

Ramsey seemed to be on his best behaviour.

I think Sansa is going to manipulate Ramsey into killing them.

Tom.D.BJJ

"The North remembers". Tiny tear and a little flutter of my weak heart. All aboard the Darth Sansa train!!! No Manderly is a bit **** though. I wonder how they'll bring Rickon into it now. Maybe Brienne will find the Stark child that was promised :eek:

The high Sparrow was perfectly cast, they got that spot on. Margaery/Cersei bitchfest was fun too

Mormegil

theteal wrote: »

I probably shouldn't be in here as I've about 250 pages of the latest book remaining. Some of the changes are annoying but are probably needed to speed things along for telly. Tyrion meeting Jorah has happened too quickly, I wanted to see some stonemen. I expected Sam would be on his travels by now too. I also really wanted to see a scene where Arya tried to bite the worm from the kindly man's skeletal eye socket when she first arrived at the house of black and white. Janos loosing his head is one of the most satisfying parts of the book, I did enjoy it on screen also.

With all the talk of Greyscale and Stonemen (Shireen last week, Tyrion this week) I've little doubt they'll turn up at some point. I can also see an existing character catching Greyscale.


With regards to Edd, fetch me a block, in the books IIRC Janos is orginally going to be hung but at the last minute Jon decides to behead him, hence the fetch me a block line.

In the show there is no change of execution method so fetch me my sword makes more sense (and as Olly is Jon's steward it's his job to fetch the sword).

PopePalpatine

I can kinda imagine why they may have cut out Wyman Manderly, after all he passed off someone else's head as Davos's in the books.

celica00

This is going to be interesting, especially the Sansa story now.
I wonder what plan she has for Ramsey! Must be something evil and dangerous to take revenge? can't wait to see more!
The rest I found very good so far, I would love to see Brienne kill Stannis!

Mr Freeze

celica00 wrote: »

The rest I found very good so far, I would love to see Brienne kill Stannis!

Ohhhhh, I hope to see Brienne flayed and strung up on the walls of Winterfell before I'd see any harm come to Stannis.

Tom.D.BJJ

celica00 wrote: »

This is going to be interesting, especially the Sansa story now.
I wonder what plan she has for Ramsey! Must be something evil and dangerous to take revenge? can't wait to see more!
The rest I found very good so far, I would love to see Brienne kill Stannis!

I hope it's not obvious. At the moment, Sansa is the key to the North because she will bring the support of the northern houses. Ramsay can f*ck that up, by being himself and hurting her. As the washerwoman said "The North Remembers". Stoke that fire baby!!

Also, Stannis will need something to bring the northern houses to his cause. He either needs to be fighting to rescue Sansa which might work, or find another Stark child. He tried with Jon....mayhaps he'll send Davos to find another :pac:

Tom.D.BJJ

Mr Freeze wrote: »

I like Brienne, I like Stannis.

This show better not make me choose between the 2 of them!!!

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Ohhhhh, I hope to see Brienne flayed and strung up on the walls of Winterfell before I'd see any harm come to Stannis.

That didnt take long :pac:

Liam O

Sansa is going to be kidnapped by Brienne I think. Then on the way to the wall or at the wall she meets Stannis and all he'll breaks loose. Or she goes south and runs into a certain thought to be dead Tully hopefully.

The brotherhood haven't shown up this season which is a glaring ommision as there's no way they won't be in it after missing a season last year.

Mr Freeze

Tom.D.BJJ wrote: »

That didnt take long :pac:

I think I had decided on Stannis when I wrote the first post!!!
:pac:

joe123

Have they cut out a ton of characters that traveled with Tyrion??

The fight on the ship with the stone men? Tyrion falling into the water? Weren't some of those lads on the boat with Tyrion pretty damn important??

Il be pissed if they have cut Manderly, Jon Connington and his crew and it looks like they are ignoring the Mance storyline?

Really dont like all the changes. Im still annoyed they completely cut Coldhands. He was such a cool/mysterious character.

It all feels so rushed this season. Really not enjoying it as much as I thought.

theteal

joe123 wrote: »

Have they cut out a ton of characters that traveled with Tyrion??

The fight on the ship with the stone men? Tyrion falling into the water? Weren't some of those lads on the boat with Tyrion pretty damn important??

Il be pissed if they have cut Manderly, Jon Connington and his crew and it looks like they are ignoring the Mance storyline?

Really dont like all the changes. Im still annoyed they completely cut Coldhands. He was such a cool/mysterious character.

It all feels so rushed this season. Really not enjoying it as much as I thought.

