Monsters of Television

Look in those eyes, ladies, and you'll see love.

Noel and I are both trying to write about Game of Thrones every so often, so I’ll step up to bat now, and he may add more later. These thoughts are all rather rough as this is an immediate reaction to the episode.

In general, this episode was much more satisfying than last week’s pilot. The othering of the brown-skinned folks was a bit less egregious, and boobs weren’t constantly thrown in my face. But more importantly, the episode really moved—it was non-stop action, or at least it felt like it. There is some masterful economical storytelling going on: every single scene seems to have a purpose. The casting has been nothing less than perfect. Heck even Lady was perfect casting (a direwolf that always seems to smile—who knew?). The stakes always seem to be sky high, and now we know that not only is winter coming, but so, too, is war.

Bran: I haven’t read the entire series, but I know enough from book 1 to know Bran is kind of important. The first book, first chapter, focuses on Bran—it is his POV, despite being super young. The TV show is highlighting his potential significance as well. Everyone came to see Bran to say goodbye, including an attempted murderer, and it is his eyes that end the episode. Plus, his direwolf is awesome. Can’t wait to see what this kid ends up doing, though (possible small spoiler), I am still annoyed by his “memory loss.

Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister: my two favorite characters, hanging out over a sack of wine, being brutally honest with each other. I had read that Peter Dinklage was hitting this role out of the park, but man is he ever. When Tyrion woke up in a stable, I was a bit surprised (I think of him more as an intellectual than as a sex-crazed drunk), but his firm handling of the brat…er, prince…was among the best scenes of the episode. I’m glad we are getting to see a bit of this relationship between the Bastard and the Dwarf. Totally offers potential for a sequel.

Jaime Lannister and Cersei Lannister—man, Jaime is a shit. But boy, is he an attractive shit. Not my type, but he does sort of define “handsome.” The conversation between Catelyn and Cersei surprised me—I don’t remember that conversation occurring in the book. Again, haven’t read all the books, but Cersei is decidedly under-developed in book 1 since we rarely get inside her head (not a complaint—there is method to it), but in the TV show, we got a seemingly tender scene in which Cersei admitted pain at the loss of her own child, despite the fact that she is why Bran is sorta dying. Lena Headey is playing it close to the chest—can’t quite get a read on her, which I think I like. Suspect this will make future scenes more satisfying, since Cersei is somewhat under the radar now. Is she evil? Is she misunderstood? Is she a woman in love? So far, as the show has shown us, we just don’t know. And that is interesting.

We got very little of our main character, Eddard. I read that part of the point of the book series is to demonstrate that there is such a thing as too much honor. This has been echoing in my head for two weeks now, and every time I see Eddard, it helps me see the character differently. He has twice taking responsibility for killing someone condemned. Weighty stuff. As for little Arya, Maisie Williams is doing a great job. She has spunk and even a tiny touch of gravitas. Sansa is just starting to be world’s least likeable character—I still hate her where I’m at in the book, and I am not sure how that will change just yet. Sure, I pity her, but anyone who could dream about Joffrey has a screw loose. Kinda wish the book gave me a bit more of a sense of how Catelyn and Eddard created this self-absorbed, vain, and shallow young woman.

As for our primary heroine, tonight we saw the so-called lesbian scene that was foretold in blog posts of yore. Luckily, the lesbian scene wasn’t nearly as provocative as the trailers led one to believe. In fact, the scene in which Dany puts her sex lessons to use with the Khal was way hotter. Dang (hold on a minute while I recover from the Khal’s super manliness…). Other than learning how to please her man, though, we got little of Dany’s development aside from the camera’s obsession with those dragon eggs. Gee, guess there’s more to those eggs than it seems.  Other than this type of forecasting, this episode was less clunky, less confusing, and offered a few concise stories–Dany wanted to connect with the Khal, Arya fought with the prince, Jon left home.  The more the show can embrace small mini-arcs like this, the better non-readers will be able to follow and enjoy the depth of this world.