Question: Is Jon Snow Lord Commander in the series?

Yes

I feel like they could be making a concerted effort to slow things down Hobbit-style, do more of the content, stretch it out and give some time for books to be released. Instead they are racing through at a torrid pace. It seems a foregone conclusion that Jon and Dany are both going to end this season on the same dramatic note they ended the 5th book and be completely caught up.

My instinct is to think that this shit is getting expensive and HBO wants to just wrap it up as soon as possible and cash in on the draw that the "final season" will inevitably bring. And as much as I hate to admit it, the show writers might actually do a decent job yoloswagging the ending...

This post was edited by kayeto on Jun 4 2015 04:11pm

You should be slapped for recommending that anyone EVER do what the Hobbit did. Those movies were atrocious. GOT isn't perfect and I can see why people who've read the books would be irritated, I'm not though. They're still progressing what needs to be progressed and the story is still very entertaining.

I don't believe I said that I think they that should slow it down. I merely said that they aren't slowing it down, or even keeping the expected pace ( which would have been 'books 4 + 5 = 2 full seasons'). In fact I think I said they are are doing a good job doctoring their own plot advancement. I just wanted to speculate on that deviation.

Why do you think the show has been so good? Book readers think that is has something to do with the great source material they are adapting from. Sure they cut things out and move them around, but great dramatic twists are there for them to follow. They are doing a good job outrunning the source material so far, but uncharted waters are a scary proposition. I don't want to see this turn into Dexter/Lost where people trash the ending and it becomes how the show is remembered.

This post was edited by kayeto on Jun 4 2015 04:36pm

You are aware that they know the ending right? Martin already told them how it ends and key point on how to arrive there.

I wouldn't worry too much about it being a shit ending, Martin is a phenomenal writer and I don't expect this show to drop off anytime soon.

I'd much rather have it going at the pace it's going, then for them to go full retard like the Hobbit did. Lets just throw in a bunch of shit, and people, and nonsense, and shitty CGI, that'll make this movie fantastic.

This post was edited by jadeoshbogosh on Jun 4 2015 05:14pm

Yes, I'm aware. But I don't see them sticking to it.

The Hardhome scene and the Tyrion/Dany conversation were not very Martinesque events IMO. They are more along the line of typical Tv drama playing out the way audiences expect. Also, I don't think they wanna straight up spoil the books' ending. I think they want to take things their own direction. Enough shuffling around has been done so that that GRRM's ending might not be possible to reach anymore (some chars dead, others missing, the major secret not being developed at all). I think we are going to see the show end up with good triumphing over evil. The bittersweet ending Martin has promised will probably still be a surprise when the books are finished in 2022.

That's what I'm thinking too, and it's a good thing. One of the reasons I don't mind the differences is that it would be boring to see exactly the same thing on TV, it's better if the show us its own thing.

As far as the discussion between Tyrion and Dany, I think it was very Martin esque, kind of like the discussion Tyrion and Varys had about power, with the king, the rich, and the priest. It's character development for Dany as she learns the reality of ruling from a more seasoned man.

I thought they've been trying as hard as they can to hint at the "major secret". I'm just happy with what it is for now, it's not the books, it is it's own take, but it's got everything it needs to be great while cutting out some of the less interesting characters/plot lines. We'll see how they finish it but I haven't felt let down or disappointed yet. Maybe I'm in the minority of people who have read the books that feels like everything is fine. I have faith that Martin when he allowed them to go past the books, had decided that he'd stay true to the ending but allow them to tweak some things that may seem important, but may end up to be trivial in the grand scheme of things.

I'm just not too worried about it. The show is enjoyable, some of the changes are a bit odd and they're going to get more and more add as the show progresses, that I don't doubt. I just don't think it's that important. Hopefully we get two different journeys that end in the same miraculous place, that's my hope anyways and I trust that they know what they're doing. HBO doesn't fuck up on shows very often and Martin is crazy committed to this story.