Game of Thrones: Garden of Bones

There was a ton of great stuff in this episode.  I will just break it down by character.  The best part about the whole season so far has been the subtle differences between the book.  Makes me happy that I will not know exactly what will happen.

Joffrey

-The beating and humiliation of Sansa was pretty cruel, but I liked how Tyrion dealt with the situation.  Ordering Bronn to kill Ser Meryn if he speaks again ("now that is threat, see the difference?") was pretty hilarious. 
-Getting the king laid seemed like a good idea, or at least it would be a good idea if Joffrey was not a crazy psycho.  Instead of banging whores, he forces one to beat the other. 
-Everyone hates Joffrey, which is impressive that Jack Gleeson is a good enough actor to pull off such an annoying shit-head.

Robb Stark
He takes an interest in a certain nurse.  I have a feeling they are going a different route with this girl.  Honestly, I like where this could go.  Also, the dude that played Roose Bolton is creepy looking.  I look forward to meeting his bastard...

Tyrion
As I said, he was pretty awesome from the beginning.  He then continues being awesome by calling out his cousin for banging the queen.  He threatens to tell Joffrey, which just about causes Lancel to shit his pants.  That kid is such a pussy.  Oh, and we finally get to see the Grand Maester without his beard...

Arya
Seriously, her story just becomes more depressing each week.  I always feel like she is the character that gets shit on the most.  Hell, I mostly forgot about her stay at Harrenhal.  I was starting to squirm when they began to torture Gendry with the rat in a bucket.  If I remember correctly, being Tywin's cup bearer is not a great job either.

Daenaerys
They finally go somewhere.  Christ, I was starting to think they did not want to move her story along.  She brings her group to Qarth (which was nice hearing how to pronounce it).  Unfortunately, my DVR decided to glitch for a minute or two and I had no sound.  I have no clue what the one guy was saying.  I am looking forward to what will happen in Qarth.

Renly and Stannis
-Littlefinger brings back the bones of Ned, wants to trade Sansa/Arya for Jaime.
-Catelyn says that if the two kings were her sons she would smack their heads together until they remembered they were brothers.
-Stannis is pretty stupid.  He does not seem like the kind of guy who would want to be the king, instead he seems like he would want to be the man behind the king.  Why not just allow Renly to be king and control him?
-The birth of Melisandre's shadow baby was much cooler than it was in the book.  Seriously, I thought it was pretty amazing looking. 

Great Television Sunday

There was plenty of great stuff on TV yesterday.  Where should I start?

The Killing
I know that plenty of people did not like this show last year, but it was just good enough to keep me interested to watch it this season.  It turns out that Richmond did not murder Rosie.  In fact, Linden thinks the whole thing might be a huge frame job.

The best aspect of the premiere has been the way Holder seemed to be the bad guy.  It then turns out that he was duped just like Linden.  A great moment was him switching backpacks and then hearing the lieutenant say it contained Richmond's prints.

I believe the conspiracy starts with the Mayor's assistant, but how far does it go?  And what is the big secret that Rosie knew?  I am intrigued.

Mad Men
The second episode of the season was fantastic.  We see what Betty has been up to since we last saw her.  She has put on a few pounds.  It honestly could not happen to a nicer person.  Sorry, that was sarcasm.  I think I have mentioned before that I think she is a terrible mother/human.

We then got to see that she could have cancer.  The first person she calls is Don and all she wants to hear is him say "Birdie, everything is going to be alright."  This causes Don to be worried about her for most of the episode.  It turns out that she does not have cancer and when Don calls to check on her, Henry answers the phone.  Henry informs Don that everything is fine, but as Henry hangs up, he is clearly pissed that Betty told him.

Another great storyline has been the Pete/Roger showdown.  Roger was able to convince Mohawk Airlines to come back (although Pete initiated the meeting).  Pete calls an office meeting and basically says that he did the work and that he is saving the company.  Roger is not pleased. 

Peggy hires a new copywriter to do Mohawk's weekly ads.  The dude is a little out there.  Roger tells Peggy that he has her back if Don does not like the hire.  Peggy is a little afraid that if this kid is too good, he could replace her (although, she does not say this, you can sense it).  Roger admits that he made a mistake hiring Pete and basically defending him when Don wanted rid of him.  Hmm, could we see Roger taking a more active role in the day-to-day operations?

Game of Thrones
I loved how they used the red comet as the segue to a new character.  What were some of my favorite moments?
-Robb talking to Jaime.  I love how Jaime tries to taunt him, but Robb gets the final taunt by bringing his direwolf into the cage and allowing Grey Wind to almost bite Jaime's face.  Jaime shows no fear until that moment.
-I still love seeing little dragons. 
-Tyrion's arrival at the Small Council meeting.  This is the beginning of him being even more awesome.  Cersei does not seem to be pleased by this turn of events. 
-Speaking of Cersei.  She slaps Joffrey, which almost causes him to snap.  He lets her know that if she ever does it again, she will die.
-Joffrey is still pretty damn crazy.  He wants to kill some drunken knight, but Sansa convinces him to make the knight his fool instead.
-Melisandre was cast perfectly.  The poisoned drink scene was pretty good, although, in the book it was much better because you get the Maester's point of view and all his thoughts going into it.
-Joffrey sends the City Watch out to murder all of Robert's bastard children.  The scene where Janos slits the babies throat was pretty hardcore.
-And then Cersei shows her power by threatening Little Finger.  He mocks her by saying that knowledge is power, she has her guards seize him and almost cut his throat.  She then has them release him.  She says "power is power."  This is not something Little Finger will forget.

