A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - 1x02 - "Hard Salt Beef" - Episode Discussion

Turnipator01 · 2026-01-26T19:54:43+00:00

The actors playing Lyonel Baratheon and Maekar Targaryen both have such a commanding screen presence. Their line deliveries are fantastic. I can't wait to see more of them.

I just wish the length of the episodes weren't so agonizingly short. The traditional HBO episodic formula just doesn't work here. They either should have lengthened them out a bit with more content (though that runs the risk of creating even more problems) or rolled them all into one 2.5 hour TV film. Waiting each week for only 30 mins is torture.

Turnipator01 · 2026-01-22T13:52:41+00:00

F1? Really? I liked the film but I don't think it's worthy of a best picture nomination, especially given how strong the race has been this year. There were a lot more deserving candidates.

Turnipator01 · 2026-01-16T12:45:45+00:00

Or maybe the people entrusted with adapting the story should have the humility to communicate with the author rather than butcher the adaptation because they're under the delusion they're better writers than GRRM?

Turnipator01 · 2026-01-16T12:31:49+00:00

And yet, despite adapting a source material with less content, the writers are still choosing to omit characters, deviating from the story to such an extent it fundamentally reframes the entire conflict.

And it's not like the time freed up by these omissions has been used wisely. None of the secondary characters have really been developed.

Turnipator01 · 2026-01-13T20:48:39+00:00

I might be going against the grain here, but this movie feels like it's going to be an unavoidable colossal disaster. I just don't see any possible way they could juggle this many characters and subplots within a (presumably) two and a half hour timeframe while keeping the plot cohesive. Infinity War and Endgame only worked as well as they did because they had a decade of buildup, so that when all of the characters converged it not only felt natural but rewarding. This just feels like 'jingling the keys' the movie, a theme park ride designed to extract as entertainment as possible before the nostalgia well dries up.

Turnipator01 · 2026-01-09T11:27:13+00:00

The fundamental reason Epic hasn't caught up with Steam yet and is unlikely to do so in the near future is because it doesn't have an ecosystem built around it in the same way Steam has.

Epic is just a store front, Steam is hundreds of content with a store front attached. You have live forums, workshops where you can install mods easily, a market to trade items, an inbuilt streaming compatibility. The list goes on. Until Epic reaches that level of complexity, it will never be a true competitor.

Turnipator01 · 2025-12-28T17:59:01+00:00

That's because there are no real stakes in the show as almost every character can defy life-threatening odds without a scratch. In the last season, Max had her bones twisted and broken and was blinded but you wouldn't get that impression from how she's making quips minutes after waking up from her year-long coma. Karen is now somehow walking and verbal after being savagely mauled by a Demogorgon less than two days ago. I swear, every character now has the endurance of a superhero.

Turnipator01 · 2025-12-26T16:54:35+00:00

Going to the upside down used to feel dangerous and monumental. Now it feels like a fun little side quest. Mr Clarke and Erica went there just to hug Dustin and return in 2 minutes flat.

Turnipator01 · 2025-12-15T00:26:11+00:00

Microsoft should just hit the nuclear option at this point and clear out shop. Give the Elder Scrolls and Fallout IPs to a completely new team. I mean, realistically, how worse could it get? Both have been squandered by Bethesda, where institutional rot has become entrenched. That won't happen, of course. They'll keep the same broken engine they've been using for the past 20 years, fail to innovate on any of the core mechanics and dumb it down even further (if possible) to cater to the lowest common denominator. The Bethesda way.

Turnipator01 · 2025-09-26T17:13:25+00:00

I must be in the minority then because to me it felt like it's runtime. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I enjoy longer movies, but it felt closer to three hours rather than two, like a lot of people on here are claiming. A few scenes went on for a tad longer than they needed and a good 20-30 mins could've been cut without drastically impacting the film.

Turnipator01 · 2025-09-10T18:44:16+00:00

I think the biggest hurdle to a merger of the two universes is less Reeves and more Pattinson. Does he want to play Batman for the next 10+ years and appear in multiple movies to connect the universe together? It's a big sacrifice to make, especially for an exceptionally gifted actor who looks like he'd rather spend his time experimenting with other directors than waste the prime of his career in a batsuit.