Yes, this is why I say Jorah meeting up with Tyrion has happened too quickly, no Griff, young Targaryen, the "nun" chick who likes a swim in the morning. Tyrion having to check himself for greyscale (although there is an inkling that something may be introduced on that as one of the guys mentioned above). Even the dwarf girl on the 2nd boat journey.

As for Coldhands, I only read about him after I had seen the equivalent bit of the telly program, I was like, "how can you leave the breathless guy out?!!"

Liam McPoyle

Is it just me or does it feel somewhat, lacking, when compared with previous seasons.

Maybe its just cos Im missing Tywin chewing up every scene he was in, plus the hound and Goffrey, 3 fantastic characters that have not/cannot be replaced.

tommy2bad

Business Cat wrote: »

Is it just me or does it feel somewhat, lacking, when compared with previous seasons.

Maybe its just cos Im missing Tywin chewing up every scene he was in, plus the hound and Goffrey, 3 fantastic characters that have not/cannot be replaced.

Theirs lots of characters that could replace them, they seem to have chosen to go with a more limited selection. It might be because stars cost money or it could be they think it would confuse an audience to introduce new characters at this stage, either way it was a mistake. IIronic that as the existing characters travel more and the plot allows more opportunity for opportunists to seize the moment in the wake of Tywins death, the ccast is getting whittled down to fewer and fewer. While this is common plotting in tv shows, GoT's great strength was it filled power vacuums by letting the chaos run it's course. The show seems to do great it like a knockout contest, no new entrants once the game starts.

Liam McPoyle

tommy2bad wrote: »

Theirs lots of characters that could replace them, they seem to have chosen to go with a more limited selection. It might be because stars cost money or it could be they think it would confuse an audience to introduce new characters at this stage, either way it was a mistake. IIronic that as the existing characters travel more and the plot allows more opportunity for opportunists to seize the moment in the wake of Tywins death, the ccast is getting whittled down to fewer and fewer. While this is common plotting in tv shows, GoT's great strength was it filled power vacuums by letting the chaos run it's course. The show seems to do great it like a knockout contest, no new entrants once the game starts.

Is there though?

For sheer badassery I cant recall anyone to top the hound.

Goffrey was a snivelling, despicable wretch that I loved.

Tywin was just a boss.

Its been a while since I read the final book but nobody springs to mind that could fill the void.

Granted they were there from the get go pretty much so we had grown very accustomed to them.

Mr.Prodston

Business Cat wrote: »

Is there though?

For sheer badassery I cant recall anyone to top the hound.

Goffrey was a snivelling, despicable wretch that I loved.

Tywin was just a boss.

Its been a while since I read the final book but nobody springs to mind that could fill the void.

Granted they were there from the get go pretty much so we had grown very accustomed to them.

Brian Blessed as Wyman Manderly delivering this speech to Davos would light the torch paper

The 2 D's want to end it after 7 seasons don't they? If that's the case then it's impossible to include everything.

I'd love an extra season or 2 to include all the other stories. It does all feel a bit streamlined, very entertaining streamlining but if I ever meet either of the producers they'll have some hard questions about excluding Manderly.

I guess all the actors will want to move on with their film careers as soon as possible though

Mr.Prodston

Also I'm curious about Littlefinger and whether he's actually ignorant to what Ramsey is like or if he really doesn't care about thrusting Sansa into that scenario.

I find the former impossible to believe as he's well, Littlefinger. Then again I guess we're always curious about what he's up to.

tommy2bad

Mr.Prodston wrote: »

Also I'm curious about Littlefinger and whether he's actually ignorant to what Ramsey is like or if he really doesn't care about thrusting Sansa into that scenario.

I find the former impossible to believe as he's well, Littlefinger. Then again I guess we're always curious about what he's up to.

I reckon he sees Sansa as well capable of dealing with the situation. Tyrone saw her as stronger than she appeared and Littlefinger sees the same. Perfect for working from the inside.

Gulliver

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Ohhhhh, I hope to see Brienne flayed and strung up on the walls of Winterfell before I'd see any harm come to Stannis.

Am I the only one who thinks Stannis is an insufferable git? I'd choose Brienne over him any day. He's not half the man she is :pac:

Liam O

I actually don't mind this season too much in relation to past seasons. I felt they butchered things last season and there's no coming back from that so don't really care what they do now.

The biggest disappointment by far is Littlefinger's master plan being to drop Sansa with Ramsey and thus condemning him to book irrelevance I'd say.

conorhal

Mr.Prodston wrote: »

Also I'm curious about Littlefinger and whether he's actually ignorant to what Ramsey is like or if he really doesn't care about thrusting Sansa into that scenario.

I find the former impossible to believe as he's well, Littlefinger. Then again I guess we're always curious about what he's up to.

