Game Of Thrones Season 3 Retrospective

Hey, guys and gals! Tonight, we are doing things slightly differently. We are all working together, as a collective unit, since we are all fans of the show and books. (except for Josh, he's dumb.) So since tonight was the Season 3 Finale, we decided to break down the entire season from each of our perspectives.

Bobby: 
So here are my thoughts on this thing. I've read every last one of these damn books. I loved every damn second of it(well...maybe not every second...the 4th book wasn't the greatest.) I've heard quite a few people complain that this season dragged on too much, or that it was boring. To those people I say "QUIT BEING IMPATIENT AND WAIT FOR THE THINGS TO BUILD UP AND BLOW UP IN YOUR FUCKING FACE!" Seriously, it seemed like people were expecting the season premiere to be one big cluster fuck of crazy things to happen. Having read the book and knowing all the crazy things that would end up happening, I was very happy with how the season started off.

As far as things that stood out to me this season, I have a few. First of all, the things that happened with Theon Greyjoy. I think I might be the only person on this planet who actually feels awful for Theon. The people I have spoken to about this all had the same reaction "He's a douche." Yep, a douche who no longer has a penis...I am really happy they decided to not write Theon off until they got to the 5th book, because those chapters were by far some of my favorites, while also being extremely hard to read. (That shit is fucked up!) I'm also a big fan of Iwan Rheon from his time of Misfits, and he plays Ramsay perfectly. He's a psycho, who enjoys hunting other humans and torturing them. Seeing all the things he did to Theon leading up to him becoming "Reek" is really interesting, while being hard to watch at times.

Arya has also been a highlight of this season for me. Her interactions with the Hound have been fantastic. He's a complete and utter piece of shit, and she lets him know about it. She also came so close to being reunited with her family, only for it to be ripped away from her. I suppose that leads to me talking about The Red Wedding. Though it was really well done, there were some things I could have done with out. For example, Robb's pregnant wife being stabbed over and over again in the stomach....yeah, didn't care for that much. This also lead to a scene in the finale that I really wanted to see, which was Robb having Grey Wind's head where his used to be. That was really fucked up, but great at the same time.

I suppose I can wrap it up by saying that the finale was pretty much what I expected it to be. Kind of like season 2, it was more of a "calm down and prepare yourself for next season" kind of episode. I wouldn't really expect them to do anything crazy after the pretty much blew everyone's minds last week. It wasn't anything special, but I enjoyed it for what it was. If season 4 ends up anything like I expect it to, I'm prepared to shit myself.

Dan: 
So, I don't know what that jackass was saying up there, but he's probably wrong about everything.  Unless he's agreeing with whatever I'm about to say about the show, in which case, then it was probably fine.   Anyway, what to say about Season 3? Well, I guess the best way to start would be to say that I did in fact enjoy it.  I don't want to nitpick about every little thing, even though that's pretty much all I ever do. I understand that the book and the show are going to vary from each other in places due to certain constraints and creative...whatever. What I will do though is take a moment to bitch about the things that happened during the season that differed from the book which just kinda stood out to me as useless, distracting, or wholly unnecessary.  First of all, I don't understand why we have the character Ros.  She is a character that doesn't exist in the book, yet she's been around since season 1. I don't know what purpose she serves (other than T&A...and don't get me wrong, that's nice, but she doesn't even do that anymore!) that they couldn't have given to a number of other characters, or, just had whoever did whatever she does in the book...do it.  You get what I mean! Then, out of no where, just in another way to show us that Joffrey is a lunatic (cause I guess we don't get that yet), she is murdered to death with a fucking crossbow.  If she really doesn't do anything, and then you can kill her off, and nothing really changes, then what was the point of her character in the first place!?

Also, what's with the "Podrick Payne is a sex god" shit? That's not in the book. What is it doing there? It does not further the plot in any way.  It's just used as a way to add a bit of humor to a show where everyone gets their throat slit at some point, I guess? But I'm sure there are other ways of doing that other than completely inventing a scenario that takes up at least 3 minutes of the episode. Granted, we got some titties out of it, which is always welcome, but I just don't get the writers' choice for this situation. They even keep bringing it up too, in various episodes! Come on! Stop wasting my time!