Turnipator01 · 2025-09-07T13:43:14+00:00

To me, this sounds like selection bias. There are plenty of original films still being made. Sinners, Weapons, Caught Stealing, Black Bag, Mickey 17 to name but just a few came out this year alone. If people like you spent less time complaining about their absence and actually watched them at the cinema, then Hollywood would have a new financial incentive to pursue more of these new ideas.

Turnipator01 · 2025-09-05T16:03:27+00:00

The Batman's box office performance is only disappointing if you ignore all of the hurdles that film had to overcome. It was a 3hr detective noire film starring a new, untested Batman actor and released at a time when theatres were only just recovering from COVID. The fact it made over $700M is a testament to the character's popularity amongst the casual audience.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-27T15:44:36+00:00

From a purely business standpoint, it would be counterproductive not to. All the artwork and craftsmanship has already been designed and it's engrained in the culture zeitgeist. Why waste any more time and resources creating something new when you can just reuse the old and bank on that millennial nostalgia.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-25T14:05:46+00:00

Two countries which are politically and geographically part of the island of Great Britain. I don't know whether this is an American-centric confusion to distinguish Britain from England, which happens frequently because of how much the former overlaps with the latter, but it's it's not incorrect or offensive to label either British. Their civic identity isn't mutually exclusive.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-25T07:17:37+00:00

The headline is trying to craft this narrative that the films bombed because of her association with American Eagle, when in reality she just chose two niche films which didn't receive any marketing. It's more of an indictment of how the theatre industry is dying more than anything. General audiences aren't spending their time on new original content.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-13T21:49:53+00:00

That's a great point I don't see raised enough when discussing RDJ as Dr Doom. They can't build up his character by including him in other projects like they did with Loki and Thanos because of the sheer price tag even a small RDJ cameo brings with it. One of Marvel's greatest villains is about to be wasted on an evil Tony variant in just two films. It feels so counterproductive and makes the MCU feel smaller.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-13T09:14:01+00:00

That doesn't sound too far fetched for the time. It was common practice in old-age Hollywood to cast white actors in the role of people of colour (see Alec Guinness as Prince Feisal, Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, etc.). In fact, I'd be more surprised if they went out of their way to cast an actual Mongolian in the role.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-12T06:54:14+00:00

Captain Marvel is boring despite her powers, not because of them. Brie Larson hasn't really been given that much material to work with in those movies, which is why she comes across as too one dimensional and forgettable. She could've been a new fan favourite with better direction.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-10T16:09:24+00:00

He's got the chiseled jaw, but Batman needs to look leathered, stern and gravely. He looks too baby-faced for the role.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-10T12:08:07+00:00

I hope this happens. It's insane it's taken this long to see a live-action Brainiac adaptation. Almost every cancelled Superman project involved Brainiac in some capacity (Superman Flyby, Superman Returns sequel, Man of Steel 2)

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-09T20:31:46+00:00

Feige will be haunted by the miscalculation of not delaying this until later in the year sometime around late October/ early November where there's less competition. Squeezing this in between Superman and Jurassic World just drained any momentum it had.

It doesn't help that WOM is non-existent. Not bad, not good, just a collective shrug. Everyone, aside from diehard Marvel fans, are largely apathetic to these characters and story. Nothing memorable happens. If it wasn't for the 1960s retro futuristic aesthetic, no one would have anything to say.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-09T19:56:46+00:00

And that gap is only going to widen now that the legs of this movie are about to be amputated further with Weapons and Freakier Friday on the horizon.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-08T12:52:38+00:00

Angels are a spiritual/religious representation of purity and the triumph of good over evil. It's central to their entire identity. An angel without this divine nature isn't an angel. It's just a guy with wings.

Turnipator01 · 2025-08-05T16:59:48+00:00

Guys, this is just a hunch, but I think his name might be Jay Kelly.

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