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.

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What, exactly, is there to be excited about here?

Was it the violence? Was it the naked women with Peter Dinklage? Was it the naked woman with the king of the heavily racialized Others (who are to be used by a lily-white man to regain his throne in a political power play)? Was it the costumes and make-up? Was it the frost zombies? Was it the direwolf pups?

Okay. The direwolf pups are kind of adorable.

But beyond them, and I found myself asking, “Why should I watch episode 2 of this airless, lifeless story about, at its core, putting aside the fantasy genre, rich white men?” Read more »