I loved the finale of Game of Thrones season 4 on HBO. I have also recently read the 5 books in the series. In the blogosphere, there seems to be some conflict between the readers and the watchers, and personally, I don't get it. I was enjoying a St Patrick's Day dinner with friends when my reading had surpassed the HBO version. Without giving anything away, I had commented that on TV, the last image to that point had been the freed Astapori slaves chanting "Mhysa" and in the books, that took place prior to the "Red Wedding."
Again, without giving anything away, at the end of the fourth book, George R.R. Martin mentions that chronologically, there is much overlap between books four and five, and that he decided to break up the stories geographically. In truth, as i demonstrated above, chronology doesn't match up. So f'n what! Books are books and video representations are different. As the French might say, Vive la difference!
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I have often read books after watching the movies they were based on. The films inspired my curiosity. There was a good story and maybe I wanted to delve deeper. I remember seeing "Amadeus" on Broadway. The intimacy of actually being Salieri's confessor in the audience was amazing. On the other hand, a Broadway stage was unable to convey the grandeur of the opera houses in Vienna.
A Few Good Men was a different experience on stage, but who will ever forget Jack Nicholson's "You can't handle the truth!" My point is that each medium has its unique advantages.
Okay, so the movie Dune really sucked. But I enjoyed both the multi-week adventure of The Hunt for Red October on the page, and the three day timetable that Hollywood required.
Game of Thrones combines some characters. They cut back and forth more rapidly between geographic locations. Let us enjoy the way the artists involve tell the story taking advantage of the mediums in which they work. We didn't see undead Lady Stark. Brienne of Tarth doesn't fight the Hound- who cares? Did you enjoy the scene?
Personally, I prefer to see the love Tyrion and Jamie share than to see it spoiled by the knowledge that Tysha (whom we've never met) wasn't actually a whore. I think it's more pertinent to Tywin anyway. I love the casting. I love the acting. I love the show. I love the books. They don't exactly match. They can't! You can do things on paper that you cannot create on budget. A picture is sometimes worth more than a thousand words.