Ratings rose to a series high, 22% more than the premiere night (Opposite the NBA finals)

Another bloody good performance for HBO’s Game of Thrones on Sunday: The 9 p.m. airing averaged 2.7 million viewers, up 22% since the series premiere. If you count the additional 900,000 people who tuned in two hours later, GOT lured 3.6 million viewers for the night. Sweet.

Season to date, GOT has an average gross audience (linear plays, DVR and HBO On Demand) of 8.3 million viewers.

Spoilering in case west coast folks haven't seen it yet. (Even though I think I'm the only one in this thread that hasn't read the books at times)...

Yes - yes it does accelerate the storyline in a great way. Also gives you a sense for the real stakes and the way that everything is just...wide open and anything can happen.

Perfectly understandable to have the reaction that you're having - not at all uncommon I would venture to say. Stick with it - the ride is just getting going.

That was heartbreaking, and this is coming from someone who's read these books at least a half a dozen times and knew exactly what was coming. The actors were all wonderful in that scene.

Ok so question for the book guys- how closely is the series to the book? I'm thinking of starting the books, I'd like to have the 2nd read by the time the next season starts. Is the book & series close enough that I could skip the first book- or should I read it to get everything? I'm loving the story and want more.

The major events are followed pretty closely. However, the book is still worth a read though, with the enormous amount of detail that you're not getting -- you'll find yourself getting a wee bit lost if you go right into the 2nd book.

Doug, I think you're going to love these books. I am about 70% through the 3rd book and they are awesome.

The spoiler above is just the tip of the iceberg. I read some stuff yesterday that caught me totally off guard and I know the rules that Martin plays by.

Yeah... That was rough. Great acting by the young (swordfighting) daughter -- from the pigeon/considering stealing food scene to climbing up to get a better look to trying to reach her father.

The show follows the books very closely. I have gone back and read bits and pieces of "A Game of Thrones" while I have watched the show and have been surprised at how well they've done it.

That said, read the first book. It's well worth it. Not only will you be lost a bit in book 2, like CW said, but all of the details and back story that you get in the first book really bring a lot of the events on screen even more to life.

There is a lot of time spent in the books about Robert's Rebellion to the extent that some of the characters who are long since dead but played major roles in those events feel as a real and fleshed out as some of the existing characters.

If you're loving the story and "want more" read them all. You will not be disappointed. I've read them all 4 times and always learn something new and take something different away with each read, so reading the first book should still feel very fresh even after watching the series.

I know what part your saying, and yeah. That one blew my mind.

If you love the story and want more, read the first book before the second. Granted the major stuff will be familiar to you, but you'll get a lot more of the background story, you'll get more of the setting via descriptions, you'll have scenes that were cut out of the tv series, and even the scenes you know will be more fleshed out.

Echoing the read the 1st book before the 2nd book. Just much more detail and fleshing out of characters.

Watching last night's episode now. I have read the first book 3 times now and very obviously know what's going to happen and I still don't think I'll be able to look at the end of the episode.

I'm intrigued by who's playing Lord Frey. It looks like David Bradley (who plays Filch in the Harry Potter), but IMDB doesn't say so. Interesting since the woman who's playing Osha is the actress who played Tonks in the Harry Potter flicks.

Also, The Old Bear isn't as old as I pictured him when reading the books.

/tk

I still think that Larry King would have made an excellent Walder Frey

Ha! Yes!

It was David Bradley. For whatever reason, he is not listed in the cast online (but no one else is either for that character), but it is confirmed in the Game of Thrones wiki. Walder Frey - Game of Thrones Wiki

I thought I was going crazy. I knew that was Filch.

Had a cool exchange with my neighbors today. They are like late-50s/early 60s and had asked us to watch their house and grab their mail for the weekend. Today, after returning their mail, I apologized for not getting it to them last night and they said that they had stopped at a relative's house on the way back to watch the show. And then, she told me that she had ordered all the books and was reading through them.

Not exactly the demographic I would suspect, but pretty cool. :)

Yeah. No matter how many times I read it, it's still a punch in the nuts. I was thinking (This is a spoiler for book 4, not the series)

Ned's death scene was fantastic. Very powerful. Wonderfully shot and acted. I did like having him spot Arya and sending Yoren to go get her. Her reaction was great, as was Sansa's. Excellent all around.

I liked both the scene where the Old Bear gives Jon Longclaw and Maester Aemon's speech. I thought both were well done. It's great to see some of these characters from the book really starting to take form on screen. Catelyn is another. At first, I wasn't convinced, but over the last two or three episodes the actress has really become her. Same with the guy playing Robb.

The actress playing Dany has also been fantastic. I liked the fight with Jorah and the dothraki, it really hit home the point that Jorah was making a few episodes earlier about how the dothraki weapon really isn't all that effective while on foot and fighting a guy in platemail.

Tyrion's recounting of his marriage was great. Shae is fantastic. She has really captured the essence of the character. The fact that she's a foreigner is beside the point. Bronn also continues to shine. He's given some great lines and has been great in the role.

It was nice to see some exposition without the need for sex and nakedness.

I wasn't expecting to see any of the battles, so I wasn't disappointed. There was no way, from a budget and time perspective, that they could have done them any justice. Better to skip them entirely than do something weird or on the cheap. I take any battles/fight scenes as bonuses. But, even then, unless there is something exceptional (like Drogo's) or important (Syrio's last stand, Jamie attacking Ned), about a fight scene then they aren't too terribly necessary. That said, it would have been nice to see Greywind run out of the woods first when Catelyn was waiting for Robb or at least have him running along side Robb.

Hey! Eddard Stark just got stabbed!

'Game of Thrones' actor stabbed in bar brawl - Entertainment - Celebrities - TODAY.com

Is this thread safe for someone who hasn't read the books?