Obviously this episode was just a set-up for things to come.  It was still pretty awesome, but I cannot wait for the coming weeks.

Game of Thrones Seven Devils Preview

Season 2 Trailer: Seven Devils

Game of Thrones Season Two Preview

Okay, I know I just posted something about Game of Thrones, but then I saw the preview for season two (not the teaser or making of video) and had to post it.  Just deal with it.  I make the rules around here.

Season 2: Preview - You Win or You Die

Game of Thrones Banners

I saw these and just had to make them my desktop background (I would love to have a few of these as shirts).  After the jump you can see all of them.

Game of Thrones: Season Two Teaser

Tease - Cold Winds Are Rising

A Dance With Dragons

As most of you can imagine, I was pretty excited about the release of A Dance With Dragons.  I went to Wal-Mart after work on Monday around midnight hoping it was out.  I was informed by the girl old lady working that they did not have it.  I woke up the next day with a sense of purpose.  I went back to Wal-Mart because I was told that it might come on the truck in the morning.  Unfortunately, it was not there and there were no other bookstores in Ebensburg.  I asked Lindsey if there was a bookstore in Johnstown and she said yes.  I then checked my account and found that I had no money.  How depressing!

Lindsey came home from work and surprised me with a copy.  What an awesome girlfriend!  Although, it was probably a bad move for her since she barely saw me after that, haha.  Alright, fun story, but now for the thoughts on the book.

I have decided not to bore you with a lengthy recap.  Honestly, only a few of you actually read books and of that small group, only a few of those people read this series.  Instead, I have decided to just look at some of my predictions and see how close I am.

Jon's Parents
My prediction was Rhaegar and Lyanna.  Unfortunately, it really does seem like Jon is Eddard's bastard son.  More than one character has made a comment about Eddard's woman (I cannot remember her name).  I still believe that Rhaegar and Lyanna ran away together and were probably in love. 

Arya's Blindness
I was right about that and an earlier prediction was that she would become a great assassin.  She refused to allow them to give her the antidote to cure her blindness and she goes about continuing her training.  At one point she figures out who keeps hitting her with the stick and gives him the three things she learned as he wanted.  She also succeeds in killing the insurance agent.  It made me laugh as they explain to Arya what the man does for a living and she is completely astounded that people would waste money on gambling whether there ship makes it or not.

Dorne
Quentyn Martell makes his way to Daenerys and shows her the letter that was an agreement to wed Viserys and the princess of Dorne.  Viserys was to return to Dorne with an army and they would join forces to retake the Iron Throne.  Unfortunately for Quentyn, he is a little late, as Daenerys is about to marry a guy from Meereen.  In his desperation to prove that he is not a loser, he breaks into the pyramid holding the two chained dragons and wants to steal one.  He figures he has a little Targaryen blood in him, he will be fine.  HAHAHA, how does being burnt alive feel Quentyn?  Yeah, he died pretty horrifically. 

Daenerys
I predicted that she would raise an army and come to Westeros.  Well Meereen has been a slight detour.  She has an army and a bunch of enemies, but instead of being a conqueror, she has become a true ruler.  She worries about how to feed her people and keeping them from slavery.  After her wedding, she is almost assassinated by her own husband.

Fortunately, she is saved when Drogon comes to the fighting pit and starts killing people.  She is able to control her dragon and hops on his back and flies away.  They are out hunting together when they come on the khalasar of Khal Jhaqo.  Ser Barristan Selmy has led a coup against Meereen's new king (Daenerys husband, who Barristan believes tried to kill her), but unfortunately, the armies assembled outside have decided on war.

New Predictions
-I still believe that Daenerys will eventually return to Westeros and conquer it or at least become Queen.  I think with Drogon, she will cause Khal Jhaqo to join his khalasar to hers.  I believe that from the first book, when two khalasars met up, they would battle and then the survivors would form into a new one and the leader would be the new khal.  With her new khalasar, she will return to Meereen and defeat the armies outside her walls.

-The new dragon, and I am guessing the real heir to the Iron Throne, Aegon, will not survive.  He will cause a ton of problems and probably give Westeros a real scare, but in the end, he will be defeated by someone.  OR, he will ride one of the other dragons.  As will Victarion, with his horn, but he will turn against his brother and join Daenerys cause as well.  I doubt that last one though.

-Tyrion will reclaim Casterly Rock and become the other force that everyone worries about.  Actually to piss off his sister, he will lend his support to Aegon and eventually Daenerys. 

-What will happen with Jaime?  He is now in the hands of the resurrected Catelyn Stark (Lady Stoneheart).  I loved how he handled the situation with the Bracken's and Blackwoods.  If you combined all three Lannister children, that would make a great king (or queen).  Anyways, I am guessing that Brianne promised to deliver him to Stoneheart in exchange for her life. 

-Jon Snow will not be dead.  He is wounded and will probably be saved by someone.  I have a feeling he will still lead his wildling friends against Ramsay.  Hopefully Jon will kill Ramsay and become the new Lord of Winterfell.  Although, he is still a bastard and if Stannis is dead, he has no shot of being naturalized.

-In fact, is King Stannis really dead?  I just hate Ramsay.  I never liked Theon, but after reading about his horrible captivity, I really want him to go back to the Iron Islands and either claim his right as the king, or just ask his uncle to kill Ramsay.

