I agree that the actors range from awesome to Billy Campbell.  The guy who plays Holder is fucking amazing.  (Woefully underused in Dragon Tattoo.)  The gal who plays Linden is pretty damn good, maybe even great.  Same with Rosie's dad.

@avclub-20795bbaf7bf6ac17c17d0292aeb4f35:disqus  This is a superb description of how S1 played out.

Except that HIMYM was once cleverly written, and still retains enough trappings of its old style (like nested flashbacks and Rashoman-esque retellings of scenes) that viewers can stand to sit thru it waiting to see if the premise is ever fulfilled.

Agreed.  If the show also employed writers, it would be wonderful.

It's not like the bar for superhero movies is so goddam high that a medium-decent film like Superman Returns can't touch it.  Most superhero movies are pretty mediocre.

SPOILERS BOOK 3

"A Time For Wolverine".

Yes!  Honestly, I'm not sure that isn't Alan Moore's best writing, ever.  It's "merely comedy", so it will never get credit for being great, but it is superbly written.  More straight-up enjoyable than most of Moore's arguably greater works, like From Hell etc.  Certainly tighter and more mature (more skillful) than…

I can't see any scenario were Gendry is ruling or in line of succession.  If Daenerys restores House T, any Baratheon heir is superfluous, and maybe in danger.

The explanation in the book made sense to me.  It's the first manifestation of Joffrey's cruelty and recklessness, though we don't know it at the time and don't see it as such.  When I read the scene describing Joffrey's role, I gasped with an "Oh of course!"  He did leave Winterfell with a desire to humiliate/kill…

You know that's what Daario goes for.

@avclub-a9dbf6c70f867fb5d09900f7bab79c25:disqus  Yeah, so does Bran, but that's not going to happen.  Bran gets to be the four-eyed crow for a hundred years.  Lucky.

Good question, Freddy.  I assume it's shorthand for the vast area where Daenerys is floundering around.  The Red Waste is not exactly a destination.  Maybe when she gets to an actual city — an inhabited city! — they'll change it.

@avclub-951d3e731b6b2ac1e93cbba6e1b68e80:disqus  I wouldn't say it's debatable that the Starks are on their way down.  They're down.  So far as Westeros believes, the Starks are *GONE*, nearly the full-on Castamere.  Just Sansa left to marry someone and legitimize inheriting Winterfell.

@avclub-6cca2d5b0212b24bce25505515fb80fb:disqus  YES!  In book 2!

What's the WAAALT problem?

@avclub-d980b15d49101608dc407770f35b1d75:disqus  Maego?  Who is (was) that?

TV-Gendry seems funnier and more playful. than book-Gendry.  Book-Gendry was more dour or gruff — definitely had some humor, but nowhere near as playful as TV-Gendry.

@avclub-001d507e80c4e4d2ce4ba0a5590f8313:disqus  I dunno, I read all 5 in the offseason after the TV show ended.  My wait for Dance With Dragons was on the order of a few weeks, not years.  And I definitely experienced "new POV character" fatigue as I worked thru Feast For Crows.  Every new expansion of the story just…

@avclub-6b8aa777ed70e7f15a45947a0f0c5986:disqus Good call.  Bonking Jon on the head might not be such a great idea.