#i'll probably gif every sophie scene just because

[thekatebridgerton]

The Viscount Who Loved Me is my favorite book. But after the changes in the first season and the fact that Julia Quinn herself happily said in the Netflix Book Club episode that she is very hands off with the series, I knew there were going to be changes.

Not as many changes as there ended up being… obviously… but I don’t hate what they’ve done. Do I wish they had stayed truer to the books, of course, especially with the iconic scenes than just became tease points for the reader viewers.

But no adaptation is every exactly as things are done in the books. I’m a big fan of both Outlander and Harry Potter both the books and the series/movies. There are always things we wished they had done better. Plot lines they toyed with. Characters they changed for better or for worse.

All that to say, that season 2 ended up being a very exciting story. Something I wasn’t expecting. Did I nearly have an anxiety attack when there was an actual fucking wedding scene? Uh yes! But after seeing what Shonda Rimes and her team came up with for Season 1 taking the (in my opinion) lacking book 1 and making it as exciting as they did, I trusted that she wouldn’t mess with the heart of the story: Kate and Anthony falling in love.

And she didn’t fail us there. We still got our beloved Kathony… maybe not the way we had expected to, but we got them. Maybe not in the fully matured way we expected… but Jonathan and Sierra both said they plan to stick around which means that we get to see Kathony again and see how their relationship develops over the coming seasons.

Then there is the added fun of being able to wonder, just like our non-reader friends, what the fuck is going to happen next?! Will season 3 be Colin and Penelope or Benedict and Sophie? Will Benedict and Sophie still have a Cinderella trope or no? What’s going to happen with Marina and Sir Phillip… since he clearly is going to marry Eloise eventually.

As much as I love the books… it’s kind of fun trying to guess what they’re going to do in the future. They’re going to keep us on our toes for sure!

As you recall a while ago. Author Julia Quinn lost her father and sister in a car crash around the middle of 2021. And was probably grieving for her loss right around the time s2 was being filmed. Which is why I don't hold it against her for her lack of input in the s2 storyline.

If she's being hands off from production then I'm sure there's a good reason for it and hope she doesn't regret it.

That is to say s2 will eventually grow on me once I get over the disappointment of seeing a Retelling and not an adaptation for s2. Maybe when I watch it for a second time.

Shonda is an excellent creator for s3, we will probably see more of Benedict's hilarious shenanigans as it should be and lovely Sophie will have an actress to play her that I'll be able to put in my storyboards.

But taking a page out of Penelope's book, I'm the type who skips to the last page of the book to see how it ends, it's 2022, sometimes I really do want to watch something I'm familiar with where the storyline is corny, funny, predictable but never boring.

Being kept on my toes is good and fun in original productions, but as you mentioned with examples like Harry Potter and Outlander. In book adaptations keeping close to the source material is what reasures the viwers that all will be well in the end. Because they know the end.

I'm sure once I get over this disappointment in a few days I'll be back to being positive about future changes made to the books source material, I'll find a way to put a positive spin on this narrative Netflix is handing us and feel much more motivated about being surprised by season 3 and 4.

In fact in a few days I'll be off to make fun of Anthony once again in all l my posts but right now... I'm kinda discouraging.

And I hope you don't feel offended by that or hold it against me

[vieverdeen]

Thoughts on 8x03. I need to vent.

WARNING: this contains dark! Dany, crumbs of Jonsa i guess, anti sanarion, anti jonerys, anti daenerys, anti tyrion, anti d&d, basically anti everything, and lots and lots and lots of complaining. LOTS. And bitching. I hated 8x03. If you liked it, I suggest you keep scrolling. Please keep scrolling. I don't want any heat, dont want to offend anybody, I just so BADLY need to vent.

Also, i post in the Jonsa tag, because that's my main fandom and where i feel safe.

ALSO SPOILERS!

This episode was an epitome of disappointment. I can't even. All this bragging how it was going to beat BotB and Hardhome, even freakin HELMS DEEP (the audacity) and ZERO payoff. I'll try to be as brief as possible(I probably won't be).

1. Whover was the mastermid behind this battleplan should hang. What the actual fuck. What the f*ck was the deal with stationing all The Unsullied and Dothraki OUTSIDE?! I mean i get it - there's limited space at Winterfell, and those are huge armies. But later, when it all goes to hell with the Dothraki and so on, and Dadvos screams "man the walls!" there are so few people actually inside, that could man the walls! I mean, the defenders should form a freaking wall themselves, to push down as many wights as possible! And they weren't even in position, on the battlements!

2. The charge was fucking idiotic. I really don't get it - was it a rash decision of the Dothraki, inspired by Mel lighting their arakhs, that they were like "yeah, why not, let's roll", without any order? Or was it an ACTUAL plan for them to charge the AotD, without anybody knowing Mel would show up and do what she did, with regular weapons, not even Valyrian steel or dragon glass?! I mean, did they WANT to give the NK more meat for his army? THE STUPIDITY

3. What was the deal with Arya during the battle? All of the sudden she's inside the castle, terrified, walks into the library and hides from one(!) wight - seeing as in the beginning she wasn't aware there were more. The whole library scene was exhausting to watch, and not because of the suspence, but again, because of the stupidity of it. It felt out of nowhere and pointless. And damn, I remember all of the speculation when the trailer came out- why is Arya so terrified, what is she running from? Is it Rickon or whatnot? Nope. No surprises here. Just regular whights, just like the ones she was going all assasin-mode on a minute ago.

