House of the Dragon (Game of Thrones) Thread

[Benji]

Potential spoilers...

Spoiler

From what I understand, he's coming back, but he's not "alive", at least not entirely in the way we'd think, so... kind of? I think it depends on what your perception of "dead" is in that universe. He definitely died, that much is true.

 

[Bobfoc]

1 hour ago, Interim Benji said:

Is anyone else feeling not at all hyped for this season? I'm going to be watching, but after last season it sort of just feels like it's another show returning rather than the best thing on TV.

I'm looking forward to it, but I have my concerns for what I imagine to be different reasons from yours. I know the series is very much styled as a fantasy story, but the most appealing things about it for me have always been the political scheming and battle of wits between the characters, and the magic and supernatural elements appeal to me less. It looks as though we're building up to an "everyone vs the dead" setup, which, while I'm sure it will be entertaining, doesn't quite do as much for me as The War of the Five Kings. I'm expecting the show to gradually start catering less to my personal tastes as it progresses, but, even so, I don't imagine I'll stop watching or being engaged with it.

[Alex.]

Spoiler

He is very much dead, for now. However, there is a reason why we saw Beric Dondarion resurrected after his fight with The Hound if you remember correctly. The Lord of Light religion has that power to resurrect people from death. 

As for this season, I am a bit hyped. Last season was pretty bad except for Hardhome. I really hated the final 2 episodes, I mean really hated it. With that being said, I look forward to Bran and his flashbacks. The ToJ itself is enough for me to get to watch this season. 

[Ruki]

ToJ...that's where Eddard found his sister dying, right? And....

Potentially found Jon? Since Ed is most likely his uncle, not father?

 

Also, I am hyped for the season. I'm always hyped for Game of Thrones.

[Alex.]

Spoiler

ToJ = Yup where NEd and several men (one being the Reeds' father whose name escapes me atm) fight off several members of the mad kings'  kingsguard including guards like sir arthur dayne. They defeat the kingsguard where Ned finds his sister in a pool of blood. Make of that what you want.

 

[Tigerstyle]

Howland Reed

[MalaCloudy Black]

The best thing on TV ended its second season on Monday.

I'm still hyped for Game of Thrones, mostly because it's going into uncharted territory - every other season has had books to draw major plots from, but now the show is caught up to the books and apparently will have some spoilers for book 6, The Winds of Winter, since it's going to be drawing plot elements from that and it hasn't even been released yet. 

Book readers, for example, don't know what exactly happened at the Tower of Joy (and we're most likely going to find out in the show), have been left hanging for nearly 5 years wondering about Jon Snow's fate, etc. and that's all about to be answered this season. For that reason, I'm excited.

[Benji]

Wasn't last season a lot of "undiscovered country" stuff? I seem to recall someone saying that it was largely their new stuff that made the series weak.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

9 hours ago, Benji said:

Wasn't last season a lot of "undiscovered country" stuff? I seem to recall someone saying that it was largely their new stuff that made the series weak.

Personal opinion; the new stuff didn't make it weak, just certain things about the new stuff.

It's difficult, really, to know what is coming from the books still so I don't want to say anything that's going spoil things. I will say though that I really hate when articles say that they've caught up, as only half of the storylines have due to the last books running in the same time frame.

[MalaCloudy Black]

There's a fair bit of stuff that's been cut out entirely and I'm sure won't be in the series at all too, as well as bits being shuffled around. But there's still stuff with Jon Snow, Bran, the Boltons, White Walkers etc. that hasn't been covered yet in the books and will be covered this season, whereas last season was mostly a pastiche of plots from A Feast For Crows and A Dance With Dragons. 

[Benjamin]

Last season really let me down when they introduced Dorne, which is basically where my allegiance lies on who I want to end up with the Iron Throne, and that really soured me on last season. So I'm hoping this season's introduction of my second favorite house in the Greyjoys makes up for it a bit.

[Bobfoc]

I must be in a minority of people who enjoyed the last series.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

There were lots of good bits from last season. Hardhome was possibly the best episode of the entire show, I thought all the Bolton stuff was good last season aside from Sansa and Brienne's cheesy 'light the candle as soon as she stops watching' moment in the finale, Jaime's parts in Dorne were good in my opinion (although I wasn't fussed on the Dorne arc itself, all the Night's Watch stuff was great, and until the finale, Stannis was amazing (and then promptly had the biggest complete downfall of the series in the course of an episode).

[Bobfoc]

I think I agree with that assessment. I did think that there were a few questionable moments, but I really don't agree with the people who thought it was absolutely awful throughout.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Season as a whole wasn't terrible, but wasn't their best by any means. Personally think Season 4 was the best.

[Bobfoc]

I've just read that the first episode leaked online for a short while before being taken down. I'll be avoiding most areas of the internet for the next day, then.

[Hellraiser]

From what I've heard it was some kind of "what happened so far" featurette that somebody mislabeled and uploaded. 

Edit: According to several reports it looks like a Canadian streaming service fucked up and made the episode available for a couple hours before it was taken down and now spoilers backed by screenshots are making the rounds online. So if you don't want to be spoiled it's best to avoid all social media platforms or image boards for the rest of the day.

Edited April 24, 2016 by Hellraiser

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

Yep, there are definitely significant leaks going around (take it from someone who clicked it by accident earlier today...) so get off the internet, folks plus side UKers, if you have Sky Atlantic, they're doing a simulcast like last year, so if you can stay up long enough I think it's on live at 2am GMT. Alternatively record that version and save yourself waiting until 9 this evening.

[Tigerstyle]

So surprised it hasn't managed to remain online, HBO are having none of it because reports are it could be the biggest season premiere of all time for US TV which, for a premium channel is nuts

[TCO]

Yeah I'm avoiding spoilers at all costs until after work tomorrow, it'll be tough but not impossible.

Last season was rubbish compared to normal GOT standards, but I'm still psyched for this!