-I also still believe that the Others will make their way over the Wall or at least make a very good attempt.  The Night's Watch will regret losing Snow, but they will be saved by an unexpected source:  Bran and his friends, the Children of the Forest.

-Speaking of Ned's children:  Rickon will be the new Lord of Winterfell.  Davos will find the boy and help him regain his position. 

I am sure I will think of other things, but since I will have a few years between now and then, I will definitely write more about this series.

ADWD GOTW

This week's GOTW is from a book, which almost always means I have finished reading said book and a review is coming soon.  That is right, I finished A Dance With Dragons and I decided to make Daenerys this week's girlfriend of the week. 

 

 

A Little About the Future

Hey there!  This is Josh from the future.  Actually from the year 2130.  Seriously, no bullshit.  I know what you are thinking, how the hell can you be from the future?  Well scientists figured out time travel a few years back and they also figured out that you can go as far back as you want.  Do not ask too many questions, do I look like a scientist?

I realize your next question is probably "how are you still alive, you are 150 years old???"  Yeah, I am pretty old, but that is not too significant anymore.  Scientists figured out how to extend the lifespan of people, the average person now lives to about 200 years old.  Again, I am no scientist, so do not bother asking how this happened.

Now that we have all that kind of crap out of the way, you probably want to know what has been happening in the world.  Well that is what I am here to tell you.

Politics
Things turned to shit in this country in the 2030s.  The economy sucked, the rest of the world surpassed us, we had serious problems.  It did not help that people were living to over 120 on average, yet the retirement was still 70.  Yeah, no one could figure out what the hell was wrong in the world.

Then the people elected Juan Rodriguez, our first Latino president (hey, in this entire time, we have still not had a woman president, haha, suck it feminists--just kidding).  He had radical ideas, one of them was raising the retirement age to 120.  He also decided to legalize marijuana and then tax the shit out of it.  He then decided to force Mexico to be part of the United States, divided it up into eight states.  Pretty much made the place a giant resort.  The rest of the place was used to cultivate weed (which was basically all they did down there to begin with).

All those fears about drugs ruining the country turned out to be false, people pretty much only smoked dope on special occasions.  Especially when the laws for other drugs became insane.  Caught with a little cocaine?  50 years in prison.  Tested positive for heroin?  Penal colony in Mexico.  People began studying and focusing more on becoming intelligent.  This became our greatest export:  knowledge.  Medical, computer, technological, whatever advancement you can think of pretty much happened here.

Technology
Speaking of tech, you are undoubtedly wondering what the world is like in the future.  It took me about ten minutes to remember how to type.  We do everything with our minds now.  So much easier.  I do have some bad news though, still no flying cars.  No land-speeders, none of that cool shit.  Cars are cool now and they use an alternative fuel source.  I cannot mention what though, it would blow your mind, I will give you a hint:  you put it in your coffee.

Sports
I do not want to spoil anything, but the Pirates eventually win the World Series.  I am not even kidding.  I will not say what year, but when they do win it, cherish the hell out of it.  You will not see another one.  Depressing, I know. 

The Steelers win a bunch of Super Bowls.  After Ben retires, they draft a QB who is 6'7, 280, runs a 4.1 40 and can throw the ball 90 yards (some people believe he may be the first genetically engineered athlete, we fans say stop being jealous).  The Pens also win a bunch of Stanley Cups, so you will always have those two to make you happy.

The Yankees sign the first player to a $1,000,000,000 contract.  He is a short-stop from Ireland and ends up breaking the HR record.  He hits over 900.  They win a shit ton of World Series with him, most consider it a good investment.

People in America still do not give a shit about soccer.

Random Stuff
-George R.R. Martin finally finishes A Song of Ice and Fire in 2056.  You were right, Jon is Rhaegar's son.  He and Daenarys rule the entire world.  Hope that does not ruin it for ya.

-Movie franchises start combining and become absolutely ridiculous, such as Fast and the Furious 21:  The Rise of the Raging Transformers.  Or Saw 87:  Jigsaw vs. James Bond. 

Oh and the most important thing is about your own future Josh:  You will end up
OH SHIT!  HERE COMES THE TIME-COP, I NEED TO RUN FOR IT!

Season Finales

Last night was the season finale for a few of the better shows on television.  Two were great, one was not so great.  I will start with the one that was not so great.  There are spoilers throughout.

The Killing

Who knew Detective Linden was a hottie?

The first season of the show was pretty good, there were a few things that bothered me, especially how convenient the character twists would happen.  Oh, all the evidence points to Bennett, oh wait, no it does not.  Aside from that, the buildup and story were very good.

The last five minutes of the episode ruined the season.  Linden and Holder realize that Richmond is the killer.  They put together the pieces and finally obtain the last piece of evidence:  a photo from a toll booth showing Richmond in the car at the hour when he was supposed to be with Gwen (she then admits to Linden that Richmond left that night and came back soaking wet).

The show ends with Linden on a plane with her son and she gets a call from the toll booth company saying that their cameras have been down all summer.  We then see Holder get into a car and say that everyone bought the photo.

Belko approaches Richmond as they are taking him away and pulls a gun to kill him.  The show could have easily ended with Richmond being the killer, but no, they had to throw a wrench into it.  Now we see that Holder may be a bad guy, Linden knows something is wrong, so she will want to go back.  Now there is reasonable doubt about whether Richmond killed Rosie and there will be a whole second season of this crap?  Ugh.

