A most promising meeting on GOT, Outlander wraps up it's first season and iZombie offers food for thought

A major change from the books that Game of Thrones is based upon is that Tyrion Lannister has finally met Dany and is now one of her advisers. Jorah has been banished once again, yet it looks like he will find his way back to his queen at some point.

 It's a connection that I hope is also made in the next volume but I have no doubt that it will be as smartly written as this first conference between these two pivotal players is.

 Tyrion does make a lot of good points about how hard it would be for her to rule Westeros without the support of any of the ruling classes(altho I suspect that her dragons will go over big in the North, especially if the White Walker army gets past the Wall) and that nerve and good will of the people aren't enough to hold down the Iron Throne.

 However, she does possess a strong will along with steely determination which might make all the difference in taking the Seven Kingdoms by storm, so to speak. As far as game changers go, this is a pretty good one that many of us,readers and TV only fans alike, will be happy to see where this new plot path takes us:

The first season of Outlander came to an end this past weekend and these last couple of episodes have been seriously tough viewing as Jamie's torture and sexual assault by Black Jack Randall wasn't sugarcoated at all.

As unnerving as it was to see that, you have to give true credit to the cast and crew for taking on such horrifying acts head on and allowing the emotional carnage of such violations to be showcased in a non exploitative manner. This may not be to everyone's taste and those who may be triggered by this should avoid the series but for others, this story proves that genre material can be more than just light hearted or campy fun.

It offers a change from the expected cliches of both historical fiction,time travel and romance by portraying strong women that rise to any occasion and vulnerable men who,despite what they have been taught, are not lesser beings for those moments of helplessness. These are lessons that should carry over to the real world as well and probably will in some way in part due to the success of a show like this. I look forward to next season(with any luck, I'll have finished Dragonfly in Amber by then!) with great expectations indeed:

iZombie is only one episode away from completing it's debut season and I have to say that it's been rather appetizing viewing.

The main reason that zombies have a limited appeal for me as a horror fan is that they truly have no personality, which I know is part of the reason that they're so scary yet for a long narrative, the living dead do wear out their welcome rather quickly.

This show,however, offers a lively protagonist with the puny name "Liv Moore"(plus, her ex boyfriend is "Major Lilywhite", eye rolling being perfectly reasonable in this case) who is actually more of an engaging person in her half zombie life than she was as a full human.

Liv was once an all work and no play kind of gal but with having to change her rigid pace due to her undead condition, winning the trust of her eager to help boss Ravi and adopting different personality traits from the brains of murder victims(she does this to solve their murders as well as stay relatively functional), Liv is truly a better person than she once was, in a weird kind of way:

That doesn't mean that this show is all good times and giggles, as Liv not only has to stop evil zombie Blaine(David Anders in fine villain mode) from his sinister food supply schemes but cope with her best friend Payton discovering her zombie nature.

 On top of that, she's going to have to rescue Major, whose investigations into some mysterious teen disappearances have made him a huge target and now a prisoner of Blaine's. While I didn't read the comic book series that this show is loosely based on, this adaptation certainly gives it's source full credit for creativity there.  If you haven't checked out iZombie yet, take some time this summer to get acquainted with as there will be a second season and being in this loop is a good place to be:

RANDOM NOTES:

FOOD NETWORK STAR: Season 11 starts this Sunday and as far as food competition shows go, this one is a tasty treat to savor. Not quite the grand feast that Top Chef is at times but still worth sampling over the summer: