A Game of Thrones

[Tall Tyrion]

Season 2 of the HBO series started last week, is anyone still watching? I liked it for the most part, but I'm not that wild about Roz apparently being made into a main character. She serves no purpose that I can tell other than an excuse to shoehorn boobs into every episode.

[fpw]

I'm totally taken with it. And what's wrong with boobs? We all have them.

[Marc]

I've only read the first book but plan to read the rest one day. I am watching the show though and am loving it.

[Britfan]

I love the show - it introduced me to the books last year. I'm just about finished on book 4. Thought episode 1 of series 2 was a bit disjointed as it tried to introduce the new characters and catch up on the old ones

Looking forward to rest of the series tho'

Slightly strange as the first series shaped my idea of what the main characters from the first book looked like (as I'd never read them), but this series I have pre conceptions of the new introductions and inevitably they don't meet my preconceptions.

[IanSF]

Season 2 of the HBO series started last week, is anyone still watching? I liked it for the most part, but I'm not that wild about Roz apparently being made into a main character. She serves no purpose that I can tell other than an excuse to shoehorn boobs into every episode.

I think I'll have to watch Episode 1 again. Strange as it may seem I think I have missed this 'Roz' character, boobs an' all. Unless she appears in Episode 2, which doesn't air until tonight here in the UK. If that's the case, I don't want to read any spoilers.
The new series is off to a cracking start. If it lives up to the promise of Series One, we've a treat in store. I haven't read the second book yet, I only just finished Book 1 this weekend. From what I can recall of Series One there's not a lot that was missed out.

[Dave]

Roz was in the brothel at the end of the episode. I agree that she seems a bit superfluous at the moment, but if they are doing what I think they are doing (merging characters and storylines) then she'll become more important later on.

Yes, episode 1 was a catch up and introduction episode, so a little bit of everything, episode 2 had some terrific Tyrion moments, this is his season. Yara (aka Asha in the books) was different to how I pictured her, but Balon was almost spot on with my imagination.

I went to a Q&A with GRRM last Wednesday in Bath. When asked about the show he said the first season was more faithful than he could have hoped, but the tiniest changes could mean bigger alterations being required in the future, like the butterfly effect. He seemed okay with it though, happy to trust the producers. He was good enough to sign my first edition Game Of Thrones too

[johntfs]

[Tall Tyrion]

> And what's wrong with boobs? We all have them.

Nothing, it's just that sometimes the nude scenes are in context make sense, and sometimes they have that tacked-on feeling, like they wrote the episode and said to themselves, "Okay, now where do the boobs go?"

A particularly egregious example was the lesbian scene in the first season. Littlefinger's expository speech was quite important, but my brother in law didn't catch any of it because he was too busy looking at the girls. Overall, they are doing a fantastic job, better than I could have hoped, but I get a little annoyed when they waste screen time because there is so much story that they are having to leave out, I feel like there's no time to waste.

Development of the Roz character has chewed up a lot of screen time, and so far I can't see that she's served any other purpose. I say if your going to show some skin, just show it, we don't need a semi-major character introduced just to serve it up.

[Mote]

It seems everyone I've talked to who has watched or read Game of Thrones has only high praise for it. Sooner or later I will have to see for myself. To those of you who have read/watched this series, would you suggest reading the books first or watching the show?

[Dave]

It seems everyone I've talked to who has watched or read Game of Thrones has only high praise for it. Sooner or later I will have to see for myself. To those of you who have read/watched this series, would you suggest reading the books first or watching the show?

That really depends on the individual, both are good, so I don't think you can go wrong either way.

I've read the books first, have been reading them since the first one came out in the 90's, so I am enjoying the show bringing these stories to life, and also enjoying the asides that the show does, and the adaptation decisions they are making. ie the books use a different character POV for each chapter, which means that some characters can go entire books as a mystery before getting their own POV. The show isn't limited in this way, so you will see two characters, who don't have a POV in the book, meet and plot and threat with one another. Who's to say that didn't happen in the book, but the book doesn't show it.

Midway through the second season and the show is taking more deviations like this, maintaining the key plot beats from the books but adapting them in their own way, it's keeping it fresh for me. And I like it.

However, traditionally I've always preferred seeing the show/film before reading the book it was adapted from. Books invariably always have more material, so I always felt that I could enjoy the show/film on it's own merits, and then get the bonus material reading the book, I never felt that 'they cut my favourite scene out!' moment.

So as I said before, I don't think there's a definitive answer, depends on the individual.