I'm still in shock that the Red Wedding was the penultimate episode of this season and not the season finale...there's nothing that can trump that in sheer emotional horror. Except, perhaps, the reactions of everyone else and the immediate fallout.

I wouldn't be at all surprised at losing viewers at this point...I know it's when I threw the book across the room, then put in the freezer and refused to open it again for weeks. (good thing I wasn't reading on my nook or that would have been costly!)

Le nubian, I'm a 911 calltaker but also got my BA in English Lit. I've been really enjoying analyzing these books, especially compared to actual War of the Roses-era English history, the political aspects are entirely historically pertinent but with DRAGONS and MAGIC added in kinda make you pull back just a little from the local politics. Which, at this point, the Lannisters are clearly winning. But British history shows us that even when a family thinks they have firm control of the throne and the crown...that can be tumbled quite easily. My current perceptions might be slightly flavoured by the fact that i'm re-reading Wolf Hall in preparation for Bring Up The Bodies so I'm seeing major political parallels btwn the Lannisters and the Howards/Boleyns right now.

I'm still in shock that the Red Wedding was the penultimate episode of this season and not the season finale...

Last season, the big battle was the penultimate episode, too.

Good point, there's gotta be denouement. Dang. Have I mentioned that I almost retched last night? I knew exactly what was coming, and it was still a gut punch. I can't imagine what that was like for folks who didn't know what was coming. The wolf was the worst. And seeing Arya so darned close to being able to free him...and failing. Plus the look on her face...Maisy Williams has a brilliant acting career in her future. *deep breath* I was watching with a friend who hasn't read the books and asked to not be spoiled...we tried to prepare her as much as possible without spoilers but afterwards she turned in fury and demanded "WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME!?!?!?!" and then threw us out of her home.

Speaking of reactions, here's a collection of fan reactions to the Red Wedding. Many of the reactions are NSFW, as I'm sure you can imagine.

[link]

Last season, the big battle was the penultimate episode, too.

(nod) and Ned's beheading in season 1.

Yeah, I screamed and threw the book across the room. The book had to spend a couple of days sitting in the corner and thinking about what it had done.

I think by having this as the penultimate episode - the story gets to move forward a bit so that people want to come back.

The wolf was the worst. And seeing Arya so darned close to being able to free him...and failing.

On the heels of that knife to Talisa's belly, I was actually stunned. It was a lot to process at once.

I was too busy being horrified to even considering filming the folks I was watching with! One reader got heavily drunk in preparation. Perhaps I should have mentioned that the non-reader in my previous comment was our very own SA? Yeah, she was highly displeased. We told her so many times not to get attached to any characters (including the animal ones...) and started (jokingly) referring to EVERY character in the past tense, just to piss her off and try to avoid accidental spoilers. (e.g. "Dang, this Jamie and Brienne shows is delightful. They were both such great characters." or "I loved Arya so much.")

That was kinda fascinating seeing how others watch.

From upthread:

I wonder - did spending so much time with Robb this season take away the impact of his death? In the books, it was much less obvious how badly the war was going for him, so I remember being absolutely shocked that he would be taken out like that.

For me, it was just the opposite -- because book!Robb was off being a not-so-awesome general and king off the scene a lot of the time, I never really got all that attached to him, and when he bit it, my reaction by then was much more "Oh, GRRM, you magnificent bastard, you are NEVER going to give us a character we can cling to!"* In the TV version, largely because we saw much more of him struggling along, he was much more alive & interesting to me as a character, so I was gutted as I presumably was meant to be all along.**

Wow, "gutted" is such a wrong verb here.

On the other hand, Catelyn was a huge favorite character of mine from the start, and (I've always felt) often underrated by a lot of what I've seen of the TV fandom in places that aren't us. That one really fucked with me in both versions. .... aaaaand not saying anything more

* Except the ones I'm STILL CLINGING TO and the bad man can't take them away. Ever.

** This is probably also where I confess that I was such a shameless woobie!book!Jon fangirl that, ehh, Robb, whatevs played a not-insignificant role. Seeing his relationship with Talisa play out helped a LOT with making him more interesting, damn it all to hell.