Well he is the Anti-Varys, an utterly self interested sociopath so he probably sees it as a win/win scenerio.
If Sansa manages to manipulate and eliminate the Boltons then he has a protégé in a key position controling the north, if Sansa is murdered and the 'North remembers' then the North will be in open revolt against one of the Lannisters key allies. Either way, from his point of view, the North is either on his side or out of the game.

conorhal

joe123 wrote: »

Have they cut out a ton of characters that traveled with Tyrion??

The fight on the ship with the stone men? Tyrion falling into the water? Weren't some of those lads on the boat with Tyrion pretty damn important??

Il be pissed if they have cut Manderly, Jon Connington and his crew and it looks like they are ignoring the Mance storyline?

Really dont like all the changes. Im still annoyed they completely cut Coldhands. He was such a cool/mysterious character.

It all feels so rushed this season. Really not enjoying it as much as I thought.

I think this season is a big improvement on the books.

Brienne's endless and fruitless search has had a far more satisfying and impactful arc.
Mance's death actually meant something.
The less fannying about with Tyrion wondering 'where whores go' the better, but so with much mention of greyscale by several characters in the last episode, I'd be surprised if the stone men don't to provide a satisfyingly big 'action scene' that has been missing from the series so far.
Meh to Coldhands and all the other 'great characters' with no meaningful input to the narrative. The fewer GRRM lame ducks and fizziling out plot cul-du-sac's the better. This season has been much more satisfying because, as with the Brienee story arc on the show, it has given actual purpose to many characters that actually served none and it has thrown characters together to create much more satisfying narrative arcs for the characters, like Varys and Tyrion, Bronn and Jamie etc.

joe123

conorhal wrote: »

I think this season is a big improvement on the books.

Brienne's endless and fruitless search has had a far more satisfying and impactful arc.
Mance's death actually meant something.
The less fannying about with Tyrion wondering 'where whores go' the better, but so with much mention of greyscale by several characters in the last episode, I'd be surprised if the stone men don't to provide a satisfyingly big 'action scene' that has been missing from the series so far.
Meh to Coldhands and all the other 'great characters' with no meaningful input to the narrative. The fewer GRRM lame ducks and fizziling out plot cul-du-sac's the better. This season has been much more satisfying because, as with the Brienee story arc on the show, it has given actual purpose to many characters that actually served none and it has thrown characters together to create much more satisfying narrative arcs for the characters, like Varys and Tyrion, Bronn and Jamie etc.

Have to disagree with this. Sure there are a lot of meaningless characters, especially in Dorne I found and the pirate lads from the books, but Coldhands was definitely one of the cooler ones, someone you would hope would make a reappearance down the line.

The likes of John Connington and Young Griff were far from meaningless. We can do without Tyrions where to whores go bit for sure, but his travels included a group of new characters who could have really added to the TV show. I actually really enjoyed Briennes storyline and there was always that myth of whether she seen the Hound at the monastery.

The Sansa/Ramsey thing seems a bit odd too but then again as I prefer the books I suppose its only normal Im not liking the change in direction from the books.

Lady Stoneheart had a pretty big influence in her storyline too.

I don't know it all just seems so streamlined now, so few characters and such basic plots going on.

Again, I am only 3 episodes in so plenty of time for it to pick up so who knows.

One thing though, after watching the TV show and seeing the changes, its going to be seriously weird reading the books when they get released.

celica00

Gulliver wrote: »

Am I the only one who thinks Stannis is an insufferable git? I'd choose Brienne over him any day. He's not half the man she is :pac:

Exactly haha

Dave_The_Sheep

Good God, Sansa is annoying. I'm really hoping Ramsay goes to town on her. Skinned and hung off the walls of Winterfell as a warning would be favourite.

Sadly, it won't happen.

ibarelycare

conorhal wrote: »

I think this season is a big improvement on the books.

Brienne's endless and fruitless search has had a far more satisfying and impactful arc.
Mance's death actually meant something.
The less fannying about with Tyrion wondering 'where whores go' the better, but so with much mention of greyscale by several characters in the last episode, I'd be surprised if the stone men don't to provide a satisfyingly big 'action scene' that has been missing from the series so far.
Meh to Coldhands and all the other 'great characters' with no meaningful input to the narrative. The fewer GRRM lame ducks and fizziling out plot cul-du-sac's the better. This season has been much more satisfying because, as with the Brienee story arc on the show, it has given actual purpose to many characters that actually served none and it has thrown characters together to create much more satisfying narrative arcs for the characters, like Varys and Tyrion, Bronn and Jamie etc.

Completely agree. I'm much preferring the show over the books at this stage.

I'm a bit behind and only just watched this episode. One of the stand-out episodes of the whole series for me so far. Absolutely loved the dialogue between Cersei and Margaery.