View original postHuh. That's weird. I wonder why I felt differently? Probably because her diction isn't awkward and her speech is full of Westerosi vernacular. I don't recall any references to her being of foreign origin.
I don't have the books here, been years since I read them, and a quick glance at Westeros' Wiki mentions nothing of the sort, so maybe it's me who's mistaken.
View original postActually, I got the opposite impression of Shae, that she was so used to pressing lesser johns that she completely lost perspective with Tyrion, and pushed him too hard, with no real comprehension of where things stood. That awareness of her position lasting only as long as she pleases her master would be a common one for any prostitute. She really doesn't exert much influence over Tyrion, aside from securing his affections sufficiently that he is unable to refrain from indulging himself with her even past the point of prudence.
It's a bit hard to tell of course because the books only use Tyrion's PoV so we're just guessing at what Shae realizes or doesn't realize, but from what I recall (again, it's been a while), she does have him pretty much wrapped around her finger, until she goes way over the line with the Tywin thing of course.
View original postExcept that one seems to be getting more important as it goes on. And again, yet another case of over-sexualizing the role. For all that Martin's books were noted for their frank sexuality, in hindsight, and especially compared to the show, there was an awful lot that was left in the background. Stannis and Melisandre's relationship was left a lot more up in the air and the extent to which he was a willing or eager participant in the shadowbaby rituals, or even the degree of his knowledge, seemed to have been deliberately ambiguous. His lust for her on the show is certainly out of character for Stannis in the books, from either Davos' observations, OR Melisandre's own opinion of his nature. But GoT wanted to spread one of their more attractive actresses out naked on a conference table so...
Yeah, I guess the GoT scenarists saw Blackbook and thought "if WW2 movies are allowed to feature Carice semi- or entirely nude every ten minutes for no discernible reason other than her hotness, then surely HBO productions are too!". I'm still not sure how anyone manages to take that movie seriously (not just for that reason, but it doesn't help).
But more important than the nudity is, I totally agree with you, the loss of ambiguity and nuance in Stannis' character. Though Dom will no doubt argue that that was basically impossible to preserve on a show like this, especially with Stannis just one among dozens of important characters. And the writers do consider him important enough that his character is fairly nuanced - he's definitely on the "short list" that I mentioned in my other reply. Just not nearly as much so as in the books. Which I think is mostly problematic because in the books it still feels, even after five books, that the jury is still out on Stannis - we still don't really know what to think of him, or what kind of ending his story might have. Or I don't, anyway.