I recall watching a documentary that I’ve forgotten the name of that followed a woman who was raised believing she was white and Jewish, only to find out in college that she was the product of an affair between her mother and a black man. The documentary followed her as she came to grips with all this during the run…

Officer involved shootings are always investigated by an outside department, either another city or a state level organization. That’s mostly to ensure that no one from inside the department is able to mess around with evidence, etc. but it (conveniently) also makes it harder for information to be shared.

No shit.

I’ve always interpreted the series as a once high-turned-low fantasy world returning to high fantasy, the rebirth of the dragons representing a rebirth of magic. Which dovetails pretty nicely with the idea in the article of the series as reconstructive rather than deconstructive.

Well, that’s an angle I hadn’t considered it from. You’re right, nothing in the prophecies (at least as far as I remember) necessarily ends with someone on the throne.

Well, the problem with your example of Rhaegar’s prophecy is that, even though it ended badly for him and much of his family, its PROBABLY going to work out in the end seeing as it produced Jon Snow.

I happen to agree with that. In my professional life I’m a scholar of medieval Europe, so I’m fully cognizant of the fact that there’s really no such thing as a divine right to rule and might makes right, generally speaking. That said: this is a fantasy novel involving things like prophecy, and its pretty obvious…

Yeah there was, with Montana Max as Orson Welles

Yeah I have. I just think that Martin has all the paper and ink he wants to get to the same place that the show people were rushed into. So it’s hard to say anything for certain. I’m sure it doesn’t happen in the same way, I just wouldn’t be surprised if the broad outlines were followed. My overarching point was that,…

Well he already made the march in the books. As for Shireen, it’s pretty obvious he believes the problem in childbearing is with his wife, not himself

Not a movie, but there’s an episode of Tiny Toons that got me once when I was a kid and has ever since. It starts with Hampton Pig having a kite, and while he’s flying it a bird gets scared away from attacking an insect. The insect things the kite is just a bigger bug and becomes completely devoted to it, and chases…

Because Robert is and his claim is based on Robert’s.

Yeah, I agree. He’s absolutely right to criticize the haste and characterization of the decision by the writers. I just though that in contrast to the hell that is the Dornish plot, we can’t actually point at much in the Stannis plot and go “Hey that isn’t right.” In broad strokes we can, as you and others have…

For me he’s just behind Lord Beric. Stannis I like for his story. Beric, well, I hate to be this guy but I think everyone has someone they’d want to be in a story like this and for me its Beric who, along with Edmure Tully, seems to be the only person genuinely concerned with the plight of the smallfolk.

I do too, largely because of how obviously doomed it is. And you had to know it even before the show. Stannis is among my favorite characters in the series, and even I know there’s no way it ends well for him, but that’s part of what draws me to him.

True, and we also know that he lives long enough to meet Theon after he and Jayne Poole jump the ramparts. I still think we’re going to get there some way or another. I don’t think that the writers would make THAT drastic of a decision if it wasn’t backed up somewhere in the text, but Martin has as much time as he…

Well, my suspicion is that it won’t, but because Martin has the luxury of using as much ink and paper as he wants on it, it won’t seem to come out of left field quite so much. We all know that Stannis can’t end up on top because he’s ultimately basing his claim on that of a usurper. And I do think that his arc has…

Great points. My only quibble is that we really have no way of knowing what Martin intends to do with Stannis in the future, so I think it’s tough to criticise the show’s treatment of the man as far as characterization. We can criticize the way his end was written, especially its haste, but that may very well be…

I didn’t know my ex-wife got tickets to the derby!

You seem surprised.