DIMINISHING RETURNS!

We'll always have Gar Manarnar.

Excuse me, tater hutch.

Lagertha taunting Aslaug was pretty fuckin' great, tho.

I've been sorta harsh on the ol' GOT this season. Because I'm used to the richness of the books, seeing all that development and plot advancement brought out only through the inferior medium of TV has been a let-down.

This was a much better episode than last week for a book reader. What it lacked in (in my opinion) very forced dramatics, it more than made up for in plot development. There were no big "showpiece" scenes, but several very well-executed scenes that were appropriate setup for some payoff later, such as untangling the…

Too much style, too little substance, but I have hopes. It's got good source material, if it will leave the "hick noir" thing behind and just embrace its inner weirdness.

and the robots

Does this mean Jon will get Thorne's quickening when he beheads him? #oldnerdsunite

Only if we assume that she's giving him the same resurrection that Thoros gave Berric.

Last week's episode — weak and amateurish, showing all the hallmarks of being a producer-penned piece of shit.

Obviously not penned by GRRM, and it shows in inferior writing. These are "shocking" deaths without weight, revelations without meaning. The entire episode featured too many stories and not enough forward movement on any plot. It did not leave me wanting to know what happens. It simply left me feeling like every story…

I'm a little worried that the only motivation people can have is, "oh someone died."

THANK YOU

My wife and I saw him at the fateful show in Austin right before he was busted. He was as drunk as I've ever seen a human being be, but still so, so funny. A great master of the awkward delivery, and seemed really nice on top of it. Shame we lost him so early.

A train leaves Boston traveling at 60 miles per hour. A second train leaves Chicago traveling at 65 miles per hour. On the Boston train are a bunch of Mad Max cosplayers. On the Chicago train is the Army of Gary Gygax, a fanatical cult who actually do worship D&D, like all 80s soccer mom mothers feared. Somewhere…

That's kind of true to the books, where Brakebills is somewhat analogized to the (idealized) versions of elite Ivory League schools, where only the "gifted" students get in, and even talented outsiders like Julia are left in the dust while arguably less-deserving Quentin gets to show up.

So far, the first episode was true to Dan Abraham and Ty Franck's literary vision, which, if the show can keep it up, means you're in for a literary adaptation treat on par with "Game of Thrones." I think it will make for good, compelling TV, because the novels have such well-drawn characters.