Game of Thrones... Again

It started so well...

So, the last time I wrote about Game of Thrones, I'd read the first book and watched the first season of the TV Series. Since then I've gotten halfway through the third book, thoroughly spoiled myself on the whole book series, watched all four seasons and been pretty happy about what I've seen and read. I mean, this is one series that I'm not really... passionate about.

No, I like it. I love the political manuevering of all the characters and the plots within plots.

However, I went into the series knowing that there would be deviations.

If Peter Jackson had to cut Tom Bombadil from The Lord of the Rings, then anything can get cut from any series. If Frozen can be so wildly different from the The Snow Queen, then any adaption is up for grabs. If people can still deny that 50 Shades of Gray is a bad Twilight fanfiction with search-an-replace names when every historical record of the book says that's how it started, then I have no real faith in humanity's intelligence.

The last one is just a bit of a sore-spot for me and has no bearing on the rest of this post... Sorry...

Anyhow, there have been good changes and bad changes.

For example, the first major change from the books to the TV series was Arya's time at Helm's Dee-- I mean Harrenhal. In the books, she becomes a cup-bearer to Roose Bolton. Well, he's a pretty scary fella and she runs away from Harrenhal after that. Show-watchers, instead of getting that bit of oddness, get to watch Arya as a cup-bearer/handmaiden to Tywin Lannister where they form and odd sort of friendship. Then she has Jaquen H'Ghar kill a bunch of people to help her and her friends escape Harrenhal.

The scenes between Arya and Tywin Lannister go a long way towards warming people up to Tywin which is good because it builds a good image of Tywin the writers/directors/producers can steadily take away from the viewer until they are left with an utter bastard who eventually dies on the loo. It's an interesting twist on the series that I really enjoyed, but it laid the building blocks for what else people could change about the series and boy, have they changed a lot.

Yet... they kept major events bafflingly the same.

Like the latest season's finale.

In the books, it's very obvious Shae would betray Tyrion. She was a selfish, greedy whore who only wanted dresses and jewels. The true betrayal isn't Shae being in Tywin's bed. It's Tywin, who has always scolded Tyrion for his whoring nature having Shae in his bed. It's like the final nail in the coffin of Tywin possibly being a good guy in any sense of the term.

True, he's very competent at getting things done and doing "what's right" for his family... if "what's right" means either raising them to be self-serving jack-asses who are willing to rip a kingdom apart out of spite or punishing them for something that is in no way their fault or just setting impossible standards. Tywin was only effective at upholding some mystical family name while ensuring that none of his kids would even successfully follow in his footsteps.

Tywin Lannister is kind of like King Henry II of England. And in the end, like King Henry II of England, his kids destroy everything he built.

Worse, the son that kills him, the son that could have carried on Tywin's vision, had had his life destroyed by Tywin.

It's delicious!

I really can't wait what I see next on the series and I can't wait to see what I read next in the books. They're going to be fun, fun, fun, and Arya's just going to become more badass.

Half of the boring Reed siblings are gone. Sadly, it's the boy. The girl was more boring in that case.

Ygritte can't steal screentime anymore unless it's in flashbacks.

The dragon's aren't going to take away from the budget for a while since they're locked in a basement.

And soon, Cersei is going to self-destruct.

Big Time.

I can't wait!