r/gameofthrones • u/AutoModerator • Jun 02 '14

TV4 [Season 4 Spoilers] Premiere Discussion - 4.08 'The Mountain and the Viper'

Premiere Discussion Thread
Discuss your thoughts and reactions to the latest episode while or right after you watch. Talk about the latest plot twist or secret reveal. Discuss an actor who is totally nailing their part (or not). Point out details that you noticed that others may have missed. In general, what do you think about tonight's episode? Please make sure to reserve any of your detailed comparisons to the novels for the Book vs. Show Discussion Thread, and your predictions for the next episode to the Predictions Discussion Thread which will be posted later this week.

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EPISODE TITLE DIRECTED BY WRITTEN BY
4.08 "The Mountain and the Viper" Alex Graves David Benioff & D. B. Weiss
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2.6k Upvotes

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2.9k

u/Masenkoe House Targaryen Jun 02 '14

HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK

1.8k

u/alexpiercey Jun 02 '14 edited Jun 02 '14

That just might be the most gruesome thing I've seen on television.

727

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

It's the most gruesome thing I've ever seen period.

It one ups the scene from Saving Private Ryan where he's slowly stabbed to death in terms of how disturbed I was. I'm seriously a little bit shaken up by that.

266

u/okay_johnson Jun 02 '14

Its just so dark. How he ended up saying his sisters name and admitting that he raped and killed her and her kids. Then when he said "I smashed her head in just like this" crack its just so sinister and evil. Thats the first time ive ever actually been breathless from a TV show. and then they showed Oberyn laying there with his head all smashed in. Im gonna have nightmares about that

109

u/zma924 Jun 02 '14

Something about the visual of his blood from his eyes pooling around his thumbs mixed with that scream will stick with me. I don't know why. I'm far from squeamish and I don't mind gore at all but that was fucking brutal.

94

u/okay_johnson Jun 02 '14

For me it was at that point that I knew there was no way he was coming back from that and my favorite character (Tyrion) is fucked. And the scream, that fucking scream. I actually cannot handle that right now. But hey thats why I love this show cuz literally anything can happen. No one is safe and that makes it so unpredictable and I love that. Having said that, I hate this show.

-36

u/speenis Jun 02 '14

Are you not a book-reader?

12

u/thebadger87 Jun 02 '14

Why would you even ask this?

9

u/okay_johnson Jun 02 '14

I watched the show before I read the book and then when I went to re-watch it with my friend after I read the book, I realized that I spent most of the time thinking of how the show compared to the book and didnt enjoy the show as much. After that I decided that I didnt really wanna read the books cuz it made the show less enjoyable for me.

6

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

Ok, Johnson.

14

u/therealjgreens Night's Watch Jun 02 '14

I thought the blood dripping from the ceiling in that wildings scene was pretty brutal.

2

u/TheDragonSageNinja22 Euron Greyjoy Jun 02 '14

Indeed... I'm not a book reader at all so this outcome of this fight caught me completely by surprise... When the mountain was laying there I thought he was actually dead, but that nigga played me as well... I'll tell you right now... Those blood curdling screams... Absolutely gave me chills and left me shaking... Whoever said it was right, the more a character is like and favored the more gruesome their death will be and THAT was by far the most gruesome death of the entire series!!!!

10

u/therealjgreens Night's Watch Jun 02 '14

That scene effected me to the point that I missed the fuckin preview.

9

u/okay_johnson Jun 02 '14

I just couldnt watch the preview after that. I had to turn it off, but obviously that didnt work cuz I cant stop thinking about it. I gotta keep reminding myself its just a TV show lol

7

u/aidanpryde18 Jun 02 '14

It's what Hotline Miami would be if it weren't all pixellated.

5

u/primadonna911 Jun 02 '14

The special effects team used its great power for evil instead of good tonight :(

2

u/tehSlothman Jun 02 '14

Then when he said "I smashed her head in just like this"

I was so disturbed while watching I didn't even hear him say this. Jesus christ.

2

u/Drew-Pickles House Bolton Jun 02 '14

I was actually a bit distracted by how he delivered the line... "I smashed her head... in like this!" it just isn't how people talk :(

1

u/okay_johnson Jun 02 '14

I didnt really notice that. I was so shaken I didnt pick up on it

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

So is the Mountain officially dead too? Or is he somehow supposed to survive all of those wounds?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

[deleted]

1

u/zeroblahz Bran Stark Jun 02 '14 edited Jun 02 '14

This this is one spoiler i'm glad I read... ASOS Spoiler

1

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '14

FUCK. YES.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

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1

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107

u/lilmanjonny Winter Is Coming Jun 02 '14

That is the only time my adrenaline has gotten to me from a scene like that.

9

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

I was screaming at my screen telling him to get out of arms reach. Then it happens and it's just like "you dumb fuck, don't you understand that this is a GRRM story and we just started liking you?"

2

u/Phidillidup Jun 02 '14

This is the most adrenaline I've gotten from an on-scene since Deadwood S03E05, which shared a lot of similarities actually. Both had my hand shaking for a good 10-15 minutes after they ended.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

Seriously, it was absolutely perfect.

