Meh. Can't bring myself to watch Game of Thrones S5.

[rheasilvia]

I'm so unenthusiastic about Game of Thrones. I haven't watched the season opener yet, and I'm not really motivated to. None of the characters really interest me right now.

I mean:

Jaime's redemption arc was shaping up nicely and making him into an interesting character - and then he goes and rapes his lover / sister. From now on, any "redemption" he gains will not mean squat. And as an extra uncharming detail, the series refuses to acknowledge that having sex with a woman who is shouting "no" and trying to fend the guy off is rape. This really does not help me overcome the repulsion I now feel for this character. Really, really not.

Tyrion's interest for me has basically ended the instant he killed Shae. I didn't actually care about Shae - either as a character or a person - but Tyrion did, and he was so damn stupid about the entire Shae testifying and then turning up in his father's bed thing that I basically never want to see his face again. Tyrion is many things, but he should not be dumb as bricks.

Danaerys is now bereft of Sir Jorah and will inevitably steer into some catastrophe, especially if she listens to that incredibly untrustworthy, slimy creepster she's taken up with. (The new actor is marginally less slimy, but still.) Plus I assume the dragons will cause further horrors and increasingly become a liability rather than an asset. I don't actually want to see any of that.

OMG. I will have to see Theon again if I watch this. Do Not Want. Why isn't there a way for me to open a portal into fictional Westeros and push this dude off a cliff.

Also, Boring Mystical Stark, and More Boring Littlest Stark, and Boring Dumbface Snow.

Plus there'll be lots of gratuitous boobs and rape (of women) and background sex (focussed on naked women), with nothing in the way of male nudity to balance it. At this point, this is likely to annoy me immensely, because so much else about the series is likely to annoy me immensely.

By contrast, the reasons why I would want to watch this are...

Sansa? But she'll probably be messed up in short order. Margaery Tyrell, definitely, but I expect she'll die soon. Arya? I'm not actually very interested in her adventures in Bravos, the Land of Mystical Fighting Skills.

Brienne would interest me, but not if she appears in conjunction with Jaime, as seems likely. Same goes for Yara Greyjoy, who I really like, but who is probably not going to show up unless there is also Theon (gag me with a spoon).

Who else is there...? Oh right, Varys. Yeah, I'm sure he'll die soon.

Still... even so, don't spoil me, please.

Comments

[extempore]

*g*

Ich lese nur mehr die Plotzusammenfassung auf Wikipedia und freue mich, dass ich nicht schaue.

[rheasilvia]

Ja, ich vermute, das ist wirklich das Klügste...

Wobei ich die Serie in früheren Seasons zum Teil wirklich gerne mochte. Sie hatte immer Fehler, aber sie hat auch zeitweise viel Spaß gemacht. Leider geht es nicht gerade bergauf.

[lilacsigil]

Yes, Tyrion can go jump in the Narrow Sea for all I care now. And Jaime can go right after him. At least Jon Snow is just boring, not actively awful.

I like Sansa, Arya, Brienne, Margaery, Varys, Yara and Stannis & family, so if there's plenty of them I can just keep cross-stitching in the other bits.

[rheasilvia]

It's strangely heartening to hear that I am not the only one who broke up with Tyrion - I'd assumed I might be! Did you object to his attitude towards and murder of Shae, too, or was it something else in your case?

Yeah, Jon Snow is comparatively bearable, although if he starts being entitled and self-righteous again in addition to just being plain stupid, I may change my mind.

Stannis & family haven't really grabbed me so far, mostly because the Creepy One God kind of bores me, even as he is creepy and threatening. But I can see them potentially gaining interest, so there is that! Let's hope against hope that part of the series resists the general downturn.

[lilacsigil]

Well, I was getting more and more bored of Tyrion whinging about his terrible life (especially in front of Shae and Bronn who have had frankly much worse lives than a disabled but extremely wealthy and titled man) but murdering Shae was the final straw.

The creepy One God stuff is annoying and dull, but I like that Stannis is one of the very few people who would be capable of ruling Westeros without causing even greater harm to the general populace: when his people were starving (until saved by Davos and his onions), he starved right along with them. Even if he is a self-righteous asshole in person, he's still competent and that's getting to be a rare thing! And I like his daughter Shireen, too - she's smart and thoughtful and making the best of her restricted life every time we get to see her. A team-up of Stannis, Varys and Yara would be the best.

[rheasilvia]

IMO Stannis would make a truly lousy king. Maybe he would have done a good job before he sulked for twenty years about all the many wrongs done to him and fell in with the Lord of Light to finally get the respect he is due. Now, he is thoroughly corrupted, and entirely in the hands of the priestess to boot.

And he always would have done a horrible job of diplomacy and dealing with nobles, which is also a very important aspect of kingship, so... no. Can't see it going well even if he'd gained the crown as a young man, still free of religion and bitter resentment (and the resulting surety that any crime he commits is justified in the name of the greater good).

For example: IMO Stannis would not team up with either Varys (a contemptible turn-coat spy he would regard with disgust) or Yara (Greyjoy traitor scum who rebelled against their true lord and should be put to the sword).

He is very judgmental, extremely rigid, and these days also a raging hypocrite because he himself has resorted to extremely contemptible methods that he would condemn in others.

He might starve alongside his people in some situations, but he won't lift a finger to help them if doing so would compromise some theoretical point of pride for him personally, or if it were inconvenient for some reason (he's busy gaining the crown, starving people are less important), or if the Creepy One God says it's fine that they all starve, or if they are unworthy unbelievers anyway, or... any of a million other things, really. And he won't care if they starve because all ressources are going to a war effort, or because war is destroying the crops, or...

[lilacsigil]

See, I think Stannis isn't as rigid as he makes himself out to be (he's quite good at finding solutions when he really has to, as with Davos freeing Gendry, or being willing to work with the Wildlings, or sleep with Melisandre!) but the Creepy One God is bringing out the absolute judgemental, hard-headed worst in him. If he could get away from that, maybe for Shireen's or Davos's sake, I think he's not a bad contender. As is, we're probably going to have to wait for Dany to grow up a bit.

[rheasilvia]

The Creepy One God is definitely extremely bad for Stannis, and a hugely corrupting influence that will only get worse and worse. Without that influence in his life, I agree Stannis would likely be an entirely different person. But I don't think he has any chance of escaping the COG's clutches at this late point, especially since I see no sign that he wants to. He's fallen prey to the promise of being the Chosen One, the One True King... and by exploiting his feeling of having been unjustly overlooked and being the only true king, the priestess has very cleverly found the huge chink in his armor, the best and surest way to corrupt him. Because what dark deed isn't justified in the name of finally bringing the one true king to power and ending all this darkness and injustice?

Stannis desperately wants to see himself as a righteous, honorable man, and in some ways, he is. I suspect that as a young man, he would have made a far better king than Robert. Unfortunately, at this point Stannis has done such heinous and unjustifiable things in the name of his cause that he isn't righteous or honorable anymore, and he can't - won't - see it. If he ever does realize it, it will destroy him.

This is not a spoiler, only speculation: Personally, I think that Stannis will die at the hands of Brienne, avenging Renly, her king who was slain by an evil shadow with the face of Stannis - and that in the last moments of his life, he will acknowledge that this is a just death for him.