A Very Brief Post About Game of Thrones (AKA No, Not Snuffy!)

[netgirl_y2k]

It was as if someone at HBO had been reading my posts and comments on S4 and went, We understand that you have been somewhat dismayed by the most recent season of Game of Thrones, please allow us to distract you with an epic set piece battle episode in the vein of Blackwater, with a heartening subplot about how Samwell Tarly is better than everyone, and which will rekindle your intermittent love of Jon Snow. P.S. No mammoths were harmed in the making of this episode.

Damn you, show!

But I have been really underwhelmed by S4. And not just in the things it's done that have outright offended me (Jamie's rape of Cersei; Craster's cabin of rape). A lot of the character beats have felt off, and not just from the books, which I can roll with, but from their established show characterisation (exhibits A through F: Shae). The pacing has felt off all season, like the show is treading water. And the thing is this is when things should be ramping up and getting really exciting! We are coming to the end of established book canon for a lot of the plotlines; soon there will be new plots! Plots we don't know about yet! And this should be awesome, especially with the news that the book series is now going to be eight books; something GRRM seemingly managed to announce with a straight face, even though there's still no sign of book six.

I mean, I've been (fannishly) into this series for going on six years; and compared to some people I'm a relative newcomer. Absolutely, there's a point where you just want to know how things end. But I find myself thinking of getting new developments first from the show, and going: Eh, I'd really rather read about it first...

Which isn't to say that there haven't been things I've really liked about S4 - Pedro Pascal was a revelation and a joy to behold. I normally would have shed a tear over Ygritte's death, but Oberyn Martell died last week and I'm still not over it.