BlackberryJam

If this were a soap, and it kind of is, I'd expect Ramsay to give Walda the classic staircarriage. If you've not heard of the term, a miscarriage from falling (or being pushed down) the stairs. Pregnant women in TV shows should always avoid the stairs.

But should there? Visible regrowth is based on a lot of things, one being how fast your hair grows. Also this is a darkening dye, which may spread with each wash. if you blacken your hair with cheap, nasty hair dye, each time you wash a little comes out, but it gets washed back into the roots. The color doesn't just fade, it spreads. (Been there, done that.) There are a lot of things that can be nitpicked on the show, but the hair dye thing is just not one that makes a lot of sense. I'm always more disgusted by people wearing the same clothes over and over, I'm looking at you Night's Watch. I think they are doing a good job with Sansa's hair because she is no longer wearing those impossible hairstyles from KL. I think she's being shown much more as a Northern, Do-it-yourself woman like Catelyn rather than a Margaery or Cersei, it-takes-eight-people-to-do-my-hair woman.

As to Sansa's hair dye, if you've ever dyed your hair, you know you don't keep dying it unless you want the color to remain the same. So Sansa dyed it once and she has to either wait for it to grow out or scrub that stuff with lye soap to get the dye to fade. (Dish washing liquid in modern times will do it, but it will fucking kill your hair.) So this idea that she dyes her hair every day makes no sense. She doesn't "keep dying her hair." She's waiting for it to grow out or she just hasn't done the power wash of it yet. And really, as far as passage of time goes, we are only about 3 months or so from Tywin's death and her first dye job. She'd probably have some regrowth, but depending on how the dye is and how it washes, that might not even be visible yet.

Exactly. The show has made it pretty clear that the Boltons are alone in the North and if I remember correctly, I think the only other Northern lords who have ever been mentioned are the Umbers, and that was about getting Rickon to safety. They haven't been mentioned since. How many flayed bodies do we have to see around Winterfell before we get the picture that the Boltons aren't very popular in the North?And just looking at it from the negative, there have been no other lords in Roose's meetings with Littlefinger, no one he has discussed support from any other Northern families. Just by their absence it seems clear the Boltons have no other support. And there were the flayed bodies, just to make it clear how unpopular they are.

Yes. Thank you. That's exactly what I see happening over and over again with the tension between people who are just enjoying the show and people upset about the adaptation. I feel like people who know the books, and know them well, have studied them, re-read them, etc, keep making the worst assumption possible and then reason backwards to show how it's possible or plausible. The thought process is, "D&D are horrible people who hate women, children, puppies, and rainbows whose sole goal in life is to bastardize the brilliance of the pure cinnamon roll that is George RR Martin and his books which aren't even remotely rapey, misogynistic or horrible. Therefore, D&D's terrible fanfiction show is going to have Sansa brutally raped by Ramsay." And I realize that is a complete exaggeration, but it fully expresses my frustration. The show is shaping up and it's getting characters where they need to be for endgame, but they are doing it in a different way. A way that is more visual, more satisfying to the viewer and cuts the dead weight. Jorah gets greyscale because the purpose of his book character is not invalidated by that and it allows the show to eliminate a long and unnecessary plot and keeps them from introducing even more forgettable characters. It works. I don't know Sansa's ultimate character purpose, but the people who do have determined that having her marry Ramsay helps her fulfill that purpose (and moves along other story lines). There has been such a long wait between books that people have created fanon ideals of certain characters and what they are becoming. When the show breaks from those fanon creations, there is an uproar.

Yep. And I was kind of hoping for an erect cock scene. But NO. I mean, just to balance the nudity...yeah, regs, I know I know. Still, a woman can dream.

I found the Bolton bonding post dinner particularly...Boltony. Ramsay: How did you manage to impregnate your fatty wife? Roose: Let me tell you how I raped your mother. The acting this episode was brilliant and I loved everything about Old Valyria, from the story to the setting to the stone men. Stannis and Fewer. Davos and Shireen. Sam and Stannis. All of it amazing.

I think they were definitely clear that no one ever, under any circumstances, was supposed to find that scene hot. They said they expected people to find it disturbing because of what it was, incest beside a corpse. To say they wanted people to think it was hot is just setting up a straw man and assuming terrible motives onto people because you dislike something they did. That really weakens your point. And well, I watched that scene 15-30 times after it first aired because I didn't view it as rape the first time, was shocked at the outrage and watched it over and over to see what I missed. And what I found is that we all have our own interpretations based on our own personal histories. And do we know the script didn't have her saying yes? Do we know that wasn't left on the editing room floor? Do we know that her direction wasn't to clutch at him as if she wanted him? Well, considering LH said she was playing it that way, (Salt Lake ComicCon, LH says she was playing it as if Cersei needed him in that moment), this "Oh, they wrote rape" does not hold water.