One other thing that really stood out to me was something that happened in the penultimate episode "Rains of Castamere." First of all, Jayne Westerling (or Talisa Meagyr for some fucking reason. Robb's wife) is present for Edmure's wedding.  In the book, they leave her ass somewhere else, for many good reasons. They didn't want to piss off Walder Frey by bringing Robb's new wife when he was supposed to be marrying one of the Frey daughters...which he didn't...ya know, the biggest fucking mistake ever as it turns out? Anyway, they have a scene where Walder Frey is further established as a creepy old man, (cause I guess we don't get that yet) and he talks about what she probably looks like naked and stuff.  Whatever. Oh, she's pregnant too, which is not in the book either, but they did it for one reason.  At the Red Wedding, they go out of their way to show you that she has a baby bump and everything, right before they stab her in the baby a bunch of times! They only had her there, and pregnant, to make an already brutal scene, even more the fuck brutal. I just really don't think it was necessary. I hope her character didn't have anything important to do later in the books, cause it's gonna be harder now.

Also, Shae is way different and I don't know where they're going with it...*shrug*

The reason I get so frustrated when they add shit that doesn't need to be there, is because so much of the time, there's cool shit that they could have put in it's place...stuff they've usually left out for reasons unbeknownst to me. Where's the cool ass magic tree door thingy at the bottom of the well at the Nightfort?!...and uh....ummm...I can't really think of anything else right now, which kinda speaks well of the show and that they are doing a pretty good job so, yeah. 4 stars.

Josh: 
I'm going to make the argument that watching Game of Thrones without having read the books is a better experience than having read the books first and then watching it. It's as if you are spoiling the show for yourself by reading ahead. Also, with certain characters having POV or their own chapters (or not) you know who a key player is and therefore less likely to be killed off, as with the Red Wedding recently happening. "Less likely to be killed" even if it is only fraction of a chance. Or it could be that I'm annoyed with everyone who has read the book always saying the same thing, it gets better or crazier. I really don't need the motivation to continue watching it without you talking about how you know what's going to happen. It is as if I am seeing a movie with someone who's seen it before, but won't stop telling me about the good part coming up. I'd like to formulate my own opinions, thank you.

Having said that, my friends (the two mooks I do a movie reviewing podcast with that shall remain nameless) kind of ruined this season for me. As well as the creators of the show. Everywhere I turned was someone else telling how amazing season three would be because of how awesome the books were. Out of 9 episode I had seen, two big things happened. Daenerys getting her army, and the Red Wedding. Those were epic. I saw the Daenerys story coming, but the Red Wedding, no. No idea they would ALL die. It seemed everyone was blown away by this. Not me, I was relieved if I'm to be honest.

Season 3 felt bloated with far to many stories to tell. Each episode seemed to spend 5 minutes on everyone at one time and 10 on this weeks star character. Rotating out with every new episode. There were some good moments aside from the two I already mentioned. Jaime losing his hand, Bran learning his powers, Ayra now with The Hound, Theon's torture and cock removal, Jon Snow saw a giant, and a handful of other stuff.  Oh and weddings. This season should have just been called Game of Weddings. Everyone got married, and no one was happy about it. Now I know I'm missing a lot but I'm not here to tell you what you've already seen. Even with so much ground to cover, the show was still captivating and fun to watch unfold. Faster-paced with more events happening and even more people dying. On to the season finale.

"Mhysa" begins with Ayra's escape from the massacre of her family, and on to the word of Robb's death to King's Landing. This episode caught you up on everyone, with some finally reaching their long time goals. Jaime returns to his sister, Bran made it north, Sam got the message back to Castle Black, and Jon Snow finally took an arrow to the knee. The rest of the show was setting it up for season 4. Theon's sister is going to avenge his cock removal, Ayra finally killed a man, Gendry is set free, Stannis and Melisandre learn of the white walkers, and Daenerys gets more freed slaves on her side. That is all well and good but this did not feel like a season finale. There was no cliffhanger aside from the looming doom that we've felt since early on in the season. Again I felt disappointment as the build up didn't pay off, much like with The Walking Dead season finale. Most of the blame for this falls on everyone singing praises for how amaz-balls season 3 would be but when it turned out to be at the same level as the rest of the seasons, I couldn't help but feel let down.

That is not to say it was bad, far from it. This show is great, I love the suspense, the action, the humor, and the knife twisting as your favorite characters get fucked over, over and over again. It's sadistic and I revel in every minute of it but would you all stop build it up like it is bigger and better than it really is. Our imaginations will never meet the reality. So if you'd allow me to experience it without the constant noise of "BOOKS! BOOKS GOOD! SHOW GONNA HAVE BOOK GOOD!" drowning out the actual enjoyment I receive in the show without someone playing it up at every turn, I would appreciate it. Over all, season 3 was great, a little unsatisfied with the finale and how lackluster it was in the end. For the season, 4 stars. The finale, 3 stars.