Treme
Another very sad ending to this show.  All sorts of stuff happened in the episode, but I want to focus on the last five minutes.  Harley and Annie (Harley is played by the cool Steve Earle) are walking to Davis' gig (Harley being a gentleman turns down his Irish friend's offer of a pint to instead escort Annie across town).

Two guys come up to them and rob them of their instruments and Harley makes the comment that "you are making a big mistake son."  They one guy gets pissed and says he is not Harley's son and shoots him in the face.

It is a horrible moment because Harley has been Annie's mentor all season.  He is the one who informed her that her first song was actually a Bob Dylan song, he forces her to play her original song out in public.

His death also shows the major theme of this season:  random violence of the city and how it is affecting New Orleans.  This season characters dealt with rape, multiple shootings, drugs, and corruption.  We learn that the police are just as bad as the criminals in some cases.  These things are such normal occurrences that when one of Baptiste's friends dies in a shooting, he does not even get emotional, just a little upset.

Game of Thrones

BABY DRAGONS!  So, cute.  I definitely want a baby dragon for a pet.  Sorry for that moment of girlishness.  Aside from the ending scene where we see the dragons, what else happened:

-KING OF THE NORTH!  The Greatjon declares Robb as his king and the rest of the northmen agree.  Oh, Theon bows as well.  He is a dickbag though.

-Jon's friends chase him down and force him to come back by repeating their oath.  Lord Mormont informs Jon that they are going outside the wall.  He wants to face these problems head on instead of waiting meekly behind the Wall. 

-Arya becomes a boy and meets up with Robert's bastard son.  She also glimpses the man that will help set her course towards a new land.

-Tyrion is to go to King's Landing and bring Joffrey and Cersei under control.  Which will be tough, since we are starting to see that Joffrey is a monster.  He forces a singer to repeat a dirty song he made.  He then has the man's tongue cut out.  Oh and then he forces Sansa to look at the heads on spikes, one is her father and another her Septa.  She makes a comment that he does not like after he says that he will give her a gift of Robb's head, she says: "maybe he will give me yours."  Joffrey has Ser Meryn Trant slap her.  She then thinks about pushing Joffrey, but the Hound steps in and gives her a towel to wipe the blood.  This is the beginning of him being nice to her.

-Bran has Osha take him into his family crypt because of a dream.  There they are scared by Shaggy Dog and Rickon, who is down there because he too had a dream of their father in the crypt. 

-The preview for the second season was pretty cool as we see the dangerous green wildfire that Tyrion will use to defend King's Landing.



-Who will play Stannis?  I love that Renly looks like a soft version of Robert.  Also, who will play the Onion Knight?  Will the second season start with a red comet streaking through the sky?  I thought this season would end with the dragons being born and us being able to see the comet start.  I guess I was wrong.

Seriously, season two cannot get here fast enough.

Baelor (Spoilers for the Episode)

The thing I worried about most with Game of Thrones was the changes they might possibly make from the book.  When I heard they signed Sean Bean to play Eddard Stark, this compounded my fear.  I mean, there was no way they would kill off their big star during the first season of a show, right? 

Well I was wrong.  So far they have been very faithful and they decided to prove that by having Joffrey announce that Ned should die for being a traitor.  As the sword cut his head off, I felt my heart jump because I realized this was the beginning of some very bad things for the Starks.

Another great moment was the capturing of Jaime Lannister and his challenge to Robb that they should end the war now and fight a duel.  I loved that Rob admits Jaime would beat him, so no, they will not do that.  I also enjoyed how Robb realized the horrors and stupidity of war after sacrificing 2000 of his own men.

As usual, Tyrion stole the show.  He tells the story of his first wife and how his father allowed his guards to have sex with her after he informed Tyrion that she was a whore.  Bronn then says he would have killed the man who did that to him.  Hmmm, foreshadowing.    Then he leads his new tribe into battle, well he starts, but he gets knocked out and then trampled.  He wakes up to find out that the attack was a ruse. 

Game of Thrones Awesomeness

The last three episodes have been pretty damn good.  Let me see what highlights I can give:

-Viserys finally got his crown.  It was awesome in the book, but it was better looking on the screen.  Khal Drogo pours the molten gold over Viserys head, which kills him almost instantly.  The best part was Daenerys reaction:  that he was not a true dragon, since fire cannot harm a dragon.

-Ned realizes that Joffrey is not Robert's child.  All from something Sansa says.  She is a pretty unlikeable character, but the path her life goes makes you feel so bad for her.  So for those watching, do not fret, things do not go well for her.

-The moment that Ned confronts Cersei about her children, is the moment that my heart started racing.  By the end of that episode, I felt like I was about to have a heart attack.  I knew what was going to happen, yet I just could not bear it.  I mean, the way Littlefinger betrays Ned and Joffrey becomes the new king.  Such a great few moments. 

-Khal Drogo's anger over the attempted assassination of Daenerys was just awesome.  Him screaming what he will do to the Seven Kingdoms was sweet.  He was pretty damn scary.

-When Cersei tears up the letter from Robert, in front of Barristan Selmy, it was gut wrenching.  That was the moment you know that things are going to suck for Ned.

-Speaking of Barristan, how great was the scene of him being relieved of his duty?  I loved how angry he was and how you could see the other members of the Kingsguard almost shit themselves when he draws his sword. 

-I completely forgot about Shagga and his great threat "I will cut off the halfman's manhood and feed it to a goat."  I love that guy.

