I pretty much agree with the Dorne stuff, I think they wasted some really charismatic actors and Poochied them.  

To be clear, I’m not saying those elements were unnecessary to the story—I think they were very extremely interesting & necessary elements that got us to where we are (moreso the Tyrells than the Dorne stuff, of course), but they obviously aren’t necessary to the conclusion of the story as a whole, so they were taken…

Ah, I didn’t realize it was an either/or situation.  Carry on!  

Well, to be clear, my problem is trying to figure out what it is you’re trying to say, which I have not been able to really piece together as yet.

Yeah, it’s crazy that a lot of people would really like a compelling story told by a gifted writer (faults and all) turned into a series with high production values and charismatic actors, with the bonus of getting to see some quality T&A thrown in.  Weird?  

You find me someone who thinks there is even the slightest chance he will finish them and I’ll show you someone who has participated in at least three MLM businesses and owns no less than four weeks at a timeshare in Myrtle Beach.

So her sexual depravity is the narrative reason she isn’t dead, and the reason she’ll have to die.  Seems to be an ironclad thesis.  

I think the obvious reason Dorne & the Tyrells et al were unceremoniously cut from the proceedings was that they don’t play any part in the final act that GRRM outlined, so keeping them around would have just muddied any ability to move set pieces into place for the end. Not saying that they couldn’t have done it much…

Sadly she has to die because she’s sexually depraved, but, c’est la vie.

Good point--who needs a bunch of fancy technology when you can do just fine with some old-fashioned interstellar faster-than-light starships?  

He keeps going!  Now I’m really not sure if you’re being serious or doing a bit.  I apologize if I took you seriously when you were likely playing along with the caricature.  

I mean, if you were trying to be a parody of the phenomenon I’m talking about, I’m not sure if you’d have done anything differently.  But by all means, continue with the chamber of commerce brochure, because it doesn’t sound at all defensive or like you’re trying to convince yourself.   

Bless your little heart—I guess a sense of self-awareness isn’t one of the things NY magically imparts to its residents.

The defensiveness with which this is asserted is interesting. It’s almost like the speaker is trying to convince themselves at least as much as anyone else that there just couldn’t be any reasonable justification for leaving NY.  

A planet-wide...snowstorm?

And the tiny bags of peanuts!  Who are the advertising wizards that came up with that one?

It it’s good, will this series retroactively make the last ten years of Gervais’ output funny?

It is Newton’s fourth law of motion: for every broad social consensus, there must be a contrarian “well, actually...” take.  It’s why Slate exists.  

Hot take, coming through!

I dunno, man, as much as he’s a parody of himself now, he did some pretty great stuff. The Office was an amazingly great show, and Brent was an amazingly great character.