“Apparently”? You’ve never even read the original GN? Moore’s writing aside, the art was an atmospheric masterwork by Brian Bolland. Many adjectives might apply, but “gruesome” is not among them. (And I say this as someone who is honestly fairly squeamish, and has seen more than one example of comics art over the…

The mid 1980s up to the mid 1990s were a period when a lot of thematically “dark” comics were created, yes, but that’s not remotely the same as saying it was a “dark period of time” for comics in an artistic sense. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that period, esp. the late ‘80s, gave us what are still some of the…

Well, if we're being literal, Nowalk says "Where did that come from? He had two chats with her before she abandoned him on a dragon, and then she helped him (well, he helped her) swiftly fend off attackers. Where is all this faith coming from? You have to earn these things, producers."

Well, I recall that when the Lannisters switched sides after Jaime killed the Mad King, they overran King's Landing, and one thing that happened was that the Mountain raped and killed Oberyn's sister Elia Martell. But without looking her up (as I did just this minute), I admit I couldn't have told you that Elia was…

Harington almost seems to be playing the character (or perhaps the writers are writing him) with PTSD this season. Which isn't unreasonable under the in-story circumstances, but does leave a lot of his actions and reactions kind of underwhelming in dramatic terms.

I can't see Cersei doing that, if only because the Night King clearly has no use for allies.

Yeah, can't argue with your reasoning. The implications of that last paragraph kind of annoy me, though.

The circumstances of his death don't really make a difference; the rules remain the same. There are different variations on primogeniture when you get into the details, but basically: If he didn't have offspring, the next sibling down would inherit. If there was no next sibling, you start looking for cousins, going…

Okay, it doesn't seem like we disagree so much here: we'd both like to see more of what the show used to do, and less of what it's shifted its focus to now. Feels odd to claim that larger budgets may actually have hurt the show — and it's not as if they're not putting the money to effective use, at least, from all…

No, I think you're caricaturing the review. Nobody suggested that "If it wasn't shown, it definitely must not have happened." It was more a matter of saying that many things apparently left to the imagination would have been much more *interesting* to see on screen. If you only skim the tops of the waves it doesn't…

A travel nerd? At most, two of the points I mentioned have any relation to geography or travel time. FWIW I'll admit I haven't read the books (beyond the first volume, anyway), but I've read a lot *about* them, and certainly there are timeline complications there too… but not insurmountable ones. (And GRRM is weaving…

I don't disagree with your concerns. I think "make the audience enjoy the good guys' revenge" is not only a predictable and unsatisfying story trope, but one that undermines many of GRRM's larger themes.

In a nutshell? Yes!

I don't recall the line. But even if so, it's not unreasonable to infer that Ned might have thought Robert was a better choice for multiple reasons, *including* having a credible hereditary claim… a choice of king therefore more likely to end the then-current conflict, rather than start another one. "Getting there…

The Reach is prosperous, yes, but my thinking was that Oldtown is a city whose primary purpose is to be the home of the Citadel — basically the fount of all secret knowledge in Westeros — and that in light of that, and its location, it's probably a relatively peaceful place, focused on trading. In other words,…

I can't agree. Developing characters, exploring morality, and delving into political realism *are* what GoT has been about all along… or at least, they used to be. The magic and dragons, the shocking moments and occasional bits of ultraviolence, are just window-dressing.

You know what happens while people are walking (or riding, or sailing)? Conversations. Character development. Worldbuilding. That stuff is interesting, and deserves time, as opposed to just the tiny little snippets or sketches of it we're getting lately. "People talking" absolutely should outweigh "action" in a story…

Personally I like "trial by fire" :-)

Nowhere in the review did Nowalk ask for pointless "walking and horse riding." He's asking for more *conversations* — at least enough to show us what the characters' motivations are, how and why they're doing what we see them do, how the diplomatic power alliances come together, that sort of thing. It used to be what…

But, see, that wasn't even mentioned in the show. Seems like it would have been useful information to share with the audience!…