-Robb Stark leading his men into battle and watching the Greatjon lose some fingers to the direwolf.  I loved his strategy of allowing the Lannister scout to return to Tywin (Charles Dance is amazing as the Lannister lord) and tell him that "winter is coming."  If I remember correctly, Robb then goes to Riverrun to attack Jaime, completely fooling Tywin.  Bold move.

-The best part of the episode comes when Syrio protects Arya with a wooden sword against the Lannister men coming to capture her.  He beats down those soldiers pretty easily and we never see the outcome of him versus Ser Meryn Trant.  I am guessing Trant one, it sounds that way, yet I always got the suspicion that we would meet Syrio later at some point.  I could be wrong though.  Also, I loved how Arya kept saying "not today", from Syrio's speech about there is only one god, and that god is death, and you only say one thing to death:  not today.

-Littlefinger's lesson of sex to his two whores was about as close as you can get to porn without actually being porn.  Not that I am complaining.  Was there some anal involved there?

Game of Thrones: The Wolf and the Lion

Holy shit what an awesome episode!  If someone turned this on and decided to start at just this episode, they would have probably had a heart attack.  Anyways, let me tell you about some of the crazy shit that happened:

-I wondered last week if they would show the end of the joust.  They did, and HBO did not disappoint.  After the Mountain is unseated by Ser Loras (he used a mare that was in heat, which sent the Mountain's stallion into a horny fit), he grabs his broadsword and hacks his horses head off.  He then proceeds to go after Ser Loras (so aptly nicknamed "The Knight of Flowers"), which causes the Hound to step in.  They have a pretty good fight until King Robert screams enough.

-Ned resigns as the Hand because Robert wants to kill Daenerys before she can give birth.  Ned wants no part of it.  As Ned prepares to leave King's Landing, Littlefinger offers to take him to the last person Jon Arryn met with.  They go to a whore house and we find another of Robert's bastards.  As they leave, Jaime shows up with a bunch of Lannister guards and demands they take Ned since his wife took his brother.  An awesome battle ensues.  Jory takes a dagger to the eye from Jaime and then the battle we have been waiting for finally comes:  Ned versus Jaime!  It is a pretty good fight, until one of the guards jabs a spear through Ned's leg.  Jaime knocks the dude out.

-Elsewhere, Tyrion's captors come under attack from the hill tribes.  Cat frees him and he thinks about leaving until he sees one of the crazy guys about to attack Lady Stark.  He ends up killing the man with a shield.  We also get to see Bronn in action, dude is pretty badass with a sword.

-The Eyrie was pretty amazing looking.  Also, the chick that plays Catelyn's sister Lysa, does a great job of being batshit crazy.  She is breastfeeding her son, who looks about eight years old.  They put Tyrion in his cell, which if I remember correctly from the book, is sloped and this scares Tyrion because he is afraid of rolling out in his sleep.  You can tell it is sloped slightly in the show because there is water running through the grooves.

-There was also a pretty good scene that was not in the book.  Renly and Loras are shirtless together, with Loras shaving Renly's chest.  Later Renly receives a blowjob from Loras.  In the book, it is hinted that they were together, but that is about it.  They also discuss in the scene the idea of Renly becoming the king with Loras' family's money backing him.  This serves as a great setup for things that will happen later down the road. Spoiler ahead I suppose.  It was always a shock when Renly announced he was one of the kings after Robert's death.

One of the things I loved about the books was all the cool false-foreshadowing.  If you thought something was going to happen, then usually something else would happen and it would be completely unexpected.

For example, I really thought there would be a moment where the Mountain would meet Hodor.  When describing Hodor's size, people would mention how the only person who was bigger was the Mountain.  I always figured the Lannister's would attack Winterfell and the Mountain would attack Bran, leading to a showdown between giants.  Sadly, this never happened, but what does happen is equally awesome.

The Week That Was In Television

Justified
This was the season finale and allow me to say that it did not disappoint.  Raylan finds out that he is going to be a father, but then he finds out that Loretta left the foster home and he thinks she is going after Mags Bennett.  Raylan goes after her, much to the protests of Winona.

Unfortunately, Raylan walks into a trap and gets knocked out by Dickie.  Dickie hangs him upside down from a tree and starts hitting him with a baseball bat.  Fortunately, Boyd is also looking for Dickie since he shot Ava (oh, did I fail to mention that?  Boyd meets with Mags, but she was planning on killing some of his men while they were meeting, Boyd was a step ahead of her, although Ava took a bullet from Dickie).

Boyd cuts Raylan down and is about to shoot Dickie, who does his typical cry like a girl and beg for mercy.  He asks Raylan if he is going to let Boyd shoot him, and Raylan says something about he may not be able to kill Dickie, but he will not lose any sleep over Boyd killing him.  Then Dickie says that he can take Raylan to Loretta.  Raylan convinces Boyd to let Dickie go and there is a moment where it seems that Raylan will have to shoot Boyd.

Dickie and Raylan head to the Bennett house, where Loretta is inside holding Mags at gunpoint.  Loretta shoots Mags in the leg and this causes the Bennett forces to start shooting.  Raylan takes a bullet to the side and while he is lying on the ground Doyle stands over him and is about to shoot him when a bullet hits Doyle in the head.  The U.S. Marshall service shows up just in the nick of time (yeah, it was a pretty convenient save, but it worked).  They were involved because Winona begged Art to help Raylan.