I don't think Jaime is resolved to do anything. I think he made the comment about Tyrion the way anyone says "I'll kill him" when they are angry. It was in character for Jaime, who says stupid stuff all the time and who had just gotten screwed over by Tyrion twice, when Jaime was trying to save him.

Oh hell yeah, he needs to bitchslap someone talking bad about his wench. Bronn seems a likely candidate. I am really loving what they are doing with Jaime. He has his snark back, his hot back, he's questioning his relationship with Cersei and he's looking fine while doing it.

Oh...the Jaime thread! Can we talk about how that new leather coat he's wearing? He looks hot as fuck in that. Interesting, in all of his scenes with Cersei, he is clean shaven, in Kingsguard armor, looking uptight and uncomfortable. He gets out of KL and he's back to scruff and sexiness. Ah, costuming, hair and makeup, way not to be subtle.

I thought that the show has put so much emphasis on Oathkeeper (and to a slightly lesser extent, Widow's Wail) with the cold open of S4, that Oathkeeper has to become Lightbringer, if there is a Lightbringer at all. I think that's Brienne (and Jaime's) final roles, to take the sword to the Wall. If Longclaw were Lightbringer, I think they would have (or should have) changed the line to "Olly, bring me Longclaw" to emphasize the sword. But yeah, AA might be out. And if it's the NIght's Watch...well...I think we need to hear the story on the show. So...I'm interested in the possibility of a Melisandre and Sansa meeting. Mel has already met Arya and knows she's alive, but not exactly who she is. What will Mel see in Sansa? Or will it even get that far?

Really. No. Every single interview is marketing. We know exactly what the duck was about. NCW told us on Conan. LH knew about LS, but she was having a laugh. These kinds of things make people talk about the show, make people interested and more eager to see the next episode. I'm not a book purist, but I know marketing and I know TV. From the timing of a release of a teaser to a repeated phrase in interviews, everything is marketing. Actors are given spoiler and teaser rules, phrases they can use, all of it, for marketing purposes. But if you want to believe Littlefinger, you go right ahead, Ned. I have more of a problem with a nonPOV character being a rape victim than a POV. Making a nonPOV character a victim makes rape easy and disposable. It should be horrible and disgusting and make our skin crawl. It shouldn't be casual. As to the Cersei/Jaime scene, the actors have said repeatedly that it was not written as rape, they didn't believe they were filming rape and that they, specifically LH, was not playing it as if she were being raped. So...some pretty crappy acting on her part? But this "they made Jaime a rapist" mantra just doesn't fit the intent of the scene, the writers, the actors....maybe the intent of the lighting director, the film editor and whoever scored it (as mentioned before), but not the intent of D&D.

Again, why would I take LF at face value? It is the writers, actors, etcs job with these interviews to keep you watching. They aren't going to say "LF is totally playing everyone, just wait." That's bad marketing.I mean, NCW was trolling us with a duck already. LH gave us the stone heart. You cannot and should not take what the actors say at face value. They are salespeople, selling their product, not truthtellers. The interviews are designed to intrigue and interest the viewer.

I remember the D&D interviews differently, so we'll just have to disagree. I don't think we are meant to take LF at face value. Why would we? From Season One he's told us not to trust him. As a viewer, taking anything he says at face value seems foolish. I'm no Ned Stark. You tell me not to trust you. I won't ;)

Could you point me to that interview? Thanks.

They got significant details before the pilot. There is no way HBO bought the show without a decent roadmap to the end from GRRM. I think all along D&D have said they know the basic stories, if not the details, of all the major characters.

I've not seen anyone salivating over the idea. I can see how it makes narrative sense and how it can be used to really impact the viewer. And I'm not bothered that it's Sansa and not another character. But I don't see anyone going "OH FUCK YEAH, ANOTHER RAPE! SWEET! BITCHES DESERVE IT!" Could you PM me and point me in the direction of that? I'm interested to know where you saw it, Skeeter. I have also never seen anyone say Jeyne deserved it. I've only seen a few posts ever anywhere that think even Cersei deserves the Walk.

Oh wait. Firefly. That's it. Firefly. Not just VM. Sorry. As far as this Avengers thing, not interested. You know, I can Susan Faludi with the best of them, but poor treatment of a female character in fiction does not automatically mean misogyny. Maybe in that case it did, but I can't scare up a feeling for it. It's a just another of a million comic book movies. I am more offended by the offensive portrayal of female bodies in most comics than I am about anything else. I want to have my own war on boob tape, spanx and Louboutins. I think most women live with that little bit of fear, walking to our cars at night, in elevators alone with a man, and don't get me started on gas stations. Again, we know that about Ramsay. Sansa does not and it's equally possible that Sansa does not know Theon is watching and that Ramsay treats her as well as Ned treated Cat on their first night. I can fully see Ramsay ordering Theon to watch, silently, no matter what happens, and then do nothing awful, but have Theon watch in fear that he will. Most of this is pre-rage and anticipation of the worst. I'm just not fussed about it. And I can always fastforward to the other bits if I find it too hard to watch. I mean, I certainly wouldn't have watched had it been Jeyne Poole and ...she had it a helluva lot worse that people are anticipating for Sansa.