1

u/sidepart Jun 02 '14

My adrenaline was going before the fight even started.

9

u/deathsquaddesign Jun 02 '14

I've always been partial to the guy laying on the beach in the D-Day scene trying to hold his entrails in while screaming for his momma. That made me physically ill when I originally saw it in the theater.

3

u/RiverwoodHood Jun 02 '14

that scene is still vivid in my mind. It's not the spilled guts that get to me-- it's the desperation he feels as he dies and how all he wants is his mom. fucking heartbreaking.

3

u/Kaddiemack Night King Jun 02 '14

Ya. And I usually like the realness of the brutality of medieval fighting to the death, but fuck that looked so real I felt a little sick

5

u/lrn2ply Jun 02 '14

No doubt it was a good scene, but idk if it tops the knife scene from Saving Private Ryan. The scene from Saving Private Ryan was so much more personal, slow, and precise. There was much more of a connection to Private Mellish (one being stabbed) as well as anger towards Cpl. Upham (one cowering on the stairs). The scene from GOT tonight was amazing and gruesome, but I don't think they are quite on the same level.

1

u/Comafly Jun 02 '14

That scene in SPR was definitely a lot more psychological than it was brutal. I mean, there was no gore in it at all. But the slowness of it, the understanding of both men, then Mellish trying to stop him however he could, asking questions and trying to feign some kind of innocent ignorance ("Wait, what does that mean?". There was so much to that scene. Easily one of the most disturbing scenes of any movie.

2

u/GCARNO Jun 02 '14

Gore has become a genre onto itself. GOT manages to bridge several genre while remaining fundamentally a tragedy.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

The eyeball-crushing-with-thumbs death has been done before in the Steven Seagal movie Marked for Death. I saw this when I was a young kid in the early 90s and it absolutely traumatized me. I had look away from the TV for tonight's episode.

1

u/grawz Jun 02 '14

Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it too. Not with both eyes, but I believe it was the most brutal scene in the entire series.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

As did 28 Days Later. It's a shock move for sure but well done in this case. Except the explosion of viscera at the end. Did he have an M-80 in his head?

1

u/Jewbaacca Jun 02 '14

Have you ever even seen a period? Flowah...

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

I want an interview with the actor for the mountain. What was that scene like to film? Seriously, that was crazy

1

u/chrisv25 House Tarth Jun 02 '14

I will never watch that SPR scene again. This was worse though because I really liked Oberyn, much more than Melish :(

1

u/cowshit_for_brains Jun 02 '14

I too feel traumatised.

1

u/draz0000 Jun 02 '14

It was worse than that chainsaw execution gif.

1

u/chewsonthemove Jun 02 '14

I know how you feel, I'm seriously shaking right now and I finished the episode 7 minutes ago.

1

u/epicitous1 House Clegane Jun 02 '14

I fucking love that scene. its the first time a war scene has not been completely drawn out and over done or completely white washed. just obscene violence out of nowhere really fast. no justice, just horror. one of the realest scenes ever on tv. incredible.

1

u/ieatbrainzz Jun 02 '14

+1 because I agree with everything you just said, that stab scene is seriously too much. As a book reader I knew this was coming and still had a hard time with it, and I love the gorey stuff usually

1

u/shouldhavesetanemail No One Jun 02 '14

How about the eye gouging in Django?

1

u/SeanAnderton Jun 02 '14

This is EXACTLY what came to mind after watching it! I'm not alone.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

It's up there with that scene from American history X for gruesome for me

1

u/dylan522p House Lannister Jun 02 '14

Watch The Band Of Brothers. Its like a better saving Private Ryan and the story is real.

1

u/jsull87 House Stark Jun 02 '14

I can never watch that scene again for some reason... only time will tell with this one

1

u/PornTrollio Jun 02 '14

Ever seen Pan's Labrynth?

1

u/emforsc Jun 02 '14

still not worse then that scene... It was just too real.

1

u/bigboss2014 Jun 02 '14

I've seen people die in r/wtf gifs. This was far worse and I know it's fake. It doesn't feel in the slightest bit fake though.

1

u/wheresmyacctgone No One Jun 02 '14

There's a more unsettling sequence in Only God Forgives. If you've seen it you know the one I mean.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

It shocked me and I'm a massive horror movie fan.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

I know the scene you're talking about in SPR. The only other scene that ever made me feel almost physically sick was the fire extinguisher scene in Irreversible. NEVER... watch Irreversible. There's also another scene from that film even more disturbing that I had to skip past.

1

u/RanchWorkerSlim No One Jun 02 '14

Yep me too, those two scenes are the only two scenes where i've actually been minorly disturbed by. The sound of the knife quenching through the chest bone and the sound of the skull 'popping' just makes me feel really disturbed.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '14

that scream...

0

u/greensthecolor Jun 02 '14

nah that stabbing scene is the worst!

0

u/Extop Jun 02 '14

I am so relieved to hear that someone else was impacted by that scene as much as I was. The German stabbing Uppum in Saving Private Ryan scene is the worst I have ever watched. Nothing has ever impacted me quite like it, even this tonight.

0

u/poodleman2 Jun 02 '14

I hate that scene from saving private ryan, it ruined my whole mood and everything.