Raylan goes inside and convinces Loretta to give him the gun, but not before Mags admits to killing her father.  Raylan and Mags sit down and she offers him a glass of moonshine.  I am pretty sure that everyone watching screamed at Raylan not to drink from the glass!  They have a toast and she says that this feud will end the way it should have and all of a sudden she tenses up and says that the poison was in the glass (a throw-back to the way Loretta's dad died).

I honestly thought that Raylan would have called the Dixie Mafia (his buddy Wyn Duffy) and they would have showed up (instead of the Marshalls).  I am sure they would be interested in taking over the Bennett's territory before Boyd could take it over.  I would guess that season three will see the Dixie boys becoming a major player.  I also figure that Raylan will stay in Lexington and not head to the shooting range.

Game of Thrones
"Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things", that was the name of the episode.  It was a line that Tyrion says to Robb at Winterfell when asked why he brought Bran a design for a saddle that Bran could ride.  Tyrion responds that he has a soft spot for cripples, bastards, and broken things.  I loved Tyrion in the books, but Peter Kinklage is so great that he makes the character even better.

It was also great to see Bran smile, poor kid has been so depressed.  He also had a very strange dream, about a three-eyed crow.  I like that the show is making it more ominous than how the book just jumped in with the crow talking.

Ned's investigation is starting to get somewhere, he found the book that Jon Arryn was reading and he found the boy that Jon was visiting.  Turns out the boy is the bastard son of Robert.  I wish they would have either had a flashback or did the sound over of a battle so Ned's reaction to seeing the boy would be a little more effective.

I also loved the exchange between Jaime and Jory about how they had met during the rebellion of the Greyjoys and also Jaime being upset about the king having an orgy while he stands outside.  I love how after their bonding moment, Jaime gets annoyed when Jory asks if he could leave a message with Jaime to give to the king.

Up on the Wall, we finally meet Samwell Tarly.  He is a fat kid who is also a coward.  In the books, I always figured he would become a good fighter or something.  That is not the case and I highly doubt things will be different from this coward.  I loved the line when they are by the fire and he says that he will not get any better having to fight and Jon responds that he cannot get any worse.  Best part was of Jon and his friends holding down the bully and letting Ghost jump on his chest and growl at him.

Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys finally realizes her brother is a loser.  She asks Jorah if Viserys could conquer Westeros and she says that he would not be a very good king.  Viserys takes a bath with Daenerys slave girl and he tells her about dragons, they are having a good time, but then she says something about it being sad they are all gone and Viserys gets angry.  He says that it is her job to please him, not make him sad.

Daenerys finally has enough when she invites Viserys to dinner and he snaps because he does not take orders from her.  He hits her and she fights back, hitting him with a belt, cutting his face.  She tells him if he ever touches her again, she will have his hands cut off.  Very badass.

During the jousting tournament, Ser Hugh (who may have important information for Ned, since he was Jon's squire) is killed by Ser Gregor Clegane (The Mountain Who Rides).  He is the Hounds brother and we learn that he was the reason that the Hound has a burnt face.  The Mountain is such a scary character, and I only hope that they make him big enough.  Also, I wonder if they will do the joust match between him and Ser Loras and the final results?  That might be too graphic, even for HBO.

The best part of the episode came at the end though, Lady Stark is at an inn when Tyrion shows up.  He recognizes her and she then stands up and starts calling out different men at the bar, asking if they are still loyal to her father.  You can see the fear in Tyrion's eyes as he realizes that something very bad is about to happen.  She then demands they arrest him in the name of the king.

Things are about to get crazy. 

A Few TV Shows

I am not going to talk about all the shows from last week that I watched, just two:  Game of Thrones and Justified.  Mainly because they were the most intense.  I will make one comment about The Killing:  will there be a season two?  I mean, it should wrap up pretty quickly, right?  Anyways, onto the shows.

Game of Thrones
-So many little things happened during the episode.  The bulk of it featured Jon Snow and how his friendship with Tyrion grows.  By the time Tyrion leaves, they are friends.  Tyrion gives him advice about the other boys and we later see Jon giving them sword lessons.

-We finally get to meet Syrio Forel, Arya's "dance instructor".  The guy who plays him is pretty much just how you picture from the book.  I also loved the way Ned watches and you hear the wooden sword sounds turn to metal and you can hear the faint sound of a battle.  Very cool.

-Robert getting drunk and discussing his first kill with Barristan Selmy.  This is a tiny spoiler, so you may want to not read this blue sentence:  how will the disguise Selmy so it can be a surprise when he reveals himself (that sounds so dirty) to Daenarys?

-Another great episode for Jamie.  Such a jerk, yet so cool.  He talks about how Ned Stark's father and brother screamed while they burned, then mentions how Aerys kept saying "burn them all" when he stabbed him.

-Then there was the creepy Cersei/Joffrey moment.  She says that when he is the king, he can change the story of his wounded arm to anything he wants.  He says he does not want to marry Sansa, nor does he want to be nice to her.  Cersei makes some comment about how he can fuck any girls he wants, but it will not hurt to be nice to his future wife.  I think this was a nice addition, since it was not in the book.  It definitely seems like she was referring to herself...

-Then Joffrey goes on about how he wants a royal army and he would crush the North and install his uncle as the Warden at Winterfell.  Good luck with that one idiot boy.

-Over on the other side of the sea, Daenerys is pregnant.  She thinks it is a boy and she is learning how to speak Dothraki.  She also orders the group to stop and she heads off into the woods.  Her brother confronts her and grabs her by the throat (he was upset that she is giving orders).  He draws his sword on her and her bodyguard uses his whip to pull him off her.  He wants to kill him, but Daenerys says no (nor will she let him cut off Viserys ear).  Viserys tries to order Jorah to kill the bodyguard, but he ignores that order.