He refused medical treatment? He knows medicine has advanced since the days of Khal Drogo, right?

Anything not presented in the show should be in spoiler tags (unless it was something edited out and gives clarity to what was in the show).

Yeah - I think we've been pretty good about spoiler tags. Particularly if you don't venture far back in the thread. For sure the thread since the beginning of the show has I think been spoiler-free outside of the spoiler tags.

Great, thanks. I had been hesitant to participate in the thread because of that factor, but definitely enjoy reading what others think.

Well come on in and participate. Like I said - I can't vouch for like the early early pages, but I know that everything within the last 3-4 pages and everything moving forward we've been damn careful with spoiler tags.

So what do you think about the show BK?

I have to say that this weeks episode really depressed me. I know from reading some critical analysis that bad things happen regularly to favorite characters in this universe and that might be ultimately a deal breaker for me. I could deal with the bleak disposition of The Wire because there was enough good, and enough of a connection to the bleakness of real life, for me to get through it. I'm not sure I'm ready for that same bleakness in my fantasy. No question the show is a good one, else I'd not have felt the emotion reaction I did, just not sure if in my limited TV time I am ultimately going to want something quite this dark.

I get what your saying- and as someone else who hasn't read the books (yet)- that's what hooked me- thats how I knew I really liked the show, I actually cared what happened to the characters.

I'd go home on my lunch break on Monday's catch about 45 minutes on the DVR (Sunday nights me and the girlfriend watch The Killing and Treme together)- then when I get to work I'd pull up HBO Go and finish it off.

There are definitely bad things that happen throughout the universe - to both bad characters as well as good. It's a very "shades of gray" type of universe. There isn't really anyone who's "pure good" or "pure evil" (Martin has stated as much in interviews).

I mean even Arya you might say is "pure good" but wait...she killed another little kid.

It's really a fascinating series, because there is nobody that's safe from the ramifications of their actions. You can totally fall for a character and think they've got their shit together and then all of a sudden realize that they don't - or that this world is a randomly cruel and unforgiving place.

I hope you continue to give it a chance and aren't turned off by Ned's death (as crushing as it was). I honestly think that when like...95% of the people that read the books read that scene we all threw our books across the room in anger and didn't pick them up for at least a day or two. Because, as some of the interviews that I've read have really said - in modern fantasy novels you expect the hero to survive and sneak his way out of everything and triumph at the end. And here you have this guy who's been built up as the hero of the first book/first season and he forsakes his personal honor at the last moment in order to save his kids, and then is killed anyways.

It's soul-crushing in a lot of ways yeah, but there are definitely "up moments" in the series as well, where the "bad guys" end up on the short end of the stick too.

And really what is bad? Everyone loves Dany, but if she manages to get over to Westeros with the Dothraki can you imagine how many innocent people would die as collateral damage?

Notice I didn't say good/bad I said favorite. Ned was a favorite, Aryia and Tyrion are favorites of mine. I made the comparison to the Wire quite intentionally as there to you have lots and lots of grey (my two favorite characters are probably a viglante and a drug kingpin). I'm just not sure I want something this dark from my fantasy, where as you point out Martin goes against type by allowing anything to happen to any character. To me I guess my long term commitment to the show is less dependent on whether I feel connected to the characters, I certainly do, but whether the show gives me enough to think about to be alright with what they do to my favorites.

I missed that you said favorite instead of good/bad. I hope that your end decision is that it does - I'd be happy to take this to PM's and give you a very vague pep-talk about your other two favorite characters and what Martin does to them (no spoilers, no specifics).

I'd say that the willingness of Martin to kill off favorite characters & to give other characters more depth (no one is really as how they seem at first) makes The Song of Ice and Fire less escapist genre fiction and more literature. I think Martin is brilliant in that he builds up Ned as what appears to be the standard fantasy trope of the noble main character, standing among the cesspool of other lords and ladies, and then (when you are thinking he's going to that character that survives through the series & will be responsible for victory in the end) gets killed, that's when your view of the series completely changes.

As for me, that scene is when I really started to get hooked on the books.

That is what I really like these books. It is a change of the mold where the hero characters end up victorious in the end. I like it that the good guys don't always win.

I am pretty sure I have just reached that part.

You will see RED.

Just finished the 3rd book last night. Pretty great storytelling.

I wish I had picked these books up a long time ago.

Holy Shit. Even knowing what was going to happen - that fucking DELIVERED!!!

I was really hoping that last scene would be great and it was.

Thought the CGI dragons looked good. Here's hoping that the CGI budget is increased to include the wolves next season

I, too, was really worried about how the dragons would come across on screen. Thought they looked great.

Is it Spring 2012 yet?

1) Going to be a long year.
2) The dragons were nice.
3) Sansa thinking about pushing Joff, and I was yelling "do it! do it!"
4) Tyrion in Kings Landing. Just can't wait.

Guess I should have been a little more patient on the significance of the eggs.

:)

I might rewatch the last 10 minutes like...100 times. That was frigging awesome, even moreso on second viewing. Loved the cries of the dragons at the end...fuck yeah.

Haha... I'll give you another short spoiler, if you dare to look at it. :p

Glad to hear the dragon hatching scene was awesome, but how was the "King in the North" scene? That was one of the most powerful scenes in the 1st book to me and I hope they did it well.

Ok I got a little less than a year to read the first two books, I want to finish the current series I'm on now but that gives me plenty of time.

I thought it was pretty good. My mind wasn't (obviously) quite as "blown away" by it as the dragons, but it definitely made you go "hell yeah...king in the north!!"

Greatjon nailed it I thought.

Agreed. I enjoyed the King in the North scene.

Glad to hear... of course the one thing that can't be articulated (that well) is that those words hadn't been spoken for 300 years prior to King Robb.