No. Sorry. I don't watch movies related to comic books so I have no idea what you're talking about there. I have no interest comics. All I know about Joss Whedon is Veronica Mars, which sucked starting in the middle of Season 2. Is this a story worth googling? It seems you're predicting the worst for every character, whereas I am thankful for the departures from the dullest parts of the source material. I didn't give a flip about the Vale lords, Dany's endless wanderings and Tyrion needed to shut the fuck up. I'm thrilled that crap is gone. Also, the IronSnore. The only thing that hasn't happened yet from the books that I am longing for is the death of that sucktacular douchebag, Balon Greyjoy. Olly stabbing Jon would be narratively satisfying and I'm predicting that. Olly is a dreadful character and I hope he gets offed soon, but yep, he should be the one stabbing Jon.

Please then, Danny, don't watch if it makes you too uncomfortable. There are plenty of shows I don't watch because they make me uncomfortable, particularly sitcoms which seem designed to convince me that the IQ of the average person is 72 and they have the emotional intelligence of a fourth grader. I think you're jumping the gun on Sansa though. I don't see anything about this story that wouldn't be moving her more towards actually showing an iota of agency, which she is barely even showing in the books at this point. Of the living Starks, my sympathy is most with Rickon and least with Sansa. She's enjoying those lemoncakes a little too much for me. And maybe because I'm not emotionally attached to her I'm not experiencing this pre-rage so many are. But rape should be awful and horrific and uncomfortable and terrible to watch, and if that's too much for you, I understand and wish you the best.

Which is exactly why D&D are making it Sansa. There is less emotional impact to watch a random character, say one of the Craster wives, get raped and tortured. Putting Sansa in the role makes narrative sense so that the viewer has that relationship. For me, the Jeyne Poole torture is all about Theon's story. So, this makes Theon's story and attempt at redemption all that more powerful. Sansa's Vale stuff is particularly boring and would require introducing another crapton of new and eventually unimportant characters. Putting Sansa in the Jeyne Poole role gives a main character a big story for a season when she would otherwise would need benched, draws in the viewer to the story and moves the glacial plot along. I can't be upset about that. I especially can't be upset with D&D for replacing another throw away female character for which most viewers would feel nothing with a main character. Watching whatever happens to Sansa, and I think she's going to have to be an active participant or at least pretend to enjoy it, ala Margaery and Joffrey with the crossbow, is all the more gripping and horrific. If there's going to be rape, and let's be real here the books are full of it, I'd rather have it happen to a character the viewer cares about so that there is that feeling of discomfort and disgust rather than another casual background rape quickly passed over. D&D are just showing us the world Martin has created, but unlike reading a book where you can skip the icky bits, they aren't letting us forget how horrible it is.

The entire ASoIaF is about women having sex with men they don't want to have sex with. Lysa and Jon Arryn, Ned and Catelyn Stark when they got married, Cersei and Robert, Dany and Drogo, Roslin and Edmure. Walder Frey and every single one of his wives. That's what these political marriages are. Ned and Cat betrothed Sansa to a total psycho and she would have had to have had sex with him. Margaery only missed that fate because Olenna got all murdery. Robert didn't want to bang Cersei, he wanted to bang Lyanna. Edmure was only cool banging Roslin when she turned out to be pretty. Was Roose really into banging Fat Walda? Did Jon Arryn enjoy sticking his dick in Lysa? Sure, I get that it's different for men, but really, Sansa was always destined for a political marriage and never destined for a love match. She was always going to lose her virginity out of duty. Even Arya was betrothed to some Frey. I'm not saying it's not gross. It is. I hate it. But Sansa possibly marrying Ramsay and possibly having to consummate it is not any different from pretty much every marriage in the books. In fact, the books tend to be grosser about sex than the show, but that's because GRRM can't write a good sex scene to save his life. So yeah, As to the other spoiler ETA: Is it just that much harder for us to see it on screen than read about it? I'm struggling to understand this disgust with the show when the books, come on...the books....

Oh, I don't think Tyrion is played as the wise, all-knowing sage. He's just better at things than the rest of the shitty people trying to rule Westeros. Doesn't make him perfect and I'll take a drunk Tyrion making decisions over a sober Cersei any day. And you can't take anything any of these characters said at face value. I mean, the wise, kindly High Sparrow is all "I just don't like the taste of wine" yet you arm his underlings and the first thing they are doing is making King's Landing a dry town.

Did he have much competition? Pycelle? Mace? Littlefinger? Ned Stark? Maybe Varys, but he had his own agenda.