-I loved the discussion between Jorah and the bodyguard about each other's fighting styles and weapons.  I also wonder why Jorah had to leave when he heard that Danys was pregnant...

Justified
Raylan forces Mags to give up Dickie.  Dickie's partner is going to testify against him, but changes his story at the last minute (after a visit from an old lady, I am guessing his mom/grandma).  My favorite part of the episode is when Raylan and Doyle arrest Dickie.  Raylan knocks Doyle out and takes Dickie deep into the woods and tells him how about his Aunt Helen (this is the first time we see Raylan break down and give any emotion about her death).

I really thought he was going to shoot Dickie (and in typical Dickie fashion, he cried and begged the entire time).  When he gets out of jail, Mags says to him that she will help him deal with all this stuff.  I am guessing there will be some major shit happening in Harlan County.  I also loved that Boyd offered to take care of Dickie for Raylan.

Raylan is not stupid, he knows that the Bennett's will come for him.  I have a feeling that he will play Boyd off them and also somehow get the Frankfurt mafia boys involved.  Maybe he will let them know that it was Dickie who hijacked their bus (or maybe he will let them know that it was Doyle who made sure they never found out).

I honestly think someone major will die by the end of the finale.  My guess it will be Winona, which would be a shame since she is so damn hot.

Last Weeks Television

Now this is what I am talking about, all week long there were good shows.  Actually, if there were any more shows, my head would probably explode.

Justified

Someone tries to killed Raylan and Winona.  They are being watched by the rest of the U.S. Marshalls, but that does not stop Raylan from giving Tim the slip and doing his own investigation.  He first confronts Mags Bennett and she says it was not her (although Doyle shows up and makes some very nasty threats).  Mags says she did not have him killed because Coover was an idiot and that was her fault and she made a deal with Raylan's Aunt Helen.

Raylan then figures out that it was Gary (Winona's ex-husband) who hired someone to kill Raylan.  He takes Gary to see Wyn Duffy and informs him that the next time he sees Wyn he will just start shooting and call it self-defense.  He also tells Gary to leave the country, since Wyn was going to kill him after Raylan was dead.

The other side story involves Boyd asking for Arlo's help in robbing Dickie Bennett.  Dickie recognizes Arlo and at the end of the episode pays Aunt Helen a visit.  She will not tell him where Arlo is hiding and as she goes to raise her shotgun, Dickie shoots her.  Wow, could Dickie be any more retarded?  I thought he was the brains and Coover was the muscle, but the more I see Dickie in action, the more I realize he is an idiot.

Archer
I honestly think I like this show more than It's Always Sunny.  Both are funny, but there is a bit of intelligence behind many of the Archer jokes.  The season finale was pretty awesome.   Sterling brings home the girl who saved him in Russia, who was a spy for the KGB, Katya Kazanova.  Everyone thinks she is a double agent.  Hilarity ensues.

Barry also makes a return, after the KGB turns him into a cyborg (with a great narration of the six million dollar man...)  Barry is still pissed that Archer dropped him off a building, not once, but twice and sodomized his fiance.  As Sterling and Katya are about to get married, Barry attempts to toss Sterling off the roof, but Katya intervenes and plummets to her death along with Barry (who, because he is a cyborg, is unharmed).

I am sure next season (which we get three episodes in September to go with Always Sunny) will feature some pretty funny ramifications over her death.   Or most likely not, Sterling will just sleep with a bunch of prostitutes and make great jokes about everything. 

Supernatural
Okay, not the greatest show out there, but it is fun.  I will say that I enjoyed the Back to the Future II reference at the end.  For those who have no clue, Sam and Dean went back to the old west to help Samuel Colt kill a Phoenix and retrieve it's ashes (long story, do not worry about it).  They succeed, but are brought back to their time before they can grab the ashes.  At that moment there is a knock on the door and a package is brought in by a mailman, who says that he and the guys have had a bet for years as to whether or not it is real.  They dismiss him and open the box.  There are the ashes they need and a letter from Colt.  He says that he got their address from Sam's thingamajig (his cellphone).  It was pretty amusing.

Treme
I realize that many of you do not watch this show, and that many of you who tried to watch it, felt it was way too slow.  Whatever, I like it.  Here are just a few of my thoughts:
-Do they really want us to feel bad for Sonny because he no longer has Annie?  Seriously?  I kept hoping he would get shot in the club.
-It was pretty cool of Davis to clean his apartment for Annie.  I loved that he just threw away the dishes instead of washing them.
-Janette looks pretty miserable working in NYC.  I have a feeling she is going to stand up to that chef.  Or continue going to bars looking for guys to have sex with.

-At first I thought when Terry (the cop) asked about what Sophia knew, he was referring to something between he and Toni, but then it occurred to me that Toni must have lied to her daughter about her dad's suicide.  I can see why she is concerned about Sophia making those youtube posts and ranting just like her father.
-My favorite part of the episode had to be when Delmond is at the party in NYC and the two guys start trashing New Orleans and how his music does not sound anything like "that minstrel show."  He tells them they have no idea what they are talking about.  His girlfriend says that she has heard him say similar things, but he says that it was not the same.  This is so true, you can trash your city or where you are from.  When an outsider starts doing it, you get defensive.
-I think that Delmond will eventually return to New Orleans and help his father out.  Maybe he will embrace his roots and become a better musician...

