Game of Thrones: Season 4, Alive and Kicking All Up In Your Face

I considered live-blogging Game of Thrones Season 4 and then abandoned the idea. I love this show. I think it's excellent and respects its followers - unlike other ventures. 

However, I'm far too impatient to wait a week to get my fix, and so I prefer to see chunks of episodes at a time versus watching live airings each week. This way, I feel like I'm saving something special that I can enjoy in bulk. The drawback to this delayed viewing method is avoiding spoilers, which is a losing battle - partly because of the inconsideration of Facebook acquaintances but more often because I tend to read past the most alluring "spoiler alert" even when I'm forewarned. I annoy myself this way!

Season 4 was excellent. There was only one moment that stood out for me that seemed inspired by the current show runner/writers of the Walking Dead. 

NON-SPOILER ALERT.

Episode 8: The Mountain and the Viper was a great episode, even though the actual battle between the aforementioned characters doesn't take place until like the last five minutes, which were explosive! 

However, immediately preceding this magic, was a jail cell scene between Tyrion Lannister and his brother Jaime. What should have been touching was actually... ridiculously dull and forced. It involved an unreasonably long conversation about a random beetle smashing cousin, the drudgery of which was exacerbated by its utter pointlessness and a cringe-worthy Peter Dinklage (the actor who plays Tyrion). How uncouth for a midget little person vertically challenged individual anyone to mockingly impersonate a retard the developmentally disabled? Maybe that was the point? I am a fan of Peter Dinklage, but sometime after season 1, his accent/performances have flamboyantly teetered on the edge of questionable acting. I still love him though, save that stupid, really long beetle scene that was nothing more than filler leading into the good stuff/battle everyone was waiting on.

I can forgive these rare lapses (and the increasing ineffectiveness and bad judgment of Daenerys Targaryen) because Season 4 was truly impressive.

Sucks to have to wait a year for what happens next.

THE METHOD TO MARTIN'S MAD GENIUS:  MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW
NO REALLY!

Even though I have not read the books, after four seasons of having my emotions toyed with (and loving it), I finally get it. 

I realize now that George R.R. Martin's formula is the anti-formula: setting up the classic hero/villain formula and smashing it. 

In Season 1, I was sure Ned Stark would be rescued moments before his beheading. 

Season 3, I was completely blindsided by the Red Wedding.

Season 4, I was finally the wiser. Of course, the dashing Oberyn Tyrell was deserving of victory, not only championing the innocent Tyrion, but with a just cause of his own, i.e. avenging the cruel and horrific loss of his sister and her children... which is exactly why I knew he was DOOMED.

 
As Tyrion himself foreshadowed to the Viper earlier in the season:

 
"If you want justice, you've come to the wrong place."

I don't hate effing everything! (with a side dish of hating on TrueDetective)

*Very Cool (and/or Hot Like Fire) Drogon Picture courtesy of hbowatch.com

My blog may come across overly critical - I can't imagine why?! I'm looking forward to tonight's Season 4 premiere of Game of Thrones, which is an effing excellent show! Maybe I'll blog about this while Walking Dead is on hiatus. 

"If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of a divine reward, then, Brother, that person is a piece of shit." That's a gem from True Detective, which I'm watching now. Somewhat of a slower pace than my ADD tends to support but so far, so good.

I'll keep ya'll posted. 

p.s. Just finished Episode 5 of True Detective and I don't want to spoil it, but it's pretty predictable where this thing is going. At least, it finally picked up the story after meandering through multiple episodes.

p.s.s. Actually, I was wrong. I just saw the finale to True Detective and it totally didn't go where I expected; it just went nowhere. Fine, the characters went through transformations but the actual murder mystery that tricked me into watching what were simply character studies was almost worthless. What's wrong with people these days? So many online viewers were hyping up this show like they owed fiduciary duties to HBO. Sure, True Detective wasn't terrible but it certainly didn't live up to all that hype. I guess my expectations were inflated. 

True Detective Report Card (with an admission that report cards generally suck):

Casting - 

Acting - 

Writing: dialogue and one liners - "What's scented meat?"

Plot movement/Pace - 

Overall story & Resolution - 

The payoff doesn't support plodding along through a story that could have been told in half as many episodes as it took, unless you're obsessed with the bromance between Matty and Woody. They did deliver terrific performances but the story fell flat despite the meaningful development of the characters they were portraying. If you're not a story person, including one who cares about good endings like myself, then you won't feel as let down.