3. Jon, Daenerice and their lizards. I mean, could they have been any more useless?! Dani burns some wights in the beginning and thats it. The most frustrating part was, that they haven't even once used the goddamn dragons to fry Viserion. Not once! There was some hands-on dragon combat but that was it. At various moments I wanted the NK to win, seriously. When they flew above the clouds and Viserion disappeared, i half expected the nephew and his aunt to sing "A whole new world" together and fly away. Wouldn't have made a difference.

4. I will give them one thing, the part with Dany falling off of Drogon and him abandoning her was satisfying. Shame that Jorah ex Machina was soo predicrable (glad it wasn't Jon though). Also, I will say, that Jorahs death was the one scene I actually liked, it brought me back to season 1 and I felt for Daenerys for a moment.

5. The crypts. I mean, the way Tyrion has been made by the show to be the Most Moral Man in the Universe, with his magical, genius mind has become unbearable. I wanted to smack him, seriously. Of course YOU should be out there Tyrion, YOU might notice something others won't. Sansa put him in his place, but I would prefer it if she remaind cold towards him, like in the first episode, just beacuse the amount of sanarion being pushed down our throats was making me gag. Saying they would never have worked because of Dani? Sansa love, you dont have to be polite. It would never have worked because Sansa did not love him, wasn't attracted to him, was forced to marry him as a child, because he's a father-killing, whore-mongering alcoholic. I was SO scared they would actually kiss in that scene when they were hiding. I was about to puke. Seriously, Sophie has an amazing chemistry with nearly everyone and clearly it was visible in this scene, but for the love of God I could not bear it.

6. Missandei and her "if it werent for the Dragon Queen we'd all be dead". I need someone to step up ASAP and make it clear that if it werent for Dani and her dumbass advisors the NK WOULDNT HAVE A F*CKING DRAGON!!! And the Wall still would be standing! Why don't these things matter? Like at all?? Why?! D&D just dont give a fuck.

7. Bran. The Three-Eyed Raven. All those seasons, the impossible journey, the sacrifice of Hodor, Jojen, Meera, Summer, all the 8-year build up for the AotD to end like... this. No resolution, no answers, no explanation. And Bran does nothing. It was so underwhelming. Every single fanfic I've read was better than this. He just warged into some ravens and went for a flight. Coolcoolcool.

8. The final scene, with the music and everything was, much like the rest of the episode, exhausting. The pacing was all over the place, either too slow or too fast. It sure was nice of the NK to give Theon and Bran some extra time so they could look at each other meaningfully, with Bran taking his sweet time to assure Theon that his character arc has been completed and he's most welcome to die for him now. The NK was actually a big softie on the inside, truly. Applies also for the never-ending look he exchanged with Bran before actually trying to kill him.

Till the last moment I was hoping that Bran would pull something out. That he couldn't have been THIS useless. Anything, I would have even taken time travel, anything. But GoT has stopped shocking and surprising a looong time ago, and we got Arya instead. I guess she's so awesome now, kinda like a supernatural being, that the only sign of her coming is a light breeze moving one's hair. I don't quite get when did she actually learn to fly/jump so high, maybe at some point in Braavos, between washing dead bodies and fighting with sticks? (okay, here's a rabbit hole to avoid - Aryas plot since sason 6, when suddenly she becomes a worrior able to best Brienne in combat). I would really like Arya killing the NK, if it was done and executed better, with a decent build-up and all of that. Not like this. It was so fucking easy it hurt.

9. Jon was useless. Useless I tell you. Dani being useless was sorta satisfying, as I'm anti dany, but Jon has been obsessed with the AotD and the NK for too many seasons now. I guess I should be thankful that at no point the line "i thought i lost you" has been uttered.

10. When the episode ended, me and my sister were like, "damn, dani has actually lost all her armies. game over for her." I mean she lost all of the Dothraki, almost all of the Unsullied? But God, did we underestimate Dumb&Dumber's dumbness! OF COURSE in the promo Dani still has an army and is ready to go to war with Cersei. OF COURSE. Fuck logic, fuck the facts, fuck the plot. Things havent been making any sense for a while now, so why bother at the end?

11. One more thing about Ghost - i love this boy with all my heart, and that's why it pisses me off so much that after SEASONS of neglecting him and favouring the lizards, the writers bring him back for some meaningless cameos, without Jon interacting with him ONCE. The discrespect! Seriously, at this point Ghost should just switch owners. Jon better stay with his pet reptalian.

Sidenote: I won't even go into no Jonsa goodbye scene. No goodbye-scene for Jon with any of the Starks. Coolcoolcool.

There is more, I'm sure, but I cant remember and I'm too tired. I dont even know what I expected. Maybe because the 2 first episodes were decent I was hoping for something remotely good. But D&D reminded me that no one can dissapoint like they can.