The Killing
Ahmed Bennett (that name is everywhere, I also live on Bennett Lane, weird) becomes a major suspect.  It turns out that he and Rosie were exchanging letters.  He claims it was an intellectual discussion.  We then learn that he met his wife while she was a student and they used to pass letters to each other.  She was out of town that night and Ahmed decided to cancel the company that was supposed to refinish the wood floor.  He said he was going to do it himself.  The police find chemicals at his place that could have been used to wipe away evidence.  Is Ahmed a serial killer?  I am guessing his chances went way up, maybe 85%.

Game of Thrones
Joffrey is such a monster.  Hell, Tyrion even says so.  He tries to get Sansa drunk, then he cuts the butcher's boy, who is playing with Arya.  He then attacks Arya and is going to kill her, when her dire wolf attacks him.  Arya throws his sword in the river.  She runs away and when she is finally found, Joffrey has told a different story.

Sansa could easily corroborate Arya's story, but instead she says she does not remember.  The king decides that Ned will punish his daughter and he will punish his son.  He then makes fun of his son for losing his sword to a little girl.  The Queen wants the dire wolf killed and since Arya's has disappeared, they will kill Sansa's.  She tells the King's Justice to do it, but Ned says that the wolf is a Northman, and it is subject to their ways and that he will kill it.

As he goes to kill Lady, they show us Bran and you can hear the other wolves howling.  When the knife sound is heard and the wolf dies, Bran wakes up.  Very exciting.

Okay, I have a spoiler here, so if you have not read the books, stop reading right now.

As many of you know, I have a theory that Rhaegar and Lyanna (I am not the only one with that theory) are Jon Snow's parents.  I love how during the scene where Drogo is pounding Daenarys from behind, she stares at the dragon egg and the fire surrounding it, we then focus on the flame and pan back to see Jon staring into the fire on his way to the Wall.  Hmm, could be a little hint?

Game of Thrones Premiere

I am sure you are all aware of how anxious I have been about the premiere of HBO's new series Game of Thrones.  Well it is finally here and it did not disappoint.  Since I read the books, I will not give any guesses as to what will happen throughout the series.

I love the entire cast, there is not one single choice that was made that I do not think fits perfectly.  My favorite choice so far is Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister.  He was the unknown actor that I really thought could make or break the show.  The scene where he sends the whores into Tyrion's room to speed up the process was great, but he absolutely nailed the "things I do for love" scene.  For those of you that never read the book, trust me when I tell you, hating Jaime is a hard thing to do.  I think he will end up being the next Alexander Skarsgård...

I do want to mention the wedding between Khal Drogo and Daenerys Targaryen.  I have heard some people on the internet saying that the end scene was very rapey (to steal a word from Jim Jeffries).  In the book, Khal Drogo is much more tender towards Daenerys (and the entire wedding ceremony kind of got her in the mood, if I remember correctly).  Also, the way her brother would beat and treat her made her more responsive towards Khal Drogo's tenderness.  During the sex scene, she keeps thinking to herself that "I am the blood of the dragon."  It becomes her mantra throughout the series.  On a side note, the guy playing Viserys (Harry Lloyd) is perfect.

I do have a complaint though, the White Walkers from the beginning, that was not what I pictured.  Fortunately they made up for it by having an incredible opening credit sequence.  All was forgiven.

First Fifteen Minutes!

Watch the first fifteen minutes of Game of Thrones. 

Game of Thrones Exclusive Preview

It was very much like the way the book opened.  Plus, it looks like we will be seeing some dire wolves very early on...

House Stark

Here is another A Game of Thrones preview.  Actually this is more of a behind the scenes kind of thing.  It gives a nice look at some of the Starks and the actors portraying them.  Also, we can see some scenes that have not been in any of the previews yet.

House Stark Feature

Can you tell that I am excited?

Monday Morning Stuff

It is Monday morning and I am awake.  I worked third shift on Saturday and accidentally slept until 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.  I ended up falling back asleep at 10:30 p.m. and waking up at 3:00 a.m. and I have been up ever since.  This means you get some kind of rambling mess today.

Football
The Steelers beat the Ravens in a game that gave me a nervous breakdown.  To be down 21-7 to the Ravens going into halftime is not a good thing.  Then the team came out in the second half and just dominated.  The defense was absolutely amazing.

I noticed that immediately after the Jets beat the Patriots, a lot of my friends started posting comments on facebook saying that the Steelers were going to the Super Bowl.  We still have a very tough game coming up next Sunday. 

It has been nice to hear the nation media folks actually saying good things about Ben.  I heard a couple different radio shows where they said he was up there with Manning and Brady as the best in the league and that he is better than those two at certain aspects.

Game of Thrones
There was a new preview for upcoming series on HBO.  Check it out.

The Game Begins

Hockey
I missed the Pens game because I was asleep, but they beat Boston.  I am getting so pumped for the Feb. 4th game versus Buffalo.  Lindsey, Adam, Lora, and I are going to have a great time.  Speaking of hockey, I hate this commercial.  Is it because I want to take a shovel to Ovechkin's face?



Links
James has a new blog.  He is a much better writer than me, yet he never posts.  Maybe he will try and change that...


The Pirates made a huge move over the weekend

The world will be ending soon, call the crazy people up and let them know.

Alright, that is about all I have for today.  I need to shower and run some errands.  Seriously, I have errands.  I am getting old.